April 2010 Archives

© M. Sharkey - All Rights Reserved

Queer Kids: A Project by M. Sharkey

The idea for this project arose from my own desire as a gay teenager to be given a voice.

I desperately wanted to be made valid in the eyes of my peers.

Coming out (and of age) in the 80's proved to be quite difficult for me and many others.

I'll never forget being beat-up by a high-school classmate as I'm sure all the other kids who suffered because of their sexuality will not forget.

It was precisely this kind of willful, painful defiance that I wanted to capture in these portraits.

But what you may also see is the delight that is the domain of a new generation... the sheer joy of being able to stand up and be seen without shame.

M. Sharkey

© SFMOMA - All Rights Reserved

Is Photography Over?

SFMOMA has been collecting and exhibiting photographs since the museum's founding in 1935 and is dedicated to the examination of the medium in all its forms.

This major symposium on the current state of the field is the first in a series of public programs on photography.

The texts below reflect the initial responses of 13 invited participants to the symposium's central question: Is photography over?

SFMOMA

© Sebastiao Salgado - All Rights Reserved

Sebastiao Salgado by Carrie Gracie

He tells Carrie Gracie that he uses his pictures to tell the bigger story of the social changes of our time.

BBC

© Aline Smithson - All Rights Reserved

Aline Smithson by Michael Werner

From an early age, I was immersed in creative pursuits, whether designing doll clothes or drawing cartoons, and in college I was doing pretty much the same thing on an elevated level--I was focused on painting, and designing clothes on the side.

After college, I moved to New York to become the next Diebenkorn, but ended up involved in fashion, while continuing to paint in my free time.

Aline Smithson

© Michael Forster Rothbart - All Rights Reserved

Michael Forster Rothbart - A Closer Look At Chernobyl by Claire O'Neill

We've seen countless photos of illness, deformity and desolation.

But for the past two years, funded by a Fulbright fellowship, photographer Michael Rothbart has been digging deeper.

An exhibition of his work opens today at the Ukranian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Claire O'Neill

© Mitch Epstein - All Rights Reserved

Susan Bell & Mitch Epstein - What is American Power?

When I photograph, I do not consciously think about politics.

But it was inevitable that the grim reality of American power circa 2003â€"2008 would find its way into my work.

I could not ignore the security excesses, corporate avarice, and environmental indifference I encountered.

I have tried to convey in these pictures the beauty and terror of early 21st century America, as it clings to past comforts and gropes for a more sensible future.

Mitch Epstein

© Nickolas Muray - All Rights Reserved

Color Sells: Nickolas Muray's Food Photography by Shannon Thomas Perich

Muray was an early adapter of the three-color carbro process.

Having worked in the magazine business making color separations for Vanity Fair and Vogue, it did not take long for him to become a master of the complicated process.

Today, the photographs retain a vibrancy close to the way they appeared some seventy-five years ago, thanks to built-up layers of pigments and the lack of any tarnishing silver halides.

Shannon Thomas Perich

© Sarah Hoskins - All Rights Reserved

Sarah Hoskins - Photographer Finds Kinship With A Black 'Homeplace' by Jacki Lyden

The clusters of homes on hilltops and creek bottoms around Lexington, Ky., were built on land bought by newly freed slaves in the 1860s and 1870s.

They have names like Frogtown, Maddoxtown, Zion Hill.

Many of these towns still survive today, six or seven generations later, though some are fading fast into history.

Clabber Bottom is down to just a few houses.

Jacki Lyden

© Michal Zalewski - All Rights Reserved

Simple, reliable 2.5D photography by Michal Zalewski

Computational photography is a newly coined term for all sorts of non-conventional image processing algorithms that push the envelope of artistic and scientific imaging.

Many of the most interesting efforts in this field focus on reconstructing 3D models out of series of 2D captures - with a premise that these 3D scenes could then be manipulated and re-rendered with unprecedented flexibility.

Michal Zalewski

© Louis Faurer/Deborah Bell Photographs - All Rights Reserved

Louis Faurer - The Streets, Frozen in Neon by Carol Kino

ON a recent Sunday afternoon, Mark Faurer, a New York City cab driver, led a museum curator and a reporter on a tour of historic Times Square.

