A Photography Blog.

Richard Kalvar, Maine and Me.

2009-01-06T23:01:23Z

excuse the crummy iphone picture quality

I went home to my mom's house in Maine last week and saw an old friend: a postcard that has been tucked in her mirror for a good long while. I think I sent it to her the summer I was a maid on Martha's Vineyard in college.

I did not know who took the picture at the time, and was delighted to turn it over now and see that it was Magnum's own Richard Kalvar.

Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos

Here's the caption info:

Warsop Vale is one of England's largest mining towns. Between 1973 and 1974 it led several strikes protesting against British Prime Minister Edward HEATH's conservative labor policies. 1974.

No mention of what those folks were doing all bent over. In any case, it revived my memory of one of my own pictures:

I just had the need for these two girls to do backbends on the grass that afternoon so I could photograph it. It's like the picture was... already in my mind.

Mystery solved.

Anyone else have a parallel picture experience?

Smile for your Official White House Portrait

2009-01-06T19:06:55Z

Whoa, is that a cat in the White house?! I stopped short the other day at this formal portrait of Socks that accompanied an article about his waning health. Barbara Kinney took the shot. I did a little research and found Barney in a similar pose:

Barney looks distracted. Photographer Alex Cooney should have thrown a shoe (or something) to get his attention.

Just kidding. I'm psyched to see which flavor animal they hoist onto the White House podium next. My guess is that it's going to rhyme with fabazoodle.

My Wikipedia wanderings taught me a lot about presidential pets. And presidential pet names. Really, this record of first dogs can keep you and your friends occupied for hours. Highlights include Calvin Coolidge's impressive roster:

Rob Roy and Prudence Prim - White collies
Paul Pry - Airedale TerrierCalamity Jane - Shetland Sheepdog
Boston Beans - Bulldog
Palo Alto - Bird dog
Rebecca and Horace - Raccoons
Ebeneezer - Donkey
Enoch - Goose
Smoky - Bobcat
Tiger - cat
Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau - lion cubs
Billy - Pygmy hippo
A Wallaby
A Duiker (a very small antelope)
A black bear

ALSO, you'll like to know that John Adams owned a dog named Satan, and George Washington's dog was "Drunkard". The others:

Taster, Tiplet, and Tipsy.

Here are some pet portraits from before things got all formal up on the podium.

Buddy- Chocolate Lab

Millie- Springer Spaniel

Misty Malarky Ying Yang- The Carters' Siamese cat

Rex- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Checkers- Nixon's Cocker Spaniel (oh no!!!)

Liberty- Ford's Golden Retriever

Fala- FDR's Scottish Terrier

Billy- Coolidge's Pygmy Hippo

In memoriam.

Christopher Anderson and the Delicious Foods

2009-01-05T17:56:26Z

Short list of things I love, off the top of my head:

photography
lobster
cheese
sasha obama
glitter
planets
riflery
astronaut ice cream

Seeing as four out of eight of my my favorite things (1/2!) involve food and photography, I appoint myself an expert on food photography. And as said expert, I crown Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson's illustrations for New York Magazine's Where to Eat story the best I've seen in 2009.

Narrative, intriguing, even spooky at times, these images are about more than just the food.

Also: I want to eat that burger.

Also: could Sasha be ~~cooler~~ cuter*?

*the correct answer is no.

Snow, Tumbleweeds, and Yellow.

2008-12-17T01:33:08Z

Today it snowed big globular snowflakes, and the snowflakes stuck. Got to love that magical nature.

For the southern folks with no snow, here are some wayward tumbleweeds:

If you'd like to create your own intervention, perhaps you should put some umbrellas in your tree.

Yellow is my favorite color.

Eleven Darkened Flowers and Un Chat Sauvage

2008-12-16T00:11:20Z

David Axelbank's work wins the oh-so-coveted prize of "most interesting photographs to me on December 15, 2008."

Take a look.

as promised:

There are more cats and more flowers, here.

Oh, Larry Gagosian. Oh, you're on fire.

2008-12-11T22:00:03Z

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #14, 1978

Some blue-chip gallerists are apparently frizeaking out in the current economic climate. I guess people aren't shelling out thousands to get their grandma a Cindy Sherman Film Still this year.

