Shawn Records talks to Jason Fulford and Alec Soth about book publishing.
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A few days after the Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated in early April 1945, German civilians from the nearby town of Weimar were made to tour the camp, to see with their own eyes what had happened just a few miles from their homes. On one of these days, photographer Margaret Burke-White was present, to record such a visit (see this link; in the above image, that’s MBW taking a reading with her light meter). Up until the Allies’ armies found the many concentration camps, photographers had covered the war in the usual ways, with the usual imagery. But at the camps, the liberators were staring into an abyss of utter horror, and much to their credit the photographers did not hesitate to record it so that everybody could see. The people of Weimar were made to see. Everybody else, who was not there, was made to see, too - newspapers and magazines all over the world reprinted the photographs taken by Margaret Burke-White and her colleagues.
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I’m sure you have seen this already, but just in case you haven’t… (via) Update (9 March 2010): Also see this link.
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I had been looking for Roger Ballen’s Outland for a while, being under the impression that the first edition was actually sold out (I think someone had actually told me it was sold out). This past weekend, I found a copy, a 2009 reissue, in New York. However, having done a little research online, it looks like the original 2001 edition never sold out? And I also couldn’t find anything about a 2009 reissue. So regardless, if you’re looking for Outland you can simply order it.
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Ray Dowd has some very smart comments on the recent Korean War Veteran’s Memorial fair-use case.
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Those interested in on-demand book publishing might want to look at this page: Eighteen different companies rated (according to criteria not listed, so things are frustratingly vague if you want to get an idea what the scores really mean; link via). Also note the post seems to have been written from the perspective of a commercial photo editor, so fine-art people might want to take that into account when reading the text around the scores.
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You’re taking a great photo of some explosion because you happen to be there, and then you decide to give it to the New York Times, with exclusive rights. Sounds like a great idea? Well, check out this post by Rob.
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I’m sure you’re familiar with Charles Lane Press, the independent book publishing house started by Richard Renaldi and Seth Boyd (full disclosure: Richard, Seth and I are friends). If you’ve ever thought about or actually produced a self-published book, you know that getting books printed is very, very expensive. In order to raise more funds for Charles Lane Press, Richard and Seth have now started Schoolhouse Editions, where you can buy prints and support the press and its future releases. There are three prints to be had, from photographers in different stages of their careers: “Old School”, “Middle School”, and “Kindergarten” “New School”. Have a look!
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Via the Smithsonian’s blog I found this very interesting article about “compressed sensing.” I’ve long been interested in the mathematics that underlies image processing (incl. compression), and given the many applications for this it’s just incredibly fascinating. Update (3 March 2010): Nuit Blanche has much more about it, for example here. (thank you, Tatsu!)
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When I started posting about similar images (see this post plus the links inside it) I had a simple set of goals: To mention all the various aspects, while not having it take over this blog. Turns out you can’t have the former, without forgetting about the latter for a while. There is yet another area where recreating work done by an artist seems to be very common: Advertizing. Here are just two recent examples (there are countless more): Corey Presha just blogged about Thomas Allen getting copied by an ad agency (make sure to follow the link to Allen’s original blog post). And a reader (thank you!) sent me Denis Darzacq’s La Chute getting copied by this Cat Earthmovers Campaign.
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I have a pretty good idea how many people read this blog, but it’s hard for me to tell who those readers are. From the emails I receive, I know of many photographers following the blog, and I have some ideas about/from gallerists, photo editors, or museum curators. The group I literally I know next to nothing about are photo collectors. Do they follow this - or other - blog(s)? I don’t know. For me, this is a bit unfortunate, since I often talk to people to get different perspectives of issues that come up. Getting the input from photographers, gallerists, and/or other bloggers usually means that I get to see different sides of the same story; and I think there is a lot to be gained from seeing more than one side.
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If you read this blog regularly, I’m sure you familiar with Foam, which is easily one of the best - if not the best - magazine dedicated to contemporary photography. Every year, Foam dedicated one issue to their Talent issue; if you want to be one of those people check out this page.
