Tuesday, May 3, 2011

50 years later, Freedom Rides still resonate

The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks and six whites left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. They intended to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional.


In the first few days, the riders encountered only minor hostility, but in the second week the riders were severely beaten. Outside Anniston, Alabama, one of their buses was burned, and in Birmingham several dozen whites attacked the riders only two blocks from the sheriff's office. With the intervention of the U.S. Justice Department, most of CORE's Freedom Riders were evacuated from Birmingham, Alabama to New Orleans. John Lewis, a former seminary student who would later lead SNCC and become a US congressman, stayed in Birmingham.
 
 
DESCRIPTION
Joseph Postiglione
(Collection of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute)
The aftermath of a mob attack on a Freedom Ride bus in Anniston, Alabama

CORE Leaders decided that letting violence end the trip would send the wrong signal to the country. They reinforced the pair of remaining riders with volunteers, and the trip continued. The group traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery without incident, but on their arrival in Montgomery they were savagely attacked by a mob of more than 1000 whites. The extreme violence and the indifference of local police prompted a national outcry of support for the riders, putting pressure on President Kennedy to end the violence.

The riders continued to Mississippi, where they endured further brutality and jail terms but generated more publicity and inspired dozens more Freedom Rides. By the end of the summer, the protests had spread to train stations and airports across the South, and in November, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting segregated transportation facilities.  (via CORE)

More: It’s been 50 years now, but there are times when Charles Person still finds it hard to talk about the summer of 1961 without his voice breaking.


Steve Schapiro: Summer of 1965 Freedom Bus Riders

MAY 4: ANNIVERSARY OF KENT STATE SHOOTING



Mary Vecchio grieving over stain student, Kent State, May 4, 1970


"On May 4th, 1970, John Filo was a young undergraduate working in the Kent State photo lab. He decided to take a break, and went outside to see students milling in the parking lot. Over the weekend, following the burning of the ROTC building, thousands of students had moved back and forth from the commons area near to the hill in front of Taylor Hall, demonstrating and calling to an end to the war in Vietnam. John decided to get his camera, and see if he could get an interesting picture. He saw one student waving a black flag on the hillside, with the National Guard in the background. He shot the photograph, and feeling that he now had recorded the moment, wandered to the parking lot, where a lot of the students had gathered. Suddenly, G company of the Ohio National Guard opened fire. John thought they were shooting blanks, and started to take pictures.

A few second later, he saw Mary Vecchio crying over the body of one the students who had just been killed, Jeffrey Miller. He took the picture.

A few hours later, he started to transmit the pictures he had taken to the Associated Press from a small newspaper in Pennsylvania."
©Dirck Halstead, The Digital Journalist

The photograph won him a Pulitzer. To take the picture John used a Nikkormat camera with Tri X film and most of the exposures were 1/500 between 5.6 and f 8.

Note: An altered version of John Filo's famous picture has over the years been published a number of times instead of the real Filo Pulitzer Prize Winner shown on below. The altered version appeared as recently as May 1st, 1995 in the LIFE magazine article, "Caught in time" , page 38. At some point in the early 1970s someone removed a pole that was apparently sticking out of Vecchio’s head. Time has all of it’s articles on line, unfortunately without photos. Life ran the altered image in an article in May, 1995. David Friend, Life’s Director of Photography, attempted to justify this use – he stated that “LIFE did not and does not manipulate news photos. The photo we published was supplied to us by our photo library–the Time-Life Picture Collection….Amazingly, the fence post had been airbrushed out by someone, now anonymous, in a darkroom sometime in the early 1970′s. The picture had run numerous times–without the fencepost, and without anyone taking notice–in TIME (Nov. 6, 1972, p. 23) PEOPLE (May 2, 1977, p. 37), TIME (Jan. 7, 1980, p. 45), PEOPLE (April 31, 1990, p. 117) to name just a few publications. (via http://www.hennemanphoto.com/)



Related:
National Public Radio: "Shots Still Reverberate For Survivors Of Kent State"

"Out in the world, when people talk about the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, they call it "Kent State." But in the small town of Kent, 35 miles south of Cleveland, and on the university campus, they call it "May 4th." The full multi-media article is here.

Listen to John Filo recount the making of the photograph here.

