Reading Shortlist 12.18.13

© Georgina Berkeley, untitled page from the Berkeley Album (1867/71), from the exhibition "Playing with Pictures:
The Art of the Victorian Photocollage"

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with an eclectic listing of recommended sites, readings and links. A recommendation does not necessarily suggest an agreement with the contents of the post. For previous shortlists, please visit the site links page.

______________________________

AGMA Magazine, Playing With Pictures: The Art of the Victorian Photocollage." Some impressive works in this post of early mixed media work from high society women in the 1860s and 1870s. (Click on the words "Playing With Pictures" to get the gallery of images to open up.)

Laurie Anderson, Rolling Stone, Laurie Anderson's Farewell to Lou Reed. Nothing at all to do with photography, but a lot to do with life.

Capa at 100, International Center of Photography. A half-hour radio interview which is the only recording known of Robert Capa's voice. He discusses a trip to Russia, how a couple of his most famous images were made and how he came up with his name. Also includes one of the most awkward, non sequitur product placements I've ever heard.

© Jane Cooper, Original Caption: "This Area Is Known as Gay Hill near Stockbridge, Vermont. The Farm Was
Originally Built in the 1800's by Ephraim Twitchell, the Famous Vermont Bridge Builder 03/1974"

DOCUMERICA Project by the Environmental Protection Agency. This Flickr page of the U.S. National Archives houses over 15,000 images from the EPA funded Documerica project. The project, ongoing between 1971-1977, entailed contracting freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities and everyday life in the 1970s. Photographers included David Alan Harvey and Danny Lyon.

© Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The Guardian, Liu Bolin, invisible man - in pictures. Not really photography either (beyond documenting his performances via the camera), but man, this guy is impressive.

Andrew Reid, EOSHD, Consumer DSLRs "dead in five years" I'm generally not very interested in talking about gear or gear articles and the points here may be a little extreme, but the coming changes to the camera market and camera development are going to affect all of us.

Sightsmap. Fascinating map of the density of photographs taken around the world.

Alec Soth, Little Brown Mushroom Blog, Popsicle #46: The letters of Sergio Larrain. Soth explores the idea of photographers giving up on photography through Aperture's Sergio Lorrain.

Susan Worsham, Fresh Air on Tumblr, Conversations with Margaret Daniel. I've been putting this hour-long audio compilation on while scanning or doing post-production the last month, just listening to Daniel talk. She could talk about anything and I'd listen.

Michael Zhang, PetaPixel, Video: Photographer Has Camera Lens Stolen From Around His Neck. Welp, that...that sucks.

Reading Shortlist 8.14.12

© Mark Steinmetz, from the series "South Central"

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with an eclectic listing of recommended readings and links. A recommendation does not necessarily suggest an agreement with the contents of the post. For previous shortlists, please visit the site links page.

Blake Andrews, Q&A with Mark Steinmetz. Great interview with a photographer as eloquent as his images. "Maybe back in the day I would have selected photographs for their complexity or difficulty; now it often seems to me the simplest ones are the strongest."

Claire O'Neill, NPR Picture Show, Found In a Closet: A Photo Trove of '60s Icons. Another photographic re-discovery: celebrity portrait photographer Jack Robinson.

David Alan Harvey, Burn Magazine, A Conversation with James Estrin, New York Times Lens Blog. A wide-ranging conversation including the challenges and opportunities for young photographers and the history of the photography business.

Greg Stevens, The Kernel, Fighting Futurism: Why "Progress" Is a Myth. I came across this article amidst the back-and-forth's between writers on different sites about the idea of progress in photography last month. A little big-word-heavy, but readable and interesting.

The Guardian, Is the Age of the Critic Over? Criticism and class in contemporary society.

Jonah Lehrer, The New Yorker, Brainstorming Doesn't Really Work. As best as I know, he didn't make this article up.

Peter Levi, The Huffington Post, Open and Closed Photographs. A short look at a quote from Paolo Pellegrin on the idea of photographs being closed- or open-ended and how that affects the viewing experience of them.

Unless You Will, Issue 11. This is an old issue of the Australia-based online magazine, but I keep going back to it. Unless You Will editor Heidi Romano co-curated this issue with Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann. In particular, work from Amy Elkins, Alexander Binder, Anne Schwalbe, and Robin Friend stand out.

The Visual Experience. Writing to keep an eye on ("Thinking" under the "Articles" tag).

Walker Evans in His Own Words. A short video that includes Walker Evans talking about his own work and footage of him shooting in the field.