Strolling down Broadway, Mr. Faurer pointed out the sites of onetime attractions like the Planters store near 47th Street, which sold fresh-roasted peanuts; the Camel billboard at 44th Street that used to puff steam "smoke rings" over passers-by; Hubert's Dime Museum, home of a freak show and flea circus on 42nd Street, west of Seventh Avenue; and the strip of movie theaters that lined and lighted up that same block, where you could see B movies and first-run films at cut-rate prices.

Carol Kino

© Loe Beerens - All Rights Reserved

Concert Photography with Compact Cameras by Loe Beerens

I recommend working with a reflex camera because you're not faced with the delay on the shutter.

However, you can still get good results when you use a compact camera, provided you use the right options as listed below.

Without these options, you've got a problem

Loe Beerens

© Darwin Wiggett - All Rights Reserved

Photographer Profile: Darwin Wiggett by David DuChemin

As specialties go, Darwin didn't choose what most would consider a lucrative niche.

He specializes in landscape and nature photography, but choosing to shoot what he knows and loves has made him a significant full-time income for over a decade.

Not surprisingly, his path has been his own, but there are waypoints on his journey that are similar to so many of us, and like many of us his journey hasn't been easy or his success instant.

Early on, Darwin's drive to succeed, and his failure to balance his personal and business life, cost him his first marriage. Balancing our lives as people making a living from our art is not always easy, but as our personal lives are the well from which we draw our inspiration and creativity, it's important to keep them in balanced tension.

David DuChemin

© Unilever - All Rights Reserved

The Power of Refined Beauty: Photographing Society Women for Pond's, 1920s-1950s

By 1923, however, the rate of sales growth had slowed for both due to competition from new products on the market.

Research by Pond's advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), found that growing numbers of middle-class women, equating price with quality, and quality with European origins, were paying several times more for imported toiletries than for Pond's products of similar, if not higher, caliber.

At the same time, research indicated that prominent society women purchased Pond's products even though they could easily afford more expensive imports.

Duke University Libraries

© Icarus Project - All Rights Reserved

Icarus Project

The Icarus project is a home brew project to send a camera high into the stratosphere to take pictures of the Earth from near space.

The camera is enclosed in a flight box and attached to a helium weather balloon which lifts the camera to an altitude of approximately 35,000 meters above sea level.

The camera is controlled by a small micro computer which takes pictures at timed intervals in various directions.

Other sensors to measure temperature, barometric pressure and altitude are incorporated into the flight box.

Icarus Project

© Jean-Pierre Attal - All Rights Reserved

Jean-Pierre Attal - Cells

© Kim In Sook - All Rights Reserved

Also go to KIM insook ART WORK.

Jim

Kim In Sook - Inside Out

© Aline Smithson - All Rights Reserved

Aline Smithson - Arrangement in Green and Black: Portrait of the Photographer's Mother Series

I found a small print of Whistler's painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother, at a neighborhood garage sale.

The same weekend, I found a leopard coat and hat, a 1950s cat painting, and what looked like the exact chair from Whistler's painting.

Aline Smithson

© Mike - All Rights Reserved

Novel Photographic Techniques by Mike

The near zero cost of digital imaging has allowed experimentation in ways previously unimagined.

In this gallery I hope to highlight some of the work others are doing in this area.

Mike

© Matt Stuart - All Rights Reserved

Why street photography is facing a moment of truth by Sean O' Hagan

In January, an estimated 2,000 photographers gathered in Trafalgar Square for a protest against police harassment organised by an organisation called, I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist.

It seems to have worked to a degree and many photographers I spoke to last week said they had noticed a decrease in the use of heavy-handed, over-vigilant tactics by the police.

Sean O' Hagan

© Myf Warhurst - All Rights Reserved

Snap, crackle, pop - mobile rage at the NGV by Myf Warhurst

As I soaked in this particular piece, I felt a presence.

There was a man in the distance, lurking, camera in hand.

As the minutes passed he seemed to be getting more and more agitated.

Myf Warhurst

© Jalo - All Rights Reserved

Vedos

Project Vedos is carried out at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences / Fine Art Kankaanpää, Finland.

The main goal is to study and teach alternative printing processes in photography and printmaking.