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“Being in the right place just isn’t enough for me as a photographer. I want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the boring time maybe, and still somehow say something.” - Ian Aleksander Adams
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There’s a lengthy article in the LA Times about the ongoing conflict between photographers Sze Tsung Leong and David Burdeny, which details how this actually involved, various previously unknown details, and opinions by various people, some involved in the case, others not. If you’re interested in the case, go and read it. Another must-read is a blog post by Sérgio Muñoz Sarmiento about the case. Sérgio maintains a blog about art and law, a must-read for anyone interested in copyright and/or fair use and especially about the various legal cases in front of judges. I know about copyright and fair use, but I actually had no idea how a case like Burdeny vs. Leong would/might play out, so I asked Sérgio about it. It will be interesting to see how this case is going to evolve.
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“Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rightly decided that the US Post Office’s use of an image, based on a copyrighted sculpture, was not fair use. As a result, the Federal Circuit’s decision holds that the US Post Office is liable to the sculptor and remands the case back to the trial court so that damages may be determined. […] The Center for Internet Society (‘CIS’) filed an amicus on behalf of the Andy Warhol Foundation, and several other amici […]. In the amici, the CIS unsuccessfully argued that the US Post Office’s use was fair use, ‘We think fair use does and should protect this right, which is crucial to huge amounts of expression, including vast amounts of modern art.’” - story Update: Also make sure to read this post.
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There’s a post over at foto8 that states: “What we find incongruous is that we are unsure of the basic moral position of the author in relation to the socially significant subject matter.” As a generalized statement, this strikes me as flawed. For some work it might be a problem, for other work is will not be a problem. In particular, the question at the very end “Is it in fact not the case that documentary photography demands a moral position on the part of the photographer?” seems to contain a whiff of nostalgia for the good old days, when there were always clear divisions, and you knew which side was good and which side was bad. I view documentary photography that covers the gray areas, where things aren’t always only good or only bad, as quite an improvement, especially in the light of the vastly increased visual literacy of the average viewer.
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You might never heard of the Goethe Institute (you might actually never heard of Goethe - kidding, kidding) in New York City. Its reference librarian, Katherine Lorimer, happens to be an amateur photographer and reader of this blog, and she emailed me to tell me that they got a pretty solid selection of photography books (apart from books about contemporary German literature, film, art and history). Due to their mission (they’re funded by the German government), they only carry German artists. But you can use their library if you want. In-house use is free, and if you want to take books out you need an annual membership ($10/year - quite the steal!). Frau Lorimer sent me an impressive list of their recent 100 acquisitions, but it’ll be more fun for you to maybe just check it out in person. All the Düsseldorf stuff and much more. They’re at 72 Spring Street, 11th Floor, and they’re open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2-7pm, Fridays from noon to 5pm, and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm (What? A German library open on a Saturday? What is this?).
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A final (?) follow-up to my recent series of posts on similar photography (1, 2, 3, 4): This subject matter obviously can only benefit from the input of as many active photographers as possible, so I decided to email a few (I wasn’t aiming for a representative sample, whatever that might actually be) and ask “As a photographer, how do you define plagiarism? Where do similarities end, where does plagiarism begin? How can we approach the issue, given that some images might be too similar for some people, whereas other people insist that similarities are unavoidable in this day and age?” Here is what I got back. My thanks to all of them for taking the time and willingness to share their thoughts with the readers of this blog! If anyone wants to add their voice, email me, and I’m happy to have the post grow in size.
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An interesting post about photography and public art. I’m vehemently pro-fair-use in this case. For me, the focal point is the word “public.” If an artist wants to have her/his art work protected then s/he should not agree to have it used as public art. And, of course, part of my thinking in based on the simple fact that most public art is just so painfully bad (this being my favourite example; here is another photo).
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“The last few years have raised important copyright issues and concerns for artists. There are three main factors which have impacted-and will continue to impact-how visual artists relate to each other, to art institutions, and to other intellectual property right holders when it concerns issues of copyright.” - full story
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Over at the Detroit Institute of Arts Blog, there’s a great post with scans of the comments left for a Walker Evans show.
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I got an envelope in the mail, from “A.M.”, Brooklyn, and of course, I didn’t remember anything about it. I order a lot of books online and have them shipped to me via media-mail, which usually means a delay of at least a week. Occasionally, someone will email me and offer me a copy of a book, and I usually forget about that, too. I’m not senile (I think), I just remember other things (often things that are entirely useless, I wish I had this under control). In any case, the envelope contained a hand-made zine, with the cover made to look like a very old letter (see above); and the inside contains b/w photography.
