Romancing the banal in a post-print world

Spread around Paris, Lyon, Barcelona and New York the friends Jeremy Egry (b. 1979), Aurélien Arbet (b. 1985), Marco Barrera (b. 1985) and Nicolas Poillot (b. 1978) get together in JSBJ. These French photographers not only produce their own zines and larger collaborative photographic publications, they also host the portfolio based website where they promote a large number of new and talented photographers.

http://www.jesuisunebandedejeunes.com/

Copyright Hisashi Shimizu 2009, courtesy photo-eye & Kodansha

On the surface, the subjects of Hisashi Shimizu’s book Portraits of Silence are soldiers who perished during the Iraq conflict, indirect portraits developed from the perspective of the soldier’s parents. But Portraits of Silence is also about the desire to maintain the memory of a beloved, and the fight to keep a tangible presence of who they were while dealing with the grief of their loss.

After speaking to the soldier’s parents, Shimizu photographed the places and things described in the interviews. These places and things have become symbolic of the “missing” person and are maintained by the parents to preserve their memories. The book first provides color plates with only a caption to identify the soldier’s name. The last section of the book, ‘Profile,’ explains the importance of each photograph as it relates to the solider, in the words of their parents. I find that the captions in the ‘Profile,’ using the descriptive language of the parents, create a larger emotional context than the photographs alone. The text in the ‘Profile’ is provided in both Japanese and English.

This book is imbued with a sense of sadness. Perhaps it is because we know in advance that the outcome was not a good one, and the loss of a child is extremely tragic for a parent. That said, I think the photographs appear to be compassionate, intimate, and sensitive, treating what is shared – the things, places, thoughts and feelings – with reverence and respect.

An emotional rawness can still be detected on the features of many of the parents’ faces. That some chose not to face the camera and look beyond it is perhaps an indication of their current state of acceptance, how they are continuing to deal with their loss.  Of the others that confront the photographers lens, I sense anger, sadness, despair and sometimes what appears as an emotional deadness. Perhaps the presence of the photographer, his questions and dialog, re-opened the soul’s wounds.

by Douglas Stockdale

The premiere provider of custom photo books & greeting cards. Top payouts in photo category!

http://www.picaboo.com/

Copyright Christopher Thomas 2009, courtesy of Prestel Verlag

When I recently shared my thoughts about the future of photobooks when looking out another 10 years, I can not imagine at the moment an electronic version that would be capable of simulating the feel of a wonderful photobook lying in my hands. Christopher Thomas’s recent book New York Sleeps published by Prestel Verlag is perhaps an excellent example. The tactile weight of the page, the way the ink absorbs into the paper and floats the image on the page, the resulting dynamic range of the tonalities, the size and heft of the book and even the smell of ink on paper and the glued and sewn binding. This is an object that will be hard to duplicate by another medium

Thomas has chosen to take on a frequently photographed subject, the city of New York, a place that this Munich based photographer lives part time in conjunction with his professional photographic career. Because of New York’s long history related to photography and art, it is in of itself a potential cliché and a daunting urban landscape subject. To look at New York anew, Thomas choose to work in black and white, specifically using the Polaroid type 55 positive/negative film with a medium-size view camera, with extended exposure durations. He chooses to photography during the late evening and early morning hours, completing this project over a couple of years. His photographs are subsequently organized thematically; the city, bridges, riverside piers, parks, and the neighborhoods.

Part of the esthetics of his photographs is to include the raw transitional edges that result from the Polaroid positive/negative process. I can see how this transitional edge is another design element, perhaps to show the process, much like Atget’s glass plates edges, and add another element to the photographs. The edges contribute to a one-of-a-kind quality to these photographs that indicate these are singular objects. Including the transitional edges is making a statement to me that these photographs have not been cropped, but are taken directly from the camera just as the photographer has envisioned them, which harkens back to an Edward Weston modernist and purist viewpoint.

Choosing to photograph at these usually dormant hours and in conjunction with the extended exposure durations was consistent with his desire to essentially remove the human element from consideration. It is easy for me to see the parallels to the earlier photographs of Eugene Atget, (here and here) who photographed a vanishing Paris at the turn of the twentieth century at a similar time of day using long exposures. Much later Bernd & Hilla Becher and Candida Hofer have eliminated people from their photographs to distill social architecture down to its essential structure. The stilled water found within Thomas’s waterfront and bridge photographs are similar to the work of Joesf Hoflehner, Michael Kenna and Michael Levin, where with enough time, water becomes a plasticized element.

Thomas’s photographs remind me of an archeological documentation of a forgotten civilization, capturing the exposed bones of the architecture and related infrastructure. I find a sense of wonder and beauty in these photographs, that Thomas makes evident the design, line, texture and mass of these structures.

The photographs are devoid of mankind that might provide a warm social link to these edifices. Even without the people present, their presences still can be felt by the parked cars, lights still glowing in windows, parked delivery trucks with their loads now positioned on the street pending the final delivery, and footprints left in the new snow. This creates a little tension for me, as it is odd to see this city without the swarm of people who seem ever present, traversing the sidewalks, streets, bridges and parks. I expect any moment for someone to appear, which reminds me that these photographs are a very brief slice in time.

For me these photographs are also dreamlike and haunting, representing a barren and desolate place without the people who usually provide the energy and vibrancy of this city. It is an unusual sight. I find Thomas’s inner city photographs unique, but his winter park and waterfront subjects have not revealed anything new, although they are beautifully made images.

The book was edited by Petra Giloy-Hirtz and Ira Stehmann with essays by Ulrich Pohlmann and Bob Shamis. The linen wrapped hardcover has a tipped-in image, and the interior is printed in Passau, Germany on a creamy tone acid free paper, which further enhances the warm tone black and white photographs. Each image has a classic amount of surrounding margin space to allow adequate breathing room, such that the photographs can be fully envisioned and evaluated on its own merits.

By Douglas Stockdale

The Errata Editions Books on Books Series

Errata Editions’ Books on Books series is an on-going publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. These are not reprints or facsimiles but complete studies of those originals. Each in this series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or prohibitively expensive for most to experience. Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study into the creation and meanings of these great works of art.

Each in the Books on Books series contains; illustrations of every page in the original photobook being featured; a new essay by established writers on photography composed specially for this series; production notes about the creation of the original edition; biography and bibliography information about each artist.

Books on Books #4
Chris Killip: In Flagrante

Essays by John Berger and Sylvia Grant, Gerry Badger, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
80 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
65 Duotone and 4-color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-06-6

Chris Killip’s In Flagrante is often cited as the most important photobook to come from England in the 1980s. Published in 1988, In Flagrante describes the communities in Northern England that were devastated by the deindustrialisation common to policies carried out by Thatcher and her predecessors starting in the mid-1970s. Books on Books 4 presents Killip’s political yet lyric work and a new essay by Gerry Badger called Dispatches from a War Zone.

Books on Books #3
Sophie Ristelhueber: Fait

Essays by Marc Mayer, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
96 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
89 4-color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-04-2

Sophie Ristelhueber’s Fait, which in French means ‘fact’ or ‘what was done,’ remains one of the most powerful statements about the aftermath of war. In October of 1991, Ristelhueber photographed the battle-scarred landscape of Kuwait following the end of the first Gulf war with Iraq. Books on Books 3 presents all 71 black and white and color photographs as seen in the original artist book as it was conceived and designed by Ristelhueber. Marc Meyer of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal contributes an essay that discusses Ristelhueber’s disturbing yet beautiful achievement.

Books on Books #6
Yutaka Takanashi: Toshi-e

Essays by Gerry Badger, Gozo Yoshimasu, Jeffrey Ladd
Hardcover w/ Dustjacket
176 pp, 9.5 x 7 in.
120 Duotone illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-935004-10-3

Yutaka Takanashi’s Toshi-e (Towards the City) is a landmark two-volume set of books from one one of the founders of the avant-garde Japanese magazine Provoke. Published in 1974 and considered the most luxurious of all of the Provoke era publications, its brooding, pessimistic tone describes the state of contemporary life in an unnamed city in Japan undergoing economic and industrial change. Books on Books 6 reproduces all one hundred sixteen black and white photographs that make up the two volumes. Photographer, writer and book historian Gerry Badger, contributes an essay called Image of the City – Yutaka Takanashi’s Toshi-e.

about errata

So your Christmas break has arrived and you’re wondering what you can ask Santa to bring you that will get you one step ahead of the rest of your photography classmates (of course…you’ve nothing better to think of, right?). So here are my top five best photo books to help you write that Christmas list.

