Wednesday, January 30, 2013

To Do Friday: Sid Avery Exhibit

 Marlon Brando, At Home With Bongos, 1955
One of Sid's iconic shots c. mptv


Via The Santa Fe Reporter

Oh, Snap!
New photographic exhibit is as smooth as fine Corinthian leather
Enrique Limón

Popular culture can thank the late Sid Avery for some of the most candid and intimate shots of Golden Age Hollywood celebrities.

His were slice-of-life photographs that revealed a different side to the icons of the day: real, non-posed images of Dean Martin hamming it up inside a hotel room; Rock Hudson taking a phone call wearing nothing but a bath towel; Marlon Brando playing an impromptu bongos set; Elizabeth Taylor basking in the Marfa, Texas sun on the set of Giant.

“He had an innate ability to get people to relax and be themselves in front of the camera,” Avery’s son Ron tells SFR. “He was also a naturally intuitive, bright guy—not necessarily school smart, but street smart, I think, is what you would call it.”

Based in Los Angeles, Ron continues his father’s legacy at the helm of the Motion Picture and Television Photographic Archive, which handles his dad’s and other celebrated photographers’ bodies of work. He’s also personally overseeing Monroe Gallery’s upcoming The Art of the Hollywood Snapshot exhibit, concurrent with the publication of an eponymous book.

Legendary as he was, Avery doesn’t think his father would fare too well in today’s tabloid-driven, crotch-shot-hungry insta-market.

“He wouldn’t print or let a picture be published if the celebrity had an unflattering look on their face, or [if] it just wasn’t showing them in a good light,” Avery says. “I don’t think he ever really pissed anybody off, either. Today, people are published picking their nose or doing whatever in public…or not even in public.”

Sid’s approach was such, his son recalls, that he managed to win over even the toughest subjects like Humphrey Bogart, who at first was apprehensive, and eventually invited the photog on sailing excursions.

Avery also developed an affinity with other giants of the time, such as Ernest Borgnine and Audrey Hepburn. He was one of the select few outside Frank Sinatra’s circle, his son points out, allowed to refer to the crooner simply by his first name.

“You’ve just got a feeling that, ‘Wow, this is what it really would have been like to just sit in these people’s houses, or ride with them in the car or be with them,’” Avery says of his progenitor’s style.

The imagemaker—who at one point served in the Army Pictorial Service during WWII—would later delve into the world of advertising and directing, and was the man responsible for the notorious Ricardo Montalbán Chrysler Cordoba campaign.

Along with a slew of memorable pictures, the show also includes “fresh and different” never-before-seen outtakes and contact sheets, Ron adds, allowing attendees to take in the full grasp of Avery’s career.

“I think this is a real good compilation of where Dad started, where he wound up and everything in between,” Ron says. “Because we pretty much cover him from before the war until [his passing in] 2001.”


5-7 pm Friday, Feb. 1. Free.
Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar Ave., 992-0800


Monday, January 28, 2013

The AIPAD Photography Show To Be Held in New York on April 4-7 at the Park Avenue Armory



Frieke Janssens, Ringlings, 2011. Digital chromogenic dye print mounted to plexi, 35 x 35 inches. Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

Via artdaily.org

January 27, 2013

NEW YORK, NY.- The AIPAD Photography Show New York, one of the world’s most important annual photography events, will be held April 4-7, 2013, at the Park Avenue Armory. Presented by The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), the fair is the longest-running and foremost exhibition of fine art photography.

More than 70 of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries will present a wide range of museum-quality work including contemporary, modern, and 19th-century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video, and new media. The 33rd edition of the show will commence with an opening night gala on April 3, 2013, to benefit inMotion, which provides free legal services to low-income women.

“AIPAD continues to be at the forefront of the photography market,” noted Catherine Edelman, President AIPAD, and Director, Catherine Edelman Gallery. “Known for their scholarship and expertise, AIPAD galleries are shining light on extraordinary photographs by modern masters and emerging artists, images made in the last year by some of the most important artists working today, as well as relatively unknown work that is ripe for public exhibition. New and established photography collectors are anticipating another extraordinary exhibition.”

EXHIBITORS
Exhibitors will include galleries from across the U.S. and around the world, including Europe, Asia, and South America. Six galleries will exhibit at AIPAD for the first time: Brancolini Grimaldi, London; Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp; Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn; M97 Gallery, Shanghai; P.P.O.W., New York; and Sage Paris. An exhibitor list is available at aipad.com/photoshow.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
A solo exhibition of work by James Welling will be exhibited by David Zwirner, New York. Welling has been questioning the norms of representation since the 1970s, exploring and experimenting with the elemental components of the photographic medium. His work is held in major museum collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all in New York.

Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, will offer a one-person exhibition of work by British photographer Damion Berger, who was once as an assistant to Helmut Newton. Berger’s recent series, Black Powder, documents firework celebrations from around the world. He uses glass plate negatives, multiple exposures, and unusual combinations of focus and aperture for the results, which are as dramatic as the pyrotechnic explosions.

A number of riveting portraits at AIPAD will be on view, including a series by Belgian artist Frieke Janssens entitled Smoking Kids. The digital chromogenic dye prints of children smoking were inspired by a YouTube video of a chain-smoking Indonesian toddler. As the artist notes, “I felt that children smoking would have a surreal impact upon the viewer and compel them to truly see the acts of smoking, rather than making assumptions about the person doing the act.” The work will be exhibited by Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago. No real cigarettes were used to make the images. Instead, chalk and sticks of cheese were used as props, while candles and incense provided the wisps of smoke.

P.P.O.W., New York, will offer portraits and work by Martha Wilson, Carolee Schneemann, and David Wojnarowicz, all of it inspired by the human body. M97 Gallery, Shanghai, will show portraits by Luo Dan, who uses the collodion wet plate photographic process invented in 1850. Spending several months traveling with a portable darkroom in remote and mountainous regions of China’s southern Yunnan Province, Luo Dan depicts people living in China’s undeveloped regions, where the way of life has remained largely intact for hundreds of years. Yu Xiao’s surreal images of children from the 2012 Nursery Rhymes series will be shown at 798 Photo Gallery, Beijing.

Extraordinary landscapes from around the globe will on view at AIPAD, including work showing the effects of Hurricane Sandy. An image by Stephen Wilkes, of a roller coaster standing in the ocean at Seaside Heights, New Jersey, will be exhibited by Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe. Work by Matthew Brandt from his recent Lakes and Reservoirs series can be seen at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. The L.A.-based artist photographs lakes and reservoirs around the western United States, then submerges each resulting C-print in water collected from the subject of the photograph. Matthew Brandt’s images are included in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Edward Burtynsky’s life’s work is to document humanity’s impact on the planet, so when he shoots a photograph, it is often from an airplane or helicopter. His new riveting geometric aerial landscapes from the Texas Panhandle showing irrigation systems in the high plains will be exhibited by Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

Since 2005, Robert Burley has traveled across North America and Europe documenting the exteriors and interiors of the buildings that manufactured traditional film products such as Kodak and Polaroid. Burley’s mastery of large-format photography is a fitting tribute to a once thriving industry laid quickly to waste by digital technology. The work will be on view at Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, and can be seen in a new book, The Disappearance of Darkness, published by Ryerson Image Centre and Princeton Architectural Press.

A portrait by Mariana Cook of one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, Aung San Suu Kyi, will be exhibited by Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyvile, IN. Cook traveled to Burma in 2011 shortly after the Nobel Peace Prize winner was freed from house arrest. The portrait will be included in the upcoming book Justice: Faces of the Human Rights Revolution by Cook, which captures pioneers of the human rights movement from around the globe.

Edward Weston’s The Marion Morgan Dancers, California, 1921, will be on view at Galerie Johannes Faber, Vienna. The elegant composition of the nude dancers was made in collaboration with Margrethe Mather – whom Weston called “the first important person in my life” – and reflects Weston’s early pictorialist style and Mather’s sensitive eye. A pensive Frida Kahlo is the subject of Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s gelatin silver print from the 1940s at Throckmorton Fine Art, New York. Seydou Keïta’s charming portrait Three Malian Women, 1957-60, will be offered by Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York. Keïta is considered to be the first generation of African photographers to cater to the needs of a populace that was transitioning from French-colonial governance to independence, experiencing population increases and economic growth.

Early work from the birth of photography will also be a highlight at AIPAD. James Hyman Photography, London, will focus on three great French photographers of the 19th century: Edouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, and Charles Negre. Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs, New York, will show great masters of British and French 19th-century photography, including William Henry Fox Talbot, Linnaeus Tripe, and Gustave Le Gray.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Bill Eppridge in 2013 - so far!

