War Photography: Movie vs Reality

Via The Real Frame: War Photography on Screen - The Real Frame

May 21, 2024 by David Butow David Butow –

As if the political tension in the United States couldn’t get any higher, this spring a new movie depicting a full-scale, near-future civil war in the country is filling theaters and drawing good reviews. The film, “Civil War”, directed by Englishman Alex Garland, (“The Beach”, “Ex Machina”), imagines that the country is ruled by a quasi-dictator serving his third term as president. The opposing side is comprised of a well-organized and equipped army of rebels (called the “Western Alliance”), that is on the move to Washington, D.C. to remove him from power.

The main point of the movie is, I think, to force audiences to confront the possibility, however remote, that something like this could actually happen. The U.S., despite illusions of “exceptionalism,” is fundamentally no different from any other empire that can break down and/or break apart. This is big stuff, but the POV of this terrible scenario is told through the narrow experiences of a group of four journalists, principally two still photographers played by Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny.

It’s rare that photojournalists are the main protagonists in a film, they’re usually quirky side characters like Dennis Hopper’s idiosyncratic portrayal of a half-crazed Vietnam War photographer in “Apocalypse Now.” But putting them in the center of the plot requires detail of their working habits, and more importantly, into the emotional and ethical challenges they face as they make their way through one violent situation after another. The whole raison d’être of them being there is questioned. Are they after the thrill or some greater good? What is the role of journalistic observers in conflict? I can’t say those questions are deeply examined but they are certainly put up on the metaphorical blackboard (or video projector if you prefer).

If you haven’t seen the film but might go, be aware there is a lot of violence depicted, sometimes rather realistically and without the heavy music and other mood overlays we’re used to in Hollywood movies. I found this starkness jarring, but effective. Another thing I thought the film did rather well was show how quickly things can happen, often when you’re not expecting them, and also how chaos and semi-normalcy can exist in proximities much closer than you might expect.

Conversely, I thought there were some things about the journalists the filmmakers definitely got wrong, but how many movies have I seen where the main characters are lawyers, doctors, cops or soldiers? I imagine that people in those professions, who are used to being depicted on screen, don’t usually overanalyze every misleading detail. But the photojournalistic community, never shy about taking itself seriously, and with a rare spotlight on its profession, has had a lot to say about “Civil War.”

The best commentary I’ve seen is in the video here. It features a thoughtful interview with photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Peter van Agmatel, Ron Haviv and John Moore. These four have about as much experience covering conflicts as any photographers working today, and they are all highly intelligent and deeply reflective about those experiences. In addition, the photographer Mohamed El Masri, speaking with the assistance of a translator, describes the specific danger and challenges with covering the war in Gaza.

They’ll tell you what they thought of the movie, but more important, how they think about the role of the press, and what it is really like to witness, record and communicate terrible acts of violence.

Musee Magazine: THE MOVIES | MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

 Via Musee Magazine

March 21, 2024

Sid Avery/mptvimages: Audrey Hepburn On Her Bike With Pet Dog, 

Paramount Studio Lot, Hollywood, 1957

"The Movies at the Monroe Gallery of Photography is a visual treat for anyone from the most hardened film buff to the casual moviegoer. The sheer breadth of iconic images will dazzle the eyes and inspire the mind, taking visitors back to that first romantic time they laid eyes on the silver screen." - click for full review

View the exhibition here.

'A walk back in time': Monroe Gallery of Photography takes viewers back to classic Hollywood

Via The Albuquerque Journal

March 11, 2024

By Kathaleen Roberts

Francis Ford Coppola directing Marlon Brando.

Jimmy Stewart working on “Harvey.”

James Dean taking a nap in his truck.

Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography is taking viewers back to old movie glamour with photographs from classic Hollywood.

“We wanted to take a little break from some of our more serious exhibitions,” said Sidney Monroe, gallery co-owner. “And this being awards season with the Academy Awards coming up, there’s a great range of materials with the photographers we represent.”

The 45 images feature such Hollywood icons as Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Steven McQueen, Robert Redford, Rock Hudson, Audrey Hepburn and more. The photographs depict them both on and off the set and in studio portraits.

“It’ll be a little bit of a walk back in time,” Monroe said.

Steve Schapiro was the on-set photographer for “The Godfather” (1972).

