Tony Vaccaro at AIPAD in New York to tell 100 years of shots

 Via La Voce di New York

May 23, 2022

Anecdotes and curiosities about the famous Italian-American photographer who became a living legend

Francesca Magnani Francesca Magnani

These days, at the AIPAD Photography Show in New York, one of the major international art fairs dedicated to photography, there is a white chair near the wall on which a living legend sits, the centenary Italian-American photographer Tony Vaccaro. Between one work and another, some visitors kneel before him to exchange a few words with him.

Tony is happy to tell anecdotes about his shots and take a selfie with his admirers.

Photographer Tony Vaccaro at AIPAD Photography in New York (Photo by Francesca Magnani)

He always sits in the same place and behind him there is a post-war photo taken in Venice. "One of my favorite images – explains the artist – I was walking in Venice after the end of the war, photographing the whole city. Suddenly I heard the violin playing. In the picture you do not see the man's daughter, she was three years old, and she was sitting next to him to collect the money of passers-by in a hat".

The AIPAD Photography Show brings together 49 galleries from 9 countries and 23 cities in the United States. The exhibitors are all members of the prestigious Association of International Photography Art Dealers which includes the world's leading art photography galleries. This year it takes place in conjunction with Frieze New York, Volta New York and other fairs; Now in its 41st edition, the AIPAD Photography Show is the longest-running exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium and presents to the public a range of works ranging from specimens just offered to the market to museum-quality prints, including contemporary, modern photographs and works of the nineteenth century.

aipad.com

https://www.monroegallery.com

AIPAD : The Photography Show 2022 : Monroe Gallery of Photography

 Via The Eye of Photography

May 20, 2022

Anna Boyiazis, Kijini Primary School students learn to float, swim and perform rescues in the Indian Ocean off of Muyuni, Zanzibar, 2016 Archival pigment print, 30 x 40 inches

 ©Anna Boyiazis, Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

L'ŒIL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
MAY 20, 2022

Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, will present two distinct exhibitions exemplifying the power and immediacy of photojournalism. The first recognizes the new wave of independent photojournalists who are battling situational danger amidst growing public skepticism of the media. The second exhibition features the work of Tony Vaccaro, who has survived the Normandy Invasion and Covid-19, and just recently celebrated his 99th birthday. A highlight is the art-fair premier of Anna Boyiazis‘ World-Press award winning series “Finding Freedom in the Water,” featuring a stunning large format print of “Kijini Primary School students learn to float, swim and perform rescues in the Indian Ocean off of Muyuni, Zanzibar, 2016”. Traditionally, girls in the Zanzibar Archipelago have been discouraged from learning how to swim, largely due to the absence of modest swimwear. But in villages on the northern tip of Zanzibar, the Panje Project (panje translates as ‘big fish’) is providing opportunities for local women and girls to learn swimming skills in full-length swimsuits, so that they can enter the water without compromising their cultural or religious beliefs.

www.monroegallery.com

Booth # 113

The Photography Show presented by AIPAD
May 20 – May 22, 2022
Center415

415 Fifth Avenue, between 37th and 38th Streets, New York City

Nina Berman on Visual Choices: Covering Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones

 Via The Dart Center for Visual Journalism and Trauma

"From the Tigray War in Ethiopia to on-going asymmetric war in Colombia, sexual violence is a reality of conflict around the world. Reporting on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is fraught with ethical issues and the potential for psychological harm to both source and reporter. The Dart Centre is releasing a new resource to deepen journalists’ understanding of CRSV and to help them report on this complex issue ethically and effectively.

Visual choices are a vital part of this. Photographs can be a powerful means of connecting with an audience, but clichéd images can perpetuate stereotypes and in the digital era, live on the internet in perpetuity. 

To help navigate some of these issues, we spoke with documentary photographer Nina Berman, a professor of journalism at Columbia University who has covered conflicts in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and has written on the ethics of photography in conflict and in peacetime. "

BLIND Magazine: The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD

 Via Blind Magazine

May 19, 2022

"On May 19 The Photography Show presented by AIPAD returns to New York City for the first time since 2019. Now in its 41st edition, The Photography Show is the longest-running and foremost exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium.

