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.

BENJAMIN LOWY: Iraq Perspectives

Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved
Click images to enlarge

Taken through Humvee window
Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved

Taken through Humvee window
Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved

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

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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

GEORG KUETTINGER: Landscapes Remixed

Salinas del Janubio © Georg Kuettinger/ All rights reserved
(click to enlarge)

Cols © Georg Kuettinger/ All rights reserved
(click to enlarge)

Ski Trails © Georg Kuettinger/ All rights reserved
(click to enlarge)

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

EMILY SHUR: Portraits and Projects

Picnic Table, Queenstown, New Zealand
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved
(click images to enlarge)

Victoria’s Peak, Hong Kong
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

Imperial Palace Gardens with Wall, Tokyo
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

Michael Cera
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

Elijah Wood
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

Adrian Grenier
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

Sunset, Biloxi, Mississippi
Photograph © Emily Shur/ All rights reserved

(click images to enlarge)

EMILY SHUR was born in New York City, at New York Hospital, to an auditorium full of nursing students. She majored in Photography at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 1998 with academic honors along with the Artist Award for Creative Excellence.

Emily's photographs have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, Interview, Wired, and Elle Magazine to name a few. She's completed ad campaigns for MTV Networks, America Online, Yahoo, along with Sierra Mist and others. She's lectured about her work at New York University, School of Visual Arts in New York City, The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and Loyola Marymount University.

Shur's work has also been featured in Communication Arts (2005) and included in American Photography 22, 24, and 25 (2006, 2008, and 2009). She was a 2005 winner in The Art Director’s Club Young Guns global competition. In 2008, she received an honorable mention in the Photography.Book.Now competition and was honored to have an image in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Emily was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. Preview Shur's new book The Woods here.

EmilyShur.com

LUCIA GANIEVA: Portraits from The Hermitage

Photograph © Lucia Ganieva/ All rights reserved

Photograph © Lucia Ganieva/ All rights reserved

(click images to enlarge)

LUCIA GANIEVA was born in Russia, now living in the Netherlands since 1993. She graduated cum laude from the Foto Academie Amsterdam in 2007. Above are images from Attendants of Hermitage, portraits taken at The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia of the Museum Docent's with their favorite work of Art. Lucia was one of 100 photographers invited to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. Please click on images to see the photographs enlarged.

View her website: Lucia Ganieva

SELF-PORTRAIT: How We View Ourselves

Portrait on the Left was Drawn by an Englishman

Self-Portrait on the Right was a drawn by the Maori Chief himself

TWO PORTRAITS OF MAORI CHIEF TUPAI KUPA
Drawn over 300 Years Ago

NEW ZEALAND TATTOO of Maori Chief Tupai Kupa, "as drawn by himself over a hundred years ago for his friends in Liverpool". When this Maori was being painted by his friend John Sylvester, he looked on with great interest, but he presently shook his head, and declared that it was not at all the picture of Tupai Kupa. Those present and others coming in were greatly surprised. All were agreed that the features had been hit off with rare ability. But Tupai Kupa smiled with a superior and self-satisfied air. With his finger he pointed to the forehead and said laconically: "That not me!" But still greater was the amazement when the Maori, asking for the pencil, with extraordinary skill drew his portrait as he conceived it, and as I here reproduce it." --Leo Frobenius, 1909

Taken from Social Fiction
The Childhood Of Man by Leo Frobenius, 1909

DUTCH SEEN: 400th Anniversary of the Dutch Arrival in New York

Napkin, 2009 Photograph © Hendrik Kerstens/ All rights reserved

Alexander and Nicky Vreeland
Photograph©Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin/All rights reserved

THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK and Foam I Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam present Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered. This exhibition marks the 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival in Manhattan and features the work of renowned contemporary Dutch photographers. Guest curated by Kathy Ryan, Photo Editor of The New York Times Magazine.