1. Steve McCurry: The Unguarded Moment: Thirty Years of Photography by Steve McCurry: Phaidon Press Ltd (April 2009)

Those of you who follow Aphotoeditor’s blog might have already seen the great speech by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity. If not do so… I firmly believe in the gods of photography, and do my best to allow them to give me a good picture (if you watch the clip I’ll sound a lot less mad). It should come as no surprise then that American photojournalist Steve McCurry recently stated on his blog that he enjoys “…going back again and again to buddhist countries…”, because his photo karma over 30 years has been amazing. This is a beautiful book and makes a lovely present. I managed to pick a copy up for myself while doing the Christmas shopping…probably not the done thing really, but I just couldn’t resist… Just flick through and reflect on his ability to know his subject matter and compostion well enough to allow these great photographs to come towards him.

2. Periodical Photography: Commissioned Works by Dan Winters: Aperture 25 May 2009

Every great era has a great portrait artist, and judging by the quality of the pictures of most of the important people from (mainly) American culture (although Morrissey gets a look in) he’s in the running. A selection of images that have style, technique and are oozing with creativity. Many images prompt you to sit and contemplate them, whilst you want to keep turning the pages to view the rest. Beautifully designed too, this is a book that deserves to be owned and studied by people seriously interested in how we can present images of people in a fresh way that still looks as classic as the paintings by the Old Masters themselves.

3. Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction To Photographic Lighting by Steven Biven, Paul Fuqua, and Fil Hunter: Focal Press; 3 edition (23 Mar 2007)

This book is a wee bit heavy on the technical side of things but don’t just turn off and pretend it doesn’t matter!! Sorry about the harsh teacher-like tone during the holidays, but recently I bought this to remind myself of the basics – how light reacts on various subjects. Invaluable for understanding the nuts and bolts of lighting different materials like glass and metal. While this is amazing for studio work, it’s also helped me with press and documentary work; a refresher on exactly how to get rid of specular highlights on glass has helped me move much more speedily around these types of jobs. Definitely not to be read on Christmas day. Save it for Jan 2nd and then treat yourself with a wee dram if you manage to get through a chapter during the holidays.

4. The Photographer’s Survival Guide by Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease: Amphoto; Pap/Cdr edition (7 Jun 2009)

The two biggest shocks students will get upon leaving college are the surprisingly low rates paid to photographers and the difficulty in finding work. The advice this book gives won me over instantly. Especially when I discovered that the first lesson it gives is on learning your style. What could be simpler (and harder at the same time…) Filled with advice on how to market your work, it’s aimed at advertising and editorial photographers and a is bit too American. However in these uncertain times I would say anyone trying out a career in photography should at least give this book a look. Other advice on how to present your folios and websites are great too. I keep meaning to get around to following it…

5. Confidential by Alison Jackson: Taschen GmbH; illustrated edition edition (28 Sep 2007)

Remember it is a Christmas list so we’re not to take it all too seriously. Alison Jackson makes some serious points about our image saturated world by creating really funny ‘fake’ pap style shots of celebs. The targets are played by actors, but they are strong enough to give you a the double take effect when you glance at the Queen sitting on a less-than-dignified throne, or Eminem mowing the lawn. It may be a bit of a repetitive joke, but definitely one to look at on Christmas day. If you can be bothered being serious about it you’d do worse than think about the way in which she took a major problem for photographers (ie, the over abundance of photographic material in society) and turned it into a way of finding a niche both in the photography and in the art world. Lateral thinking is what gets most successful photographers the jobs they get today.

Hope you get what you want this Christmas…:)

Andy Adams of Flak Photo contacted me a couple of days ago to participate in a discussion about the future of photobooks. Seems that this discussion is a spin off of a brief article posted by Joerg Colberg on Conscientious regarding his thoughts on cutting-edge photobooks, found here and potentially summed up by “I have been noticing that there isn’t much of a variety in photo books”.

Thus, the ensuing discussion that is being posted on LiveBooks by Miki Johnson with Andy here, regarding what do you think photobooks will look like in 10 years. Essentially this a crowd-source blog post about photobooks. And of course, you are absolutely free to comment there as you are very welcome to share your thoughts here.

I find that the question of what photobooks will look like in 10 years an interesting futurist question. I don’t think that this is the question that Joerg was asking nevertheless. What might photobooks look like in 10 years still may not be “cutting edge”. So at this moment, I will provide my thoughts on the 10 year question and safe Joerg’s question for another time. (Which is to say, I have not given that aspect of photobooks much thought, but I have been noting what different photobook publishers have been doing in pushing the traditional limits)

First, what is the purpose of a photobook and how might that change in 10 years? For the books that I review on this site, the photobooks are another means of extending the reach of a cohesive photographic project, body of work or series of photographs. A published book can reach out beyond the walls of a gallery or studio, city, state or country to a much broader and wider audience. A photobook can extend the life of a body of work almost indefinitely, well beyond a large one-time exhibition, even beyond the life of the photographer, thus a photobook creates a body of work that is immortal.

A body of work that is currently in the pages of a book can become digital content that can be electronically disseminated even farther. So the question begs, where will the internet and electronic data be in 10 years?

Having help support the initial SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month) a couple of years with Paul Butzi (the ringleader) and a few other photographers, I was really interested in the alternatives to a printed photobook, primarily the PDF book and other electronic variations. After mulling this over for a while, I recently decided to “publish” a recent photographic project titled Milan Fashion Week and use an alternative blog format, which is here.

Likewise there are the current Flickr, FaceBook, static web-sites and other collections & compilations of photographs, but at the moment, they lack cohesiveness and clarity of intent. Perhaps in the next 10 years, we will see the development of additional design infrastructure by individuals and companies that might improve the experience as well as improve the contextual relationships.

As a self-published (Blurb) photographer, I have been thinking about the current economic issues of self-publishing and how this might change in 10 years. Yes, I can self-publish a nice hardcover photobook, but the single issue cost is prohibitive compared to traditional off-set publishing, and the overall quality is lacking, especially the binding processes. Second,  the margins between the high cost of printing and potential selling price are too small to be seriously considered by a bookstore or gallery, unless all of the profits are provided to the book distributors. So one thing that might occur in 10 years is the continuing revolution in print-on-demand production processes that might eventually allow a single printed hardcopy book equal in cost and quality to a traditional book. Regretfully, today the potential profit margins in print-in-demand for fine photobooks are being enjoyed by the various publishing suppliers who provide the service, not to the photographer.

What will happen with the traditional photobook? I think that the current traditionally printed photobook will still be here and traditionally printed 10 years from now. Maybe not in China, but some other third world country that has decided to invest in the publishing infrastructure to provide low-cost books. There are a lot of people who just like to hold a book while they read and enjoy the content. The bookstores for these books may become more virtual over time. Likewise, there are certain qualities of a photobook, the printed image, paper weight and hand, quality of the binding and book’s heft, that many people are interested in experiencing before purchasing. Perhaps the trend will be for the high quality photobooks to be sold in photo-gallery bookstores or book boutiques than main-line, big-box bookstores.

One recent change we have seen is the rise of many small press photobook publishers, those who choose to invest in a given photographer and traditional print their photobook in smaller edition sizes. These publishers recognize that the traditional photobook is still considered an object, that something you hold in your hands has a certain esthetic presence, and that it has appeal to readers, photographers and collectors. Most of these small publishers also offer a limited edition or deluxe edition in addition to the trade book commonly found in the big book stores. I think that the trend of creating a limited edition will continue and become more common in the next 10 years, and that these limited edition books will become more lavish over time. Also the barriers to entry for the small press publisher continue to erode, we will probably see even more of these small publishers coming into existence over the next 10 years. And these are the publishers most abt to try new and innovative designs and potentially cutting-edge books for the next 10 years.

Okay, this has not meant to be inclusive and I will come back to this again, but these are some of my current thoughts on this subject.

Best regards, Douglas

Get ready for some fun end of the year specials!

Photographs copyright Nan Goldin 2009 Courtesy Skira Rizzoli New York and photo-eye

Bette Gordon’s famous, perhaps infamous, 1983 independent film Variety evolved from an earlier series of cinematic narrative photographs created by Nan Goldin. A few of the photographs from Goldin’s Variety were incorporated in her earlier opus, The Ballard of Sexual Dependency. This photobook is the first cohesive publication of the entire Variety project.

This staged storyline is not too complex by today’s standard, but for the early 1980’s, it incorporates a dark and sexually risqué theme, challenging the current morals. The story portrays a young woman, Christine, who ventures into the world of pornography, and eventually seeking sexual satisfaction with anonymous partners. It questions the definition of appropriateness of behavior, female sexuality and the accepted norms for a man being equally acceptable for a woman.

The story progresses serially, with Goldin continually shifting the viewer’s orientation, disorienting the frame of reference. We are initially the voyeur, watching as the story unfolds with tight framing, becoming intimately part of the story. Then the frame of reference shifts and we become Christine, seeing through her eyes the shared looks, glances, being observed while assertively observing, being “sized up” and “checked out”. It leaves us unsure if we are the spider or the fly. A quick shift and we are back to observing Christine, then back to being Christine once again. The story finishes with the reader as voyeur and with more questions than answers.

