ASMP Mentor Program

I'm about to hop on a plane to do a visiting artist stint in the grad photo program at Syracuse University, but I wanted to give a quick shout to the ASMP New York mentor program. The program connects working photographers with those just starting out. This year I'm participating as a mentor which means I'm committing at least one day a month for six months to my "mentees." If the thought of me advising you on your work and career doesn't pique your interest, check out the other top notch photographers giving their time to the program.

Get all the details here and learn how to register here. Sign-ups are happening now.

Battle Photo: Auto Graveyard!

I have led many a photographer into the visual Thunderdome that is Battle Photo, but I have never entered the squared circle myself. It only seems fair that I subject my own work to the same test. And what better way to make my debut than against the best pound-for-pound photographer ever. I am doomed!

Joe's Auto Graveyard, Pennsylvania © Walker Evans

vs.

Auto Salvage Yard, Route 90, Louisiana © Amy Stein

Chris Marker's La Jetée

I teach the Freshman Seminar course in the photography program at Parsons The New School for Design. The course serves to give incoming students both a technical and conceptual overview of all things photography and a foundation of knowledge that they can build on throughout the rest of their time in the program. Each year one of the first things I do is show the students the 1962 science fiction film La Jetée by Chris Marker.

La Jetée is set in a post-nuclear war Paris and focuses on a group of survivors living underground as they experiment with time travel. It was produced with minimal budget, has no dialogue, and was constructed almost entirely from black and white still photographs. It would seem an odd choice to introduce students to the world of photography, but it is simply one of the most stunning and important visual statements made in the last hundred years.

If you have not seen the film, you must. You can watch it below in three parts (it's only 28 minutes long).







In 1996 MIT Press produced a book of images from La Jetée. That book is now out of print, but this year Zone Books reissued La Jetée in all its glory. The book includes all of the film's original images along with the script in both English and French. You can buy a copy here.

Certificate of Awesometicity

I took my car in to get an oil change this morning and this commercial was playing in the waiting area. My two favorite parts are when the white family toasts their Obama plate in the beginning and when the man in the pink shirt stops writing, turns to gaze upon his Obama plate, and then turns back to his writing with a shit-eating grin.

Yes you can...own a piece of history.

Framing the Presidency

In an age of hyper-partisan media and made-for-TV presidential stagecraft does the photograph still play an important role in helping the electorate define a candidate? Or, has the singular photographic image morphed from moment definer to mere visual buttress to support the rhetoric of partisans?

Tonight, I am looking for answers.

“Framing the Presidency”
Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
The New School
Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall
66 West 12th Street, New York City

The Aperture Foundation, the Photography Department of Parsons The New School for Design and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School present a new season of panel discussions focusing on photography. The second event is “Framing the Presidency,” which explores the collision of photography, mass media, and politics in the 2008 presidential campaign and beyond. Artists and media experts share their experiences and explore the power of photography in constructing our image of the presidency.

With
Tim Davis, photographer
Robert Hariman, Chair of Communication Studies at Northwestern University
Todd Heisler, Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist
David Scull, New York Times campaign picture editor photographer

Admission is free!

Brand New Funky President

"Hey, country
Didn't say what you meant
Just changed
Brand new funky President"

- James Brown

Vote! Vote! Vote!

If you are going to vote, great. I strongly suggest you vote for Barack Obama.

If you live in California, don't be a dick. Please vote against Proposition 8.

If you are not going to vote, you suck. And, I am going to kick your ass.

ARTWALK NY 2008 Tonight

Now in its 14th year, ARTWALK NY is one of the great benefit art auctions in New York City. The auction helps fund the amazing work of the Coalition For the Homeless. This is the third year in a row I have been asked to donate a piece to ARTWALK and the third year in a row I have done so without hesitation.

The economy is in the dumper right now which means that homelessness is on the rise and funds for life changing programs and emergency relief are drying up exactly when they are most needed. If you can make it to the event tonight, you will not be disappointed by the work available for bid (PDF). If you can't make it, please do something on behalf of the homeless.

This. Fucking. Election.

T.F.E.

There is No Off Switch for Jason Polan's Genius

Lionfish © Jason Polan

Sunday my good friend Jason Polan will be doing something special for the Editions/Artists' Books Fair. As usual, it's pretty much genius.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I will be making drawings for a book called 100 People I Saw At The Editions/Artists’ Books Fair. The book will contain 99 people I saw during these three days. Once the drawings are completed I will print the book, in an edition of 100 to be available on Sunday at noon. The book will be available for purchase at the Esopus table (#59) at the fair. The book will cost $20. If you choose to purchase a book, you will be drawn in your copy, completing the project and becoming the 100th person in the book.

I will be there to pick up the book and have Jason drawn my picture. You should too.

Run Amy Run

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity that took me to every corner and three boroughs of the city. It really wasn't much different than most days--my life pretty much follows the plot of Run Lola Run--but yesterday all the bit players and extras were dressed like the Joker and slutty nurses.

I started off in Brooklyn with my assistant Geoff prepping images for my upcoming show at the Print Center in Philly. After about four hours of staring at the computer screen, I drove home to Queens and picked up my husband and my cameras and headed over the Triborough Bridge to East Harlem.

This was my fifth year working on the Halloween in Harlem project. Every year I troll the crowded streets between Lexington and 3rd Avenue above 110th Street and fight the falling sun to document a unique New York take on an American holiday ritual. The kids in the neighborhood do not go from home to home for candy, they go from liquor store to bodega to check cashing store for candy. The streets are packed with families and stopping the flow to take photos proves half the challenge. Every year I build up to the day and then never have more than two hours to shoot before it gets too dark.

After shooting in East Harlem we drove back home to Queens, put on our lame costumes, and then jumped on the F train to the epicenter of Halloween madness to got to Matthew and Nate's party. If you have never been to the West Village on Halloween night, here's a helpful tip.

Don't go!

Streets blocked, throngs of drunken idiots in Scream masks, shoving and pushing from all angles, and New York's bagel-fed finest just standing idly by looking completely content to do nothing and collect overtime pay. Not fun. After forty minutes swimming through humanity we finally made it to the party.

Matthew and Nate throw the best parties and this year was no exception. Nate is the detail guy and no ghoulish detail was left to chance. Cupcakes with eyeballs, spiders crawling across the wall and spelling "Obama", and a giant centipede in the bathtub were just some of the touches that made this a great evening. The highlight was Matthew's Indian food throwdown challenge. He is a big fan of the Jackson Diner and my recent declaration that Delhi Palace was better raised his ire and piqued his interest. Look forward to a new Lunch With Amy post coming soon with guest diner, Matthew Pillsbury.

It always seems like a long subway ride home to Queens after a night out, but last night it took longer than usual. After a full day all I could do was collapse in my comfy chair while watching The Soup and then drag myself to bed a short time later.

This Saturday I am going to force myself to relax.