I know this because I read Gawker yesterday and it told me so. Also it showed me a snippet from Larry's memo to his employees:

"If you would like to continue working for Gagosian I suggest you start to sell some art. Everything is going to be evaluated in this new climate based on performances. I basically put in eighteen hours a day, which any number of people could verify. If you are not willing to make that kind of commitment please let me know. The general economy and also the art economy is clearly headed for some choppy waters; I want to make sure that we are the best swimmers on the block. The luxury of carrying under-performing employees is now a thing of the past."

Alex Prager, Annie, 2008

Maybe Larry should check out some other awesome artists whose work doesn't demand five-figure prices. For every Cindy Sherman there's an Alex Prager, after all. And her Film Still includes choppy water, readymade for this choppy water economy!

Lord knows there are several hundred thousand credible Gregory Crewdson copycats.

I think for my own holiday stocking I would like a Thomas Prior print. His models seem a bit more contemporary. And this one likes a face massage, which is one of my favorite things ever:

While I'm at it, I might pick up one of Prior's buildings on fire. 2008 has been the year of the photographic fire, in many ways. Sarah Pickering, Laura McPhee, Steve Cohen, Edgar Martins: everyone's doing it.

I like the black smoke. Suits the meltdown.

And thiiiiiiis, my friends, leads me to my other news note of the day: the John McCain campaign fire sale.

Among the hot deals listed for sale on the price sheet:

- A Dell Latitude D620 laptop for $417.00.
- A Dell Latitude D820 laptop for $570.00.
- Brother multifunction printer for $189.00.
- RIM Blackberry 8700c for $30.00.
- Folding chairs for $3.60 each.
- A 55-cup steel coffee urn for $77.00.
- A power strip for $1.
- Ethernet cables for $1 a pound.

Larry Gagosian, take note: cut-rate Blackberries for your staff, to make sure they're moving those Roger Ballen prints on off hours.

Holiday Trees and More! With Katie Murray and Emily Shur.

2008-12-09T15:36:02Z

I did something my mother would not approve of at all on Saturday; I bought a ~~Christmas~~ Holiday (and Hannukah!) tree.

Then I covered it with 300 lights. I wanted it to be so bright that it took down the whole grid, but 300 lights don't actually go that far. I'm going back to CVS first chance I get to find 600 more.

I felt tremendous guilt about this, and then the requisite twinge of resentment. I mean-- what's more fun than putting a TREE in your living room and making it sparkle?! It's hard to keep that from a person who enjoys an installation.

The picture above is the one that goes with the guilt. It's by Katie Murray and I've loved it forever.

But here's the one that goes with the joy:

It's from the supremely talented Emily Shur. I actually had no idea she had a tree image but I felt an inkling and I went to her site and THERE IT WAS. In all its saxophonic splendor. Also there were some other pictures in the same, clean, colorful vein, and I've included them here for you.

Carson City Nevada

Koi Fish Japan

Perfume New Jersey

South Beach Florida

Apartment Building Hong Kong

Site of Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Memphis

Construction Site Hong Kong

Words of Wisdom Graceland

These are all from Emily's Personal section. It's nice when a successful commercial photographer includes her own work on her site. Especially when it's awesome.

I saw this and thought it odd.

2008-12-09T00:06:09Z

I bet you pulled a face of puzzlement on Thursday too, when you saw Vladimir Putin on the cover of the Times with a baby and a lady with curlers. I mean, how inexplicable!

But it made me click. I was not less confused when I read the headline:

"Economy is Subject as Putin is Peppered"

See? :

Is a photo editor getting loopy on 4pm cheesy poofs and going nuts in the Getty grid?

I clicked again to see it bigger.

Putin's face really is something to behold. Nice catch, Alexander Nemenov. What does this image say about Putin's public? Adoring?

Oblivious?

And what does it say about the Times?

It smells like a Russian riddle to me.

This Won't Hurt a Bit.

2008-12-04T22:59:30Z

Ok ok ok, I KNOW I have been a tremendously delinquent blogger, and I plead for your forgiveness. You've all been so helpful with the ~~pestering~~ kind words, and I promise to do my very best to get back on track asap.

I have a real, live, grown up job now, and my free time has been squozen into a few hours a week. But we will persevere, etc etc.

Here are three things I like. I will go think of more and show them to you tomorrow.

x, R

photo by John Vachon

photo by Solve Sundsbo

photo by Finn O'Hara

PS!