Frequently the lighting within the photographs is low, with deep and mysterious shadows or bathed the in reddish hues of the peep shows, sex shops and porn theaters, a hot and almost liquid, exotic light. These lighting conditions create a level of sexual tension amongst the characters, with some photographs just out of focus or slightly blurred which enhances the feelings of discomfort.

Variety is a bumpy and uneven cinematic narrative, but one that allows for many alternatives. It is not always clear as to how this story is progressing and what the ending might be.

The essay by James Crump’s provides a wonderful external context to frame Goldin’s project in the turmoil of NYC’s Lower East Side and the female “sex wars” evolving in the early 80’s. The embossed hardcover book has a dust cover, and is printed in Singapore.

by Douglas Stockdale

Copyright Chris McGaw 2009 courtesy Cavallo Point Resort

I enjoy McCaw’s frankness in how his project Sunburn came about, the effects of “whisky” and not being conscious to close the shutter of his camera after a night long exposure. Rather than trash the results of the night, he decided to follow serendipity and chance to investigate the results. And there was something that awaken his inner spirit to further pursue this random act of creativity.

Whereas most of us have been repeatedly told not to focus our camera’s lens on the sun, which could ruin the film, the shutter and who knows what. McCaw found himself running counter-initiative to this sage advice, because in fact he wants to sear, burn, destroy, deteriorate, degrade and otherwise trash his film or enlarging paper when loaded in his film holders. The name of his project, Sunburn, is very descriptive of his creative intent.

Incidentally, this book has brought back memories as a kid, wondering around trying to create havoc with my little handy-dandy plastic magnifying glass, later upgrading to a glass, an even more destructive model. Melting crayons, frying ants and trying to start little fires, the things very young guys seem to be attracted to. I was fascinated with what this simple little device could perform in conjunction with sunlight and a little skill and dexterity in focusing it into a small little intense point of light. Oh, yes, and I quickly learned not to focus that bright sun-spot anywhere on my skin or clothes.

I also wonder if there is some subconscious link back to McCaw’s youth and what little fires he has started from time to time. So in one sense, this body of work has a playful, but sinister quality, to its conception and creative inquiry.

McCasw creates one of kind photographic objects with indelible marks on paper and film substrates. This series can be segmented into two genres; minimalist abstract marks on paper/film or photogram light-drawings. Both employ various burning patterns and processes, not an entirely controllable process. The results are born both of experience and serendipity, couched in mystery.

His marks made on film usually have hard edges, appearing like glowing orbs, molten balls, with a white stark center and a dark circular ring. Occasionally these orbs are a little thicker on the bottom edge, adding weight and creating a non symmetrical circular design. His marks on paper generally have softer edges. The circular patterns, orbs and streaks are cerebral, vague gestures, employing random patterns, frequently created by multi-exposures.

His abstract minimalist photographs are monotone fields with a series of marks. His designs vary from wide open expanse, populated by of streaks and intermittent orbs, to a field of marks, much like a shot-up sign you might find in the deserts of Nevada. He employs a multitude of designs, searing strokes, pinpoints or soft radiant spheres. The resulting damage to the film and paper creates subtle color changes, but occasionally with sooty black edges, evidence where the material has been burned and deeply scared.

When McCaw repeatedly decomposes the camera, he creates random and abstract pattern of marks that have varying intensity, with a slight change in modulating colors. Depending on the intensity and duration of the exposure on each type of medium, his marks can have either hard edges or soft edges. A single mark may have an interesting combination of both hard and soft tonalities blending together, simulating a meditative state of being here, while not being here.

The shape of the spheres are much like the sun itself; and are portraits of the sun and indirectly sunshine. When allowing the sun to continuously track through one frame, the effect is a monotone rainbow, gently arching across the pictorial frame. The marks are also a form of “light” writings, a vague language that McCaw has developed.

The other series of photographs is related to the photograms, the earliest of photographic processes first developed by Henry Fox Talbot. A photogram, meaning light drawing, is a latent image created by a long exposure of a subject retained on photo-sensitive paper, a creative process still utilized by photographs, such as the late Jerry Burchfield. A disorienting aspect of photograms is that they are negative images, with a reverse tonality.

The subjects in a photogram are usually not sharply defined, but provide vague shapes and mass that allow some contextual recognition, contrasting with a sharply defined sun-burn. It creates a yin-yang set of opposites, creating dark and mysterious images.

Some of the resulting photograms capture what appears to be a meteor streaking through the sky. Or perhaps documents the landing of alien space craft, or something from the fourth dimension. Multiple images of the sun-burns crossing a dark sky, much like the work of Mark Klett and Michael Lundgren, symbolize the passing of time. There is something vague and elusive, but yet familiar with these photograms.  There is a faint definition of shapes and mass that begins to anchor our memories, but disconnected enough to leave us adrift, wondering what is this mysterious place. The sunburns weave through this stange landscape or create a searing pattern across the reflecting waters below.

Although this creative process could result from playfulness, it is also an act of violence, that relates to anger, frustration and fear. These images are indicative of a love/hate relationship. At a personal level, I sense his love of photography and working in this medium, while the physical mayhem of his medium strongly hints at a deep frustration, perhaps with the process, it’s limitations, control or resulting economic conditions as an artist or other personal issues. These images have a strong emotional content, like a torn and shredded canvas that has been hacked at by the painter.

Attacking his film and paper can also be construed as an attack on the esthetics of traditionalist and modern photography, where a pristine and perfect print is revered. There is no pristine print left in the traditional sense. But the creation of a one of a kind photographic object is the antithesis of postmodernism, which denies the idea of the individual artist. So McCaw is working within that in-between place of Modernism and Postmodernism, and I think the evidence will eventually show him to be more in the Postmodern side of this equation.

In yet another sense,  I find McCaw’s photographs reflect an environmental concern with global warming. The patterns and searing marks are symbolic of the possible effects by a sun that is not modulated by a protective outer atmosphere. A tome to what could be resulting conditions for mankind with a sun that burns, sears, and subsequently destroys, and that mankind is indeed playing with fire.

In the end, it is in the act of destroying his medium that McCaw is creating something new and unique. Perhaps like the seeds of species of tree that requires fire and heat to germinate and grow anew. From the ashes of destruction, Hope has been found.

Consistent with the other books in the Cavallo Point series, this is a small hardbound book with nice printing but the usually issues with a print-on-demand glued in binding, although I would not let that hinder a purchase of this interesting and provocative book.

By Douglas Stockdale

If I could sing, the praises of Arlene Gottfried would pour from my lips. Her incredible collection of photographs of New York City from the 1970s is like nothing I have ever seen.

Born in Brooklyn, Arlene graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and worked as a photographer at an ad agency before freelancing for top publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Life, and The Independent in London. Gottfried has exhibited at the Leica Gallery in New York and in Tokyo, and at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., among others. Her photographs can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Berenice Abbott International Competition of Women’s Documentary Photography.

Gottfried is the author of one of my all-time favorite monographs, Sometimes Overwhelming, I just had to ask honey a couple of questions…

What was it like back in the days, once upon a time before AIDS ?

Arlene Gottfried: G.G. Barnum Room was a tranvestite club in Times Square which was very unusual with a trapeze and lots of ladies doing all sorts of things, lots of Puerto Rican ones.  I had lots of good times there.

You went out into this scene with a camera—how did that go over ? Were other people photographing the scene as well ? Did you ever exhibit these photos ?

People didn’t mind the camera they wanted to be noticed and I never really did the kind of photographs where people were unaware of the presence of me with the camera. They were others photographers around in some of the clubs but usually never a mob scene, or phones with cameras, video blackberrys and all the electronic gadgets of today. The photographs where hardly ever seen if at all. I developed the film, printed the ones I liked and put one in a portfolio box and if I made others just stored the prints in boxes.

Looking back at the City then, and the way things are today, what is the most distinctive change you have seen ?

The most distinctive change is the disappearance of individuality.  The small family owned shops with personality.  So much diversity of colorful people.  Some of the texture of things that were just not that slick.

arlenegottfried.com

www.missrosen.us

We would like to wish everyone a safe and merry upcoming holiday season. People are usually in the giving spirit this time of year and Hitched can help provide some unique gifts for the season. Some of our ideas include:

1. Holiday Card – take the traditional approach and give your family and friends a customized greeting or photo card for the same price as purchasing from a grocery store. For a twist, add a letter updating people on what is going on in your life. This is a good idea for businesses as well!
2.  Personalized Stationary – As the world depends more on text messaging and emails, paper thank you and notes cards add a special touch of class.
3. Business Stationary – Do something for your business this holiday season and re-brand or update your business stationary. Logos, business cards, and letterhead can all send a powerful message with a new design.
4. Wedding Invitations or Date Reminders – The holiday season brings out the best in all of us and is one of the most popular times to propose. If you know someone about to be engaged, offer to pay for part of their invitations or all of their Save-the-Date cards. It will be much appreciated!
5. Photo Books – Whether you have photos of a recent wedding, vacation, or new-born child, a hard cover photo book is the perfect way to save and present your event.

