If one hears ghostlike murmurs while looking through Christopher Payne’s photographs in “Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals,” it may be because the people who once occupied these imposing and forbidding places are still among us. But they no longer dwell within the fortresses — or were they sanctuaries? — into which Mr. Payne now guides the reader.
Link: Showcase: Emptied but Still Secret – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com
[slidepress gallery=’aaronjoelsantos-orphansofagentorange’] Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls Aaron Joel Santos Orphans of Agent Orange play this essay …
via burn magazine: http://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2009/11/aaron-joel-santos-orphans-of-agent-orange/
The Vietnam Friendship Village is an Agent Orange orphanage and care center founded in 1998 by George Mizo, an American veteran of the Vietnam-American War. It houses 120 children in six homes spread across the small, intimate complex. Located just outside of Hanoi, it is a place of both enduring hope and profound sadness.
The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive of historic second world war photographs is available online to the public from today
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/nov/23/secondworldwar-secret-photographs-online
Strobist reports about a new TTL remote for Nikon and Canon DSLRs. The “speculations” came from the Strobist flickr group. Here are specs: TR-331 is using FSK 2.4GHz frequency channel, 15 specific channels . Operating distance range is 65M or above. The d
reports about a new TTL remote for Nikon and Canon DSLRs
The Associated Press, a organization with so little respect for fair use that they expect you to pay for a license to quote as little as five words from its articles, describes how it relied on fai…
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed a lack of words being generated in this space over the last month. Or not! I’ve been overwhelmed with the various projects we are pursuing. Regardless, it has been a pleasure to share my stories, thoughts and experiences with younger photographers making there way, and with the veteran shooters with whom I can commiserate. I have learned a lot from both groups. And that is one clear benefit of all this social media: a community has truly been created and is communicating big time. So even if my missives are more random in the coming year, I will continue to try to engage. Here are some random notes from my recent travels and projects:
A love of Iran underlies a scholar’s memoir of surreal interrogation and solitary confinement in Tehran.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/books/review/Secor-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
In 2007, Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, told Iranian intelligence everything she knew. She was interrogated for almost eight months, nearly four of them inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. During that time, she explained the institutional structure of the Wilson Center, identified its board members and described her work organizing conferences. She translated reams of material from the center’s Web site into Farsi. But it was a dialogue of the deaf.
Matt Logue says: I just completed a self-published book depicting an uninhabited Los Angeles, and it got an honorable mention in the photography.book.now competition at blurb.com! The photos were …
via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/20/matt-logues-empty-lo.html
Frank Ockenfels is the kind of photographer who does everything well. From his black and white to his color; from passport photos to 4 x 5; photographing men and photographing women; it’s all equally good. He’s also the kind of guy you throw a really diff
via A Photo Editor: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2009/11/20/frank-w-ockenfels-3-interview/
Frank Ockenfels is the kind of photographer who does everything well. From his black and white to his color; from passport photos to 4 x 5; photographing men and photographing women; it’s all equally good. He’s also the kind of guy you throw a really difficult assignment to because with all the different films and formats he’s bound to get something great.
Jean-François Rauzier is a French photographer who has developed the concept of ‘hyperphotos’ – ‘stitching’ together hundreds of enormous high-resolution images. Citadelle 2, which measures 180cm x 300cm, was created from a total of 1,500 images, endless
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2009/nov/20/jean-francois-rauzier-hyperphotos-photography
Jean-François Rauzier is a French photographer who has developed the concept of ‘hyperphotos’ – ‘stitching’ together hundreds of enormous high-resolution images. Citadelle 2, which measures 180cm x 300cm, was created from a total of 1,500 images, endlessly distorted and duplicated, depicting the first floor of a grand Parisian residence
After beginning his career as a biologist, Paul Nicklen quit his job for the Canadian government and dedicated himself to wildlife photography.
Roger Ballen’s style may bring to mind painters like Jean Dubuffet and Francis Bacon rather than the work of other photographers. His haunting, cramped images, as Kristen Joy Watts reports, thwart any expectations of a clear narrative.
via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/showcase-81/
Roger Ballen, 59, is a professional geologist, a “mineral explorationist.” For decades he traveled to nearly every African country looking for deposits of diamonds, clay, cobalt and coal.
“I think the most important issue is you looking at the picture, and the picture looking at you.”
Alex Welsh is a 2009 graduate of San Francisco State University with a B.A. in photojournalism and minors in history and Middle Eastern studies. Welsh recently won gold in the Documentary category of the 64th College Photographer of the Year competition for his work in Hunters Point.
Link: The Visual Student » Documenting Hunters Point: Alex Welsh
The first image in Shelley Calton’s Hard Knocks, is a wonderful set-up for the brief, wild ride into the kinetic world of women’s roller derby that is to come. Titled “Agent Belligerent,” the opening portrait is of a woman who looks set for combat – and she is.
photojournalism is devolving into yet another medium perceived as intending to shock, titillate, sell, distort. My sense is that if we are truly serious about preserving at least some of its credibility — while making it clear that it is not representative of the “truth” — we need to take strong steps.
This chart was shown at the official NikonD3s launch event in Beijing – you can see the Nikon logo at the top right corner: Not sure if this data is only for China or worldwide. I am surprised by the large % of D3x sales (dark blue bars). I think in few m
via Nikon Rumors: http://nikonrumors.com/2009/11/19/nikons-pro-dslrs-outsell-canons-big-time.aspx
Alec Soth shot to notoriety before I dipped my toes in photography appreciation. He also terminated his treasured blog before I could jump aboard. I missed the early boat on Soth’s work and h…
via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/alec-soth-and-the-art-of-the-interview/
Alec Soth shot to notoriety before I dipped my toes in photography appreciation. He also terminated his treasured blog before I could jump aboard.
I missed the early boat on Soth’s work and have always felt quite maudlin about that. Really there is no need for my malaise; Soth has travailed the papers, the cameras and the blogs as widely as he has the American Interstates. He has left a busy legacy of interviews.
Over the years I have played around using speedlights for portraits, but mostly in situations where I didn’t think I needed 5 lights and f/11.
Maybe it’s old age but lately I’ve started to use speedlights for the celebrity portraits that I ordinarily would be hauling — or an assistant on occasion — my “large lights”.