ISA LESHKO: Elderly Animals

Pumpkin, Age 28
Photograph (c) Isa Leshko /All Rights Reserved

Finn Sheep, Age 12
Photograph (c) Isa Leshko /All Rights Reserved

Waterscape Series, Waterscape 1
Photograph (c) Isa Leshko /All Rights Reserved

Pulitzer Prize winning photo critic, Mark Feeney, wrote about Leshko's work in a review of the current shows at the Griffin Museum on Boston.com. A Conversation with Isa here.

Isa Leshko's Thrills & Chills Exhibition
Griffin Museum of Photography to May 9th
Recent News About Isa

NICHOLAS VREELAND: A Monks PhotoJournal April 2010

Train to New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Buddha

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Train from New Jersey
Photograph (c) Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: April 2010

New Jersey: Venerable Nicholas Vreeland, Director of The Tibet Center (the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City founded by Khyongla Rato Rinpoche), sent photos from his recent stop-over in New Jersey with Rinpoche while they prepare for His Holiness The Dalai Lama's visit to New York in May. The Tibet Center and Richard Gere's Healing The Divide organization will co-host His Holiness The Dalai Lama's Teachings at Radio City Music Hall in NYC May 20-23, 2010. Purchase Tickets.

A Monk's PhotoJournal: March 2010
A Monk's PhotoJournal: Dec 2009

Nicholas Vreeland Bio
Rato Dratsang Foundation Photographs For Sale
An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama, Edited by Nicholas Vreeland

SEBASTIAN LI EVENTS: Homegrown Tulips for Spring!

Photograph (c) Sebastian Li

Photograph (c) Sebastian Li

Photograph (c) Sebastian Li

SEBASTIAN LI EVENTS

Homegrown flowers from my friend Sebastian Li's own garden. Sebastian (named after Evelyn Waugh's character in Brideshead Revisited by his mother, painter Poco Murphy) comes from a long line of avant-garde artists and film makers. His maternal Grandmother, Katherine Hawley Murphy, was an Isadora Duncan dancer and famous model for photographers Man Ray and Arnold Genthe. His Grandfather, film director Dudley Murphy, is best remembered for his films St. Louis Blues (1929) with Bessie Smith, Black and Tan Fantasy (1929) with Duke Ellington and Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (1933), starring Paul Robeson. Dudley collaborated on projects with French artist Fernand Léger, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. He opened Malibu's first hip watering hole, The Holiday House, designed by architect Richard Neutra. In the early '60s you'd find Lee Marvin, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and dozens of others at his hideaway. (More about Dudley Murphy and Malibu via Sebastian's uncle Michael Murphy).

As an Event Planner, Sebastian offers distinctive designs and production for every occasion. His design philosophy is to make events “clean and elegant with high visual impact.” Fresh flowers, fragrant greenery and spectacular trees for private homes, commercial settings and holiday events.

SEBASTIAN LI EVENTS

New York and East Hampton

CHRIS VERENE: Town Hall Meeting April 29

Family Chris Verene • Twin Palms Publishers
Monograph 80 Four-color Plates 120 Pages May 2010

My Twin Cousin's Husband's Brother's Cousin's Cousins
Photograph (c) Chris Verene /All Rights Reserved

The Pregnancy Test
Photograph (c) Chris Verene /All Rights Reserved

"CHRIS VERENE: TOWN HALL MEETING" April 29 NYC

Chris Verene hosts a group discussion and performance expanding on his new documentary photography book, "Family," which chronicles twenty-six years of his family and their struggling community of Galesburg, Illinois. More about the book here.