Call us today for any of your design needs this upcoming holiday season. We are currently offering 10% off all orders before the New Year!

Copyright Arnoud Bakker, 2009, courtesy Stichting Fotografie Noorderlicht

To be in love, or perhaps in lust, is to experience a kind of narcosis and paralysis, with an inability to focus, while the heart rate becomes erratic. There are other symptoms of which there may be a lack of awareness in the moment; dilated pupils, blurred vision, loss of balance & staggering, slurred speech, confusion, hallucinations and delirium.

Coincidently, these effects are the same for ingesting parts of the very toxic deadly nightshade, a perennial plant found in Europe, especially the species Atropa belladonna. The Atropa belladonna name is derived from Greek and Italian, an admonition, meaning “do not betray a beautiful lady”, a very wise piece of wisdom.

Han Schoonhaven in his essay for Arnoud Bakker’s Atropa bella donna writes:

“Love is a neurosis, a chemical reaction to sustain human kind, but what a fine madness it is! Paul Van Ostaijen wrote about Feats of Fear and Pain, but I cannot imagine having gone though my youth with the fear, pain, euphoria and little death that are inevitably connected with love.”

The subject of Bakker’s book recently published by Noorderlicht, both directly and indirectly, is the portrait of women, attempting to reveal their inner natural beauty. The photographer also attempts to not betray them in the process, revealing a complex interrelationship of photographer and subject. Implied in Schoonhaven’s essay, Bakker is attempting to “create golden girls on paper… and that girls love cameras and they want to be seen…potentially by as many people as possible….and a woman who is prepared to be recorded, presents herself”.

Bakker is also interested in bringing other types of photographic experimentation into this process working with a tradition large format camera both with Polaroid positive/negative film/print and placing long spans of 35mm negative film across the film holder or using stereo-graphic equipment. There is additional element of serendipity to this analog process, as the outcome is not fully realized until later in the darkroom.

As the women interacts with the photographer’s process, an unknown element is the extent of her revelations, both her surface contours and her internal beauty. This is a complex relationship, one that Bakker likens to the complexity and unpredictability of nature itself. I find that portraits that can capture internal beauty are elusive, a factor that is as much as in the eye of the beholder as the person in front of the lens. The photographer is the medium, choosing the environmental conditions and having sensitivity as to when to make the exposure, and what is extracted in the ensuing image. Another form of natural chemistry that is difficult to analyze and quantify, only approximate and qualify at best.

A question of this body of work, does it indeed create the Atropa belladonna’s bizarre delirium and hallucinations?  I don’t think that these images are necessarily “bizarre”, but they are creative with some unusual book layouts, perhaps may not create a delirium, but might create some hallucinations. Like the berries from the plant, these images pose a danger as they are attractive and slightly sweet. There is rawness and coyness, women explicitly revealing themselves in abandon like a wild night-club stripper, or demurely like a blushing first encounter. I found that these photographs illustrate the potential emotional swings of a romantic encounter, aggression and passiveness.

We do not know if a woman who is photographed half dressed is the in the process of undressing, re-dressing or pausing in mid-thought. Photographed partially undressed, her face cloaked and hidden form view, but her form and contours visible. She temporarily exists between the states of fully revealing and disguising herself, to want to show herself, but yet not be identifiable, a world of fantasy and mystery, lewdness and modesty, a state of narcosis and paralysis.

For the woman being photographed, knowing what is reveled in the studio may become publicly available for all to indulge might be part of the fantasy. Wondering at the moment of the click of the shutter, if eventually someone will pause at this intimate and personal image? And what might the reader be thinking as they pause to study this image? Can they know and understand the thoughts, dreams, passion, nightmares and hopes for the future? That is part of the mystery, for the women who reveal themselves, the photographer who photographs and eventually for us to try to decipher.

Some of the resulting images are sharply focused and well defined, while others are soft and blurry impressions, and many are somewhere in between. The later creates an impression of a hallucination, dreamlike and having a lack of being able to focus clearly, a disruption to the cognitive capacities

This is a relatively small case-bound book, consistent in size with most of the books published by Noorderlicht. The book binding does not allow the book to lay-flat, which can be a nuisance if you want to allow a pair of images to be on display over a longer duration. The essay is by Han Schoonhavon with the text in Dutch and English, and the book is printed in Groningen, The Netherlands.

Best regards, Douglas Stockdale

© Estevan Oriol

I first met Estevan Oriol backstage at a Cypress Hill concert. He had invited me to check out a show, and I thought we were talking exhibition until he mentioned the Nassau Coliseum, and then I was like—ohhh, a show.

I trooped out to L.I. with my girl Jenny Mannherheim and we hooked up with Estevan. I remember standing in the Cypress Hill dressing room, while Estevan showed us a collection of his photos of women he had shot in LA over the past decade. A serious collection of killer bitches he had amassed, as I looked on with a combination of awe and envy. “I meet girls and the first thing they tell me is, ‘I’m not a groupie,’” Estevan told us, before quickly adding, “Not that you are groupies” to which Jenny and I smiled knowingly.

Although plans to do a book with Estevan did not materialize during my time at powerHouse, I have always maintained a tremendous love for Estevan’s work. Watching him soar to world prominence with his compelling collection of portraits of the people of LA, I was thrilled to learn of the release of LA Woman, his new book with Drago, and could not wait to get my paws on a copy, so at the very least I’d stay inspired to haul myself to the gym every morning!

Estevan Oriol

I don’t usually go for pin-up photography, but your style goes so much further beyond the superficial sexuality of these women, and really captures a quiet intimacy and street energy not usually associated with this genre. It makes me start to wonder—who are these women and how did you connect with them?

Estevan Oriol: My approach to photography is what you see is what you get. You don’t really see pin-up girls. The girls I shoot that’s how they looked when I saw them, but with maybe a little more clothes on.

I started shooting women when I started photography in the mid-90s. I began shooting lowriding because I am in a lowrider car club called Lifestyle, and I was tour managing House of Pain and Cypress Hill. Both of those scenes always had women around so it came naturally. This book is a collection of some women I shot in L.A. throughout the years, some I knew, some I didn’t. The most important thing is to make them feel comfortable and that they are going to look good.

Your vision in LA Woman looks at another side of the city, taking us beyond the stereotypical depictions of Hollywood glamour and showing us a world where women’s beauty is power, and that power is both alluring and aggressive. Beyond the physical, what aspects of a woman are you most attracted to ?

I’m attracted to different kinds of people for different reasons, some for how they act, some for how they look, some for what they have to say—it depends on what kind of project I’m doing. Some of the women were flat out beautiful, and some where beautiful for where they came
from or what they represent.

© Estevan Oriol

You didn’t include one of my all time faaaavorite photos—the hands doing “LA” .. How did you decide which ones to include in this collection, and are there plans for a second volume ?

I was first hit up to do a book on street culture of Los Angeles, but I felt everyone expects that out of me so I wanted to throw a twist on it
and a lot of people don’t know me for my women photos. Hopefully they will now.

I didn’t use the L.A. fingers because I am going to use that in the STREETLIFE book coming soon after my tattoo culture book. I’m not
releasing the name yet; last time I did that they named reality shows and other books and mags from it.

It was hard editing this one looking at pictures of women day after day after day. I definitely plan on doing volumes. Its a tough job but somebody has to do it. I’m built for this shit.

© Estevan Oriol

Thanks to all the women in the book, the photolabs Fleshtone and Schullman, Patrick Martinez on the design, and Drago for the publishing
S.A. Studios. Its only the beginning!!!!!!

© Estevan Oriol

www.estevanoriol.com

soulassassins.com

www.jokerbrand.com

www.missrosen.us

No double sided printer?  No problem!  We have some great little books that you can make with the MyPhotoBook kit and 8×6″ or 10×8″ prints…we call them Minilab Books.

You just need the covers and stapler/guide kit and you are ready to go!  Don’t forget to check our Marketing page for a poster you can print to advertise your new products!  Scroll down in this blog to read the entry and watch video about our other minilab product, the Smart Calendar!

