We can shoot too

Quote of the Week - Colin Pantall

2012-02-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

I've been crazy busy at work. Dec-Jan is my worst time each year but I'm back, baby. I promise more than QOTW's starting tomorrow. In the meantime:

"Sam Taylor-Wood once gave a commentary on The Chapman Brothers when they were altering £20 at Frieze (or something like that). The Chapman Brothers claimed the currency defacing undermines something or other and challenges this or that and subverts the rest. "But does it though?" said Taylor-Wood when appraised of this claim.

Indeed. Does it though? The retort to fit virtually every artist statement."

Colin Pantall, Via.

I've always thought that subvert was a particularly egregious choice of a word to describe art.

Quote of the Week - Brassai

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

"Why did I write, in what was undoubtedly the most obscure of my letters, dated August 2, 1939, “It was obvious that, come what may, I had to free myself from photography”? Why did I still consider it merely a “springboard to my real self”? To understand this thinking, one shouldn't forget that photography was my livelihood, a means of support that sometimes involved assignments that I carried out with reluctance. It was mainly this “subservience” that I was attempting to escape."

- Brassai

Via.

Quotes of the Week - William Wegman

2012-01-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

Total geek out video by William Wegman and Michael Smith on Blindspot. I'm glad it found a home and I think I understand Wegman a little more now:

"Rule Number 6: Be Creative. Nobody likes a straight on shot - that's dull"

Runner Up:

Wegman: What were you thinking about in this one?

Smith: Man and nature.

Wegman: Hmm...

2nd Runner up:

Wegman: Now it's a big boot.

Smith: Will that give it more meaning?

Wegman: It'll give it more size.

The World of Photography from Blind Spot on Vimeo.

Photo LA this weekend - Opening Thurs.

2012-01-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. I'll be attending the opening reception for Photo LA on Thurs. but there's a lot going on all weekend so get your tics to the programming now. I'm excited to see what's in store this year.

Happy Holidays and New Year!

2011-12-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Posting can be a bit slow for me this time of year, as it's my busiest so signing off until the new year. Thanks for another great one.

Looks like it's going to be 72 degrees on Christmas day. I love LA.

These are from my favorite Facebook "like" of the year, Vintage Los Angeles.

Peter Bohler for NYT Magazine

2011-12-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the NYT Mag back-to-back blast but be sure to check out Peter Bohler's series on California sand dune racing in this week's edition here.

On Photoshop

2011-12-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, a fair bit of Photoshop went into making this image by Mark Peterson into the cover of the NYT Sunday Magazine this week. I found it interesting that they showed the original right after the click-through on the cover.

Cover:

Original:

WTF Quote of the Week - White Cube

2011-12-15T12:18:00.000-08:00

Copyright Jeff Wall

"In the ground-floor gallery, Wall will show, together for the first time, three documentary pictures of Sicilian landscapes. The composition of Hillside, Sicily (2007) imbues the picture with a powerful downward motion, emphasized by the truncation of the slope, while the scale of the picture and stippling of the flora puts the work in dialogue with Modernist abstraction."

Source

Translation: Jeff Wall can do whatever the hell he wants, even show a bland photo of a hill, much like many that can be easily found on Flickr. He's gangster. That's why he chose a hill in Sicily.

New Feature - Historic LA

2011-12-09T00:14:00.001-08:00

So that other new feature isn't going so well. I just haven't come across any egregious statements these past two weeks so it's probably going to be more like a monthly feature that a weekly one.

I'm going to try my best to keep up with this one, though. Introducing: Historic LA. I'm going to feature a new neighborhood each week through vintage photos found in the excellent Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. From what I can gather, many of the photos are from unidentified photographers.

First up: My new neighborhood, Echo Park. Did you know that Ayn Rand, Steve McQueen, Woodie Guthrie, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Huston, Jackson Pollack, Elliot Smith, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Babe Ruth, and Richard Neutra all called Echo Park home?

Here we go. Click each one to view larger.

Turn of the century - Echo Park Lake

Fishing Rodeo held at Echo Park Lake, 1967

Learn to canoe class @ Echo Park Lake, 1965

Flag Salute, Elysian Heights School, 1964

Dance Practice at Echo Park Clubhouse, 1963

Take Cover Drill at Elysian Heights School, 1962

Anyone else remember that? Ours were for earthquakes but this is in case of a "national emergency."

Students practice "drop drill," George O'Day, 1962

You can tell by the rear-end's facing the window that this one's for an earthquake.

New moving mountain slide, 1958

Model yacht races at Echo Park, 1956

Huck Finn day at Echo Park Lake, 1954

Evidently, a lot of fishing went down.

Illegal Fishing At Echo Park Lake, 1949

There was a season for it, though, and you could get in trouble if you fished out of season. That was a motorcycle cop.

"Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Heagle, children Geraldine and Floyd Jr., camping out in Echo Park on July 24, 1946. They join Los Angeles' ever-growing legion of those evicted from their homes, 1946"

These guys occupied LA before anyone. My guess was that they lived in Chavez Ravine and were among those forced out so Dodger Stadium could be built but this was twelve years prior.

"Prayer services began in Angelus Temple's Prayer Tower soon after the news of the pastor's death was received and continued throughout the night with weeping, grief-stricken followers pleading, "Bring her back!" "May it not be true!" "Take her home." 1944 at Angelus Temple.

Even Schools were at war in 1943

You have driven up Baxter, LA's steepest street, haven't you? 1939

Remember the lotus flowers? 1932

Evidently, they're coming back once the draining project is complete.

Benjamin Lowy on the Daily Show

2011-12-06T21:39:00.001-08:00

It's pretty cool that a photographer was the guest on The Daily Show last night. Benjamin Lowy, who lives in New York (but this is no time for discrimination, right?) was John Stewart's guest.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Quote of the Week - Charles Saatchi

2011-12-05T10:23:00.001-08:00

"For professional curators, selecting specific paintings for an exhibition is a daunting prospect, far too revealing a demonstration of their lack of what we in the trade call "an eye". They prefer to exhibit videos, and those incomprehensible post-conceptual installations and photo-text panels, for the approval of their equally insecure and myopic peers. This "conceptualised" work has been regurgitated remorselessly since the 1960s, over and over and over again."

- Charles Saatchi

From this.

Opening Sat. - Elger Esser at Rose Gallery

2011-12-02T15:43:00.001-08:00

Elger Esser: Voyage en Egypte opens at Rose Gallery on Saturday with a reception from 6-8pm. I'm looking forward to this one.

Images can be seen here, which is of course a poor substitute for seeing the prints, especially his.