Thursday, April 29th, 6:30pm-8:30pm
POSTMASTERS GALLERY
459 West 19th Street (at 10th Avenue) NYC 10011

PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI: Contemporary Finnish Photography

Cilento, Italy, 1999
Photograph © Pentti Sammallahti/ All rights reserved

Helsinki, Finland, 1973
Photograph © Pentti Sammallahti/ All rights reserved

Solovki, White Sea, Russia, 1992
Photograph © Pentti Sammallahti/ All rights reserved

Varanasi, India, 1999
Photograph © Pentti Sammallahti/ All rights reserved

Vicki Bohannon, photo-eye Galleries Photographer-at-Large (Vicki creates those perfect Book Tease's as well as redesigning and rebuilding the Gallery space for every new installation), has been a great champion of Pentti Sammallahti long before he became well known outside of photography circles. His exquisite toned gelatin-silver prints are often wait listed.

"Pentti Sammallahti is a benchmark figure in contemporary Finnish photography. His works depict nature eroded and broken down by civilization, but he does not put man and the environment in opposite camps. He sees an equal relationship, in which the power of brotherhood stemming from the environment frees man of his alienation and cosmic loneliness. Sammallahti is also known as a passionate seeker of the perfect printing method. The Opus series, launched by him, is an integral feature of contemporary Finnish book art."–photo-eye

Pentti Sammallahti Photo-Eye Gallery Book

NYC PHOTO SALON: Presenting Their Own Work

Photograph © Gabriela Herman/ All rights reserved

Photograph © Gabriela Herman/ All rights reserved

Photograph © Gabriela Herman/ All rights reserved

Last night I attended the monthly NYC Photo Salon for the first time. 8 photographers spoke about their work while presenting slides for about 15 minutes; Sharon Core, Gabriela Herman, Roxanne Lowit, Amy Peck, Elizabeth Raab, Celia Pomerantz, Fredda Gordon and Jay Maisel. Facebook: NYC Photo Group Salon. On the 3rd Wednesday of every month, 6:30 PM, 15 White St NYC

RIJKSMUSEUM: Radiant Madonnas April 21

A restorer works on the painting Ariadne on Naxos (16th century), by the Italian painter Girolamo dai Libri, in the studio of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Photograph©EPA/MARCEL ANTONISSE.

The photograph above isn't part of any photo contest or fine art exhibition, but I love the whole scene. It arrived via the artdaily blog where you can read the entire piece.

"The Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, has launched an ambitious restoration program. Masterpieces specially selected from their collection will undergo an intensive restoration process to ensure that they shine like never before by the time the museum’s main building re-opens in 2013...The initial results of this work go on display April 21, 2010 in the Philips Wing where the Rijksmuseum will be exhibiting the Radiant Madonnas – three round Italian Renaissance paintings that have been restored with the help of the latest research methods and will be presented as ‘reborn acquisitions from the museum’s own collection’."

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Contemporary Dutch Artists: The Dutch As Seen in NYC and
Inez van Lamsweerde, Vinoodh Matadin and Eugene van Lamsweerde

STEPHEN MALLON: Earth Day In Grand Central Terminal April 21-24

Weeks 297, 2008
Photograph (c) Stephen Mallon /All Rights Reserved

Virginia, 2008
Photograph (c) Stephen Mallon /All Rights Reserved

Stephen Mallon Prints on display at Grand Central Station Apr 21 - 24th

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Two images from my upcoming New York solo show "Next Stop Atlantic" will be on display at Grand Central Station, courtesy of The Metropolitan Transit Authority, in conjunction with Earth Day, April 22nd. These images are from the artificial reef project of the MTA to form sanctuaries for marine life by using former subway cars deep in the Atlantic ocean to form steel condos for fish! You can see a documentary on how they look Underwater Here. I am really honored that they are on display at Grand Central Station! – Stephen Mallon

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Giant Earth Images: This show illuminates Grand Central's soaring main concourse with inspiring environmentally themed quotes, messages, photographs and graphic images contributed by artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, and Rafal Olbinski, among others. The show, projected onto two of the north columns in the concourse, runs 10 hours a day.

EarthFair Outdoors: April 23rd and April 24th; A two-day festival of art, music and the environment on Vanderbilt Ave. A large exhibit area highlighting green businesses, organic food and environmental groups, EarthFair also features live music.

