|
|
 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!
I have been recruited by Mus Mus to take a photo on November 4. I'm still not sure who they are or what this all about, but apparently a bunch of photographers will be taking a picture at exactly the same time on Election Day. Maybe this is like Hands Across America, but without the touching. In addition to the invited photographers they are also issuing an "open call" to select 25 additional photographers to include in the project. If you are interested, you can submit work here.
 Saint Veronica by Hans Memling The legend goes that Veronica lined the route to Golgotha to watch Jesus carry his cross. She offered him her veil to wipe his brow and when she got it back it had a impression of his face. How do you get a messiah face stain out of a veil? I don't know, but apparently Veronica did because she is the patron saint of laundry workers. For her mad image capturing and printing skills, she is also the patron saint of photographers.
 C Photo Magazine is a beautiful hardbound publication from Ivory Press that comes out twice a year. Issue number seven is out now and features some of my work. Problem is, I can't seem to track down a copy in New York City. A couple of places I've called have the older editions, but not number seven. Does anyone know where I can find a copy in the city?
I am looking for a New York based file-prep genius to take my work from negatives to beautiful final prints. The ideal candidate is a hungry, hardworking perfectionist looking for a great opportunity to build experience producing prints for gallery and museum exhibitions as well as public and private collections. Required skills:- Minimum 1 year of experience scanning medium or large format negatives to digital files
- Minimum 2 years of experience working with Photoshop to spot, color correct, retouch and prepare digital files for print
- Experience handling photographic prints and packaging for gallery and museum shipment
- Superior communication and organization skills
Desired skills:- Experience managing the process with a printer to deliver final prints
- Sense of humor
This is a part-time position (up to 20 hours per week) with minimal pay ($15/hr), but the experience and perks are considerable. Does this sound like you or someone you know? Please send a PDF of your resume and samples of your work to amysteinphoto@yahoo.com no later than September 15, 2008. And please help me spread the word!
 January 1, 1939 - Organ Cave, West Virginia, USA I grew up watching TV shows like In Search of... and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and have always had a fascination with the unexplained. There is a certain irresistible kitsch factor with UFOs and mysterious beasts like Bigfoot or Champ, but what I find more interesting is how these stories and their visual motifs continue to pervade our culture. Photography has played a huge role in elevating these tales from legend to folklore with certain encounter images actually transcending photography to become part of our collective visual memory.  December 10, 1954 - Sicily, Italy Yesterday I happened on the site UFO Evidence and spent the next couple of hours viewing their extensive gallery of UFO encounter photographs. I have seen a few of the photos before, but all of them feel familiar.  February 6, 1967 - Zanesville, Ohio, USA I was taken by how UFO motifs seem to change over the years and match the visual aesthetics of their time. From streamlined metal discs in the 40s, 50s and 60s to colored lights and sleek modern designs in the post Close Encounters of the Third Kind 80s and beyond.  March 10, 1993 - Maslin Beach, Australia  May 26, 1987 - Waterbury, CT, USA  August, 2005 - Jersey City, NJ, USA Do you believe that beings from another place or time are visiting us to record our way of life? Or, do you take the Jungian view that these photographs represent the symbolic projection of our psyche in uncertain times? Are they observing us or are we observing ourselves?
 This is one of those weeks where the social calendar and the career calendar collide in spectacular fashion. By Sunday I will probably be reduced to a tired pile of my former self. Last night was an SVA event at the Whitney Biennial, tonight is Spoon at Terminal 5, Thursday is the Blind Spot Auction and then it's all AIPAD through the weekend. (By the way, big thanks to Robert Ayers of ArtInfo for including me in the Editor's Picks for AIPAD). All that nighttime fun caps full days spent scurrying about the streets of New York trying to get stuff done. I am teaching two classes this week, putting the finishing touches on my portfolio so my rep can start shopping it around and preparing a ton of prints for a solo show in Berlin that opens in two weeks! (More on the Berlin solo show later.) I'm exhausted! Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining. This is all good stuff and exactly what I set out to do. It's just becoming painfully obvious to me that I do not have the capacity to juggle the expanding details and obligations of my career and still be able to produce new work. I have a wonderful intern, Chanjai, who helps me a ton, but I think I am at a critical juncture where I need to expand operations and hire an assistant. Once I get back from Berlin I will explore this idea a little more and maybe post a want ad on my blog.