Marlon Brando and Francis Ford Coppola, “The Godfather,” Steve Schapiro.

Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

“I remember him telling us they were collaborating,” Monroe said. “Coppola’s telling Brando where the camera’s going to come in. It’s an interesting behind-the-scenes moment with an actor and director.”

Photographer Richard Miller captured James Dean sleeping during a break in the filming of “Giant” (1956).

“He’s napping in his truck with his feet up in the window,” Monroe said. “That James Dean was killed shortly after contributed to that icon. (Miller’s) got another one of Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean taking a break.

James Dean takes a break from filming “Giant,” Richard C. Miller, Texas.

Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

“It’s photography that creates images of these bigger than life characters,” he added.

In “Harvey” (1950), James Stewart played a man dubbed crazy due to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend. Life magazine’s Ida Wyman, best known for her images of New York street life, shot Stewart during the filming. Wyman was one of the early female photographers. The field was almost exclusively male when she started during the 1940s.

“She found a lot of work for Life in Los Angeles,” Monroe said.

Sonia Handelman Meyer’s striking 1948 image of the Paramount Theater encapsulates the glitz and glamour of the movies.

“We’ve got a beautiful photograph of the marquee.” Monroe said. “The movies (functioned) as an escape from hard times.”

Tony Vaccaro’s on-set shot of Federico Fellini directing 1960s “La Dolce Vita” reveals the old school cameras used in the production.

Fellini on the set of “La Dolce Vita,” Tony Vaccaro, Italy.

Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

“The director’s stepping in,” Monroe said. “To me, it looks like he’s telling the actress how to pose.”

Ocean’s Eleven” cast, Sid Avery/mptv images

Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Sid Avery’s photograph of the 1960 “Ocean’s 11” cast features Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford, among others.

“Now there’s been I don’t know how many remakes or new versions have been made,” Monroe said. “We actually had that picture in the gallery in New York when the first remake was being made. Julia Roberts came in and bought it as a gift for the director (Steven Soderbergh.)”

'THE MOVIES'

WHEN: Through April 14

WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe

MORE INFO: monroegallery.com, 505-992-0800

Open House Reception for "The Movies"

 

Please join us on Saturday, February 17 from 4-6 pm as we roll out the red carpet for the new exhibition "The Movies". 

Free and open to the public.

Preview the exhibition here.

New Exhibition: The Movies - and Flying With Michelle Yeoh

 

The opening image in the new exhibition "The Movies" is Joe McNally's stunning photograph of actress Michelle Yeoh suspended from a helicopter over the iconic Hollywood sign.

On a 2002 Jimmy Kimmel interview session, Michelle spoke about "flying" with Joe McNally as a stunt over the Hollywood sign, for a story in the National Geographic.

Joe McNally wrote about the making of this photograph on his blog, here.

"Jimmy Kimmel dryly observed that I should have been arrested for doing this to her. She recalls being very cold. I recall her being absolutely magnificent, hanging off those wires, just across from me, as I hung from the other skid."

The Movies is on exhibit through April 14, 2024. Join us for a public reception open house on Saturday, February 17, 4-6 pm.

‘The Godfather’: Capturing the Corleones Through the Lens of Photographer Steve Schapiro

 

Via Collider

"The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. And with the original film celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Paramount Pictures is releasing a special anniversary edition of the entire trilogy on 4K Ultra HD on March 22. Ahead of the release, Collider has gotten an exclusive look at some of the bonus content available with the 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition and the re-released trilogy. You can now take a look inside the film and behind the scenes with the late, legendary photographer Steve Schapiro who captured several stunning and intimate moments on the set of The Godfather in 1971.

Schapiro passed away earlier this year, but his legacy continues on through the photos he took. He captured many incredible images during his lifetime, including several iconic shots from the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. In the 1970s, he was hired by Paramount Pictures as their on-set photographer. He would go on to immortalize scenes within movies like The Godfather, Chinatown, and Taxi Driver, as well as exclusive off-camera moments of actors and crew members at work. In the behind-the-scenes featurette, which you can watch below, Schapiro discusses some of his favorite shots from his work on The Godfather." --Collider

STAR GLOW: Sid Avery Captured Young Hollywood Shining with Health and Success

 

 