John Filo was reunited with the photograph's subject, Mary Vecchio.

Monday, May 2, 2011

NY Firefighters Gather for News of Bin Laden

Michael Appleton for The New York Times


Via The New York Times Lens Blog

Firefighters Gather for News of Bin Laden

By DAVID W. DUNLAP


Michael Appleton managed to bridge a decade in a single photograph on Sunday night

His perfectly distilled picture showed the firefighters of Ladder Company 4 — which lost seven men on 9/11 — perched together on their aerial ladder, watching a news bulletin in Times Square declaring that Osama bin Laden was dead. Though their backs were to the camera, the men’s body language spoke eloquently, beginning with Firefighter Stassi’s obvious exultation. “Each individual has his own reaction,” Mr. Appleton said. “One is celebrating. Others are about to embrace. They’re tight. They’re close.


“It’s like the weight is off their shoulders, perched up there, enjoying each other’s company, shoulder to shoulder. And it was over very quickly.”

Like most of the best news photographs, Mr. Appleton’s composition was the product of pure luck and the experience — and the sharp eyes — to know what to do when such good fortune comes along. Asked by The Times to get himself to Times Square for President Obama’s announcement on Sunday, Mr. Appleton found a somewhat mellow mood at about 10:30 p.m., as news of the killing was not yet generally known. As the president began to speak, however, the crowd grew larger and more attentive.

“There was a crescendo when the Fire Department showed up,” he said.

Ladder Company 4 — the “Pride of Midtown,” together with Engine Company 54 and Battalion 9 — parked its rig in the middle of Broadway. Mr. Appleton tried to get aboard the truck to photograph the appreciatively cheering crowd. But lots of other onlookers had the same idea until the firefighters chased them off before seating themselves on the ladder.

“They were starting to line up,” Mr. Appleton said. “I looked across street at Bubba Gump’s and I could see there was a second-floor window that would give me the vantage I needed. I envisioned the photo before I went up.”

It took a moment to persuade the manager. In that time, Mr. Appleton feared this precious confluence would simply evaporate. Instead, by the time he positioned himself in the restaurant’s window, there were more firefighters side by side on the ladder. Then it was a matter of waiting for the illuminated zipper across Broadway to display the full message.

Mr. Appleton, 33, has been engaged with this story since it began, when he was assigned by The Daily News to cover St. Vincent’s Hospital and wound up instead with extraordinary pictures of the towers’ collapse.

“My career really started on 9/11,” he said by telephone on Monday, after covering the mayor’s news conference on no sleep whatsoever. “It was my baptism by fire.”

Related: Then and Now: VJ-Day and the death of Osama bin Laden

THEN AND NOW: V-J DAY AND THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN



©Michael Appleton for The New York Times



The news of the death of Osama bin Laden by US Forces has led to a huge spike of hits to our blog post about VJ-Day. Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of a sailor and a nurse kissing amidst the celebrations in Times Square for "Victory over Japan" has become a visual symbol of the joy surrounding the end of World War II. Today, images of celebrations and reactions to the news of Osama bi Laden's death are being published everywhere (the Newseum's daily post of notable front-pages of newspapers from around the world crashed earlier today from overwhelming traffic).

Will a single image come to represent the defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism?

EXHIBITION PREVIEW: COMPOSING THE ARTIST


Richard Avedon, New York, NY 1994
John Loengard: Richard Avedon, New York, NY 1994


THE Magazine
Santa Fe's monthly Magazine of and for the Arts
May, 2011

Composing The Artist
May 6 through June 26
Monroe Gallery of Photography
112 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, 505.992.0800
Reception: Friday, May 6, 5 - 7 PM

There are rarely sufficient words to describe an artist's personality and work. Often it takes a fellow creator to capture the essential nature of the artist. Richard Avedon's severe, black and white images dramatically expose the nature of his subjects. His portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, and mental hospital patients are defining images in the annals of American photography. John Loengard's photo essays for LIFE magazine, which include series on Georgia O'Keeffe and the Shakers, earned him the title of one of America Photo's "one hundred most influential people in photography". in 2005. In 1994, Loengard captured Avedon seated before the clutter of his studio. Loengard's photograph of Avedon, straddling a chair and twiddling his glasses, captures the quiteness of a photographer known for his intense and energized images. On may 6, the Monroe Gallery of Photography will open an exhibition entitled Composing The Artist, where viewers can see Loengarg's image of Avedon in addition to many more photographs of renowned creators. Over 50 images will be shown, capturing iconic artists and writers at work or in portraiture. The short list includes Salvador Dali, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Faulkner, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, and Vladmir Nobokov. In these photographs, the essential personality of the artist is revealed, and an image of the past becomes visual history.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975. Many of the photographs that came out of that war are still etched in our minds