Stephen Mallon "Next Stop-Atlantic"

Exhibition Opens Sept 10 2010

Front Room Gallery

ALEXEY TITARENKO: Saint Petersburg

#1 Untitled (Boy), 1993

Photograph © Alexey Titarenko/ All rights reserved

# 5 Untitled (Zigzag Crowd), 1994
Photograph © Alexey Titarenko/ All rights reserved

#7 Untitled (Three Women Selling Cigarettes), 1992
Photograph © Alexey Titarenko/ All rights reserved

#3 Untitled (Crowd 1), 1992
Photograph © Alexey Titarenko/ All rights reserved

"A crowd of people flowing near the subway station formed a sort of human sea, providing me with a feeling of non-reality, a phantasmagoria. These people resembled shadows from the underworld, a world visited by Aeneas, Virgil’s character. My impressions as well as my emotional state were enormously profound and long lasting. I felt an intense urge to articulate this suffering and despair, to visualize the “peopleghosts,” to awaken empathy and love for my native city’s inhabitants, people who have been constantly victimized and ruined during the course of the twentieth century."

–Alexey Titarenko

ALEXEY TITARENKO: Saint Petersburg in Four Movements
Through April 24, 2010
NAILYA ALEXANDER GALLERY

LISA GALT BOND: An East Village Corner

Tompkins Sq. Park
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

Tompkins Sq. Park
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

2nd Avenue Mosaic
Jim Power, known as the Mosaic Man, with Jesse Jane
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

2nd Avenue Mosaic Lamppost
Jim Power, known as the Mosaic Man, with Jesse Jane
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

Love Slave
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

Dress Shoppe, Second Ave at 5th St
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

Dress Shoppe, Second Ave at 5th St
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

Street Doll, 2010
Photograph © Lisa Galt Bond/ All rights reserved

"Chet was like the sirens," said Lisa Galt Bond, referring to the mythic temptresses whose singing lured sailors to a dire fate. "He had a seductive, mystical sound that people responded to. But to follow the voice of the sirens was to be held captive, or end up dead."

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Poet Lisa Galt Bond collaborated with her friend, jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, on an unfinished memoir. She later contributed her unpublished Chet Baker autobiographical notes and interviews to author James Gavins' major Baker biography, Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker.

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Bond has been documenting the changing face of her East Village neighborhood for years. She has a rich history on the Lower East Side, going back to the days when the Bowery was not the trendy scene it is today. There were only two havens in the midst of skid-row before CBGB's, Phoebe's and the 70's Jazz Scene of the Tin Palace cafe. "Bond co-founded and performed with the Tin Palace All Stars, a group of poets and jazz musicians featuring Richie Cole, Paul Pines, Eddie Jefferson, Margot da Silva and Frank Murphy, with whom she co-founded Fox Press and Fox Magazine, and which later published Geography of the Erotic Body by Margot da Silva. Bond founded Express Press. She was co-founder (with Rick Borgia of Mink DeVille) of Hypnotech Productions, a studio that did sound tracks for movies.

Poet Paul Blackburn, dazzled by Bond's work, sent a tape of one of her readings to John Sinclair who then published In Sight, her first book, through his Artist's Workshop Press in Detroit. D.R. Wagner published her second book, Radar (Niagara Press). Her poems have also been published in IS, The Harris Review, Gaviota (Amsterdam).

Lyricist and Musical Producer, Lisa co-produced The Great Jazz Series at St. Mark's Church which featured concerts by Eddie Jefferson and Richie Cole, Leon Thomas, and Joe Lee Wilson in the late seventies. With Gerry de Burca she produced Biting the Apple, a cassette collection of poetry by New York and European poets."

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Chet Baker biographer, James Gavin, also author of Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne (one of Oprah's 2009 Top 25 Summer Reads), writes of Bond, "My dear Bohemian friend, you ARE New York to me: hip, smart, curious, vibrant, passionate, multi-talented, and resilient. For all that goes on in your fascinating self-created world, you are never too busy to extend a generous and caring hand. Thank you for always reminding me of why this town is the only home for me. Love, Jim G."

