"If you have the nerve to walk into the halls of Congress and show them the obscenity that is a child that must wash herself with poison every day, they will call you a child pornographer. They will call the police."

Obscenity: I Know It When I See It

   

Coney Island's endless summer

To create this image, the photographer spent 15 hours suspended in a crane 150 feet above the Coney Island boardwalk

Via Fortune Magazine

New York City's No. 1 destination for thrill-seekers is in the middle of a high-dollar facelift.

By Anne VanderMey, reporter

FORTUNE -- In 1938, at the height of Coney Island's popularity, Fortune reported that the "narrow strip of land, about 800 to 1,000 feet in width and two and a quarter miles long," was valued at about $22 million, or $337 million in today's dollars. But the strip is probably worth more than that: New York City expects the boardwalk to generate $14 billion in the next three decades.

By the numbers:
11 million: Number of visitors to Coney Island last summer. Of those, 640,000 went to Luna Park and Scream Zone for the 26 rides -- the highest amusement park attendance since 1964. Two new rides will open this summer.

$4.5 million: Sale price of the Eldorado Auto Skooters building, purchased this spring by Thor Equities. Thor now owns about seven acres of land in Coney Island, and plans to develop some of its properties into ritzy hotels.

90 mph: Top speed of the Sling Shot, Luna Park's fastest ride. The first roller coaster in the U.S. made its debut in Coney Island in 1884. It cost 5¢ to ride and topped out at 6 mph. The Sling Shot costs $20 a pop.

Source: New York City Economic Development Corp.
This story is from the June 11, 2012 issue of Fortune.



Related: Stephen Wilkes: Day To Night exhibition extened through June 24

IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO...Live Facebook chat with Pulitzer Prize Photojounalist Nick Ut Monday at 2 Eastern

In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as South Vietnamese forces from the 25th Division walk behind them. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. From left, the children are Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim's cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

When photographer Nick Ut snapped the Pulitzer-winning image of Kim Phuc, neither knew what the next 40 years had in store. On Monday, June 4, the AP  will be hosting a live Facebook chat with Nick at 2 p.m. EDT. Start asking your questions now on the AP Facebook page, and Nick may respond during the chat.

Joe McNally: Phan Ti Kim Phuc, 1995



 Joe McNally was the first to photograph Kim Phuc and her baby, for Life magazine

Joe McNally:  "That photo made on that horrible day was made in less than a second. Yet a lifetime spun on its power."

NPR: "Whatever your age, you've probably seen this photo. It's a hard image to forget"
(with audio)


'Napalm Girl' photo from Vietnam War turns 40: David Ono hosts special, 'Witness: Power of a Picture' (video)

The Guardian:  Girl from AP's Vietnam napalm photo finds peace with her role in history

Washington Post Slideshow

Related: It Was Forty Years Ago Today (1968)

PEOPLE GET READY

Jeff Widener

 A lone man stops a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square, 1989 Beijing, China

This recent headline:

"23 years after Tiananmen, China is still paying: The annual crackdown on commemorations of the June 4 anniversary of the brutal suppression of student-led demonstrations based in Tiananmen Square in 1989 Beijing is under way."

reminds us that the right to freedom of expression also requires consistent defense.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to announce "People Get Ready: The Struggle For Human Rights", a major exhibition of  dramatic photographs from significant human rights struggles in history. The exhibition opens with a public reception Friday, July 6, 5 - 7 PM, and continues through September 23, 2012

The belief that everyone, by virtue of her or his humanity, is entitled to certain human rights is fairly new. Its roots, however, lie in earlier traditions and documents of many cultures; however, it took the catalyst of World War II to propel human rights onto the global stage and into the global conscience. 

Yet, every day we still see images of people struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and their right to worship the god of their choice. In the past several months, we have watched as citizens in Egypt and Libya took to the streets to air their politics and struggle for freedom; and here in the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement championed the cause of economic and social rights. The struggle around the world is unrelenting. Dedicated photojournalists have been, and continue to be, there to bring the voices and the images of the people as they rise to fight for basic human rights. (According to the Committee To Protect Journalists, 19 journalists have been killed in 2012 and 179 are currently in jail world-wide.)

