Monroe Gallery of Photography

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS?

2012-02-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Police during the Occupy Wall Street 'Day of Action.'

Adrian Kinloch

12:23 pm Feb. 1, 2012

The New York Times fired off another letter to the Police Department today on behalf of 13 New York-based news organizations about police treatment of the press over the last several months.

The first letter, sent back in November during the height of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, resulted in a meeting with NYPD brass and "stepped up" efforts on the part of the department's public information office to train officers in working with the media.

But in today's letter, a copy of which was obtained by Capital, the news organizations, which also include the New York Post, Daily News, Associated Press, Reuters, Dow Jones, Bloomberg News, the National Press Photographers Association, several local TV affiliates and others, say problems have persisted.

"There have been other reports of police officers using a variety of tactics ranging from inappropriate orders directed at some joumalists to physical interference with others, who were covering newsworthy sites and events," the letter reads. "Indeed, as recently as this Monday it was reported ... that at another OWS demonstration, police 'officers blocked the lens of a newspaper photographer attempting to document the arrests.'"

Read the full post HERE.

Related:

Report: American Press Freedom Declines Due to Occupy Arrests

"You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

WHAT TO READ ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY

2012-01-31T06:08:00.000-07:00

Conscientious is a consistently great blog about photography. This new post is not to be missed:

"But when you see the photograph first - as I did - and then the title, it’s still a shock. Or maybe more accurately an aftershock. You see the photograph, and you think you know what’s going on, or maybe you wonder what’s going on, you wonder whether this could possibly… and then there’s the title. It’s almost as if someone knew what we would be asking and decided, “I am going to tell all these people exactly what they want to know.”

Full post here.

About:

Conscientious is a website dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography. It offers daily profiles of photographers, in-depth interviews, exhibition and book reviews, and general articles about photography and related issues. More detailed contents – such as the interviews and longer articles, including contributions by guest writers – can be found in the "Extended" section.

Everyday People: Vivian Maier

2012-01-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Vivian Maier: September 28, 1959, East 108th St.,
New York

©Maloof Collection

The Albuquerque Journal

By Adrian Gomez / Asst. Arts Editor, Reel NM
on Sun, Jan 29, 2012

Vivian Maier was essentially unknown throughout her lifetime. But that’s changing very quickly.

Maier, who worked as a nanny in Chicago, is setting the photography and art world on fire with her work in street photography that spanned more than 40 years. But she’ll never see it – which is the way she wanted it – because she died in 2009 at age 83.

“I never imagined that I would find a gem like Vivian,” says John Maloof, of the Maloof Collection based out of Chicago. “I saw her work and immediately worked on making sure she was in the right place in the history books.”

Exhibitions of Maier’s work have been held in New York, Chicago, England, Germany, Denmark and Norway. And it’s coming to Santa Fe.

The exhibit “Vivian Maier: Discovered” will run at Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe beginning Friday, Feb. 3.

Gallery owner Sidney S. Monroe says the exhibit will have approximately 35 prints, the majority of which have never been seen.

“Vivian’s story is fascinating and it keeps getting better,” he says.

Monroe says the gallery has been working to bring the show to the City Different since September and was thrilled to be one of the first venues to host the exhibition in the United States.

“This is such a huge international story, and it speaks to Vivian’s significance in the art world now,” he says. “Our goal from day one was to bring in top-flight exhibitions. It speaks to Santa Fe and it being a world-class destination for art and photography.”

In 2007, Maloof, a real estate agent and historian, purchased 30,000 negatives on a hunch from an auction house in Chicago. Buried deep in that purchase were the virtuosic street photographs taken by a reclusive nanny in Chicago.

Maloof says he bought the 30,000 prints and negatives from an auction house that had acquired the photographs from a storage locker that had been sold off when Maier was no longer able to pay her fees.

He says after buying the collection in 2007, he acquired more from another buyer at the same auction. He now owns 100,000 to 150,000 negatives, more than 3,000 vintage prints, hundreds of rolls of film, home movies, audio tape interviews, original cameras of Maier’s, documents and other items, representing roughly 90 percent of Maier’s work.

“She has become a fascinating person to me, and I wouldn’t be promoting her work if I didn’t think it was amazing,” he says.

Maloof says he had no idea of his find until he started perusing the negatives.

“I was captivated by what I saw,” he explains. “It’s really a great body of work and no one had seen it. Of course, not all the photos were great, but the ones that are stood out immediately.”

Maloof was credited with the find, and Maier’s profile as a street photographer was born and soon went viral.

“She lived her life in a private way,” he says. “I think that’s what makes it interesting. She was a normal, working-class woman who loved photography. It really could be any one of us.”

Maloof says at 25 Maier moved from France to New York, where she worked in a sweatshop. She later made her way to Chicago in 1956, where she became a nanny.

“Most of the families said Vivian was very private and spent her days off walking and shooting pictures,” he says. “I can just imagine her walking around town with a Rolleiflex around her neck, snapping pictures.”

Maier’s photographs gain interest because of the subjects. She had an eye for fashion as well as capturing the daily lives of people.

“You can see how Vivian lived through the photographs,” Maloof says. “She captured everything that seemed interesting to her.”

Maloof says three years after Maier’s death, he’s surprised at how much interest she has gotten in the past year.

“My initial goal was to get her noticed and for her to take her place in the art world,” he explains. “I know she was a private person, but I believe her photos are a gift to the world that needed to be shared.”

If you go

WHAT: “Vivian Maier: Discovered”
WHEN: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Daily; opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3. Continues through April 22
WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar in Santa Fe
HOW MUCH: Free

Life of Marital Bliss (Segregation Laws Aside)

2012-01-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Grey Villet: Mildred and Richard Loving, King and Queen County,

Virginia in April 1965

We have been covering the forthcoming documentary film about Mildren and Richard Loving, an inter-racial couple who made civil-rights history. "The Loving Story" film will premiere on HBO on Valentine's day, February 14. An exhibition of Grey Villet's vintage photographs is currently on exhibition at the International Center of Photography.

Today's New York Times has a review of the exhibit:

"Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple from Virginia whose marriage prompted a benchmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling overturning state miscegenation laws, are portrayed in “The Loving Story: Photographs by Grey Villet” as heroes who fell into history by accident.

Grey Villet, a South African photographer who worked for Life magazine, entered the story in 1965 when he traveled to Virginia to photograph the family, by then living together under an unofficial amnesty with their three children. Mr. Villet shot 73 rolls of film, but Life published only 9 images. The photographer then sent 70 prints to the Lovings. The vintage prints in this show are from that collection, as well as from Mr. Villet’s estate.

The images represent the heyday of social documentary, but also the photo-essay format established by magazines like Life and Look. There is the whiff of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and other 1930s documentarians, but also of W. Eugene Smith, a revered midcentury photo essayist, and David Goldblatt, a South African chronicler of apartheid" Full post and photographs here.

Concurrently, Monroe Gallery of Photography is opening the exhibition "Grey Villet: The Lovings" on February 3, concurrent with the exhibition "Vivian Maier: Discovered". The exhibition continues through March 18, and Grey Villet's photographs of the Lovings will be on exhibit during the AIPAD Photography Show March 29 - April 1 at Monroe Gallery, Booth #419. Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to represent the Estate of Grey Villet.

"LIFE Photographers: What They Saw": masterpieces of the magazine's photographers

2012-01-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

La Lettre de la Photographie:

"John Loengard was born in New York City in 1934. He began working as a professional photographer for Life magazine while still a senior at Harvard University. He spent much of his career photographing for Life in its various incarnations, also acting as picture editor of the monthly Life magazine relaunch from 1978-1987. He is the author of eight books on photography including Celebrating The Negative ( Arcade Publishing, 1994), and As I See It ( Vendome Press, 2005 ).

In 1998, John published a book called: "LIFE Photographers: What They Saw" on some of the masterpieces of the magazine's photographers with their commentaries.  Each week, we are going to share with you the pictures that John talks about. Today we start with two of them."

Life: Loomis Dean
The Andrea Doria

S.S. United States sailing in New York harbor © Andreas Feininger / Time Life

Life: Andreas Feininger
SS United States

Director's Interview: The Loving Story

2012-01-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Grey Villet: Mildred and Richard Loving,

King and Queen County, Virginia in April 1965

This is a compelling, riveting, promotional clip from the HBO documentary "The Loving Story":

Via HBO: "The Loving Story", Director Nancy Buirski interview

"Almighty God created the races....The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mate"

WEEK IN REVIEW: Selected Photography Stories

2012-01-20T08:35:00.002-07:00

Supermarket Pickets, New Jersey, 1963 © Steve Schapiro,

Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe

La Lettre de la Photographie has a wrap-up of the 2012 edition of Photo LA, reported by Jeff Dunus with a slide show of highlights here.

Vivian Maier: September 28, 1959, 108th St. East, New York

©Maloof Collection, Ltd.

Art Critic Roberta Smith of The New York Times writes a review of 2 concurrent Vivian Maier exhibitions in New York. The exhibition "Vivian Maier: Discovered" opens at Monroe Gallery of Photography on February 3, and continues through April 22.

Grey Villet: Mildred and Richard Loving

The International Center of Photography opened the exhibition "The Lovings Story: Photographs by Grey Villet". The Amsterman News has the most recent article about this remarkable collection of photographs, taken by Life magazine photographer Grey Villet:

"Brown v. Board of Education. Plessy v. Ferguson. The list of notable court cases that blazed the trail for civil rights in our nation is long, but there is one case that many have forgotten but is no less important: Loving v. Virginia."

More about the Lovings photographs here.

Raw File Blog covers Tim Mantoani's new book Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends. "The Tank Man of Tienanmen Square. Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston in victory. The portrait of the Afghan Girl on the cover of National Geographic. Many of us can automatically recall these photos in our heads, but far fewer can name the photographers who took them. Even fewer know what those photographers look like." We are very proud that several of Monroe gallery's photographers are featured.

WINTER FIESTA, VIVIAN MAIER, AND SKIING!

2012-01-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

Vivian Maier: March 18, 1955, New York, NY

Santa Fe Winter Fiesta : January 27th - February 5th: The Second Annual, 10-day Santa Fe Winter Fiesta is presented by SantaFe.com and the City of Santa Fe and offers an exciting array of exhibits, concerts, parties, culinary experiences, comedy, dining, shopping, hotel and ski discounts and more to help you beat the winter blues! Full details here.

As part of the Fiesta, Monroe Gallery of Photography invites you to join us for the opening reception celebrating the exhibition "Vivian Maier: Discovered" on Friday, February 3, from 5 - 7 PM. The exhibit continues through April 27.

The name Vivian Maier was unfamiliar until recently, because the prolific street photographer was essentially unknown throughout her lifetime. Now, Maier is posthumously being recognized as one of the greatest American street photographers of the 20th Century. The recent discovery of Maier’s pictures has resounded through the photography world and her story has been sweeping the international press, including The New York Times, American Photo, NPR, La Republica, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, CBS News, Smithsonian, and more. Please join us to view this remarkable discovery.

Additionally, the New Mexico Tourism Department has kicked off a year-long Centennial Promotion called "Get the Picture". Figure it out, photograph it, and file it online. Get out there and "Get the Picture" for a chance at the $10,000 prize.

And, in case you didn't know, New Mexico ski resorts are off to the best start in years! Many of the best skiing conditions in the entire United States are right here!

GREY VILLET: THE LOVINGS

2012-01-18T08:33:00.002-07:00

Grey Villet: Richard and Mildred Loving in the spring of 1965

UPDATED: La Lettre de la Photographie:
ICP: Grey Villet and the Loving Story

A must-see post on Wednesday's New York Times Lens Blog:

The Heart of the Matter: Love

Related:

New York Times Sunday Magazine: The Case of Loving v. Bigotry

John Edwin Mason: Grey Villet, Interracial Love, and Drag Racing, 1965

International Center of Photography Exhibit: The Loving Story: Photographs by Grey Villet

The Loving Story Movie Website

HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY: MUHAMMAD ALI

2012-01-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Steve Schapiro: Cassius Clay, Lexington, Kentucky, 1963

Via Life.com:
Muhammad Ali: The Greatest Pictures
Via TIME Light Box:
Happy Birthday, Muhammad Ali: 70 Iconic Images for 70 Years
Via ArtDaily.org:
Muhammad Ali is coming home to Louisville to celebrate another milestone — his 70th birthday:
Muhammad Ali returning to Kentucky for 70th birthday- fundraiser for center and museum organized

Via MSNBC:
Muhammad Ali soaked in familiar cheers and chants along with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" on Saturday night as friends and admirers celebrated the boxing champ's coming 70th birthday at a party in his Kentucky hometown.

As party-goers mingled in a lobby of the Muhammad Ali Center before the party, Ali walked slowly to a second-floor balcony overlooking them. The crowd immediately began to clap, then broke into chants of "Ali! Ali!" followed by singing as Ali watched for about two minutes.

Neil Leifer:

But my favorite subject, no matter what the sport, was and still is Muhammad Ali.

I took my most famous picture on May 25, 1965, when Ali stopped Sonny Liston with one punch in the first round of their heavyweight championship fight in Lewiston, Maine. When Sports Illustrated published its special issue, "The Century's Greatest Sports Photos," my picture of Ali standing over Liston was the cover, and I was honored and thrilled by SI's choice. "It is a great picture of a key moment, filled with emotion and destined to remain etched in the minds of its viewers," says Steve Fine, SI's director of photography. "You can describe this picture to someone, without showing it to them, and they know exactly what you're talking about. It's a true icon of sports photojournalism." This image represents the way people want to remember Ali: strength, confidence and braggadocio. A two-minute fight might be a major disappointment for the fans, but for a photographer, it doesn't matter whether it goes 15 rounds or 15 seconds. All any editor ever expected from me was a great knockout picture. In Lewiston, the knockout happened exactly where I wanted it to, and my only thought was, "Stay right there, Sonny! Please don't get up!"

Muhammad Ali Knocks Out Sonny Liston, Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965

“I think his message is the key to world peace, to peace here in this country. And I think Martin Luther King Jr. was so ahead of his time”

2012-01-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King, Alabama, 1965

On this day, we remember Martin Luther King.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, it is the final day for Photo LA 2012:

Grey Villet, Steve Schapiro, and Paul Schutzer photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, at Photo LA (Booth 500).

Related: Throngs reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream

The Politics of Photographs

2012-01-14T23:07:00.001-07:00

PROGRAMMING

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15

All general admission and programming tickets can be purchased at boxoffice.

9:30 - 11:00 AM

Docent Tour with Scarlet Cheng

The Politics of Photographs

What do photographs tell us about history, society, and culture, and how? Photojournalism is seen as "objective" -- an event is captured, showing the principals involved. Yet the photographer's selection of subject matter, framing, angle, and context -- Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" -- gives us a world of information and a distinct point of view. In fact, the more distinct and personal, the more memorable the image. Arts photography can do the same, although often with more subtlety and ambiguity. Examples of the politics of both photojournalism and arts photography will be examined in works on display at the fair.

Photo LA Features Work of Masters, Amateurs, the Avant-Garde and Everything in Between

2012-01-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

Grey Villet and Paul Schutzer photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe. (Photo by Rebecca Joyce/special to LAist via Flickr)

Via LAist

By Rebecca Joyce/Special to LAist

You might think photography shows are for the collectors and connoisseurs. They’re for people who wear turtlenecks, and sport coats over t-shirts. For people with shiny shoes and who use words like “exquisite” when discussing an artist’s work. People who begin conversations by identifying the art school they attended and sound very important even when discussing lunch.

That’s what I thought, too.

Art buyers and collectors are very important—after all, patrons keep galleries open and make it possible for artists to keep working—but photography shows are for everyone.

In addition to a good collection of works by master photographers, such as Ansel Adams, Photo LA is the place to see what is new and fresh in the photography world, a world ever-growing and constantly changing. Photography is an accessible art, and Photo LA has done everything possible to make this show accessible as well. Anyone who is a lover of photography at any level can be inspired here. There are photographs of the Civil Rights Movement and other works from the 60s, 50s and even earlier.