 Little know fact. Alec Soth uses this very same flash setup I love the Modern Mechanix blog. The blog posts scanned articles from old Modern Mechanix magazines that feature everything from fabulously eccentric DIY weirdness to fantastical glimpses of a not-too-distant, but oh so clunky, future. They have a special section devoted to photography, but idiosyncratic insanity abounds behind every turn.
A very interesting photography contest from Ethan Jones and David Wright: Pause, to Begin is a unique, new photography competition currently
accepting applications now until April 1, 2008, and the selected
finalists will be announced online April 15, 2008. Ethan Jones and
David Wright, the founders of Pause, to Begin, will hit the road in
May, 2008 to visit the selected finalists and record the time they
experience together.
By traveling to meet the selected finalists in-person, Pause, to Begin
becomes a publication that reflects not only the visited photographers
and their process for creating, but also the journey of making the
book.
The word "pause" implies a stop to see, feel, and understand what one
is photographing. We believe that by pausing the true potential of a
photograph can be realized, discovered, and expanded upon. This
allows one to "begin" to explore one's own photography.
The first year of Pause, to Begin culminates in November, 2008 with
the release of a limited edition, hard-bound fine art book that is
distributed to important creatives in the photographic industry and
available online for purchase. The selected photographers will also
be exhibited at a to-be announced gallery that will coincide with the
book release celebration. Check out the Pause, to Begin site and apply now!
 3,805 Rachel Ray's Equals One Chris Jordan © John Gordon Photographic artist and gallery mate, Chris Jordan, has been making the TV circuit of late to promote his new Running the Numbers series. He has been seen on the Colbert Report, Bill Moyer's Journal and now the Rachael Ray Show. That's right. The Rachael Ray Show. These are strange times indeed. Chris was featured on Rachael Ray's "How Cool Is He?" segment. Check out the video, but be warned. If you are sickened by Rachael Ray's brand of cloyingly saccharined idiot-speak, you may want to turn down the volume.
 Herman and Amy © Lenore Stein By now you've probably seen many posts about The Photographs Not Taken. Will Steacy has collected essays from an amazing array of photographers about the time they couldn't or didn't take the photograph. Will asked me participate and I was obliged. My parents are both deceased. I have many objects and papers of theirs that I keep around the house to help me remember moments and stay connected to who they were. Of all the things I have, photographs of my parents mean the most to me. When I take the time to look through the old albums I see many photos of me and my dad, but precious few of my mom. She was an amateur photographer and was always behind the lens. I began to think about those pictures and the life I am creating now with my husband, John, who is probably the most camera shy person on earth. I don't know what he did in a past life that cast his fate to be married to a photographer, but here we are are. The wife that takes pictures and the husband that doesn't want his picture taken. When I consider all the photos of John that haven't been taken it seems like a threat to the assurance of our common memory. I know that photographs are ultimately only evidence of moments real and fabricated and that true memory is more powerful than any snapshot. But, photographs are stimulant. They are trigger and catalyst to draw out our memories. The thought of not preserving that connection to our shared life leaves me with a profound sense of loss.
 © Martin Parr Martin Parr has signed up to be a judge on a new reality TV show, Picture This, on Channel 4 in Britain. From the Independent: Musicals and opera have already been given the reality television treatment; now it is the turn of photography. A new Channel 4 series, Picture This, takes six wannabe snappers and sets them assignments over the course of three weeks, eliminating the unsuccessful contestants until just two remain to battle it out for the prize.
Martin Parr, the acclaimed photographer best known for his colourful pictures of British seaside life, is one of the three judges on the show.
The documentary photographer became involved with Picture This because he believes that photography is not given the prominence it deserves in the UK, whereas in other European countries and in the United States it is celebrated as an important art form.
Before agreeing to take part, Parr met the programme-makers several times to discuss the concept. "My thinking was that if we've got this very good slot to give oxygen to photography, it's probably good to be involved to make sure it's not bad. TV-makers usually don't know much about photography," he says. Judging by the judges alone Picture This promises to be a cut above the weak sauce that is VH1's The Shot, but has Martin jumped the shark here? Do you buy his giving "oxygen to photography" line or is this the natural next step for an artist who has made a career of celebrating and subverting the excesses of our culture?
