Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Bob Gomel's 80th Birthday Photo Montage


 



A video that took 80 years to make. The LIFE and times of my father, Photographer BOB GOMEL. If he is not in the photo, he took the photo.

My dad was born (1933) and raised in New York City. After serving in the Navy, he began working for LIFE in 1959, producing many memorable images. When LIFE ceased being a weekly in the early 1970s, he began taking photographs for other major magazines. Also in the 1970s, he branched out into advertising photography.
--Cory Gomel

Related:

'One Night In Miami', More Than Clay Beats Liston

Acclaimed LIFE photographer Bob Gomel looks back

BOB GOMEL: LIFE IN THE 1960'S

Unpublished JFK Photos: Houston Remembers President Kennedy's 1962        "Moon Speech" At Rice Stadium

Bob Gomel: “Photography is all about having something to say before you pick the camera up to your eye and push the button”



Friday, August 30, 2013

Weekend To Do: 3 Years of Le Journal de la Photographie



Le Journal de la Photographie

Last evening the shocking news hit our inbox, La Journal de la Photographie was shutting down:

Goodbye !
by Jean-Jacques Naudet

There are limits that should never be crossed: that of showing disrespect to co-workers. These limits have all been violated. Unfulfilled promises, and commitments, technological improvements ignored, payments due canceled or denied, the last six months have been a living nightmare .The Team of the Journal and I draw the line. It's over, this is our last issue.

One should not scorn with impunity a great team who for nearly three years worked to help create the Journal , developed and led it to where it is today. The Journal was a concept, and it was mine, but above all it was a team who day after day showed passion, dedication and enthusiasm. There is sadness, bitterness, regret, of course. The Journal was you, every day more numerous and passionate.
Thank you, thank you to: Paul Alessandrini, Pauline Auzou, Elizabeth Avedon, Eliseo Barbàra, Karyn Bauer, Molly Benn, Frédéric Bourret, Marine Cabos, José Carlos Joaquim, Christian Caujolle, Céline Chevallier, Laurence Cornet, Jonas Cuénin, Stéphanie de Rougé, Gilles Decamps, Xavier Derache, Juliette Deschodt, Lola Dolfy, Virginie Drujon-Kippelen, Jeff Dunas, Wilfrid Estève, Sybile Girault, Eva Gravayat, Emmanuel Grynszpan, Sophie Hedtmann, Greg Hermann, Laura Incardona, Peter C. Jones, Fanny Lambert, Olivier Laurent, John Loengard, Christophe Lunn, Paul Melcher, Severine Morel, Yan Morvan, Magnus Naddermier, Patricia Nagy, Bernard Perrine, Anna-Maria Pfab, Michel Philippot, Michel Puech, Sylvie Rebbot, Damien Robert, Andy Romanoff, Miriam Rosen, Sara Rosen, Samantha Rouault, David Schonauer, Antoine Soubrier, Alison Stieven-Taylor, Emiliana Tedesco, Michael Verger, Ericka Weidmann.

And if I dare, it is only goodbye for now.
Jean-Jacques Naudet
julesnaudet@aol.com


We suggest you take the time to visit the archives and read 3 years of some of the best photographty related content.

UPDATE - Le Journal is off the internet as of Saturday, August 31. All links are now dead.

Full archive of posted articles here

and a few posts about our photographers

Santa Fe, rétrospective Bill Eppridge

LIFE : Robert Kennedy dying by Bill Eppridge

Santa Fe : Stephen Wilkes

Santa Fe: Mark Shaw The Kennedys




"This is the icon of the century, this flag”

 
 
Firefighters at Ground Zero, Sept. 11, 2001<br>© Bergen Record
Firefighters at Ground Zero, Sept. 11, 2001
© Bergen Record
 
 
 
 


Via CNN



‘THE FLAG’ Pursues the Mystery of a Missing 9/11 Icon




The First Commissioned CNN FILMS Documentary Debuts Wednesday, September 4
 
The first original production commissioned for CNN FILMS, THE FLAG, directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, follows the mysterious journey of the American flag featured in one of the most iconic photographs taken at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The 90-minute film is based upon the forthcoming book by David Friend, Vanity Fair’s editor of creative development and formerly LIFE magazine’s director of photography (The Flag, August 27), and will debut Wednesday, September 4, at 9:00pm, 10:30pm, and 1:00am. All times Eastern.

