I'm Hiring: Digital Assistant

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!

My Dinner with Doug DuBois

© Doug DuBois

During a holiday visit to Southern California in 2006 I saw the Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection at the Getty. In a show filled with great images by American color legends like Shore, Eggleston and Sternfeld, Doug DuBois’ tense and intimate narratives jumped off the wall and stayed with me long after I left the show.

At the time I was just out of grad school and still discovering and devouring the canonical names and images of photography. I had never heard of Doug DuBois. I had no idea he was featured in the landmark Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort show at the MoMA. I had never seen the hypnotic images from his Family Photos series. I had no knowledge he was a respected photo educator at Syracuse University. Discovering Doug and his work has been one of the great joys of my short time in the photography world.

Shortly after the Getty show I started an email correspondence with Doug. Right off the bat he was open with his advice and heartfelt in his encouragement. He pushed me to apply for the Light Work residency (and may have had a hand in my selection). He even invited me to come up to Syracuse to speak to his class. Doug is the best kind of educator because he doesn’t confine his wisdom to the walls of the classroom.

My Mother’s Scar © Doug DuBois

Friday I was finally able to spend some in-person time with Doug. He showed me 25 years worth of beautiful, rich C-prints from his Family Photo series. Each print feels like a subplot in an expansive epic narrative. The image above of his mother is particularly stunning. It makes me think of my own mother and the pain of seeing one's parents aging and vulnerable. As Alec Soth has said, Doug doesn’t seem to take a bad picture. After seeing the entire series in sequence you can't help but want to go through it again and again. Fortunately, Aperture will be publishing a book of this work in the spring and I will be able to dive into his photos whenever I want.

Busy Like Our Friend the...

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.