ELIZABETH AVEDON JOURNAL

7.27.2009

MARVI LACAR: Maasai Women Project

Mary Silio. The Tasaru Ntomomok Safehouse for Girls, Kenya

MARVI LACAR came to the U.S. at age 15 from the Philippines. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Michigan from a liberal arts college, Lacar worked for several non-profit organizations before pursuing her master's degree in Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. She completed a visual journalism fellowship at the Poynter Institute and interned at the Philadelphia Inquirer before moving to NYC in 2004.

Lacar was the 2008 winner of the Levallois - Epson Photography Award for her Journey Through Avignon. For her work documenting the progress of Maasai girls, women and men who are fighting against Female Genital Mutilation she won the 2008 Jurors Choice, Project Competition from the Santa Fe Center for Photography. She has been a nominee for the Joop Swart Masterclass and recognized by Communication Arts, PDN, and American Photography. Her clients include The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, Paris Match and Stern Magazines among many others.
Project: Healing the Deepest Scars: Rescue and Rehabilitation of Maasai Girls Escaping Circumcision and Early Marriage

Lacar lives in NYC with her husband, photojournalist Benjamin Lowy.
Website: http://www.marvi.net
PhotoBetty Post

7.25.2009

DIANE ARBUS: Homage

Photograph © Estate of Diane Arbus

DIANE ARBUS b. March 14, 1923, d. July 26, 1971
+ + +
The more specific you are, the more general it'll be

The documentary below (in 4 parts) explores the work and ideas of photographer Diane Arbus in her own words as spoken by a close friend. It includes reflections by some of the people who knew her best; daughter Doon Arbus, teacher Lisette Model, colleague Marvin Israel, and then Director of the Museum of Modern Art Photography Department, John Szarkowski, from a PBS 1972 Documentary.

Conversation with Alan Cumming and Amy Arbus
Who Is Marvin Israel? Trailer

7.18.2009

LACEY TERRELL: offSET

"In this series, I have used my experience as a still photographer on films and locations as a starting point, but have turned my camera off set. Slipping behind the metaphoric curtain of center stage, I will look back at the constructed reality being played out, or wander into uninhabited areas. I am intrigued by where the artifice of movie making and the 'real' intermingle. As I hunt for images that occupy this space, I become a flâneur of sorts; a solitary figure roaming the outskirts of the location, studying the spectacle before me, looking for things unnoticed by others." Lacey Terrell was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009.
Lacey Terrell Website

7.14.2009

KIDS WITH CAMERAS: Calcutta

Bengali Moon. Photograph © Kochi, 10 / Kids With Cameras

Babai. Photograph © Kochi, 10 / Kids With Cameras

Photograph © Avijit / Avijit's Postcard Collection

We believe that photography is an effective tool in igniting children's imagination and building self-esteem. We believe in the power of art to transform lives, for both the artist and the viewer.

+ + +

BORN INTO BROTHELS, a film by Photographer Zana Briski and Co-Director Ross Kauffman, won the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who lived in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers worked as prostitutes.

Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, founded Kids With Cameras in 2002, teaching photography to children in Calcutta's red-light district. She gave each of the children a camera and taught them the basics of photography and camera mechanics. Kids With Cameras has since expanded workshops to include Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo.

The photographs taken by the children are available for purchase in the Kids' Gallery, and also as a signed Limited-Edition Portfolio. 100% of proceeds from sales of the children's prints and book, go directly to support their education and well-being. Archival prints on Somerset paper: 17 x 22 inches, $175 - 36 x 48 inches, $500.

There are also updates on the children on the Kids With Cameras website. One of those children, Avijit, was 11 when he began photographing in the brothels district he lived. "An innately talented artist, he's won many competitions for his paintings. Charismatic and restlessly creative, his images were among the most compelling of the workshop. Avijit was invited by the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam to be part of their Children's Jury in 2002. In 2005, he received a four year high school scholarship to attend an incredible school in America." Avijit has now been accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. To help fund his education expenses, he's selected nine of his photographs taken and combined them into a collection of nine 4 x 6 postcards. You can help Avijit realize his educational goals by purchasing this Postcard Collection. $30. plus shipping and handling.