Satakunta University of Applied Sciences / Fine Art

© Selina Maitreya - All Rights Reserved

Also go to How to Become a Pro.

Jim

The Mix - The Marketing Formula of Successful Photographers by Selina Maitreya

Photographers have asked me for years for the magic formula for success in business.

I've said there was none. I was wrong.

When I look closely at the steps taken by photographers who have achieved successes, I see a different variation of the same process; I call the formula, THE MIX.

Selina Maitreya

© Jeannette Montgomery Barron - All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Montgomery Barron - My Mother's Clothes

In My Mother's Clothes, photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron creates a poignant and enduring portrait of her late mother through still life images of her cherished clothing, shoes, and personal possessions.

As her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's progressed, robbing her of any remembered past, Montgomery Barron began this unique visual album as a way of both sparking her mother's memories, and coping with her own sense of loss.

Welcome Books

© Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center - All Rights Reserved

Photography Changes How We Access the Memories Necessary to Function in Everyday Life by Jeff Sandoz

Jeff Sandoz, psychologist, describes how a doctor, self-diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, devised a clever photographic system to help him in his daily life

Smithsonian Photography Initiative

© Denis Darzacq - All Rights Reserved

Denis Darzacq - Hypermarket by Nozlee Samadzadeh

Now I decided to develop this idea in the supermarkets.

In my mind, it was this opposition between having and being.

To be and to have.

In society now, we know that it is not the complete solution to have a lot of goods.

There is also a sense of morality—the way to be a man is not only to have things.

And then this tension between having and being, it's floating in the air in this materialistic society.

This was interesting for me.

Denis Darzacq

© Brad Cooper - All Rights Reserved

The Gradual Disappearance of Flash Websites by Brad Cooper

If you want to "go big" visually with a website, delivering complex interaction and a rich experience across a wide range of browsers, Flash is the only way to go.

Right?

Nope.

Given the widespread adoption and advancements of modern browsers and JavaScript libraries, using Flash makes little sense.

But it does have its place on the Web, considering the need for progressive enhancement.

Brad Cooper

© Matthew Albanese - All Rights Reserved

Matthew Albanese - 'Strange Worlds': More than meets the eye by Matt Hickman

Creating "Strange Worlds," Albanese spends weeks constructing small-scale models of dramatic natural landscapes using common, household materials ranging from paprika to tile grout to fireplace ash.

Next, he photographs his miniature faux worlds, employing a variety of photographic techniques that alter the appearance of the materials.

Matt Hickman

© Bob King - All Rights Reserved

Also go to Stars & Star Trails.

Jim

Astro Bob blog: Try astrophotography point-and-shoot style by Bob King

I decided to take my own advice last night and use a point and shoot camera to photograph the constellations and the moon.

I'm always exhorting the readers of this blog to do the same.

Normally I use a high-end digital camera which gives me an unfair advantage.

Time for a reality check.

I grabbed one of our "reporter" cameras from work — an 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot that cost about $300 — and put it through its paces last night.

Would it pass muster for astrophotography?

I'm happy to say the answer is YES.

Bob King

© Henri Cartier-Bresson - All Rights Reserved

A Photographer Whose Beat Was the World by Holland Cotter

Cartier-Bresson's dematerialized working method, so focused on the shutter moment, set a model for modern photojournalism, a field he basically invented.

Equally influential was the way he approached that moment: with a Zen combination of alertness and patience that allowed him to be absorbed by unfolding events as they absorbed him.

Holland Cotter

© Henri Cartier-Bresson - All Rights Reserved

MoMA: Cartier-Bresson, Visionary by John G. Morris

I'm just a jack-of-all trades.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

© Megumi Sasaki - All Rights Reserved

Herb & Dorothy

Chronicling the story of unlikely art collectors Herb Vogel and Dorothy Vogel, filmmaker Megumi Sasaki demonstrates that it's not necessary to be wealthy in order to build a significant collection in this fascinating documentary.

A postal clerk and a librarian, the Vogels share a passion for art, which they pursued over decades, becoming two of the most important collectors of minimalist and conceptual art with more than 4,000 pieces.

Netflix

© Hans Namuth - All Rights Reserved

What Do You See?

I love that Red shows you how hard art is.