"Through their considered gaze, the participating Dutch photographers give a portrait of what New York City is today. The rich diversity, energy, tolerance, and commerce the Dutch brought with them to the first settlements, along with the stunning landscape that originally attracted the Dutch to the region 400 years ago still define New York City today and are clearly visible in the photographs on display. The concept of the exhibition is created around the theme ‘portrait of the city’. The exhibition consists of portraiture, landscapes, still lives, conceptual photographs, and documentary photography. It's modern work, firmly rooted within the Dutch tradition."

"This exhibition presents some of the most exciting imagery in the photographic medium being done by the Dutch. The artists featured in the exhibition range from the legendary Rineke Dijkstra to emerging artists who are just now gaining recognition. Participating artists include: Morad Bouchakour, Misha de Ridder, Wijnanda Deroo, Rineke Dijkstra, Charlotte Dumas, Hendrik Kerstens, Arno Nollen, Erwin Olaf, Jaap Scheeren, Danielle van Ark, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and Hellen van Meene. The majority of the work in the exhibition iscreated and premiered in this exhibition. A fully illustrated catalogue featuring work created by all of the participating photographers accompanies the exhibition."

New York Times Slideshow

Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered June 10 - September 13
Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave at 103rd St, NYC 10029

TRAVEL: Global Pandemic

Photograph by Anonymous
Air China Flight Arriving from JFK, Beijing Capital Airport, June 9, 2009

Still reeling from the 2003 SARS outbreak, Chinese health officials (above) from the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in full protective clothing check passengers' temperature, passports and health declaration forms before allowing passengers to leave the plane.

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BEIJING: After flying 12 hours from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Beijing Capital Airport on an Air China Flight, passengers were required to remain seated in the plane for an additional hour to be individually checked for high temperature by Chinese health officials of the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in order to ensure none showed signs of the H1N1 virus. Before being allowed to leave the plane each passenger was also questioned on the state of their health and then given health declaration forms to fill out. Cards declaring they are free of symptoms were given to hold onto their person for a period of two weeks to establish their good health.

Flak Photo | Photography Online | www.flakphoto.com

Beautifully designed, Flak Photo I Photography Online celebrates the art of publishing contemporary photography online. The site is produced by Andy Adams and highlights new series work, book projects and gallery exhibitions from an international community of contributors.

An Interview With Andy Adams

Flak Photo Website

REVIEW SANTA FE 2009: Reviewer Schedule

SANTA FE: This was my first time returning to New Mexico since working as Director at Photo-Eye Gallery in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. I formally reviewed twenty seven photographers portfolio's over two days at Review Santa Fe 2009. I was very impressed with the overall level of work I was shown. The work had first been juried by Amber Terranova, Photo Editor, Photo District News (PDN) , Ann Pallesen, Gallery Director, Photographic Center Northwest, and Laura Addison, Curator of Contemporary Art, New Mexico Museum of Art before it came to us. Laura Wzorek Pressley, Executive Director of CENTER and her crew did an amazing job of organizing this event.

Day One: Arrived in Santa Fe and immediately met up with friend Jack Woody (Twin Palms/Twelvetrees Press publisher) for lunch before the Orientation at The Lodge at Santa Fe where the Portfolio Review takes place. In the evening we all headed over to the Photo-Eye Gallery for Debbie Fleming Caffery's The Spirit And The Flesh opening exhibition and book signing. Caffery's book, published by Radius Books, sold 5 at a time that night. The exhibition was beautifully hung and Debbie was (happily) inundated with book signing all evening.

More Santa Fe Review SnapShots here

Debbie Fleming Caffery's book signing and exhibition The Spirit And The Flesh at Photo-Eye Gallery

Caffery's powerful photographs behind Anne Kelly, Photo-eye Associate Director (left) with photographer Leslie Alsheimer

Left: Jane Brown, Director, D.A.P.West, Catherine Edelman, Director Catherine Edelman Gallery, Darius Himes, Co-founder and Editor Radius Books and guests at Photo-Eye Gallery

Center (white shirt): Whitney Johnson, Picture Editor, The New Yorker, David Laider, Photo Agent, Aurora Select, NY

Photo-eye Director Rixon Reed and Photographer Vicki Bohannon

Photo-eye Director Rixon Reed and Photographer Vicki Bohannon graciously made a buffet dinner for ALL 100 participating photographers and 50 Reviewers under the portal between Photo-eye's Gallery and Bookstore.

