Sunday, December 20, 2015

Nationally recognized photographer Stephen Wilkes has turned his lens to our national parks, commemorating their 100th anniversary


‘Herculean’ process produces ‘Day to Night’ images of national parks




Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2015
Stephen Wilkes: Grand Canyon National Park, Day To Night, 2015

Via The Albuquerqe Journal
By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer
Sunday, December 20th, 2015

Invisible layers of time move Old Faithful from sunrise to sunset, ringed by a walkway of people rendered microscopic by its grandeur.

Nationally recognized photographer Stephen Wilkes has turned his lens to our national parks, commemorating their 100th anniversary in four-page gateway covers in both the January 2016 national and international issues of National Geographic. Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography is showcasing the works beginning Saturday through Jan. 10, 2016.

Wilkes focused his discerning eye on Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, as well as the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and Tanzania’s Serengeti.

What may appear to be time-lapse photography at first glance actually isn’t, Wilkes maintained.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Day to Night, 2015
Stephen Wilkes: Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Day to Night, 2015



(Slide Show Link)

Working from a fixed camera angle, he captures the fleeting play of shadow and light as the sun shifts from dawn to dark. A single print may coalesce from 1,500 to 2,300 images. He uses a large format digital camera.

“I photograph from a single perspective, usually elevated, anywhere from 12 to 30 hours without moving my camera,” Wilkes said in a telephone interview from his Connecticut home.

“It’s quite Herculean. I’m actually studying a place for 30 hours.”

Launched in 2009, the parks project is an offshoot of a similar body of work on cities. He edits and blends the images into seamless works of art in post-production, a process that takes about a month.

“I look for very iconic places where everybody goes, ‘I’ve been there,'” he explained. “These places are part of our collective memory. When I do that, some kind of magic happens. Time becomes compressed.”


Yosemite, Tunnel View, Day To Night 2014
Stephen Wilkes: Yosemite, Tunnel View, Day To Night 2014

At Yellowstone, he photographed Old Faithful from the old crow’s nest atop the inn of the same name, capturing both the sun and the moon peaking above the foothills.

“It’s the most active place on the planet geologically,” Wilkes said. “It goes off every 90 minutes. When you look at that picture, you realize the enormity of just how big it is.”

Long a fan of the Hudson River School painter Albert Bierstadt, famous for his highly romanticized views of the West, Wilkes thought he could never capture the artist’s sweeping aesthetic.

“He painted it from the opposite view,” Wilkes said. “It was if I was channeling him at that moment. Yosemite is as close to being a religious experience as a landscape. When you look at the people in that photograph you realize how insignificant we are as a species.”

In Washington, he spent his preparation time following the cherry blossom handlers checking the petals for signs of peak bloom. Wilkes photographed them between the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial using an 80-foot crane.


Cherry Blossoms, National Mall and Memorial Parks, Day to Night, Washington D.C., 2015
Stephen Wilkes
Cherry Blossoms, National Mall and Memorial Parks, Day to Night, Washington D.C., 2015

The Serengeti offered a breakthrough, both aesthetically and philosophically. Wilkes arrived during the peak migration of the wildlife, but the animals had stopped due to a five-week drought. He began studying a watering hole and waited in hope. He had no idea if any creatures would appear.

“We started at 2 a.m. with an 18-foot platform with a crocodile blind,” he said. “We essentially became invisible.”

He witnessed something miraculous. The creatures arrived slowly, carefully taking turns without fighting over the precious resource.

“All these competitive species shared water,” Wilkes said. “It sort of speaks to you. They say the single resource we’ll go to war over is water. We have to hear what the animals know already.”

Serengeti, Tanzania, Day to Night, 2015
Stephen Wilkes: Serengeti, Tanzania, Day to Night, 2015

Wilkes came to New Mexico last fall to check out the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. He plans to return and shoot the most photographed event in the world next year.

-- Stephen Wilkes Day To Night photographs will be exhibited by Monroe Gallery at the photola fair, January 21 - 24, 2016.

See the National Geographic article on-line here.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Remembering Frank Sinatra on the centennial anniversary of his birth on December 12, 1915


Frank Sinatra

 ©mptvimages


Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers. In the '40s and '50s, he had a dazzling array of hit songs and albums and went on to appear in dozens of films, winning a supporting actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity. He left behind a massive catalog of work that includes iconic tunes like "Love and Marriage," "Strangers in the Night," "My Way" and "New York, New York." He died on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.

Photographs of Frank Sinatra are featured in the exhibition "The Broke The Mold", though January30, 2016. The new book, "Frank Sinatra: The Photographs" is also available from the gallery.


LIFE: Frank Sinatra’s Life in Photos

Frank Sinatra Official Website

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

STEPHEN WILKES DAY TO NIGHT FEATURE IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC





Stephen Wilkes Day To Night photograph of Yosemite National Park will be a special three-page gateway fold out cover for the January issue of National Geographic, highlighting a special tribute to the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Inside, several other of Wilkes’ Day To Night photographs of  the National Parks are featured over 16 pages, including the National Mall and Memorial Park, Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park; and the Grand Canyon, as well as Serengeti, Tanzania.

Simultaneously, Wilkes stunning Day To Night photograph of Serengeti in Tanzania will be the cover for the January, 2016 issue of the International edition of National Geographic, an extraordinary double cover exposure for a photographer.

Day to Night is an ongoing global photographic project that began in 2009. Working from a fixed camera angle, Wilkes captures the fleeting moments of humanity and light as time passes. After 24 hours of photographing and over 1500 images taken, he selects the best moments of the day and night. Using time as a guide, all of these moments are seamlessly blended into a single photograph in post-production.