But for those wanting to see more contemporary work, there is music photography by Jerome Brunet and Ingrid Herfelder, digital work by Catherine Nelson, photographs of urban decay by Thomas Jorion, and the very popular work of Jay Mark Johnson and Stephen Wilkes.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe. On the right is one of the Stephen Wilkes "Day to Night" photographs. (Photo by Rebecca Joyce/special to LAist via Flickr)

There are great resources for photographers on hand. Lucie Foundation, which sponsors photography scholarships and Month of Photography, is currently accepting submissions from photographers at all levels. Women in Photography International accepts submissions for year-round photography contests for women of all levels and provides a way for new photographers to interact with established artists.

Check out the event schedule. In addition to guided tours, there are lectures and panels with photographers, collectors, and curators. For new photographers, the Emerging Focus learning series has educational lectures on topics such as travel photography and fine art printing. A Canon representative will be teaching a class on working with RAW files.

If you need further proof that this show is for everyone, The Emerging Focus installation, featuring finalists of a photography contest open to amateurs, seemed to be the most popular and drew the largest crowd while I was there.

So, collectors, curators, students, artists, professionals, enthusiasts, just-got-a-camera-for-Christmas people, whether you love it or don’t understand it, this photography show is for you.
Photo LA is on exhibit at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium until Monday. For more information about the event check out its website.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

PHOTO LA 2012 OPENS

2012-01-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Monroe Gallery of Photography

The 21st edition of The International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition ("photo la") opened last night with a reception benefiting the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The fair continues through Monday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, hours and ticket information here.

We look forward to welcoming you at Booth B-500.

2012-01-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

PHOTOGRAPHY

Framework

Via The Los Angeles Times: Capturing the world through photography, video and multimedia

Photo LA: Jan. 12-16

Posted By: Kathy M.Y. Pyon
Posted On: 3:24 p.m. | January 11, 2012
VENUE:
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
VENUE LINK:
http://www.photola.com/
VENUE LOCATION:
1855 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401-3209
VENUE TIMES:
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM - Monday, January 16, 2012 at 6:00 PM
VENUE ADMISSION:
ranges from $10 – 30 depending on the program

This year the event kicks off with a benefit gala with special host Moby on Thursday. Ticket are available at: http://www.lacma.org/event/photola or at the box office.

The 21st annual event celebrates photography from all around the world and provides easy access to participating dealers and galleries. The event brings a plethora of photography for seasoned collectors as well as the newbies. The four-day programming is rich with educational content that will surely fulfill any questions of photography answered by a range of professionals. It’s a great way to gallery hop in an extremely convenient manner and, from my experience, a great avenue to discover new and up-and-coming artists.

The stunning photograph featured above is photographer Quentin Shih’s “The Stranger In The Glass Box” and will be on exhibit at the event.

(Visit Monroe Gallery of Photography in Booth B-500)

White House Photog Wrongfully Arrested Considering Suing After Being Banned

2012-01-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

Continuing an alarming trend : The photographer who took the iconic portrait used in President Obama’s “Hope” poster lost his White House press credential in October after police arrested him on a charge of disorderly conduct. He is now considering a civil rights suit against the police. NY Times Lens Blog:

After an Arrest, Civil Rights Questions

ON THE ROAD....

2012-01-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ernst Haas: Albuquerque, Route 66, New Mexico, 1969

We are hitting the road to photo la 2012. Pardon the interruption of our feeds while we drive!

Monroe Gallery of Photojournalism brings art and history together

2012-01-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

Michelle and Sidney Monroe, owners of Monroe Gallery, celebrate 10 years in Santa Fe of showcasing some of the 20th-century’s most notable news photographers and their works. - Natalie Guillén/The New Mexican

Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

Dennis Carroll | For The New Mexican
Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2012-

'It was just one of those lightbulb-pops-on-in-your-head moments," recalled Sidney Monroe of Monroe Gallery of Photography. "You're sitting across from a genius ... and every single picture he showed us was like, 'I know that, I know that, I know that.' "

Monroe, who with his wife, Michelle, is celebrating his 10th year in Santa Fe, was talking about the couple's first meeting in 1985 with famed Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, then in his '80s.

It was at that encounter with the great photographer in the Time-Life Building in New York, Sidney remembers, that "art and history crashed together" for the couple and their venture into photojournalism-as-art began.

Sidney had been working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Michelle, for the Smithsonian Institution offices in New York. The two were engaged.

"We both had separate paths that merged when we met Alfred Eisenstaedt," Michelle said.

Sidney was assembling a collection of Eisenstaedt's works for a gallery he was managing in Manhattan, which even then was considered a risky venture for an art gallery.

Eisenstaedt introduced the Monroes to other news photographers and soon the two had their own gallery. But challenges lay ahead, not only with collectors and dealers dubious about investing in news photos, but with photographers as well.

"Our concept was completely new for them as well," Michelle said. "As photojournalists, they'd never been asked to exhibit."

"It was exhilarating and a struggle at the same time," she said of their start-up gallery in New York. "There were a handful of established photography galleries, but nobody was showing photojournalism."

However, added Sidney, in the long run "we were lucky that we had found something that everybody had ignored."

After Sept. 11, 2001, the Monroes found the going tough at their Grand Street location just a few blocks from ground zero, and other locations seemed unsuitable. So it was off to New Mexico, home of Sidney's parents, whom the Monroes had frequently visited.

The Monroe Gallery of Photography at 112 Don Gaspar St. features the photos of more than 50 renowned news photographers, most in black and white — photographically the predominant shades of the early and mid-20th century.

The photos go back to the Great Depression, through World War II and past the eras of Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King Jr., the Beatles, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and into the present with Nina Berman's photos of America's "Purple Heart" warriors of Afghanistan and Iraq.

You may well not recognize, or only vaguely be familiar with, many of the photographers' names — Charles Moore, Eddie Adams, Bill Eppridge or Jeff Widener, for example — but it's likely their photos are part of your or your parents' consciousness:

Moore's photo of King being arrested in Montgomery, Ala., Adams' wrenching shot of the Saigon police chief executing a Viet Cong prisoner, Eppridge's gripping picture of Robert F. Kennedy lying near death on the kitchen floor in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and Widener's picture of the Chinese man defying a squadron of tanks in Tiananmen Square.

The Monroes' black-and-white chronicle of the 20th century's iconic news photos is coming to an end in the sense that many of the photographers have died and their prints are no longer available.

"We see the end of an image constantly," Michelle said. "That was the last one that was signed. It's over."

As an example, the Monroes cited many of Eisenstaedt's photos — his famous picture of a menacing Joseph Goebbels, or Winston Churchill in top hat and coat gesturing the V-for-victory sign.

But as the mid-20th century photojournalists fade away, new faces and the faces they shoot emerge.

The Monroes cited Joe McNally, Nina Berman, Rikki Reich, Stephen Wilkes, and Eric Smith.

"As long as humans make history," [news photo galleries] will be here," Michelle said.

ON THE WEB

* http://www.monroegallery.com/

Bill Eppridge:

Busboy Juan Romero tries to comfort Presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy after assassination attempt, June 5, 1968 ©Time Inc.

Happy Birthday, Daguerreotype

2012-01-09T10:22:00.001-07:00

A daguerreotype created by Daguerre

Via Wired

Jan. 9, 1839: Say 'Cheese'

Tony Long 01.09.07

1839: Daguerreotype, an early photographic process, is announced to the world by the French Academy of Sciences.

The process, perfected by French artist and chemist Louis Daguerre in collaboration with Joseph Niépce, exposed an image directly onto a sheet of copper coated with photosensitive silver halide. Heat was used to bring up a latent image, then the image was permanently "fixed" to the plate by dipping it in a hyposulphite of soda.

Although daguerreotype was not the only photographic method available, it cut production time dramatically, making commercial photography a viable business. A conspicuous drawback to the process was that once fixed, the photograph could not be reproduced.

Daguerreotype enjoyed a relatively short vogue; by 1860 it had been largely supplanted by the albumen print, the first commercial process that produced photographic prints on paper.

(Source: Various)

Based on an anonymous tip that the Lovings were illegally living as a married couple in Caroline County, sheriff Garnett Brooks and two deputies burst into the Lovings’ bedroom on July 11, 1958 at 2 a.m. When Richard explained that the woman in bed with him was his wife, Brooks replied, “Not here she’s not.”

2012-01-08T09:08:00.002-07:00

HBO and the Museum of Tolerance invite you and a guest to a special screening of

THE LOVING STORY

An exclusive screening for Museum of Tolerance members only
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 7:00pm

A racially-charged criminal trial and a heart-rending love story converge in this documentary about Mildred and Richard Loving, a part-black, part-Indian woman married to a white man in Jim Crow era Virginia. Thrown into rat-infested jails and exiled from their hometown for 25 years, the Lovings fought back and changed history. They were paired with two young and ambitious lawyers who were driven to pave the way for social justice and equal rights through a historic Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia. THE LOVING STORY takes us on a journey into the heart of race relations in America. But, in the end, it is a poignant love story of two people who simply wanted to live in the place they called home.

This film, with its contemporary parallels, will live on as record of monumental change, not just in civil rights then, but in the human right to pursue happiness regardless of color, gender or creed.
Q & A with Director Nancy Buirski and Producer Elisabeth Haviland James.
Dessert reception to follow.

There is no charge for the screening but pre-registration is required.
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Download a flyer here

More about The Loving Story movie here

View Grey Villet's photographs of the Lovings in Los Angeles during photo la, January 12 - 16, at Monroe Gallery of Photography Booth B-500.

Related: New York Times feature: Grey Villet's photographs of the Lovings; International Center of Photography exhibit

John Edwin Mason: Grey Villet, Interracial Love, and Drag Racing, 1965

Tyler Hicks Photos of rescue of Iranian fishermen by US Navy in Gulf of Oman

2012-01-06T21:46:00.002-07:00

Just in case you thought there was no more "great" photojournalism, check out this from Tyler Hicks of the NY Times:

"In a naval action that mixed diplomacy, drama and Middle Eastern politics, the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis broke up a high-seas pirate attack on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, then sailors from an American destroyer boarded the pirates’ mother ship and freed 13 Iranian hostages who had been held captive there for more than a month."

Slide show here.

Article here.

Eve Arnold: Born 21 April 1912; Died 4 January 2012

2012-01-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

Eve Arnold: Marilyn Monroe rehearsing lines on the set of "The Misfits", 1960

"Her intimate, sensitive and compassionate ten year collaboration with Marilyn Monroe has cemented her as one of the most iconic portrait photographers of our time, but it is the long term reportage stories that drove Arnold's curiosity and passion."--Magnum Photos agency

The Guardian: The big picture: Bar Girl in a Brothel in the Red Light District, Havana, 1954

The Independant: All about Eve: photographer blazed a bold, beautiful trail with pictures

La Lettre de la Photographie: The death of Eve Arnold, by former Director of Magnum, Jimmy Fox

Financial Times: American photographer Eve Arnold dies aged 99

BBC: Photojournalist Eve Arnold dies aged 99

BBC Slideshow: In pictures: The work of photographer Eve Arnold

Los Angeles Times: Eve Arnold dies at 99; pioneering photojournalist

NPR The Picture Show: Photojournalist Eve Arnold Dies At 99

TIME Light Box: Eve Arnold: April 12, 1912—January 4, 2012

New York Times: Photojournalist Eve Arnold Dies at 99

NY Times Lens Blog: Parting Glance: Eve Arnold

The Guardian: Eve Arnold Celebrated Magnum photographer who documented the stars, 'the poor, the old and the underdog'

The Telegraph: American photographer Eve Arnold dies aged 99

Associated Press: Photojournalist Eve Arnold dies at 99 (with video interview)

British Journal of Photography: Magnum photographer Eve Arnold dies

Magnum photographer Eve Arnold dies [update]

Photo District News: Photographer Eve Arnold Dies

Magnum: selection of UK press clippings, obits and tributes to Eve Arnold

Magnum Slideshow

Bookmark this page for updates and more tributes.

"You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

2012-01-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

This is not a good story to start 2012 with: "The Rules on News Coverage Are Clear, but the Police Keep Pushing". See related with new update at end of scroll.

Via The New York Times:
January 2, 2012

In late November, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, ordered every precinct in his domain to read a statement. Officers, the commissioner said, must “respect the public’s right to know about these events and the media’s right of access to report.”

Any officer who “unreasonably interferes” with reporters or blocks photographers will be subject to disciplinary actions.

These are fine words. Of course, his words followed on the heels of a few days in mid-November when the police arrested, punched, kicked and used metal barriers to ram reporters and photographers covering the Occupy Wall Street protests.

And recent events suggest that the commissioner should speak more loudly. Ryan Devereaux, a reporter, serves as Exhibit 1A that all is not well.

On Dec. 17, Mr. Devereaux covered a demonstration at Duarte Square on Canal Street for “Democracy Now!,” a news program carried on 1,000 stations. Ragamuffin demonstrators surged and the police pushed back. A linebacker-size officer grabbed the collar of Mr. Devereaux, who wore an ID identifying him as a reporter. The cop jammed a fist into his throat, turning Mr. Devereaux into a de facto battering ram to push back protesters.

“I yelled, ‘I’m a journalist!’ and he kept shoving his fist and yelling to his men, ‘Push, boys!’ ”

Eventually, with curses and threats to arrest Mr. Devereaux, the officer relaxed his grip.

You don’t have to take his word. An Associated Press photograph shows this uniformed fellow grinding a meat-hook fist into the larynx of Mr. Devereaux, who is about 5 feet 5 inches. A video, easily found online, shows an officer blocking a photographer for The New York Times at the World Financial Center, jumping to put his face in front of the camera as demonstrators are arrested in the background.

And three nights ago, at a New Year’s Eve demonstration at Zuccotti Park, a captain began pushing Colin Moynihan, a reporter covering the protest for The Times. After the reporter asked the captain to stop, another officer threatened to yank away his police press pass. “That’s a boss; you do what a boss tells you,” the officer said, adding a little later, “You got that credential you’re wearing from us, and we can take it away from you.”

Reporting and policing can be high-adrenaline jobs. . But the decade-long trajectory in New York is toward expanded police power. Officers routinely infiltrate groups engaged in lawful dissent, spy on churches and mosques, and often toss demonstrators and reporters around with impunity.

When this is challenged, the police commissioner and the mayor often shrug it off and fight court orders. The mayor even argued that to let the press watch the police retake Zuccotti Park would be to violate the privacy of protesters. “It wouldn’t be fair,” he said.

As arguments go, this is perversely counterintuitive. But the mayor’s words reflect, as State Senator Eric Adams, the civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel and two others wrote in a recent letter to the commissioner, a misunderstanding of long-established patrol guide procedures. The regulations are clear:

“The media will be given access as close to the activity as possible, with a clear line of sight and within hearing range of the incident.”

Precisely the opposite occurred on Nov. 15, when police officers herded reporters into a pen out of sight and sound of Zuccotti Park.

The next day, the protesters moved north and briefly occupied a lot owned by Trinity Church. As the police closed in on demonstrators, they also handcuffed and arrested Associated Press and Daily News reporters. Mayoral press representatives stoutly insisted that the police acted properly. “It is impossible to say the reporters were not breaking the law,” a spokesman wrote to me.
Let me venture into the world of the impossible then. The police patrolmen’s guide is explicit. “Members of the media,” it states, “will not be arrested for criminal trespass unless an owner expressly indicates ... that the press is not to be permitted.”

I checked with the landlord, Trinity Church. They’d made no such call. Paul J. Browne, a deputy police commissioner, agreed. That is why, he noted in an e-mail, “The reporter arrests at Duarte were voided.”

Senator Adams retired as a police captain. He loved the blue and all it implied, and acknowledges he was not above cursing the laws that restrained him.

“Who wouldn’t like unlimited power?” he said.

That is precisely why the past decade worries him so. “If the police and the mayor won’t follow their own rules, whose rules will they follow?” he says. “And very few people ask any questions.”
New York, Mr. Adams says, “is leading the way in not wanting to know where it’s going.”

E-mail: powellm@nytimes.com
Twitter: @powellnyt

Related:

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"We are alarmed at the arrests of working news professionals..."

Video Shows Oakland Police Shooting Photographer

JEFF WIDENER: Tiananmen Square Tank Man

2012-01-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to be representing photojournalist Jeff Widener.