2012 Palm Springs

2011-11-23T19:12:00.001-08:00

The website is live for the 2012 Palm Springs Photo Festival. While I'm not sure it's the "America's most talked-about photography event," there are certainly some interesting things going on. Sadly, if you're like me and have a day job, you won't be able to attend any of them since they're scheduled during the work week but if you're a freelancer, take a peak at the offerings.

Weegee: Naked Hollywood at MOCA

2011-11-22T11:34:00.001-08:00

In 1947, the tabloid photographer known as Weegee relocated from New York City to Los Angeles. In moving west, he abandoned the grisly crime scenes for which he was best known and trained his camera instead on Hollywood stars, strippers, costume shops, and naked mannequins, sometimes distorted through trick lenses and multiple exposures. “Now I could really photograph the subjects I liked,” said Weegee of his life in Los Angeles. “I was free.”

Show info here.

Opening Sat. - Hedi Slimane @ MOCA

2011-11-10T13:49:00.001-08:00

It's probably no secret that I'm a Hedi Slimane fan, having given him the only double feature thus far on here. I spent $320 bucks I didn't really have at the time on a copy of his Anthology of a Decade so I could have it signed when he came to LACMA. His first LA solo show opens at MOCA on Saturday at the Pacific Design Center space.

When I moved back to LA after a decade of living elsewhere, it struck me that people would ask where I was from and when I'd answer that I was from here, they'd find that odd. There are so many transplants in LA and Hedi is one of our finest adopted photographer sons.

Related NYT article.

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents Hedi Slimane's California Song, the first West Coast solo museum exhibition of the photographer's work, on view at MOCA Pacific Design Center from November 12, 2011, through January 22, 2012. California Songspans the photographer's "California period" and traces his explorations of cycles of urban youth culture and artistic communities, through installations of photographic essays, exhibitions, and publications.

Copyright Hedi Slimane

Quote of the Week - Edward Steichen

2011-11-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

"Photography is a major force in explaining man to man."

- Edward Steichen

Saturday Openings

2011-11-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Allan Sekula, California Stories opens with a reception from 6-8pm at Christopher Grimes.

JANE

Jane explains to me that she is really a model. She's going to stop the ho stuff real soon and get a job as a dancer or maybe doing television commercials. She wants my phone number, so if the pictures are good she can use them in her portfolio.

We burn through two rolls of film. Afterward, I give her another fifteen bucks for a quick dip. We do it the old fashioned way with me on top, her looking up. She turns her head away, closes her eyes and curls her hands into hard fists.

Six months later Jane calls me. She says she is working as a dancer and has a boyfriend who takes care of her and can she buy the negatives from me for a hundred dollars? I tell her no but promise never to show her face. I suggest we get together to take some more pictures. She calls me a scum-bag and hangs up.

Required Reading

2011-11-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Debra Klomp Ching posted a link on the Flak Photo Network to this piece in Frieze, which more eloquently discussed the thing I alluded to held in common by many of the photographers in my In Rainbows post. I recommend a read.

WTF Quote of the Week - Gagosian

2011-11-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

""The diverse and sometimes abstruse nature of Ethridge’s imagery -- vintage movie posters, fashion models, a pink rose, a mop bucket, a concrete mixer -- originates from his direct experience of the world, which oscillates between the spontaneous and the staged with such subtlety that it is often difficult to ascertain his elected approach with regard to individual images. His oeuvre melds conceptual photography with commercial work, including out-takes from his own shoots and borrowed images already in circulation in other contexts. With this democratic attitude, Ethridge works to capture the vivid and intimate details of his shifting locales within photography’s classic genres of portrait, landscape, and still life."

READ: There is no rhyme or reason or coherence to Etheridge's photography. It's just a hodgepodge of random imagery. This show will leave you asking, "WTF, how'd he pull this off?"

Happy Halloween - Photos of Terror

2011-10-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Nightmares Fear Factory in Niagara Falls has the best attraction photo booth I've ever seen. The raw emotion on everyone's faces is authentic and fun - one of the best photo series I've seen in a while, even if it's vernacular. I'd say these tell us a lot more about humanity than most sterile, straight-faced portraiture we see on gallery walls.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Visit their flickr for more.

Jocelyn Lee at Rose Gallery

2011-10-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late on this one but there are still three weeks left to see the show. Jocelyn Lee (who triggered the first WTF Quote of the Week) by no fault of her own has what looks to be a great portraiture show up at Rose Gallery through November 19.

WTF Quote of the Week

2011-10-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm introducing a new feature, the WTF Quote of the Week. Where the normal Quote of the Week is meant to be taken seriously or speaks to something I find interesting or inspiring, the WTF quote will be something I've seen in an artist statement or critical piece that's pure art talk nonsense. Knowing myself, the WTF Quote of the Week will probably be more like every other week or maybe I'll just drop it at some point all together, but I think it will be fun to try for a while. Without further ado, I give you the first:

"Posed indoors as well as outside, the women look toward as well as away from the camera."

- JZ, in a review of Jocelyn Lee's show at Rose Gallery in ArtScene.

It's an artspeak cliche to say something is or does both one thing and it's polar opposite, which results in saying nothing at all.

Opening Friday - Ejen Chuang's Cosplay @ The Icon

2011-10-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ejen Chuang, who runs the all-encompassing photo resource blog for LA, Pix Feed LA, traveled all around the country to comic conventions shooting cosplayers. He even managed to make a 272-page hardcover book, which is a steal at $40.

His show's opening reception is Friday, Oct. 28 at the Icon Projects from 7-9 but there's an after party also, where there will be lots of cosplayers in attendance. Info on the night is here.

Project site is here.

Quote of the Week - Sebastian Smee

2011-10-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

"Still, there is a basic reticence about his approach that feels refreshing in today’s culture of maximum exposure. Brandt did not go to great lengths to turn people into icons, nor did he presume to show their “true nature” in something so transient as a photograph. Instead, he used photography’s special qualities to suggest intimate things about his subjects, things that cannot be put into words, and may not even be possible to put into pictures."

- Sebastian Smee

Via

Feature - Andrew George

2011-10-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

"Several years ago, when I met one of the models that I ended up photographing (and who inadvertently inspired this project), I began wondering why an attractive, healthy model in this famously glamorous and trendy city would choose to rid herself of the individual trademark of hair that seems to play such a central role in how we are defined. She explained that she wanted to overcome the stereotype of how most of us express -what she believed to be- a very conventional and predictable definition of beauty, and opt instead for something more striking where the expression of her face and the look in her eyes would be clearly seen. I found her decision compelling, vulnerable and yet quite bold - she was exposed, and in that exposure there was something very distinct and real beneath her gaze. I was struck by the extreme choice she had made in presenting herself to the world. There was nothing for her to hide behind with her shaved head; even clothed, she looked naked."