(posted by Rachel)

Copyright Lukas Felzmann 2009 Courtsey Lars Muller Publishers

Water is an elusive essential to both man-kind and nature, without it you will certainly wither away and perish, and if by chance there is too much, you may drown. People have tried to control, manage and harness water, to force it to do what they feel is needed. We ultimately understand how little we know and can accomplish when we become aware of the futility of the task at hand when faced with drought or flooding. Felzmann looks obliquely at a place in an attempt to understand this subject. This place of his choice is fairly non-descript, an agricultural region inhabited by people who have strived, perhaps in vain, to harness the power and sustainability of water.

Similar to the awareness of the human presence with confronting the interior of a building, there is a palpable presence of water, whether it is the heavy humidity of a fog bank, lush grasses, looming rain clouds, flying waterfowl or a small boat hanging from a crane. The direct presence of draining dirty water, dark places throughout a calm mash, a partial lake view, flooded road, water puddles amongst the mud is easier to comprehend. Even an arid landscape, a dry wash or burning brush, conjures the thought of water even in its absence.

Over time, water can creates it own form, flowing to move mountains, change paths, randomly redirect itself and overcoming almost anything in its way. It has a plastic quality that becomes evident with longer exposures of film. Over a long enough time, water wears away a rock and can deteriorate metal, rotting vegetation and wood, wear away paint and in combination with sunlight, can eventually destroy plastic. The sun is another uncontrollable variable in the constantly changing the balance of water in nature, as it can evaporate what water that might remain.

Water can overflow the banks of a river and overtake, erode and flood all that is adjacent to it. Some who have misunderstand the flow of water and what force it is capable of having. Ask a fly fisherman who is standing in relatively shallow water of a strong flowing creek, how it can suddenly take your feet out from underneath you.

Likewise, water can also renew, refresh and revitalize both people and nature. It can cleanse and wash, taking away the surface grim. We observe that with the new green growth as well as the overflowing spring run off, a duality that can be daunting to try to control.

In one sequence, Felzmann photographs swirling water, with the flow of surface bubbles looking very familiar to the heavens above. Or the swirling current as it darts down a drain, appearing like a solar system drawn into a black hole. At first glance, it appears that he has captured the stars, planets and solar systems above. It gives cause to think that if in this small river a similar design of the universe is evident, what other universal patters are also surrounding us? I am left with awe and wonder in the possibilities.

A quote from the publisher provides these clarifying thoughts:

The photographer Lukas Felzmann was fascinated by the very thing that some driving past would find boring, flat, and disconsolate: the vast Sacramento Valley, located just a hundred miles from San Francisco. Felzmann discovers with his camera the hidden charms of that seeming nonplace. For him, exploring a place means both walking around and lingering quietly, until the valley opens up like a book, with stories that cry out to be read and discovered. With his camera he traces how time, determined here by the growth of the plants, slows on the plane, and how the horizontality of the surface becomes a reassuring balance to the hectic city of millions nearby. The photographs show the diversity of the plane: the original landscape in its natural state, the large swaths put to agricultural use, the modern provincial towns, and the transitional areas in between. Photographs of water in all its facets run through the book, just as water runs through and forms a valley.

In talking about this body of work, Felzmann states:

My intention has not been to produce an inclusive documentation, but to construct an empirical archive, to weave a story out of fragments, a sort of poetry of ruins. Transitory zones have been important in this collection because they reveal something about the essence of a place but can also point outside themselves. Whether looking for the geological edges of the valley, places that indicate the control of water, or photographing the luminous breaking edge of a fog bank, I was searching for structures that speak about nature and cultural conditions.

Generally I find Felzmann’s photographs to be somber with a hint of sadness and melancholy. He is drawn to decaying refrigerators, broken windshields, swampy and unlikable water, broken, barren and fallen trees, overcast and moody skies, abandoned and collapsing buildings. There are very few people within the photographs. The effect is further enhanced within the black and white images by a heavy amount of grayness in the tonality, creating somber tones. This may also be due the flat overcast lighting that he frequently chooses (or was available at the time). There are some exceptions, but overall I am left with a sense of concern and seriousness about the subject, to be wary and on guard and not take water for granted.

The book encompasses several general themed sections that require personal investigation; marsh, ghostpile, currents, machines, food, house, road, animals and crossing. Each theme requires your imagination to piece together the general connotations, with the section titles providing tantalizing hints. Although a terrible metaphor, nevertheless this book is truly like an onion, there are many layers of meaning that continue to revel themselves over time.

The book is unpaged and with a minimum of text, the individual photographs are without captions, with the exception of chapter headings. The photographer’s implied intent is  for you to experience of the body of work with only a few hints and draw your own conclusions. There are a few short excerpts and essays by John Berger accompanying quotes from Angelus Silesius, a doctor of philosophy (1624-1677). The color and black & white photographs are frequently printed with a full bleed to the edges or provided with a minimum border. The effect is to imply that reality is extended beyond the limits of the edges of the page. Double page spreads loose little content as the lay-flat binding, allowing he book to fully open and divulge its contents, minimizes any image loss in the gutter. The book is case bound and has the unusually appearance of a text book.

Felzmann’s book is working its way up my list of favorites for 2009.

By Douglas Stockdale

© Thorsten Kirchhoff

Thorsten Kirchhoff’s last night as an intern at powerHouse Books ended at 4am. He actually left his going away party to go back to the office to wrap up work on pre-production for Ari Marcopoulos’ Transitions and Exits, and I remember thinking to myself, They don’t make too many guys this good.

That was back in 2000. Thorsten’s come a long way baby. In the decade that passed since we worked together in that tiny office on Varick Street, Thorsten has developed his own photography career, showing his work in an incredible group slide show project that has been touring the world. He recently released his first book, The Singled Person, published by the fabulous Markus Schaden—and graciously agreed to chat about his work with us.

How did you get into photography and what is it about the medium that most attracts you?

Thorsten Kirchhoff: I was circling around photography for a long time. When I finished school I had to decide what I should do in my life. At this time my girlfriend was photographing and she taught me a lot of these technical issues and I started taking pictures. But the results were very disappointing. As a result I studied Publishing and after that I started to work for various publishing houses as a book and graphic designer. During this time, I taught myself how to develop films and how to print and I also read about the history in photography, went to many photo exhibitions, and of course going through many photo books. I was still very fascinated by photography and I never really gave up but for myself I couldn’t break through.

Then I had a time in my life where a lot of personal things went absolutely wrong. I had the feeling I was running along a one-way street with 200 km/h into nowhere and couldn’t find the exit. As a result, I made a radical break with my former life. I needed out. I went to Poland with my camera to walk through the forests and fields for a month. I felt that photography should be able to express “things” I don’t have words for. Still the pictures I did there weren’t really good but I believed in this medium. This was an initial moment for me to get deeper into photography.

I am using photography, because I can act with the camera right away if something captivates me. I always carry my camera with me. That’s a big advantage of photography.

© Thorsten Kirchhoff

Your photos have an incredible energy – a sort of romantic poetry to them that vibrates right off the page. Why did you decide to pursue a more heavily abstracted approach to photography?

I like the poetic point of view much more than the documentary one. For me there are always various ways to get somewhere. Besides, I don’t want to give answers with my pictures or show how something is at that moment when I take the picture. I think my pictures are in an in-between station and the viewer has to decide which way feels best, like I have to do. And the abstraction helps me to make it visible.

“The Singled Person” – what does this mean, and why did you decide to do a book to celebrate and explore it?

The project includes 7 photographers who are showing their different visions of the singled person. The singled person can be the photographer, the subject or both.
This year we had the idea to transform the slide projection into a print form. The different artists’ works are intermixed in this book, and we wanted to see if this could work. And of course we wanted to have something that people can take home.

© Thorsten Kirchhoff

Your slide show project is phenomenal. Any plans to show it in the future?

This year we screened the slide show in Biel, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany. Every new venue is a great experience for us, because we are working with the space of the rooms. It’s always different and also inspiring for us. Right now we are in contact with organizers in Cologne and Vienna, but the dates aren’t scheduled yet. We would love to show it somewhere else, too. Inquiries are very welcome.

© Thorsten Kirchhoff

www.thorstenkirchhoff.com

www.schaden.com

www.missrosen.us

Copyright Duane Michals 2009, courtesy Edizioni Siz and photo-eye

Spending time with the recent Duane Michals book, 50, a fifty year retrospective by the Italian publisher Siz, was essentially re-experiencing much of my own photographic life, having come of photographic age with his somnambulist period. His fascination with dreams, dreamlike states and dream-walking precedes our current interest with making connections to memories. Michals is whimsical, elusive, sensitive, cerebral, witty, caustic, introspective, challenging and seemly always on the move, pushing boundaries along a zigzag course of his own making.

The book ostensibly sets out to describe the broad spectrum of Michals career, which it does very well, but excludes his combination photographic/painting that were not received to wide acclaim in the 1980’s. This retrospective begins with his earliest portraits, which paved the way into his commercial career. Michals’s multiple exposure portraits of the famous painter Rene Magritte, pair of photographs below, foretold of his well-known “Sequences” of the late 60s and 70s. In the use of the double exposures, Michals weaves in other trademark elements of Magritte’s paintings in this iconic portrait. 