Jeff Widener (born August 11, 1956 in Long Beach, California) is an American photographer, best known for his image of the "Tank Man" confronting a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 Beijing riots which made him a nominated finalist for the 1990 Pulitzer. Prior to the picture, Widener was injured during the night event of June 3rd, 1989 after a stray rock hit him in the head during a mob scene on the Chang-An Boulevard. His Nikon F3 titanium camera absorbed the blow, sparing his life. The "Tank Picture," repeatedly circulated around the globe, (except in China where it is banned) and is now widely held to be one of the most recognized photos ever taken. America On Line selected it as one of the top ten most famous images of all time.

Jeff grew up in Southern California where he attended Los Angeles Pierce College and Moorpark College majoring in photojournalism. In 1974 he received the Kodak Scholastic National Photography Scholarship beating out 8,000 students from across the United States. The prize included a study tour of East Africa.

In 1978, Widener started as a newspaper photographer in California and later in Nevada and Indiana. At age 25, he accepted a position in Brussels, Belgium as a staff photographer with United Press International. His first foreign assignment was the Solidarity riots in Poland.

Through the years, he has covered assignments in over 100 countries involving civil unrest and wars to social issues. He was the first photojournalist to file digital images from the South Pole. In 1987, he was hired as Associated Press Picture Editor for Southeast Asia where he covered major stories in the region from the Gulf War to the Olympics. Other beats included East Timor, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burma, Syria, Jordan, India, Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan and many more.

Widener is now based in Hamburg, Germany. The iconic Tiananmen Square photograph will be on exhibit in Booth B-500 during Photo LA, January 13 - 16, 2012.

More
Read: Eyewitness at Tiananmen Square, 1989
Interview with Jeff Widener, "Tank Man" Photographer

2012-01-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

Great read by John Edwin Mason: Grey Villet, Interracial Love, and Drag Racing, 1965

Grey Villet: Richard and Mildred Loving watching drag races from the pit area, Sumerduck dragway, Sumerduck, Va., 1965

More about the story of Richard and Mildred Loving.

NEW MEXICO AT 100

2012-01-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

New Mexico Centennial

On January 6, 1912, New Mexico became the 47th State in the U.S.

Continuing throughout 2012, communities statewide will commemorate one hundred years of New Mexico statehood: telling stories of the past, while envisioning the state’s next hundred years.

At 11:35 on Friday, January 6, 2012, New Mexicans are being encouraged to honk their car horns for 30 seconds to wish the state Happy Birthday. That's the approximate time President William Howard Taft signed New Mexico into statehood a century earlier.

The history of photography in New Mexico is as old as the history of photography itself. Itinerant daguerreotypists were active here as early as the 1840’s. Later, well-equipped photographic expeditions led by men like Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan came through New Mexico making documentary surveys for the railroads and government, and helping to feed the appetites of Easterners, eager for pictorial information about the newly opened continent. Read the full article in the Collector's Guide.

More: New Mexico: Photographer's Eden

2012

2011-12-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

As we say good-bye to 2011 and hello to 2012, a few thanks are in order.

Thank you to all the extraordinary photographers we have been so fortunate to know, with special heartfelt gratitude to all photojournalists across the world.

Thank you to our friends, clients, and collectors for your support and encouragement.

Thank you to our blog readers, followers, and "social connections". May 2012 bring us all that we need.

"All of us live in history, whether we are aware of it or not, and die in drama. The sense of history and of drama comes to a man not because of who he is or what he does, but flickeringly, as he is caught up in events, as his personality reacts, as he sees for a moment his place in the great flowing river of time and humanity.

I cannot tell you where our history is leading us, or through what suffering, or into what era of war or peace. But wherever it is, I know men of good heart will be passing there."

--Carl Mydans

The Case of Loving v. Bigotry

2011-12-30T11:07:00.003-07:00

Hands of Mildred and Richard Loving on their kitchen table, King and Queen County, Va

Photograph by Grey Villet

Via The New York Times Sunday Magazine

January 1, 2012

In 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in a nighttime raid in their bedroom by the sheriff of Caroline County, Va. Their crime: being married to each other. The Lovings — Mildred, who was of African-American and Native American descent, and Richard, a bricklayer with a blond buzz cut — were ordered by a judge to leave Virginia for 25 years. In January, the International Center of Photography is mounting a show of Grey Villet’s photographs of the couple in 1965. That exhibit is complemented by an HBO documentary, ‘‘The Loving Story,’’ directed by Nancy Buirski, which will be shown on HBO on Feb. 14. The film tells of the Lovings’ struggle to return home after living in exile in Washington, where Mildred, gentle in person but persistent on paper, wrote pleading letters to Robert F. Kennedy and the A.C.L.U. Two lawyers took their case to the Supreme Court, which struck down miscegenation laws in more than a dozen states. The Lovings’ belief in the simple rightness of their plea never wavered. Asked by one of his lawyers if he had a message for the Supreme Court, Richard said he did: ‘‘Tell the court I love my wife.’’

Julie Bosman

New York Times Slideshow here

The Loving Story Movie Website

Exhibit: International Center of Photography January 20 - May 6, 2012

Special screening in Los Angeles January 10, 2012 with HBO at the Museum of Tolerance.

Additionally, on January 17th, The Loving Story will screen at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC.

Grey Villet's photographs are available from Monroe Gallery of Photography. View selected photographs of the Lovings during photo la at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Booth B-500.

THE 21st ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL LOS ANGELES PHOTOGRAPHIC ART EXPOSITION

2011-12-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to be exhibiting at the
2012 edition of photo l.a. We will be located in Booth B500, the
first booth at the right entrance to the fair. Our booth will feature
some of the finest examples of humanist and photojournalist
imagery from the 20th and 21st Century.

photo l.a. returns to the historic Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
for its 21st edition on January 12 - 16, 2012. Continuing the
discourse on photography’s place in the fine arts, photo l.a.
provides dealers from around the globe a platform for the
exhibition of vintage masterworks, contemporary photography,
as well as video and multimedia installations. This exciting
juxtaposition creates the character that is photo l.a.

In addition to our compelling program of lectures, panels,
book signings, and special installations, we are pleased to
announce Salon de Tableaux, an area of tabletop
presentations showcasing vintage, vernacular and unique
photography. Also we proudly introduce photoBOOK - a forum
with guest reviewers offering feedback to photographers on their
book proposals.

During the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, January 12-16,
2012, photo l.a. returns to the landmark Santa Monica
Civic Auditorium for the 13th time. As the Getty’s
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 initiative continues
into January, photo l.a. will include installations focusing on
post-WWII art created in Southern California. January is also
L.A. Arts Month, a collective marketing effort by the city and its
arts organizations to attract enthusiasts and collectors to Los
Angeles.

Please join us in January for a memorable four days of art,
education, and excitement. Check our website reguarly for
updates, and join our mailing list for news on ordering tickets,
special projects, and events.

photo l.a. website with details here.

Related: One of the world's most important annual photography events to be held at the Park Avenue Armory in March

LocationSanta Monica Civic Auditorium
1855 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401-3209
www.santamonicacivic.org

Opening Night Gala
Thursday, January 12, 2012 6pm - 9pm
Benefiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art‘s
Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography

Special host Moby

General Admission Fair Hours
Friday: January 13, 11am - 7pm
Saturday: January 14, 11am - 7pm
Sunday: January 15, 11am - 7pm
Monday: January 16, 11am - 6pm

Tickets
Visit photola21.eventbrite.com/ to purchase tickets

Contact
General Information: info@photola.com

www.photola.com
Tel: 323.965.1000
Fax: 323.937.5523

CHRISTMAS, 2011

2011-12-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Verner Reed: Christmas Reflections, Boston, 1955

The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

2011-12-23T10:29:00.001-07:00

But very beautiful. Please join us this evening 4 - 6 to celebrate our 10th Anniversary in Santa Fe and the Holidays.

The 'Girl In The Blue Bra'

2011-12-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

Stringer/Reuters/Landov
Egyptian army soldiers arrest a female protester during clashes at Tahrir Square
in Cairo on Dec. 17.

"This image now has the potential to impact national policy, and that has been one of the major attributes of photojournalism — images that move the hearts and minds of the public and policy makers".

Via NPR The Picture Show: "The Girl in the Blue Bra"

FATHER FOR CHRISTMAS

2011-12-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

Marisol rushes to her father as he surprises her during a Capshaw dance.

Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

Father for Christmas: Army veteran's surprise visit to Capshaw brings daughter to
tears

Read the full article in the Santa Fe New Mexican here.

Marisol Tapia, 12, a seventh-grader at Capshaw Middle School, is surprised Tuesday by a visit from her father, Lt. Col. Marcos Tapia of the U.S. Army Reserves, during a dance at the school. Marcos Tapia, who has been serving in the Middle East, was granted holiday leave until Jan. 3. - Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

10th Anniversary of Monroe Gallery

2011-12-21T06:22:00.002-07:00

PHOTOS WORTH 100 WORDS

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King, Selma, Alabama, 1965

Santa Fe Reporter, 12-21-2011 » Page 36

by Matthew Irwin

4-6 pm, Dec 23, 2011 | Free

Monroe Gallery

ARTS & CULTURE

In 1983, while serving as the director of a gallery in New York City, Sidney Monroe curated the first show for the great Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. The two talked about the lack of photo-journalist exhibitions, while collectors scooped up Eisenstaedt’s prints. Soon after, the Monroe's opened a SoHo gallery dedicated to narrative images taken from real life. “If you remove the event or the history, you often see composition, form, balance—elements you’d find in fine art photography,” Monroe says. Then 9.11 wiped out the gallery’s neighborhood, so Monroe and his wife, Michelle, moved, as a business decision. Monroe Gallery of Photography has now been in Santa Fe for 10 years, and the Monroes has about as many stories about their business as the photos have about the historical events they depict. (Matthew Irwin)

Holiday/Anniversary Reception: 4-6 pm Friday, Dec. 23. Free.
Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., 992-0800

Where: Monroe Gallery
Phone: 505-992-0800
Address: 112 Don Gaspar Ave.
Website: http://www.monroegallery.com

Police are roughing up journalists across U. S.

2011-12-20T10:28:00.001-07:00

Alarmingly, we are seeing more and more posts about interference with the press, including photographers. UPDATED: "The Committee to Protect Journalists have released their report for 2011 which chronicles the attacks on journalists worldwide. They report that at least 43 journalists were killed including seven dead in Pakistan making it the deadliest country to work in as a journalist. Photojournalists suffered particularly heavy losses in 2011."

Via BuffaloNews.com

By Douglas Turner

News Staff Reporter

Updated: December 19, 2011, 6:30 AM

WASHINGTON — Half-dressed celebrities can’t get enough of them when posing along the rope lines of Hollywood or Dubai. Then there is the stale but true remark about how dicey it is to get between a certain legislator and the lens of a camera.

Beyond serving our amusements, the work of press photographers and reporters is deadly serious. The crux of the matter is that press photographers and reporters are our last guarantors of freedom.

Think Danny Pearl, beheaded by al-Qaida in 2002; Don Bolles, murdered by the mob in Arizona in 1978; and Lara Logan, brutally assaulted while monitoring the behavior of a dictator’s police during Egypt’s Arab Spring.

Worldwide, 889 journalists have been killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Today, photographers and reporters are being manhandled again in this country by police. Not in the smoky backwoods of the Deep South, as in the 1960s, but in cradles of so-called liberalism like New York, Los Angeles, Oakland and Rochester.

These cities are among dozens where the cops are moving out Occupy Wall Street protest encampments, and the police plainly don’t want citizens to see how they’re doing it. Photographers and reporters, with chains of credentials hanging off their necks like the Lord Mayor of London, are being handcuffed, herded into pens, hustled into police wagons and sometimes into court.

The cops under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg are operating with impunity. Consider the timeline of a Buffalo lawyer, Mickey H. Osterreicher, who is in the middle of this swirl. Osterreicher, a former newspaper and television photographer, is general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association.

Osterreicher helped arrange a meeting with Bloomberg’s police commissioner, Ray Kelly, in Manhattan just before Thanksgiving to get Kelly to restrain his troops, who were roughing up demonstrators and journalists while closing down an Occupy encampment. Among the attendees were representatives of Thomson-Reuters, Dow-Jones and the New York Times.

On Nov. 21, Kelly sent out a pious-sounding directive to all police reminding them of the journalists’ constitutional rights and directing that they be treated with respect. “The next day,” Osterreicher said, “a photographer for the New York Daily News was interfered with. And there were absurd incidents involving journalists trying to cover the Thanksgiving Day parade.”

Last week, according to AtlanticWire. com, Kelly’s cops shoved a New York Times photographer down a set of stairs, then blocked him from shooting an Occupy protest. So much for Kelly’s paperwork.

In Los Angeles, police arrested a credentialed City News Service reporter trying to cover the dismantling of an Occupy site. A video shows police taking him to the ground as he tried to show his credentials. Police later claimed he was drunk.

Among Osterreicher’s cases is his defense of a student journalist in Rochester who was arrested trying to cover an Occupy protest there. In what Osterreicher claims is a “terrific waste of public resources,” the Monroe County prosecutor refuses to drop trespassing charges against the man.
Osterreicher sees some of the police-versus-press tension as cyclical. The Occupy movement and police anxiety following 9/11, he adds, prompt more of it. There is also some public myopia involved.

“Photographers were killed in Syria and Egypt,” he said. “What is seen as heroic overseas is looked on as offensive here.”

Police harassment of demonstrators and journalists doesn’t seem to trouble the Obama administration much. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan, wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder on Dec. 6 asking for an investigation into police mauling of Occupy demonstrators. Holder hasn’t bothered to answer Nadler, ranking Democrat on a Judiciary subcommittee.

dturner@buffnews.com

Bahraini activist ‘Angry Arabiya’ arrested

2011-12-17T06:53:00.002-07:00

A police officer drags Zaynab al-Khawaja after handcuffing her when she refused to leave after a sit-in. (HAMAD I MOHAMMED - REUTERS)

By Elizabeth Flock

Zaynab al-Khawaja, 28, widely known as “Angry Arabiya” for her outspoken tweets on human rights abuses, has been arrested in Bahrain. Photos and a video show Khawaja, who is the daughter of jailed human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, being disciplined and then handcuffed by police.

Full story here via The Washington Post.

The Art of War: A Look Back at 10 Important Works That Took on the Conflict in Iraq

2011-12-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

Every newspaper and news report has been filled with stories about the "end" of the Iraq War. Artinfo.com has compiled a list of "what seem to us to be the most notable examples" of art dealing with the war.

Courtesy the artist and Jen Bekman projects

http://artinfo.com/news/story/753960/iraq-war-art#

Nina Berman's "Ty with gun," 2009, from "Marine Wedding," 2006/2008, pigment print

Iraq's future remains unclear, but whatever happens, the effects of the war are likely to remain with us for a long time. No work illustrates this more clearly than photographer Nina Berman’s “Marine Wedding" series (memorably seen in the 2009 Whitney Biennial as well as in the recent Dublin Contemporary in Ireland) documenting the marriage of former Marine sergeant Ty Ziegel to his high school sweetheart, Renee Kline. Ziegel was wounded in a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq, leaving him terribly disfigured. Employing a straightforward and unflinching documentary aesthetic, Berman’s photos show him simply trying to live his life despite his horrible scars, driving his truck, walking his dog, or posing in uniform with his bride — who looks hauntingly lost — for a wedding portrait (the two divorced after a year). Though bordering on the exploitative, Berman’s work offers disturbing testimony to the way the Iraq War has torn through people’s lives, and how its affects are liable to be with us for a long, long time.

Related: Nina Berman's Blog: Remember the Iraq War
Part 1
Part 2

Selections from "Marine Wedding" featured in the exhibition "History's Big Picture"

Mick Rock Survives the ’70s to Shoot Again

2011-12-15T05:35:00.001-07:00

Lee Clower for The New York Times

Via The New York Times

By BOB MORRIS
Published: December 14, 2011

COFFEE. Mick Rock, the rock ’n’ roll photographer as famous for his hedonistic lifestyle as for his iconic images of debauchery and excess, was drinking nothing more than coffee. It was 5 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, and while hotel guests drank cocktails at the lounge of the W New York Downtown, Mr. Rock, a slim and youthful man in his 60s in tinted glasses, got his fix.