Happy Birthday LGB+R: Jim said it best for all of us!
Chet Baker on YouTube - MosaicMan on YouTube

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS GALLERY BOOKSHOP: Poloroid Film Launch April 24

Two Girls, Photograph © Anna Fox/ All rights reserved

Anna Fox was one of the four photographers shortlisted for the prestigious Deutsche Borse 2010 Photography Prize. Her work is included in the 2010 catalog published by The Photographers Gallery and sold in their Bookshop.

PX 100 Silver Shade

The Photographers Gallery Bookshop: A new type of black and white instant film for all SX-70 format Polaroid cameras is available in the Bookshop. Although it is a monochrome film, the results are often sepia toned and can even be pale or orange tinted depending on exposure and temperature. It can be manipulated for a range of artistic effects.

The Photographers Gallery Bookshop: the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize catalog's. The 2010 catalog introduces the work of the four shortlisted photographers nominated for the 2010 Photography Prize: Anna Fox, Zoe Leonard, Sophie Ristelhueber (awarded the 2010 Prize) and Donovan Wylie.

"In early 2008 Polaroid ceased production of its instant film. The Impossible Project is a group of enthusiasts and former employees who, in October 2008, took over Polaroid’s factory in Enschede in The Netherlands. Their aim is to keep analogue instant photography alive by producing brand new types of instant films compatible with the original Polaroid cameras. After seventeen months of research and development, The Impossible Project announced that it had succeeded in its task of reproducing a new analogue instant film for traditional Polaroid cameras, saving millions of perfectly functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete. The launch of the new film by The Impossible Project means that the future of analogue instant photography, an extremely popular medium, is now secure. The first of The Impossible Project’s brand new instant films is available exclusively in the UK from The Photographers’ Gallery Bookshop."

The best photography bookshop in Europe –The Times

The Photographers' Gallery Bookshop is holding a launch event for the new Impossible Project films on Saturday 24 April. Customers will be able to test the films and will also receive 10% off of all Impossible Project and Polaroid products and a free Polaroid bag with purchases.

PX 100 Silver Shade a black and white film for all SX-70 format Polaroid cameras. This is a completely new type of instant film with a number of unusual characteristics. Although it is a monochrome film the results are often sepia toned and can even be pale or orange tinted depending on exposure and temperature. It can also be manipulated for a range of artistic effects.

PX600 Silver Shade for Polaroid 600 format cameras will be available soon to be followed by color 100 and 600 film and color and monochrome film for 1200/Image/Spectra cameras. The Photographers’ Gallery Bookshop will be stocking all of these films along with a range of original Polaroid cameras and films.

Through May 2

The Deutsche Börse 2010 Photography Prize Exhibition
The Photographers' Gallery, London

BRYAN MELTZ: Rural Haiti March 2010

Los Palis, Haiti. March 26, 2010
Photograph © Bryan Meltz/ All rights reserved

A 2 year old is brought into the Los Palis Health Clinic by her grandmother for severe malnutrition. The girl's parents abandoned their daughter and the grandmother is too poor to provide for the child. Photograph © Bryan Meltz/ All rights reserved

Outside Port au Prince, Haiti
Photograph © Bryan Meltz/ All rights reserved

Los Palmas, Haiti
Photograph © Bryan Meltz/ All rights reserved

"This is the first series of a new project documenting the ongoing public health crisis following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 230,000 people, left 1 million homeless, and sent 600,000 to the rural countryside.

On March 20, 2010, I traveled to Central Haiti with a group of doctors and medical professionals from the Haiti Humanitarian Fund who have been working in the region for over a decade, and documented the challenges facing this vast and chronically poor region where centuries of deforestation have left only 2 percent of it's original cover, making it almost impossible for farmers to grow enough food to feed their families.

In May I will be working with Dr. Bob Paeglow in Port au Prince and in June with Dr. Alewe Oladele of The Andrew Young GIANT Global Initiative in Grand Goave."–Photographer Bryan Meltz

Also view Bryan Meltz: African Resettlement in Clarkson, Georgia