Although photojournalism has largely been overlooked by the art world, Sid and Michelle Monroe of Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery remain steadfast in their determination to elevate the masters of the form, both present and past. “The role of photojournalists has perhaps never been as vital and important as it is today,” the Monroes say. “By encouraging photojournalists to make fine art prints, their work enters a new realm beyond the temporary, the printed page or a brief appearance in a web article. Exhibiting their work further establishes the images in our collective consciousness and our shared history.”

At The Photography Show, Monroe Gallery will be presenting Gabriela E. Campos’s photograph of Than Tsídéh, 19, of the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo dancing on an empty platform where a statue of brutal Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate was removed from where it once stood in Rio Arriba county, New Mexico, during the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in June 2020.

“The names of conquistadors, like those of Confederate and colonial generals and leaders, have been memorialized as roads, schools, shopping centers, statues, even building names,” the Monroes say. “Americans have tended to ignore old political monuments without thought, or even knowing, of the histories behind them. Campos’s photograph brings awareness and perhaps a shift in consciousness and it confronts the issue of Native histories in America."


Read the full article here.


The Photography Show by AIPAD will be on view at Center415, 415 Fifth Avenue, between 37th and 38th Streets, New York City.

Friday, May 20
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – VIP Early Access Hours
1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – General Admission

Saturday, May 21
11:00a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – VIP Early Access Hours
12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – General Admission

Sunday, May 22
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – VIP Early Access Hours
12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – General Admission

The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD

May 19, 2022

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) will hold the 41st edition of The Photography Show May 20-22, at Center415. Forty-nine of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries will present a range of museum-quality work including contemporary, modern, and 19th century photographs, photo-based art, video, and new media. The opening preview of the Show will take place on May 19.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, will exhibit in booth #113 on the main level of the Show, and will present two distinct exhibitions exemplifying the power and immediacy of photojournalism. The first recognizes the new wave of independent photojournalists who are battling situational danger amidst growing public skepticism of the media. The second exhibition features the work of Tony Vaccaro, who has survived the Normandy Invasion and Covid-19, and just recently celebrated his 99th birthday.

Center415 

415 5th Avenue

(between 37th and 38th streets)

New York, NY 10016

Booth #113  View our exhibition here

Pulitzer Prize Finalists: Staff of The New York Times including Ashley Gilbertson's Nominated January 6 Photograph of Officer Goodman

Via The New York Times

 

Bands of Jan. 6 rioters roamed the Capitol in a menacing hunt for Congressional adversaries of President Trump. Some were thwarted by a Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, who—after being chased up a stairwell—diverted them from a hallway where senators and staff members were scurrying to safety. Throughout the tense encounter, Officer Goodman never drew his gun. (January 6, 2021/Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times)

View selected photographs by Ashley Gilbertson during the Photography Show presented by AIPAD May 20-22 in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #113, Center 415, NYC.

Jeff Widener: "Tank Man because that image will always validate that I was on this planet"

 Via The Eye of Photography

May 9, 2022

By Carole Schmitz 

Jeff Widener: In the heart of current events

Best known for his photograph of the man facing the tank during the 1989 Tiananmen uprising in Beijing, “Tank Man”,  – an image that made the front page of many newspapers and magazines at the time and made him a finalist for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize – Jeff Widener is a highly respected photojournalist who has received many awards for his work (Columbia University’s DART Award, Harry Chapin Media Award, Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, France’s Scoop Award, etc.)…

Widener grew up in Southern California where he attended Reseda High School, Los Angeles Pierce College and Moorpark College, majoring in photojournalism. In 1974, he was awarded the Kodak Scholastic National Photography Scholarship, competing against 8,000 students from across the United States. The award included a study tour of East Africa.

In 1978, Widener began his career as a newspaper photographer in California and later moved to Nevada and then Indiana. At age 25, he accepted a position with United Press International in Brussels. His first assignment abroad was the Solidarity riots in Poland.