- Andrew George

See the whole series here and Andrew's other work on his website here.

Opening Sat - Sam Comen

2011-10-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sam Comen, whose work I've featured before is having a solo show of his 28 at 28 project (and also 29 at 29 and 30 at 30) and the opening reception is Saturday from 6-9 pm. It's also his 31st birthday so he'd better get started on the next one.

Quote of the Week - Joanna Hurley

2011-10-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

"That desire for recognition and acclaim is not new; what does seem new to me, looking at this from a perspective of 35 years in the publishing business, is that desire often overtakes perspective, and the sense of where one really is in one’s career as an artist, that is, where the work is, and whether or not it is truly ready for a book. While doing a book at the right time and in the right way can jump-start or revive a career, if you do a book too soon or at the wrong time, and without any kind of creative team behind you (such as a publishing company), then it can look like vanity because there has been no one objectively vetting the work and helping you shape its presentation into a coherent, well-designed narrative."

- Joanna Hurley

(Emphasis mine, and I'd add to that, "and whether the type of work is even appropriate for book form."

Quote of the Week: Lee Friedlander

2011-10-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

"I only wanted Uncle Vernon standing by his own car (a Hudson) on a clear day, I got him and the car. I also got a bit of Aunt Mary’s laundry and Beau Jack, the dog, peeing on the fence, and a row of potted tuberous begonias on the porch and 78 trees and a million pebbles in the driveway and more. It’s a generous medium, photography."

- Lee Friedlander

Youth Lagoon - Seventeen

2011-10-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

This relates to last week's quote of the week. Give a listen.

PDF - Bill Brandt - "A Night in London"

2011-10-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to see this book for so long but was unable to locate a (very expensive) copy to do so. Luckily, Andy Frazier just posted a link to a PDF copy of it on his Night Photography blog here. I love how Brandt showed both the working class and the elites of the time.

Quote of the Week - Bill Brandt

2011-09-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

"It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveler who enters a strange country. Most photographers would feel a certain embarrassment in admitting publicly that they carried within them a sense of wonder, yet without it they would not produce the work they do, whatever their particular field. It is the gift of seeing the life around them clearly and vividly, as something that is exciting in its own right. It is an innate gift, varying in intensity with the individual’s temperament and environment."

- Bill Brandt

Charity Water - Sept. Campaign

2011-09-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

I decided in the beginning not to advertise on here and instead use the space for a banner for a cause I felt was important, Charity: Water. They're launching a five-year anniversary campaign to buy a rig and supplies capable of digging 80 wells that will provide clean water for 40,000 people each year. I love that 100% of donations goes to the cause and they secure other funding for their operations. Head over and donate if you can.

http://charitywater.org/september/

Related: NYT Op Ed piece here.

The 2011 September Campaign. Our 5-year-anniversary video from charity: water on Vimeo.

Opening Sat. - Nickolas Muray, Frida

2011-09-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw Nickolas Muray's portraits of Frida Kahlo, I was blown away. Shot in 1931, they are just gorgeous color work. Frida Kahlo: Through the lens of Nickolas Muray opens tomorrow at the Fullerton Museum from 6-9 and there will be a curator's talk as well.

Opening Tonight - Vivian Maier @ Stephen Cohen

2011-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Vivian Maier: Street Photographer opens tonight from 6-9pm at Stephen Cohen Gallery.

The Stephen Cohen Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by recently discovered Chicago street photographer Vivian Maier (1926 - 2009). The exhibition will showcase Maier’s wide range of images, from her wonderfully inspired self-portraits, and architectural views to her street portraits from New York, Chicago, and other cities, which document post-war America of the 1950s and 60s.

Obscure until her work's recent discovery in abandoned storage lockers, Vivian Maier worked as a nanny in Chicago from the mid 1950s. Born in New York and spending part of her youth in France, Maier traveled widely in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The black-and-white images document Maier’s unconditional interest in the human figure set against a diverse and ever-changing urban culture. Her images are clearly of their time, and it appears that Maier may have been influenced by the work of some of her well-know peers, whose photographs were being exhibited during the period that she was photographing.

The exhibition will highlight contemporary prints made by Chicago master printer Ron Gordon, and Sandy Steinbrecher from original negatives in the collection of Jeffrey Goldstein. Maier’s images have been exhibited in Chicago, Germany, and Norway, and are currently on view at the Hearst Corporation in New York. She has been the subject of media coverage from CBS, BBC, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and many others.

Feature - Kristopher Stallworth

2011-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Kristopher Stallworth teaches at Bakersfield College. His Periphery series lights that city's landscape with car headlights on the outskirts of town, where residential meets agrarian.

"An almond orchard photographed in the spring may well be a housing tract by the fall. In this group of images I hope to capture this shifting and fractured landscape."

All images Copyright Kristopher Stallworth

2011-09-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Troy Davis was most likely wrongfully put to death last night for a crime he didn't commit. Ours is the only Western, developed nation in the world that still has the death penalty, and a flawed one at that.

I can't help but think of Taryn Simon's The Innocents on a day like today.

More here.

William Gregory:

Wick's Parlor, Louisville, Kentucky

With fiancé Vicki Kidwell, whom he dated prior to conviction

Gregory was pool champion in prison

Served 7 years of a 70 year sentence for Rape and Burglary, 2002

Interview

2011-09-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed for the SIP blog and it went live Sunday. It was great that they could include some of the Inversion GIF's in the post as they're meant to be viewed.

Interview is here.

Tim Simmons - Tomorrow Night

2011-09-14T11:15:00.001-07:00

I'll be at this.

On Listening to Others

2011-09-08T23:59:00.001-07:00

John Burke

For those of you who follow the blog from out of town, September is usually our hottest month here in LA. Summer starts late after the June Gloom. I though it a good idea to go to a talk by Simon Norfolk this evening, both because of the nature of his project and also because of the added benefit of extended air conditioning time during the heat wave.

I did not regret my decision. Having studied foreign policy for my undergrad degree, the topic of Afghanistan and Simon's presentation of his experience there were particularly fascinating to me. I post about these talks because I usually find them worthwhile. They give special insight into projects I'm already interested in and I find myself leaving with a renewed hunger and motivation to create better work myself. Tonight was no exception so I thought I'd share some insight instead of just posting beforehand and not reporting what I've learned.

I learned a lot tonight but aside from the historical, Norfolk's presentation of John Burke's work and life was fascinating. Largely forgotten by history, Burke's work is being revived by Norfolk's project. I'd posted a thought about using historical projects as a basis for ones own but Norfolk's gone a step further than I could almost imagine anyone else engaging in such an endeavor doing. He believes Burke to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, photojournalists ever. Without getting into the details of why he believes this, I'd like to point out that he has engaged in deep study into Burke's life and practices and could, I imagine, be considered one of the preeminent experts on these.