In this March 1965 file photo, hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into a tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border, in Vietnam. (AP Photo/Horst Faas

 



Little has been made of this anniversary. Thanks to TampaBay.com All Eyes Blog.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Andreas Feininger: Nature and the Architect at the National Gallery of Canada


Andreas Feininger, Reflection on a Car, 1980. Gelatin silver print, 40.4 x 50.3 cm; image: 38 x 48.2 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Gift of the Estate of Gertrud E. Feininger, New York, 2009. Photo: Andreas Feininger © AndreasFeiningerArchive.com, c/o Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen


Via artdaily.org

OTTAWA.- Two years ago, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) received an extraordinary donation of 252 exquisite photographs by Andreas Feininger, one of the greatest modernist photographers. Best known for his dynamic urban views of Manhattan and Chicago, Feininger left a legacy on his 1999 death at 93 of 346 Life magazine photo-essays, thousands of photographs and more than 50 publications. Beginning this Saturday, until August 28, visitors to the NGC can enjoy 27 of these remarkable works in Gallery C202b.


"Andreas Feininger's photographs reveal his technical virtuosity and his incisive eye," said NGC director Marc Mayer. "We are grateful to his family for the gift of these important works."

Modernist photographer Andreas Feininger's vast body of work spans a period of nearly six decades. From his dynamic urban views of New York to his extreme close-ups of natural forms, Feininger's work shows his instinct for graphic forms and patterning, and his ability to highlight the sculptural qualities of objects. His urban scenes convey his excitement at the visual complexity of city life, while his macro-photographs of shells and bones, often interpreted through a highly surrealist lens, demonstrate his fascination with the elegant precision of nature.

Feininger's vision is unified by an attraction to the organizing principles behind both constructed and natural forms. After studying at the Bauhaus in Germany, and training as an architect, Feininger worked in Paris and Stockholm before establishing his career in the United States, first as a photographer for the Black Star Picture Agency and then with Life magazine. He was technically inventive, devising his own super-telephoto and super-close-up cameras. He even built his own radio in 1927, seen in his self-portrait of that year. This selection of 27 photographs reveals the keen insight of a photographer who never ceased his quest for order and beauty in the world around him.

Several other exquisite photographs by Feininger will be included in the exhibition Made in America 1900-1950. Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada, opening this Fall.

Friday, April 29, 2011

BILL EPPRIDGE EXHIBIT AT FAIRFIELD MUSEUM

Fairfield Museum IMAGES

IMAGES 2011: The 3rd Annual Fairfield Museum Photography Exhibition

Featuring a Retrospective of Award-Winning Photojournalist Bill Eppridge
May 1 to August 28, 2011


IMAGES is an annual juried photography exhibition hosted by the Fairfield Museum to celebrate the exceptional work of talented regional photographers. The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity for artists to connect with prominent collectors, gallery owners, fellow photographers and the public.


This year the Fairfield Museum will also feature a retrospective exhibition celebrating legendary photojournalist Bill Eppridge, whose storied career spans over fifty years. His iconic collection of work for magazines such as LIFE, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated captures many of the most important moments in American political and cultural history.

Preview Gala Tickets and Exhibit Programming here.


The Chaney family as they depart for the burial of James Chaney, Meridian, Mississippi, August 7, 1964
The Chaney family as they depart for the burial of James Chaney, Meridian, Mississippi, August 7, 1964.

Photograph © Bill Eppridge.
All rights reserved.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Top Ten Galleries Every Photographer Should Visit

April 27, 2011


Top Ten Galleries Every Photographer Should Visit

Via The Photo Life
Written by Rachel LaCour Niesen

Call me old school. Go ahead, it’s true. I love seeing photographs in galleries. Not the galleries confined to a computer. I’m talking about the ones with walls.

