PARIS PHOTO NOVEMBER 18 - 21

Annual photography fair Paris Photo brings together, from November 18th to the 21st, one hundred international galleries and publishers presenting a panorama of the finest examples of photographic expression from the 19th century to the present day.


Paris Photo also turns the spotlight on the Central Europe scene, reveals new talents through awards and competitions and offers a rich programme of events and encounters.

The 14th Paris Photo edition coincides with the biennial “Mois de la Photo”, a month-long photographic event, turning the city into the photography capital of the world in November.

Related: The New York Times - "For November, Paris Is the City of Lenses"

JOE McNALLY: The LIFE Guide to Digital Photography

Time Home Entertainment Inc. recently announced the publication of The LIFE Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need to Shoot like the Pros by Joe McNally. Just in time for the holidays, Joe McNally, one of LIFE's master shooters and the most recent in a long line of distinguished LIFE staff photographers, has prepared a fool-proof guide that covers tips of the trade; step-by-step instruction on focusing, lighting and composition; and features photos from his personal portfolio.


In The LIFE Guide to Digital Photography (256 pages; $29.95), McNally walks readers carefully through the dos and don'ts of shooting digital and concentrates on five fundamentals: light, the lens, design elements, color, and composition. He offers his expert advice on everything from shooting fireworks and family portraits, to telling a story with texture to choosing color or not — framing all discussions with his own personal experiences as a photographer.

Joe says: “The LIFE Guide is just that–a guide. It can take a newbie right from opening the box containing the new digital picture machine right through composition, light, lenses, and color.

I wrote this book for my alma mater, LIFE magazine. What a long strange trip photography is. I shot my first job for the magazine in 1984, and managed somehow to survive editor changes, shifts in format, style, and even the change of the physical size of the magazine to keep shooting for them right through the nineties. Just about 1995 they asked me to become their first staffer in 23 years, which also meant I became the last staff photographer in the history of the magazine, as it is no longer publishing. As I always point out, being the last in a series of 90 staff shooters at this illustrious picture magazine probably means that someone writing the history of this field will probably associate my name with the death of photojournalism:-)" --Joe McNally

Please join us Friday, December 17 for a holiday book signing with Joe McNally, along with a very special exhibit of his photography, during a reception from 5 - 7 PM. Or contact the gallery now to reserve a signed copy.

MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.992.0800


Related: Joe McNally: Faces of Ground Zero

Guardian Newspaper Series: Photographer Steve Schapiro's Best Shot

My Best Shot

Andrew Pulver

©The Guardian, Thursday 4 November 2010

STEVE SCHAPIRO

In 1964, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to shoot René Magritte. There he was inside, sitting on a bench. His wife and dog were with him, and they were surrounded by his pictures. I was doing Magritte, one of my favourite artists, for Life magazine and I only had an hour and half; but for each photograph, Magritte decided to become part of, or connected to, one of his works.

There was a painting of a big rock with a castle, so Magritte lay down on a bench in front of it, with his head on his hat; my photograph then looked like he was dreaming the picture. The one above works because Magritte actually resembles the protagonists in many of his pictures, especially the ones wearing that trademark hat. The challenge – always – is how to make a picture special. If you're working with someone imaginative, an artist operating at Magritte's level, it can turn into a collaboration. In this case, it definitely did. We were all in high spirits. We didn't talk much: our relationship was basically based on smiling. We did another shot of Magritte and this painting, with a hand coming in from the side holding Magritte's bowler hat over his head. It added our own surreal touch.

This was all done with natural light. I prefer that: when you don't have long, some of the energy between you and the subject can be lost if you start fiddling with lights.

At the time, most of Life was in black and white. I do feel it conveys emotion more strongly than colour. When you work for magazines, you often experience this kind of collaborative energy on a shoot. You become very close, but you may never see that person again. I didn't have any contact with Magritte after this, but I was extremely happy to have taken his picture.


Born: New York, 1934.

Studied: With Eugene Smith.
Influences: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt, Eugene Smith, Walker Evans.
High point: "Working with charis-matic individuals: Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Laurence Olivier, Samuel Beckett."
Top tip: "Look at the picture you're going to take, then see how you can make it better."

More of Steve Schapiro's photography here.

More of The Guardian's "Best Shots" here.

Related:  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."