Purchase Avijit's Postcard Collection here
Kids With Camera's

7.12.2009

FERNANDO DELGADO: The Architecture of Nature

Click images to enlarge

It is only natural after 25 years contemplating, scrutinizing and promoting images, that I find myself behind the camera making images

+ + +

FERNANDO DELGADO was born in Cuba in 1957 and moved with his family to the U.S. when he was 12. In 1975 he attended The Cooper Union School of Art in N.Y., studying with prominent graphic designers Milton Glaser and Herb Lubalin. After Cooper Union, he had the opportunity to study with renowned art director Henry Wolf, artist Louise Nevelson and photographers Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton and William Klein at Parsons School of Design.

As a Creative Director for 25 years, Delgado successfully worked with an impressive list of clients such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Young & Rubican Advertising, among others. He co-authored a collection of French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin's innovative, surreal and erotic images in the book Exhibit A: Guy Bourdin. In 2005, he moved to Placitas, New Mexico from NYC and returned to his first love, making images, embarking on a successful career as a fine arts photographer.

Photographed using natural light, the Botanical series The Architecture of Nature (above) was inspired by Karl Blossfeldt’s botanical studies for use by architects. I recently spoke with Fernando Delgado in Santa Fe:

ELIZABETH AVEDON: Tell me about your experience studying with Louise Nevelson. What stage of her life did you meet her? Your photographs in your COMPOSITIONS series are reminiscent of her work.

FERNANDO DELGADO: In 1979, a group of students from Parsons had the opportunity to be part of a seminar at Louise Nevelson's studio on Spring and Mott, before that area was even called SOHO.

On the first day, Ms. Nevelson (as she liked to be called), sent us out on a hunt on garbage day. The directive, to bring back any forms or shapes that intrigued us. The criteria for selection was open to anything that interested us in whole or in part. During the course of the remaining days, we witnessed her creative process of examining, eliminating, cleaning, and careful storage of some of our treasures (in wooden barrels) with the promise of one day being used on a Nevelson work.

Although the class had more to do with sculpture, we also saw her prints, collage, drawings and other work in progress. The studio was small, crammed, but orderly and surprisingly clean. This was towards the end of her life, since she died 9 years later in 1988. Ms. Nevelson, was in a word, eccentric, but also very real. She spoke her mind and she did it openly and eloquently. I was mesmerized and at times very much amused, and I dreamt that one day I too would enjoy that freedom and clarity not only in my work, but also as an artist. From Ms. Nevelson, I learned to be a good editor, the complex power of inspired simplicity and a renewed appreciation for form, light and space.

EA: I am in awe of William Klein. Did you study with him, work for him? Please explain...

FD: During my years at Parsons (1977-1981), my fascination with Fashion kicked into full gear. During my years as an illustration major, I was first exposed to the work of Guy Bourdin, studied Fashion Illustration with Steven Meisel, attended workshops with Helmut Newton and booked models through the school's Model's Office for Robert Mapplethorpe.

In my senior year, I had the opportunity to study with Henry Wolf and William Klein, who were pivotal in my switch from illustration to photography. With Wolf, I learned to trust my photographic instinct and with Klein to understand photography beyond the still camera. The first session was devoted to watching his film Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo where the world of fashion on film is at once, fiction and reality. I was fascinated by the craft of film-making and the vast numbers of talent necessary to make it happen. It was performance art, very public and quite different from the seemingly insular world we experienced with Louise Nevelson. His teaching style was unstructured and discussions would range from technique to philosophy. From William Klein I learned to see in motion, humor, layering, composition and the power of black and white imagery, and most of all to have fun and be in the moment.
Exhibition: NaturalMenteNational Hispanic Cultural CenterJuly 17th, 2009 - January 2010

Fernando Delgado Photography: Upcoming Exhibitions
www.Fernandodelgadophotography.com
An Interview

7.08.2009

RAYMOND MEEKS: Middle Air

From Raymond Meeks Artist Book Middle Air
Photograph (c) Raymond Meeks

Raymond Meeks Artist Book Middle Air

Memory is an undeniable force behind making art, the drive not to forget, documenting the events of our lives over and over again, longing to fill the void of what's missing.

+ + +

MIDDLE AIR is photographer Raymond Meeks sixteen page artist book that traces the routine cutting of a sparse section of lawn in the backyard of his home in rural Montana. The eleven photographs were printed in the order they were exposed from one roll of 120 mm film. Each book contains "elements" (drawings, markings, etc) unique to the moments prior to their preparation for shipping. Two silver gelatin prints (7.5 x 7.5") hand printed by Meeks and processed to archival standards, accompany the book. The pages are "french fold" and hand sewn by book artist Rory Sparks, in an edition of 40 books and prints.