Steve McQueen in his 1957 Jaguar XKSS  ©mptv

Via The Albuquerque Journal
By Kate McGraw / For the Journal on Fri, Feb 1, 2013

 

 

There is a wistful melancholy about viewing the photographs that Sid Avery took during Hollywood’s most recent golden age, the 1940s to 1960s. Audrey Hepburn has bicycled up to the camera to show off her rather smug Cairn terrier. Steve McQueen is admiring his new pistol, as well as his new Jaguar. Marlon Brando has stopped playing his bongo drums long enough to give the photographer a pensive pose. Elizabeth Taylor is stretching her shoulders into the sun on the set of “Giant.” Rock Hudson has stepped out of the shower and gleefully grabbed a ringing phone – he looks very gay, in every sense of that overused word.

Marlon Brando, At Home With Bongos, 1955

©mptv

Dean Martin, like his contemporaries, is happy and self-satisfied as he readies a song for recording. All of them are shining with health and youth and success, with not a thought for any disease or age that might lie ahead. Only Frank Sinatra looks slightly wary, as if he sensed perhaps, on the edge of the frame, some intimation of mortality.

Frank Sinatra with camera, Capitol Records

©mptv

These and other photographs by the late Hollywood photographer Sid Avery, fill a major exhibition opening today at Monroe Gallery of Photography on Don Gaspar. The exhibition, which will be up through March 24, is being opened concurrent with the publication of a new book: “The Art of the Hollywood Snapshot.” Avery’s son Ron, curator and archivist of his father’s work, will attend the public reception.

Elizabeth Taylor Sunning Herself on the Marfa, Texas Set of "Giant"

©mptv

Monroe Gallery of Photography, owned by Sidney and Michelle Monroe, specializes in classic black and white photography with an emphasis on humanist and photojournalist imagery. The gallery features work by more than 50 renowned photographers and also represents a select group of contemporary and emerging photographers. The Avery show, of which all prints are for sale, is a major coup, Sidney Monroe said. “He was one of the greatest names in Hollywood photography in the 1950s and ’60s,” Monroe said.
The book, he added, “is a sumptuous, long-overdue tribute to Avery’s prolific talent.” The text of the book was written by Ron Avery. It was edited by Tony Nourmand and additional text was written by Alison Elangasinghe and Bruce McBroom. The design is by Graham Marsh.


Avery (1918 – 2002) was born in Akron, Ohio, and introduced to photography when he was 7 years old. By the time he was 20, he had begun to photograph celebrities in nightclubs for fan magazines. In 1939, at 21, he opened his own Hollywood studio for portraiture and publicity photographs.   From 1941 to 1945, Avery was assigned to the Pictorial Service in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in London and Paris. In London, the young man supervised the Army’s official photographic history of the war.


In 1946, Avery re-established his studio in Hollywood, where he got celebrity portrait assignments from Life magazine and the Saturday Evening Post. He also became the photography editor of Photoplay, the movie magazine of the time. In 1947, while he was continuing to contribute to numerous magazines, he formed Avery and Associates to photograph commercial accounts. Avery directed television commercials and developed innovative special effects.


In 1985, Avery retired from directing and producing TV commercials to begin assembling the Motion Picture and Television Photographic Archive, which many regard as his greatest legacy. The foundation’s purpose was to preserve, document and exhibit the work of notable photographers.


His own archive, called mptvimages, now has more than a million historic Hollywood images on file and is recognized as one of the great archives of Hollywood imagery. Ron Avery runs the archive today. The new book was created entirely from its depths and includes never-before-seen pictures, contact sheets and other materials.


Avery was best known for capturing the private moments of legendary Hollywood celebrities like Taylor, Hudson, James Dean, Brando, Humphrey Bogart and Hepburn, who were showcased in his book, “Hollywood at Home.” He was the only photographer to shoot both the original 1960 cast of “Ocean’s Eleven” and the cast of the 2001 remake, recreating his iconic group shot around a pool table. He believed in capturing moments.


Avery taught at the University of California at Los Angeles and lectured at several other institutions and at museums. His own works are included in numerous museums and private collections.


Sid Avery died in 2002 at age 84. His work, however, lives on – and in that way, so do his subjects.