He said at multiple points during his talk that he learned so much from studying Burke's photographs, evolving as a photographer as a result of that study. Truly, Burke seemed a photographic hero to him.

Just last night, in my internet travels, I stumbled upon this video of the comedian, Luis CK giving a tribute speech to George Carlin. In the speech, he says "everything that I do that's good is due to this guy..." He was touched so much by something Carlin said in a talk he'd heard that had inspired him in a difficult time to try a new direction, that he felt he owed his success to that moment and to Carlin.

I can't say that I've had a similar moment, but surely I've been touched, tormented, inspired, and ashamed (in a good way) by other photographers work, which makes me gradually a better photographer. This is why I feel it is important to view work, research, and go to talks like these.

Aline Smithson @ WallSpace

2011-09-08T17:54:00.001-07:00

Aline Smithson's solo show opens Saturday at Wall Space in Santa Barbara. She'll be showing works from a number of series.

Simon Norfolk Lecture & Book Signing @ LACMA

2011-09-07T16:12:00.001-07:00

Simon Norfolk will discuss his new book and sign copies at LACMA tomorrow, Thursday Sept. 8 at 7pm in the Brown Auditorium. Tickets are free and available the day of the event. Details here.

"British photographer Simon Norfolk will discuss his images of Afghanistan alongside those by 19th-century Irish photographer John Burke taken during the Anglo-Afghan war (1878-80). Norfolk finds modern parallels in his depictions of bomb-damaged buildings, local communities, internet cafes, soldiers and embassy workers, and draws comparisons across a century of British involvement in the region. A booksigning will immediately follow the talk."

Related question: How long is long enough to engage in such a dialog without it being thought of as mooching someone else's ideas or concept? I'd say that 130 years in this case is certainly long enough but what if less time has gone by? What if someone went shooting down the Mississippi tomorrow, taking their cue from Alec Soth? Is there such a thing as too soon? If so, how long should have passed for the new project to be interesting or independent enough? In the case of the La Brea Project, 35 years was enough for them. Would ten be? Five?

Be sure to check out the online feature of the book here.

Steve McCurry @ Peter Fetterman

2011-09-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Steve McCurry, The Iconic Photographs opens (no word on a reception as far as I can tell) Saturday, September 10 through November 30. There is a nice selection on their site but you really should go see the prints - especially the close up portraits.

Steve McCurry, recognized universally as one of today’s finest image-makers, has won many of photography’s top awards. Best known for his evocative color photography, McCurry, in the finest documentary tradition, captures the essence of human struggle and joy. Member of Magnum Photos since 1986, McCurry has searched and found the unforgettable; many of his images have become modern icons. Born in Philadelphia, McCurry graduated cum laude from the College of Arts and Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. After working at a newspaper for two years, he left for India to freelance. It was in India that McCurry learned to watch and wait on life. “If you wait,” he realized, “people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view.”

His career was launched when, disguised in native garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion. When he emerged, he had rolls of film sewn into his clothes of images that would be published around the world as among the first to show the conflict there. His coverage won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad, an award dedicated to photographers exhibiting exceptional courage and enterprise. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National Press Photographers’ Association. That was the same year in which he won an unprecedented four first prizes in the World Press Photo Contest.

Quote of the Week - Geoff Dyer

2011-09-06T23:35:00.001-07:00

It would take entirely too long for me to transcribe this so just head to about 4:40 in this video and listen to Geoff Dyer's fantastic account for a wonderful minute or so. The entire panel is worth watching - both days.

Short and sweet:

"However bleak and miserable looking the world was, it would still be more interesting to go out there and document it than it would be to do this kind of art photography of stacks of film".

- Geoff Dyer

Tomorrow Night in Echo Park

2011-09-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Click to make larger for show details.

Feature - Kathleen Hawkes

2011-08-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

One of Kathleen Hawkes's tableware pieces is featured in a current show at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art of winners of its juried competition, Looking Forward (juror: Edward Robinson - Associate Photo Curator at LACMA), on now and during the upcoming downtown art walk on Sept. 8th. Disclaimer: I have a piece in the show. I really like the unique feel to the series, which isn't easy to achieve with still lifes. I'm featuring work from her Tableware series.

All images Copyright Kathleen Hawkes

Quote of the Week - James Dodd

2011-08-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

"Like Robert, I too felt the need to distance myself from my older work (in my case was Olympic Dreams), both aesthetically and story wise, which for me was in order to avoid being pigeon holed as a photographer who can only produce one type of work."

- James Dodd

I think many of us want to shoot a variety of things in a variety of ways, despite the market often rewarding those that do what we are trying to avoid. I know I do.

Job Opportunity - San Francisco

2011-08-31T15:50:00.001-07:00

DwellMedia

Associate Photo Editor
Reports To: Photo Editor
Location: San Francisco, Ca

Job Summary

About Dwell
Dwell Media, LLC is the parent company of Dwell magazine, Dwell Digital + Mobile, Dwell on Design events, Dwell Insights Group, Dwell Homes Collection and Dwell TV. Founded in 2000 by Lara Hedberg Deam, Dwell has received countless industry awards and is widely regarded as a leading voice in the modern design movement.

Dwell Media, LLC is the parent company of Dwell magazine, Dwell Digital + Mobile, Dwell on Design events, Dwell Insights Group, Dwell Homes Collection and Dwell TV. Founded in 2000 by Lara Hedberg Deam, Dwell has received countless industry awards and is widely regarded as a leading voice in the modern design movement.

We are looking for a passionate Associate Photo Editor to join our creative team. You will have a keen eye for high quality photography, excellent multitasking skills and a high capacity visual memory. You will be highly organized, self motivated, enthusiastic, know how to self review your work, and have exceptional people skills. You will be a strong and fair negotiator with a sense of humor. You will assist the Photo Editor with the evolution of Dwell Media and overall photography, and thrive in a creative, collaborative environment.

This is not a staff photographer position.

You will work closely with the Photo Editor to conceptualize, assign and produce photo shoots.
You will research and collect images for existing art stories, digital projects and special issues.
You will edit all images from your stories.
You will work with the Photo Editor, Executive Editor and the design team members on story layouts.
You will negotiate fees and contracts with photographers and reps for assignments and existing art.
You will keep all in house tracking systems and data bases current and manage all photo returns and story pdf’s.
You will research and discover new photographers appropriate for Dwell Media.
You will initiate, collaborate, and contribute to the environment of the creative staff
in a positive way.
You will prep images for digital use and contribute to Dwell’s content management system (CMS).