Congressman Tom LeBonge (right)
L.A. City Council member Tom Le Bonge presents honary certificate
to Bill Eppridge at the gala opening of photo l.a. 2013 on January 17
Photo ©HollywoodToday
 
 

Bill Eppridge: “If It Moves, I’ll Shoot It”

FOTOFUSION: Fifty Years in Photojournalism by Bill Eppridge

Le Journal de la Photographie: "The hands-down shining moment of the event was a one and half hour lecture by the great Bill Eppridge: (photo la 2013)

photography legends inspire new focus at photo l.a. 2013

March 12 – June 2, 2013
Springfield Museums – Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
Bill Eppridge’s photographs of the Beatles will be exhibited in the long-traveling show, The Beatles! Backstage and Behind The Scenes (Springfield, Mass.)
Bill Eppridge will be lecturing at the museum on April 21, 2013

September 20 – 21, 2013
PSA – Photographic Society of America
Bill Eppridge is the 2013 “International Understanding Through Photography” Honoree
And will be a featured speaker (Portland, Maine)


Related: Bill Eppridge prints at Monroe Gallery of Photography



 

 

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Photo LA 2013: Diary of Jeff Dunas



Med__mg_2736-edit-jpg
Bill Eppridge, Senator Robert F Kennedy Shot,
Ambassador Hotel Kitchen, Los Angeles, California, June 5, 1968

Via Le Journal de la Photographie

 Slide Show #1


Same venue. A generous group of galleries reconvened this past weekend, January 17 - 21 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for the 21st annual PhotoLA print fair.

Stephen Cohen, PhotoLA's founder, was in good form and seemed happy with the turnout and the exhibitions. The opening night was a wonderful social occasion for the photography community who turned up to benefit the Inner City Arts organization.

The hands-down shining moment of the event was a one and half hour lecture by the great Bill Eppridge. There wasn't a dry eye in the house for the moderately attended talk. Monroe gallery artist Eppridge discussed and showed work from his spectacular career as a photojournalist centering on his assignments from the 1960s including the Beatle's first US tour and the Robert Kennedy assassination If there is a photo-book publisher reading this - here is an incredible opportunity to publish a phenomenal monograph.

It's hard to say if there were detectible new currents on show this year - there was a surprising number of contemporary female nudes evident in many of the exhibitor's spaces but in terms of one emerging star of the program, none surfaced. Ben Nixon, a young photographer working with 19th century wet-plate technology, had a strong show of his forest work as well as his exquisite new title from 21st Editions. A lot of pigment printing on view, with an exceptional piece by Michael Lang at the Cohen Gallery booth. While many tend to pump the colors of modern ink-jet prints, Lang's images displayed a remarkable restraint and mastery of his craft. Less early 20th century masters on display than in prior years, a greater emphasis on the work of contemporary photographers - a good direction for mid-career image-makers. Most were American although a collective booth showing the work of Czech photography was wonderful. Daniel Miller of the Verge and Duncan Miller galleries hosted a booth for a group of women, all emerging photographers which was a good development.

This year an expanded series of seminars, some even tech seminars were added to bring in more photographers who were everywhere this year - a great chance to catch up with friends.

All in all, worthwhile, to be sure. Will I attend the 22nd PhotoLA?
Absolutely.


Jeff Dunas, Los Angeles

Slide Show #2

Jerusalem, Western Wall, Day To Night, 2012

 Stephen Wilkes Day to Night Series



Hurricane Sandy, Seaside Heights, NJ, 2012
Digital C-print, signed, limited edition #1/20 $10,000

Links

http://www.photola.com

Monday, January 21, 2013

FOTOFUSION: Fifty Years in Photojournalism by Bill Eppridge




Photographer of RFK’s last campaign shows at PB Photographic Centre
Robert Kennedy, in a rare, quiet moment aboard a plane, 1966.

Via Palm Beach Daily News

Photographer of RFK’s last campaign shows at PB Photographic Centre By Jan Sjostrom
Daily News Arts Editor

The first time Bill Eppridge met Robert Kennedy was aboard Air Force One. He’d been assigned by Life magazine in 1966 to cover Lyndon Johnson — the first outside photographer permitted to photograph a president on the plane.

Johnson was on a tour of the Northeast, and Kennedy was there because he was the senator from New York. During the flight, Kennedy lit up a cigar and sat down near Eppridge to talk to then-White House press secretary Bill Moyers. Eppridge surreptitiously shot his picture, which appeared in the magazine.

Awhile later, Life assigned him to shoot pictures for a story about whether Kennedy would run for the presidency. Eppridge decided to formally introduce himself and get permission to shadow the senator for the next several weeks.

“What did you say your name was?” Kennedy asked. “Eppridge,” he said. Kennedy thought for moment, then said, “You can come along, but no cigars this time, OK?”

Eppridge was stunned that Kennedy remembered him. “From then on, I was his,” he said.

