fototazo: 08.11

8.31.2011

19: Amani Willett

Amani Willett
The Smoker
2011

8.30.2011

Oscar Ulloa At Alianza Francesa de Medellín

Microgrant alum Oscar Ulloa's show at the Alianza Francesa de Medellín has received local media attention. This article from the daily ADN was published August 16th. A number of the images in the show were made with the camera purchased for him by readers of fototazo through our microgrant program. Our new grant project with Margarita Valdivieso began last week; a donation can be made here.

8.27.2011

18: Yves Choquette

Yves Choquette
Pointing
1/05/2011, Montreal, Canada

As a May Day demonstration in Montreal turns to confrontation between anarchist groups and riot police, some people got arrested for no reason, like this man. His only crime is to be at the wrong place, wrong time. He was panicking, shouting his innocene to the policemen, but they handcuffed him anyway.

8.26.2011

Interview: Viktoria Sorochinski

Viktoria Sorochinski was born in the Ukraine in 1979, lived in Russia from 1982 to 1990, immigrated to Israel in 1990 where she received a high school diploma and finally immigrated to Canada in 1996 where she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Concordia University in 2006. Currently she lives and works in New York City where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in 2008 from New York University.

Since 2001 she has been participated in various group and solo exhibitions in Canada, the USA, France, Italy and China. She has been a finalist and winner of several international photography competitions and awards such as Magenta Flash Forward 2009 and 2010, PDN Photo Annual 2010 and 2011, J.M. Cameron Award 2010, WPGA Award 2010, Voies Off Arles 2010, IPA Award 2009 and 2010, ONWARD '10, Review Santa Fe 2010, Descubrimientos PHE 2011 and BluePrint Fellowship 2011. Additionally, her work has been published in many magazines, in print and online, worldwide including The New York Times, PDN and the British Journal of Photography.

In addition to answering our questions, Viktoria has also provided three images from her new series "Silent Dialog" to accompany the interview. She was interviewed by email; her responses were received August 24, 2011.

______________________________

fototazo: Give us a sense of who you are outside of photography.

Viktoria Sorochinski: That is a tough one. I guess I should start by saying that my identity was shaped and influenced by the several immigrations that I have gone through. Therefore at this point I feel in many ways that I'm an international citizen, but at the same time, mentally I'm mostly grounded in Russian culture. For as long as I can remember, I was always interested in various forms of art-making. I tried working in many different mediums, such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, installation and video. However, my first "love," before I even realized that I was interested in photography, was dancing. I've been dancing for about 16 years, and I even thought that it would become my main profession, up until I fell in love with photography. I also play guitar and sing, and write songs as well (mainly in Russian), but this is really only a hobby; I have never considered myself a musician.

f: You talk about nature in the statement to your series "The Space Between" as "the only common thing that unifies every place in the world." In other projects, such as "Anna & Eve" you apply the framework of a myth or a folk tale to the image. Myths - according to Joseph Campbell among many – also connect us as a way of sharing and passing down common knowledge.

Do you think your interest in using nature and myths as elements that unify and connect us relates to your own life as someone who has immigrated or migrated frequently, as a way of connecting the spaces of your own life across languages and borders? How much are the themes that you work with autobiographical?

VS: You have pinpointed the exact essence of my work strategy. I think that initially (and maybe even subconsciously), one of the main reasons for working with elements that unify all of us was the struggle to find this point of encounter between myself and the other cultures I was trying to fit into. I'm interested in people as human beings who, in my point of view, have much more in common than we tend to think, regardless of cultural heritage. Therefore, I'm trying to access the threads that only our psyche may sense, where language or culture don't play any important role. I don't think that there is anything really autobiographical in my work, except "The Land of No Return" project, which started particularly from my nostalgic feelings and memories of a Ukrainian village where my grandfather used to live.

f: A number of artists work with creating myth through a highly articulated system of symbols and evolve an almost personal mythology, such as Matthew Barney's Cremaster films and his Ren and Guardian of Veil performances. On the other hand, it seems you go about myth creation in the opposite way: by creating images in which you give the viewer open-ended elements from which to create their own meaning. Talk about this as a strategy for image-making and why you think it is successful.