Required Skills

2+ years photo editing experience or comparable
Ability to work collaboratively
Ability to meet deadlines with completed work
Ability to double check your own work and follow projects through to completion
Ability to multi-task, manage tight deadlines, and achieve quick turnarounds
Possess strong organizational skills, with mindfulness of team needs
High knowledge of Adobe CS5 and Excel
Knowledge of and experience in digital asset management is a big plus
A clear understanding of the Dwell visual voice
Enthusiasm for your team, a good sense of humor, and the desire to own the projects you work on are absolutely essential

To Apply

Please send cover letter, resume, and PDF portfolio with relevant samples of your work to: artjobs@dwell.com

Incomplete applications will not be reviewed and will not be responded to.

Opening Saturday - Redefining Hollywood @ Analog Salon

2011-08-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Analog Salon is a project by Digital Fusion that highlights exceptional talent in the world of fine art photography. By partnering with industry leaders, DF is showcasing artists in its salon setting in Culver City by celebrating new, emerging and established photographers with an emphasis on Los Angeles based artists.

The new space represents a modern movement in supporting the arts by providing not only a space but a full production and marketing project to showcase talent and support artist efforts. The space will provide sponsored printing and framing, sponsored events based on the work and will include lectured, discussion panels and artist talks. All events will have a reception event and will be backed by local arts and entertainment media.

Along with Samitaur Constructs and under the guidance of architect Eric Owen Moss, Digital Fusion has provided a space to display and celebrate photography. Regular curated gallery exhibits will occur at the Culver City canvas setting. A dynamic partnership has been established with Contemporary Cultural led by cultural curator Edgar Varela as well as partnerships with local art world staples; Artweek LA & LA Canvas.

Partnerships have also been established with The Lucie Foundation, an organization established to support photography. We have also partnered with local radio station KCRW, the hub of cultural happenings in the Los Angeles regional area as well as Dublab, a radio collective specializing in cultural exploration of sight and sound.

Redefining

HOLLYWOOD

An exhibition of Photography by

Twelve photographers

August 27^th -September 30^th, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 27^th, 7-10 pm

Exhibition on View Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm

Special Event for Photography on September 21^st, 7-10

Other Exhibitions planned for November-December and 2012 on the website

The Analog Salon

3535 Hayden Avenue, Suite 100

Culver City, CA 90232

www.AnalogSalon.com

Thomas Alleman, J. Wesley Brown, Siri Kaur, Gordon Magnin, Gray Malin, Claire Mallett, Brend Reinhardt, April Rocha, Ryan Schude/Lauren Randolph, Emily Shur, Aline Smithson, Lacey Terrell

The War on Drugs

2011-08-25T00:07:00.001-07:00

Thomas Demand Lecture - September 7

2011-08-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

Thomas Demand will speak at USC's Roski School of Fine Arts on September 7th from noon until 2pm. This is one of those moments where I almost wish I didn't have a day job. Almost. You should attend if you don't.

Info here.

Thursday Openings

2011-08-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

A lot of good stuff happening tomorrow (which is downtown art walk night also):

Two concurrent shows at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art: (I'm in this one)

"Analog to Digital"
July 9-September 2, 2011
Artwalk Reception: Thursday August 11, 7-9pm

John Baldessari, Gronk, Patti Heid, Dennis Hopper, Kathryn Jacobi,Luke Matjas, Miss Maytag Collective, Mark Mothersbaugh, Federico Solmi, Anneliese Varaldiev, Robert Williams, Joel-Peter Witkin

"Looking Forward: Ten Artists to Watch"
Selected by Edward Robinson, LACMA
August 11-September 2, 2011
Thursday August 11, 7-9pm

Toban Nichols
Amy Snell
Anthony Holmquist
Louis Jacinto
Karine Laval
Kathleen Hawkes
Lucio Carvalho
Paul Adams
J. Wesley Brown
Matthew Cella

"I Love L.A."

Thursday, August 11, 7 pm - 9 pm
Wilshire Grand Hotel, 930 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90017
Meet the artists, have a book signed, view the works from this collection.

If you can't make the opening reception for the artists, the show installs at Duncan Miller Gallery, 10959 Venice Blvd in West LA on Saturday August 13 and runs through September 17. There will be another reception on Saturday, Aug 13, 7-10 pm in the gallery.

L.A. Times article here.

LACMA’S PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS COUNCIL PRESENTS:

COLLECTORS’ FAVORITES

August 11 – 27, 2011

Stephen Cohen Gallery

7358 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036

The Photographic Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Stephen Cohen Gallery are pleased to announce COLLECTORS’ FAVORITES, a special exhibition of photographs on loan from private collections of members of LACMA’s Photographic Arts Council (PAC) hosted by Stephen Cohen Gallery. A public opening will take place on Thursday, August 11^th, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

On view will be over 60 art works, ranging from early photographs of the 1880s to works of the present day. This exhibition will feature such masters of photography as Karl Struss, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Ruth Bernard, Bruce Davidson, James Van Der Zee, W. Eugene Smith, and Heinrich Kühn, as well as works by artists discovered by PAC collectors. COLLECTORS’ FAVORITES reflects the diverse passions and interests of PAC’s members, counting among their ranks many leading California photography collectors. The prints on display will be accompanied by brief statements from each collector, explaining his or her thoughts on collecting and reasons for exhibiting specific photographs.

Get your Cyanotype on.

2011-08-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

LA Night by Colin Rich

2011-08-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Pretty stunning. Probably best to click through and watch in on Vimeo directly.

LA Light from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

Book Signing - Simone Lueck at Kopeikin

2011-08-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

As part of a second opening reception for Simone Lueck and Jeffrey Millstein's Cuba-themed show at Paul Kopeikin, Lueck will be signing books for her official launch party of her new book, Cuba TV.

There will also be a food truck and appropriately, rum cocktails.

Kopeikin Gallery

2766 La Cienega Blvd.

Saturday, August 13

6-9 pm

You're Invited from Simone Lueck on Vimeo.

Quote of the Week - T.S. Eliot

2011-08-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

"The main idea — that efforts at paraphrasing poetry into prose fail in ways that parallel attempts for prose do not — was not new. It has been generally agreed upon since Aristotle. This skeptical thesis was championed in the first half of the 20^th century by the New Critics as well as by their guiding spirit, T.S. Eliot, who, when asked to interpret the line “Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day…” from his poem “Ash Wednesday,” responded, “It means ‘Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day.’ ”

- T.S. Eliot via this article in the Times that relates quite well, I think to the attempt to verbalize photographs.