Purchase MIDDLE AIR
About Raymond Meeks

7.06.2009

JULIE BLACKMON: Domestic Vacations

PC, 2005 © Julie Blackmon / All rights reserved
Inspired by the Velásquez painting Las Meninas

The Dissolute Household painting by Jan Steen

The Dutch proverb "a Jan Steen household" originated in the 17th century and is used today to refer to a home in disarray, full of rowdy children and boisterous family gatherings.

+ + +

JULIE BLACKMON is the oldest of nine children and now the mother of three. Her photographs have been honored with numerous awards since she began exhibiting, including American Photo Emerging Artists 2008, first prize from CENTER/Santa Fe Center for Photography Project Competition, and PDN's 30, among others.

DOMESTIC VACATIONS: "The paintings of Steen, along with those of other Dutch and Flemish genre painters, helped inspire this body of work. As Steen’s personal narratives of family life depicted nearly 400 yrs. ago, the conflation of art and life is an area I have explored in photographing the everyday life of my family and the lives of my sisters and their families at home. These images are both fictional and auto-biographical, and reflect not only our lives today and as children growing up in a large family, but also move beyond the documentary to explore the fantastic elements of our everyday lives, both imagined and real.

The stress, the chaos, and the need to simultaneously escape and connect are issues that I investigate in this body of work. We live in a culture where we are both "child centered" and "self-obsessed." The struggle between living in the moment versus escaping to another reality is intense since these two opposites strive to dominate. Caught in the swirl of soccer practices, play dates, work, and trying to find our way in our "make-over" culture, we must still create the space to find ourselves. The expectations of family life have never been more at odds with each other. These issues, as well as the relationship between the domestic landscape of the past and present, are issues I have explored in these photographs. I believe there are moments that can be found throughout any given day that bring sanctuary. It is in finding these moments amidst the stress of the everyday that my life as a mother parallels my work as an artist, and where the dynamics of family life throughout time seem remarkably unchanged. As an artist and as a mother, I believe life’s most poignant moments come from the ability to fuse fantasy and reality: to see the mythic amidst the chaos." — Julie Blackmon

Julie Blackmon 2009 New Work
Radius Books "Domestic Vacations"

7.05.2009

JONATHAN BECKER: A Vanity Fair Retrospective

Robert Mapplethorpe at his Whitney Retrospective, 1988
Copyright © Jonathan Becker / Vanity Fair

Brassaï, Eze, 1982 © Jonathan Becker / Steven Kasher Gallery

Madonna, Martha Graham, and Calvin Klein, N.Y., 1990
Copyright © Jonathan Becker / Vanity Fair

Arthur Miller
Copyright © Jonathan Becker / Vanity Fair

"After the requisite “NO”, followed by a long, debilitating night/morning of Jack Daniels and memorable palaver I can’t remember, Frank Sinatra finally acquiesced with the simple, syncopated, “One pitcher”. He kept his word the next afternoon. I got my picture for Town & Country. Never have I been so careful with the shutter-trigger".

+ + +

JONATHAN BECKER began contributing to Vanity Fair in 1981. His portraits of filmmaker Louis Malle and of Becker’s mentor and friend Brassaï featured largely in the prototype for the magazine’s relaunch, in 1983. Becker’s specialty in portraits, photographed by and large on location, soon became a Vanity Fair staple: Robert Mapplethorpe, Arthur Miller, Jocelyn Wildenstein, and Martha Graham with Madonna and Calvin Klein as well as countless socialites, artists, and heads of state. Assignments for the magazine sent Becker from the Amazonian jungle, for first-encounter photographs of members of the Yanomami tribe, to Buckingham Palace, for the first photographs showing the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles together. Over the course of work for the Rockefeller Foundation, Becker documented its funded projects on five continents. Three books of Becker's work have been published: Bright Young Things; Studios by the Sea, Artists of Long Island’s East End; and Bright Young Things: London. (bio from Vanity Fair)

View Vanity Fair's Portfolio:
A JONATHAN BECKER RETROSPECTIVE

www.jonathanbecker.com

7.03.2009

DANNY LYON: The Bikeriders

Photograph © Danny Lyon/ Twin Palms Publishers

The Fourth of July weekend brings out the Harley's. A great reminder of Danny Lyon's incredible documentary photographs The Bikeriders.