Over the years, he has covered assignments in more than 100 countries involving civil unrest and wars to social issues. He was the first photojournalist to file digital images of the South Pole. In 1987, he was hired as the Associated Press Picture Editor for Southeast Asia, where he covered major stories in the region from the Gulf War to the Olympics. Other assignments included East Timor, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burma, Syria, Jordan, India, Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan and many others.

Your first photographic click ?

Jeff Widener : I still have the photograph. It was taken in 1967 of my grandfather walking to our house in Canoga Park, California. The camera was a Kodak Flashfun Hawkeye camera gifted by my parents at age 10.

The man of images who inspires you?

Jeff Widener : Josef Koudelka, Eliott Erwitt, W. Eugene Smith, Larry Burrows.

The image you would have liked to make?

Jeff Widener : I aleady made it … “Tank Man”.

The one you regret you didn’t made ?

Jeff Widener : More images of the Tiananmen Square uprising. I suffered a head injury the night of the massacre and I was sick with the flu. I was also just too scared.

The one that moved you the most?

Jeff Widener : Ruth Orkin’s An American Girl In Italy 1951. A fantastic street photography image.

And the one that made you angry?

Jeff Widener : I never took a photo that made me angry but during an Air Vietnam crash in Bangkok in the 1980’s, I witnessed a group of Thai photgraphers asking a rescue worker to hold up a severed leg of a passenger for a picture. I myself could not stomach documenting the moment.

If among your images you had to choose only one ?

Jeff Widener : Tank Man because that image will always validate that I was on this planet.

A key image in your personal pantheon?

Jeff Widener : I have to return to “Tank Man”.

The quality needed to be a good photographer?

Jeff Widener : It’s not about quality so much as having the ability to feel an emotional response from your surroundings and being able to anticipate the decisive moment before it happens.

The secret of the perfect image, if it exists?

Jeff Widener : A perfect image is one that instantly tells a story and lingers for weeks or years in your . Brain. It might remind you of a song, a past lover or period in your life. Ruth Orkin’s An American Girl in Italy 1951 is a classic example.

The person you would dream of photographing?

Jeff Widener : I have already photographed just about every head of state, member of royalty and celebrities but if I ever could have documented one group, it would have been The Beatles in their prime with total complete access. The dynamis and coverage of the world reaction would have been phenomenal.

An essential photo book?

Jeff Widener : Josef Koudelka’s ‘Exile’.

The camera of your beginnings?

Jeff Widener : Nikon FTN, Nikon F2.

The one you use today?

Jeff Widener : Leica M7, Leica R8, Nikon D810.

Your favorite drug?

Jeff Widener : Approval.

The best way to disconnect for you?

Jeff Widener : Some of my favorite moments have been nights sitting alone in a third world guest house without any electrical power. It’s times like that while sitting in the dark where one gets lost in self reflection. Then when things get depressing, you step outside and are greeted by swaying palm trees and a night sky filled with stars. It’s times like that when I really feel alive.

Your greatest quality

Jeff Widener : Forgiveness

An image to illustrate a new banknote?

Jeff Widener : Charles Lindbergh.

The job you would not have liked to do?

Jeff Widener : Food photography.

Your greatest extravagance as a photographer?

Jeff Widener : Cost is no object on self assigned stories.

The values you wish to share through your images?

Jeff Widener : I value honesty. Journalism is a noble profession that is neutral and unbiased. Any deviation is a sacrilege to the profession.

The city, country or culture you dream of discovering?

Jeff Widener : North Pole. I have been to South Pole. After covering assignments in over 100 countries, I have found that most cultures pretty much have the same desires especially when it comes to family.

The place you never get tired of?

Jeff Widener : Waking up.

Your biggest regret?

Jeff Widener : Too many to list.

Instagram, Tik Tok or snapchat?

Jeff Widener : Instagram.

Color or B&W?

Jeff Widener : Depends on the what is needed. But I am partial to Tri-X 400.