In his Sequences he fully delves into the world of the Somnambulist, the dream walker, utilizing sequential images, multiple exposures and eventually hand-written narrations that developed into raw poetic verse, declarations, statements and always questions. Most, if not all, of Michals’s Sequences are contained with this retrospective, which provides an opportunity to study this important, and arguably his most critical, body of work.

Subsequent to the Sequences, his sarcastic wit was fully revealed with his “About Contemporary Art” series; probably best know for ribbing Cindy Sherman with the title “Who is Sidney Sherman?” and mocking post-modern art in general. This series is somewhat ironic in that Michals double exposures, sequences and hand written narratives challenged the modernistic norm of the 1960s and 70s. 

One weakness of the book is that the supporting essays, including his interview with Enrica Vigano, is in Italian. Overall, lacking an English translation in the book does not diminish an appreciation of Michals first fifty years and provides me with wonder on what still may be yet to come. Additionally, his hand written narratives in English included within many of his photographic projects provides a layer of supporting contextual information. 

by Douglas Stockdale

I just recevied a brief overviewof the photographic literature that will be available at the Swann Auction Galleries December 8th, 2009 in NYC, which is in conjunction with their auction of photographic prints. Some of the photobook hightlights include:

Among the earliest examples of photographic literature in the sale are Francis Frith’s Egypt Nubia and Ethiopia, with 100 albumen stereo views, London, 1862 ($7,000 to $10,000);  and Camera Work #20, with 10 photogravures, three by Alfred Stieglitz, New York, 1907 ($5,000 to $6,000).

From the 1920s and ’30s are August Sander’s Antlitz der Zeit,  Munich, 1929 ($2,000 to $3,000);  Roger Parry and Fabian Loris’s Banalité, signed by both, with 16 photogravures, Paris, 1930 ($3,000 to $4,500); Italia Imperiale, edited by Manilo Morgagni, Milan 1937 ($4,000 to $6,000);  Brassaï’s Paris de Nuit, Paris, 1933 ($2,500 to $3,500); and Walker Evans’s American Photographs, signed and with an original photograph, New York, 1938  ($4,000 to $6,000).

Later works of note are a signed copy of David Heath’s A Dialogue with Solitude, New York, 1965 ($3,000 to $4,500);  Robert Frank’s The Lines of My Hand, Tokyo, 1972, and Flower Is . . . , Tokyo, 1987  ($3,500 to $4,500 and $4,000 to $6,000 respectively); Edward Ruscha’s Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 1967 ($2,200 to $2,800);   Lewis Baltz’s The Tract Houses, The Prototype Works, The New Industrial Parks near Irvine, California, issued with a print, each volume signed by Baltz, New York and Germany, 2005 ($2,500 to $3,500);  Todd Hido’s One Picture Book #06: Taft Street, four volumes, Tucson, 2001 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Visionaire issue number 18, the Fashion Special, in a leather Louis Vuitton portfolio case, New York, 1996 ($1,400 to $1,800).

Japanese highlights include Yoshikazu Suzuki’s Ginza Kaiwai, Ginza Haccho, two volumes, Tokyo, 1954 ($4,000 to $6,000);  Shomei Tomatsu’s Nagasaki 11:02, Tokyo, 1966 ($3,000 to $4,500);  Yutaka Takanashi’s Toshi-e [Towards the City], two volumes, Tokyo, 1974 ($3,000 to $4,000); and Hirsoshi Sugimoto’s Theaters, with a signed photogravure, New York, 2000 ($1,500 to $2,500).

The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday,  December 8 with Photographic Literature, and will continue at 2:30 p.m. with Fine Photographs.

The photographs and books will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries Thursday, December 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, December 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, December 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

An illustrated catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25^th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.

Best regards & happy bidding, Douglas Stockdale

© Boogie

All Day I Dream of Istanbul.

© Boogie

www.artcoup.com

www.missrosen.us

]]> http://missrosen.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/behind-the-scenes-with-steve-gullick-for-who-shot-rock-roll/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:46:48 +0000 missrosen http://missrosen.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/behind-the-scenes-with-steve-gullick-for-who-shot-rock-roll/

Gail chose a portrait of Nick Cave and The Prodigy in concert for the book. What are some of the main distinctions between your portrait photos and your live performance photographs of musicians in terms of capturing their creative energy?

Steve Gullick: I’d usually say personal engagement was the key difference between portraiture and reportage but these two photos contradict that statement. The Prodigy’s Keith Flint is posing for me during a live performance whereas in the Nick Cave portrait he’s willing me to fuck off. That’s not to say he’s mean, but he doesn’t enjoy being photographed which I feel in the principle reason that both of these gentlemen have employed my services; I go out of my way to make photography ‘painless’ for the subject, that often involves being quick.

Back to your question; within my portraits, I’m looking to capture a relaxed image of the person whilst at the same time trying to capture their character and to depict them as I think they’d like to be seen. With a lot of the live stuff I try to record movement to enhance excitement within the photo, I also play it straight quite often by just recording the ambient scene, stage lighting can be a wonderful thing.

Your passion for music began at an early age and you have been involved in making and documenting music since then. How has being a musician and performer informed your work and what effect does that have on the subjects you shoot? Does it allow you a certain kind of access?

I only began making music properly in 2003, before that I had no idea what Fender or Gibson meant. I’ve always loved music and I’ve always felt great empathy toward musicians but it was because we shared a love of music as opposed to any kind of fellow musician camaraderie. I always knew musicians worked fucking hard creatively and physically to achieve their ambitions. Since becoming a musician myself I definitely have a heightened understanding for what they go through, in truth I know the connections are purely on a human level, you’re always going to get on with people that share your interests. I’ve always generally preferred the company of musicians to the company of photographers.

Access is down to trust, I’ve earned the trust of many artists over the years, they know the pictures wont end up in tatty magazines & on t-shirts or posters (except when the image is stolen)

Are there any specific elements in music that other photographers would  benefit from knowing to enhance their work?

Live: Don’t get in artists faces when they’re performing, don’t piss off an audience; being able to photograph a show is a privilege, most people in the room will have paid to be there and they deserve to be able to watch the band as opposed to the back of a massive flash gun.

If you don’t care for the artist, why are you there?

Portraiture: Don’t ask anybody to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself, be aware that many artists are very shy and don’t like being photographed. Just be nice, be respectful but not psychopathic; be yourself. If this approach doesn’t work, maybe you should consider a career in politics instead.

I read a good David Bailey quote once which suggested you should make the sitter feel like the only important thing in the room… That probably works.

www.gailbuckland.com

www.gullickphoto.com

www.missrosen.us

About the book:

From Elton John to Led Zeppelin, Bjork to Janis Joplin, James Brown to John Lennon, Who Shot Rock & Roll is the first book to explore the extraordinary work of the photographers who captured the energy, intoxication, rebellion, and magic of rock & roll with images that have become icons unto themselves.

Featuring more than 250 photos, including many rare and never-before-seen images, Who Shot Rock & Roll is an unparalleled compendium of our shared cultural history. Author and photo historian Gail Buckland provides a compelling collection of portraits, live concert shots, behind-the-scenes snaps, and studio work selected for their aesthetic quality and power. The extended captions tell stories from the photographers that reveal their roll as both creative collaborators and tireless journalists.

As Buckland writes, “Rock and roll is not a musical genre; it is a communal spirit.”  Her book reveals the very essence of rock photography- these mythical rock gods could not exist without artists to document their gifts. “Who Shot Rock & Roll is a silent window into a world of sound,” Buckland continues. “There are photographs of crowds and fans reminiscent of the great historical paintings of battle scenes where bodies blend and bend and faces radiate with what can only be described as transcendence. Snapshots reveal the passion, ambition, and insecurity of aspiring young musicians. There are portraits of godheads, objects of mass adoration; the best could hang next to paintings of Renaissance princes, so similar are these royals with their finery, wealth, and power.”

From Ryan McGinley’s Morrissey crowds to Bob Gruen’s John Lennon, Maripol’s Madonna to Richard Avedon’s Everly Brothers, David LaChapelle’s Lil Kim to Henry Diltz’s Tina Turner, Who Shot Rock & Roll presents our idols at their most divine, as captured by some of the greatest artists—most of whom are yet to be recognized—to work in photography.