If you go WHAT: Sid Avery: “The Art of the Hollywood Snapshot”
WHEN: Today through March 24; opening reception 5-7 p.m. today.
Coincides with the publication of the new book, “The Art of the Hollywood Snapshot”
(The exhibition contunues through March 28, 2013)
WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar
CONTACT: (505) 992-08

SPECIAL FILM FESTIVAL EXHIBIT FOR BRIAN HAMILL

Brian Hamill: Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, 59th Street Bridge, New York, 1978, "Manhattan"

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to welcome Brian Hamill for a very special exhibit in conjunction with the Santa Fe Film Festival, which takes place October 22 - 24. There will be a public reception with Brian Hamill on Friday, October 22, 5-7 PM at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

On exhibit will be a selection of Hamill's photographs from the sets of  movies, including Raging Bull, Annie Hall, and Manhattan. Additionally, an exclusive series of intimate photographs of John Lennon will be on exhibit, coinciding with the anniversary of what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday and the screening of LENNONNYC at the Santa Fe Film Festival October 23. (Brian Hamill will introduce the film.)

Brian Hamill: Robert DiNiro,"Raging Bull", 1979

Additionally, Monroe Gallery has curated an exclusive exhibit of photographs from the sets of classic movies for the festival venue, Center for Contemporary Arts.

Steve Shapiro: Homage, The Godfather

Brian Hamill was born in Brooklyn, NY and studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In the late 1960s, Hamill began a career as a photojournalist covering the Rock & Roll scene as well as the boxing world. He also worked as an assistant to several top fashion photographers. In the early 1970s he traveled to Northern Ireland to photograph the troubles there, and widened his scope into unit still photographer jobs on movie sets. Since then he has worked as a unit still photographer on over seventy-five movies including twenty-six Woody Allen films, resulting in the much acclaimed coffee table photo book entitled “Woody Allen At Work: The Photographs of Brian Hamill". Hamill’s work has also appeared in numerous other books, publications and exhibitions including a one-man show at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1995.

Steve Schapiro: Robert DiNiro, Taxi Driver, 1975 (Enlarged Contact Sheet)

More about the Santa Fe Film Festival here.

RICHARD CRUMP MILLER: August 6, 1912 - October 15, 2010

Richard C. Miller James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a break from filming "Giant"

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Richard C. Miller. Miller was an American photographer best known for his vintage carbro prints, photos of celebrities, and work documenting the building of the Hollywood Freeway.

Photographer Richard C. Miller poses on a shoot with model Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1946. He would later photograph her again more than a decade later, when she was known as Marilyn Monroe, on the set of "Some Like It Hot."

Richard Miller's interest in photography began when he was a child and toyed with his father’s 3¼x4¼ folding roll-film camera.  His passion for photography led to his increase in knowledge about established photographers, and when he found out Edward Weston was moving nearby he went over to introduce himself. The rest was history. (See more of Miller's biography here.)

There was a resurgence of interest in Miller's photography in spring 2009, when a collection of his images was shown alongside the work of Paul Outerbridge at the J. Paul Getty Museum.  (See the Los Angeles Times article about selections for the exhibit here.) Monroe Gallery of Photography began to represent his work that same year, and featured his photographs from the making of "Giant" at Photo LA in January, 2010.


Read the Los Angeles Times obituary here.

Listen to Richard C. Miller in an interview "Breakthrough Photographer" with Patt Morrison on 89.3 KPCC, recorded on April 2009 and aired 3 July 2009, here.

See more of Richard C. Miller's photographs here.

Richard C. Miller: James Dean besides his car during the filming of "Giant"

55 YEARS AGO: JAMES DEAN DIED

Richard C. Miller: James Dean besides his car during the filming of "Giant"

En route to compete in a race in Salinas, James Dean was killed in a highway accident on September 30, 1955.

James Dean was a legendary hero with a legendary story; live fast and die young. For over half a century, he has captured the world with his casual style, unflinching look and rebel attitude. James Dean has defined the essence of cool and without-a-cause for generations. His star continues to shine brighter and brighter.


Never has there ever been, never will there ever be. The one, the only, James Dean. (See the official James Dean site here.)

James Dean was a photographer's dream subject, resulting in many now-iconic images.

Sid Avery: James Dean on the set of "Rebel Without A Cause", 1955

Richard C. Miller worked for This Week, Liberty, Family Circle, Parents, American Weekly, Colliers, Life, and Time; as well as documenting Hollywood. For seven decades, he made a living working for North American Aviation and later as stringer for Globe Photos, which kept him circulating in the universe of stars; and he covered more than seventy films.