 © Patrick Romero Staying true to the lessons I learned during Miami, I spent my holiday week in Sunset Beach enjoying the company of my husband and in-laws instead of focusing on photography. I did not go to a single museum or gallery, I left the Blackberry behind and I shot only one roll of film over the entire seven days. This was a remarkable achievement for someone who has been eating, breathing and drinking photography for the last four years. While it was not top of mind, I did make the time to meet two photography friends. While we were in Santa Barbara we went to La Super Rica for tacos with Liz Kuball and talked for a good two hours or so about everything under the sun. Liz lives in paradise and I couldn't be more jealous of her ready access to so much beauty and so much tasty wine. Patrick Romero was nice enough to drive down from Los Angeles to meet me at Taco Surf in Sunset Beach. Patrick has a life outside of photography as a camera operator for television, but has had more time of late to focus on photography because of the writer's strike. He shared some of his new work with me as we mowed down the salsa. Those two meetings aside, I really enjoyed my brief time away from my career and my camera. I am not a big fan of New Year resolutions, but in 2008 I definitely want to continue to make time for things in my life that have nothing to do with my chosen profession. Oh, I would also like to eat more tacos.
 Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images The photo above ran with a story today in the NY Times about Bill Clinton assuming a higher profile role in Hillary's campaign. I love this photo and I hate this photo. It manages to pack more narrative into a single image than all the other photos in the NY Times combined. But, it triggers so many negative visual codes that it make me uncomfortable. Do you find this image as provocative as I do? What does is say to you?
 The White Stripes have partnered with Lomographische to produce limited edition cameras. The "Jack" model will be a Holga with fisheye lens and the "Meg" model will be the Diana+ with ringflash. Both packages will come with custom lenses and will, of course, be deliciously red and white. Pretty cool. They go on sale this Monday.
 I just read about images from the Hubble Space Telescope on America Photo's State of the Art blog and then spent the next two hours staring at some of the most mesmerizing photos I've ever seen. These photos are beautiful and haunting and they spark huge mind-numbing questions about matter, space and time. It's almost as if they are art...
 © Alessandra Sanguinetti Alessandra Sanguinetti will be giving an artist's talk at Aperture Gallery this Tuesday. Alessandra's work is electric, beautiful and iconic and her quick rise to the upper echelon of the contemporary photography scene has been impressive. See you there.
 © Younga Park Jen Bekman has finally launched her new online venture, 20x200, and I quickly scooped up a $20 print by Amy Ross. It will be interesting to see how hungry the masses are for art in large editions at low prices, but I know I will keep coming back for more. These days the Internet is chock full of opportunities to purchase photography by big names at well below market prices. Aperture and Blind Spot are the big names in cheap(ish) prints, but you should also check out the inventory at SF Camerawork, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and The Photographers' Gallery. Also, I would not be doing my duty as a working photographer and fan of Humble Arts Foundation if I didn't mention their limited edition prints collection, again. You can pick up a small-editioned print from my Stranded series for the ridiculously low price of $375. The print, Peri Route 80 Kentucky, was one of five photos from the Stranded series recently purchased by the West Collection, so what are you waiting for? The big Wall Street collectors may be hurting these days, but that shouldn't stop us hoi polloi from getting into the game and start building our own collections.
 © Amy Stein Alec Soth has often mentioned his theory that a photographer will be reduced to a single sentence that describes their work; "she makes creepy digital pictures of kids with big eyes, he took picture of Parisian architecture at the turn of the century, she took pictures of freaks and committed suicide." For several years my sentence was 'she takes uncomfortable portraits of women with guns' and I was more than happy with that label and the body of work. Women and Guns was my first serious attempt at producing a series and the photos were head and shoulders better than anything I had down to that point. It was also very successful. The work got me into grad school, it was featured in the 2005 PDN Photo Annual, it has been included in a number of group shows, and still manages to generate the occasional interest from folks on the Internet and magazines. Now, I find myself in a place where I would like to remove Women and Guns from my online portfolio and stop promoting the work. I arrived at this decision for a number of reasons. In my mind the quality of the work is inconsistent. Also, I never finished the series, so the images seem cobbled together without a cohesive vision. Formal issues aside, the work just seems a million miles away from where I am now and my gut tells me it's time to put it behind me and focus on making and promoting the work that really fires my spirit. I am mentioning this because I would like to get feedback from folks on my decision to put that work to bed. Is it better for an emerging photographer to showcase the evolution of their output or should they only highlight their most recent and strongest work? Good idea or bad idea to drop Women and Guns? UPDATE: Just as I'm thinking of doing this La Repubblica, the largest weekly paper in Italy, runs a gallery of photos from Women and Guns and suddenly I am the toast of Italy. Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in! This event aside, I still think it's time to move on and remove the series from my site.
|
|
2 ... 2 ...
