Instagram Joins The Brownie As The Next Great Photography Disruptor

Which explains how a company with 13 employees can replace a now bankrupt company that once employed 30,000 as the “manufacturer” of a device to bring photography to the masses.

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A Photographic Legacy: the Career of Japanese American Icon Carl Iwasaki

One of photographer Carl Iwasaki's (pictured right) subjects was Japanese Prince Akihito during his tour of North America.

From President Dwight Eisenhower and the Civil Rights Movement to Football Legend Joe Namath, Iwasaki’s photography career tells the story of U.S. history.

By Christine McFadden, Pacific Citizen Correspondent
March 2, 2012
Via The Pacific Citizen

Most Americans do not know famed photographer Carl Iwasaki personally, but they are likely familiar with his iconic work that has graced the covers of Time Magazine, Life and Sports Illustrated during his six decades long career.

Iwasaki was there in person to capture the desegregation of schools in the South. It was his vivid photo of Linda Brown and her sister Cheryl walking to school that so aptly covered the story of Brown v. Board of Education during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

He was also lucky enough to photograph President Dwight Eisenhower three times, getting to know the former president on a personal level. He would eventually capture the lives of the likes of Presidents Richard Nixon and Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and he spent over a year following famed football icon Joe Namuth whose image graced the August 2004 Sports Illustrated cover.
“Not many people know about this, but (Eisenhower) loved to paint,” said Iwasaki, 87, who counts the former president as one of his favorite subjects to photograph. “I photographed him painting and he autographed it for me … I got to know him very well.”

“I try to shoot the pictures naturally, without too much posing,” he adds about his famous works.
Although now retired in Denver with three kids, Iwasaki’s work is still shown in galleries and exhibits across the country including the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sid Monroe, owner of the Monroe Gallery, marvels at Iwasaki’s ability to tell an individual’s story from one single photograph.

“That’s something that a lot of [Iwasaki’s] photographs do, and especially the [one of the] Brown sisters,” he said.

But Monroe admires Iwasaki not only for his talent, but for how he embarked on his career in photography. It was during his incarceration at Heart Mountain that he began his professional career.
“His background and his entry into photography is really extraordinary,” said Monroe. “I can’t think of any other photographer that has even a remotely similar story.”

Iwasaki was 18 and a senior in high school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He and his family were eventually sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming during World War II along with tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated along the West Coast.
One of his first jobs at the camp was as an X-ray technician because of his limited photography background. Eventually he became friends with some of the editors at the camp newspaper, the Heart Mountain Sentinel.

One day some War Relocation Authority photographers were on site to take pictures of some of the scenes and people. Iwasaki struck up a conversation with the photographers when he learned that there was an opening for a darkroom technician at their Denver headquarters.

Iwasaki was soon hired for the position and recalled how difficult it was for him to leave behind his mother and sister who were still incarcerated at Heart Mountain.

“That was the hardest part,” he said. But he was also wary of how Japanese Americans would be treated while the U.S. was still at war with Japan. “It was a little scary because I just didn’t know how the people felt about [us].”

At first, Iwasaki spent most of his time in a photo lab processing film and making prints. In his spare time he photographed some Japanese Americans that had relocated to the Denver area.
Soon his photos got noticed and he was hired to work in the WRA’s Photographic Section, or WRAPS, which documented relocated internees adjusting to life outside the camps.

“I guess they liked what I shot,” said Iwasaki.

“Mr. Iwasaki was the only Japanese American who was hired full-time as an official photographer for the WRAPS,” said UCLA professor Lane Hirabayashi, who featured Iwasaki in his book: “Japanese-American Resettlement Through the Lens: Hikaru Iwasaki and the WRA’s Photographic Section, 1943-1945.”

Several famous photographers worked at the WRA including Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Francis Steward, Tom Parker and Charles Mace. Iwasaki is now the only living photographer from this distinguished group.

Although the only JA to be documenting his community’s struggle for the WRA, Iwasaki says in general he was treated well. Still that didn’t stop his feelings of anxiety at the beginning, especially fearing that some would think he was a spy.

“At that time I was afraid,” said Iwasaki. “Here’s the Japanese person carrying cameras.”
When the war finally ended, Iwasaki was the first WRA photographer to head back to California to document the return of the evacuees.

He recalls that some cities were hostile to the returning Japanese Americans with some towns experiencing shooting incidents. He notes that San Jose was the most welcoming city to the returning evacuees.

“I think the WRA did a fabulous job,” said Iwasaki. “Like I said, there were just a couple of incidents, but as a whole, the evacuees were brought back and were very, very happy to be back.”
It was after working for WRAPS for a few years that Iwasaki would have another chance encounter that would further his career. In Denver he happened to accidentally meet a Time Magazine bureau chief. Since no other photographers were available, he was asked to shoot a political campaign in Wyoming for the notable magazine.