His first on-location assignment was for Giant (1955), where his job was to shadow James Dean. When Dean died, many pictures of him were sold, becoming iconic images since he and Dean had developed a close relationship based on a mutual interest in Porsches and photography.
 
 

Richard C. Miller: James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a break from filming "Giant"

OCTOBER IN SANTA FE

Ernst Haas: New Mexico, 1952  vintage chromogenic print  10 x 8 inches

Autumn has almost officially arrived and so will cooler weather. October arrives in full golden glory as aspen trees display their glowing fall colors, usually through the middle of the month. The Santa Fe Ski Basin offers a wonderful Fall Scenic Chairlift that is an ideal way to take in the foliage. With highs averaging 67 degrees and lows dipping to 37 degrees, October's crisp, cool weather is ideal for hiking, biking and other outdoor activities.

Monroe Gallery of Photography starts the month with a timely and significant exhibition: "Carl Mydans: The Early Years". There is an opening reception on Friday, October 1, from 5 - 7 PM.

Cafe in Pikesville, Tennessee, 1936 (for the Farm Security Administration) ©Time Inc

Born in Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1907, Carl Mydans’ keen sensitivity and honesty compelled him toward a lifetime of social and historical documentary photography. After working for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, he joined the photographic staff of the Farm Security Administration in 1936. The FSA, as it was familiarly known, was a New Deal agency established during the Great Depression by Franklin Roosevelt designed to combat rural poverty during a period when the agricultural climate and national economy were causing great dislocations in rural life. The photographers who worked under the name of the FSA were hired on for public relations; they were supposed to provide visual evidence that there was need, and that the FSA programs were meeting that need. Roy Stryker, who Mydans described as one of the most important influences in his life, headed the FSA. Stryker hired Mydans, along with several other photographers who were also later to become legendary, such as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and Arthur Rothstein, to document the conditions of people and their surroundings most affected by the Depression.

Carl Mydans: Demonstrators in a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Strike, 1937 (©Time Inc)

Featured in the exhibition is a rare and distinct collection of  prints from the FSA archives, specially selected by Mydans in 1993 from a large body of his work that is owned by the United States government; as well as rare early vintage prints from the archives of LIFE magazine - the actual prints used for LIFE magazine stories. (Watch this blog for more information shortly.)

Mark Edward Harris will also join us that evening to sign copies of the second edition of his book, The Way of The Japanese Bath. A selection of prints from the book, specially printed with rich charcoal tones on washi paper, will be on exhibit.

Mark Edward Harris: the Way of the Japanese Bath

The annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta takes place October 2 - 10. Each day, it fills the skies south of Santa Fe with hundreds of colorful hot air balloons that dazzle the crowds during morning and evening Balloon Glows, Mass Ascensions and an array of contests. It is the largest ballooning event on earth, the most photographed event on earth, and the largest annual international event held in the United States.

For 10 years, the Santa Fe Film Festival took place in early December. In 2010, it moves to October 20 - 24, continuing to feature innovative programing. The festival showcases films made in the Southwest as well as independent American-made narrative films, films made outside the U.S., documentaries and art films celebrating the creative spirit. With a full schedule of workshops, panels, parties, awards and more, the Santa Fe Film Festival has become an exciting and popular film event that appeals to professionals and fans alike. on Friday, October 22, Monroe Gallery is very pleased to welcome acclaimed photographer Brian Hamill for a special reception and exhibition. In the late 1960s, Hamill began a career as a photojournalist and also worked as an assistant to several top fashion photographers. Hamill has worked as a unit still photographer on over seventy-five movies including twenty-six Woody Allen films, resulting in the much acclaimed coffee table photo book entitled “Woody Allen At Work: The Photographs of Brian Hamill” (Harry N. Abrams, 1995). Please join us on October 22, from 5 - 7 PM, to welcome Brian and enjoy his photographs from the movies.

Brian Hamill: Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, 59th Street Bridge, New York, 1978, "Manhattan"

For a full calendar of October events, visit the official Santa Fe Convention and Visitors web site here.