NYT Slideshow here

“Sometimes when I really want to go wild, I’ll have two cups,” he said.

It was the night before “Rocked,” an exhibition of his photographs, was to open on Dec. 7 with a big party, featuring a performance by Phantogram and a D.J. set by Mark Ronson. On the walls in the lounge around him, Madonna, Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters stuck out their tongues with confrontational glee. A young Iggy Pop (sweaty and shirtless, of course) worked some gold lamé pants. Lou Reed, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie leered under so much mascara they could have been raccoons.

Outside, beyond a balcony, the 9/11 memorial-in-progress gaped.

“It’s amazing, what’s going on down here,” Mr. Rock said of all the construction in a downtown he knew more for drug deals, illegal nightclubs and transsexuals, not patriotism and real estate speculators. “But I guess you just can’t keep New York down.”

You can pretty much say the same about him.

Born as Michael in West London, Mr. Rock was a typical good-looking bad boy of his day with a very nice mum named Joan, who sometimes still asks when he’s going to get a real job.

After rocketing out of Cambridge University in 1970, infatuated with Blake, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé and poets who consumed as much opium and absinthe as sleep, he was drawn like a well-educated moth to the flaming scene of Syd Barrett, Roxy Music, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols and all types of punks and glam rockers in London. He then moved to New York in the mid-1970s to continue his career, photographing Blondie, the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, Joan Jett and other punk and big-hair bands.

“I was intuitive and lucky to be around,” he said. “I also looked like them, and that made it easier to accept me.”

As much the party instigator as chronicler, he would bounce up and down like a pogo-ing punk rocker while taking pictures, giddy as a child awaiting a gift. One time Andy Warhol pointed out that he was bouncing on a stack of Mr. Warhol’s finished canvases. “I guess you could just say I’m an enthusiast,” Mr. Rock said.

He was trustworthy, too, and did not sell photographs of drug abuse and other unseemly moments that could damage careers. But then, this was before the age of tear-down tabloids and blogs. “Newspapers and magazines didn’t want pictures of musicians behaving badly back then,” Mr. Rock said with a sunny working-class lilt. “Now, because of the Internet, that’s all the media wants.”

In his heyday, as he acquired his reputation as “the man who shot the ’70s,” he partied all night in New York with the stars he shot, dating the same women and sharing the same drugs. Many he knew fell to AIDS and heroin addiction. Others survived, and many thrived. “It’s a miracle that David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop are actually still alive today, given how hard they lived,” he said.

After bouncing, drinking, drugging and staying up till dawn for 20 years, he hit bottom in 1996, at 48, when he had a heart attack requiring a quadruple bypass. He’d had several attacks right before that, one during a shoot. His lifestyle was catching up with him.

“It was a warning that it was time to stop,” he said.

He had no health insurance. But he had powerful friends who wanted to pay to save him.

He came out of the operation with a faltering career but a newfound determination to stay sober. He was not, to quote a Blondie lyric, going to “die young and stay pretty.”
Industry friends were supportive, as were musicians and galleries who drew from his archives to create books and exhibitions of his work. By the new millennium, he was starting to rebound, and soon was busy shooting Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys and other young stars.

“I did not want to be somebody who lived off his reputation,” he said. “I wanted to continue to be part of the modern music scene.” It seems to have worked out very nicely.

Now he’s smart enough to let others stay up late and carry on, “although these days all they have to do to shock people is light up a cigarette,” he said. Despite his legacy, he isn’t one to live in the past. He adores the young musicians he shoots — Lady Gaga, Janelle Monáe, and Theophilus London among them — and gets only a little weary when asked about the bad old days.

“Back then, to pick up the hottest women you had to wear makeup,” he said.
Today, a denim jacket and a scarf or two make up his uniform. Mr. Rock said he doesn’t preen, drink, smoke or imbibe any drugs stronger than coffee with sugar and (gasp) half-and-half. He lives in a Colonial house with a picket fence on a leafy Staten Island street with his wife, Pati, and sometimes a daughter, Nathalie, 21, who he said is unimpressed with a father who has seen it all. He gets up early and does yoga every day.

“I’ll need to get a good night’s sleep tonight,” he said in the lounge at the W as he finished his coffee, took a quick tour of his exhibition and left to go up to his room. It was massage time.

“I know it’s disappointing,” he said. “But all I am is a retired degenerate.”
Fair enough. It won’t be that long before the man who shot the ’70s will be close to 70 himself.

Steve Schapiro: Before the Tragedy

2011-12-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner on their yacht, 10/8/7

Via La Lettre de la Photographie. La Lettre shares and informs daily on the events in the world of photography.

Intimate images "taken by the photographer Steve Schapiro. Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner had invited him to spend the day on their boat, The Splendour, off Catalina Island in front of Los Angeles. Steve Schapiro recalls a loving couple that had married, divorced, and remarried. Not long after, tragedy struck." Full post here.

The New York Times Sends Angry Letter to NYPD Over Blocked Photographer

2011-12-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Via The New York Observer

You didn’t think that The Paper of Record was going to take the mistreatment of one of their photographers at Monday’s Occupy Wall Street Protest at the World Financial Center Plaza sitting down, did you? Absolutely not:

Once The New York Times confirmed that their own freelance journalist Robert Stolarik was captured on video being pushed down the steps of the atrium by a member of the NYPD and then blocked by another officer with a baton for trying to take pictures of the ensuing arrests, the editors wrote a strongly-worded email to the NYPD. Because the first time they told Ray Kelly and Michael Bloomberg that the harassment of credentialed journos would not be taken lightly, it worked out so well?

While we don’t have an exact copy of the memo, NYT‘s VP and assistant general counsel George Freeman said:

“It seemed pretty clear from the video that the Times freelance photographer was being intentionally blocked by the police officer who was kind of bobbing and weaving to keep him from taking photographs,” said Freeman, who expressed concern Tuesday that the commissioner’s “message that was sent out, while aimed with good intentions, doesn’t seem to have had much effect on the ground.”

And while the NYPD’s department head has acknowledged relieving the note, there has been no response from Commissioner Kelly or one of his representatives. Because who needs to answer to journalists anymore?

You Tube video here

NY Times: The Police, the Press and Protests: Did Everyone Get the Memo?

Related: Columbia Journalism School letter to Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD

NYPD Orders Officers Not To Interfere With Press

Citizen Journalism: Something for Nothing Won’t Last Long

2011-12-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

As a police officer sprays pepper spray on protesters,

citizen journalists record the action in Davis, California. (Photo by Louise Macabitas)

A very good read about the new "Citizen Journalism", with commentary by Monroe Gallery photographer Stanley Forman:

"There’s a bit of an exploitative relationship between citizen journalists and news organizations. You have to know enough to ask before you can get paid.” — Steve Myers, Managing Editor, Poynter.org

“It certainly has swung too far in one direction. Whether it’ll ever swing back or not, I don’t know.” –Stanley Forman, Photojournalist

Read the full post here, via Maria Purdy Young

2011-12-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

We cordially invite you to join us for a holiday reception

celebrating our

10th

Anniversary

in Santa Fe.

Friday, December 23

4 - 6 PM

Thank you to all for your support and encouragement.

We wish you a joyous Holiday season

and may 2012 bring

us all happiness.

Eye On New York: On Nanny-Photographer Vivian Maier

2011-12-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

January, 1953, New York

In this segment of Eye on New York, CBS 2's Mary Calvi speaks with Howard Greenberg about the story of nanny and photographer Vivian Maier.

On Exhibit: Howard Greenberg Gallery December 15 - January 28, 2012
Monroe Gallery of Photography February 3 - April 22, 2012

HELP-PORTRAIT IS A GLOBAL MOVEMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHERS USING THEIR TIME, GEAR AND EXPERTISE TO GIVE BACK TO THOSE IN NEED

2011-12-11T13:35:00.001-07:00

By Astrid Galvan / Journal Staff Writer
The Albuquerque Journal
on Sun, Dec 11, 2011

More than 15 families had their portraits taken Saturday – many for the first time – as part of an international project that gives needy families free professional photos.

The event, organized by Journal photographer Morgan Petroski, drew 10 photographers from the Albuquerque area who spent the day shooting photos of young families. Each family received an 8-by-10-inch picture.

One of those families was Bettielen Kasuse and her children, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 2-year-old Nathaniel. Kasuse dressed up her little boy in a tie and put her daughter’s hair in curls for the special occasion.

“It feels good because we’ll have memories of them when they get older,” she said. “It was awesome.”
Kasuse said this was the first portrait they took as a family.

“I got up at like 5 this morning and got them all dressed up,” she said.

Like the 16 other families who were photographed Saturday, Kasuse received a gift certificate to clothing store Other Mothers for outfits for the special occasion. Local restaurants also donated food for the families while they waited to have their picture taken, processed and printed.

Sandra Contreras was waiting to have her portrait printed while son Xavier, 2, and daughter Julyssa,4, played in the lobby of Cuidando Los Niños, a nonprofit that works to end homelessness.

Cuidando Los Niños partnered with Help-Portrait, which was held worldwide Saturday, to bring together the families and photographers. Contreras said her family had never been photographed professionally. She said it was the first time she’s dressed up her little boy.

“It was fun to dress up,” Contreras said. “It was a neat experience.”

The Contreras family picture was taken by local photographer David Randall, who said it was the first time he’s taken part in Help-Portrait. This was the second year the event took place in Albuquerque.

Randall said he loves photography, volunteering and helping people, and that participating was “a great way to combine those three.”

He described the family’s excitement at the professional setup and photo session.

“When they first come in, they seem to be a little in awe of all the stuff going on,” he said. “Once they see the pictures, I hear little ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and (see) smiles, and that’s a reward in itself.”

It was that sense of excitement Petroski was aiming for when she decided to organize the event. Petroski thought it was time to start giving back.

“I’ve always felt that giving back to the community is the best. After living here for two years, I hadn’t done anything,” she said.

Many of the families who were photographed told her this was their first family portrait.

“To hear something like that,” Petroski said, “it makes it all worth it.”

Exhibition of photographs from the largest fire in New Mexico state history

2011-12-11T07:06:00.001-07:00

Flames and Forest

By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer
The Albuquerque Journal North
on Sun, Dec 11, 2011

In Los Alamos, inspiration rose from the flames.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum is showing 44 images from 30 photographers capturing the beauty and agony of last summer’s Las Conchas Fire, the largest wildfire in state history.

Opening at 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, the photographs encompass wildlife and mountains, charred trees and helicopters, night skies and daylight licked by flames.

Reflecting part of the town’s history, the show features works by just three professional photographers. The rest are amateurs, museum specialist Judith Stauber said. All are from around northern New Mexico. The photos tell the fire’s story through powerful visual landscapes sharing themes of the battle against smoke and fire as well as the surreal impact of the fire on the quality of light, land, night sky, mountain skyline, wildlife and people.

Area photographers submitted about 60 images.

“We chose at least one from everybody that submitted,” Stauber said. “The quality of the images really surprised me.”

The photographs are primarily landscapes, with few shots of people, including firefighters.

“One of the themes was the very surreal landscapes,” Stauber said. “How the smoke affects the light – the exhibit’s up now and I was looking at it with my mouth open.”

Photographers captured moments of helicopters diving and disgorging from a multiplicity of angles. One produced a haunting scene of a young doe standing amid blackened trees.

Los Alamos resident Ken Hanson shot an aerial image of felled and charred trees resembling the microscopic texture and detail of bacteria or threads of finely woven fabric.

“The texture of that really struck me as a close-up,” Stauber said. “Just the pattern of that charred landscape was striking. You don’t really know what you’re looking at. It’s this beautiful weaving. When you realize what it is, it’s shocking.”

Santa Fean Amanda Jay captured an eerily purple sun at dusk.

“She sent me a note that said, ‘This is not color corrected’,” Stauber said. “There’s a lot of different pigments in the photographs –– like a pink sky, colors you’re not used to seeing.”

Los Alamos’ Salvador Zapien created daylight views of the Pajarito ski lift against a backdrop of blue skies and churning smoke.

“There’s this gorgeous blue sky and the ski lift, and then you see these ominous clouds in the background,” Stauber said.

Corby Wilson, also from Los Alamos, documented the fire fighters dropping a load of red fire retardant into the trees.

The museum organized a photography exhibit for 2000′s Cerro Grande fire, but those photographs focused on what was lost.

“Our archives also collected pictures of every home that was destroyed,” Stauber said. “This fire had a very different effect on the community than the last one. While still frightening, it was much less personally painful. People are moving on more quickly and seem more resigned to living with fire in the mountains and canyons.

“There are some powerful images in the room,” Stauber said. “I just stand there in awe.”

The exhibition will be up until Jan. 5.

If you go
WHAT: “Las Conchas Fire Community Photographs”
WHEN: Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13. Through Jan. 5.
WHERE: Los Alamos Historical Museum, 1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos
CONTACT: 505-662-6272

2011-12-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Protesters rally in St Petersburg, some placing ‘No voice’

stickers over their mouths.

Photograph: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters

Read about the anti-Putin prostests here via The Guardian

Charlie Rose Interview With John Loengard: "A great photographer has the knack of putting a great picture in front of his camera"

2011-12-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

John Loengard appeared on the Charlie Rose program to discuss his new book: "Age Of Silver - Encounters With Great Photographers". Watch the interview here, as Loengard recounts photographing Annie Liebovitz, Henri-Cartier Bresson, and Jacques Henri-Lartigue; and Charlie Rose airs part of an interview with Henri-Cartier Bresson.

View John Loengard's photography here.

Photo District News: John Loengard - Photos of the Day

John Loengard: The Development of Photography

La Lettre de la Photographie: John Loengard: Age of Silver

John Loengard: Encounters With Great Photographers

2011-12-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

William Wegman. All images © John Loengard/Courtesy Monroe Gallery

PDN Photo of the Day displays photographs selected by the editors of Photo District News, a publication for photo professionals.

The photos on this blog come from a variety of sources. All images are published with permission of the photographer or copyright owner, are handouts provided for press use, or are images known to be in the public domain. PDN cannot give you permission to copy or publish these images. Whenever possible, we provide a link to the copyright owner or publisher of the original image.

PDN Photo of the Day, December 8, 2011:

A new exhibition of the work of LIFE magazine staff photographer and editor John Loengard’s black-and-white photographs is currently showing through the end of January at the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Full post here.

"We firmly believe and we maintain that nothing can be more powerful than the truth”

2011-12-08T09:49:00.001-07:00

Reporters Without Borders - Le Monde Prize for Press Freedom

Published on Thursday 8 December 2011

2011 Press Freedom Prize awarded to Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat and Burma’s Weekly Eleven News.

With the support of TV5MONDE, Reporters Without Borders and Le Monde are pleased to award the 2011 Press Freedom Prize to two symbols of courage, Syrian newspaper cartoonist Ali Ferzat and the Burmese newspaper Weekly Eleven News . The award ceremony was held today at the Le Monde auditorium in Paris.

“This year we are honouring a courageous journalist who has been the victim of brutal repression by an obsolete government,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “Ali Ferzat fully deserves this award. His cartoons target the abuses of a desperate regime with its back to the wall and encourage Syrians to demand their rights and to express themselves freely.

“We are also honouring a newspaper that has never bowed to Burma’s censors. Weekly Eleven News has always stood up to the military junta, using extraordinary ingenuity to slip through the censorship net and inform the Burmese public. Its editors and reporters have taken considerable risks and deserve our encouragement. At a time when Burmese political life and society seem to be showing signs of opening up, Weekly Eleven News has more than ever a key role to play.”

Ferzat was chosen as 2011 Journalist of the Year because of the quality of his cartoons and his commitment to defending media freedom. Original and rebellious, his non-conformist attitude and creativity earned him powerful enemies such as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, who threatened to have him killed after an exhibition of his cartoons in Paris in 1989. He was banned from visiting Jordan, Iraq and Libya for years.

Al-Domari, the satirical newspaper Ferzat launched in 2000, was the first independent publication since the Baath Party takeover. The authorities forced it to close three years later. Since this spring, the street protests and ensuing crackdown have been at the centre of his work. For denouncing the corruption and abuses of Bashar Al-Assad’s rule, he was attacked in August by masked gunmen, who broke his hands as a warning.