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Since so many people seemed to enjoy the scans from Franz Fiedler’s 1934 guide Portrait Photography, here are some more scans. This time descreened scans, and no snarky comments.
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On Jane Tam’s blog, I found a post today that made me think. She writes “Recently I was asked where do I fit in the contemporary art world and how do I contribute to it. These questions threw me off my chair immediately and I was scratching my head nonstop as I tried to think of answers.” On artists’ blogs you can find a lot of announcements of shows or of photos published in some magazine, but you rarely find someone talking about what - I’m assuming - must be in many people’s heads. Where or how do I fit in? What do I actually do?
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PDN has more about the copycat issue they raised yesterday. I wasn’t going to spend more time writing about it, but I’ll admit I’m surprised about all those people using the tourist-spot defense in the comments on PDN’s blog. Here’s why.
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PDN reports on a case of images being very, very similar, involving photographer David Burdeny, various of whose most recent images look like almost exact copies of works by Sze Tsung Leong or Elger Esser. These images indeed look like a case of similar being too similar (I mentioned Burdeny in that post, but unfortunately, I missed finding these very similar images). (Updated below)
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“The true affront to Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard’s dignity is that he died young, thousands of miles away from his family, where he was serving the wishes of a government that has a political agenda that it cannot pursue without resorting to violence on a mass scale.” writes Tom White about a photograph of a fatally wounded US soldier, a photo of which caused a bit of a stir some time ago. A must-read post.
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People sometimes ask how master photographers take portraits, and when you ask them they often do such a lousy job explaining how it works. Thankfully, there is Franz Fiedler’s Portrait Photography (1934, I just bought the English language version, published in 1936) that tells you how it all works. Here are some excerpts.
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This past Friday, I went to New York to attend what had been advertized as An Exclusive Conversation Between Thomas Ruff and Philip Gefter. Given that Ruff spent over an hour presenting the history of his work, it was more like an artist’s talk, but it was tremendously interesting nevertheless. The following highlights are culled from my rather illegible notes, and they might shed a bit more light on an artist whose work is not very well understood on this side of the Atlantic.
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Marc has an interview with Hiroh Kikai, one of my favourite photographers.
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Here is everything (really!) you need to know about how to deal with infringement cases.
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Another follow-up, this one to my post about fair use. Here is a post about sculptors who produced a piece out of a photo by Alex Brown. I actually knew of that case, Alex had emailed me before I wrote my fair-use post. In my response to Alex’s email I wrote him that I considered this a case of plagiarism. That said, here is a suggestion for how to solve this particular case: Have the sculptors add Alex as a co-creator of the work and have them give him a share of whatever money they might make (if they make any). This solution might actually work for a lot of similar cases, and it would satisfy those who think it’s obvious plagiarism (the creative work of the photographer would be preserved, since he would be given credit for his work), and those who think it’s not (because the derived art work - if we want to call it that - would just remain part of the art world).
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After reading my review (of sorts) of the Malick Sidibe book, Sean Hallisey emailed me with some comments about Dash Snow; and he wrote this following paragraph, which is too interesting not to share (quoted with permission, of course).
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Art critic Regina Hackett just blogged about this portrait painted by Jesse Edwards (see the artist’s website here). I couldn’t help but think about Rob’s post about ‘fair use’ from the other day again: When or where does ‘fair use’ begin (or end)? When is a use not fair? (updated below - twice)
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“Seattle photographer Mike Hipple […] received a letter from the lawers of a sculptor named Jack Mackie. Apparently a photograph that Mike took 10 years previous and was selling as stock, featured a woman dancing along the sidewalk with a portion of Jack’s sculpture ‘Dance Steps on Broadway’ visible. Mr. Mackie claimed copyright infringement in the letter.” (story)
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This one’s from Ian Elsom who wrote in an email: “In the end, though, a photographer’s honesty and integrity are at the core of any Too Similar issue.”