Daylight or artificial light?

Jeff Widener : Whatever is needed but I prefer natural.

The most photogenic city according to you ?

Jeff Widener : New York City. A blind monkey could find a picture.

If God existed would you ask him to pose for you, or would you opt for a selfie with him?

Jeff Widener : Neither. I would just thank him.

The image that represents for you the current state of the world?

Jeff Widener : Burning shopping malls.

What is missing in today’s world?

Jeff Widener : Sanity.

And if everything was to be remade?

Jeff Widener : I would want to remember everything.

Witnessing War: David Butow

Via Projections

Projections Event for May 4th 2022: David Butow

Photographs by David Butow from Ukraine and his new book "BRINK" will be on exhibit in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #113 during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York May 20-22. 

 

LIFE Magazine Show Opens At Monroe Gallery Of Photography

Via Life.com

Written By: Jill Golden

Like thousands of New Yorkers, Sid and Michelle Monroe left the city after the events of September 11 to find a new home. They chose the art and cultural capital of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they opened the Monroe Gallery of Photography in April 2002. Now, twenty years later, they’re celebrating their gallery’s anniversary by revisiting the topic of their first show: the photographers of LIFE Magazine.

Opening on May 6, 2022, the show celebrates what the Monroes call LIFE’s “stunning affirmation of the humanist notion that the camera’s proper function is to persuade and inform.” Photographs from essays by LIFE icons such as Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Carl Mydans, and Andreas Feininger will be on display. LIFE photographer Bob Gomel, now 88, will also be in attendance at the opening reception from 5-7pm on Friday, May 6.

LIFE.com recently caught up with the gallerists Sid and Michelle Monroe over email to learn more about their show and their thoughts on LIFE, and, well, life in Santa Fe.

How did you become gallerists? Why did you choose to focus on photojournalism?

We both entered the museum field after college, Michelle with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Sid with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Michelle was also a working artist and Sid was the director of a SoHo gallery specializing in fine art editions, where the gallery owner was exploring an exhibition with Alfred Eisenstaedt in collaboration with the LIFE Picture Collection. In 1985, we sat down with Alfred Eisenstaedt to discuss the exhibition and, then in our 20s, were were awed and engaged with his stories of an extraordinary life behind the camera.

We understood that we were in the presence of something bigger than we had ever encountered before. The work of Alfred Eisenstaedt is our collective history—we didn’t live this but this is what formed the world we were born into. In the eighties, photography was only beginning to gain a foothold in the fine art market, and most galleries were concentrating on the early “masters” of fine art photography. Eisenstaedt, and in general the field of photojournalism, had not been exhibited in a gallery setting. We believed immediately that a gallery which combined the realms of art, history, and reportage would be unique, and that set us on our course.

Albert Einstein, Princeton, NY, 1949
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Why a LIFE exhibition? Why now?

We had our beginning in New York, and over the course of the 1990s had the extraordinary opportunity to meet, get to know, and work with many of the legendary photographers of LIFE magazine, all in their retirement years. Through countless conversations, we learned how they saw the world and recorded it for the magazine, and more importantly, for history. Their work, and work approach, helped us gain insight into how to view their photographs, decades after they made them. Ever since, we have have worked conscientiously over the past 20 years to establish Monroe Gallery of Photography at the intersection between photojournalism and fine art, showcasing works embedded in our collective consciousness that shape our shared history. The Gallery represents several of the most significant photojournalists up to the present day, but the work of the LIFE photographers has been our foundation

.

Mother and child in Hiroshima, Japan, December 1945.

Alfred Eisenstaedt; The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

What do you wish collectors knew about LIFE? The general public?

The work of the photographers of LIFE magazine came to define the medium of photojournalism, and their photographs recorded history and informed us all for most of the twentieth century. It was long one of the most popular and widely imitated of American magazines, selling millions of copies a week. From its start, LIFE emphasized photography, with gripping, superbly chosen news photographs, amplified by photo features and photo essays on an international range of topics. Its photographers were the elite of their craft and enjoyed worldwide esteem. Published weekly from 1936 to 1972, the work of the photographers of LIFE magazine came to define the medium of photojournalism.