Day Two: The Review session began at 10:00 and lasted until 3:00 PM with each review lasting 20 minutes. In the evening all the Reviewers headed over to CCA/Center For Contemporary Arts to view all of the 100 Photographers Portfolio's which were spread out in CCA's huge space.

Photographer Debbie Fleming Caffery and Mary Virginia Swanson, Marketing Consultant, MV Swanson and Associates

Photographer Latoya Ruby Frazier exhibiting her photographs at the Portfolio Viewing at CCA/Center For Contemporary Arts

Day Three: Beginning at 9AM, we reviewed Portfolio's solidly until 6:10PM. It was very intense and felt like running a marathon. I need a week to process all the images I saw. Dinner at Il Piatto with Placitas, NM based Artist Photographer Fernando Delgado.

Reviewers Debra Klomp Ching and Darren Ching of the KlompChing Gallery

Day Four: In the DFW Airport hub I sat in on an Enlightening lunch conversation between Anthony Bannon, Director, George Eastman House and Award Winning PhotoJournalist Benjamin Lowy. Now going through all the websites and CD's given to me by the Photographers I reviewed. I'll profile some of the work on future posts.

100 Photographers and Reviewers listings

More Review Blog Posts:
PDN Pulse (thanks Emily for the mention)
APhotoEditor, Emily Shur, Deborah Hamon, FractionMag, Stephen Gelb , Elizabeth Fleming
More Santa Fe Review SnapShots

TWIN PALMS BOOKS: Jack Woody

Lunch with Jack
Snapshot © Elizabeth Paul Avedon

JACK WOODY, editor and publisher of Twin Palms, has been producing some of the most beautiful photography and art books for over twenty years. Recognized for their high-quality papers and printing, and award winning design, Twin Palms has published monographs by William Eggleston, Lise Sarfati, Philip Lorca DiCorcia, Anthony Goicolea, and Jeff Burton. They've published first monographs by artists George Platt Lynes, Joel-Peter Witkin, Robert Mapplethorpe, F. Holland Day, Duane Michals, Robert ParkeHarrison and many others. Twin Palms has also presented important documentary work by Danny Lyon, Bruce Davidson, and Dennis Hopper along with their most controversial and thought provoking books: The Killing Fields, and Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.
(bio from PHOTOnola)

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SANTA FE: Straight from the airport my first stop in Santa Fe had to be a quick visit with Jack before three solid days of Review Santa Fe. Jack's first book company TwelveTrees Press was named for his grandmother, silent screen star Helen Twelvetree's. Her beautiful portraits are included in his exquisitely printed book Lost Hollywood along with Lillian Gish, Jean Harlow, Charlie Chaplin, Theda Bara, Erich von Stroheim, Greta Garbo, and Rudolf Valentino by photographers George Hurrell, William Mortensen, Clarence Sinclair Bull, and Edward Weston.

I heard the sad news photographer Luke Smalley passed away unexpectedly Sunday May 17. Twin Palms published Luke's books Exercise at Home and Gymnasium, with a forthcoming book Sunday Drive to be published posthumously in Autumn 2009. Luke was a brilliant photographer and will be greatly missed.

An Interview with Jack Woody here

TWIN PALMS PUBLISHERS • TWELVETREES PRESS

REVIEW SANTA FE: June 4-7, 2009

2009 Santa Fe Prize for Photography winner
Photograph (c) Hiroyo Kaneko/All rights reserved

2008 Portfolio Viewing. Photograph © Sara Stathas

"Review Santa Fe provides an excellent forum in which to review accomplished bodies of work and search for new talent."