VS: This is exactly what I mean when I say that I'm interested in accessing the psyche or the subconscious. That way mythology is only a tool that I'm using to access the common knowledge. I leave it open-ended because my goal is not to make a particular statement, or an intellectual exercise on a particular myth, but allow the viewers to live with my images. I want them to create their own stories, because each person has his own little door to the wonderland, and I just want to facilitate this journey. People often come to me with their ideas about the meaning of the images or with their personal stories that my work makes them think of. I'm happy when my work makes people think or feel; this is all I want.

f: In your artist statement you talk about working with individuals and close pairs of people in moments of conflict. Talk about why you limit the emotional range of the work to conflict [as opposed to rapture, jealousy, disappointment, etc.].

VS: What you are talking about are particular emotions, such as jealousy or disappointment, etc., whereas I'm more interested in complex feelings. When I say that I'm interested in moments of conflict, I mean that this state of mind could not be described clearly as rapture, sadness or any other emotional state. I'm talking about a "bouquet" of various processes going though someone's mind that may lead sometimes to some kind of revelation about themselves, or others, or life in general. This is the invisible moment that is often so hard to grasp onto or describe.

f: Let's pick two images and have you talk us through making them. Did the elements you found to work with lead to the final image? Or did you have a vision or story beforehand that guided you to the setting, wardrobe and pose? How much does the photo lead you and how much do you lead the photo?

VS: The degree of staging in my work always varies from image to image, depending on the subjects, the project, and what I'm trying to achieve in the particular image. I'm glad that you picked the Eve's Kingdom portrait [above], because this one is a good example of my collaboration with the subject. Before making this image I told Eve that I'd like to make her portrait with all of her "friends": the dolls that at the time she was imagining to be her friends, living on "her own planet" with her. So, before I even started to think about how it should look or what she should wear, she began to dress up in preparation for the photo. She was very excited about making this costume, so I decided to let her do whatever she wanted. When she was ready, I picked a spot in her room and we placed her toys around the chair together. Than I asked her to sit in the way that she sees as appropriate for the queen of her planet. After several takes, we had Eve's Kingdom. With the other image that you have picked, Dinner with Daddy, it was a bit different. I knew exactly what I was looking for in this image, so the clothes and the setting were entirely initiated by me, although part of the setting was already there, and I just used it in the way that I though was best for the shot. As for the poses and the look, it was partly improvised of course. I was shooting from outside the window in the kitchen, so I kept talking to both of them trying to bring out a certain dynamic. I don't remember exactly, but I shot 3 or 4 rolls of film for this scene.

f: On one hand you have created work like "The Land of No Return" and "At Home With Strangers," projects that are essentially documentary in concept, and on the other hand are your projects like "Anna & Eve" and "Daddy" in which you construct images that hover closer to fantasy. Talk about the drive to do these two different strains of work. Is there a connection? Do they relate and inform each other at all? Do you see yourself continuing in both modes of work continuing forward?

VS: I think that the main common thread in my work is people. Regardless of it being purely documentary or dwelling between reality and fantasy, it is always about people. However, I think there is another connection between those documentary projects and my other work. Both "The Land of No Return" and "At Home With Strangers" are part of the same interest, which is the dying culture of village life. I see the village as the keeper of tradition and folklore in most cultures. For centuries people who worked with soil where the ones who maintained the oral tradition, and that is how many of the myths and folk tales were brought to us. I think in a way the village represents for me a kind of "raw wisdom" and common knowledge. So I guess this is the connection between those two types of my work. In fact, I would like to capture village life in as many countries as possible, because I think that urbanization is slowly taking over the entire world, and soon no evidence of authentic culture will be left. So yes, I do intend to continue working in both of these directions.

f: On your website you integrate recorded monologues into the presentation of bodies of work such as "Daddy" and you made a body of work called "The Space Between" in which you present photographs of installation spaces you created. What does multi-media offer you that traditional photography not offer? Or what does it add to traditional photography that you are looking for?

VS: I already mentioned in the beginning of the interview, that I come from a multidisciplinary background. I worked with various mediums for a long time before I started to concentrate mainly on photography. I think each medium opens a different dimension and adds depth to the subject. Of course it is always a risk, because combining different mediums may also flatten the meaning of a photograph, or become redundant. Therefore I only do it when I feel that it may add another layer. Also, I think that when I work with other mediums such as sound, video, or installation I discover something new in myself as an artist, because it forces me to think a little differently. I think it is very important to break out of your comfort zone once in a while. Therefore, I feel that I want to start working more with other mediums, because now my main comfort zone is photography.

f: Has there been a difference between how your work has been received in Russia, the Ukraine and Eastern Europe and in North America?