The political campaign was Iwasaki’s big break.

“By luck it ran four pages and a half in Life Magazine,” he said. “It was very exciting.”
Soon he was sitting down with Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon for photo shoots. One of his photography subjects was also Emperor Akihito while he was still a prince and touring North America.

 Although now retired and no longer taking photos, Iwasaki’s legacy will continue on in the various works and galleries that continue to show his iconic work and expansive career.

“It’s definitely ironic, given his background,” said Monroe “He was able to succeed not only despite a lack of training and a lack of experience, but also just sort of overcoming that emotional obstacle of being interned.”

VIEW VIVIAN MAIER: DISCOVERED BEFORE EXHIBIT CLOSES APRIL 22

Vivian Maier: September 28, 1959, East 108th St, New York

© Maloof Collection

After sweeping the International press, the Vivian Maier story has captivated the Southwest with numerous reviews and articles. Most recently, AARP has featured Maier's stunning photography.

Please join us to view this exceptional exhibition through April 22, 2012.

Mick Rock Featured on NPR "The Picture Show"

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Photographer Mick Rock in New York City, 2011
Via NPR The Picture Show

Mick Rock is really his name — though he's Michael to his mother — and he is exactly what you might imagine a rock photographer to be: tall and hip with shaggy hair. Shaded Ray-Bans, jean jacket, scarf. Oh, and an English accent to boot — so he can drop words like "bloody" and "shag" with allure (though he doesn't shy from the American equivalents, either).

"In any other era, dogs wouldn't have pissed on me," he says. "Thank God for Mick and Keith," who helped make lanky, messy Englishmen cool. He's referring to the Rolling Stones, of course.
Now in his 60s, Rock remembers the '70s well. Or, parts of them. And it goes without saying that the times have changed.

"The world is swamped with media today," he says. "I go to an event and I get photographed. Shoot the bloody photographer? What the hell is that about?"

On a recent night in Washington, D.C., for example, the cameras click incessantly (guilty) as Rock gives a few words at the opening of his aptly titled traveling photo show, Rocked. It originated in New York City, and it's hosted and produced by the W Hotel chain where, these days, Rock can be found shooting live concerts.

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Claire O'Neill/NPR

Mick Rock gives a tour of his photographs at the opening of his traveling show, Rocked, at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C.

After his remarks, some high-heeled women and suited men (remember this is D.C.) trickle into a ballroom where they sip on cocktails and politely wait for a band to start playing. Meanwhile, Rock's prints of Iggy Pop, David Bowie and the likes adorn the surrounding walls, watching down, it seems, on what has become of rock. (Bowie would have worn the heels AND the suit, for heaven's sake.)
"Back then," Rock says wistfully in an interview the next day, "well, it was the age of sex, drugs and rock and roll, of course."

 

Full post here with slideshow and audio.

 

Related: Mick Rock, The Man Who Shot The Seventies

New York Photography Auction Sales Total $17.9m

Via Art Market News
April 6, 2012 By Marion Maneker


Sotheby's NY

Christies NY

Phillips de Pury
$6.1m ; 193 out of 267 lots sold for 72% sell-through

SWANN Galleries
PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SALE 2274, April 4 2012:
Sale total: $1,202,122 with Buyer’s Premium
Hammer total: $1,001,230
Estimates for sale as a whole: $1,245,350 – $1,834,950
We offered 435 lots; 304 sold (30% buy-in rate by lot)
Top lots, Prices with buyer’s premium:

