Sep/090
a brave new world
Click on the image above to see "Trapped", a film from photojournalist Jenn Ackerman.
Another great series is "Positive Lives", which highlights the stories of people living with HIV.
..............
After weeks of getting to know the clients at Project PLASE in Balitmore, Thursday I'm finally showing up with gear and doing some 4x5 portraits. In another week or so I hope to have a few audio interviews completed, and as I spend my time with them and gather the images and interviews I need to try to tell their story ... all to try to give my audience the rich feeling of what it is to meet them face-to-face ... as I do this, finding pieces like Jenn's keep me motivated and inspired.
Jul/090
Dominique Palombo
My friend Dominique has taught me a great deal about what matters most in photography, and when I was shooting in Paris he passed me the info for the most amazing assistant: a man named Alex. For that, I owe him a great deal.
Dominique knows the craft. After twenty or so years at it since graduating with a classical education in arts and photography, he's a master of the use of light, curves, and color palettes. But what makes his images really great are the moments he captures. He's a cinema director who just happens to use a still camera. Visiting his NYC apartment some time ago before he moved to Paris, I was struck by how clean and organized he was - both in his space and his workflow (sparing no expense on finely calibrated monitors, printers, and a viewing station with the right color temperature for proof prints). Despite his perfectionist nature, what for him makes a truly intriguing image isn't the aesthetic, but the moment you catch and the power and story itconveys.
Jul/090
really telling the story
Last weekend I covered the All Good Festival in West Virginia with the idea of telling the story of the people rather than the bands. It could've been the fact that I'm not such a huge fan of jam bands anyway but more a fan of people, camping, and WV in general, but people watching is naturally mesmerizing.
And then this morning I found Dave Burnett's coverage of the Apollo moon mission on NYTimes photo blog. Now he knows how to cover a crowd.
(click on photo for blog)
Mar/090
The Subtlties
Looking through an editorial in the new Vogue Germany of Georgina Stojiljkovic by Alexi Lubomirski, and I'm struck by this beautiful toning and blooming highlights, as well as falloff indicative of large-format glass. I've found myself in the habit of scrutiny - of needing to know whether it was done in digital. For sure, it would take a genius and someone with a seasoned eye to recreate this look with a combination of fast glass, post, and perhaps some promist filtering. But .... does it matter? Has the process ever mattered? Regardless of whether it's painted, filmed, shot, captured, synthesized, or grown in a petri dish, the final result is this ... magic.
EDIT: since I first posted this, I had the opportunity to work on set with Alexi and his team, and over a long shop talk conversation with his first assistant Rose, I got my answer about whether they were shot to digital or not ... though I'm not telling.
Having just returned from there myself, this collection tells the story of the beauty inherent in a part of Miami that remains timeless in the textures of linen and palm tree, lit by a sun that can't decide whether its continental or caribbean.
And the magic isn't only in the aesthetic, but in the pose. There's a quality to the postures here that show mastery. Poses like these (more of Steven Meisel's January 08 shoot with Guinevere van Seenus for Vogue Italia).
Jan/090
Lillian Bassman
Today they'd be called overprocessed - but this woman is a genius in the darkroom, creating paintings, not prints.
Jan/091
Tony Duran
The color and tones are mellow and symphonic. The shadows like mousse - the highlights, radiance. Plus he directs well, gaining awkward and unbearably adorable poses. Only ... is it just me or are the whites of the eyes just too alien white?
Favorite
NYTimes Photography Blog
- Pictures of the Day: West Bank and Elsewhere 9 September, 2010Ramadan and Rosh Hashana are observed. […]By THE NEW YORK TIMES
- Medieval Flagellation in an Italian Town 9 September, 2010The images are medieval but Roberto Boccaccino shot them only a month ago, as Daniel J. Wakin reports. […]By DANIEL J. WAKIN
- When the Shah of Iran Took the Pictures 8 September, 2010Newsha Tavakolian was inspired by an intimate series of photos taken by the shah of Iran. Yes, the shah. […]By KERRI MACDONALD and AMANDA RIVKIN
- Pictures of the Day: On a Chinese Oil Rig and Elsewhere 8 September, 2010Oil workers were perched precariously but the oil company said no oil had been spilled. […]By RAYMOND MCCREA JONES
- Mourning at the Scene of a Stabbing 8 September, 2010At the scene of a stabbing in Manhattan, a little girl mourned a young woman she didn't know. […]By KERRI MACDONALD and ANGEL FRANCO