"Anything one can imagine one can create. Over the last several years, photographic technology has evolved to a point where anything is possible. I imagined changing time in a single photograph. I began to explore this fascination with time in a new series of photographs called: “Day to Night”. –Stephen Wilkes

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, will host a Holiday reception celebrating the special feature of Stephen Wilkes’ "Day To Night" photographs in the January, 2016 issues of National Geographic. The public reception will be on Saturday, December 26, from 5 - 7 PM. A special selection of Wilkes’ Day To Night photographs will be on exhibit through January 10, 2016.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS



The gallery has a selection of photography books available for the Holidays.


Sinatra: The Photographs
Hardcover: 224 pages
Signed by Andrew Horwick: $50

"An impromptu gig with Nat King Cole, goofing around with the Rat Pack, chatting with George Harrison … the new book Sinatra: The Photographs captures the Chairman’s heydey as an entertainer, with rarely seen shots from the 1940s to the early 70s on set and in the studio."



 
Bliss:  Transformational Festivals & the Neo Hippie
By Steve Schapiro, signed by Steve Schapiro
Hardcover: 256 pages
$60
 
 
 
The Beatles: Six Days that Changed the World. February 1964
By Bill Eppridge, editor Adrianne Aurichio
Signed by Adrianne Aurichio
Hardcover: 160 pages
$29.95


 
A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties
By Bill Eppridge
Hardcover: 192 pages  (out of print)
$35
 
 
The Day Kennedy Died: Remembering the Man and the Moment

LIFE The Day Kennedy Died: Fifty Years Later: LIFE Remembers the Man and the Moment
Signed by LIFE Editor Richard Stolley
Hardcover: 192 pages
$50
 

Friday, November 27, 2015

THEY BROKE THE MOLD at Monroe Gallery of Photography



Frank Sinatra with camera, Capitol Records
Sid Avery: Frank Sinatra With Camera, Capitol Records, 1954, gelatin silver print
©mptvimages

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, 505-992-0800

Via Pasatiempo
The New Mexican's Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture
Friday, November 27, 2015


In advance of crooner Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday on Dec. 12, Monroe presents They Broke the Mold, an exhibit of classic photographs of musicians, singers, and entertainers by Steve Schapiro, Don Hunstein, Sid Avery, and others. The exhibit includes iconic images of Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis, to name a few, and coincides with the recent publication of Sinatra: The Photographs by Andy Howick.  They Broke the Mold opens Friday, Nov. 27, with a 5 p.m. reception.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

A Rock and Roll Thanksgiving, 1969



Amalie R. Rothschild: Janis and Tina, Madison Square Garden, November 27, 1969


"This is possibly my favorite picture and certainly my best known photograph. I convinced one of the security guys to help me get a good position and I used my 300mm lens. It was Thanksgiving Day and Bill Graham, as usual, gave a dinner at the Fillmore East for the whole staff and “Fillmore Family.” Janis was in NY and all alone, so she joined us. We had tickets for the Rolling Stones concert later that evening at the Garden and we all went together. Ike and Tina Turner were the opening act and at some point Tina noticed Janis at the side of the stage and invited her up to sing a number with her. I think this is the only time they sang together and I wish I could remember what the song was." -- Amalie R. Rothschild

 Join us Friday, Nov 27 from 5 – 7 for the opening reception for “They Broke The Mold”, an extensive exhibition of classic photographs of ground-breaking and important singers and entertainers.

Related: Brian Hamill writes about The Rolling Stones

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Photojournalist Brian Hamill on The Rolling Stones


Several photographs by Brian Hamill are included in the current exhibition "They Broke The Mold". In this article for the Huffington Post, Brian recalls the 1960s and the Rolling Stones.

Via The Huffington Post
November 20, 2015
by Brian Hamill

Let It Bleed, Bro: The Rolling Stones Take the Sixties By Storm

The sixties were -- mostly -- way cool.

 Lights and darks. Highs and lows. Cheers and tears. Always, excitement.
Despite the roller-coaster extremes of what was going on, those of us who partied hard in that decade will always remember it as the best of times. And the worst of times.

This generation is sick of hearing all that. I can dig it. But those of us who lived it have it carved in stone in our collective memories. A lot of shit went down. It wasn't just our long hair. We didn't need technological devices that the "Looking-Down" (at cell phones) generation of today depend upon to function. Technology is their new drug, adding layers of distance from face to face real-life, and creating anxiety with "social media" pressure.

We looked into each other's blood-shot eyes and spoke live.
We didn't need to look at a screen to know how to act.
We believed in a form of hip chaos.
We didn't worry about ending sentences with a preposition.
"Where the party at?"

My crew was: diddy- boppin', finger-poppin', jukin', jivin', dancin', table-hoppin', joint-sharin', bar-hoppin', club goin', fun-lovin' protest-marchin' motherfuckers.

 We didn't need no stinking cellphones!!

Let the music roll now.

Sinatra, Elvis, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, The Isley Brothers, and lots of Doo-Wop were in my music stash as the decade began.

In the fall of 1963, Marvin Gaye released a single, "Can I get a Witness". My man Marvin was totally cool. I listened to that 45-R.P.M. several times a day during my freshman year at college. I will listen to him until the day I throw a seven.

Two months later, on November 22nd, President JFK was assassinated by a crummy stooge. The nation was shocked and saddened. We all remember where we were when it happened.