Featured subjects include:

The B-52s, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Bjork, Blondie, David Bowie, Bow Wow Wow, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Exene Cervenka, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Costello, The Cramps, The Dead Boys, P. Diddy, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithful, Aretha Franklin, Alan Freed, Fugazi, Jerry Garcia, Bill Haley, Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Jay-Z, Brian Jones, Grace Jones, Janis Joplin, Joy Division, KISS, Gladys Knight, Led Zep, John Lennon, Little Richard, LL Cool J, Madonna, The Mamas and the Papas, Marilyn Manson, Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, Freddy Mercury, Metallica, Method Man, Morrissey, Jim Morrison, New York Dolls, Notorious B.I.G., Oasis, Wilson Pickett, Pink Floyd, The Police, Iggy Pop, Elvis Presley, The Pretenders, Prince, The Prodigy, Radiohead, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Keith Richards, The Ronettes, Rolling Stones, Henry Rollins, Axl Rose, Run-DMC, Salt n Pepa, Sex Pistols, Tupac Shakur,  Sid & Nancy, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, The Specials, Buffalo Springfield, Bruce Springsteen, Sly Stone, Joe Strummer, Talking Heads, Pete Townsend, Ike & Tina Turner, U2, Velvet Underground, Bunny Wailer, The White Stripes, The Who, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, and Frank Zappa.

Featured photographers include:

Amy Arbus, Richard Avedon, Ray Avery, David Bailey, Roberta Bayley, Peter Beste, Adrian Boot, Justin Borucki, Patti Boyd, Ed Caraeff, Stephanie Chernikowski, Danny Clinch, Anton Corbijn, David Corio, Kevin Cummins, Henry Diltz, Alain Dister, George DuBose, Andy Earl, Barry Feinstein, Danny Fields, Nat Finkelstein, Glen E. Friedman, Jill Furmanovsky, David Gahr, Godlis, Lynn Goldsmith, Harry Goodwin, Julia Gorton, Jean-Paul Goude, Bob Gruen, Andreas Gursky, Ross Halfin, Hipgnosis, Dennis Hopper, Don Hunstein, Marvin Israel, Art Kane, Richard Kern, Daniel Kramer, David LaChapelle, Elliott Landy, Michael Lavine, Lisa Law, Annie Leibowitz, Jean-Pierre Leloir, , Laura Levine, Ari Marcopoulos, Maripol, Jim Marshall, Elaine Mayes, Linda McCartney, Ryan McGinley, Dennis Morris, Shawn Mortensen, Terry O’Neill, Jean-Marie Perier, Charles Peterson, Ricky Powell, Michael Putland, William “Popsie” Randolph, Marcia Resnick, Ebet Roberts, Mick Rock, Ethan Russell, Jerry Schatzberg, Hannes Schmid, Stephane Sednaoui, Bob Seidemann, Mark Seliger, Stephen Shames, Lloyd Shearer, Kate Simon, Hedi Slimane, Pennie Smith, Gloria Stavers, Chris Stein, Ray Stevenson, Mayayoshi Sukita, Allan Tannenbaum, Edmund Teske, Storm Thorgerson, Ian Tilton, Philip Townsend, Albert Watson, Guy Webster, Barrie Wentzell, Alfred Wertheimer, Kevin Westenberg, Robert Whitaker, Timothy White, Ernest C. Withers, and Baron Wolman.

An exhibition of work from the book will launch at the Brooklyn Museum on October 30 and tour the United States through 2011. The schedule follows:

Brooklyn Museum

October 30th 2009 – January 31st 2010

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/

Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts

March 5^th – May 30^th 2010

http://www.worcesterart.org/

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee

June 26^th – September 26^th 2010

http://www.brooksmuseum.org/

Akron Art Museum, Ohio

October 23^rd 2010 – January 23^rd 2011

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/

Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina

February 24th – May 22nd 2011

http://www.columbiamuseum.org/

Gail Buckland has written and collaborated on eleven books of photographic history, including Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography, The Magic Image (with Cecil Beaton), and The American Century (by Harold Evans). She is former curator of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, professor of the history of photography at The Cooper Union, and guest curator at many American museums. She lives in Warwick, New York, and New York City.

Knopf announces the November 2009 release of

Who Shot Rock & Roll
A Photographic History, 1955–Present

By Gail Buckland

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH JILL FURMANOVSKY

Jill Furmanovsky has been a professional photographer since 1972. She is best known for her images of rock musicians. Her first rock shot was of Paul McCartney standing outside his house with two of her school friends, taken on a Kodak Instamatic. Following a foundation course at Harrow School of Art, Jill studied textile and graphic design at the Central School of Art and Design. Her career as a photographer started, when she was offered the unpaid job of official photographer at London’s premier rock venue, The Rainbow Theatre in 1972.

Jill has won many awards for her music photography including The Jane Bown Observer Portrait Award for her classic Charlie Watts portrait in 1992. In 1998 she was honored with the accolade ‘Woman of the Year’ for Music and Related Industries’. Her book ‘The Moment – 25 years of rock photography” remains a seminal work in the genre. Jill is the founder of Rockarchive.com, a collective of world reknown music photographers.

Furmanovsky discussed her works, Oasis with Johnny Marr at Olympic Studios, London, Joy Division, London, 1979, and Sid and Nancy, Rainbow Theatre 1977 selected for publication in Who Shot Rock & Roll by Gail Buckland (Knopf, November 2009, $40).

© Jill Furmanovsky

Are there any specific images that inspired or influenced you to be a photographer?

Jill Furmanovsky: I only ever did a two week course in photography at art school, but we had a talk from Don McCullen of the Sunday Times and I always thought his war photography was powerful and honest. Diane Arbus was another great influence, not any specific image but the way she showed the strangeness in ordinary people.

You are best known for your work with rock artists such as Pink Floyd, The Police, The Pretenders, Blondie, Bob Marley, The Clash, Oasis and many others. How do you feel the image impacts the listener’s understanding of the music?

My images are more to do with the listener’s understanding of the musicians and the era they live in rather than their music. The backstage shot of Joy Division was taken a few minutes after they finished a gig. You can sense that the energy they generated on stage is still sizzling in the dressing-room as they relax. Similarly the image of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon backstage talking to the Ramones after a gig in 1977 has a murky, sexy, angry vibration that sums up the punk era as well as the characters in the picture.

© Jill Furmanovsky

You were the “official unofficial” photographer of Oasis, who are known to be impatient, difficult as well as not wanting to work with photographers. How did you approach them and how did you manage to gain their trust?

Interestingly for a bunch of gruff Manchester lads, Oasis like working with women. Their tour manager, Maggie Mouzakitis, was with them for many years, they had a female truck driver and a woman runs their record company, so being a female photographer was an advantage. It also helped that Liam, who is the one most likely to be difficult, shares my birthday and we are therefore ‘twins’. The others were never a problem to work with – in fact Noel is a consummate professional.

I worked intensively with Oasis during their meteoric rise between 1994-1997 and was careful never to publish any personal photographs without their permission. As a result of that trust our relationship continued right up to their demise (if it is indeed a demise) a few months ago.

The ‘joiner’ image of Oasis in the Who Shot Rock and Roll book and exhibition is made up of around 100 individual frames taken over a 5 hour period while the band were recording in Olympic Studio in 2001. I assembled it on the kitchen table like a giant puzzle. I still don’t know how I did it but it worked!

© Jill Furmanovsky

What affect if any has come through in your work as a female photographer in the predominately male rock culture?

As Chrissie Hynde says in my book The Moment: ” People in the music business may not take a female photographer seriously, but there is always going to be someone who’s gonna say, “We’d rather have her. If you’re a bloke you don’t want some other guy standing there taking pictures of you while you are blow drying your hair ’cause you’re gonnna feel like a fuckin Nancy boy, but if there’s a chick who is already looking up to you because you’re a rock star you can preeen —preen on!” That sums it up!

© Jill Furmanovsky

www.gailbuckland.com

www.jillfurmanovsky.com

www.missrosen.us

About the book:

From Elton John to Led Zeppelin, Bjork to Janis Joplin, James Brown to John Lennon, Who Shot Rock & Roll is the first book to explore the extraordinary work of the photographers who captured the energy, intoxication, rebellion, and magic of rock & roll with images that have become icons unto themselves.

Featuring more than 250 photos, including many rare and never-before-seen images, Who Shot Rock & Roll is an unparalleled compendium of our shared cultural history. Author and photo historian Gail Buckland provides a compelling collection of portraits, live concert shots, behind-the-scenes snaps, and studio work selected for their aesthetic quality and power. The extended captions tell stories from the photographers that reveal their roll as both creative collaborators and tireless journalists.

As Buckland writes, “Rock and roll is not a musical genre; it is a communal spirit.”  Her book reveals the very essence of rock photography- these mythical rock gods could not exist without artists to document their gifts. “Who Shot Rock & Roll is a silent window into a world of sound,” Buckland continues. “There are photographs of crowds and fans reminiscent of the great historical paintings of battle scenes where bodies blend and bend and faces radiate with what can only be described as transcendence. Snapshots reveal the passion, ambition, and insecurity of aspiring young musicians. There are portraits of godheads, objects of mass adoration; the best could hang next to paintings of Renaissance princes, so similar are these royals with their finery, wealth, and power.”