A LOOK BACK AT A FILM THAT LOOKED AHEAD

John Jay: 2001: A Space Odyssey vintage gelatin silver print

The historic Lensic Theater presents a special screening this Friday, September 17, of Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Almost a decade before Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, 2001: A Space Odyssey proved to be one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time.

The film’s special effects, ethereal soundtrack, scientific realism and enduring icons – the giant black monolith and the intelligent computer HAL – influenced directors from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to Sydney Pollack.

Director Stanley Kubrick co-wrote the screenplay with futurist author Arthur C. Clarke. Kubrick refers to 2001: A Space Odyssey as “a mythological documentary.” The discovery of a mysterious monolith by prehistoric man appears to trigger the evolutionary process from primitive ape-man to futuristic space-traveler. As time unfolds, man becomes dwarfed by his own technological creation, leading to a power struggle between man and machine.

Stanley Kubrick Directing

First released to mixed reviews in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey, is now recognized by critics and audiences as one of the greatest films ever made. The opening sequence featuring Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem, Also sprach Zarathustra, is one of the most famous film openings of all time. The musical score also includes Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube waltz, which accompanies the graceful movement of satellites in outer space.

John Jay: 2001: A Space Odyssey vintage gelatin silver print

Related: "Making Movies", an exhibition of photographs from the sets of classic films.

REVIEW: " For anyone interested in the history of this mixed bag of a nation, "American Edge" the museum-quality Steve Schapiro photography exhibition at Monroe Gallery is not to be missed."

©The Albuquerque Journal
June 11, 2010

HISTORY THROUGH THE LENS


By Malin Wilson-Powell
For the Journal

For anyone interested in the history of this mixed bag of a nation, "American Edge" the museum-quality Steve Schapiro photography exhibition at Monroe Gallery through June 27 is not to be missed. The majority of 57 potent black-and-white images are from the tumultuous '60s, the beginning decade of Schapiro's lifetime in photojournalism. Born in New York City in 1944, Schapiro shot his earliest self-initiated documentary essays "Narcotics Addiction in East Harlem" and "Arkansas Migrant Workers" in 1960.

These independent projects brought him assignments from the big picture magazines of the day, including LIFE, Look and Rolling Stone. Schapiro was one of those meddling northerners who went south in 1965 to join the Selma to Montgomery marchers who were seeking the right to register to vote. The photographer heeded local advice to cut his hair and not to wear his leather jacket. Over the five days it took to complete the 54-mile march, the crowd grew from 4,000 to more than 25,000. Armed with his handheld 35 mm camera, Schapiro found the courage in those he documented (and in himself) to join a campaign that was met with overwhelming violence and that resulted in the deaths of two men — the Rev. James Reeb, a white pastor who was beaten to death, and Jimmy Lee Jackson, a black activist who was shot by a police officer.

While there are many differences that divide America's epochal 1960s from today, the similarities are deep enough to lay claim to the current American moment, where "edges" seem to have proliferated and feel ever more vertiginous. Although the '60s was an era when Barack Obama's election to president was an impossible dream, it was a time when many Americans believed they were making inevitable progress toward equality. A "post-racial" society with the end of racism and xenophobia seemed to be in site. More than 40 years later, tolerance seems the impossible dream. Despite our being globalized and electronically linked now, Schapiro's 1964 image of follow-the-leader white men in Florida carrying their "Segregation Forever" sign resonates with up-to-the minute virulence of anti-immigration hysteria, as well as the incendiary and rampant hate speech against our black president.

This exhibition appropriates the title of Schapiro's first and very deluxe monograph published in 2000 by Arena Editions (a now defunct press founded in Santa Fe). More than half of the silver prints in the gallery were first published as art in this book, including the two iconic images chosen for the end papers. On view (and used as the book's front end papers) is the ominous "Robert Kennedy in Berkeley, Calif., 1966," with Kennedy's dark silhouette looming over a sea of faces turned toward him and the sunshine. It is a prescient image of Kennedy's assassination two years later, when his demise left a huge black hole in the American political landscape and psyche.

Robert Kennedy at Berkeley, California, 1966

Also on view (and used as the book's back end papers) is the achingly resonant "Jerome Smith, Mississippi, 1965." No one could ask for a more perfect composition. Smith, a young Civil Rights worker in overalls, is framed in profile by his church doorway in the "thinker's pose," precisely echoing the pose of a pondering Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane as depicted in the church's stained glass window.