The Beatles exploded on the set too. NYC was like, WOW! The nation was like, WOW! We dug them to the hilt. In a small way they helped lessen the pain of our president's murder. On February 9, 1964 we all got to see them perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. Another WOW!

In my hood in Brooklyn, they helped turn dudes, me included, from hitters into hippies. Bob Dylan reinforced that vibe with great songs of protest like, "Blowin' in the Wind," and "The Times They Are a Changin". He was "our" poet. A definite WOW!

Another big event of 1964 was the first Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight on February 24th in Miami. We saw Ali (then Cassius Clay) put a ti-fi ass whuppin' on the Big Ugly Bear. My crowd was jubilant. We loved him. We still do. Ali is one of the truly great Americans and the most iconic person I have had the privilege to photograph.

In July, there was a riot in Harlem a few days after a cop shot and killed a 15-year-old black kid in the east 70's during a lame incident and a questionable confrontation. It was a long, hot summer afterward.

Then came the Rolling Stones.

Also in 1964, while working a summer gig as a copy-boy at the NY Post, my co-worker Fred Waitzkin (who is now a gifted, distinguished author) pulled my coat to The Rolling Stones. I had heard them on the radio, but I was still all over The Beatles and Dylan to pay them "no-never-mind". The next day after our Stones convo Fred brought in the Rolling Stones' recently released first album, "The Rolling Stones". The cover photograph provoked my interest.

They looked bad. The old school Brooklyn in me liked that look. Fred implored me to get a copy.

To this day, I am indebted to Fred's fabulous taste in music. The Stones did awesome rockin' covers of songs from America's wonderful, under-appreciated, black blues artists. The album still rocks my soul. The Stones most definitely mined the U.S.A. for much of their creative inspiration and to honor those legends like Muddy Waters whose material they covered.

In late October 1964, I took the subway to E 14th Street to cop a pair of kicks. It was an early Saturday afternoon and in those days, E 14th between 3rd and 4th Avenues had at least ten shoe stores to explore and I was a shoe freak. I was very down with the block as well, having trained as a teenage fighter there at the storied Gramercy Gym run by the legendary boxing guru Cus D'Amato who made Floyd Patterson, Jose Torres and Mike Tyson into world champions. From 1960-1962, I was taught the boxing skills and discipline of Cus's style by the brilliant boxing trainer Joey Fariello.
The Gramercy stable-mates often watched championship fights on closed-circuit TV next door at The Academy of Music. As I started eye-tapping the parade of shoes in each store window, I gazed up at the Academy marquee: The Rolling Stones -- 2:00 and 7 PM.

In those days I lived on very short dough, barely enough to buy the European shoes I dug. I walked in my worn shoes to the box-office and confirmed that the Stones were playing an afternoon gig. As I recall, a ticket was a pricey $6.00. (Stones freaks can check the internet). I decided to score the shoes.

As I started to descend the subway steps after my shoe purchase, with less than ten dollars left to my name, I heard Mick Jagger's voice in my head singing his cover of "I Just Want to Make Love to You". Later for Brooklyn. I ran back up the subway stairs and I took my impulsive young ass, and my new kicks into the Academy of Music to see The Rolling Stones.

The joint was half-empty.

Mick Jagger moved around the stage like an epileptic chicken but the dude was dazzling. He sang like a champ. The band played an energizing, unpolished yet mesmerizing combo of blues and rock. Jagger did not have James Brown's moves, but he displayed a certain uninhibited moving, stage-mastery that made one believe the man could actually dance. Put all those elements together with heartfelt, powerful songs and I knew I had just witnessed a sensational show. I can't remember what those 14th Street/European shoes looked like, but I'll never forget the Rolling Stones at The Academy of Music. Their future was stretched out in front of them.

It was a bright one.

My Stones jones began after watching that gig and it has lasted a lifetime.

On February 21st, 1965 Malcolm X got assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in NYC. He was only 39 years old. They arrested, tried, and convicted three people for his murder. Another sterling leader with vision was gone too soon. That following summer, I was trying on a pair of shoes in Bloom's in the Village on 6th Avenue next to the Waverly theater when a gorgeous girl with long blonde hair, and a long white dress holding a large bouquet of flowers came up to me, and handed me a beauty and said:"Flower Power", and hit me with a big, radiant smile. I smiled back, speechless. It was a serenity moment.

But it would not last for too long.

I was listening to a lot of Motown including Smokey, The Temps, Mary Wells, Marvin, Martha and the Vandellas. I was just layin' in the cut when I heard about the Watts riot in LA. It was a different kind of "Dancin' in the Streets".

During the summer of love in 1967, Hippie Hill in Prospect Park where we hung out attracted hundreds of people not only from other hoods, but from other states! It was a cool outdoor party day and night.

Lots of my friends, including me, had gotten drafted into the "green-machine" (US ARMY) in 1966. A chunk of them went to Vietnam including my kid bother Johnny and my best friend GR (George Ryan). Luckily, I didn't. I was still able to do the hippie scene traveling home from my Army base on many weekends minus my long hair. Most neighborhood 'Nam dudes came back to the world. Sadly, a few didn't. Several of those who returned had emotional guilt-ridden thoughts, vivid nightmares, and panic attacks that were later characterized as PTSD. It was disturbing to witness. Some still suffer from that serious illness. It is truly a drag. I got out of the "green-machine" in April, 1968. But a week before I was discharged, Martin Luther King was murdered by a racist creep. I remember my mother crying on the phone about Dr. King right after his murder.

Another strong, peaceful leader was gone.