“I would have liked to have been with you this evening to take part in this beautiful event,” Ferzat said in a letter read out by the French cartoonist Plantu. “I dedicate this award to the martyrs, to those who have been injured and to those who struggle for freedom. May thanks be given to all those who have turned the Arab Spring into a victory over darkness and repression.”

Presenting the 2011 Media of the Year prize to Weekly Eleven News, the writer and journalist Jean Rolin, winner of the Albert Londres Prize in 1988, paid tribute to Reporters Without Borders’ local correspondents and to all journalists working on the ground in difficult parts of the world.

Burma is one of the world’s most repressive countries for the media, and the staff at Weekly Eleven News often risk prison by daring to run stories on subjects that the authorities regard as sensitive. In August, it paid a high price for defying government orders not to cover the flooding in the northern city of Mandalay. Several of its journalists were arrested and it was forbidden to publish for several weeks.

“At Weekly Eleven News, we firmly believe and we maintain that nothing can be more powerful than the truth,” the newspaper’s spokesman said. “We are honoured to receive this award, but we are also very sad when we think of all the Burmese journalists who are still in prison. We must never forget the sacrifices that some have made so that change come to Burma.”

The American photojournalist Stanley Greene, founder of Noor Agency was the guest of honour this year. He paid tribute to his fellow photographers who died this year, especially Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros and Lucas Dolega.

The Reporters Without Borders Prize has been awarded every year since 1992 to a journalist and a news media in different parts of the world that have made a significant contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom. The prize winners are selected by an international jury of journalists and human rights activists.

Le Monde decided to become a partner in the prize this year. The newspaper’s publisher, Erik Izraelewicz, explains : “From Sidi Bouzid to Sanaa, from Rangoon to Benghazi, from Damascus to Cairo, there has been no shortage of major developments in 2011. The international media have covered them without forgetting that local journalists, often at risk to their lives, have for years been combating the constant violations of media freedom in these places. For 20 years, the Reporters Without Borders Prize for Press Freedom has been reminding the public that their struggle is also our struggle. Le Monde is pleased to join Reporters Without Borders in this undertaking.”

Press Freedom Prize received the support of TV5MONDE. Marie-Christine Saragosse, director general, added: “This is a logical involvement for a French-language TV station whose universal values are transmitted every day in the 200 countries where we are present. TV5MONDE has decided to participate in this prize and thereby join with those who constantly strive to bear witness, often at the cost of their freedom or their lives, to a world in rebellion and to the realities of war.”

The Post, NYT and WSJ show same scene of Kabul carnage via different photos

2011-12-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Intersting discussion amongst photoeditors, via The Washington Post

"The images that came out of the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kabul on Tuesday were graphic, showing dozens of people killed. One scene in particular stood out from the rest. At the center a woman in green was standing, surrounded by the injured and dead, including several children and a baby.

We spoke to Post visuals editor David Griffin, director of photography Michel Ducille, and deputy director of photography Sonya Doctorian about the Post’s photo choices, as well as NYT photo editor Michele McNally and deputy photo editor Meaghan Looram, and Wall Street Journal director of photography Jack Van Antwerp about their choices"

Full post here.

See also: "Amid a Horrific Scene, Tears": Massoud Hossaini recounts making Tuesday's photos of bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan

The most unforgettable images of the year / Best photographs of 2011

2011-12-07T06:21:00.034-07:00

UPDATED Dec. 30, 2011

"2011 was a year of global tumult, marked by widespread social and political uprisings, economic crises, and a great deal more. We saw the fall of multiple dictators, welcomed a new country (South Sudan), witnessed our planet's population grow to 7 billion, and watched in horror as Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear disaster. From the Arab Spring to Los Indignados to Occupy Wall Street, citizens around the world took to the streets in massive numbers, protesting against governments and financial institutions, risking arrest, injury, and in some cases their lives." Via The Atlantic

National Post: 25 best Occupy photos of 2011

The White House: 2011 Year in Photos by Pete Souza

NOOR: 2011 Year in Review

Telegraph: Pictures of the year 2011: weird news photos

Washington Post: Iconic and Memorable Images From 2011

The Guardian: Cameraphones capture the images of the year – in pictures

LA Times Framework: The Year in Pictures

Via Bag News Notes: The Best 2011 Photos We Never Saw – Reuters Edition

The Frame: Looking Back at Images From 2011

Review of the year 2011: pictures of Libya and Egypt by Telegraph photographers

Photos: 2011 The Denver Post Year’s Best Photos

BBC News Pictures of the Year 2011

The Guardian: Pictures of 2011

The Guardian: Favourite Photographs of the Year 2011

Wall Street Journal: Photos of the Year 2011

AP Video Sights and Sounds: Looking Back at 2011

Yahoo: Top Viral Photos of 2011

The Guardian: iPhone photos of 2011 - in pictures

US News and World Report: Best News Photos of 2011

Globe and Mail: Pictures of the year: The best photos from 2011

Globe and Mail Photojournalists pick their favorite images of 2011

Bloomberg: 2011: A Year of Firsts Remembered

The Telgraph: Pictures of the year 2011: UK news stories

Best of Washington Post Photojournalists 2011

New York Daily News Top 100 Photos from 2011: A Year In Review

The New York Times Lens : New York The Year in Pictures

New York Times Sunday Review: 2011 Year in Pictures Arab Spring

New York Times Sunday Review: 2011 The Year in Pictures

TIME’s Best Photojournalism of 2011

TIME Looks Back at The Best Photos… of Photos from 2011

Getty Images: Year In Focus: The Images That Defined 2011

2011 Getty Best News Photos Of The Year from Around The World

NPR Picture Show: 2011 Replayed in Iconic Photographs

The Big Picture: 50 Best Photos from The Natural World

The Big Picture: The Year in Pictures: Part I

                           Part 2

                           Part 3

Unicef photo of the year 2011

Reportage Year in Review 2011

Via BBC: The story behind the news pictures of 2011

Part 1: A year in the life of a press photographer: Leon Neal

Part 2: Matt Dunham looks back at his year covering the biggest news
stories for the Associated Press

Wall Street Journal: Photos of the year 2011 (10 catagories)

Wall Street Journal: New York Photos of the Year 2011

MSNBC The Year in Pictures 2011

Chicago Tribune Photojournalist Scott Strazzante - 2011 best news photos

TIME Picks the Most Surprising Photos of 2011

Pete Muller: TIME Picks the Best Photographer on the Wires

The Guardian UK: The best photography of 2011: Sean O'Hagan's choice

The Atlantic 2011: The Year in Photos (Part One)
Part Two
Part Three

TIME's Top 10 Photos of 2011

TIME Picks the Best Viral Photos of 2011

Buzzfeed: The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011

Best News Pictures of 2011: Your Picks From Nat Geo News

Reuters: Best Photos of the Year 2011

UPI: 2011 News Photos of the Year

International Business News Year 2011: Best Photographs From Around the World

LIFE: 2011 Pictures of the Year

David Schonauer's Annual World Tour Part 1
                                                               Part 2

Vanity Fair’s Year in Photos, 2011

Obama, Euro Crisis, Buffett, Tsunami, NYC Demo: Bloomberg Best Business and Finance Photos 2011

Conscientious: My favourite photobooks this year

Bookmark this page to see additions as they are published from around the world.

"To flip through the pages of this handsome book inevitably elicits a wave of nostalgia, a desire to roll back the years to a time when print was king and a dime could buy this singular curated version of the world"

2011-12-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday Book Review

"Now comes “75 Years: The Very Best of Life,” a coffee-table behemoth weighing nearly seven pounds, featuring unforgettable photographs (Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous kiss, “V-J Day, Times Square, New York City, 1945”) as well as never-before-published photos from the archives."

Read full article here.

75 YEARS

The Very Best of Life

Illustrated. 224 pp. Life Books. $36.95

"Nothing makes a better case for the First Amendment than good video of a police officer behaving badly"

2011-12-06T08:07:00.001-07:00

Via American Journalism Review

Arrested for Doing Their Jobs

The rising tension between news photographers and law enforcement officials. Mon., December 5, 2011

By Deborah Potter
Deborah Potter (potter@newslab.org) is executive director of NewsLab, a broadcast training and research center, and a former network correspondent.

Covering fires is a routine part of a television news photographer's job. Clint Fillinger has been doing it for more than 40 years in Milwaukee, so he knows the drill: Stay behind the yellow police tape and roll on everything. But this fall, while doing exactly that, Fillinger went from shooting the news to making it when he was knocked down, handcuffed and arrested at the scene of a house fire. When did videotaping become a crime?

Several recent incidents suggest a disturbing new trend: public safety officials targeting photographers, including professionals. "Cops don't want to be identified," says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "They don't want their pictures taken."

The relationship between journalists and police officers has always been tense, of course. "They're both aggressive professions, and sometimes they get in one another's face," says John Timoney, former police chief in Miami and Philadelphia.

But something clearly has changed. "It used to be guys with a reputation for not following orders" who wound up in confrontations with police, Dalglish says. "These days, it's folks keeping their mouths shut and doing their jobs."

In the Milwaukee case, Fillinger was charged with obstructing a police officer after he objected to being forced back "for safety" while members of the public were allowed to stay put, watching the house fire from across the street. His boss concedes that he used an expletive and raised his arm when the officer closed in on him, but says the arrest was not justified.

"While the language was coarse, I truly believe Clint had no intention of touching the officer, and the whole thing certainly did not rise to the level of being dropped to the ground and handcuffed," says Jim Lemon, news director at Milwaukee's Fox affiliate, WITI. "It was a bad spur-of-the-moment decision made by the police commanders on the scene."

Two recent cases in Suffolk County, New York, reflect similar bad decisions. In late July, a photographer for a local TV news service was arrested while videotaping the end of a police chase. An officer ordered Phil Datz to leave the scene, even though he was standing on a public street with other people. When Datz asked where he was supposed to go, the officer responded, "I don't care where you go, just go away." After Datz set up in the next block and started shooting video again, the officer jumped in his squad car, raced up to Datz and arrested him for obstruction. The charges were dropped.

A few weeks after that incident, an emergency services official in the same jurisdiction manhandled a photojournalist for New York's NBC-owned station, WNBC, as he tried to videotape the cleanup of a chemical spill. The official grabbed the photographer's camera and tried to wrestle it away.

What's different now, some say, is the proliferation of cellphone cameras on the street combined with heightened concern about terrorism. "I think that post 9/11 police treat everyone with a camera as suspect," says Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. "In certain instances, news photographers are singled out because of their high visibility."

Photojournalists aren't the only ones who have been targeted. Cases are pending in several states against citizens who have been arrested and had their cameras confiscated after videotaping police action. And the arrests keep coming, even though the police keep losing in court. The latest ruling, from an appeals court in Massachusetts, said the First Amendment "unambiguously" protects the right of citizens to videotape police officers performing their duties in a public space. Journalists clearly deserve the same protection.
"The press may have no greater rights than those of the general public," Osterreicher says. "They certainly have no less right of access on a public street."

Police officers should know better than to run anyone in just for taking pictures. "We tell them constantly at the academy, 'Take it for granted, you're going to be on camera,'" Timoney says. "Everybody has a camera and they're entitled to use it. We police have to suck it up."

Journalism groups say officers need training to make sure they understand the rights of professionals and citizens alike to take pictures of police activity in public places. But Timoney doubts that more training is the answer. "If police don't understand this now, all the training in the world isn't going to help."

Piling up victories in court probably won't help either. When charges against photojournalists are dismissed, as they inevitably are, the police officers involved pay no penalty and face no sanctions. Suing for false arrest might make a difference, Dalglish says, by hitting the police department where it hurts – in the budget. But it's unlikely any cash-strapped news organization would be willing to shoulder the cost of a lawsuit just to make a point.

So what's to be done? Keep shooting, I say. Nothing makes a better case for the First Amendment than good video of a police officer behaving badly.

LONE PROTEST

2011-12-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Mohammed Mirza, via Yfrog

As the security forces in Bahrain fired tear gas at protesters on Saturday, Zainab Alkhawaja, an activist and blogger, blocked a line of police vehicles.

Full article via The New York Times

LIFE photographers: "He or she needs to bring empathy, insight, patience and frequently courage"

2011-12-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine, BBC Four
How the camera captured America's golden age
Via The Arts Desk

by Adam Sweeting Friday, 02 December 2011

Before the internet and the Kindle were invented, generations of Americans saw their lives refracted through the pages of Life magazine. In particular, through its photography, since writers at Life were largely relegated to supplying glorified picture captions. They were also allowed to carry the photographers' equipment.

Obviously the idea of being an object of reverence appeals to photographers. Portrait and fashion snapper Rankin has long admired the work of the great Life lenspersons, and in this film he reviewed their accomplishments and tracked down some of the magazine's fabled survivors. Not that Rankin is the world's greatest TV presenter, frankly. His voice is the sort of nondescript Home Counties drone that American satirists love to parody. As an inquisitor, he looked a bit blank when he found himself face to face with the likes of Burk Uzzle, now retired to small-town North Carolina after a vivid career in which one of many highlights was being assigned to document Hugh Hefner and his voluptuous Playmates at Hef's mansion.

Luckily, though, most of his subjects were rather awesome characters who had no difficulty in filling the screen unaided (Life photographer Bill Eppridge, pictured right). Indeed, this seemed to be rather the point - a photographer isn't, or shouldn't be, just some geek who knows how to work a camera and programme an array of electronic flashguns. He or she needs to bring empathy, insight, patience and frequently courage to an assignment if they're going to bring back anything that will resonate with readers.

Amid a mostly male roll call, Margaret Bourke-White inevitably stood out, not only because she was a fabulous photographer, but also for the way she candidly used her sexuality to gain maximum professional advantage. A highly successful tactic was bedding American generals in order to get priceless wartime scoops. A rival lensman was chastised by Life HQ because she was beating him to the best stories. He cabled back: "Bourke-White has a piece of equipment that I don't have."

But there were many other stars in the dazzling Life firmament. Alfred Eisenstaedt (pictured left with Marilyn Monroe) was the magazine's grand eminence, and a pioneer of the "candid" style in which he used a Rolleiflex camera held unobtrusively at waist level. W Eugene Smith did pioneering work in the photo-essay genre, gaining extraordinarily intimate access to his subjects in stories like "Career Girl" or "Country Doctor". Rankin noted that "Smith was a tortured genius, Life's Van Gogh." John Loengard shot Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and the Vietnam War.

Life became so singular and influential during the mid-20th century, when 100 million readers would see it every week, that the question inevitably arose of to what extent the magazine was making the news rather than merely recording it. John Shearer's assignments covering the Civil Rights protests in the 1960s became a part of the fabric of social change, as did his astonishing work during the 1971 Attica prison riot. Shearer spent four days inside the jail as a ferocious miniature war raged, leaving 41 men dead.

Life took a dim view of the Vietnam conflict and ignored demands to tone down its frequently shattering battlefield photographs. British photographer Larry Burrows (seen in clips from a 1969 Omnibus film) talked about his concerns that he was exploiting wartime deaths and suffering, but felt his pictures were justified if they "contribute to the understanding of what others were going through". He was killed in Laos in 1971 (Larry Burrows, pictured right).

Rankin reckoned that it was the arrival of celebrity culture in the 1970s which pulled the carpet out from underneath Life, which published its last issue in December 1972. Celebs were going to rule, and the intimate, deeply researched work that Life had specialised in would become outmoded. Glaswegian snapper Harry Benson, a transplanted Daily Express veteran, was in at the death of Life, and famously became the man who gained access to mad chess genius Bobby Fischer as he played his epic tournament against Boris Spassky in Iceland. The recent documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World gave the impression that Benson had become friendly with Fischer, but the photographer didn't see it that way.

"Everyone knew he was a piece of shit, he was terrible!" he declared. "But it was worth fighting for, to get as close as you can and then get out." He never, ever wanted to become friends with any of his subjects, he added. Photography was apparently no mere popularity contest.