There’s just something magical about stepping into a gallery and approaching large photographs hanging around you. It’s like meeting a kindred spirit for the first time; by standing face-to-face, you have a chance to savor their subtle nuances, to get lost in the rich hues of their eyes. Above all, you feel comfortable exploring, discovering and learning.

Sometimes, my palms sweat as I walk into a favorite gallery and glimpse a new exhibit. Rounding the corner of Canal and Chartres in New Orleans, I instinctively look up, toward the worn wooden sign and bold red door marking the entrance to A Gallery for Fine Photography. It was the first real photography gallery I visited, when I was a high school student discovering my passion for photojournalism. When I’m in New Orleans, A Gallery is my first stop. The space always draws me in, like the magnetic force of first love.

When I view photographs in a gallery, I don’t just see them. I experience them. It’s like full immersion in another culture, and it can’t be matched by a computer.

For years, I’ve been visiting galleries, cataloging my favorites. Here are my must-see galleries for photographers. I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by each of them and get lost for awhile. Please share your favorite galleries in the comments section. I look forward to finding some new places to visit!

1. A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans, LA

Located in an historic 19th-century building at 241 Chartres in New Orleans’ French Quarter, A Gallery houses a dazzling collection of historic photographs spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Set up like a living room, or informal Parisian Salon, the gallery immediately makes visitors feel at ease. Poke around, walk upstairs, and stare at images of Ernest Hemingway and Louis Armstrong. The singular vision and unforgettable personality of gallery owner, Joshua Mann Pailet, are evident around every corner. That’s precisely why this space feels like home to me.


A Gallery New Orleans


A Gallery New Orleans


2. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM



 

Located just off the historic city center, The Plaza, the Monroe Gallery specializes in classic black-and-white photography with an emphasis on humanist and photojournalist imagery. From Robert Capa’s pioneering photojournalism to Joe McNally’s contemporary coverage of New York city firefighters, the Monroe gallery is a living, breathing archive of photojournalism. Plus, the owners are casual, friendly and willing to strike up a conversation about their passion for photography.


3. Polka Galerie, Paris, France


Polka Galerie Paris France


The Polka Galerie is located in my favorite Parisian neighborhood, The Marais, and is actually part of three outlets dedicated to photography. The physical space is supplemented by a beautiful, quarterly magazine and a website showcasing exhibits. The founder and owner of Polka is Alain Genestar, former editor-in-chief of Paris Match, which is one of the most powerful weekly magazines in the France and is renowed for its use of photographs.

4. Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY

Formerly a photographer and founder of The Center for Photography in Woodstock in 1977, Howard Greenberg is one of a small group of gallerists, curators and historians responsible for the creation and development of the modern market for photography. The Howard Greenberg Gallery, which was founded in 1981, was the first to consistently exhibit photojournalism and ‘street’ photography, which are now accepted as important components of photographic art.

5. International Center for Photography, New York, NY

Nestled in the heart of New York City, the International Center of Photography is dedicated to exploring the photographic medium through dynamic exhibitions of historical and contemporary work. More than a gallery, ICP is a haven for education and scholarship. ICP also holds the famed “Mexican Suitcase,” which comprises a rare collection of rediscovered Spanish Civil War negatives by Capa, Chim, and Taro.

6. The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

The world-renknowed George Eastman House combines the world’s leading collections of photography and film with the stately style of the Colonial Revival mansion that George Eastman called home from 1905 to 1932. This is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the world’s oldest film archives, which originally opened to the public in 1949.

7. Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is devoted to the enhancement of the public’s appreciation of photography through the exhibition and sale of 20th Century and Contemporary Fine Art Photography. Since the gallery’s inception, exhibitions have embraced a diverse range photographers from Edward Weston to Berenice Abbott; Man Ray to Henri Cartier-Bresson.

8. Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA

Founded in 1980, the Robert Klein Gallery is devoted exclusively to fine art photography. The gallery deals with established photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries including those who are considered masters such as: Muybridge, Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, Brassai, Cartier Bresson, Helen Levitt, Yousuf Karsh, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston and Walker Evans. The exhibition schedule is also designed to introduce new photographers to the public. Recently exhibited contemporary artists include: Julie Blackmon, Bill Jacobson, Jeff Brouws, Cig Harvey, Laura Letinsky, Wendy Burton and Chip Hooper.