—Yossi Milo, Yossi Milo Gallery

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REVIEW SANTA FE is a juried portfolio review event produced annually by CENTER (formerly known as the Santa Fe Center for Photography). The conference is for photographers who have created a significant project or series and are seeking wider recognition. Up to 100 photographers meet with esteemed curators, editors, art directors, publishers, gallery and agency reps, and alternative market professionals.

THE 100 REVIEW SANTA FE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Click to access the online listing of the 100 Review Santa Fe photographers work and links to their websites.

REVIEWERS Click to see the list of Reviewer biographies for 2009.

PUBLIC PORTFOLIO VIEWING Friday, June 5, 6:00-8:00pm. Free and open to the public, Portfolio Viewing offers an opportunity for the public to view the 100 photographic projects from image-makers who were invited to attend Review Santa Fe 2009. Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM.

FLAK PHOTO CENTER teamed up with Flak Photo, a contemporary photography website highlighting new series work, photo books and gallery exhibitions from established and emerging photographers. In support of Review Santa Fe, Flak Photo editor and Review Santa Fe reviewer, Andy Adams features forty-five of the 2009 photographers in the online gallery from May 27-July 28, 2009.

After New York and Los Angeles, Santa Fe has the third largest art audience in the country.

RENE RICARD: The Torturer's Apprentice

"The George Sanders of the Lower East Side,
the Rex Reed of the art world."
—Andy Warhol

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RENE RICARD is an American poet and painter. Since the early 1970s, Ricard has been one of America's most controversial arbiters of taste. Early on Ricard was one of the major superstars of Andy Warhol’s Factory. He appeared in such classic Warhol films as Kitchen and Chelsea Girls. As a performer, Ricard was a founding participant in the Theater of the Ridiculous, collaborating with John Vaccaro and Charles Ludlam.

In 1979 the Dia Art Foundation published Ricard's first book of poems Rene Ricard 1979-1980 styled on the Tiffany Christmas catalogue. By the early 1980s Ricard achieved status in the art world through his influential essays. His cover articles in ArtForum magazine helped to catapult the careers of many artists such as Keith Haring and Francesco Clemente to the forefront of the 80’s New York art scene. Ricard’s 1981 ArtForum piece “The Radiant Child” brought Jean-Michel Basquiat to fame. In Julian Schnabel's biopic, Basquiat, Ricard was played by actor Michael Wincott.

The majority of Ricard's poems are now created in the form of paintings. His 2008 UK painting exhibition at Scream Gallery was curated by art dealer Vito Schnabel.

Ricard's latest work The Torturers Apprentice opens next week in Andy Spade's New York Half/Gallery.

June 5 - July 8
HALF / GALLERY
208 Forsyth Street
New York • NY • 10079

ArtNet

SARAH WILSON: Blind Prom

Patsy
From the series Blind Prom
Prom Night at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 2008
Photograph (c) Sarah Wilson/All rights reserved.

Chasity and Michael
From the series Blind Prom
Prom Night at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 2008
Photograph (c) Sarah Wilson/All rights reserved.

Last Dance
From the series Blind Prom

Prom Night at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 2008
Photograph (c) Sarah Wilson/All rights reserved.

"People have asked me why I am photographing blind teenagers if they are never going to see the images. I have to remind them that these pictures will be shared with parents and friends – and the students certainly appreciated having somebody there to document how great they looked in their tuxes and tiaras"

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SARAH WILSON was introduced to the blind community in 2005 when she began working as a still photographer and field producer on the PBS-funded film, The Eyes of Me, a documentary about four students attending the Texas School for the Blind in Austin, Texas. Springing from her immersion into this film's new company, Wilson's own series, "Blind Prom," focuses on an American right of passage, the high school prom. Throughout the night she captures candid moments of the prom attendees, while producing their formal portraits. These rich, full-color images express the joy and spirit of, the thrill and intensity for a group of marginalized teens participating in the universal experience of attending a formal prom.