Boehner

2011-07-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who took it- it's simply listed as "Associated Press." I don't think the Associated Press can click a shutter button but getting back on topic, I love this shot. It looks like a Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Click to see it a bit bigger.

Via

In Focus: The Sky @ Getty - July 26th

2011-07-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

In Focus: The Sky opens on Tuesday, July 26th at the Getty and runs through December 4th...wowsers. There is a great PDF containing ten images from the show available for viewing here. Don't you wish more museums did that? Don't you wish they'd put them all online?

Generations of artists have found inspiration in the sky, which became a rich subject for the medium of photography after it was introduced in 1839. Drawn from the J. Paul Getty Museum's permanent collection, this exhibition explores the genre through the history of photography, including works by Gustave Le Gray, Alfred Stieglitz, André Kertész, and John Divola. Four sections—urban skies, clouds, dark skies, and skies in color—give an overview of the diverse and imaginative ways photographers have approached this theme.

Summer Show at Duncan Miller Projects

2011-07-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

'Several months ago, Dan Miller of the Duncan Miller Gallery in Los Angeles asked me to curate a summer show for his satellite gallery, Duncan Miller Projects, located in Santa Monica, CA. After thinking long and hard about a new template idea for a gallery, we came up with the idea of making it more of a store, with lots of inventory, and featuring work that is approachable, evocative, and affordable. Dan is also opening the gallery every Wednesday evening so folks in the neighborhood can wander in, and photographers can bring friends and collectors throughout the run of the show." - Aline Smithson

Sixteen Los Angeles photographers: Nancy Baron, Michael Cannon, Marian Crostic, Karen Florek, Cat Gwynn, Bootsy Holler, Liz Huston, Kelli Knack, Stella S. Lee, Gray Malin, Ann Mitchell, Steven Rood, Aline Smithson, Charley Star, and Ashly Stohl, will be on exhibition. The show opens this Thursday, July 21st and runs through September 3rd.

The gallery is located at 1716 1/2 Ocean Park in Santa Monica, CA and is open Thurs- Sat from 11-6, and every Wed night from 7-9pm.

UPDATE: A second opening will be on Wednesday, July 27th from 7-9pm.

One More - Street Sights @ Armory

2011-07-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Street Sights is currently up at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

"Street Sight takes into account the factors that contributed to the post-war shift in Southern California-based photography from imagery that was picturesque, image-oriented, and anecdotal in nature, to a more conceptually motivated style of representation and object-making that was decisively suburban, process-oriented, and experiential.Exhibiting artists will include Adam Bartos, Darryl Curran, Bevan Davies, John Divola, Judy Fiskin, Robbert Flick, Dennis Hopper, Graham Howe, Grant Mudford, Jane O’Neal, Marvin Rand, Seymour Rosen, Ed Ruscha, Julian Wasser, and Terry Wild."

LAT Review here.

Catch a glimpse of the show here.

Vacation / Opening Sat

2011-07-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the lake for a week of vacation so the blog will be taking a break along with me.

Before I go, there's a Cuba-themed, two-person show opening this Saturday at Kopeikin from 6-8pm. If you're like me and have to miss this one, there will be another on August 6th.

Lueck's Cuban TV's have been turned into a book, which comes out next month and can be pre-ordered here.

Jeffrey Milstein - Cuba: In the Streets

Simone Lueck - Cuba: TV

Saturday, July 16, 6-8 pm

Kopeikin Gallery

2766 La Cienega Blvd.

Opening Thursday - LeRoy Grannis @ M+B

2011-07-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

"In celebration of LeRoy Grannis’ legacy and his great contributions to both the surfing and art communities, M+B is pleased to present a commemorative exhibition of LeRoy Grannis’ photographs to honor his legendary career. Documenting the Golden Age of Surfing—the Sixties and Seventies—Grannis was the first to capture the purity, soul and lifestyle of a seminal moment in American cultural history.

Dubbed the “godfather of surf photography” by The New York Times, Grannis supplanted himself as THE photographer that documented the birth of a generation spurred on by both the surf-film Gidget and the Beach Boys who created an entirely new youth subculture centered around the surfing lifestyle. Whether shooting surf-god (and surfing buddy) Greg Noll catching the big waves in Waimea Bay or a San Onofre parking lot filled with long boards, VW buses and surfer girls, Grannis’ work nostalgically embraces both the lost elegance of the sport as well as the idealization of this uniquely California lifestyle. Grannis’ poignant images record the decades’ surfing spirit and evoke a sense of timeless grace that greatly contrasts with the modern-day extreme sport and endorsement-filled notion of surfing."

Through 30th

Opening Thursday, July 14th from 6-8 pm

M+B

Opening Saturday - Analog to Digital at LACDA

2011-07-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

Analog to Digital - Los Angeles Center for Digital Art

July 9-September 2, 2011
Reception: Saturday, July 9 7-10PM

Curated by: Rex Bruce
Artists:
John Baldessari
Gronk
Patti Heid
Dennis Hopper
Kathryn Jacobi
Luke Matjas
Miss Maytag Collective
Mark Mothersbaugh
Federico Solmi
Anneliese Varaldiev
Robert Williams
Joel-Peter Witkin

Quote of the Week - Gerry Badger

2011-07-08T00:02:00.000-07:00

"Having muscled in on the art world - albeit around its fringes - a lot of photography became aflicted by the very malaise affecting modernist painting, then undergoing what many now see as its terminal crisis. Many photographers - now would-be "artists" - turned from making pictures about the world to making photographs about the medium. Photography rapidly became coyly self-referential, reduced to formal gesture and bland decoration."

- Gerry Badger

Via

Kim Weston - Ballerinas, tonight.

2011-07-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

And you thought Degas had it all covered...

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Try not to blow your hands off. You'll need them to shoot.

See you next week.

Alia Malley - Feature on Conscientious

2011-06-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I've had Alia Malley on my list to feature for a while now but it seems Jorge beat me to it. He's got a nice feature and an interview up so I'll just direct you there instead.

To Be Published or Self-Published?

2011-06-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

In Los Angeles at ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase
Monday July 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm

To Be Published Or Self-Published?: Options for Artists
A lecture and discussion lead by Mary Virginia Swanson and Darius Himes

MVS and DH will give a 30-minute visual presentation for artists who wish to bring their art work to book form, discussing both traditional publishing and self-publishing avenues towards helping determine the pros/cons of each path. Following their lecture, MVS and DH will lead a discussion with industry professionals involved in making, distributing and selling of art books: Nicole Katz, cofounder Paper Chase Press; Mathew Swenson, Creative Director, Paper Chase Press; Jane Brown, Director, ARTBOOK | D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers); and Tosh Berman, Book Buyer, Book Soup. Time will be allotted for Q&A. Copies of Publish Your Photography Book will be available for purchase at the event. Click here for details.