A vibrant American flag, flying from the back of a boat moored very near the Twin Towers, managed to survive the destruction of the World Trade Center 12 years ago. Someone removed the flag from the boat on September 11th. Thomas Franklin, a photographer for the New Jersey newspaper The Record, took a searing photograph of that flag as it was raised by three fire fighters above the smoldering rubble on the evening of the terrorist attacks. That image immediately became one of the archetypical photographs of the disaster.

Shortly after the iconic photo was taken, the whereabouts of the original flag became a mystery. Who would keep it – and why?

The flag that toured the country to reassure the nation, flew over Yankee Stadium as a patriotic rebuke to terrorism, and flew over the USS Roosevelt as the battleship carried troops to Afghanistan in response to the attacks, was represented as the same flag that was raised at Ground Zero. It turns out the original flag disappeared shortly after it was photographed.

Tucker and Epperlein interviewed the owners of the original flag, Shirley Dreifus and Spiros Kopelakis. They reveal key details about their flag that distinguish it from the imposter.

“That’s not the flag that they raised on 9/11. The flag that went to Yankee Stadium, or was on the ship [the USS Roosevelt], could not have been the flag that was in the photograph,” Dreifus says in the documentary.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as well as fire fighters, police officers, photographers who were at Ground Zero, the makers of the flag, editors who used the Franklin photograph, and others, all speak about their memories of that day for the documentary. Each discusses also his memories of the famous flag.

“I see the rebuilding starting with that photograph,” Giuliani says. “That was the moment on which, these three fire fighters, speaking for all New Yorkers – and all Americans – said: ‘Enough is enough. We’re going to fight back.’”

Tucker and Epperlein try to solve the mystery of the flag’s journey. Along the way, their interviews with key eyewitnesses from 9/11 reveal moving insights into the tragedy – and, highlight the enduring power that imagery holds for healing and national reconciliation that, for some, the original flag still represents.

“This is the icon of the century, this flag,” Kopelakis says emphatically, “and it is not any excuse, from any politician, not to try to find this flag.”

THE FLAG will encore on Sunday, September 8 at 9:00pm, 10:30pm, 1:00am, and 2:30am, and will broadcast again on Wednesday, September 11 at the same Eastern times.

As an original production for CNN FILMS, THE FLAG will air exclusively on CNN. It is the fourth CNN FILMS broadcast. ESCAPE FIRE, GIRL RISING, and OUR NIXON debuted earlier this year. CNN FILMS will mark its first anniversary in October 2013.

About CNN FILMS
CNN Films brings documentaries beyond the small screen by developing strategic partnerships to leverage distribution opportunities at film festivals and in theaters. Amy Entelis, senior vice president of talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, and Vinnie Malhotra, senior vice president of development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide, oversee the acquisition strategy of documentaries for CNN Films. Malhotra manages the day-to-day operation of CNN Films, and works directly with filmmakers to develop original projects.
About CNN

CNN Worldwide is a portfolio of two dozen news and information services across cable, satellite, radio, wireless devices and the Internet in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Domestically, CNN reaches more individuals on television, the web and mobile devices than any other cable TV news organization in the United States; internationally, CNN is the most widely distributed news channel reaching more than 271 million households abroad; and CNN Digital is a top network for online news, mobile news and social media. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world’s most extensively utilized news service partnering with hundreds of local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Marcellus Shale Documentary Project Artist Panel: Today, August 29

 
Apple Tree illuminated by gas flaring, Susquehanna County, 2011
Nina Berman: Apple Tree illuminated by gas flaring, Susquehanna County, 2011

 
Via Ithaca College Handwerker Gallery

Marcellus Shale Documentary Project
Curated by Laura Domencic
August 26–September 27, 2013


Work by Noah Addis, Nina Berman, Brian Cohen,
Scott Goldsmith, Lynn Johnson, Martha Rial

Artist Panel: August 29, 4.00 p.m.
Opening Reception: August 29, 5.00–7.00 p.m.

The six photographers of the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project have taken on the responsibility of telling, in the best traditions of social and environmental documentary, the complex story of Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania. For the best part of a year, they have traveled across the Commonwealth, meeting people and listening to and recording their stories.

The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project tells stories, through photographic images, of how the lives of Pennsylvanians are affected by the Marcellus Shale Gas Industry. By creating a visual document of the environmental, social and economic impact of drilling, the work aims to engage communities in the current Marcellus debate while providing important historical images for the future.