Two years later, Eppridge would shoot the iconic image of Kennedy sprawled on the kitchen floor of a Los Angeles hotel, felled by an assassin’s bullet, the busboy whose hand he’d just been shaking looking up in anguish.

Eppridge, 74, is the recipient of FOTOfusion’s 2013 FOTOmentor award recognizing lifetime achievement and impact on younger photographers. “He’s influenced several generations of photographers,” said Fatima Nejame, president and chief executive offficer of Palm Beach Photographic Centre. “Everyone speaks highly of him. His pictures are awesome.” The photography festival, which is organized by the center, opens Tuesday and runs through Saturday at the center and the Mandel Public Library in West Palm beach.

Eppridge’s work will be featured in the exhibition, Fifty Years in Photojournalism by Bill Eppridge. Also, he will attend two receptions and a dinner, give a lecture and participate in a panel about working in the media business today.

Eppridge was just 12 feet behind Kennedy when the shots rang out. He rushed forward, and saw Kennedy on the floor. “When I got there, the first thing I thought was when Jack Kennedy was killed no still photographs were made,” Eppridge said. “This was history being made in front of me. It was my job to record it.”

Eppridge positioned himself at a good angle and fired off four shots. The first was out of focus, in the second the busboy’s head was down, the third was the history-making photograph.

Eppridge lost interest in politics after Kennedy’s death. “If you photograph a politician, you want him to be a good man and someone you trust,” he said. “That was Bobby. I could not find another Bobby.”

During his long career Eppridge photographed for National Geographic, Life and Sports Illustrated and covered stories such as The Beatles’ first American tour, Woodstock, the funeral of murdered Civil Rights workers in Mississippi, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Olympics.

One of his most memorable assignments was a landmark 1965 story for Life about heroin addiction moving into the young, middle-class white community. It took months to find a married couple willing to be photographed. At first, the wife demanded to be paid. When told that wasn’t possible, she asked why she should bother to do it.
“I told her, if you do, a few people who were going to get into your position might not after they see the story,” he said. “That’s what convinced her.”

Eppridge spent almost every day for three months photographing the couple, turning himself into a fly on the wall. “You just kind of mentally back off and let whatever is going to happen in front of you happen, without making determinations about what you’re seeing,” he said. “Later on, of course, you think about it a lot.”

Just as he’s never forgotten seeing Robert Kennedy killed.

He’s willing to live with painful memories. For him, the FOTOmentor award not only recognizes his accomplishments, but also affirms of the power of the still image.

IF YOU GO
What: Fifty Years in Photojournalism by Bill Eppridge
When: Monday through March 2
Where: Palm Beach Photographic Centre, 415 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach
For information: Call 253-2600 or visit workshop.org or fotofusion.org

FOTOfusion Highlights
The 18th annual FOTOfusion features more than 100 workshops, lectures, panel discussions, multimedia presentations, portfolio reviews, computer classes, demonstrations and photo shoots taught by noteworthy industry leaders and photographers.

Among the offerings are talks about alternative printing techniques, iPhone photography and easy ways to improve your digital photos. Douglas Dubler will discuss his recent project shooting American Ballet Theatre, photographer Carlton Ward will share recollections of last year’s 1,000-mile trek along the Florida Wildlife Corridor and picture editor Scott McKiernan will display the best pictures of 2012 from Zuma Press Wire Service and its affiliates. Exhibitions will feature images by Rising Star award winner Antonio Bolfo and FOTOmentor Bill Eppridge.

FOTOfusion will be held Tuesday through Saturday at Palm Beach Photographic Centre, 415 N. Clematis Street, West Palm Beach, and the Mandel Public Library, 411 N. Clematis Street, West Palm Beach.

Photo LA Highlights New Frontiers In Photography



Stephen Wilkes Day To Night/Photo by Rebecca Joyce/LAist
By Rebecca Joyce/Special to LAist



Photo LA has once again returned to the Santa Monica Civic Center for a 4-day photography exhibition. Photo LA features the best iconic work, vernacular pieces—and also the new frontiers in fine art photography.
Classic pieces by Araki, Cartier-Bresson and Lange share space with the new and noteworthy. Garnering attention are Chris McCaw's sunburned negative series, never-before-seen images of Andy Warhol as a model, astonishing work by the Blind Photographers Guild, a new and iconic image of Roger Waters by Jerome Brunet and large lightjet prints by Stephen Wilkes of the Jersey Shore after Sandy.