REMINDER: HELP SAVE ELLIS ISLAND THIS SUNDAY, NOV. 7

Stephen Wilkes: Corridor #9, Island 3, Ellis Island

On Sunday, November 7, join the Save Ellis Island Foundation for a very special tour and talk with Stephen Wilkes.


Included will be an illustrated presentation by renowned photographer Stephen Wilkes, who will discuss his work and the personal project that involved photographing the south side of Ellis Island...the inspiration for his poignant book "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom".

For the very first time, since the book was published, Stephen Wilkes visits Ellis Island to present his work, taking us on a journey to our collective past. The event begins at 10:00 am, starting with a fabulous brunch followed by Stephen's presentation and finally a emotional and inspirational walking tour of the unrestored south side Hospital Buildings.

More information and details here.

ELECTION DAY 2010 - PART TWO

Byron Rollins: "Dewey Defeats Truman" ©AP

"Dewey Defeats Truman" was a famously incorrect banner headline on the front page of the first edition of the Chicago Tribune on November 3, 1948. Incumbent United States President Harry S. Truman, who had been expected to lose to Republican challenger and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential race, won the election. A delighted Truman was photographed at St. Louis Union Station holding a copy of his premature political obituary. Only a limited number of the papers are believed to still exist. During the day, the Tribune issued a several editions that began to back off from proclaiming a winner. The headline is a cautionary tale for journalists about the dangers of being first to break a story without being certain of its accuracy. It is also a caution about allowing editorial preference to cloud judgment; the Tribune had been strongly against Truman throughout the campaign.


The story by reporter Arthur Sears Henning also reported Republican control of the House of Representatives and Senate that would work with President Dewey. Henning wrote "Dewey and Warren won a sweeping victory in the presidential election yesterday. The early returns showed the Republican ticket leading Truman and Vice President Alben W. Barkley pretty consistently in the western and southern states" and added that "indications were that the complete returns would disclose that Dewey won the presidency by an overwhelming majority of the electoral vote." As it turned out, Truman won the electoral vote by a 303-189 majority over Dewey and Strom Thurmond (though a swing of just a few thousand votes in Ohio, Illinois, and California would have produced a Dewey victory), and the Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate. Truman was handed a copy of the paper and displayed it to a crowd of well-wishers from his train in St. Louis, Missouri.

In later years, the publishers of the Tribune were able to laugh about the blunder. As the 25th anniversary of the 1948 election approached, the Tribune had planned to give Truman a plaque containing a replica of the erroneous banner headline. However, Truman died on December 26, 1972, before the gift could be bestowed.

deweydefeatstruman.com

Related: Election Day, 2010

Looking Back At The Great 'Life' Photographers

Looking Back At The Great 'Life' Photographers

©National Public Radio
by Claire O'Neill

LIFE really has an unfair advantage when it comes to curating art books. Because, at least in the photography category, they have one of the most extensive, impressive archives from which to cull. For decades the pages of Life were home to the best photographers; and it was just about every amateur photographer's aspiration to be in those pages.

Some of the photos you've seen: Like the sailor kissing the nurse on V-J Day in Times Square. Others you may not know, but can instantly appreciate: Kennedy and baby Caroline, Jackie Robinson rounding third base at the World Series, Picasso painting with light — and in a bathtub.

So add The Great Life Photographers to your list of holiday gift books. The paperback edition of the 2004 visual encyclopedia was released in October and contains 600 pages of Life's best photography. Daunted by the prospect of making an even smaller edit, I asked Barbara Baker Burrows, director of photography at Life books to pick some of her favorites. Her edit and commentary constitute this gallery. But you can see more Life classics on their website.

Alfred Eisenstaedt: Children at a puppet theater, Paris, 1963

Margaret Bourke-White: At the time of the Louisville Flood, 1936

Ralph Morse: Jackie Robinson rounding Third base during World series against the Yankees, 1955

See the slide show here.


Credit: From 'The Great Life Photographers'/Time Inc./Selected and with commentary by Barbara Baker Burrows, Director of Photography

Not the Image I’m usually drawn to…

We would like to share what we found to be a very thoughtful post by Heidi Straube on an aresting image in the current Carl Mydans exhibition.

Not the Image I’m usually drawn to…

October 30, 2010 by heidistraubephotographer


Yesterday I went to the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They’re showing a collection of work by Carl Mydans, a photojournalist who worked for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s, and for Life Magazine during World War II and beyond. The images are all striking….(see some of them here on the Monroe Gallery website.)