6 William Eggleston, Untitled (from the series Los Alamos), dye-transfer print, 1970. $60,000 C
347* Ansel Adams, Portfolio #4: What Majestic Word, In Memory of Russell Varian, with15 silver prints, 1963. $54,000 C
183* Camera Work Number 36, illustrated with 16 photogravures, signed & inscribed by Stieglitz, New York, 1911. $26,400 C
168** Portfolio with 90 photographs of a German dignitary’s travels to Asia and the Americas, silver prints, 1930s. $24,000 C
18 Weegee, Love Story & Ice Cream…Aspirin…Soda Pop…Vitamin Pills…Etc, maquette including two silver prints, with Weegee’s notations, circa 1940s. $20,400 D
292* Margaret Bourke-White, DC-4 Flying over New York City, silver print, 1939, printed circa 2000. $20,400 D
470* Sebastiäo Salgado, Kuwait (oil fields), oversize silver print, 1991, printed 2000s. $19,200 C
187 Edward S. Curtis, Chief of the Desert, Navajo, orotone, 1904. $15,600 D
210 Ralph Steiner, Ten Photographs from the Twenties and Thirties & One From the Seventies portfolio, silver prints, 1920s-30s, 1970s, printed 1977. $15,600 C
419 Adams, Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz, mural-sized silver print, 1960s. $14,400 C
417 Adams, triptych with three color studies: Rusted Metal, Leaves & Red Rock, offered with four color studies, all unique Polaroid SX-70 prints, 1972. $12,000 C
240 Imogen Cunningham, The Bath & Agave, two silver prints, 1925 & 1920, printed 1952-60s. $10,800 C
14 Helen Levitt, New York (boys playing over doorway), silver print, 1942, printed circa 1980. $10,800 C
385 Brett Weston, Guatemala Hills, silver print, 1968, printed 1970s. $10,200 C
4 Bruce Davidson, East 100th Street Facade, oversize silver print, 1966-68, printed 1980s-90s. $10,200 D
467 Salgado, Dinka Cattle Camp, Southern Sudan, oversize silver print, 2006, printed 2011. $10,200 C
39 Ellsworth Kelly, Grape Leaves II, lithograph, 1973-74. $10,200 C
174 Alfred Stieglitz, Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies, containing 9 of 12 photogravures, 1894-97, printed 1897. $9,600 D
345 Adams, Lichens and Rock, silver print from a Polaroid Type 55 negative, 1962, printed 1962-63. $9,600 C
3 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Swan Lake, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, silver print, 1954, printed 1980s. $9,000 D

AIPAD: Bill Eppridge and Steve Schapiro Selects

Via PHOTO/arts Magazine

AIPAD 2012 (part 2)

"Susan May Tell is a career fine art photographer and photojournalist, with a very impressive background. She is currently the Fine Arts Chair for ASMP/NY. As one might expect, her magnet draws her towards classic black & white photography, photojournalism and documentary work.

One of the highlights of the afternoon for Susan was meeting, photographing, and being photographed by Bill Eppridge, surely among the greats of modern photojournalism. Eppridge is most well known for his iconic image of the busboy supporting the head of Robert Kennedy as he lay dying from a gunshot wound in 1968. His work was being shown by Monroe Gallery (419). Another image Susan noticed and loved at Monroe Gallery was Steve Schapiro's Freedom Rider Jerome Smith, Mississippi (1965)."

Related: Long Road to Freedom, Steve Schpairo and Jerome Smith

             Santa Fe, Rétrospective Bill Eppridge

            Raw File:  “Hard-Boiled Photog Blends the Old With the New"

67 Years after Liberation, Bourke-White Print of Buchenwald Sells for Over $115,000

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"Sotheby's Photographs sale brought $3.8 million and achieved strong prices
for the masters of 20th-century photography, including Ansel Adams,
Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Steichen and Robert Mapplethorpe."

Sotheby's Photographs Sale
April 3, 2012
LOT 74: MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE, 1904-1971


THE LIVING DEAD AT BUCHENWALD
large-format, ferrotyped, mounted, annotations in ink on the reverse, framed, 1945 (Portrait
of  Myself, pp. 268-9; Callahan, pp. 152-153; Goldberg, pl. 45; Retrospective, p. 93; Best of
Life, p. 20)
15 5/8 by 19 3/8 in. (39.7 by 49.3 cm.)

ESTIMATE 30,000-50,000 USD
Sold: 116,500 USD

Related: April in History: The Liberation of Buchenwald
             
              Modern print information available here

AN AIPAD THANK YOU!

Thank you to all of the extraordinary photographers who we are so privileged to represent - you made us look good at the 2012 AIPAD Photography Show! And thank you to all of our clients, collectors, friends, and new acquaintances for making this show so very memorable. We hope you may have an opportunity to visit us in Santa Fe before next year's AIPAD Show!

AIPAD: Day Three

The Park Avenue Armory was packed with photography enthusiasts today! We were so honored to welcome Nina Berman, Bill Eppridge, Lynn Goldsmith,  Stephen Wilkes, among many other renowned photographers to our booth.

Sunday, April 1 is the final day of the 2012 AIPAD Photography Show, 11 - 6. Please visit us in booth #419 and say hello!

AIPAD 2012: DAY TWO

Today we were very honored to welcome in our booth Deena Schutzer, daughter of the late Paul Schutzer, Grey Villet's widow Barbara Villet (selections of  Grey's photo essay of Richard and Mildred Loving are on exhibit); Ida Wyman, and Stephen Wilkes.

The AIPAD Photography Show was featured in numerous reviews and articles today, including the New York Times, MSNBC Photo Blog, The DLK Collection ("A startling Nina Berman of a veiled woman with her diploma is on the outside wall" at Monroe Gallery).

The Show continues tomorrow 11 - 7 (Bill Eppridge,   Stephen Wilkes, and many other photographers will be in our booth), and Sunday 11 - 6. We look forward to welcoming you at Booth #419!