This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by sending an email torsvp@dapinc.com.

ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase
7174 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, California [map]

There's also a date in San Fran on August 1st. Go here for details.

L.A. County's War on Desert Rats

2011-06-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Check out this excellent LA Weekly article about the County being jerks to folks trying to live in peace out in the desert. Kevin Scanlon shot the photos and created this video piece with interviews.

Feature - Wendy Fletcher

2011-06-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

I can't recall who said it (a problem one faces when reading 50 blogs etc. on a daily basis, though maybe it was Vik Muniz?) but I'm pretty sure it was a photographer and that I read it in the last 6 months. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the work you most admire is the work you were just a step away from doing yourself but didn't - the work that you could have done in a parallel universe.

This, I think, is why I had a mix of emotions but was mostly excited when I came upon Wendy Fletcher's Vendedores series. I'd been thinking about shooting them myself over the past couple of years because I think it is dignified work they do and you see them all around Los Angeles. Well, Wendy beat me to it and did a damn fine job. I'd surely have shot them a bit differently but I'm ok with the fact that I didn't and I love her results.

All images copyright Wendy Fletcher - click for large views.

Wait, I've seen this before.

2011-06-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

In looking at the winners of PDN's The Look fashion photography contest, my jaw dropped when I came upon Bjorn Iooss's first place winning series shot for Alex Casertano's Fall/Winter collection.

Ballen's style is so his own that this isn't inspiration, but rather blatantly ripping off another artist, chalk, hangers, cat and all. I'm perplexed as to how this could:

a) be done in the first place - why not hire Ballen directly to shoot your campaign if that's what you want? Mr. Iooss can certainly shoot quite well in a style of his own.

and b) have been awarded a prize in a contest.

All images Copyright (weird saying that here) Bjorn Iooss.

Quote of the Week - Jerry Saltz

2011-06-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

"I went to Venice, and I came back worried. Every two years, the central attraction of the Biennale is a kind of State of the Art World show. This year’s, called “Illuminations,” has its share of high points and artistic intensity. (Frances Stark’s animated video of her online masturbatory tryst with a younger man hooked me; Christian Marclay’s The Clock, which captivated New York earlier this year, rightly won the Gold Lion Prize for Best Artist.) Yet many times over—too many times for comfort—I saw the same thing, a highly recognizable generic institutional style whose manifestations are by now extremely familiar. Neo-Structuralist film with overlapping geometric colors, photographs about photographs, projectors screening loops of grainy black-and-white archival footage, abstraction that’s supposed to be referencing other abstraction—it was all there, all straight out of the seventies, all dead in the water. It’s work stuck in a cul-de-sac of aesthetic regress, where everyone is deconstructing the same elements."

- Jerry Saltz, Via

(Emphasis mine)

Pictures Generation, anyone?

Photo Mantra

2011-06-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Good pictures come to me.

Quote of the Week - Conan O'Brien

2011-06-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

"It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique."

- Conan O'Brien

Opening tonight - Rebecca Sittler & Adam Thorman @ Sam Lee

2011-06-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

Previously featured photographer, Rebecca Sittler and yesterday's feature, Adam Thorman open their Two By Sea show tonight with a reception from 6-8pm @ Sam Lee Gallery. Looks like a good one.

Rebecca Sittler:

Adam Thorman:

Adam Thormon, Milking Tide

Feature - Adam Thorman

2011-06-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

Bay Area photographer Adam Thorman's Out Along the Edges explores the Intertidal Zone in Northern California

"The exposed intertidal zone is an ephemeral place that allows access to an underwater world that is usually closed to us. Neither ocean nor land, the intertidal zone is a hybrid of the two."

His two-person show with Rebecca Sittler opens Saturday at Sam Lee Gallery in Chinatown (in LA).

Feature Jeff McLane

2011-06-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

It was hard to choose just one of Jeff McLane's series to feature so I went with two. Central Valley was a must for inclusion considering how much time I've spent up there myself over the past year. Make sure you tyake a look at his site for more.

Jeff's also got a show on right now in San Pedro:

Angels Gate Cultural Center
3601 South Gaffey Street
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-519-0936
http://www.angelsgateart.org/

Effulgence: Jeff McLane
May 15 - August 14, 2011
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am - 6pm

Angels Gate Cultural Center is pleased to announce Effulgence, an exhibition of new color photographs by Los Angeles photographer Jeff McLane. McLane’s large scale photographs focus on the illuminated landscape of communities surrounding the Port of Los Angeles at night, offering a glimpse of a terrain tightly bonded with the energy of the nearby industrial structures. The exhibition opens May 15, 2011 and runs through August 14, 2011.

Video: Estevan Oriol

2011-06-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice video on Estevan Oriol.

If you aren't familiar with his work, you should be.

Estevan Oriol — "Run Up" Profile from Stas on Vimeo.

Quote of the Week - Yeats

2011-06-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

"The World is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."

- W.B. Yeats

Quote of the Week - Colin Pantall (sort of)

2011-05-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

"Because if you did, then you would become a brand. Isn't that what it's really all about - becoming a brand. It might be a journalistic or an artistic or an academic brand, but it's a brand all the same. A brand where the bag and the outrage and the scarf are all part of it. And if you became a brand, isn't that the signal of your complete failure as a human being, isn't that completely contrary to what you or me or any documentary photographer or artist should want to become?"

From this, which you should read.

Feature - Peter Bohler

2011-05-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

Peter Bohler's pictures below depict a training facility in the form of a recreated Iraqi village in the middle of the Mohave Desert at Fort Irwin.

All Images Copyright Peter Bohler

Tonight - Joachim Brohm @ Luisotti

2011-05-19T14:26:00.001-07:00

Gallery Luisotti would like to remind everyone of Joachim Brohm's first solo show at the gallery, Ohio, opening this week. This body of work cemented the artist's place within the then nascent group of young German photographers investigating color photography as a serious field of practice. Ohio is a case study of a then relatively new practice of using color photography to fully depict the environment around us, which in the works' chromatic range furthers the documentary expanse of the depicted landscape. The objective coolness in these pictures renders color as an elemental form, one serving to further accentuate the contours of the scene. Brohm's Ohio is a place of bleached house paints, washed bricks, and faint neon signs - color of a distant fragment of time.

Please join us for the artist's reception on Thursday, May 19^th from 6:00 to 8:00pm. Joachim will be signing copies of the book Ohio which was recently published by Steidl. For further information please visit our website here or feel free to call the gallery at (310) 453-0043.