New attendees can attend seminars and go on docent tours to get a guided introduction to the work featured.
After last year's success, Emerging Focus—which is open to amateurs—returns with 20 finalists from an international photography competition. There is also a full schedule of workshops and portfolio reviews geared toward student and emerging artists. A larger variety of seminars provides classes on portraiture, lighting, travel, black and white and many other facets of photography. The Emerging Focus programming noticeably changes the demographic of the crowd at Photo LA—there are more students, emerging and aspiring artists, and a new generation of photography lovers and collectors.

One of the most important fine art events in Los Angeles, the annual Photo LA gives us a panorama of the state of photography in the art world, as well as the changing face of those who are practicing, embracing and collecting the medium. Photo LA is on exhibit at the Santa Monica Civic Center until tomorrow. For more information about the event check out its website.


Sunday, January 20, 2013

Inaguration Day (to Night)


 © Stephen Wilkes Instagram "This will be my view for the Presidential Inauguration"


Today is a rare combination of the Presidential Inauguration and Martin Luther King Day. If you are attending the inauguration ceremonies, or watching them on tv, look for Stephen Wilkes on the platform between CBS and CNN as he creates an Inaugural "Day To Night" photograph.

Meanwhile, visitors to the final day of photo la 2013 are invited to view significant examples of 20th and 21st Century photojournalism at Monroe Gallery of Photography. The Gallery is exhibiting photographs spanning more than 85 years of history, including iconic civil rights images; Bill Eppridge's photographs of Robert F. Kennedy and The Beatles; work by Nina Berman, Yuri Kozyrev, and Stephen Wilkes Seaside Heights photograph after  Hurricane Sandy .


Friday, January 18, 2013

Photo l.a. returned for its 22nd Edition – with closing date Jan. 21st

Congressman Tom LeBonge (right)
Bill Eppridge with Congressman Tom LeBonge (right)




Photo l.a. – the longstanding photographic art exposition, returned to the historic Santa Monica Civic Auditorium last night for its 22nd edition. The show will run daily through January 21, 2013. 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 and contemporary photography, as well as video and multimedia installations creating the juxtaposition that differentiates photo l.a. from the rest.

Over the last two decades, photo l.a. has exhibited more than 300 galleries, private dealers and publishers, as well as presented more than 200 lectures and collecting seminars to the public. photo l.a. offers a dynamic experience for visitors while also attracting over 11,000 interested collectors, curators and dealers of photography annually. 


Photos by Steve Schapiro of Martin Luther King 1965
Photos by Steve Schapiro of Rosa Parks,  Martin Luther King at Monroe Gallery Booth


In addition to the continuation of the lectures, panels, book signings and special installations, photo l.a. is pleased to introduce photoBOOK LA, a new platform for publishers and book artists with guest reviewers offering feedback to photographers on their book proposals.

Following the overwhelming success of the Emerging Focus Educational series during last year’s exposition, photo l.a. is announcing its affiliation with Emerging Focus Photo Expo, which will be held across the street at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel. Master classes on photography and portfolio reviews will be part of the schedule.

Alec Byrne's photo of Paul McCartney 1970
Alec Byrne’s photo of Paul McCartney 1970

Photo l.a. 2013′s speakers, panels, roundtables, book signings and installations include:
Mapplethorpe at LACMA and the Getty — Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Britt Salvesen (Robert Mapplethorpe: XYZ) and Curator of Photographs at the Getty Research Institute, Francis Terpak (In Focus: Robert Mapplethorpe), will discuss the simultaneous exhibitions of the artist’s work.

Mike Spitz book about mental illness
Mike Spitz book about mental illness


Matthew Thompson — curator and author of “The Anxiety of Photography” — will lead a round table discussion with a mix of younger Los Angeles artists including Andrea Longacre-White, Anthony Pearson and David Benjamin Sherry, who hybridize photography with some other media to explore its materiality.

Bill Eppridge — noted photojournalist — lectures on his experiences documenting the 1960s,   specifically, Robert F. Kennedy’s final campaign.

Meg Partridge — filmmaker — will speak about her father, Rondal Partridge, and his photographic work. Rondal Partridge was the son of Imogen Cunningham, whose mentors and colleagues included Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Edward Weston.


Bill Eppridge's photos of Robert F. Kennedy
Bill Eppridge’s photos of Robert F. Kennedy

Josephine Sacabo — photographer — will discuss her trajectory from a documentary street photographer to her current work using the etched photogravure as her exclusive form of printmaking.

POINT OF VIEW — selections from Los Angeles collectors will be exhibited with some collectors elaborating on their collecting motivations at a round table discussion.

Artillery Magazine hosts one of its infamous Face Off Debates. 