It encourages you to respect the sight of an artist, even a "windbag-y" one, pushing himself to psychic, creative limits to invent something new.

It shattered my art-world bullshit detector

Jerry Saltz

© photog link - All Rights Reserved

Signs of Spring, 2010

© Matt Logue - All Rights Reserved

Matt Logue - E M P T Y L.A.

© Henri Cartier-Bresson (Detail) - All Rights Reserved

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century by Peter Galassi

Henri Cartier-Bresson once said that photography was "a way of shouting, of freeing oneself, not of proving or asserting one's one originality. It is a way of life".

This big book, which accompanies a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, shows how much photography was a way of life for a man who is one of the undisputed masters of the medium.

Sean O'Hagan

© Louis Daguerre - All Rights Reserved

Photography's bodies of evidence by John Perivolaris

Dead and alive, the human body has perpetually hovered on the mortal threshold between visibility and disappearance that frames every photograph.

One of the very first tentative pulses of humanity was recorded in 1838 by Louis Daguerre in his Boulevard du Temple.

This daguerreotype renders a view from the window of Daguerre's apartment looking down on the avenue.

Due to the technical limitations of the medium in its infancy, the only recognisable sign of life on what was a teeming urban space is the silhouette of a solitary figure having his shoes polished, the shoeblack rendered a ghostly blur by his brisk movements.

John Perivolaris

© Samantha Chrysanthou - All Rights Reserved

Ten Timeless (and Maybe Unorthodox) Tips for Better Photographs by Samantha Chrysanthou

One fundamental principle that has not changed with the advent of digital cameras is that you will get out what you put in; great images are always the result of creative voice and mindful effort.

Samantha Chrysanthou

© Ian Plant - All Rights Reserved

A Nature Photography Carol by Ian Plant

On the eve of the tenth year anniversary of NPN, the spirit of Jim Erhardt, NPN's founder, visited me and asked that I write an article reflecting on what's happened to nature photography in the past ten years, to consider the state of the art today, and to offer some thoughts about where it might be going in the next ten.

Ian Plant

© Joshua Langlais - All Rights Reserved

joshua langlais - i heart strangers

the first is called "i heart strangers" - my attempt at loving my neighbors.

every single day, i go out into the world and seek out someone i've never before met.

i introduce myself and ask them if i can photograph them.

Joshua Langlais

© Ctein - All Rights Reserved

Oddities of Image Stabilization by Ctein

At shutter speeds above 1/250 of a second, I am half-convinced that image stabilization produced less sharp results than no stabilization at all.

At 1/125 of a second and above, image stabilization is not obviously better than no stabilization.

It is most definitely not foolproof; I would say only half of the frames were pixel-level sharp, even at 1/250 of a second.

Ctein

Facebook: Ripoff and Appropriation? by Vlatko Juric-Kokic

Whoa!

You can use anything anybody uploads?

And you can transfer the license to whomever you please?

You can sub-license the "content"?

I don't think so.

Vlatko Juric-Kokic

A Freelance Photographer vs The New York Times by George S. Zimbel

I will begin by saying that I consider that letter as insulting as the first one your wrote.

I am not an exception, I am one of those freelance people who you seem intent on denigrating in the name of increased profits for The New York Times Company.

Now I know what Arthur Jr. meant when he wrote me "times have changed."

So, that is clear.

George S. Zimbel

© Jeffrey D. Allred - All Rights Reserved

Also go to Pink Sherbet Photography's photostream.

Jim

For Photographers, the Image of a Shrinking Path by Stephanie Clifford

"The quality of licensed imagery is virtually indistinguishable now from the quality of images they might commission," Mr. Klein said.

Yet "the price point that the client, or customer, is charged is a fraction of the price point which they would pay for a professional image."

Stephanie Clifford

© Joshua Johnson - All Rights Reserved

The Ultimate Guide to Cloning in Photoshop by Joshua Johnson

Photoshop's wide array of cloning tools is the cause of many of the absolute best and worst works created with the application.

In a skilled and experienced hand, these tools lead to phenomenal results.

In the hands of a careless artist, Photoshop cloning can be disastrous to the credibility of the result.

This article introduces the several cloning tools available in Photoshop and goes over the proper usage and best practices of each.

Joshua Johnson