American sprinters Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right), after winning gold and bronze Olympic medals in the 200 meters, respectively, raised their fists in a Black Power salute, Mexico, 1968. Australian silver medalist Peter Norman is at left.
John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Do you have a favorite piece in the show?

Considering we curated the exhibit from potentially thousands of images, the exhibit itself represents our favorites—with enough left over we could easily do a “part two”!

Who are some of your favorite LIFE photographers? Are there some that may have been overlooked?

That’s a difficult question, as each LIFE photographer had their own individual and particular personality and style. We consider ourselves extraordinarily privileged to have been able to have known, and call friends, so many of these great photographers. To name only a few, Eisenstaedt was by many measures the “Dean” of the LIFE photographers and he taught us how to “see”; Carl Mydans left a deep impression on us with his humility and intense humanistic dedication; Bill Eppridge was deeply committed to documenting historic and deeply sensitive subjects; and Bob Gomel‘s versatility and ingenuity impresses us to this day.

 

John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul Mccartney and Ringo Starr, February 1964.
© Bob Gomel / Courtesy of Bob Gomel

And for people who plan to visit the LIFE show in Santa Fe, are there other favorite art spots in the area that you recommend?

Santa Fe is a gem of an art-destination city. There are over 200 galleries showing every possible form of art from ancient Native American art and pottery to cutting edge contemporary art. [We recommend] SITE Santa Fe, a contemporary art space; Institute of American Indian Arts; Museum Hill; Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; and Meow Wolf, an ‘immersive art installation where visitors enter and discover that nothing is as it seems…

Do you have advice for young photojournalists who might want to display their works in a gallery?

Foremost, understand and dedicate yourself to the profession and its specific ethical requirements. Respect its role as the fourth estate and its check on power. Do the work. The role of photojournalists has perhaps never been as vital and important as it is today.

Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi reading next to a spinning wheel at home. (Photo by Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection © DotDash Meredith)

The LIFE Photographers exhibit will be on display at Monroe Gallery from May 6 through June 26, 2022. For hours and location, please consult the gallery’s website.

Jill Golden is the director of the LIFE Picture Collection, an archive of more than 10 million photographs created by—and collected by—LIFE Magazine.

PHOTO2022: In Conversation with Ashley Gilbertson

 Via National Gallery of Victoria

Looking back over the photographs that he made of New York in 2020 Australian photographer Ashley Gilbertson wrote, ‘The resulting photo essay is my requiem to the New York that we knew before the pandemic, but also a love letter to the resilient people who never gave up.’

One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was the shutting down of much of New York and the suspension of national and international travel. For Gilbertson, this enforced a shift in his focus had a profound impact on his life and work. Already a regular runner, his practice during 2020 involved daily distance running and using the camera in his phone to photograph the events unfolding around him as he ran through the streets of the city. Over the course of the year, he documented the trajectory of the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the US presidential election, creating a visual diary of the unfolding events across the city.

Join Ashley Gilbertson to discuss his work in conversation with NGV Senior Curator of Photography Susan van Wyk.

Thursday, 5 May, 11am (AEST)  Free entry

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square Level 2

Booking is not required

General enquiries

Ph +61 3 8620 2222

ngvenquiries@ngv.vic.gov.au

9am–5pm, daily

Speakers

Susan van Wyk

Senior Curator, Photography

Ashley Gilbertson

Ashley Gilbertson was born in Melbourne in 1978, lives and works in New York, and is a member of the VII Photo Agency. Gilbertson’s early work focused on refugees around the world, an interest that in 2002, led him to Iraq. His work in that country, made largely on contract for The New York Times, earned critical acclaim and he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his 2004 work in Falluja. One of the leading photojournalists of his generation, Gilbertson has been recognised for his photographs in conflict zones, empathetic pictures of the global refugee crisis and his humanist approach to photography as a documentary medium.