Ellen Jantzen
Ellen Jantzen

New Sales Platforms roundtable with Heritage Auctions, 1stdibs and artnet. 

Private docent tours of the fair with experts in the field of photography: Gordon Baldwin (former Curator, Dept. of Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum), Deborah Bell (Vice President, Specialist Head of Photographs Department), Weston Naef (Curator Emeritus, Dept.  of Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum)

Visit www.photola.com for open hours.
January 18th – 21st, 2013
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
1855 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA90401-3209
.
JANUARY 18th – 21st, 2013
SANTA MONICA CIVIC AUDITORIUM


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Stephen Wilkes: The 57th Presidential Inauguration, Day To Night



Stephen Wilkes announced today that he will be shooting a "Day to Night" of the 57th Presidential Inauguration on Monday January 21st in Washington, DC.

Read more about his Day to Night series, which was recently featured on the CBS Sunday Morning Show, here. And, if you are the in the greater Los Angeles area, be sure to visit us this weekend during Photo la 2013 to view a selection of Stephen's work, including the most recent location of the Day To Night series, Jerusalem, and his photograph of Seaside Heights, New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Stephen Wilkes, The Power of the Still Image




Via X-Rite Photo Blog


"A new video has just been released today featuring Coloratti Stephen Wilkes talking about The Power of the Still Image, his own projects to document parts of American life and culture that are fading into memory, some of his disturbing and compelling images of the Gulf oil spill, and his latest project called Day to Night. In this video Stephen talks about the “subtext” beneath his photographs. “The power of what’s underneath is much greater than what’s on the surface,” he says. “And I want you to go underneath what I’m showing you but the only way I can get there is to draw you in with beauty.”

 


Wilkes is an amazing photographer. His passion for the still image is fueled by his ardent belief that it is the still image that “burns” into our minds. “I don’t think that, in terms of memory, things stay with us unless we have the image,” says Wilkes. “I think there is infinitely more power in a visual than there is in anything that is verbal or even written.”
 
Hurricane Sandy on the Jersey Shore by Stephen Wilkes
Seaside Heights, N.J
©2012 Stephen Wilkes

One of Stephen’s most recent projects was documenting Hurricane Sandy for Time. Stephen’s 22 image photo essay on the super-storm disaster is available on Time Lightbox. The aerial photos he captured are both beautiful and horrific. Here’s a quote from his words accompanying the photo essay: “On the Sunday after Sandy made landfall, I decided to rent a helicopter and fly over some of the most devastated areas, including the New Jersey shore, Breezy Point and Far Rockaway. It was a beautiful day to fly, but unfortunately that beauty quickly eroded into shock as we began to get close to the coasts. It was everything I’d heard about, but it was difficult to believe what I was actually seeing. Once we got above the shoreline, I really started to understand the scale of the destruction. The expanse of land it ruined, the totality of the devastation — it was like a giant mallet had swung in circles around the area. It was mind numbing.” Read more about the Hurricane Sandy project online and see all 22 photos in the essay at Time Lightbox."


Full post with links here.

See Stephen Wilkes Day To Night and Hurricane Sandy photographs during Photo la, January 17 - 21, at Monroe Gallery of Photograph, booth M-150.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Photo la 2013 Opening Night Thursday, January 17





























































photo l.a. is honored to host the preview reception for the benefit of Inner-City Arts on January 17, 2013 from 6 – 9 pm. Please join us for an evening of art and charity. Tickets are $80 and can be purchased directly from Inner-City Arts


Thursday, January 10, 2013

January 17-21: Photo L.A. Fair Strengthens Emerging-Artist Focus







Via artinfo.com

SALE: Photo L.A.
LOCATION: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
DATE: January 17-21

ABOUT: Many of the auction houses are still on winter hiatus, but photography collectors know to scout out the wealth of vintage, contemporary, and multimedia works this time of year at the photo l.a. fair at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Among the 45 galleries and nonprofits participating in the 22nd annual edition, the Monroe Gallery of Photography brings the work of legendary photojournalist Bill Eppridge, who is also speaking about his time shooting Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s as part of the fair’s lecture series, which also includes appearances from Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Britt Salvesen, filmmaker Meg Partridge, and an Artillery Magazine-hosted debate.

In the department of unusual character studies, visitors will find shots from Frank Marshall’s immersion with a subculture of African cowboy metalheads in Botswana, including one of a leather-clad man named “Bound by the Moon,” on offer for $1,500 at Bekris Gallery. And Polish photographer Leon Borensztein’s intimate glimpse of unsmiling Americans can be found at Smith Andersen North.