Wilson received her degree in photography from New York University. She was awarded the 2008 PhotoNOLA Review Prize from The New Orleans Photo Alliance for "Blind Prom." Her personal projects include the well known work, "Jasper, Texas: The Road To Redemption", documenting in black and white the aftermath of the brutal dragging death of James Byrd Jr., a shocking hate crime that drew international attention. After a decade in New York City, Wilson now lives back in Austin, Texas.

Sarah Wilson's Upcoming Exhibition
May 28 - July 31, 2009 Foley Gallery 547 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001

Sarah Wilson website
Texas Monthly
An Interview

RATO DRATSANG FOUNDATION: Exhibition

Ven. Nicholas Vreeland with his photograph of Fakirappa with his Bulls
Photo (c) Elizabeth Avedon

Young Rato Monk Memorizing
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreland/All rights reserved

New York City Exhibition: Left to right: Musa Train Klebnikov, author Ptolemy Tompkins, restaurateur David Zinsser, art dealer Sandro Manzo, former US Ambassador Frederick Vreeland, designer Madeline Weinrib, and poet Rene Ricard. Photograph © William Avedon/All rights reserved

(Click to enlarge images) Opening Night Photos here

Nicholas Vreeland with Barneys New York VP Julie Gilhart; in background from left to right: Jimmy Chan, Ptolemy Tompkins with Darren Smith, Won-Hee and Iris Yu, a direct descendant of the past King of Korea. Photograph © William Avedon/All rights reserved

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory. Henri Cartier-Bresson

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NICHOLAS VREELAND'S (BIO) exhibition of photographs taken in India over the 24 years he's been a monk were shown in designer Aurora Lopez Mehia's Talavera Studio this past week in N.Y.C.. This exhibition was organized by the many friends of Vreeland who formed the "Photos For Rato" group to raise funds for the reconstruction of Rato Dratsang, one of Tibet's most prestigious monasteries. The exhibition organizers were art curator Nessia Pope and Priscilla Rattazzi Whittle. Co-hosts Vogue Magazine Fashion Director Tonne Goodman and New York Magazine Design Editor and author Wendy Goodman lent their "elegance and perfection" over seeing the hanging of the show. Anthony Spina and Darren Smith of The Tibet Center, where Vreeland teaches, organized the evenings purchases.

The exhibition consists of twenty photographs selected by Robert Delpire (first publisher of Robert Frank's The Americans in 1958 and the first director of the Centre National de la Photographie in Paris). Each image is part of a limited edition of 25, masterfully printed by Laurent Girard, one of today's best known photographic printers. Girard works with notables such as Bruce Weber, Peter Beard, Susan Meiselas, and Annie Leibovitz, along with many others. The exquisite framing work was donated by framer Pamela Morgan and her assistants, Joe and Jason, donated hours of their own time towards this event.

The evenings eclectic mix of guests included Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe winner Marvin Hamlisch and his wife Terre Blair, the Princess's Pema and Yangchen Namgyal of Sikkim, photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Count Nuno Brandolini d'Adda and his cousin Venturina Gelardin, artist/poet Rene Ricard and art dealer Vito Schnabel, Brazilian painter Sylvia Martins, Barneys New York VP Julie Gilhart, interior designer Susan Forristal and photographers Ellen Forbes Burnie and Adam Bartos. Vreeland's father, former U.S. Ambassador Frederick Vreeland, flew in from Rome and was joined by his grandson The Paris Review's Assistant Editor Reed Vreeland and Nicholas' step brother author Ptolemy Tompkins. Painter Alida Morgan oversaw a gorgeous group of young ladies, including niece Rachael Morgan Peters, Daria Isham and Clelia Peters. Gallery owner Spencer Throckmorton, art dealer Sandro Manzo, painter/designer Madeline Weinrib, Yogi and Yogini power couple Nancy Grabois Arann and Tony Leroy and many others viewed the extraordinary work and socialized with the distinguished crowd. This exhibition travels to the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris for it's May 25th exhibit.

Purchase Photographs for Rato
Wall Street Journal
About Nicholas Vreeland
Karnataka, India Photos