America in Pictures: The photojournalism of Life magazine

2011-12-01T09:07:00.001-07:00

Via BBC

Post categories: bbc four, documentary, presenter

Rankin | 11:00 UK time, Thursday, 1 December 2011

I have always been a big fan of Life magazine.

For decades, Life was arguably the most important magazine in America.
It led the way with photojournalism, which had had a profound impact on the printed depiction of American society.

Rankin: photographer and presenter of America In Pictures

An American institution, the peaks and troughs of the magazine reflected the rises and falls of the country.

Only when television and celebrity culture took full force did Life finally depart for good.

Filming America in Pictures for BBC Four was a fantastic experience.

Meeting five of Life's photographers was incredibly inspiring, especially Bill Eppridge.
I was struck by his photographs - in particular, of Senator Robert F Kennedy's assassination.

We both choked up as he described the scene: the busboy who went from shaking Kennedy's hand to cradling his head as he was dying in his arms. It was very moving.

I also worked with one of my favourite directors, Jack Cocker, as part of this documentary.
Great at directing film... I wish I could say the same of his sense of direction!

Driving the crew home one rainy evening from a clam bake, he managed to get us completely lost. We eventually arrived home at 2am, with a 6am call time the next day.

Some of the photographers who worked on the magazine were, and still are, the most influential in the world.

Heroes to many, and certainly to me, they captured the most significant moments in American history, each in their individual style.

Of all the Life photographers, I was most influenced by W Eugene Smith.

In the autumn of 1986, I went to see his exhibition at the Barbican.

I was so awed by the show that, before starting my career in publishing, I had my heart set on being a documentary photographer.

W Eugene Smith has been referred to as the originator of the photographic essay, and you'll see in the programme that like many Life photographers, he would spend weeks immersing himself in the lifestyles of his subjects.

This wasn't reportage from the outside looking in, but straight from the inside, raw and beautifully intense, showing how individual lives created the patchwork of American society.

Working in the field, the Life photographers were repeatedly put in danger, and exposed to instances of life and death.

Hungry for - and committed to - truth, they prioritised the image over salary and personal safety.
Would I react the same way in those situations?

As a portrait and fashion photographer, the biggest hazard I face is changing light bulbs in my studio!

Those photographers would go to any length to get the shot, taking advantage of literally any opportunities they could.

Although the Life photographers loved and respected the magazine, they were not afraid to assert their beliefs and artistic vision, even if it meant going against the editors' wishes.

In fact, this rebellious behaviour gave the magazine its identity, truth and diversity of opinion. I really identify with this.

Photographers don't seem to have the same artistic free reign these days, and looking at the work of Life, that seems a shame.

Rankin is the presenter of America In Pictures.
America In Pictures is on Thursday, 1 December at 9pm on BBC Four.
For further programme times, please visit the upcoming episodes page.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Related: America in Pictures: the Story of Life Magazine, BBC Four, vidoe preview

"To see, and to show, is the mission now undertaken by a new kind of publication”

2011-11-28T16:51:00.001-07:00

Life photographer Bill Eppridge, 2011

Via Hunger TV

Life
A picture’s worth is often only realised through the eye of time – yet the photographers of Life knowingly captured history in seconds. Life’s second incarnation – its first was as a magazine dedicated to light entertainment and humour – was launched by American publisher Henry Luce. Henry had pedigree, having already founded Time and Fortune. A staunch anti-communist, he was far from blindly conservative. He was trying to change the world with his political theories and intent on revealing the truth, with little worry about – as is the habit of press barons – rubbing some people up the wrong way. “Show me a man who claims he is objective and I’ll show you a man with illusions,” he once said.

Life was the first photojournalism magazine of its kind in America, and couldn’t have arrived on newsstands at a more appropriate time. It was 1936, and America was trudging through the Great Depression, nervously witnessing Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini settling into their European thrones. Henry purchased the magazine for $92,000 – he was paying for the name more than anything else – and on November 23rd 1936, the first issue was launched. Its purpose? “To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things – machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see our work – our paintings, towers and discoveries… Thus to see, and to be shown, is now the will and new expectancy of half of humankind. To see, and to show, is the mission now undertaken by a new kind of publication.”

Read the full story, and interviews with five Life photographers – Bill Eppridge, John Shearer, John Loengard, Burk Uzzle and Harry Benson – in Issue One of The Hunger, on sale now.

America In Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine, part of BBC Four’s American Season, is shown at 9pm on 1 December 2011

JOHN LOENGARD: DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY

2011-11-25T05:56:00.001-07:00

Henri Cartier-Bresson sketching in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, 1987

New book and show is an ode to the art form and its history

The Albuquerque Journal North

November 25, 2011

By Kate McGraw

For the Journal

Anyone intuiting that famed photographer John Loengard chose the name “Age of Silver” for his new book and show opening today at Monroe Gallery because it referred to a development process for photographs would be ... entirely correct.

“Any lens can form an image, but the way to make the picture permanent was a mystery for centuries,” Loengard said in an email interview. “In the 1830s two men, independently, discovered that using the chemistry of silver was the solution. Television, of course, is electronic photography, but silver remained the basis of still photography until the start of the 21st century. I wanted to pay tribute to silver and to a few of those who have made fabulous use of it.”

His new book is an ode to the art form to which Loengard has dedicated his life. The exhibition of photographs opens with a reception and book signing today and continues through Jan. 29.

“I hope my enthusiasm for my subjects comes through. I got interested in photography when I was 11 years old, so I’ve spent 66 years taking pictures,” Loengard said. “Some of these photographers were my idols; some are my colleagues. I’ve edited the work of others, and I’ve hired some to take pictures. I’m immersed in photography. It’s a human occupation that I love.”

Loengard was born in New York City in 1934 and received his first assignment from LIFE magazine in 1956, while still an undergraduate at Harvard. He joined the magazine’s staff in 1961 and in 1978 was instrumental in its re-birth as a monthly, serving as picture editor until 1987.

Under Loengard’s guidance in 1986, LIFE received the first award for “Excellence in photography” given by the American Society of Magazine Editors. In 1996, Loengard received a Lifetime Achievement Award “in recognition of his multifaceted contributions to photojournalism” from Photographic Administrators, Inc.

Richard Avedon, New York, NY 1994

In “Age of Silver,” Loengard has focused his lens on some of the most important photographers of the last half-century, including Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Sebastiao Salgado, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harry Benson and others. Loengard caught them at home and in the studio, posed portraits and candid shots of the artists at work and at rest. It is the work of 40 years.

Alfred Eisenstaedt holds his negative of VJ-day celebrants New York City, 1992

“Photographers already knew it but, suddenly in the 1970s, everyone else began to consider photography an art,” he said. “Magazines started to treat photographers as artists — Ansel Adams was on the cover of Time in 1979. In the 1980s and early 1990s, I photographed a number of photographers because they had a new book or were old enough to be finishing their careers and worthy enough to notice. Working on assignment, as I did for half these pictures, had an advantage. A subject would understand why a publication like LIFE, in its great wisdom, had recognized his or her importance. We all like to be noticed. They showed themselves to the camera with an energy that might be missing otherwise. It was not vanity; they’d been asked to show themselves off.”

Far from an attempt to put forth a singular definition of modern photographic practice, this beautifully printed book instead presents evidence of the unique vision and extremely personal style of every artist pictured.

Loengard has published a half-dozen books, including “Pictures Under Discussion,” which won the Ansel Adams Award for book photography in 1987; “Celebrating the Negative,” and “Georgia O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch.”

His book “LIFE Photographers: What They Saw” was named one of the year’s top 10 books for 1998 by The New York Times. Loengard wrote an extensive introduction for the major book “The Great LIFE Photographers,” published in 2004. “As I See It,” a monograph of his photography, was published by Vendome Press in 2005. “Image and Imagination,” a book of photographs of Georgia O’Keeffe paired by O’Keeffe paintings, was published by Chronicle Books in 2008.

His interest in O’Keeffe originally was sparked by the fact that she had been married to the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, but he grew interested in the artist herself, especially her calm attraction to the camera.

“When I photographed the painter Georgia O’Keeffe, in 1966, the fact that she was the widow of the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz was what intrigued me most,” he said. “Of course, she didn’t want to talk about him — except, maybe, a funny story about being in charge of the Stieglitz family laundry during summers in the Adirondacks at Lake George — but she had learned how she looked to the camera from the scads of photographs he’d taken of her. She was the most perfect model I have ever photographed.”

Georgia O'Keeffe on roof, Abiquiu, 1967

Monroe Gallery of Photography was founded by Sidney S. Monroe and Michelle A. Monroe and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

“Time flies,” Sidney Monroe said. “We keep thinking we’re new, but all of a sudden we realize we’re 10 years old.” He said they regard the Loengard exhibition as a perfect celebration of 10 years in Santa Fe.

If you go:

WHAT: “Age of Silver,” photographs and book by John Loengard

WHEN: Today through Jan. 29 WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar

CONTACT: 505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

"Things To Be Thankful For"

2011-11-24T10:51:00.001-07:00

Via Joe McNally's Blog:

"I’m thankful Ernst Haas made a book called The Creation. At the end of a tough day in the field, just looking at it is like taking a shower....

I’m thankful I’ve been around long enough to have known Eisie, Gordon, Carl, and Mr. Mili. And to still know John Loengard, Ralph Morse, Jim Stanfield, David Douglas Duncan, Neil Leifer, Walter, Johnny I, and so many, many legends who have taken up a camera over time. Their work is the bedrock on which we all stand."

We add: Thank you to all photographers.

NYPD orders officers not to interfere with press

2011-11-23T17:44:00.001-07:00

Breaking News Via the Associated Press:

Nov 23, 6:53 PM EST

NYPD orders officers not to interfere with press

By COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Police Department's commissioner on Wednesday sent an internal message to officers ordering them not to unreasonably interfere with media access during news coverage and warning those who do will be subject to disciplinary action, after several journalists were arrested covering Occupy Wall Street demonstrations last week.

Read full article here.

"Thanksgiving Table With Turkey": The Carbro Process

2011-11-23T06:15:00.012-07:00

(Photo by Richard (Dick) C. Miller )

"Daughter Linda At Thanksgiving Table With Turkey, Saturday Eve". Dick shot this image of his daughter Linda as a one-shot Carbro print that was built into the final cover for the Post. Dick did this by making multiple shots and carbros of various items such as the turkey, cranberry sauce and tableware, cutting and pasting the images together and re-shooting and reprinting the final carbro. Because that image became the first photograph to displace Norman Rockwell on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, when Dick told Paul Hesse, who had tried unsuccessfully for years to sell the Post a cover, Paul said that Dick was lying, since he believed that it was impossible to sell the Post a photograph. But Dick wasn't lying and it became a cover in 1941, launching Dick's commercial carreer.

The Carbro Process by Paul Martineau

Over a decade before the 1935 introduction of Kodachrome colour film by Eastman Kodak, a subtractive colour process was developed that made it possible to create vivid prints from black & white negatives. The tricolour carbro transfer printing process - or carbro - demanded strict technical control but produced highly-saturated and permanent colour prints.

BECAUSE OF its complexity and high expense (some practitioners reported a finished print took about 10 hours to produce at a cost of $125), the carbro process was rarely the province of the amateur. By 1937, full colour illustrations made from direct colour prints were being used regularly in the big subscription magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and House Beautiful. Colour photography in the form of carbro prints was also being shown in museums and in popular touring exhibitions. In the United States, photographers Anton Bruehl, Nickolas Muray, Paul Outerbridge, Edward Steichen, and H.I. Williams, among others, became identified with the quality and artistry of their carbro prints through a participation in these publications and exhibitions. The demand for colour advertising photography was such that a few of the top photographers regularly commanded prices ranging from $300 to $1000 per print. Continue reading here.

Happy 75th Birthday, Life Magazine

2011-11-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Life Magazine was first published 75 years ago tomorrow, November 23.

The magazine, once criticised as being "for people who can't read," became an instant hit in 1936 and went on to feature defining images of the Second World War, natural disasters, the lives of Hollywood movie stars and the turbulent events of the 1960s. At its peak in the 1940s it sold 13.5 million copies a week.

The magazine was last published in 2007 and it is now a website. The website editors looked back over more than 2,200 cover photographs to chose their 75 favourites, which included portraits of Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe and a notoriously racy cover of Sophia Loren.

The magazine's place in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing.

The 75 Best LIFE Covers of All Time

The 75 Best LIFE photographs

The Connecticut Post: Ridgefield man brought LIFE magazine to life

Related: Visit Monroe Gallery of Photography to view original prints by Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Bill Eppridge, Carl Mydans, and many other great LIFE photographers.

The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer

2011-11-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

NEWSEUM
Concourse level
On exhibit through August 12, 2012

WASHINGTON — Experience some of the greatest moments in sports history through the lens of legendary sports photographer, Neil Leifer.

The exhibit, "Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer," includes 50 images from the prolific career of a man who began taking pictures as a teenager and went on to become one of the most celebrated sports photographers in history.

The exhibit opens Nov. 18 and features Leifer's best-known photos, including one of the most famous sports photographs of all time: boxer Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out in the first round of their 1965 title fight.

Each photograph in the exhibit is accompanied by the story behind the image, told in Leifer's own words. The exhibit also includes an original Newseum-produced video in which the photographer talks about his photos and his subjects.

This exhibit was created in collaboration with Sports Illustrated.

Slide show here

"We are alarmed at the arrests of working news professionals..."

2011-11-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Mayor Michael Bloomberg

City Hall

Commissioner Raymond Kelly

NYPD
1 Police Plaza

November 18, 2011

Dear Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly:

As faculty members of the Columbia University GraduateSchool of Journalism, we are alarmed at the arrests of working news professionals during the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, and deeply concerned that the NYPD blocked reporters' and photographers' access to Zuccotti Park during the recent eviction of the Occupy Wall Street encampment.

The NYPD has had a distinguished track record in cooperating with news professionals in the coverage of demonstrations in New York City. For this reason we are greatly disappointed by what appears to be a pattern of arrests of credentialed journalists over the last two months, most recently a reporter and a photographer from The Associated Press, a reporter from The Daily News and a photographer from DNAInfo, all arrested at the Trinity Church lot during a demonstration on November 15.

We are equally troubled by the consistent blocking of reporters' access to the Zuccotti Park eviction earlier that morning. Numerous journalists attempting to monitor the actions of police and protestors, and to capture images of an important news event, have reported how they were forced away from the scene and prevented from doing their jobs.

We are particularly disturbed that at least one journalist reportedly had his press credentials seized by officers, and some other journalists have reported themselves or colleagues being physically assaulted by police. Such intimidation is in flagrant violation of the First Amendment and runs counter to the best traditions of New York City.

The First Amendment guarantee of a free press has long been understood to embrace a robust presence for news professionals reporting on public protests, among other events. In the case of Occupy Wall Street, both the protests themselves and the actions of police are matters of intense local, national and international public interest. The arrests of credentialed journalists and the blocking of news access to the clearing of Zuccotti Park impeded journalists' ability to gather independent information, and substantially curtailed the public's right to assess the actions of public officials and protestors alike. This is a blunt infringement on the First Amendment and does not contribute to public safety.

As Occupy Wall Street and related protests continue, we urge you to ensure that working journalists receive the full respect and support of the NYPD, included unfettered access to cover events as they unfold. Charges against journalists arrested in recent actions should be dismissed, and the circumstances of the arrests of news professionals should be fully investigated. We urge that commanders and rank-and-file officers be reminded of, and held accountable for, their Constitutional responsibility to protect and respect the First Amendment rights and privileges of journalists covering this important and ongoing story.