Related:

American Suburb X

Feature - Carlos Chavarria

2011-05-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Carlos Chavarria is from Madrid but now lives in San Francisco. His series, Dreamtown, is about the unattainability of the American dream.

All photos copyright Carlos Chavarria

Your Plan for Saturday

2011-05-18T13:53:00.001-07:00

Well, it's really my plan for Saturday but it should be yours too.

First up at Angles Gallery, Ori Gersht will give an artists talk at 4:30 ahead of the opening of his show from 6-8pm.

Next, pop right next door to Kopeikin for the opening of Kahn & Selesnick's Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea, also from 6-8.

Copyright Kahn & Selesnick

After that, head up the road to the inauguration of OHWOW's L.A. Project space for the opening of Sam Fall's show and to catch David Benjamin Sherry's at the same time. 6-9pm. Info here.

Copyright Sam Falls

Don't dilly dally - you're close but you've got one more show to hit up over at M+B, also from 6-9. Anthony Lepore's first show at the gallery titled Wilderness should be a good one. Remember that recent feature? Info here.

Copyright Anthony Lepore

UPDATE: I was just informed that Anthony Lepore's show is in two parts, the aforementioned show at M+B plus another part at François Ghebaly Gallery just up the block from Kopeikin and Angels in Culver City so be sure to hit that half up before you head north.

Classic Feature - Adam Bartos, 1978-79

2011-05-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

I love that Adam Bartos made these the year I was born. Buy the book here.

All images copyright Adam Bartos

Quote of the Week - John Nicolay

2011-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

"Graphic art was powerless before a face that moved through a thousand delicate gradations of line and contour, light and shade, sparkle of the eye and curve of the lip, in the long gamut of expression from grave to gay, and back again from the rollicking jollity of laughter to that serious, far-away look that with prophetic intuitions beheld the awful panorama of war, and heard the cry of oppression and suffering. There are many pictures of Lincoln; there is no portrait of him."

- John Nicolay

Via

Quote of the Week - Paul Graham

2011-05-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

"It’s that dance between the photographer and life – you might have some idea about what you’re going to do then life slaps you across the face and says “No, that’s not interesting, how about this?”," he said. "You can have this dialogue, this dance, with life and you can come back with something dramatically more interesting than you ever could dream up in your own little ideas."

- Paul Graham

Via

Last Chance

2011-05-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's your last chance to see the following shows:

Walead Beshty @ Regen Projects
and down the block, Carlo Van De Roer @ M+B
Florian Maier Aichen @ Blum & Poe

Also, Diane Arbus @ Gagosian comes down next weekend

Feature Marc Valesella

2011-05-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

I really like Marc Valesella's minimalist Corners series; a simple concept that's been well executed. He's been calling LA home since 1986.

All images Copyright Marc Valesella

Marc's Legs series is currently on view at Edgar Varela Fine Arts through May 21st.

Fighting Digital...sort of.

2011-05-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

LA Weekly article about current shows that are up now.

Feature - Adam Amengual

2011-05-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

"Through the help of the non profit Homeboy Industries I photographed people who have made the decision to change their lives for the better. The people in these images were former gang members or had spent time incarcerated before walking through the doors at Homeboy Industries. Through a variety of services, Homeboy Industries helps these 'men and women redirect their lives and provide them with hope for their futures. In shooting this project I hope that people can see the subjects for what they are, humans trying to better themselves."

Adam Amengual

The Art of Photography Show

2011-05-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

Just 12 days left to submit for the Art of Photography Show down in San Diego. I was selected last year and I can tell you they do a great job with the show and that I've never been to a more packed opening (and the space is huge). This year, Ann Lyden, Associate Photo Curator at the Getty is the juror.

Info here.

Walead Beshty in conversation @ LACMA Sunday

2011-05-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Walead Beshty and Britt Salveson
Sunday, May 8 | 4:00 pm
On the occasion of the publication of two new books, and the opening of two new exhibitions, artist Walead Beshty and LACMA's Head Photography Curator, Britt Salvesen, will talk about the process of production, the make-ready and the readymade, reproduction and transmission.
Art Catalogues Bookstore, Ahmanson Building | Free, no reservations | Refreshments will be served
Image: Cover image courtesy JRP Ringier

Saturday Shows

2011-04-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on this weekend as MOPLA comes to an end. I'm obligated to tell you about two shows I'll be a part of on Saturday. It will be very nice to be back to normal in May.

First up, Redefining Hollywood in downtown from 3-6pm.

Then, I'll have 25 shots of downtown in a slide show at the MOPLA closing party over in Santa Monica from 7-10.

Quote of the Week - Walker Evans

2011-04-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

"Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long."

- Walker Evans

Quote of the Week - James Pomerantz

2011-04-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Regarding this week's sad news:

"If everyone lived as they lived, nobody would die as they died."

- Jame Pomerantz

Lucie Benefit - Saturday

2011-04-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Lucie Foundation is throwing its first ever benefit to support it's photography workshop program to help at risk youth, Snapshop.

What: THE LUCIE FOUNDATION BENEFIT to raise funds for SNAPSHOP! The

Lucie Foundation’s photo workshops for Los Angeles at-risk youth.

When: April 23rd, 2011 from 7-10pm.

Where: The Factory Place Events Complex, 1397 E. 6th Street, 1 block east of Alameda

Street.

Who: THE LUCIE FOUNDATION in association with Art Weekend LA, supported by

LARABA and The Macallan.

Artwork: David Lynch, Amy Arbus and Tasya van Ree.

Food: Honey + Ginger Catering.

Beverages: The Macallan, Absolut, Don Francisco.

Entertainment: DJ Peanut Butter Wolf and Quartetto Fantastico.

Tickets: $50.00 in advance, $75.00 at door.

TIAPB - Tonight from 6-11pm

2011-04-21T13:21:00.001-07:00

More info here.

Shows to see - MOPLA

2011-04-21T12:32:00.001-07:00

I've been super busy prepping for a number of shows so I dropped the ball on some openings for shows that should definitely be worth seeing. You know that you can see shows outside of the opening receptions, right? In no particular order:

Carlo van de Roer - The Portrait Machine Project @ M+B
Through May 14

Walead Beshty - PROCESSCOLORFIELD @ Regen
Through May 14

Diane Arbus - People and Other Singularities @ Gagosian
Through May 27

Frorian Maier-Aichen @ Blum & Poe
Through May 14

Richard Micrach - Monday

2011-04-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'll be at this one.

R.I.P. Tim Hetherington

2011-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

You owe it to yourself to see Restrepo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/africa/21photographers.html?hp

UPDATE: Chris Hondros has also died. R.I.P.