Six weeks after that I was in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in LA with my camera when Bobby Kennedy got assassinated on June 5th, 1968 by a young fanatic with two first names. I had just walked right past this bum before he pulled out the gun. It was the worst night of my young life. I spent the next month after that horrible night hanging out in Laguna Beach listening to music, drinking beer, smoking weed, looking at beautiful surfer girls, just trying to cool out and maintain.
On July 18th, 1969 Teddy Kennedy had an alcohol-influenced car accident but did the wrong thing right after at Chappaquiddick. A special young woman died.

On August 9th, 1969 the jailhouse punk Charles Manson manipulated some of his stupid, idolatry-prone, and acid-laced minions to go from the Spahn ranch in the desert to LA to murder "rich people" and ended up slaughtering a cluster of decent, nice people including an eight-and-a-half-month pregnant woman named Sharon Tate. That swine Manson had the nerve to use a Beatle song (Helter Skelter) to swindle the minds of his fucked-up followers. That whole deal wigged me out. The whole nation shuttered behind it.

Yeah, the sixties had its casualties. It wasn't all a cool party.

A few days later I landed in Woodstock -- the festival -- not the actual town. I needed the "peace and serenity" and, of course, the wonderful music, but equally important the four hundred thousand people who shared the fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime event with me, including GR and about twenty other people from my Brooklyn neighborhood.

We just had a ball -- that's all.

At around the same time, Richard Nixon was slithering around the White House already adding names to his "enemies list," the dirty tricks were in action, and the "Peace with Honor" jive was getting swallowed by the Silent Majority while the real "silent majority" were the dead Americans in Vietnam.

The "Summer of Love" was a fading memory.

On November 15th, 1969 I found myself in front of the White House with a group of friends and a couple of my brothers at the Moratorium March on Washington where we further protested the Vietnam War. It was like the Woodstock of protest marches among another half million people demanding that Nixon should end the war. It fell on deaf ears.

There were three New York miracles in 1969.

First, the Amazin' Mets won the World Series. Then Joe Namath's white kicks danced the Jets to a Super-Bowl triumph.

The third miracle happened forty-six years ago today. On Thanksgiving night, November 27th, 1969, The Rolling Stones held their first Madison Square Garden Concert. The Stones had moved from the half-full Academy of Music just five years earlier to a sold-out arena holding twenty thousand people. I photographed that astounding show from the lip of the stage. It was a ringside seat to history. I was in the right place at the right time. I was lucky. The Stones kicked out the jams with a wild, foot-stomping, "Jumpin' Jack Flash". The audience went crazy! The Stones were in superlative form.

Jagger bounced on stage wearing an Uncle Sam hat, and that man's hat was where he was at! He had on a black outfit with an eye-catching design on his chest (a Leo sign, an Omega sign, take your pick, freaks). The dramatic lights illuminated the silver studs up the seams of his skinny pants. He sported a studded black choker and a crimson colored scarf around his long neck. He looked as bad as he wanted to be! He was dancing' and prancin' and singing his young ass off! That night, at 27 years old, Jagger owned legitimate self-confidence, youthful soul, and the non-stop vitality of a star for the rock and roll ages. He was like a human tornado, spinning back and forth across the stage belting out that great bluesy voice that has always distinguished him from other white singers. But Jagger had big help from the magic and the music of the great rock and roll band with him -- Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and newcomer Mick Taylor. They took rock music to another level, the same way Ali did wonders for boxing -- excuse me, they were the Rolling Stones. They were not just an appendage to Jagger's lead singer deal; the four dudes with him were all immensely talented.
Ladies and gentleman, the Rolling Stones, turned the joint out!

They owned the Garden. They opened the noses of a multitude of women in the audience. Some dudes too.

Their sound system was more sophisticated and the lighting was cooler and the set list was a combo of terrific songs from the Beggars Banquet album and new ones from the soon-to-be-released Let It Bleed album, including the opera-like "Midnight Rambler" with two fabulous Chuck Berry songs ("Carol" and "Little Queenie") and their own classic, "Satisfaction", thrown into the superb mix. But they still had that unpolished raw energy from the Academy of Music that will be forever young and fun and bad ass. Some critics have said that the political turmoil that went down during the decade motivated the new darker, Let It Bleed lyrics. They were certainly more provocative and edgy. Whatever the inspiration, the evolving Jagger/Richards writing team displayed more creative, complex, and profound songs. That night in the Garden, the Stones reached a pinnacle in Rock and Roll history with this thrilling, mind-blowing concert. Period.

They OUTWOWED all previous live performances by anyone I had ever seen before or since. They turned my head!

As a matter of fact, it was a gas.

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All Photographs ©Brian Hamill

Friday, November 20, 2015

Grey Villet: last overland cattle drive from Cedar Butte, South Dakota, to northern Nebraska


Via Colorado Central Magazine

A Docent Out of Retirement

Photographer Grey Villet had a saying: “Every story should be as real as real could get.”

Grey was an award-winning lensman for Life magazine back in the 1960s, and he never had any idea that someday I’d be representing his photos at the annual Art for the Sangres here in Westcliffe.

Each year the San Isabel Land Protection Trust organizes Art for the Sangres as its major fundraiser for the year. The annual art sale brings together artists of many mediums from all over the country, as well as locally, to raise funds for land and water conservation in Southern Colorado. Celebrating its 20th year in 2015, San Isabel has administered 128 conservation easements protecting 40,000 acres of land, 174 water rights and 61 miles of stream frontage.

