Guest Reading Shortlist 2.18.15: Adam Bell

From "Parallel Universe: Tokyo Through Western Eyes" by Russet Lederman © William Klein

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.

Today's guest for Reading Shortlist is Adam Bell.

Adam Bell is a photographer and writer. His work has been widely exhibited, and his writing and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including Afterimage, The Art Book Review, The Brooklyn Rail, fototazo, Foam Magazine, Lay Flat, photo-eye and Paper-Journal. His books include The Education of a Photographer and the forthcoming Vision Anew: The Lens and Screen Arts. He is currently on the staff and faculty at the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department at the School of Visual Arts.

Nataly Castaño helped organize this post.

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Tom McCarthy, London Review of Books, "Writing Machines"
The novelist and writer Tom McCarthy grapples with the thorny issue of realism.

From "Parallel Universe: Tokyo Through Western Eyes" by Russet Lederman

Russet Lederman, "Parallel Universe: Tokyo Through Western Eyes"
Noted collector, writer and scholar Russet Lederman, who's also one of the masterminds behind both 10x10 American Photobooks and 10x10 Japanese Photobooks, looks at a number of well-known, and some not so well known, Western photobooks that look at Tokyo and Japan.

Rebecca Solnit, tomdispatch.com, "Everything's Coming Together While Everything is Falling Apart"
Published in early January, Solnit offers sober, but hopeful words as we move into a new year.

Entre Entree by Stephan Keppel

Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, The Great Leap Sideways, "An Illogical Pattern of Translations: Stephan Keppel’s Entre Entree"
Entre Entree by Stephan Keppel was one of my favorite books from 2014, and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa's lyrical response captures the fractured beauty of the book.

From Interview Magazine, "Peter Schjeldahl" © Maciek Kobielski

Christopher Bollen, Interview Magazine, "Peter Schjeldahl"
This honest and insightful interview with Peter Schjeldahl reflects on his work as a critic and writer.

Quentin Bajac, "The Age of Distraction: Photography and Film"
Just one of many great essays posted on Object:Photo, MoMA's companion site to the current exhibition "Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909-1949," Bajac’s essay does a excellent job elucidating the tumultuous context in which these revolutionary images were made.

Trevor Paglen and Rebeccas Solnit (Part 1 and Part 2)
Hosted at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in March 2014, this artist talk by Paglen is followed by an interview with Rebecca Solnit. What more can you ask for?

Brian Dillon, "Shadow Waltz"
Although I initially felt it was out of place as part of Fraser's recent book A City of the Mind, Dillion's excellent essay does a wonderful job illuminating the peculiar beauty of Fraser’s work.

Reading Shortlist 1.29.13

© Christopher Makos, Andy with SX-70 and Konica, undated

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.

Heavy on videos this time. On the shortlist:

Gianpaolo Arena, Landscape Stories, Steve Bisson. Bisson, founder and editor of Urbanautica, shares his thoughts on the state of and future of landscape photography in this short interview from 2010.

Coburn Dukehart, NPR Picture Show, What It Feels Like To Be Photographed In A Moment Of Grief. The article provides a good moment for photographers to make some decisions - before finding themselves in the situation - about their stance on making images in moments of grief and also on making street portraits without permission more generally.

Bryan Formhals, LPV Magazine, Lick Creek Line by Ron Jude. Formhals explores the evolution of his strong reaction to Lick Creek Line.

David Hockney, Louisiana Channel, Photoshop is boring. Hockney raises an interesting question: is Photoshop creating a "stale" look in photography? Includes an awkward bondage conversation at the end.

© David Hockney, Composite Polaroid 31 1/2" x 24 1/2"

Monte Peckham, American Suburb X, INTERVIEW: "A Conversation Between Lewiz Baltz and John Gossage" A free-flowing conversation about cinema as the pre-eminent art form of the 20th century, The Pond, the relationship between photography and linguistics, and how - for both photographers - the subject of the work is the person looking at it.

Polaroid SX-70 promotional video. The SX-70, introduced in 1972, is fully explored and explained in this video. The SX-70 was used, among others, by David Hockney, Ansel Adams, and Walker Evans. Not going to buy the soundtrack to this video, however.

Viviane Sassen, Quality Matters. Sassen talks about her process in this short video, from editing to photobooks. "You can easily make or break a book with design."

Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, The Great Leap Sideways, Beauty as Bitter Fruit: Susan Worsham’s By The Grace of God. Wolukau-Wanambwa deciphers what it is about the images of Worsham that pull us in so far.

Reading Shortlist 10.31.12

'Caught With The Goods.' Small person driving horse and cart confronted by giant chicken. Waupun, Wisconsin. Alfred Stanley Johnson Jr. 1913.

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.

First, I'd like to recommend two posts on other sites that continue the conversation around diversity in photography and contemporary image distribution problems that push the conversation forwards. Christopher Paquette, editor of PHOTO/arts Magazine, published a piece entitled Thoughts on International Diversity in Contemporary Photography last week and on Saturday Bryan Formhals of LPV Magazine wrote an extended reply to the two posts in his highly-recommended weekly Digest.

On to the shortlist...

Pete Brook, Rawfile Blog, Early 1900s Postcards Show Off Primitive ‘Photoshopping’ Skills. In the shadow of the Met's Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop exhibition, Brook published this piece on manipulation in photographic history, largely focused on "Exaggerations" or tall-tale postcards.

Sergio Castaneira, El patio del Diablo, Julio Cortázar habla sobre la relación entre Fotografía y Literatura. The "modern master of the short story" talks about the relationship between photography and literature. (Spanish)

John Edwin Mason, Margaret Bourke-White in South Africa, Parts 1 and 2. Two-piece essay by Mason exploring and venturing some reasons for the very different visions of South Africa presented in two Bourke-White LIFE essays from 1950.

Roger May, Walk your camera, Looking at Appalachia | Shelby Lee Adams – Part One. A great autobiographical essay.

John Neel, Pixiq, First Colour Moving Pictures Discovered. Video explaining the finding and restoration of film that is believed to contain the first color moving images ever made.

Pixmaven, The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator. Professors and students: are you a couple months into the semester and running out of "smart" things to say in crits? Try the phrase generator.

Aaron Schuman, SeeSaw Magazine, Interview: The Knight's Move - In Conversation with Paul Graham, 2010. Smart, straight questions, great answers. Ranges from Graham's process to his history, the impact of digital, the myth of Cartier-Bresson as a "decisive moment" photographer, and pretty much every contemporary photographic conversational point you could come up with.

Nick Turpin, in-sight. I'm always fascinated by videos of other photographers working and making images. These two video clips show highlights of a longer documentary Turpin has made about the photographers of iN-PUBLiC.

Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, The Great Leap Sideways, Ballad of a Lonely Boy: the work of Alec Soth. This is the most recent piece on the site, but on this shortlist it's a stand-in for the entire site. Wolukau-Wanambwa has turned The Great Leap Sideways into a leading site for quality writing on contemporary photographers. The general format is straight-ahead: he selects a photographer and writes about their portfolio at length. I take my hat off to Wolukau-Wanambwa for the depth he gives his writing.

Eddie Wrenn, Mail Online. Photography revolution as researchers create flat lens that can capture a 'perfect image.' I'm probably one of the least tech-oriented photographers on the planet, but this article caught my attention. The replacement of bulky lenses with a flat surface? I'm ready.