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“Billionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm, MSD Capital LP, has acquired about 185,000 vintage photographic prints from the Magnum Photos agency in what is thought to be among the largest photo transactions in history.” (story)
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On his blog, Ian Aleksander Adams just posted his mother’s reactions to one of his projects (“Gray Days”). It’s a remarkable read, in more ways than just one.
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My thoughts on how to approach photography by different artists that looks very similar generated a higher than usual number of emails. I am always happy about emails with feedback, and I seem to have put my finger on something that many people have been concerned about.
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Some time ago, I went to a talk given by Joel Sternfeld at UMass, where some of his Oxbow Archive photography was on display. I thought I’d get to be presented with some insight into that project. As it turned out, Sternfeld decided to go through all his work, including (and focusing on) some very old street photography. Good thing I love street photography so much! Joking aside, at the very end of the talk, Sternfeld had a special surprise for his audience - and who wouldn’t be giddy about getting to see new work by a great photographer? My giddy excitement quickly turned into an “uh-oh” feeling when he pulled out his iPhone and started talking about some trip to Dubai.
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Now that Apple unveiled their Colour Kindle (they’re calling it “iPad”) it will be interesting to see what kind of photography books might be produced for it. I can’t and won’t pretend I’m eagerly awaiting those, but of course I’m curious. Here’s the thing, though. As much as I appreciate new technologies for what they allow people to do, I’m still mostly focusing on what it actually is these new technologies are being applied to.
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If you have been following this blog for a while you will remember this mosaic from one of my earlier posts, where I tried to tackle the problem of plagiarism. How can one decide when to cry foul? What is a good way to approach this complex? I’m not sure I have a better answer now than three and half years ago, but I’ve thought about it more; and it’s worthwhile to come back to this topic.
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There is a great interview with Domingo Milella over at Hippolyte Bayard, which you really don’t want to miss.
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From what I read and hear from people there seems to be a steadily growing discontent with the coverage of the Haiti earthquake. If I tried to assemble a list of links it would probably be incomplete, here are just two articles I came across that struck me as noteworthy (no doubt there are many more). Haiti coverage: ‘Disaster porn’? is a collection of links plus short summaries itself. More to the point of photography, Does Haiti’s Crisis Call for a New Photojournalism? is a very interesting piece by Michael David Murphy. (updated below)
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“I think the crucial difference is that curating should really imply more than a process of selection. Ideally it should not only be based on in-depth research into a particular area, but it should also attempt to contribute new ideas that shed light on some unseen aspect or that allow us to see things in a new context. When I think of the best curated photography shows over the past decade, they were all based on several years of painstaking research and all attempted to say something new about their subject.” - Marc Feustel
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Anders Birch sent me the link to Face the Climate, a new project he is part of: “Climate change is often described through news about scientific reports or political negotiations. However, climate change is a global phenomenon affecting us all. Consequently, Face the Climate has visited nine families in nine different countries in order to report how climate change is affecting their lives. By telling the stories of individual people, we seek to make a complex subject more tangible - thereby unfolding the large scale context of climate change.” The site features photography (incl. 360 panoramas you can control yourself), videos, articles (which you can download)… setting the benchmark for what photojournalism can look like in this year 2010.
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The winner and runners-up of Picture Black Friday are now on view at the website. Have a look!
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When I looked into virginity pledge rings the other day (for use in this post), I had no idea that the concept existed outside of a religious context. Today, the Ostkreuz blog features an interview with photographer Pepa Hristová about “sworn virgins” in Albania: “‘Sworn Virgins’ are women, who have sworn for a life-long virginity in order to fit into the role of men. This has nothing to do with transsexualism. Instead, it is about a rise in the hierarchy of the strictly patriarchal society in Albania; from there on they are classified as men.”
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A little while ago, I presented some examples from a very old book that explains how photos were retouched before computers were available. One of the things I love about the blog is that many of my posts make readers write in to tell me stories about something I mentioned here. This following one might be one of the best stories I’ve ever heard.
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The kerfuffle over the supposedly staged prize winning picture of a wolf is yet another reminder that there is a problem, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the problem arises from how we view photography, from what we expect photographs to show or do. Here are some thoughts, which, incomplete as they might be, might lead to something. I’ve wanted to write about this for a while, the wolf might just be a good occasion to do it.
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