Photographers in this exhibition illustrate the power of photography to inform, persuade, enlighten and enrich the viewer's life. Many of the photographs featured in this exhibition not only moved the public at the time of their publication, and continue to have an impact today, but set social and political changes in motion, transforming the way we live and think.

Many global human rights movements are documented in the exhibition, including: Civil Rights in America, Women's Rights, Democracy rights, People's rights, Worker's rights, Gay rights, and other causes. Also included are stark photographs of stalwart defenders of the-then status quo, from segregationists to proponents of sexism.

Photographers in the exhibition include: Eddie Adams, Nina Berman, Margart Bourke-White, Bill Eppridge, Ashley Gilbertson, Yuri Kozyrev, Ken Regan, Steve Schapiro, Paul Schutzer, Grey Villet, Jeff Widener, and numerous other renowned photojournalists.

AP’s ‘napalm girl’ photo is savior, curse for survivor of attack in Vietnam 40 years ago

 

Nick Ut: Villagers Fleeing a Napalm Strike, Village of Trang Bang, Vietnam,

June 8, 1972 © 2004 The Associated

Via The Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, May 31, 2012

"TRANG BANG, Vietnam — In the picture, the girl will always be 9 years old and wailing “Too hot! Too hot!” as she runs down the road away from her burning Vietnamese village.

She will always be naked after blobs of sticky napalm melted through her clothes and layers of skin like jellied lava.

She will always be a victim without a name.

It only took a second for Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image 40 years ago. It communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America’s darkest eras.

Full article here

UPDATED POST HERE

REVIEW SANTA FE 2012

Review Santa Fe, May 31 - June 3, 2012

All events take place at the home of the CENTER offices, IHM Retreat Center, 50 Mt. Carmel Rd, Santa Fe, 87505.

PORTFOLIO VIEWING - FRI, JUNE 1, 5:00-8:00PM

CENTER is pleased to present Portfolio Viewing, a photographic walk through the Review Santa Fe 100 portfolios. Attendees can view contemporary photography and engage in dialogue with the artists as well as the extended photographic community.

EXHIBITS & TOURS - FRI, JUNE 1, 6:00-8:00PM
SAT, JUNE 2, 12:00-2:00PM & 3:00-5:00PM

CENTER will offer docent led tours of the art exhibitions held in conjunction with Review Santa Fe. Tours of the following exhibitions are free and open to the public.
· The Curve special indoor/outdoor exhibition of the 2012 Choice Award winners
· Review Santa Fe Alumni Exhibit
· UNM Graduate Students Exhibit
· Spooky Little Landscapes, an installation in a haunted hallway of the historic monastery.
· Special guest Billy Hunt’s Scream Portraits with the Scream-o-Tron 3000 - a volume based camera.
· Special guest Axle Contemporary, an innovative vehicle for arts distribution.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PANEL DISCUSSION - SUN, JUNE 3, 10:30AM-12:30PM
Join us for a panel discussion on Photography’s Cultural Impact moderated by the Museums Curator of Photography, Katherine Ware, DCA, at the New Mexico Museum of Art. Panelists include: Keith Jenkins, Senior Multimedia Producer, NPR; Verna Curtis, Curator of Photography, Library of Congress; Denise Wolff, Editor, Book Program, Aperture; and Kathleen Hennessy, Exhibit Director, PhotoPhilanthropy.

Full event schedule here.

Three War Photographers: Feel Fear, Keep Going

When other people ran from danger, they ran toward it. They went into battle armed with nothing but courage. They experienced fear — and they kept going. These are war photographers.

MEMORIAL DAY 2012

©Eric Smith: Funeral for Iraq War Soldier, Lake Orion, Michigan,2006

A link for reflection on this Memorial Day:


BEDROOMS OF THE FALLEN

"These bedrooms once belonged to men and women who died fighting in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These fallen men and women were blown up by IEDs, RPGs, hand grenades and suicide bombers. They were shot down in ambushes and by snipers. They died in helicopters, in humvees, and in tanks. It all took place thousands of miles away from home, and the country they fought to defend.

