» Photographers

Aaron Huey/TED

Peter — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:46:23 +0000

TED has a lot of interesting speakers, and a good collection of photographer speeches. DVAfoto pointed me out to Aaron Huey’s recent TED talk about the Lakotah tribe in the Black Hills. It is a gripping and poignant history lesson with powerful images to boot…once that have danced around in my head since Harper’s Magazine ran a portfolio of them months ago. I’ll be honest, this is an upsetting video that will make you question how much of a hero Lincoln was, and our government’s attitude in building this nation amongst other things. Upsetting pieces of information are good, but these days it can get overwhelming. I woke up to the news that yet another Illinois politician was lying on his resume (was I surprised, no…but maybe my idiotic optimism gets the better of me after going two days without hearing of a politician’s abuse of the public’s trust…which, wait…I don’t think the public trusts politicians so nevermind.) That combined with the BP oil spill, and their efforts to quell media coverage, their use of toxic chemicals to try and hide the problem under the ocean surface…and this is just Sunday morning’s news. Tomorrow will be a brand new day and give us many reasons to question the direction this country is going.

I hope you get some sunshine. I hope you watch this video first though, so if anything it helps you question just what we stand for and how good it really may, or may not be. I don’t mean to sound negative or condescending, or to say go do something about this, because I would be a hypocrite. What frustrates me most in my world is simply the lack of awareness and consideration, as well as the desire to learn the truth about these sorts of issues. It’s one thing to feel helpless about such issues but it’s another to not know and not try to know or worse to not even care.

Bryan Derballa/LoveBryan Interview

Peter — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:56:35 +0000

Bryan Derballa of Brooklyn has an interview up about his Lovebryan.com site, which is a sort of journal/photography site hybrid thing. Anyways, Johnny Simon over at the Photoletariat just posted an interview with him that’s a nice quick read, and is also a reminder for me to say please go check out the work of Bryan and his cohorts like Mike Belleme (image below) at Lovebryan.com to witness shenanigans, stories and the ups and downs of life from people who are all good friends but in different places. Bryan’s gotta be one of the nicest photographers I’ve met and is continuously pushing his work.

Inside Magazine – New Publication

Peter — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 04:22:59 +0000

Martin Bandzak, John Vink of Magnum photos and others have work in a new magazine called Inside Magazine financially supported by Slovakaid and other parties. It looks like it’s free for a hard copy as well (you pay shipping) but it’s 432 pages and hardcover. It looks interesting and each issue explores a topic in depth, meant to be kept and explored further down the road, not tossed in the bin. The first topic covered is, yes, the photojournalists’ favorite topic of poverty. But that is not and never will be (until it is eradicated) over covered.

Fujifilm Distinction Awards – Congrats Friends

Peter — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:16:24 +0000

Buddy of mine Jason Andrew with whom I used to intern at James Nachtwey’s studio at a few years ago recently got 2nd place in the Fujifilm Distinction Awards with the below image from his work in Abkhazia. The winner was Ikuru Kuwajima, who’s work in the Ukraine and surrounding regions has also been some of my favorite photojournalism from recent years. Congrats both of you guys, awesome work and great to see it recognized.

Respect. Magazine

Peter — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:52:56 +0000

Browsing the shelves of a book store last night I found a new publication called Respect. Magazine.

It’s a photography centric hip-hop publication featuring lots of great portfolios of people who have photographed hip-hop for years and isn’t juiced with ads. Not sure if it’ll be around for the long haul but it looks good and I’m already looking forward to issue #2 of this quarterly publication. Wouldn’t mind a few photos of some of the lesser known folks like Tajai and the Souls of Mischief who are currently filling my speakers but we can wait for future issues to see what they come up with. I’m guessing 2-pac on the cover is a good sales move. This is the type of magazine that just wouldn’t work on your iPad, iPhone, or iBook. It looks great printed and wouldn’t be as good in any other medium.

Conservation Photography Interviews

Peter — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:29:19 +0000

A good friend of mine, Neil Osborne (currently in Toronto) is doing some really cool things within his niche lately, like landing an adjunct teaching position at Queen’s University teaching conservation photography and visual communication within their school of environmental studies. Some lucky students there…

But the point of this entry is to point you towards his blog where he is now interviewing other prolific folks within the field of conservation photography…and featuring some of their work. You can probably see some of the best photography of our natural world with a point that goes beyond looking pretty…which is a fantastic thing if you ask me.

His blog is here, check it out for his first interview with Spanish photographer Daniel Beltra.

Max Bittle

Peter — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:10:31 +0000

I’m going to use this moment in my Tuesday morning to point any of you readers to a beautiful new website by Concord, NH photographer Max Bittle.

I’ve watched Max’s work for awhile, since the days when he was a student at Southern Illinois University and would always have better pictures than me in the annual student contests. There are some photographers who do amazing work, but it’s a challenge to look at … it’s not stuff you might always want on your wall. Well Max is the kind of photographer who could fill a house with great prints.

The Forest/Yannick Demmerle

Peter — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:59:58 +0000

I haven’t been making much photography lately, things have been put on hold for various reasons one of them being I spent most of my week in bed (thanks Swine Flu!…I think) but I took the opportunity to read and look through a lot of books, one of which was the Ecotopia book that I picked up after viewing a show with the same name at the International Center of Photography during my first ever visit to New York City a few years ago. Besides seeing that, unexpectedly and inspiringly one of my former classmates Kayana Szymczak (before either of us went to OU) was in the show, I came across an image that stopped me in my tracks. Or, in my page turning at least. I guess you’re not making tracks when you’re sick in bed but anyways. German Photographer Yannick Demmerle’s images of the forest are simple but stunning. And the real prints, well, I remember staring at this larger than life rendition of a night time forest in the NYC Gallery and was almost taken to a world where I was wondering how I the hell I was going to find my way out of this strange woods in the night wherever this woods was.

Image by Yannick Demmerle

Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories

Peter — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:45:15 +0000

This month’s Harper’s had a photo portfolio section that really captivated me. It was entitled Winter Stories, by Italian born New York photographer Paolo Ventura. I finally had the notion to dig deeper and look at more work on his website and, to be honest was not as excited as I was initially after I saw some of the other images in the project. The editors at Harper always do a great job with their photography, and this selection was no different. Though the work is still worth checking out, I’d pick up the magazine itself if you could to see a better edit and what I think is a clearer vision … though not defined by Ventura admittedly. Either way, this series of constructed miniature still lifes makes me pine for the upcoming snows and blustery, wool covered days that are around the corner.

Image by Paolo Ventura

Previously Unseen Chicago Street Photographs

Peter — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:08:31 +0000

I stumbled upon this link recently thanks to DVAfoto, but man is it a great find…especially for someone who consistently is on these streets.
Recently, following her death, Chicago street photographer Vivianne Maier’s photographs are being unearthed and in many cases just being developed for the first time. There are a total of over 40,000 mostly medium format negatives shot from the 50’s to the 70’s. So fascinating and some beautiful images to boot. A man named John Maloof seems to be responsible for showing us her images. Visit http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/ to see.

Image by Vivian Maier