VS: Unfortunately, it is not quite possible for me to make this comparison, because my work has not been shown much in Russia or Eastern Europe. I had several shows and publications in Europe, but mainly in France, Italy and the UK. I left Russia when I was a child, and it has never been my main target for showing my work, because the contemporary art scene wasn't as developed there as in other parts of Europe or North America. However, it has changed over the past few years, and I'm getting more and more interested in getting my work to the Eastern European art scene. One of my most recent experiences was participation in a Georgian Photography Festival in Tbilisi, where I couldn't be present personally, but I heard very good feedback.

f: There has been a lot of attention recently to the new generation of photographers from Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Who would you suggest our readers check out?

VS: I couldn't say that I know that many Russian photographers whose work I really admire, but here are a few whose work is definitely worth checking out: Anna Skladmann, Lucia Ganieva, Sergey Maximishin, Evgeny Mokhorev, Margo Ovcharenko, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Dima Gomberg and Irina Rozovsky.

f: What are your next steps and plans?

VS: I'm working now on a new project called "Silent Dialog" which investigates one of the most complex familial bonds: the one of mother and son. This project, like most of my work, dwells between fiction and documentary. I've been thinking and analyzing this subject for a few years, before I felt ready to start working on it photographically. In my previous projects where I explored parent-child relationships, such as "Anna & Eve" and "Daddy" I was following the same subjects. In the "Silent Dialog," on the other hand, I was working with various families and generations. Regarding my steps and plans, I have a few shows coming up in 2011-2012 in Italy, Paris and Chicago, and I'm currently working on a monograph of "Anna & Eve."

8.24.2011

17: S. Billie Mandle

S. Billie Mandle
Saint Joseph from the series "Reconciliation"
2009

8.23.2011

Microgrant Photographer 4: Margarita Valdivieso

Margarita Valdivieso
Age: 19
Location: Bogotá, Colombia
Request: Nikon d7000 kit; this grant begins our new grant strategy that will allow us to best help the greatest number of applicants (for more information, click here); the grant amount is for the difference between what Margarita is able to contribute and the value of the camera.
Grant Status: $450 of $450 raised (100%)
Donate here

Statement
Hello, my name is Margarita Valdivieso, I am 19 years old and study art at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia; I live alone because my family lives elsewhere for work. I am currently doing a university exchange in another city in the country.

I work as a volunteer in a NGO (AIESEC) which promotes cultural exchanges for students who want to have an internship in another country and progress into leadership roles in different projects of the organization.

Photography interests me because I think as a creative possibility in the field of image-making it can potentially transmit unimaginable sensations. And as a means of representation its process appeals to me: in the idea of light recorded and condensed I find a beautiful allusion to the act of creation evident in the field of photography.

Telling the story of a town, of a perspective, of a life with particular customs, dreams and particular aesthetics interests me greatly; in some way when you decide what photograph to take you are validating, rehabilitating a possibility, a picture, a discourse, a reality or at least making them visible; and to that extent the field of documentary photography gives me a lot of narrative and aesthetic possibilities that I want to continue exploring.

With this deep wish I have been thinking that it is quite important for my creative process to get a good camera to help my work and solve some logistical problems that I have when taking photos. Without a camera it becomes complicated to do a project without interruptions since the people who currently lend me their equipment are not always able to do so. Thank you for considering helping me in my creative process.

For more about applying for a grant, click here.

Portfolio

8.21.2011

8.21.11 Reading Shortlist

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with a listing of recommended readings from other sites.

Joerg Colberg, Conscientious, Conversations About Photo Books: Lesley Martin

Katie Fowley, Electronic Beats, Pieter Hugo - Nollywood

Jim Goldberg and Todd Hido, PDNonline, Heroes & Mentors: Jim Goldberg & Todd Hido On Larry Sultan

Sam Mirlesse, Whitehot Magazine, Interview with Alessandra Sanguinetti

Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine, Generation Blank

Michael Werner, Two Way Lens, Simon Roberts

8.20.2011

16: Phil Jung

Phil Jung
Emerald City
2011

8.19.2011

f100: Alison Rossiter and Hidemi Takagi

© Alison Rossiter, Kodak Azo, expired February 1922, processed in 2010, 3 1/2" x 5 1/2", unique silver gelatin prints
courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged in photography to pick two photographers that deserve (more) recognition - the underknown, the under-respected as well as not-appreciated-enough favorites. A little more information on the project is available in the first post in the series here.

Today we continue the series with responses from Rona Chang.