7.02.2009

SUSAN BURNSTINE: Homemade Cameras

I was playing with a friend’s son and his vintage science kit and I saw this really interesting plastic magnifying glass. I looked through it and thought wow this is interesting. I knew I could make a lens out of it, so I stole it.

+ + +

SUSAN BURNSTINE was nominated for the 2009 Santa Fe Prize for Photography and winner of B&W Magazine’s 2008 Portfolio Spotlight Award. The images in her current series On Waking Dreams and Instinct are shot on film with homemade medium format cameras and homemade lenses that have cost less than $40 in parts. These cameras are primarily made out of plastic, rubber, molded plastic, a few vintage camera parts and random household objects including string, photo tape, garbage bags, Velcro, parts of toys and children’s science kits along with various materials she happens upon in hobby shops and hardware stores. Susan was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. You can read more about Burnstines work in one of the many articles here. PDN Interview

Susan Burnstine website

6.26.2009

WILLIAM KLEIN: American Suburb X

From Mister Freedom: An Interview With William Klein
Photograph © William Klein

I'm in awe of William Klein's photograph above. If I had taken this photograph I would never do anything else ever again. It's just perfect and complete. I found an excellent interview with William Klein (here) on one of my favorite photography websites AMERCIAN SUBURB X. There's also a cool photograph of a very young Garry Winogrand (here) accompanying his Bill Moyers Interview, Richard Avedon's spectacular portrait of artist June Leaf (long ago my painting teacher), along with features on Arbus, Eggleston, Friedlander, Szarkowski, Walker Evans, Philip-Lorca diCorcia and on and on...a great site, check it out: AMERICAN SUBURB X

6.24.2009

BRYAN MELTZ: African Resettlement in Georgia

This project began in 2006 after working as a still photographer for a PBS documentary about refugee resettlement in America. I have had the privilege of getting to know these families, and been witness to their overwhelming spirit and resilience as they assimilate to American life, while still preserving the traditions of their culture.

+ + +

BRYAN MELTZ is a contributing photographer to the international photojournalism collective WIR Pictures and has collaborated with nonprofit organizations such as Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda, Just Cause, and AbsolutelyPositive, an AIDS service organization in Atlanta. She graduated with a Visual Journalism degree from The Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California and in 2005 was the recipient of the Yarka Vendrinska Memorial Scholarship Award for emerging female documentary photographer. Her editorial clients include Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Financial Times, The Fader, Vibe, Blender, XXL, Mass Appeal, and Vice Magazine.

In the past twenty years nearly 50,000 refugees have resettled in and around Clarkston, Georgia, located ten miles east of Atlanta. It's estimated over 75 languages are now spoken in this small Georgian town. The majority of people resettled are from the African nations of Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, DRC, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Board of Health estimates show over 71% are female, and all of those are survivors of civil conflict, war, torture, trauma, rape and/or genocide.

"The Somali Bantu are becoming the largest African group from a single community to settle in the United States at one time, with nearly 13,000 arriving since 2004. Those who made it to America passed through rigorous security checks—a process that took from months to a year or more—and when they arrived they were confronted with a new world of difficulties. The Bantu, who were denied access to education and jobs, were almost completely untouched by modern life. Few could read or write in any language, and almost none spoke English. Most had never seen a light switch, a telephone, a set of stairs, or a building that wasn’t made of mud."

Meltz's portrait series Home Far From Home: Refugee Resettlement in Georgia has been recognized by the International Photography Awards, American Photo Images of the Year, annual Out of the South juried exhibit and a solo show at Composition Gallery in Atlanta. Bryan was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009.

Bryan Meltz Website
Engeye Health Clinic

6.19.2009

DANA ROMANOFF: The Women of Oaxaca

+ + +

Here it's purely women, there are no men...

Emigration is dividing families and changing social structures in rural Mexico. As the men seek work in the United States, they leave behind the women, children and elderly. Women are doing the jobs of men and acting as both mother and father to sons and daughters. Due to riskier and more costly border crossings, the men stay in the North...some never return home. Emigration is empowering women to step out of their traditional role. Women are now in charge of families, finances, and acting as sole breadwinners for households. Machismo is giving way to a more matriarchal structure the women call pura mujer, purely women.

NO MAN'S LAND: THE WOMEN OF MEXICO is told through the stories and voices of Mexican women. This project was produced with the support of National Geographic Magazine.