In capturing images of the people and places most affected by gas drilling, photographers Noah Addis, Nina Berman, Brian Cohen, Scott Goldsmith, Lynn Johnson, and Martha Rial examine both the positive and negative results of drilling and how the environment and the communities that live with the resources are being shaped. Organized by photographer Brian Cohen, and Laura Domencic, Director of Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the project will compile the work into a traveling exhibition opening October 2012 at Pittsburgh Filmmakers with accompanying lectures, book and online archive.

The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project is generously supported by The Sprout Fund, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and by the individual gifts of Josh Whetzel, Nancy Bernstein and Cathy Raphael.

If you are interested in joining these supporters by donating to this important body of work, please contact Brian Cohen at info@the-msdp.us






http://www.the-msdp.us/

Monday, August 26, 2013

Stephen Wilkes' Hurricane Sandy Coverage in National Geographic


 
Photograph by Stephen Wilkes

Superstorm Sandy narrowed New Jersey’s beaches by more than 30 feet on average. At Seaside Heights it swept away the pier under the roller coaster.

Via National Geographic

The Damage Done

By the time Sandy struck the Northeast, it had killed 72 people in the Caribbean. It was no longer a hurricane—but it was a thousand miles wide, with 80-mile-an-hour winds that drove the sea onto the coast in lethal surges. The final death toll was 147. As the world warms, it may see more storms like Sandy. It will certainly see higher seas.

Slideshow

Article: The Rising Tide

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Guy Gillette 1922 - 2013: "In a good photograph, something happens”



Via Country Life Daily News

Famed photojournalist Guy Gillette Sr.  passed away on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013, just two months shy of his 91st birthday.

Over 50 years in the photojournalism industry, Gillette created a portfolio of art that remains in circulation today. His work has graced the pages and covers of Fortune, Harper’s Bazaar, Life, the New York Times, just to name a few. His work includes images of Jacqueline Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn and Queen Elizabeth, and was featured in the 1955 landmark “The Family of Man” photography exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Gillette’s works remain in high demand today, as galleries and movie studios routinely request the use of his images.
A coffee table book, written by Andy Wilkinson, about the work of Gillette is being published by the University of Oklahoma Press this month. Through his research Wilkinson visits the history of Houston County as seen through the eyes of Guy Gillette, Sr. This book utilizes the pictures that Gillette took on his father-in-law’s ranch in Lovelady and around Houston County in the 1940s. The pictures not only document ranching in East Texas but small-town life, like Sunday School, homecoming dinners and Saturdays downtown. It was these pictures that would open the doors in New York for Guy Gillette, Sr. to become a celebrated photojournalist.

Guy Gillette, Sr. is the father of national cowboy personalities and Camp Street Cafe owners, Guy and Pip Gillette.


Arnolds, Cafe, Lovelady, Texas, 1956
Arnolds, Cafe, Lovelady, Texas, 1956

“The years of the 30s through the 70s were great years for magazine photography and for us, the photographers, who contributed,” Gillette had said. 

Actor, author, and photographer, Gillette saw the United States evolve through wars, shifting perspectives of culture, and a changing, exciting panoply of heroes — leaders of government, icons of film and theater, and mavens from the corporate world.
 
"In a good photograph, something happens,” Gillette sad. From his photograph of a gravely ill Jacqueline Susann in a limo, whisked from engagement to engagement, to his quickly caught shot of President Eisenhower at a state dinner being patted on his bald pate, there is action.

 Gillette on Salvatore Dali: "I thought Dali was a bore. Always trying to look deadpan. He sought to eliminate all emotion from his public façade. I remember he flirted a great deal with the woman who was writing his profile, saying she reminded him of a Northern Italian blonde. He refused to speak English to us, even though he spoke some. Neither the writer nor I came away very happy with him."

Trained as an actor, Guy Gillette’s stage career was halted by induction into the World War II Army. After the war, now a budding photographer, Gillette, the former actor, was sympathetic to artists such as the choreographer Agnes DeMille, who allowed him to photograph her for Dance Magazine, as she created a ballet. Photos of Audrey Hepburn, Marian Anderson, Sarah Vaughn, Elvis Presley and Rogers and Hammerstein followed. A highlight of his career is a photograph of Henri Cartier-Bresson, taken by Gillette as both photographers competed for a shot of a nun at a St, Patrick’s Day Parade, leading the notoriously camera-shy Cartier-Bresson to admonish Gillette, “Photographers NEVER photograph photographers.”