We began the series with responses from Nicholas Nixon, Matt Johnston, Blake Andrews, John Edwin Mason, Aline Smithson, Colin Pantall, Michael Werner, Liza Fetissova, Laurence Salzmann, Bryan Formhals, Richard Mosse, Shane Lavalette, Amy Stein, Amani Willett, Wayne Ford, S. Billie Mandle, Leslie K. Brown, Gordon Stettinius, Marc Feustel, Hin Chua, Adriana Rios Monsalve, Daniel Augschoell, Larissa Leclair, Elinor Carucci, Pieter Wisse, Daniel Echevarría, Natalie Minik, Qiana Mestrich and Jason Landry.

Respondent: Rona Chang was born in Chungli, Taiwan, a town that is famous for its spicy beef noodle soup. As a child she picked mulberry leaves for her pet silkworms while playing in the black sand pile at the construction site that was at the entrance to her cul-de-sac. At the age of seven, Rona emigrated with her mother and sister from Taiwan to Buffalo, New York, later moving to Queens. In Queens her family moved almost every year. Rona spent many summers living with her father in Taiwan, taking Chinese calligraphy and painting lessons. Rona still lives in Queens, and travels often, attributing her desire to travel to her many childhood moves and her love for packing.

Rona is a recipient of En Foco's New Works #14 Fellowship. In 2011, she was awarded a grant by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for her series Moving Forward, Standing Still. Ms. Chang is a finalist for the 2011 Rome Prize. In 2007 she was an associate artist at the Atlantic Center of the Arts residency under the guidance of Thomas Struth. Her work has been showcased online and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. After receiving her BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art she worked as a photographer for the Asian Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for nine years, where she photographed all of the Japanese woodblock prints, Indian paintings and Chinese handscrolls in the collection.

Selections: Alison Rossiter and Hidemi Takagi

© Alison Rossiter, Kodak Snow White Royal (London), exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1940, processed in 2011,
diptych, 12"x10" each element, unique silver gelatin prints, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery

Alison Rossiter and I share a work studio where we see each other about three times a week. Our ritual of morning conversations and lunches together have been wonderfully educational and supportive of our respective art careers. Alison creates her work in the darkroom, a very different approach from how I work and visualize. Talking to her about her process has been insightful and refreshing. Her abstractions are rich like the deep, dark strokes of sumi ink. At the same time they are tangible histories and experiments on the nature of photographic paper. Her work is part of the current summer show at Yossi Milo.

Hidemi Takagi makes work that is fun, full of saturated colors, and most importantly, inviting. I love how she reaches a broad audience and how she keeps them engaged in the Blender project through the Blender cart, the Blender kiosk and currently by showing her work on trash bins around Times Square. Hidemi's ability to connect with the public at large through a survey of food products found in the boroughs of New York City is pure and simple genius.

8.17.2011

15: John MacLean

John MacLean
Biggy
2009

8.16.2011

A Note from Daniela Serna, 3rd Microgrant Photographer

We have received an email from Daniela Serna, our third microgrant photographer whose new Nikon d3100 kit was fully funded by the readers of fototazo, with a message to her donors.

To learn more about our microgrant program, please read the about fototazo page.

Her letter:

To the donors towards my grant,

I am truly grateful for your generosity, for believing in my work and for supporting me with your donations. This new camera will allow me to continue my projects and it will be helpful for me in all of my academic work.

To fototazo, thank you so much for supporting me, for allowing me to show my work and for connecting me to your microgrants.

Thank you very much,
Daniela Serna

8.16.11 Reading Shortlist

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with a listing of recommended readings from other sites.

Gerry Badger, American Suburb X, Garry Winogrand: I Don't Give a Rap About Gasoline Stations - The Winogrand Problem (1988)

Rachel Been, Slideluck Potshow, Interview with Elinor Carucci

Paul Graham, The Unreasonable Apple

Lauren Henkin, Casual Consumption

Darius Himes, What Is a Document and What Is a Style?

Randy Kennedy, New York Times, When Life Gets in the Way of Art

Pedro Meyer, ZoneZero, Are Too Many People Taking Photographs?

Amy Stein, A Few Questions for Steven Ahlgren

8.15.2011

The Image: Daniel Shea, "Old Coal Supports"

A received vague directions from a guy I met in Racine, Ohio about "weird, creepy things on the side of the road." He knew they were relics of a past coal-mining operation, back before the local industry's focus was on power plants and almost exclusively underground coal extraction. This was an important visual piece of the narrative I was interested in creating, and I had nothing to show for it. By the time I found the towering monuments to industry foregone, the sun was setting and everything was blanketed in golden, nostalgia-inducing light. I could not have found a better thing to look at, wander around, and ultimately photograph. I went back a year later, to make another picture, this time in early morning fog. The idea of these structures rising above the mist, a gesture that undermines their obsoleteness but promotes their abject monumentality seemed to be the right move.