DANA ROMANOFF is an award winning photojournalist selected as one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. Dana Romanoff website.

JAMES JOYCE: Bloomsday Festival

BLOOMSDAY: More than 1,300 people gathered in Dublin for the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday, marking the day James Joyce's classic Ulysses was set (June 16th). Fans traveled to Dublin from all over the world to join in with the centenary celebrations. (Post thanks to Ptolemy Tompkins)

FRACTION MAGAZINE: One Year Anniversary

FRACTION MAGAZINE, a bi-monthly on-line Photography magazine, celebrates their one year anniversary with Issue #7. Congratulations to Fraction Magazine co-founders Joshua Spees and David Bram, with Melanie McWhorter and Mary Goodwin.

6.16.2009

BENJAMIN LOWY: Iraq Perspectives

Most people have never really seen or felt the effects of war. Confronted by a level of violence so high that walking on the streets to photograph is tantamount to suicidal behavior, I found myself confined to working with American soldiers, spending most of my time going on various missions while looking at the landscape of this broken country. My only view was through the inches-think bulletproof window of an Army Humvee. –Benjamin Lowy

+ + +

BENJAMIN LOWY received a BA from Washington University, St. Louis in 2002 and began his career covering the Iraq War in 2003. Since then he has covered major stories in Afghanistan, Darfur, Haiti, Indonesia, and Libya among others. In 2004 Lowy attended the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass and was nominated for the ICP Infinity Award. He was named in Photo District News 30 and his images of Iraq were chosen by PDN as some of the most iconic of the 21st century. Lowy has received awards from World Press Photo, POYi, PDN, Communication Arts, American Photography, and the Society for Publication Design. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Men's Health, ESPN Magazine, and other publications. Benjamin's work from Iraq and Darfur have been collected into several gallery and museum shows, and his work from Darfur appeared in the SAVE DARFUR media campaign.

Lowy's impressive photographs are an example of the high caliber of work selected to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. After the Review weekend was over, I had a noteworthy experience in the DFW airport hub. Over lunch I sat in on an Enlightening conversation between Anthony Bannon, Director, George Eastman House and Ben Lowy. Among the history of photography and other related topics bandied about, I found out Ben is married to photojournalist Marvi Lacar and they are expecting their first child, a boy, this year. Good Fortune! Look for a post on Marvi Lacar's photographs soon.

Read: 2011 Update

Benjamin Lowy Website
Darren Ching on PDN: Iraq I Perspectives
Marvi Lacar

6.15.2009

GEORG KUETTINGER: Landscapes Remixed

GEORG KUETTINGER: "The project landscape: remixed is an examination of perception, density of space and time, horizons and stories of landscapes. Concentrating on landscapes as a result of human interactions the concept and term of landscapes: remixed is similar to a song remix by a DJ: The remix is re-editing the rhythm and shape of the motif as well as the changing of the time, tracking the main aspect of a designed landscape to be elaborated as the concept or idea of the structure of the image. Taking always a number of single photos of one motif from many different points of view the goal of the work is creating images as possibilities of the landscapes they are based on.

Compressed into one picture frame the single images and different perspectives are melted together to one image- each single shot given a new context within the structure of the image, creating a complex web of perspectives and overlappings. The perspectives are stretched, shifted and compressed-remixed-by dissolving the confines of a static space/time model while blurring the boundaries of the reality of the places the single images are taken from and their possible perceptions. Basically the themes which are used are methods of engineering phenomena-thus generating augmented reality. These images are created analogously to the selective perception by the observer and the thus impressed memory: simultaneous dynamic panoramas, possibilities of the represented landscapes: remixed. Georg was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009.

Georg Kuettinger • Munich
Galerie Pascal Janssens, Gent (solo show) / june 20 - september 5
Galerie Le Point Rouge, Lausanne (solo show) / may 8 - june25
Artgalerie7, Koeln (group show) / june 5 - august 8
KIC-Nordart, Büdelsdorf (group show) / june 13 - september 27

7.27.2009

7.25.2009

7.18.2009

7.14.2009

7.12.2009

7.08.2009

7.06.2009

7.05.2009

7.03.2009

7.02.2009

6.26.2009

6.24.2009

6.19.2009

6.16.2009

6.15.2009

PHOTO + ART NOTES

peopleviews

Journal Archive

2013 Jan - Sept

2012

Search This Blog

Subscribe: PhotoNotes

2011

2010

2009