Did you get Tom or Katie on the cover of your NY Times Mag this weekend? I got neither. I think the mailman filched it. But here's the point: Solve Sundsbo took these pictures. First the bird feathers, and then Katie! When it rains it pours, Solve.

I did the thing that I do sometimes and searched for Solve on youtube. Here's what I got. The lady looks sad, no?

Fiona Aboud and the New York Baby Magic

2008-11-13T00:49:13Z

I squealed with delight when I saw the Obama baby on New York Magazine's cover last night, and I registered even more excitement when I saw the photographer was my pal Fiona Aboud. Turns out Fiona got this fist pump wholly by luck, though she does have some experience capturing the gesture from one of her own twins. Anyhoo, I'll let Fiona explain it all to you:

"The parents of this baby already had this Obama shirt and so naturally we shot it. It was really just the case of being ready and having all of the pieces in front of you. I think it is one of the first times I have ever seen a newborn on the cover of the magazine. The photo editors were brilliant for having the vision to put this together. I have gotten a tremendous response and I have been promoting like crazy this week.

Basically what happened was Tuesday evening I got a call from NY Magazine asking me if I could go and photograph babies at some hospitals. Nothing was confirmed at this point, and the next day I got a call saying that Lenox Hill hospital was available in the afternoon. It was challenging because I was not sure If I would be going room to room or be shooting in one room. Also I tried to use the minimum amount of flash because newborn eyes are so sensitive. I had about 2-5 min with each baby or until they started screaming for food (I got a couple of great screaming shots!) When I got home I retouched and sent in the shots immediately.

The next day I went to Harlem Hospital in the morning and shot the next bundles. And then I had to deliver the images that night-- so the whole job was done shooting, retouching etc. in less than 48 hours. In terms of the baby with the fist in the air-- newborns do the craziest stuff with their arms/hands because they have no control over their body. One of my twins used to do what I called a Che fist (see a photo in my personal section on my website) so I was delighted to see that this baby also had that inclination."

little Aboud.

Go babies!

CS4, You Intrigue Me.

2008-11-10T01:08:10Z

I was an old dog learning new tricks this morning, experimenting with image optimization in Photoshop. I have two words for you: High Pass.

Who knew?!

In any case, this ad from Adobe crossed my desk later in the day, and it was so apropos. Well done, Adobe. May I please have CS4 for an affordable price? k thx.

Update: Commenter Edward sets me straight:

FYI the above photo is not from adobe. It's from an agency in Jakarta, Indonesia doing a campaign promoting the use of original software instead of pirated.

agency : Bates141 Jakarta
creative director : Hendra Lesmono
art director : Andreas Junus & Irawandhani Kamarga
copywriter : Darrick Subrata
photgrapher : Anton Ismael

Now that's the truth.

Thank you, Damon Winter

2008-11-04T15:38:23Z

I've been following Times photographer Damon Winter's coverage of Obama's campaign from the beginning, and I'll miss his imagery.

If you didn't catch it the first time, check out this slide show chronicling his experience on the road.

Joel Barhamand: Stuck in a Strange Loop

2008-11-04T14:33:31Z

Joel Barhamand's series Stuck in a Strange Loop sums up the electoral process well. It's all rather odd and searching, and in the end, one candidacy emerges victorious from the cabbage patch, and one candidacy dies.

Today is like sitting in a bathtub filled with fried chicken. Uncomfortably itchy, yet thrilling.

Here's hoping we all make it through.

See more of Joel's work here.

Halloween! Susana Raab!

2008-10-31T15:11:37Z

It's Halloween! Are you going to transform yourself? I think I may scrawl a letter on my cheek and blacken my eye.

Susana Raab understands transformation pretty well. No one captures a gaggle of Colonels or a bladder-relieved superhero better. Hats off to you, Raab: you're our Halloween photographic inspiration.

Have a look:

ouch.

See more of Susana Raab's work, here.

The Innocents at Home, with Michael Williamson

2008-10-30T15:26:59Z

Michael Williamson explores the voting habits and fears of folks in Montana in the Washington Post in this photo essay.

Here are my favorite two pictures.

Deer and Hair! These things are very important to people.

In somewhat related news, if you want to laugh laugh cry, listen to this.