- Daniel Shea

8.14.2011

f100: Camille Seaman, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Harold Feinstein, Neal Rantoul

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged in photography to pick two photographers that deserve (more) recognition - the underknown, the under-respected as well as not-appreciated-enough favorites. A little more information on the project is available in the first post in the series here.

Today we continue the series with responses from Qiana Mestrich and Jason Landry.

We began the series with responses from Nicholas Nixon, Matt Johnston, Blake Andrews, John Edwin Mason, Aline Smithson, Colin Pantall, Michael Werner, Liza Fetissova, Laurence Salzmann, Bryan Formhals, Richard Mosse, Shane Lavalette, Amy Stein, Amani Willett, Wayne Ford, S. Billie Mandle, Leslie K. Brown, Gordon Stettinius, Marc Feustel, Hin Chua, Adriana Rios Monsalve, Daniel Augschoell, Larissa Leclair, Elinor Carucci, Pieter Wisse, Daniel Echevarría and Natalie Minik.

Respondent: Qiana Mestrich is a fine art photographer, freelance writer and blogger at Dodge & Burn: Diversity in Photography History. This Fall, Qiana will begin her graduate studies while enrolled in the ICP-Bard MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies program. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.

Selections: Camille Seaman and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew

Camille Seaman
Looking at her expansive photographs of icebergs and the arctic tundra, one would never guess that Camille Seaman didn't begin to pursue photography professionally until age 32. As part of her education, Seaman also wasn't afraid to approach her photography "heroes" to ask for their help in learning valuable skills of the trade. In this way she is an inspiration to those who might be afraid to ask for help and/or think they're "too old" to get started in photography.

Read more about her amazing journey in Camille Seaman's Dodge & Burn interview.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
Fine art photography is seldom political, but that's the genius of Annu P. Matthew's work. Without being didactic, Matthew's series "An Indian from India" corrects and educates ignorant minds about the difference between Indians and Native Americans. Blasting stereotypes Matthew creates diptychs that juxtapose 19th century ethnographic imagery with self portraits of her as the Indian from India. Cleverly tweaked captions, like "Savage Noble" vs. "Noble Savage," add another dimension of wit to her social commentary. For more traditional photography tastes, Matthew's "Memories of India" features images that I think would've made Henri Cartier-Bresson jealous.

Respondent: Jason Landry is the Owner of Panopticon Gallery in Boston. Landry brings over 20 years of business management and fine art photography experience to the gallery. Landry received a MFA in Visual Arts from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University and a BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Before acquiring Panopticon Gallery in 2010, he worked at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University in various capacities including their Education Manager, Programs and Operations Manager and was a member of their Board of Directors. Landry and his wife are avid photography collectors and he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA.

Selections: Harold Feinstein and Neal Rantoul

Harold Feinstein began his photographic career in 1946. By the age of 19, Edward Steichen had purchased his work for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and frequently exhibited it there. In the 1950's, Steichen was getting together work for "The Family of Man" exhibition. He invited Feinstein to be in it. At that time, Feinstein was very puritanical and told Steichen, "Look, a museum is a place where they should just show work because it is art, not because it fits in to a theme." And so Feinstein politely withheld his work from the exhibition.

In his early career, Feinstein participated in the NY Photo League and is best known for his black and white documentary style, in particular, an extensive and often shown Coney Island portfolio. Feinstein states, "I often feel like I fell out of my mother's womb onto the beach on Coney Island with a Nathan's hot dog in my hand with the sounds of kids screaming on the cyclone. I just always loved that place as a kid way before I was doing photographs. It's loaded with people, and people are my favorite trees."

Quote: When your mouth drops open, click the shutter. - Harold Feinstein

Neal Rantoul's career as a fine art photographer and educator at Northeastern University has spanned over 36 years. He has had over 50 solo exhibitions and his photographs have been published in numerous trade periodicals. In 2006, Pond Press published his first monograph, American Series, which includes photographs from Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington State and Peddock's Island, off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts.

Most people associate Rantoul as fitting into the genre of landscape photography, although there are many images he has worked on that would surprise you. One of my personal favorites by Rantoul is this image, Two Headed Calf, taken at the Spallanzani Collection at the Civic Museum, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

8.13.2011

14: Juan Posada

Juan Posada
Indomitable Will
February 2010

A potato wholesaler shows off his muscles for the camera at "La Minorista" food market in Medellín, Colombia.

