FEATURED
The Problem with Western Press Photo
Feb 12, 2012
A few thoughts on World Press Photo and its rather limited view of the world
Review: Notes from a Quiet Life by Robert Benjamin
Feb 10, 2012
A review of Notes from a Quiet Life by Robert Benjamin
Meghann Junell Riepenhoff
Feb 8, 2012
Photograms usually leave me cold. The ones by Meghann Junell Riepenhoff (this one from Instar), however, are spectacular. (via Hippolyte Bayard)
Laura El-Tantawy
Feb 1, 2012
I Will Die For You is a project by Laura El-Tantawy about the many thousands of Indian farmers who committed suicide over the past decade.
Meditations on Photographs: A woman sits for a final photograph with her dying mother
Jan 30, 2012
A meditation on a photograph entitled A woman sits for a final photograph with her dying mother
Articles
Meditations on Photographs: Antietam, Md. Confederate dead in a ditch on the right wing by Alexander Gardner
Feb 22, 2012 – There is the idea that photography steals the soul. We think that is a childish, a primitive belief. But photography’s, or more accurately the camera’s presence has a strange power over us that is not that far from stealing our soul. I had to think of that when I came across this photograph while researching images for a class on the history of photography. This is a photograph by Alexander Gardner entitled Antietam, Md. Confederate dead in a ditch on the right wing, one of the many the photographer produced around that Civil War battle (see the technical notes at the very bottom for more information about it). Find the full piece here.
Contemporary European Photography
Sergey Chilikov
Feb 22, 2012 – Sergey Chilikov has been photographing first in the Soviet Union and now in Russia for over thirty years. Find more samples of his work here and here, plus an interview with the artist here.
Contemporary European Photography
Ezio D’Agostino
Feb 21, 2012 – “14.644 is the number of people who have disappeared in Italy since 1975. Approximately 400 per year, more than one every day. Until now, none of them have been found. The reasons for the disappearance remain undetermined, but all of these cases fits one definition: voluntary estrangement.” - Ezio D’Agostino about 14.644.
Feeling Social Enough Yet?
Feb 20, 2012 – First there was Facebook. Then, there was Twitter. Then Tumblr. Then Google+. Now Pinterest. Maybe I’m getting the order wrong here. But whatever it might be, photographers are told they need to actively pursue so-called social networking, because that’s the game in town now. I can’t escape the feeling, however, that we need to put an end to the madness and say that enough is enough. How many more social-networking accounts does one need? Things have become so bizarre by now that often clicking on a Twitter link takes you to a Tumblr page linking to some other site linking to… (You might know the same game from Facebook or Google+) What’s the point of posting the same stuff on five, six, seven different sites? (more)
A Letter from London: Immortal Nature @ Edel Assanti
Feb 20, 2012 – In Edel Assanti’s current exhibition Immortal Nature, the esoteric architecture of the gallery space plays host to three mythological realms. The exhibition’s pre-occupation is one of tension with the natural world. Three humanly constructed territories; the Underworld, Earth and the Afterlife, show us glimpses of civilisation’s ever-present and ever-changing relationship with the earth we inhabit. (more)
Amanda Boe
Feb 20, 2012 – This is an image from Amanda Boe’s Midwest Meets West, documenting South Dakota.
New photobook presentations (Weeks 6/7, 2012)
Feb 17, 2012 – New photobook presentations from the past two weeks: Being Dutch by Koos Breukel , Things Here And Things Still To Come by Jose Pedro Cortes, A New Kind of Beauty by Phillip Toledano, Cette Montagne C’est Moi by Witho Worms, and Eight Days by Venetia Dearden. The easiest and most convenient way to browse through all the videos I’ve done so far is to go to my YouTube channel. Enjoy!
The Problem with Western Press Photo updated
Feb 17, 2012 – Fridays are reserved for photobooks, but once I’ll make an exception. I just updated my article The Problem with Western Press Photo (scroll down to the bottom) to respond to some criticism.
Contemporary German Photography
Christian Kryl
Feb 16, 2012 – Christian Kryl’s Top of the World shows wealthy people enjoying themselves in the posh Swiss resort town St. Moritz.
Meditations on Photographs: Jacob Israel Avedon, Sarasota, Florida, May 15, 1971
Feb 15, 2012 – Our memories are our own personal histories. As we age, they accumulate, usually in flattering, merciful ways. This is how Nature has our brains operate, to allow us to preserve a modicum of dignity (or what we think dignity might be). On the other side, the literally other side: the surface of the skull, Nature tends to be less kind. Here, we cannot easily hide that which we do not want to share. In our faces, we see our history, we see what life has done to us. As we age, we age visibly. Find the full piece here.
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Conscientious Extended
Longer articles and interviews about fine-art photography and extended interviews with its leading practitioners.
Meditations on Photographs: Antietam, Md. Confederate dead in a ditch on the right wing by Alexander Gardner
There is the idea that photography steals the soul. We think that is a childish, a primitive belief. But photography’s, or more accurately the camera’s presence has a strange power over us that is not that far from stealing our soul. I had to think of that when I came across this photograph while researching images for a class on the history of photography. This is a photograph by Alexander Gardner entitled Antietam, Md. Confederate dead in a ditch on the right wing, one of the many the photographer produced around that Civil War battle (see the technical notes at the very bottom for more information about it). (more)
By Joerg Colberg | Feb 22, 2012