Sincerely,

Emily Bell, Professor of Professional Practice; Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism

Helen Benedict, Professor

June Cross, Associate Professor

John Dinges, Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism

Josh Friedman, Director, Maria Moors Cabot Prize for Journalism in the Americas

Todd Gitlin, Professor and Chair, PhD Program

Bill Grueskin, Dean of Academic Affairs; Professor of Professional Practice

LynnNell Hancock, H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism; Director, Spencer Fellowship Program

Michael Hoyt, Executive Editor, Columbia Journalism Review

Marguerite Holloway, Professor and Director, Science and Environmental Journalism

Judith Matloff, Adjunct Professor

Arlene Morgan, Associate Dean, Prizes and Programs

Victor Navasky, George T. Delacorte Professor in Magazine Journalism

Edward Schumacher-Matos, James Madison Visiting Professor

Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Paula Span, Adjunct Professor

Alisa Solomon, Associate Professor; Director, Arts Concentration, M.A. Program

Duy Linh Tu, Professor of Professional Practice; Coordinator, Digital Media Program

Andie Tucher, Associate Professor; Director, Ph.D. Program

Betsy West, Associate Professor of Professional Practice

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

2950 Broadway New York, NY 10027

www.journalism.columbia.edu

JOHN LOENGARD EXHIBITION CELEBRATES "AGE OF SILVER"

2011-11-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

John Loengard: Henri Cartier-Bresson sketching in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, 1987

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by John Loengard celebrating his new book, "Age of Silver", an ode to the art form to which he dedicated his life. The exhibition opens with a reception and book signing on Friday, November 25 from 5 to 7 PM. The exhibition continues through January 29, 2011. Signed copies of the new book will be available throughout the exhibit.

La Lettre de la Photographie: John Loengard Age Of Silver

Life: John Loengard's 'Age of Silver'

David Schonauer's "The Big Picture": Books: Loengard’s Ode to the Age of Silver

Wall Street Journal Gift Guide: Photography Books

FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHY AUCTIONS SET NEW RECORDS

2011-11-17T06:08:00.001-07:00

by ARTINFO France

Published: November 17, 2011

The market for fine photography has had a pretty spectacular week in France. Last Friday night at Christie's 100 photographs by the legendary Henri Cartier-Bresson hit the auction block, sold by the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation and netting a hefty €2 million ($2.8 million). Ninety-one lots sold, and a 1946 silver print of "Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare" ("Behind the Saint-Lazare Train Station") achieved an artist's record when it soared to €433,000 ($590,455), more than doubling its high estimate of €180,000. This sale was followed the very next day by a sale of 51 Irving Penn photographs from a private French collection, which achieved a rare 100 percent sell-through rate and totaled €2.1 million ($2.9 million).

During the Cartier-Bresson sale, an anonymous telephone bidder won a five-way bidding war for "Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare," which was one of the photographer's first silver prints. A 1999 print of "Alberto Giacometti à la Galerie Maeght, 1961" fetched the impressive price of €75,400 ($102,818), five times its low estimate of €15,000. An anonymous European collector purchased the photo, which shows the sculptor in blurred movement, looking very much like his "Walking Man" sculpture, which is in the foreground. A 1957 print of "Coronation of George VI, Trafalgar Square, London, 12 May 1937" sold for €70,600 ($96,273), and "Sringar, Kashmir, India, 1948" achieved the same price. Most of the buyers were European collectors, though an Asian buyer snapped up "Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, 1949" for €63,400 ($86,455). (The proceeds of the sale are go towards the Cartier-Bresson Foundation's move to a larger space in the Marais near the Pompidou Center.)

As for the Irving Penn sale, it may not have set any records, but it did mark the second-highest price ever for a Penn photo. The 1951 print, "Woman in Moroccan Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn)," sold for €361,000 ($492,273), surpassing its high estimate of €300,000. (Penn's auction record was set at Christie's New York in April 2008, when his 1948 photo "Cuzco Children" fetched $529,000. ) While all the Cartier-Bresson images except for the top lot sold for less than €100,000, two other Penn photographs reached six figures. A 1979 print of "Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn") sold for €265,000 ($361,364) and "Poppy, Glowing Embers, New York, 1968" achieved a price of €193,000 ($263,182).

"Hard-Boiled Photog Blends the Old With the New"

2011-11-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out the just-posted article about photojournalist Bill Eppridge on Raw File.

"Bill Eppridge knows the rules of photography have changed. The ways of the ’60s, when he was a staff photographer at LIFE magazine, are long gone: Staff photo positions are near extinct, everyone with an iPhone now claims to be a photographer and film seems to be a four-letter word of antiquity.

That said, Eppridge, who has shot many of the historic events of the last half-century, believes the power of documentary photography will always live on, no matter how many photos are out there in however many formats.

“The best still images, they just nail you, you remember them,” he says, as is evidenced by his iconic work."

Full post here.

Slide show here.

Bob Gomel: “Photography is all about having something to say before you pick the camera up to your eye and push the button”

2011-11-14T15:17:00.006-07:00

Malcolm X photographs Cassius Clay on February 25, 1964, the night the boxer knocked out Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion. The next day Clay revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam.

Via New York University Alumni Magazine

Former Life photographer Bob Gomel reflects on the many American stories told with his camera

by Andrea Crawford

A brash 22-year-old dancing around the ring, his gloved fists raised in victory as he proclaims himself “the king of the world”: This may be the most famous image of Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay—and had just defeated heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in one of boxing’s most stunning upsets. Bob Gomel was there shooting photos for Life magazine, having journeyed to Miami Beach in February 1964 to shadow Clay in the days leading up to the bout. But it was an image Gomel (STERN ’55) captured during the afterparty—of Malcolm X snapping a photo of the new world champion—that the Library of Congress deemed worthy of acquiring last year. From behind the bar, the former Nation of Islam spokesperson smiles broadly as he holds the camera to his face. The seated Clay wears a tuxedo and bow tie, his hands resting in loose fists on the counter. He appears to mug for the camera.

It’s a moment of connection between friends, revealing a playful side of two powerful men whose public personas were often serious, angry, or in Clay’s case, downright crazy. The photograph also bares a secret between them: The boxer had been persuaded by promoters not to announce his conversion to Islam before the fight. The following day, he would make the announcement to the world.

Getting behind the scenes and using photographs to tell a story was what Life did best, and it was what attracted Gomel to the picture magazines. As a young man, he turned down other journalism jobs and went without work for nearly a year waiting to break in. When the chance came, Gomel made the most of it. From 1959 to 1969—the magazine’s last decade as the country’s premier newsweekly—he photographed a long, impressive list of world leaders (John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Nikita Khrushchev, Patrice Lumumba, David Ben-Gurion, Jawaharlal Nehru), actors (Marilyn Monroe, Warren Beatty, Joan Crawford), athletes (Arthur Ashe, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Arnold Palmer, Joe Namath), and other personalities of the era (Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, Benjamin Spock). When President-elect Kennedy took a walk with 3-year-old Caroline on the day her brother, John Jr., was born; when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech at the March on Washington; when the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show; Gomel captured it all on film.

top: Perhaps Gomel’s most famous photograph was this bird’s-eye image of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s casket lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda in 1969. Gomel rigged strobe lights around the 200-foot dome, strung a wire with a pulley to place the camera in the middle, and ran a zip cord—to trigger the camera—to where he would be standing with the rest of the press. The resulting photograph appeared on the cover of Life magazine. above left: This image of President John F. Kennedy inspecting the space capsule in 1962 remains one of Gomel’s favorites. “It’s John Kennedy, but it’s not the way we anticipate seeing him,” Gomel says. “It’s just one of those off-guard moments that nobody focuses on.” above right: Marilyn Monroe attends a party for Broadway’s The Sound of Music in 1961, one year before her death.

Like any enduring image, says Ben Breard, who featured many of Gomel’s works in an exhibition earlier this year at Afterimage Gallery in Dallas, the photographs are important not only because of their historical and cultural significance. “Of course, there’s an element of being at the right place at the right time to capture the moment, but then you’ve got to do it artistically,” Breard says. The images reveal the photographer’s sense of humor and humanity. “There’s a positive feel to his work,” Breard adds. “It’s uplifting. Even though those were hard times the country went through, [there’s] a hopeful aspect to everything.”

Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, Gomel discovered photography as a boy, struck by an image taken by his teacher hanging in his classroom at the Ethical Culture School on Central Park West. It was a black-and-white picture of a manhole cover on a cobblestone street with some pigeons around it. “I sat next to that picture, and I was just entranced by it,” he says. Gomel joined the teacher’s photography club and began learning on a borrowed camera. When World War II ended, he got a job delivering groceries by bicycle to buy his first camera and soon convinced his parents—his father was an optometrist; his mother, an NYU graduate, was a teacher—to let him appropriate a closet for his darkroom.

top: John Lennon cannonballs into a pool in 1964 as his fellow Beatles Paul McCartney (center) and Ringo Starr brace for the inevitable splash. the band was in miami for their second live performance on the ed sullivan show—which was watched by 70 million americans.above Left: Famed pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock—best-selling author of the common sense book of baby and child care—is entertained by two young patients during an examination in September 1962.above right: After filming concluded, but before the release of The Graduate, Gomel spent a day with Dustin Hoffman—hanging out with his girlfriend, posing for a sculptor, and, as seen here, picking up his unemployment check.

When Gomel arrived at his mother’s alma mater in 1950, he began working for student publications, covering basketball games, which NYU then played at Madison Square Garden. There, he befriended “the fellows who worked the night shift” for the Daily Mirror, the Daily News, the Associated Press, and UPI (then called ACME Newspictures), and he started tagging along on their assignments. After graduating from NYU and serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he was promptly offered a job at the Associated Press. But by then, he had changed his mind about what he wanted to do. “I just felt one picture wasn’t sufficient to tell a story,” he explains. “I was interested in exploring something in depth. And, of course, the mecca was Life magazine.” He turned down the offer from AP.

At Life he was able to shoot the stories that appealed to him, and the recent exhibition included some of his favorites. For one photo-essay, he documented what happens to the family dog when the children return to school, highlighting one forlorn basset hound, in particular. For another series, he arranged for humorist Art Buchwald to go back to Marine boot camp incognito for a week, to relive his days as a recruit. The humor and power of these images endure, even for those too young to know Art Buchwald.

Gomel, who later worked in advertising shooting national campaigns for clients such as Volkswagen, Pan Am, Merrill Lynch, and Shell Oil, also tested technological and creative boundaries at Life. His image of the Manhattan skyline during a blackout in November 1965 is striking, with a full moon illuminating the dark sky. But from his vantage point on the Brooklyn waterfront that night, the moon was behind him. “It occurred to me that the only way we’re all getting along this evening is because we have a full moon,” he says. “I wanted to tell that…in a single picture.” So he rewound his film, changed lenses, turned around and clicked, placing the glowing orb just where he wanted it to be in the dark quadrant of the frame. After a long debate, Gomel says, the editors decided to run it—the first double-exposure Life used in a news story.

Gomel believes photographers have the responsibility to be truthful reporters but also must be clear about what story they’re trying to tell. “Photography is all about having something to say before you pick the camera up to your eye and push the button,” he says. “Are you happy about something, displeased about something? And if so, how are you going to express that on a piece of film?”

More of Bob Gomel's photographs here.

VIVIAN MAIER BOOK RELEASE NOVEMBER 22

2011-11-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

Vivian Maier: Street Photographer

Slideshow Presentation
and Q&A with John Maloof

Friday, November 18, 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Tickets $5 click here to buy tickets

The powerHouse Arena ·

37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.) · DUMBO, Brooklyn
For more information, please call 718.666.3049

Exhibitions: Howard Greenberg Gallery December 15 - January 28, 2012
Monroe Gallery of Photography February 3 - April 22, 2012

"We Are Journalists"

2011-11-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

We just discovered a great new Tumblr blog, "We Are Journalists". Happy to recommend.

"I have known what I wanted to do since I was 17. Since then, I have been shot at by the police, I have run from them so that they wouldn’t confiscate my cameras. I have been punched, spit on, yelled at and threatened while doing my job. I love what I do and think I have never worked a day in my life. I am distrustful of authority. I loathe being referred to as a papparazi. I can count on one hand the number of celebrities I have photographed. I hate taking pictures of people like that. My job has taken me to Central America, the Middle East, and all over the United States. Since most of America does not like to go to places like Mississippi post-Hurricane Katrina (or even the bad neighborhoods in their own city), I choose to go for them, so that they might see the condition of their fellow man. People always talk of the sacrifices that journalists make. It isn’t a sacrifice; it is a choice. I chose this path in life, and still choose it, for better or worse. I believe that my camera is a powerful tool to combat injustice. Some of my pictures, in a small way, helped shut down a reform school where children were being abused. I will be proud of that for the rest of my life. I am now 30. I hope I am still doing this in some capacity when I am 60. Hopefully by that time I can afford to move out of my garage apartment.

I am a newspaper photojournalist."

57 YEARS AGO, ELLIS ISLAND CLOSED

2011-11-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

Stephen Wilkes: Tuberculosis Ward, Statue of Liberty, Island 3, Ellis Island

November 12 marks the 57th anniversary of the closing of Ellis Island, a facility that will forever be linked to the concept of the American dream. From 1892 to 1954, over 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. They came from Ireland, England, Germany, Italy, and many other countries, and together they formed the backbone of America.

beginning in 1998, Stephen Wilkes immortalized the remaining ruins in his epic "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" project.

For the anniversary, Life.com has a slideshow "Faces of Ellis Island".

The Most Expensive Photo in the World

2011-11-12T09:12:00.002-07:00

Christie’s, Andreas Gursky/Associated Press) - This 1999 photograph provided by Chrisitie’s shows the Rhine river by German artist Andreas Gursky. Titled “Rhein II,” the chromogenic color print face-mounted to acrylic glass was sold for $4.3 million Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, at Christie’s in New York City, setting a record for any photograph sold at auction.

Via BBC:

Glass-mounted panoramic colour print Rhein II, created in 1999, is one of an edition of six works.

Others hang at New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Modern.

It beat the previous record of $3.9m (£2.5m) achieved by an untitled 1981 colour print by Cindy Sherman, who is the subject of all her own works.

"The viewer is not invited to consider a specific place along the river but rather an almost 'platonic' ideal of the body of water as it navigates the landscape” -- Christies

Gursky's print had a pre-sale estimate of $2.5m-$3.5m (£1.6m-£2.2m).

Rhein II is the largest of the six photographs, which are produced in various sizes.

As well as in New York and London, other photographs in the edition are housed in Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne and Glenstone art museum in the US.

Gursky has spoken of "a particular place with a view over the Rhine which has somehow always fascinated me, but it didn't suffice for a picture as it basically constituted only part of a picture".

He said he "carried this idea for a picture around with me for a year-and-a-half".

"In the end I decided to digitalise the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me," he added.

Christie's said the viewer was "not invited to consider a specific place along the river, but rather an almost 'platonic' ideal of the body of water as it navigates the landscape."

After last year's Fall aucton season, we posted "The just-completed Contemporary sales totaled over $1 BILLION dollars in sales (with Andy Warhol accounting for over $200 million alone); the Impressionist/Modern sales about another half - BILLION; and almost as an afterthought a Qianlong-dynasty vase sold for $85.9 MILLION dollars. The Fall photo auctions in New York brought in $16 million."

No matter how you look at it, the prices for the "masters" of photography are a fraction of the prices for the masters of art. The reaction to the Gursky sale seems to be "Really? $4.3 Million for That Photo?"

Here are just a few reactions:

@jmcolberg many shocked tweets at Gursky's photo price tag. Would people be so shocked if it were a painting that sold for $4M? Difference?

Raw File is asking " Really? $4.3 Million for That Photo? Let us know what you think in the comments or tweet us @rawfileblog." So far, there are more than 80 comments.

Seattle Post Intelligencer: Here’s the world’s most expensive (and boring?) photo
via The Atlantic Wire: "Gursky's photo is also the reason you should have become an art broker, like yesterday", with comments.

Related: Wall Street Journal: "New Art Drives $1 Billion Fall Auctions"

How will you remember?

2011-11-10T12:54:00.001-07:00

Eric Smith: Washington, DC, 2006

National Veterans Day Ceremony

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year on November 11th at Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony commences precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns and continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans' organizations and remarks from dignitaries. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces.

Presidential Proclamation

Time LightBox: The Art of War: Honoring the Fallen for a Lifetime

Remembering the wounded via Nina Berman: Purple Hearts

Need help, or someone to talk to? Real Warriors

J. Paul Getty Museum acquires seventy-two photographs by Andreas Feininger

2011-11-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Andreas Feininger, Stockholm (Shell sign at night), 1935. Gelatin silver print. 17.4 x 24.2 cm. © Estate of Gertrud E. Feininger. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of the Estate of Gertrud E. Feininger.