In recent years I had served as a docent at the art sale. The first year I had represented the paintings of my friend and neighbor Lorie Merfeld-Batson. The next year I was the docent for JG Moore, a bronze sculptor from Colorado’s eastern plains.

But last year I’d begged off the volunteer role as it took up a lot of time during what is typically one of the nicest-weather weekends of the year. And this year I’d pretty much decided to do the same. But I sure did miss the party, easily one of the biggest social events of the year in Custer County.
Then my friend Peter Hedberg contacted me regarding the art sale. Peter is a benefactor of the land trust and had convinced organizers to include a collection of photography called “The Last Cattle Drive” taken in 1960 by Villet, who passed in 2000. Villet’s wife Barbara represents his work. The couple met when she was also working at Life as a writer.

“Roundup” by Grey Villet. Photo courtesy Barbara Villet.
“Roundup” by Grey Villet. Photo courtesy Barbara Villet
 
 

Peter wanted to know if I’d be interested in representing this photo display, along with Barbara; meanwhile I’d been notified by the land trust that a docent had canceled if I wanted to fill in. Peter invited me to his office to view the photos.

This photo essay documented what would prove to be the last overland cattle drive of more than 1,000 animals from Cedar Butte, South Dakota, to northern Nebraska. Over the course of that week, Grey captured the beauty of the rolling grasslands of the Great Plains, as well as the grit and determination of the men who were desperately holding tight to their waning lifestyle of self-reliance. The stunning and historic collection is currently on display at the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.

“What attracted me to this was it’s not just the land but images of man interacting with the land, and that is what San Isabel is trying to preserve,” Peter said. “It’s a great narrative, and it’s different from anything the art show has ever done.”

I was immediately taken by the scope and range of the photos. What’s more, I recognized the black-and-white techniques from my early days in photography – I immediately knew Grey had used Kodak Tri-X film, for example, and could tell how the images had been burned and dodged under the enlarger. I was fascinated with the pictures and the sense of photojournalism.

It turns out Grey also never took a posed photo, used only natural light and – get this – never even cropped a single image. Each print was made to the same exact dimension as a 35mm negative.
Grey, born in South Africa in 1927, also had a way of capturing more than just cowboys. The celebrated photojournalist and recipient of many major photography awards also took historically significant photographs of people like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Richard Nixon. He photographed Fidel Castro’s triumphant ride into Havana, and Jackie Robinson stealing home in the 1955 World Series. His masterpiece Life photo essay “The Loving Story” documented the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, whose case became a landmark civil rights decision by the United States Supreme Court, striking down laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

I was out of retirement as a docent very quickly.

Which is how I came to find myself spending a lovely evening with Barbara – who makes her home in Cambridge, New York – at A Painted View Ranch, where Art for the Sangres is hosted. For this show the barn is converted to a showcase, with the horse stalls serving as mini-galleries for the 24 artists. Ironically, Barbara and I were sharing a stall with Lorie, who was this year’s featured artist, and with whom my docent career began.

Two of these amazing Grey Villet photos went home from the show with Wet Mountain Valley residents. And hundreds more people had the chance to view these images and hear Grey’s story, as told by me, as they circulated around the artists and their work while sipping wine and enjoying the fine food.

In the end more than $147,000 in art was sold during the event, with 40 percent of the proceeds supporting San Isabel’s conservation efforts. As a docent out of retirement, spending this evening immersed in the historic world of photojournalism was about as real as it could get.


Hal Walter is a 30-year resident of Custer County and the author of Full Tilt Boogie – A journey into autism, fatherhood, and an epic test of man and beast.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Stephen Wilkes: Photography is dead? Hogwash.

Ottawa Citizen     Homepage
Via The Ottawa Citizen
Peter Simpson - The Big Beat

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The fourth lecture in the 2015 series "Contemporary Conversations" will feature Stephen Wilkes



Via CNW

OTTAWA, Nov. 5, 2015 /CNW/ - The Embassy of the United States in Ottawa and the U.S. Department of State's Office of Art in Embassies, in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), will welcome renowned American artist Stephen Wilkes for the fourth lecture in the Contemporary Conversations series on November 19.

Contemporary Conversations (#artconvoAIE) brings internationally recognized American artists to Canada for a series of public lectures at the NGC intended to stimulate conversation around issues that transcend borders, and topics that inspire, teach, and create connections. Works by the first four artists in the series are also included in the Art in Embassies exhibition at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman and Mrs. Vicki Heyman. Wilkes' photograph Corridor # 9, Island 3, Ellis Island (1998) is currently featured at the residence, while another of his works, Presidential Inauguration, Day to Night (2013), can be found on display at the Embassy.

Wilkes, an internationally acclaimed fine art and commercial photographer, is well-known for capturing iconic images of American spaces and places – from Ellis Island to a Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. This latest edition of the speaker series will be moderated by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman.

"Stephen is on the cutting edge of technique in digital fine art photography, and he uses his camera and talent to preserve memories and to conserve treasures. His photographs strike me first with their sheer beauty, and then I am drawn in deeper by the subtext of the work. Bruce and I have been fans of his work for years - we continue to feel inspired by the impact of his images and how they provoke conversations that can serve as an impetus for change." said Vicki Heyman.

"We are delighted to have Stephen Wilkes at the National Gallery of Canada as part of the Contemporary Conversations series, which has been so successful.  The conversation between this accomplished American artist and the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Bruce Heyman, promises to be engaging," said National Gallery of Canada Director and CEO Marc Mayer.