More experimental forms can be found at Susan Spiritus Gallery, which is exhibiting Fran Forman’s nostalgic photo assemblages, like a print of a carousel sinking underwater, priced at $950 (unframed).

The fair has made a push this year to welcome not just collectors, but photographers, too, particularly those just starting out. It has partnered with the Emerging Focus Photo Expo, held across the street at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel. There, photographers can stop by with their portfolios for classes and on-the-spot critiques. Or, for those with publishing ambition, this year marks the launch of photoBOOK LA, where experts offer photographers advice on their book proposals.
General admission starts at $20 at the door, $25 online.
— Rachel Corbett
 
(Photo: Fran Forman, “Carousel Escape,” $950 at Susan Spiritus Gallery, at photo l.a.)



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Getty Publications publishes "This is the Day: The March on Washington Photographs by Leonard Freed




 

                       © Estate of Leonard Freed - Magnum Photos (Brigitte Freed).

 
LOS ANGELES, CA.- August 28, 1963, marked a great day for democracy in America. On that day nearly fifty years ago, more than 250,000 people gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to mount a peaceful protest demanding equal rights and economic equality for African Americans. Led by a contingent of civil rights organizations, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom called for the desegregation of public schools, protection of the right to vote, and a federal program to train and place unemployed workers. This demonstration ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and soon became the iconic expression of social protest that inspired the women's rights movement, as well as rights for the disabled and other disenfranchised groups, and serves to this day as a blueprint for democratic action.


This Is the Day: The March on Washington, which will be published by Getty Publications in February 2013 to coincide with Black History Month and the 50th anniversary of the march, presents Magnum photographer Leonard Freed's stirring and nuanced visual testimony of the event that culminated in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s prophetic "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. The 75 photographs in this volume, most of them never before published, were chosen from hundreds of images Freed made in the nation's capital the day before, during, and after the march. These images present spectacular wide-angle views of the hundreds of thousands of marchers overflowing the National Mall, intimate group portraits of people straining to see the speakers, and tight close-ups of individual faces filled with hope and yearning.

A Visionary Portrait of Democracy
Freed's images reveal the powerful impact of the march, which took place in the midst of the civil rights movement, when racial inequities were being most painfully exposed to the nation and the world. Freed's holistic approach to photographing the events of this historic day is revealed in the details he chose. In the hours before the march, he photographed the area surrounding the Mall as people arrived in buses and cars, protest signs were being stacked in preparation for distribution, policemen took up their posts, and people passed by the famed Ford Theatre, where a sign reads "House Where Lincoln Died." With the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, and the Lincoln Memorial as his visual anchors, Freed photographed the massive crowd as it gathered and swelled, and then went in tight to capture groups of marchers chanting and singing in their Sunday-best clothes, a range of individual expressions, and the interplay of text and image on placards. He photographed well into the evening when the remaining marchers linked hands for a final rendition of "We Shall Overcome," and the aftermath as the crowds dispersed and the visual remains of this history-making event were reduced to placard scraps blanketing the ground.

Return Visits to Washington, D.C.
Freed would return to the National Mall numerous times to photograph other marches and rallies, including Vietnam War protests. In 1964 he photographed individual African Americans exercising their right to vote for the first time, and in the same year made an iconic photograph--reproduced in the book--of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being celebrated in a Baltimore motorcade after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. This Is the Day includes a selection of Freed's images from the 20th Anniversary March of 1983. These photographs, which reveal a more casual trend in American style and dress, from the dark suits and pearls of 1963 to T-shirts and shorts in 1983, show a youthful Jesse Jackson three months before he declared he would run for president and placards calling for President Reagan to cut the military budget.

The Legacy of Freedom Fighters
Freed was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 23, 1929, to a working-class Jewish family of Eastern European descent and strong social values. Working in Germany in the 1960s Freed photographed a black soldier standing before the Berlin Wall and was struck by the realization that while this soldier was defending freedom in Europe, his brothers and sisters were fighting for their own freedom at home. This thought inspired him to return to the United States and produce a photo-essay examining the daily life of blacks across America, from the East Coast to the Deep South. His resulting photo-essay culminated in the book Black in White America, first published in 1967/68 and reissued in 2010 by Getty Publications. It was during the course of this project that Freed photographed the March on Washington. After Freed's death in 2006 his widow, Brigitte, was inspired to compile a book on the March on Washington from her late husband's archive when she heard then-Senator Barack Obama remark to an audience of civil rights activists, "I stand here because you walked."