From Ryan McGinley’s Morrissey crowds to Bob Gruen’s John Lennon, Maripol’s Madonna to Richard Avedon’s Everly Brothers, David LaChapelle’s Lil Kim to Henry Diltz’s Tina Turner, Who Shot Rock & Roll presents our idols at their most divine, as captured by some of the greatest artists—most of whom are yet to be recognized—to work in photography.

Featured subjects include:

The B-52s, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Bjork, Blondie, David Bowie, Bow Wow Wow, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Exene Cervenka, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Costello, The Cramps, The Dead Boys, P. Diddy, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithful, Aretha Franklin, Alan Freed, Fugazi, Jerry Garcia, Bill Haley, Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Jay-Z, Brian Jones, Grace Jones, Janis Joplin, Joy Division, KISS, Gladys Knight, Led Zep, John Lennon, Little Richard, LL Cool J, Madonna, The Mamas and the Papas, Marilyn Manson, Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, Freddy Mercury, Metallica, Method Man, Morrissey, Jim Morrison, New York Dolls, Notorious B.I.G., Oasis, Wilson Pickett, Pink Floyd, The Police, Iggy Pop, Elvis Presley, The Pretenders, Prince, The Prodigy, Radiohead, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Keith Richards, The Ronettes, Rolling Stones, Henry Rollins, Axl Rose, Run-DMC, Salt n Pepa, Sex Pistols, Tupac Shakur,  Sid & Nancy, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, The Specials, Buffalo Springfield, Bruce Springsteen, Sly Stone, Joe Strummer, Talking Heads, Pete Townsend, Ike & Tina Turner, U2, Velvet Underground, Bunny Wailer, The White Stripes, The Who, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, and Frank Zappa.

Featured photographers include:

Amy Arbus, Richard Avedon, Ray Avery, David Bailey, Roberta Bayley, Peter Beste, Adrian Boot, Justin Borucki, Patti Boyd, Ed Caraeff, Stephanie Chernikowski, Danny Clinch, Anton Corbijn, David Corio, Kevin Cummins, Henry Diltz, Alain Dister, George DuBose, Andy Earl, Barry Feinstein, Danny Fields, Nat Finkelstein, Glen E. Friedman, Jill Furmanovsky, David Gahr, Godlis, Lynn Goldsmith, Harry Goodwin, Julia Gorton, Jean-Paul Goude, Bob Gruen, Andreas Gursky, Ross Halfin, Hipgnosis, Dennis Hopper, Don Hunstein, Marvin Israel, Art Kane, Richard Kern, Daniel Kramer, David LaChapelle, Elliott Landy, Michael Lavine, Lisa Law, Annie Leibowitz, Jean-Pierre Leloir, , Laura Levine, Ari Marcopoulos, Maripol, Jim Marshall, Elaine Mayes, Linda McCartney, Ryan McGinley, Dennis Morris, Shawn Mortensen, Terry O’Neill, Jean-Marie Perier, Charles Peterson, Ricky Powell, Michael Putland, William “Popsie” Randolph, Marcia Resnick, Ebet Roberts, Mick Rock, Ethan Russell, Jerry Schatzberg, Hannes Schmid, Stephane Sednaoui, Bob Seidemann, Mark Seliger, Stephen Shames, Lloyd Shearer, Kate Simon, Hedi Slimane, Pennie Smith, Gloria Stavers, Chris Stein, Ray Stevenson, Mayayoshi Sukita, Allan Tannenbaum, Edmund Teske, Storm Thorgerson, Ian Tilton, Philip Townsend, Albert Watson, Guy Webster, Barrie Wentzell, Alfred Wertheimer, Kevin Westenberg, Robert Whitaker, Timothy White, Ernest C. Withers, and Baron Wolman.

An exhibition of work from the book will launch at the Brooklyn Museum on October 30 and tour the United States through 2011. The schedule follows:

Brooklyn Museum

October 30th 2009 – January 31st 2010

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/

Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts

March 5^th – May 30^th 2010

http://www.worcesterart.org/

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee

June 26^th – September 26^th 2010

http://www.brooksmuseum.org/

Akron Art Museum, Ohio

October 23^rd 2010 – January 23^rd 2011

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/

Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina

February 24th – May 22nd 2011

http://www.columbiamuseum.org/

Gail Buckland has written and collaborated on eleven books of photographic history, including Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography, The Magic Image (with Cecil Beaton), and The American Century (by Harold Evans). She is former curator of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, professor of the history of photography at The Cooper Union, and guest curator at many American museums. She lives in Warwick, New York, and New York City.

We had fun redecorating our training room here at headquarters in Virginia, and came up with some jumbo products that drew a lot of attention, so thought we’d share!

Lucidiom Training Room - Jumbo Display

Materials you will need:

• Files from the kit posted here: http://www.lucidiom.com/support/tools_kits.aspx (even the pencil art is up there!)
• 1 can adhesive spray
• packing tape
• wide format printer(able to print at least 24″ wide) – we used bond paper for wrapping paper and notepad, satin paper for all others
• 9 pieces 20×30″ foam board
• 2 pieces 30×40″ foam board (black)
• paperclips & fishing line (for hanging) … a drill with small bit works well to make holes for hanging
• the boxes are wrapped in wrapping  paper created on the APM kiosk (not included in download)…designs are available from Mrs. Grossman’s
• 2 packs of plastic foam board hinges (sold next to the foam board in the handy office supply…you can also just use tape)
• paper cutter or x-acto knife and straight edge

Jumbo Products

Flat Cards: for the flat cards, in real life are 4×8″…take one of the 20×30″ boards and cut into 3 10×20″ pieces.  Tape a third to each 20×30 piece, so you have 3 20×40″ pieces. Print files for the flat cards and spray adhesive them to the foam board.

Calendar: top and bottom are each 30×20″ … spray adhere prints to the foam board, then use fishing line to join the two halves…leave a space between.  We used some paper cutouts to mimic the wire bind.

Photo Book: If you do just one of these jumbo products, do the photo book…certainly won the most attention.  Each half is 40×30″, we printed 3 sheets of 74×24″ and folded them in half to look like 6 pages total.  We joined the two halves with plastic hinges, but they could also be taped.Start with the back set of pages, fold to one side and use packing tape to secure the page to the board along the fold.  Flip pages to the other side, repeat…do this with all the pages.  You can fan pages a bit, and with some strategically placed tape, create the page wrinkles.

More Jumbo Products

Folded Card: each face of the card is 20×30″…we printed the front and back, and one sheet inside, adhering each print to the foam with the adhesive. We used some foam board hinges to join the halves.

Notepad: Print 5 sheets of the notepad, staple together and tape across the top to the 20×30″ foam board. Print the black square file and fold over the top to mimic the top of the notepad.  We used wrapping paper (more like paper than photo) for this one, and for the pencil too.  Don’t forget to print out the pencil!  We cut out the tip and rolled it up and taped all edges, then stuffed with some paper towels for stability.

Wrapped Boxes: Graphics aren’t included in the download, but uses the APM Wrapping Paper product, printed out enough times to wrap a large box.

Have fun! Send us a picture of your jumbo display when you have it up!

(posted by Rachel)

Copyright Todd Oldham, Bedrock City, 2008, courtesy AMMO books

I have been thinking about Joerg Colberg’s post about a lack of “cutting edge” photobooks, while I am working on my list of best photobooks in 2009. Joerg states “…there isn’t much of a variety in photo books…the format itself is so conservative”. I think that for a mass produced book, that is for a run of 500 books or more, that there are some innovatively designed books, not neccessarily “cutting edge” deisgned photobooks. Of course, “cutting edge” is also a pretty subjective qualification, as is innovative. In this case, I am considering the photobook design to be inclusive of the layout, materials of construction, printing, binding and presentation.

If you are truly seeking some “cutting edge” book designs, I think you will find them in the catagory of an artist book, hand made, and the quantity produced ranges from one to perhaps ten. These can be very amazing and brilliant.

So I have come up with my short list of innovative photobooks that were produced in quantities of more than 500 that I have seen this last year, although they have not have all been published in 2009. Regretfully, and maybe to Joerg’s point, it is a short list of three; Todd Oldham’s Bedrock City, Lee Friedlander’s New Mexico and Jim Goldberg’s Open See. I have published reviews of two, and I have a pending review of Goldberg’s photobook, which I may still complete before the end of the year.

Copyright Lee Freidlander, New Mexico, 2008, courtesy Radius Books

Copyright Jim Goldberg, Open See, 2009 courtesy Steidl