In February 2015, Marie Watt was the first artist featured in the Contemporary Conversations series at the NGC in Ottawa. Nick Cave participated in second installment in May and Eric Fischl spoke in September.  

Registration for the Stephen Wilkes lecture opened October 19. Free admission: RSVP before 12 November at rsvp@gallery.ca to reserve your spot. Please note that guests will be seated in order of arrival. Empty seats will be filled 10 minutes prior to the start of the event. There will also be a live broadcast of the event in the adjacent Lecture Hall.

More information about the series can be found at www.gallery.ca/conversations/en.

About Stephen Wilkes

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. In 1999 he completed a personal project photographing the unrestored areas of Ellis Island: the ruined

landscape of the infectious disease and psychiatric hospital wings, where children and adults alike were detained before they could enter the United States. Through his photographs and video work, Wilkes has inspired and helped secure six million dollars toward the restoration for the south side of the island.

Wilkes' latest body of work entitled Day to Night embodies epic cityscapes with fleeting moments captured throughout the transition from day to the night.  His photographic process entails continuously shooting from one camera angle for approximately fifteen hours. A select group of images are then electronically blended into one photograph. Each photograph takes approximately four months to create.
 
Stephen Wilkes "Remnants" continues at Monroe Gallery of Photography through November 22.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Stephen Wilkes in National Geographic: Laos to National Parks

Bomb Craters, Laos, 2015
Stephen Wilkes: Bomb Craters, Laos, 2015

Stephen Wilkes' photographs in National Geographic: Laos Finds New Life After the Bombs

Slideshow

The January 2016 issue of National Geographic will feature Stephen Wilkes' photographs as part of a special tribute to the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service.

Stephen Wilkes: "Remnants" continues through November 22 at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Book Signing: Bliss: Tranformational Festivals and the neo Hippie




Bliss

Bliss

Images from Bliss: Transformational Festivals & the Neo Hippie; courtesy powerHouse Books

Via PASATIEMPO
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Friday, October 30, 2015           

The famous counterculture of the 1960s always had two lifestyles, one urban and the other more oriented to quiet, country living — including in pioneering communes in New Mexico and elsewhere. Half a century later, a contemporary hippie movement flourishes in hundreds of eco-villages, and its members come together for the annual Rainbow Gathering and other summer festivals.

Photographer Steve Schapiro offers a revelation of modern hippie humanity in his new book, Bliss: Transformational Festivals & the Neo Hippie (powerHouse Books, 2015). At gatherings in California, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan, Minnesota, and Hawaii, he captured people dancing, meditating, chanting, hugging, and blissing out on the sky and earth and one another.                                                                                               
The journalistic photographer’s portfolio includes covers for Vanity Fair, Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People. His books include American Edge, Taxi Driver, and Then and Now. Over the years, Schapiro has documented cultural milestones, such as the civil rights movement, Chuck Berry playing on the Hullabaloo TV show, and outtakes of actors on the set of The Godfather. He photographed Martin Luther King Jr., the Kennedys, ballplayer Satchel Paige, and Andy Warhol.

He also took pictures of the original hippies in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and throughout America. The new photos are strikingly similar. Some commonalities are lots of hair and clothes — either multicolored or absent. There is a focus in the new series on the “bliss ninnies” subculture, whose participants chase ecstasy with meditation and dancing. Rather than experimentation with psychedelic drugs, the emphasis is on yoga, prayer, movement, and a vegan diet. “There are more communes in America now than there ever were in the ’60s,” Wavy Gravy declares in the book’s afterword. “Check out Communities magazine for a listing near you! Just follow your bliss and kiss the ground.”

Monroe Gallery (112 Don Gaspar Ave., 505-992-0800) hangs a selection of the Bliss prints, opening on Friday, Oct. 30. Schapiro will be at the gallery for a book signing that day from 5 to 7 p.m. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Oblique Views: Archaeology, Photography and Time



Via the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Oblique Views Exhibition OPENING!

Lecture, Dancers, Booksigning, and Hands-on Activities

October 25, 2015 1:00 pm through 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 25 -- it’s the day to be on Museum Hill for the long-anticipated opening of Oblique Views: Archaeology, Photography and Time.

You’ll see historic images by Charles and Anne Lindbergh side by side with those of contemporary aerial photographer Adriel Heisey -- some of the changes in the landscape (Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, Galisteo) are profound, others are more subtle.

Photographer Adriel Heisey speaks at 1pm and again at 3pm. The Red Turtle Dancers of Pojoaque and Santa Clara Pueblos will display a butterfly dance, buffalo dance, and rain dance. Dance times are scheduled for 2pm and 4pm.

Of course we’ll have the beautiful hardcover Oblique Views catalog available for purchase, with the contributers all present to sign.

A hands-on photography activity will be offered from 1 - 4pm.

Admission is free on Sundays for New Mexico residents.

See the full color postcard here!


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Steve Schapiro will be signing copies of his new book "BLISS" October 30 in Santa Fe



 


Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, will host a book signing by Steve Schapiro of his newest book, BLISS. The book signing will take place on Friday, October 30, from 5 – 7 PM. One of the most respected American documentary photographers, Steve Schapiro has photographed American history over the last six decades.

In “BLISS: An Exploration of the Current Hippie Counterculture & Transformational Festivals”, Steve Schapiro, famous for his photographs of the 60s–including Haight-Ashbury and the hippies of that era–documents the hippies of today and their lives in and out of transformational festivals. With a specific focus on a subculture of the current hippie counterculture known as “Bliss Ninnies,” these individuals are focused on meditation and dancing as a way to reach ecstatic states of joy. The book features images from festivals across the country and provides an overview of a new contemporary hippie life within America. The 60s are still here. You just have to find where. Published by powerHouse Books, October, 2015, 256 pages.