Accompanying the photographs are a first-hand, backstage account of the preparations leading up to the march by civil rights activist and author Julian Bond; an introduction to the importance of the march, and Dr. King's involvement, by sociology professor and author Michael Eric Dyson; and an informative discussion of Freed's approach to the photographic project by scholar Paul Farber.

Book Launch Event at Library of Congress
A book launch event will be held at 12 Noon on Tuesday, February 5 at The Library of Congress's Center for the Book in Washington, D.C., as part of its "Books & Beyond" program. The event is a conversation with Brigitte Freed and authors Paul Farber and Michael Eric Dyson who will discuss the significance of the march and how its legacy lives on in the present day. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. The event takes place in the West Dining Room, Madison Bldg. (101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC, 20540). Many other activities are being planned throughout the year.

Leonard Freed (American, 1929-2006) began making photographs in 1954 and joined Magnum Photos as a full-time member in 1972. He photographed extensively in Germany, Holland, Italy, and Israel, and published numerous books and photo-essays. It was, however, his coverage of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s that brought him the most acclaim. Getty Publications reissued his book Black in White America, first published in 1967/68, in 2010. Freed's photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Julian Bond is a social activist and civil rights leader as well as a writer, teacher, and lecturer. While a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and was elected to both houses of the Georgia legislature, where he served a total of twenty years. He was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1998 to 2010 and is professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

Michael Eric Dyson is a widely published writer, media commentator, and professor of sociology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of sixteen books, including April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America and I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.

Paul M. Farber is a scholar, currently completing his doctorate in American culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently a visiting instructor of Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.


 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Bill Eppridge: 50 Years of Photojournalism


June 5, 1968. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel (Standing at the podium in the Ambassador Hotel Ballroom. Kennedy was just finishing his California primary victory speech and was moments away from walking into the kitchen where he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan.)
Photograph by Bill Eppridge/LIFE/©TimeInc.

 
Keynote Speaker Bill Eppridge
Friday, January 18, 2013  3:30 - 5 PM
Bill Eppridge, noted photojournalist, lectures on his experiences documenting the 1960s, specifically, Robert F. Kennedy's final campaign and the Beatles first US tour.

 
Museum Exhibit

FOTOmentor Exhibition
Bill Eppridge: 50 Years of Photojournalism
Opening Reception
January 25, 2013 from 6:00-8:00 pm
On View thru January 12 to February 28, 2013
 

One highlight of the upcoming FOTOfusion will be the presentation of the prestigious FOTOmentor Award to Bill Eppridge, a Life Magazine staff photographer during the golden era of photojournalism when the big picture publications supported numerous pages of great photography. In addition to the award, Mr. Eppridge’s work will be featured in this year’s FOTOmentor Exhibition.

Present at some of history’s most famous events, Eppridge’s photographs weave a visual narrative of our times. This exhibition will feature many of his most famous images from the Sixties including the Presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, the Beatles first U.S. visit, the Woodstock Music festival, and his groundbreaking photo essay on heroin addiction in Needle Park.

A self-taught photographer, Bill Eppridge later graduated from the University of Missouri Journalism School. Winning first prize in the National Press Photographers competition earned him internships at Life magazine, where he was named a staff photographer in 1964 and stayed until the magazine folded in 1972. Following assignments with National Geographic, Mr. Eppridge spent 30 years traveling the world as a photographer for Sports Illustrated.

He has been awarded the Joseph A. Sprague Award, The Missouri Journalism Honor Medal and The Lucie Foundation Achievement in Photojournalism. In 2009, Mr. Eppridge was inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame. He has published four books and his work is included in major collections and museums worldwide.

Bill Eppridge was a Life staff photographer during the golden era of photojournalism when the big picture magazines supported pages of great photography. Present at some of history’s most famous events, Eppridge’s photographs weave a visual narrative of our times. The exhibition features his most famous images from the Sixties including the Presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, the Beatles first U.S. visit, the Woodstock Music festival, and his groundbreaking photo essay on heroin addiction in Needle Park.

Mr. Eppridge will present the Rising Star award at the FOTOfusion Awards Dinner on January 23 and will be present at the exhibition’s Opening Reception on January 25.

About the FOTOmentor Award:

Each year, the PBPC Awards Committee selects a photographer to receive the FOTOmentor Award in honor of his/her lifetime achievements in the world of photography. Previous recipients include distinguished photographers Ralph Gibson, Gordon Parks, Sebastiao Salgado, Arnold Newman, Ruth Bernhard, Duane MichaeIs, James Nachtwey, Michael Kenna, David Hume Kennerly and Robert Glenn Ketchum.