Schapiro has always acknowledged his debt to the renowned W. Eugene Smith, the photographer he tried to emulate, as he did Henri Cartier-Bresson. His monograph is dedicated simply to "Smith." Yet, for all his predecessors' greatness, Schapiro's work is not as sentimental as Smith's or as distant as Cartier-Bresson's. Schapiro's work is more self-conscious and feels more embedded in his generation's disorienting times. In light of earlier photojournalists, the tone of Schapiro's work is closer to WPA-era Dorothea Lange and Hungarian-born André Kertész.

Three Men, New York, 1961

In addition to multiple images of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, Schapiro captured many anonymous players who had their moment on the stage of the '60s, such as a bloody student at the Columbia University riots, lonely supermarket parking lot picketers, stoned flower children in Haight Ashbury, and frenzied go-go dancers. These unnamed actors are shot with the same involvement as his celebrity images, including Warhol's factory, the Kennedys' Camelot, James Baldwin, Rosa Parks, Janis Joplin, Ike and Tina Turner, Alan Ginsberg, and Samuel Becket. After popular magazine assignments started to wane, Schapiro began working for both the music and movie industries shooting Hollywood stars on the set, and his celebrity images retain the on-the-road grit of his photo journal essays.

Midnight Cowboy, New York,1969

Schapiro photographs are black-and-white silver prints (in limited editions of 25) and the magical emergence of images from negatives with wet chemicals darkroom, before transition to the now-dominant flat-screen digital technology. The tremendous power of his work reminded me of a very recent symposium (April 22) organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Thirteen leading American artists, curators and critics were invited to address the rather silly question "Is Photography Over," a variation on the old straw dog "Is Painting Dead?" Of course, this is an ever-ready topic raised by institutions and academics that need issues to discuss. But, just as with every other medium an artist chooses to use, yes, the medium is dead. Every medium is dead. It becomes art precisely when the artist breathes new life into it. Fortunately, for those of us who like looking at art, the medium is a tool of the artist and not a ghetto.

Also, if you like Steven Schapiro's photographs, keep your eyes open for the traveling exhibition "The High Road to Freedom: Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968," organized by the High Museum of Art in 2008. Currently on view at the Bronx Museum of Art in New York City, review here.) The exhibition prominently features Schapiro's images documenting the legal end to American apartheid and it is currently "on the road," and, hopefully, like America, a work still in progress.

Exhibition continues through June 27
See the exhibition on-line here.

Read more: ABQJOURNAL NORTH/VENUE: History through the lens http://www.abqjournal.com/north/venuenorth/112255382101northvenue06-11-10.htm#ixzz0qXr0FbUC

JUST PUBLISHED BY TASCHEN: THE GODFATHER FAMILY ALBUM; Photos by Steve Schapiro

An offer you can't refuse.

Steve Schapiro: Homage, The Godfather

"It's dangerous to be an honest man." —Michael Corleone, Godfather III

As special photographer on the sets and locations of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, Steve Schapiro had the remarkable experience of witnessing legendary actors giving some of their most memorable performances. Schapiro immortalized Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton in photos that have since become iconic images, instantly recognisable and endlessly imitated. Gathered together for the first time in this book are Schapiro's finest photographs from all three Godfather films, lovingly reproduced from the original negatives. With contextual essays and interviews covering the trilogy in its entirety, this book from Taschen contains over 400 color and black & white images.

Schapiro's images take us behind the scenes of this epic and inimitable cinematic saga, revealing the director's working process, capturing the moods and personalities involved, and providing insight into the making of movie history.

Previously restricted to 1,000 Limited Edition copies, this is the unlimited trade edition for cinephiles and 'family' members on a budget! More details here.

About the photographer:

Steve Schapiro is a distinguished journalistic photographer whose pictures have graced the covers of Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People, and are found in many museum collections. He has published two books of his work, American Edge and Schapiro's Heroes. In Hollywood he has worked on more than 200 motion pictures; his most famous film posters are for Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver, Parenthood, and The Godfather Part III. His photographs are currently featured in a retrospective exhibition at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, through June 27.

About the editor:


Paul Duncan has edited 50 film books for TASCHEN, including the award-winning The Ingmar Bergman Archives, and authored Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick in the Film Series.