Monroe Gallery of Photography will feature a very special tribute exhibition of Guy Gillette's photographs in November/December. Contact the gallery for further information.








Friday, August 23, 2013

"Those Who Dared is a sort of collective retrospective of people and events that shaped the twentieth century"

Harry Benson, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vermont, 1982, archival pigment print, 16” x 20”


Via THE Magazine

THOSE WHO DARED, AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHY AT MONROE GALLERY

 

expands on the organization’s longstanding program of showcasing significant historical figures and events with imagery that’s often political and always provocative. With a grouping of works that spans decades and continents, the exhibition functions like a historical survey: a who’s who of people most of us know for their achievements. As such, Those Who Dared is a sort of collective retrospective of people and events that shaped the twentieth century. It’s also surprisingly cohesive, despite the huge range of personalities—from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Jacques Cousteau to Ai WeiWei—who may represent disparate aims and causes, but whose actions display human qualities united in goals of exploration, persistence, and boundary-breaking.

Among the most recognizable images is that of a man standing before a row of four military tanks; Jeff Widener’s 1989 Tiananmen Square photograph is still gripping despite its widespread reproduction. The tanks, lined up in robotic and chilling precision, make an impactful and grotesque juxtaposition to the poignantly small human figure facing them down. Other photographs capture lesser-known figures, and these are some of my favorites. When art can teach us about people whose actions have directly affected our lives, it behaves as a bridge between history’s purely intellectual resonance and its equally important, though more nebulous, spiritual or emotional resonance. Atender shot of Richard and Mildred Loving embracing does just this. Mildred was black and Richard was white, and their 1967 Virginia marriage resulted in prison sentences for each. The very idea of a law preventing interracial marriage now seems shudderingly backwards, but the couple’s tribulations ultimately resulted in a resounding victory. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled to strike down the law, and its abolishment paved the way for similar legislation throughout the country. For decades, Loving v. Virginia has been cited in numerous cases involving discrimination.

A 1978 vertical snapshot of Anwar Sadat by Eddie Adams pictures the Egyptian president looking out of a narrow window. The scene feels a bit tense, with a pallid pool of sunlight spread across the room’s dark carpet. Sadat, partially obscured in shadow, looks out of an open window, his hands resting on the sill. Among the few color photographs on display is an image of Aung San Suu Kyi. Also taken by Eddie Adams, the picture captures Suu Kyi in a meditative stance, her hands clasped together against her chest, with yellow flowers in her hair. One of the planet’s most prominent political prisoners, Suu Kyi has fearlessly stood up against oppression in her homeland of Burma for decades. Deeply influenced by the non-violent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (who also makes an appearance in this exhibition), Suu Kyi famously said, “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

The exhibition includes images whose interpretations and implications are decidedly less straightforward. One of the standouts is a shot of Russian novelist and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Best known for the novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and the sweeping Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn was a bold and outspoken critic of Communism— decrying the brutish Soviet Union during times when it could have proved fatal. A 1982 photograph of him by Harry Benson is mysterious and beautiful. It depicts the black-clad, heavily bearded Solzhenitsyn in the middle of a Vermont snowscape. He arches backward, his large hands spread out across his chest. His mouth is slightly open and his eyes are closed. His posture suggests a number of possibilities: relief or reflection or ecstasy—all of them intimate and recognizable in their humanity. It’s a deeply touching and unexpectedly meditative take on such an outspoken personality.
 
This exhibition seems like a gift for those of us lucky enough to spend time with it and learn from it. Iris Murdoch once wrote that art’s purest goal and highest achievement must be “to tell the only truth that ultimately matters.”

This captivating exhibition serves as a beautiful testament to those who ultimately mattered.

 

—Iris McLister
 
The exhibition continues throuugh September 22, 2013.

 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

"Do you think that the media should show more of what is really happening in war?"




An excerpt from last month's "War Correspondents at The Brooklyn Brewery" discussion featuring Mike Kamber:

Steve Hindy (Brewery co-founder and former Middle East correspondent): Do you think that the media should show more of what is really happening in war? In the name of good taste, they don't publish anything gory, or anything terribly tragic.

Mike Kamber: We went halfway around the world and invaded somebody else's country, and between 100,000 and half a million Iraqi citizens are dead. It's not about good taste.

Watch the full discussion below.