9. Photo Eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

If you’re into collecting photo books, especially rare and out-of-print volumes, don’t miss Photo Eye! Simply put, it’s a treasure trove of photo books. You’ll be consistently surprised every time you step into this gallery a few blocks off Canyon Road. Dealing in contemporary photography, the gallery represents both internationally renowned and emerging artists.

10. Peter Fetterman, Santa Monica, CA

Peter Fetterman set up his first gallery over 20 years ago. He was a pioneer tenant of Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica Center of the Arts, when it opened in 1994. His gallery has one of the largest inventories of classic 20th Century photography. Diverse holdings include work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro, Willy Ronis, and André Kerstez. Peter and his colleagues are committed to promote awareness and appreciation of photography in an intimate, user-friendly environment.


Link to article and comments here.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

MOMENTS OF OUR TIME

Via wayneford's posterous

Notes and thoughts on the photography that I am looking at...
April 27, 2011


 Moments of Our Time: Photographs that Define Modern History


 

Above Execution in Saigon, 1968. (©AP Eddie Adams/Courtesy of Monroe Gallery).


Over the past 100 years, the photograph has formed an important part of both our social and cultural history, with many images becoming icons of our time and often forming the the impetus to set political social changes in motion. Moments of Our Time at London’s Atlas Gallery brings many of these key images together, in what could be considered a sequel to the 2010 exhibition, Faces of Our Time.


Amongst the exhibitions many recognisable photographs, are Robert Capa’s (1913-1954) D-Day, Omaha Beach, Normandy, 6th June 1944, an image that places us, the viewer, at the very heart of the action, as the soldiers struggle to reach the beachhead through a raging surf, whilst under the threat of enemy fire, a photograph that clearly reflects Capa’s credo, ‘...if your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.’

Whilst American Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006), received a Pulitzer Prize for his iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken in 1945, five days after the U.S. Marine corp landed on Iwo Jima. When asked about the photograph later in life, Rosenthal replied, ‘I took the picture, the Marines took Iwo Jima.’


Marines of the 28th Regiment of the 5th Division Raise the American Flag Atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 1945

Above U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Friday, Feb. 23, 1945. (©Joe Rosenthal/AP Photo/Courtesy of Monroe Gallery).


And several decades later it was a different war that took centre stage. On 2 February 1968, Eddie Adams' (1933-2004) photograph Execution in Saigon, South Vietnam, appeared on the front page of The New York Times (and syndicated around the world), a day after South Vietnam’s chief of police, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executed a suspected Viet Cong collaborator. Just seconds before this man looses his life, we are presented with the fear in his eyes, and with the photographs publication, public opinion turned against the Vietnam War, reflecting the power of the photograph.

The attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001, was captured by Magnum photographer, Thomas Hoepker. His Twin Towers, Brooklyn, NYC, 9/11, 2001, depicts an almost idyllic scene, with a group of young people sitting and chatting in the late afternoon summer sunshine, as smoke billows from the ground zero, raising questions over about onlookers reactions to the scenes unravelling before their very eyes.

Whilst many of the images in this exhibition are by notable photographers, such as Capa, Rosenthal, Adams, and Hoepker, and others including, Ian Berry, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Elliott Erwitt, Stuart Franklin, Leonard Freed, Burt Glinn, Yevgeny Khaldei, Alberto Korda, Josef Koudelka, Don McCullin, Mark Power, Marc Riboud, W. Eugene Smith, Nick Ut, and Abraham Zapruder, works by authors who remain unknown, but whose images are no less poignant are also included.

On the 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, the second such attack on the country. This now iconic image of the attack, depicting what The Times described as a ‘huge mushroom of smoke and dust,’ has become one of the most powerful symbols of the anti-war movement. Whilst the ethereal, almost cinematic image of President John F. Kennedy slumped in the back of his presidential car, and cradled in the arms of Jackie Kennedy, which has been utilised in artworks by contemporary artists Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, is etched on our shared memory of this tragic event.

These photographs, and others in Moments of Our Time, are rarely easy to look at, but are powerful markers of history over the last 100 years, and represent the important place the photograph holds in informing, and setting in motion social and political change.



Moments of Our Time is at the Atlas Gallery, London, until 28 May 2011.


(Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to have provided several key photographs to this exhibition.)