Via artdaily.org

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum announced the acquisition of 72 photographs by 20th century photographer Andreas Feininger (American, born Paris, 1906–1999). Son of the Expressionist painter, printmaker, caricaturist, and Bauhaus instructor Lyonel Feininger (American, 1871–1956), Andreas Feininger is best known for his work for LIFE magazine, which spanned 20 years, and his considerable work in nature photography.

The gift from the Andreas Feininger Estate represents a range of subjects from Feininger’s long photographic career, which spanned seven decades, and includes work made in Germany and Stockholm in the late 1920s and early 1930s, most notably several nude studies and experiments with printing techniques. The donation also includes examples from Feininger’s 1942 documentation of weapons factories for the U.S. Office of War Information, his views of New York in the 1940s and 1950s, and his nature photographs, including studies of shells and trees from the 1960s and 1970s. Prior to this acquisition, the Getty held thirteen photographs by Andreas Feininger, as well as 56 photographs by his younger brother Theodore, nicknamed T. Lux (American, born Germany, 1910–2011).

“We are very pleased to accept this gift from the Andreas Feininger Estate,” said Judith Keller, senior curator in the Getty Museum’s Department of Photographs. “His contributions to the art of photography are significant, and this gift enhances our collection of photographs from the Bauhaus, in particular those by his brother T. Lux, as well as our strong holdings of depictions of New York.”

Born in Paris in 1906 and raised in Berlin, Feininger did not live in the United States until the age of 33. He studied architecture in Weimar, where his family moved when his father was appointed to teach at the Bauhaus, Germany’s innovative school for design, art, and architecture. Feininger took up photography at this time, setting up a darkroom with T. Lux in the family residence when the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1926. After a brief career in architecture, Feininger turned increasingly to photography, setting up a studio for architectural photography in Stockholm in 1934. He moved to New York City in 1939, and took at position with LIFE magazine, where he completed 430 assignments over the span of 20 years. After leaving LIFE in 1962, he dedicated himself to the documentation of nature, focusing on the interrelatedness of natural forms as well as the potential for photographs of nature to inspire environmental action. Throughout his career, Feininger also wrote numerous technical manuals and essays about photography

In 1966, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) awarded Feininger its highest distinction, the Robert Leavitt Award, and in 1991 the International Center of Photography awarded Feininger the Infinity Lifetime Achievement Award.

Feininger’s photographs reside in several museum collections, including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Photographs by Lyonel and T. Lux Feininger, as well as those by other masters and students at the Bauhaus are included in the exhibition Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939, on view through March 11, 2012 at the Getty Center.

BBC Four explores the cultural legacy of 20th century America

2011-11-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

Via BBC

From Hopper to Hollywood, Mississippi mud pies to music, Steinbeck and more, controller of BBC Four Richard Klein has announced an ambitious America Season, a collection of thought-provoking programming for Autumn/Winter 2011 which will explore the rich cultural heritage of 20th-century America.

The season will feature a broad range of American culture across visual arts, music, movies, gastronomy, photography and popular culture.

Programming ranges from Andrew Graham-Dixon on the Art Of America to Melvyn Bragg on Steinbeck; Rankin on the photography of Life Magazine to Rick Stein on food and blues in Mississippi; and from a series looking at African-American music legends of the Eighties to a documentary on diners.

America In Pictures (1x60-minute)

Established in 1936, LIFE was an iconic weekly magazine that specialized in extraordinarily vivid photojournalism. Through America's most dynamic decades – the 40s, 50s and 60s – read by over half the country, the magazine's influence on American people was unparalleled.

No other magazine in the world held the photograph in such high esteem; LIFE allowed the pictures, not the words, to do the talking.

As a result, at LIFE, the photographer was king.

In this film, the UK's leading fashion photographer, Rankin, looks at the work of LIFE's legendary photographers, including distinguished photographers Bill Eppridge, John Shearer, John Loengard, Burk Uzzle and Harry Benson, who between them have shot the biggest moments in American history from the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, the Civil Rights struggle and Vietnam to behind the scenes at the Playboy mansion and the greatest names of Hollywood.

Rankin discovers these photographers pioneered new forms of photojournalism like embedding – living with their subjects for weeks – and the Photo Essay, enabling them reveal intimate and compelling aspects of ordinary American life too; like 'The Small Town' or the life of 'The Country Doctor'. Rankin concludes that LIFE not only tells the story of America in pictures, but also taught America how to be American.

Video Shows Oakland Police Shooting Photographer

2011-11-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Via PDN Pulse:

Video Shows Oakland Police Shooting Photographer

Yesterday we posted a story suggesting that the police are under pressure to respect constitutional rights, now that so many people are photographing their activities (especially at protests.)

But along comes this video of an Oakland policeman shooting the photographer for no obvious reason. The photographer, identified by the San Jose Mercury News as Oakland resident Scott Campbell, was filming the line of riot police last Thursday from a distance of about 50 feet. The police had moved in after Occupy Oakland protesters had defaced a nearby building, but the scene photographed by Campbell appears mostly calm.

As Campbell walked parallel to the line of police, the camera’s audio recorder picks up his voice asking, “Is this OK?” After about 30 seconds, one of the police fires a non-lethal projectile at Campbell, hitting him. As he falls, he cries out in pain and then says, “He shot me!” before the video cuts off.

Read more here.

Via San Jose Mercury News: Experts in police use of force shocked by Oakland video

Photographic Truths and Other Illusions

2011-11-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

"Photographic Truths and Other Illusions”
Society for Photographic Education
2011 SPE Southwest Regional Conference: November 11-13, 2011
School of Arts & Design, Santa Fe Community College
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Details and information here.

A WEEKEND IN HISTORY

2011-11-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

Photo by David Marks

On Friday evening, Bill Eppridge, one of the most accomplished photojournalists of the Twentieth Century, presented an eyewitness account of some of the most significant moments in American history he has covered: wars, political campaigns, riots, civil rights murders, heroin addiction, the arrival of the Beatles in the United States, Vietnam, Woodstock, the summer and winter Olympics, and perhaps the most dramatic moment of his career - the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles.

After a brief blackout Saturday morning, Bill returned to the gallery to sign copies of his book "A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties" and meet with gallery viewers of the current exhibition celebrating his 2011 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photojournalism.

We will be posting highlights of Bill's conversations here in the near future. The exhibition continues through November 20, 2011

YouTube: Robert Kennedy's Last Days in Pictures by Bill Eppridge

History, Lived and Documented

2011-11-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

The Beatles at the Plaza Hotel, February 7, 1964 Bill Eppridge

©The Albuquerue Journal North
By Malin Wilson Powell
on Fri, Nov 4, 2011

Ignorance of history, like many omissions, happens effortlessly and silently in the contemporary barrage of day-to-day life. The photojournalism of Bill Eppridge is a sobering reminder of the necessity of a common history to a civilized society. The Monroe Gallery is presenting three major Eppridge photo essays from the tumultuous ’60s when he was on assignment for Life magazine (1961-1972), plus a smattering of individual iconic images up to 2007.

One of the most striking aspects of Eppridge’s work is his impeccable instinct for orientation. Eppridge’s photographs bear witness to his ability for in capturing powerful images by constantly honing and adjusting his physical and ethical compass. He not only finds the right place to frame the uncertainties of life unfolding in front of him, but he does this by continually refining the right frame of mind. This holds true whether he might be hanging out of a helicopter with his editor holding onto his ankles, or “sticking with” the Beatles on their first 1964 American tour, or whether he could keep his bearings in the most extreme and devastating situation – Robert Kennedy’s assassination on June 5, 1968.

Bobby Kennedy’s extraordinary vitality and traumatic death were clearly defining experiences for Eppridge, who never accepted another political assignment after the senator’s death. His first assignment with Bobby Kennedy was in 1966 when the young politician was testing the waters for a presidential bid in 1968. During this grueling eight-month campaign Eppridge took thousands of photographs in both black-and-white and color, always “staying close” to the candidate every single day and night.

The access, rawness and intimacy of Eppridge’s photos are hard to comprehend while immersed in today’s packaged news. As the photographer has noted, “The press is controlled in such a way today that you almost never see the real person you are photographing. You’re taking pictures of what their handlers want you to see.”

Everywhere Bobby Kennedy campaigned he insisted on a convertible to greet the eager crowds. Looking at his exposure and absence of security, the question arises: How could he do this after his brother John’s death in Dallas from a sniper while riding in a convertible? Yet, here are images of Bobby’s courage and enthusiasm for meeting his supporters. His hands and arms reach for them with an appetite as strong as theirs reaching for him. In a time when politicians demonstrate so much disdain for the average voter, these photographs are riveting proof of mutual openness, respect, even admiration.

The Kennedy campaign travels through the Watts section of Los Angeles on the last day before the primary, 1968

For anyone who lived through the ’60s and the repeated blows of the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, their bankrupt slaughter still reverberates. Bobby was shot on the last night of his campaign, the evening he won the all-important California primary and when exhausted he left the press of the crowd by way of the Ambassador Hotel kitchen, where Sirhan Sirhan shot him and five others. Only 12 feet away, and almost certainly unhinged by the mayhem, Eppridge’s eye was steady and he remembers thinking: “You are not just a photojournalist; you’re a historian.” His photograph of the wounded senator is often described as a modern Pieta. It cannot be seen too often.

This is also true of Eppridge’s photo essay “Mississippi Burning: The James Chaney Funeral.” James Chaney was the one black civil-rights worker along with two young white civil rights workers who were kidnapped and murdered during “Freedom Summer” by the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. They were investigating the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, a civil-rights training site. After an intense 44-day search, the bodies of Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwermer were found under 25 feet of dirt at a nearby earthen dam.

The dignity and sorrow that seep from Eppridge’s photos of the Chaney family bespeak wounds that can’t be healed. Suffused with an unflinching, upright gravitas, gallery viewers are noticeably stilled as they process through this deeply affecting black-and-white series: they whisper and stand taller. Not only is there the great graveside photo of Ben Chaney, the younger brother, shedding a tear in the embrace of his mother, there is an especially eerie photo of a troubled Ben looking straight at the camera, all alone with his grief in the middle of the image, bracketed by his parents and three sisters steeped in their own thoughts. Because of death threats, the Chaneys left Meridian, Miss., for New York City, and by 1969 Ben Chaney had joined the Black Panther Party. After 13 years in jail, he was paroled and has since established a foundation in his brother’s honor and worked as a legal clerk for former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who secured his parole. As the gallery text notes, only one of the 10 men responsible for the murders was prosecuted and incarcerated by the state of Mississippi, and that was in 2005.

Eppridge has written eloquently about his craft and his art, including the unimaginable freedom his generation of photographers had to pursue truth during the 1960s golden era of photojournalism, inserting such anecdotes of a robust participant/observer as the perfect, unchoreographed ballet of a three-man CBS crew filming the Bobby Kennedy motorcade while in motion.

Looking back, the ’60s were terrible and wonderful, and certainly fulfilled the Chinese adage “May you all live in interesting times.” History is always in the making, but there aren’t always visual historians of Eppridge’s highly developed sensibilities to frame resonant and crucial junctures for posterity.

On Oct. 24, Bill Eppridge, born Guillermo Alfredo Eduardo Eppridge in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to American parents, was awarded the 2011 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photojournalism at Lincoln Center in New York. He is currently visiting Santa Fe and will be at the Monroe Gallery for a discussion of his work from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight.

If you go WHAT: Bill Eppridge
WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar
WHEN: Through Nov. 20.
HOURS: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
Gallery discussion with Bill Eppridge 5-7 p.m. tonight. Limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
CONTACT: 505-992-0800 or info@monroegallery.com

PARIS PHOTO CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY NOVEMBER 10 - 13

2011-11-03T09:35:00.000-06:00

Paris Photo will celebrate its 15th anniversary at the Grand Palais — a major step ahead for the renowned international event.

117 galleries from some 23 countries will present the best of 19th century, modern and contemporary photography in the heart of the French capital. To complete this panorama of worldwide photography, a selection of 18 publishers will have a dedicated space in the fair.

Paris Photo will celebrate African photography from Bamako to Cape Town, unveiling the creative wealth of historic and contemporary African artists.

These exciting developments put forward the new energy that Paris Photo is displaying by reinventing itself. Four programmes will articulate Paris Photo's new identity: Institutions' recent photography acquisitions, the platfrom, Private Collection from Artur Walther, focus on the Photography Book and launching of the Paris Photo - Photo Book Prize.

>>> Buy your ticket online in advance and avoid waiting queue

Paris Photo website here.

AN EVENING WITH BILL EPPRIDGE

2011-11-02T13:21:00.000-06:00

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is honored to welcome Bill Eppridge, recipient of the 2011 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photojournalism, to Santa Fe for a gallery discussion of his work. The discussion takes place on Friday, November 4, from 5 to 7 PM. Seating is limited and will be on a first-come basis.

Bill Eppridge is one of the most accomplished photojournalists of the Twentieth Century and has captured some of the most significant moments in American history: he has covered wars, political campaigns, heroin addiction, the arrival of the Beatles in the United States, Vietnam, Woodstock, the summer and winter Olympics, and perhaps the most dramatic moment of his career - the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles. Over the last 50 years, his work has appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic, Life, and Sports Illustrated; and has been exhibited in museums throughout the world.

Currently on exhibition: many of Eppridge's most important photo essays, including The Beatles arrival in America, Mississippi Burning: The James Cheney Funeral, and The Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign and assassination; continues through November 20, 2011.

Gallery hours are 10 to 5 every day, Monday through Sunday. Admission is free. For further information, please call: 505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com

The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951

2011-11-02T06:21:00.000-06:00

The Photo League students take their camera anywhere . . . they want to tell us about New York and some of the people who live there . . . there was almost a sense of desperation in the desire to convey messages of sociological import.”
Beaumont Newhall, 1948

Via The Jewish Museum
In 1936 a group of young, idealistic photographers, most of them Jewish, first-generation Americans, formed an organization in Manhattan called the Photo League. Their solidarity centered on a belief in the expressive power of the documentary photograph and on a progressive alliance in the 1930s of socialist ideas and art. The Radical Camera presents the contested path of the documentary photograph during a tumultuous period that spanned the New Deal reforms of the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War.

Sid Grossman, Coney Island, c. 1947

Jerome Liebling, Butterfly Boy,
New York, 1949

Photographing the City
Members rejected the prevailing style of modernism in order to engage the gritty realities of urban life. Leaguers focused on New York, and this meant looking closely at ordinary people. That impulse spurred the group to explore neighborhoods, street by street, camera at the ready.

The League and Its Legacy
A unique complex of school, darkroom, gallery, and salon, the League was also a place where you learned about yourself. One of its leading members was Sid Grossman who pushed students to discover not only the meaning of their work but also their relationship to it. This transformative approach was one of the League’s most innovative and influential contributions to the medium. By its demise in 1951, the League had propelled documentary photography from factual images to more challenging ones--from bearing witness to questioning one’s own bearings in the world.

Mason Klein
Curator, The Jewish Museum, New York

Catherine Evans
Curator, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio

Jack Manning (American, 1920-2001)
Elks Parade, 1939, from Harlem Document, 1936–40
Gelatin silver print
10 1/16 x 13 in. (25.6 x 33 cm)
The Jewish Museum, New York
Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, 2008-95
© Estate of Jack Manning

Sid Grossman (American, 1913-1955)
Coney Island, c. 1947
Gelatin silver print
9 3/8 x 7 7/8 in. (23.8 x 20 cm)
The Jewish Museum, New York
Purchase: The Paul Strand Trust for the benefit of Virginia Stevens Gift, 2008-62
© Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC

Jerome Liebling (American, 1924-2011)
Butterfly Boy, New York, 1949
Gelatin silver print
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (24.1 x 24.1 cm)
The Jewish Museum, New York
Purchase: Mimi and Barry J. Alperin Fund, 2008-90

The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951 has been organized by The Jewish Museum, New York and the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.

The exhibition is made possible by a major grant from the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Betsy Karel.

The exhibit opens November 4, and runs through March 25, 2012 and will then travel to the Columbus Museum of Art, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida.

See related article here

See related slideshow here

Ida Wyman's photographs are included in the exhibition

Ruth Orkin's photographs are included in the exhibition