Steve Schapiro is a distinguished journalistic photographer whose pictures have graced the covers of Vanity Fair, Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People, and are found in many museum collections. He has published five books of his work, American Edge, Schapiro’s Heroes, The Godfather Family Album, Taxi Driver, and Then and Now In Hollywood. Steve Schapiro has photographed major stories for most of the world’s most prominent magazines, including Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, People, and Paris Match.

 

Thursday, October 8, 2015

OCTOBER NEWS

 

Dear Friends:

The New Yorker featured the new Stephen Wilkes “Remnants” exhibit this past Friday, you can see the feature here.

"I’ve often found that there is great power in telling difficult stories in a beautiful way. Interest in any given story wanes so quickly, yet it’s only through taking the time to go deeper that we get to a place of real understanding. There are moments in journalism when the media captures the visual details of a disaster, yet sometimes misses the true scale of devastation. It’s my hope that these images serve as a wakeup call — whether that call is about global warming, infrastructure, or just the recognition that the world is changing, it’s a reminder that we need to take special care of our fragile world."  -- Stephen Wilkes

Also included in the exhibit is Stephen’s newest Day To Night image, taken in the Serengeti, Tanzania, earlier this year.


Serengeti, Tanzania, Day to Night, 2015
Stephen Wilkes: Serengeti, Day To Night, 2015
 

Recycled Cans
 
 
 Stephen Wilkes: Recycled Aluminum Can Study #1

The “Remnants” exhibit will continue through November 22.

Later this month, Steve Schapiro will be signing copies of his new book BLISS in the gallery on Friday, October 30, from 5 – 7 pm. In Bliss: An Exploration of the Current Hippie Counterculture & Transformational Festivals, Steve Schapiro, famous for his photographs of the 60s--including Haight-Ashbury and the hippies of that era--documents the hippies of today and their lives in and out of transformational festivals. With a specific focus on a subculture of the current hippie counterculture known as "Bliss Ninnies," these individuals are focused on meditation and dancing as a way to reach ecstatic states of joy. The book features images from festivals across the country and provides an overview of a new contemporary hippie life within America. “The 60s are still here. You just have to find where.

Recently, “BLISS” was featured on the TIME LightBox, and several of Steve Schapiro’s iconic civil rights photographs were in this summer’s acclaimed  “The Long Road: From Selma to Ferguson” exhibition.

 

Fairy in the woods, Rainbow Gathering, Michigan, 2001
Steve Schapiro: Fairy in the woods, Rainbow Gathering, Michigan, 2001

 

Our best,
Sid and Michelle Monroe





 

MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA
505.992.0800

www.monroegallery.com

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Announcing Stephen Wilkes: Remnants


Recycled Cans

Recycled Aluminum Can Study #1
 

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present "Remnants", an exhibition of large-scale color photographs of the environment and the environmental remnants left behind either by nature or man.

The exhibition opens with a public reception with photographer Stephen Wilkes from 5 - 7 PM on Friday, October 2. The exhibition continues through November 22.

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art, editorial, and commercial photography. With numerous awards and honors, as well as five major exhibitions in the last five years, Wilkes has made an impression on the world of photography.

In the face of increasing global attention on climate change and rebuilding; and as society grapples with the byproducts of global human achievements such as urban development and mass production that have caused problems of scarcity and waste simultaneously, "Remnants" is a timely examination of the environmental issues facing society.
 
"I’ve often found that there is great power in telling difficult stories in a beautiful way. Interest in any given story wanes so quickly, yet it’s only through taking the time to go deeper that we get to a place of real understanding.

There are moments in journalism when the media captures the visual details of a disaster, yet sometimes misses the true scale of devastation. It’s my hope that these images serve as a wakeup call — whether that call is about global warming, infrastructure, or just the recognition that the world is changing, it’s a reminder that we need to take special care of our fragile world." --Stephen Wilkes

 Recycled Wire
Recycled Wire Study

Photography has been Stephen’s passion since age 12, when his fascination with science led him to take photographs through a microscope. He began working on his own at age 15, attended Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, graduating in 1980. In 1982, Wilkes opened his own studio in Manhattan.

“Ever since I took my first pictures, photography has always been the joy of discovery for me,” says Wilkes. “The excitement not only lies with what I see and how I see it, but mostly when someone looks at the finished photograph and feels the same emotions I felt when I took the picture. There is something sacred about the right moment. The frame where all the energy comes together and, in one instant, a story is told.”

Wilkes' photographs are in the permanent collection of The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dow Jones & Company, New York City; The Jewish Museum, New York City; and in numerous important private collections throughout the world. His work has graced the covers of numerous international publications, including Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Life Magazine, and Time Magazine. Selected photographs in the "Remnants" exhibition were featured in the Annenberg Center for Photography exhibit "Sink or Swim: Designing For A Sea Change", Dec 13, 2014 - May 3, 2015.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Panel Discussion: Photojournalism and Civil Rights



Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is honored to present a special panel discussion on the role of photojournalism in the civil rights movement up to the present day. Freelance photojournalist Whitney Curtis, veteran LIFE magazine reporter Richard Stolley and interim director of the UNM Art Museum and Dean of the College of Fine Arts Kymberly Pindar will share their experiences and views on Friday, September 18, starting promptly at 5:30. Seating is  very limited and will be on a first come basis. The discussion will take place in the gallery during the final week of the exhibition "The Long Road: From Selma to Ferguson", which closes on September 27.
Many of the now iconic photographs of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States were once front-page news. The year 2015 brought renewed attention to many of these historic images not only from the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's march and the acclaimed film "Selma" but also as Baltimore, Charleston, and Ferguson, Missouri, and other American cities grapple with conflicts across the racial divide and produce new images that have confronted American society anew with questions of equality.