The purpose of this project is to honor these fallen – not simply as soldiers, marines, airmen and seamen, but as sons, daughters, sisters and brothers – and to remind us that before they fought, they lived, and they slept, just like us, at home." Click to view


See Also:

  "As Memorial Day Nears, a Single Image That Continues to Haunt"

                 Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery

                Monroe Gallery of Photography: Memorial Day, 2011
         
                                                                      Memorial Day, 2010

MINE: Jonathan Blaustein Exhibit

Icicles-photograph by Jonathan Blaustein

New Mexico Arts:
CENTENNIAL PROJECT SPACE
PRESENTS

 
MINE
JONATHAN BLAUSTEIN

OPENING: FRIDAY MAY 25 5-7PM
Closing: July 6, 2012

54 1/2 East San Francisco Street, Suite #2 (Above Haagen Dazs)

Jonathan Blaustein, the Taos-based artist, will be debuting his new conceptual project "MINE" at the NM Arts Centennial Project Space on Friday, May 25th , 2012.

For "MINE," Jonathan spent four seasons mining natural resources on his property in Northern New Mexico, and then brought the harvested objects and animals into his studio to photograph as temporary sculptures. The goal was to objectify Nature and present it as a commodified good in the 21st Century. In the Centennial Project Space, Mr. Blaustein will be exhibiting the photographs, along with a new sculpture, as a site-specific installation.

Contact: Eileen Braziel 505-699-4914
http://eileenbraziel.com/pages/projects.html

 braziel2@mindspring.com

The state of the world's human rights

Amnesty International has just released the 2012 report The State of the World's Human Rights.

A watershed year for activism

"2011 was a truly tumultuous year. Millions of people took to the streets to demand freedom, justice and dignity – some of them securing memorable victories.
Successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt early in the year ignited protests across the region and then the world, stretching from Moscow, London and Athens in Europe, to  Dakar and Kampala in Africa, to New York, La Paz and Cuernavaca in the Americas, to Phnom Penh and Tokyo in Asia.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the pent up grievances and demands of a rising generation exploded onto the streets, sweeping aside or threatening the survival of autocratic regimes that had ruled with iron fists for decades and had seemed invincible.
Inspired by these events, people elsewhere in Africa also risked reprisals by protesting against their desperate social and economic conditions and expressing their desire for political freedoms.
In Europe and Central Asia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, people repeatedly challenged injustice and violations of their rights. In some cases, governments responded by stepping up already stifling levels of repression. The autocratic regimes in several of the successor states to the Soviet Union, for example, strengthened their grip on power by crushing protests, arresting opposition leaders and silencing dissenting voices.
The demand for human rights also resounded across the Americas – on the streets, in national courts, and in the Inter-American system. The calls for justice from individuals, civil society organizations and Indigenous Peoples gained strength, frequently bringing people into direct confrontation with powerful economic and political interests.
At the heart of many of these conflicts were economic development policies that left many, particularly those living in poverty and marginalized communities, at increased risk of abuse. Many forms of discrimination also continued to engender a sense of injustice that sparked and were reflected in protests around the globe.
All these events and trends are reflected in the Amnesty International Report 2012, which documents the state of human rights in 155 countries and territories in 2011 – the year that Amnesty International celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The report highlights the endemic failure of leadership at a local and international level to protect human rights. It shows that the response of the international community to human rights crises was often marked by fear, prevarication, opportunism and hypocrisy. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the Middle East and North Africa, with markedly different responses to government crackdowns on mass protests across the region.
The failure in leadership was also apparent as governments continued to exploit legitimate concerns over security or high crime rates to justify or to ignore abuses by their own security forces, and failed to hold business corporations to account for their impact on human rights.
As Amnesty International moves into its sixth decade, this report bears witness not only to the plight of those living in the shadow of human rights violations, but also to those who are inspired to take action, often at great personal risk, to secure human rights and dignity for all."

--Amnesty International

Related Exhibition - "People Get Ready" The Struggle For Human Rights"
Monroe Gallery of Photography
July 6 - September 23, 2012