The image I was most drawn to is not found on the Monroe Gallery website…I wish it were, because it’s powerful and I’d love for you to see it.

Carl Mydans: A French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation is shaved by vindictive neighbors in a village near Marseilles, August, 1944

It’s a picture from World War II time period. Taken in France, a woman is sitting in a chair having her hair shaved off by another woman, with other women and a man looking on, the women laughing meanly. Apparently they suspect the woman in the chair to be a German spy, and this is their way of handling it.

It’s not the kind of picture that I’m usually drawn to…but what caught my attention in this image was the man in the picture and his expression. He is looking over at the photographer, and the expression on his face is…guilty? embarrassed? He’s been caught between the enjoyment that can be felt when you’re part of a group, belonging…and knowing that this isn’t really a good thing to do. And you see the connection between him and the photographer as he sees himself in the middle of this.

This is the beauty of Carl Mydan’s work and that of other photographers that I admire. A picture that would be powerful because of its subject matter (although not necessarily unusual, as many events like this have been documented in images), has one more element in it that reflects the complexity of human emotions and actions, the reflection of all of us in life, elevating it to that aspect of fine art that I look for, connect with, and aspire to myself.

In this image, Carl Mydans reminds us that things are not always clean and simple. I see in it a reflection of the challenges we meet often in our lives, of having to makes choices that may be confusing to us and require us to dig deeply to make sure that we’re acting in alignment with our values.

Perhaps the man in the image was only feeling badly for that one instant in time when the picture was shot…and then went right back to the jeering. Even so, Carl Mydans captured an instant of emotional recognition, and it is masterful.

By the way, Carl Mydans died in 2004, and there are only two prints made by him of this image known to exist at this time. All prints in this collection were printed and signed by Mydans. My understanding is that his estate does not appear to be interested in actively continuing to print his work; the negatives are now in selected institutions.

©Heidi Straube

The Inner Path of Photography

The exhibition, Carl Mydans: The Early Years", continues through November 21.

ELECTION DAY 2010

Steve Schapiro: "Vote", Selma March, 1965

gelatin silver print

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

George Silk: Children in Halloween costumes running together, Westport, CT, 1960

George Silk: Halloween, Westport, CT, 1960

George Silk became interested in the aesthetic possibilities of the distortions produced in race-finish cameras when he covered the 1959 Kentucky Derby. Photo-timers had been in use since 1951 for athletics, and at the Olympics in 1952 and 1956. Photographs made in these cameras stretched or foreshortened the figures leaving only a tiny vertical slit of the film in focus at the exact finish line. Silk had a portable version made, using a phonograph motor to drive the film past the slit which replaced a conventional shutter. The image produced by the slit conveyed the intensely private moment of the athlete straining in his endeavour to win. The slit camera pictures were quite abstract — Silk said: 'I was thrilled when the prints showed strength, speed, design — originality.' For the tryouts story in Life, 18 July 1960, Managing Editor, Edward K. Thompson ran the slit-camera images as large illustrations alongside straight shots of the winners.

Silk had first tried out his slit camera by photographing his children and their friends dressed in Halloween costumes. A sequence of these colour images appeared as 'Spectacle of Spooks to be wary of on Halloween' in the October 31, 1960 issue of Life.

George Silk  was lovably cantankerous, a larger than life character who would break into `Waltzing Matilda’ at the slightest excuse,” said Bobbi Baker Burrows, a senior Life photo editor, in his 2004 obituary.


In December, 1972, he was in Nepal, shooting an assignment on Himalayan game parks when he received news that the magazine had folded.


According to the 1977 book “That Was the Life,” Silk replied by saying “your message ... badly garbled. Please send one-half million dollars additional expenses.”

HAPPY WORLD SERIES

The World series starts tonight, and over the decades the baseball championship has produced many memorable and iconic sports photographs.

Nat Fein: The Babe Bows Out

I Like to Watch, the Blog of Writer and Editor David Schonauer, has a terrific post about how some of those photographs are made, and how one in particular was "lost" for years.

"Tonight is the opening game of the 2010 World Series, and in honor of that I thought we would take a look at what many people consider to be the greatest baseball picture ever taken, Nat Fein's photo of Babe Ruth biding farewell to fans at Yankee Stadium. the house that he built." Read the full post here.

Ralph Morse: Babe Ruth's Farewell

Related: 50 years Ago Jackie Robinson Steals Home