Richard Stolley already had a distinguished career in journalism when he joined TIME magazine in 1953. As a reporter for Time and LIFE he covered numerous civil rights stories during the 1960's, of which he has said "There would not have been a civil rights movement without journalism. I think LIFE magazine was the most influential publication in changing American attitudes toward race because other news magazines would tell you what was happening and LIFE magazine would show you. LIFE photographers captured images of people spitting on black kids. Those people landed in a great big photo in the magazine, their faces distorted with hate, and spit coming out of their mouths. That image is going to change peoples' attitude in a way that words never could. That is exactly what LIFE magazine did week after week after week."
After graduating with a degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Whitney Curtis worked as a staff photojournalist at The Kansas City Star, northern Utah’s Standard-Examiner, and the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. As an editorial photojournalist, Whitney’s work has been honored by The Associated Press, NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, CPoY, and Women in Photojournalism. A resident of St. Louis, Whitney was not surprised by the outpouring of anger and emotion after a police officer killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. What she did not expect, however, was to be caught in the middle of it. She covered the 2014 protests extensively, often on assignment for The New York Times. Her image of image of Rashaad Davis from the Ferguson, Missouri protests was awarded 1st place Domestic News 2014 in NPPA's Best of Photojournalism Contest.

Kymberly Pindar is the interim director of the UNM Art Museum and dean of the UNM College of Fine Arts. Pindar is co-curator of the exhibition "Necessary Force: Art of the Police State which" will run from September 11 through December 12, 2015 at the UNM art museum. This exhibition interrogates law enforcement’s longstanding history of violence, and the systemic forces that continue to sanction and promote the violation of civil rights in this country. Dr. Pinder holds two master’s degree and a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University.

Monroe Gallery of Photography was founded by Sidney S. Monroe and Michelle A. Monroe. Building on more than five decades of collective experience, the gallery specializes in 20th and 21st photojournalist imagery. The gallery also represents a select group of contemporary and emerging photographers. Monroe Gallery was the recipient of the 2010 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.

Gallery hours are 10 to 5 daily. Admission is free. For further information, please call: 505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com.
 

Follow  @Monroegallery on Twitter for a Periscope livestream of the panel on Friday, September 18. 

Friday, September 11, 2015

Exhibit explores history of police use of force

Via The Albuquerque Journal
September 11, 201
 By Adrian Gomez / Asst. Arts Editor, Reel NM


Karen Fiss is one of the two curators of “Necessary Force: Art in the Police State.” She is standing in front of “Amelia Falling 2014” by Hank Willis Thomas. The exhibit is in the University of New Mexico Art Museum and will be on display until Dec. 12. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

An art exhibit opens tonight in Albuquerque that’s sure to generate discussion, and possibly controversy.

“Necessary Force: Art in the Police State” includes work from 31 artists, and covers such historical themes as the civil rights movement to more current events such as the James Boyd shooting here and the Ferguson, Mo., riots that started after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer.

“This exhibit is getting the dialog started about the problems our society is facing,” said co-curator Kymberly Pinder. “These are problems that have existed for a long time. The show balances what today’s society is dealing with in conjunction to what has happened in the past.”

Pinder, who also is dean of the UNM College of Fine Arts, and Karen Fiss, a professor at the California College of Arts, worked on pulling together the exhibit for the past year.

It is in the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and will be on display until Dec. 12.

“Art is not just to entertain; it can also be challenging and thought provoking,” the curators said in their exhibition statement. “The term ‘necessary force’ is the art created by artists who feel an urgent need to respond to contemporary events that reflect a society that is increasingly policed on many levels and how that affects us all. The words ‘police state’ are used because these artists address this increased policing and the many social conditions that contribute to the complex history of police violence in the United States.”

The majority of the works are responding to actual events. Documentary photographs from the 1960s and ’70s from the museum’s renowned collection stand alongside work by contemporary artists, which includes an installation of an overturned police car to a piece that points out items that were mistaken for guns.

“The juxtaposition of historic and recent imagery helps us assess the evolution of these pressing social issues over the 50 years since the Civil Rights movement,” Pinder said.

The exhibit comes after a Department of Justice investigation found that Albuquerque police used excessive force for years, and as the department tries to comply with a court order to overhaul its practices.

Pinder said the curators and artists hope to encourage critical thinking and dialogue around the complex history of law enforcement and violence in the United States.

The contemporary works in the exhibition address a range of issues, including surveillance, incarceration, drug abuse, inadequate mental health care, gun violence and racial profiling, as well as the power of collective protest and collective healing.

It also examines the role of photography in shaping public opinion, as well as the longer-term matter of how we come to know and remember history.

The goal for the exhibit falls in line with UNM’s mission to encourage critical thinking, dialogue and problem-solving around issues that are relevant today, Pinder said.

“The caliber of artists that are in the exhibit is profound,” Fiss said. “These were artists that showed interest in the show.”

Pinder always wanted to work with Fiss on a show. The pair have known each other since their graduate studies at Yale University.

A thematically related exhibition, “The Long Road: From Selma to Ferguson,” is currently on display at The Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe until Sept. 27.