8.12.2011

f100: Ray Mortenson, Ángel Franco, Tammy Mercure, Greg Miller

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged in photography to pick two photographers that deserve (more) recognition - the underknown, the under-respected as well as not-appreciated-enough favorites. A little more information on the project is available in the first post in the series here.

Today we continue the series with responses from Daniel Echevarría and Natalie Minik.

We began the series with responses from Nicholas Nixon, Matt Johnston, Blake Andrews, John Edwin Mason, Aline Smithson, Colin Pantall, Michael Werner, Liza Fetissova, Laurence Salzmann, Bryan Formhals, Richard Mosse, Shane Lavalette, Amy Stein, Amani Willett, Wayne Ford, S. Billie Mandle, Leslie K. Brown, Gordon Stettinius, Marc Feustel, Hin Chua, Adriana Rios Monsalve, Daniel Augschoell, Larissa Leclair, Elinor Carucci and Pieter Wisse.

Respondent: Daniel Echevarría is a photographer and the co-founder and co-editor of One, One Thousand | A Publication of Southern Photography. He lives and works in New Orleans.

Selections: Ray Mortenson and Ángel Franco

Ray Mortenson
In recent years in the United States, we've seen a proliferation of photographs of urban blight (symptomatic, perhaps, of the nation's anxious psyche during this increasingly long recession). Photographs of depressed cities from across the Rust and Bible Belts have been both praised and derided as "ruin porn." Call them what you will, these kinds of photographs aren't going way - and they shouldn't. However, I do think many photographers would benefit from taking a more retrospective approach to this subject matter. Here's a good place to start looking: Ray Mortenson's photographs of the South Bronx from 1982-1984. Mortenson wisely refused to engage in nostalgia, instead focusing on the Bronx's textures, shapes, and shades.

Ángel Franco
From 1979 to 1984, Ángel Franco photographed crime scenes in the Bronx's 46th Precinct. Comparisons can easily be drawn between Franco and Weegee, but Franco's naked city is undeniably more violent than his predecessor's. These are raw and powerful photographs that deserve a much wider audience.

Respondent: Natalie Minik is a photographer and the co-founder and co-editor of One, One Thousand | A Publication of Southern Photography She currently lives in Durham, NC where she attends Duke University for her MFA in Documentary and Experimental Art.

Selections: Tammy Mercure and Greg Miller

Selections: Tammy Mercure does an excellent job of capturing the kitsch people find interesting about the South. She is able to see past the prefabricated photo-op moment and get to what is most interesting about these tourist destinations. Most of all, she is respectful and accurate in the way she handles the subject matter. That's why I think she deserves more credit.

Whether Greg Miller photographs a country fair or Ash Wednesday, he captures the interior life of his subjects. His fair stance on people makes his photographs regal yet lonely. This is why I never tire of looking at his images.

8.10.2011

13: Suzi Livingstone

Suzi Livingstone
Grey Wings
April 2011

8.09.2011

f100: Owen Bruce, Tamar Latzman, Kathryn Parker Almanas, Dimitris Triantafyllou

Respondent: Pieter Wisse runs 500 Photographers which will post the work of five active photographers a week for 100 weeks. The weblog, started April 5th, 2010, accompanies an edit of images by the selected photographer with a short biography and summary of the work. The goal of the project is to develop a single-source database of great photographers. Rotterdam-based Wisse is also the owner of Four Eyes Photography & Art, a gallery and bookstore that publishes Four Eyes Photography Magazine and that also recently published Wisse's own book, I Believe in 88.

Selections: Kathryn Parker Almanas and Dimitris Triantafyllou

Both photographers are very capable of looking at their deeper inner self and transforming it into solid, multi-layered and question-raising bodies of work.

Kathryn Parker Almanas is a wonderful example of taking a personal situation and using a creative and intelligent way to express oneself. Using food as a surrogate for the body, creating flesh and blood with dough and jellies, she has been making still-lives that raise questions about mortality and suffering for several years. Her consistent body of well-thought-out and well-executed projects, stemming from deep within herself, touch a universal anxiety for suffering and decay.

Dimitris Triantafyllou takes his own feelings and questions and transforms them into photographic projects. Dimitris is a photographer on a quest of introspection and personal understanding. He looks at other people and other situations, and while documenting he knows he will eventually be looking at himself. Dimitris dares to dig deep into his own soul and use it to create a multi-layered body of work.