Black is the Old ... Invisible?

Last month, to great acclaim, Vogue Italia created the first completely “Black Issue” of the magazine. Shot by Steven Meisel with four different covers and featuring virtually every top black model, the issue sold out within 72 hours and in an unprecedented move Vogue Italia rushed to reprint 30,000 more copies to meet demand.

How absolutely great, but now the August issue is out – themed around a faux funeral photo tribute to Yves Saint Laurent - and there’s apparently not one black model to be found. This is especially ironic given the fact that Yves Saint Laurent was one of the first major designers to regularly feature black models in his runway shows. You would have thought they could have found room to at least fit Naomi Campbell in somewhere. Wouldn’t she look chic in widow’s weeds? This kind of tokenism ultimately seems a step backwards to me.

The August issue of Vogue Italia

Anyway, ever helpful, here’s my progressive solution – every edition of VOGUE should henceforth be required to regularly feature a model I just became aware of, but who has been in the business a while - Lakshmi Menon (the Bundchen of Bangalore). Already appearing in ads for Hermes and Givenchy it seems hard to believe this kind of pan-cultural beauty could have any negative effect on the bottom line of any fashion magazine.

30% !*#+!!!

A quick public service announcement. Today through tomorrow, Aperture are having a book sale where every book in stock is 30% off. This includes the just released Luigi Ghirri book; the just arrived, fresh from the printers, "RFK" by Paul Fusco; as well as Aperture's current and back list. (Bring the Fusco book to Danziger Projects on September 4, 6-8 p.m., meet the photographer, and get it signed.)

Aperture is at 547 West 27th Street, 4th floor. New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 505-5555

Unique

Tepui Mountains, Venezuela

Forbes Traveler just listed their “10 Most Unique Landscapes”. Their definition is “instantly recognizable views that are found nowhere else in the world” and created by specific and unusual geological forces.

This sounded like a useful list for any resourceful photographer (although they left out my particular favorite, Badlands National Park in South Dakota which looks completely other-wordly). Nevertheless, in no particular order here are the 10:

Inle Lake, Myanmar

Petra, Jordan

Tauo, New Zealand

Li River Valley, China

Uyuni, Bolivia

Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Western Highlands, Scotland

Cappadocia, Turkey

Redwood National Park, USA

And my personal pick:

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Luigi Ghirri

For many years, a card of this photograph of Versailles taken in 1985 by Luigi Ghirri has been pinned up above my desk. I love the scale, the color, the formality, and the relationship to painting. It also looks like it would be a large Gursky size print but in reality the original is snapshot size, which adds to the intrigue.

Luigi Ghirri was born in 1943 and died in 1992, at the age of 49. During his short life he revolutionized Italian, if not European photography, but for a number of reasons he is barely known in the States. However, all this should change now that Aperture have published the first American monograph of his work titled “It’s Beautiful Here, Isn’t It …”.

An early colorist and a prolific writer, Ghirri’s snap-shot style observations blended conceptualism, surrealism, and topography. His favorite subjects included constructed collage-like still lives, storefronts, and interiors. One of his favorite photographers was William Eggleston and with brilliant initiative, Aperture editor Melissa Harris managed to corral the notoriously word-shy photographer into selecting and commenting on some of his favorite Ghirri pictures. It’s a fascinating insight into both men. Courtesy of Aperture, here are excerpts of the interview accompanied by the photographs under discussion.

Paris (1972)

I happen to like pictures of the rear-view of someone’s head. (My fondness for rear-views of heads culminates in my admiration for Gerhard Richter’s 1988 painting “Betty”.) I made one myself, in Los Alamos, around the same time as Ghirri’s.

Modena (1973)

In general, I ike Ghirri’s use of color and the fact that the work feels empathetic. There is also a sense of place in his photographs, yet they are not a bit regionalistic. Sometimes his work is extremely painterly – the landscape "Modena (1973)" is quite beautiful. The shades of green, from that austere wedge to the fuzzier, yellow tinted grass and shrubs, and then that circular chunk of yellow. Beautiful. I like everything about it. I like the play among reality and mystery, the constructed. Everybody thinks this is new, but Ghirri was doing it more than thirty years ago. And the photograph of maps, such as another titled "Modena", also from 1973, are so simple but exactly right.

Modena (1973)

Lido di Spina (1978)

I keep returning to the word “surprise” with Ghirri’s work. "Lido di Spina (1978)" feels much more surreal and is very unexpected – but he’s still playing with you, and I like that.

Modena (1978)

Trani (1982)

Amsterdam (1980)

"Modena (1978)" is an image I would never make. It’s quite elegant; it reminds me of Irving Penn’s work which I love. "Trani (1982)" is another very elegant picture. And look at "Amsterdam (1980)" just about everything is interesting about this work … the strange plant (I guess it’s a plant) juxtaposed with the Sphinx and the pyramid and more clouds. I’ve always liked the idea of collage.

Near Lagosanto, Ferrara (1989)

I am extremely drawn to the minimal and more sublime aspects of Ghirri’s work, as well as those images that are more confounding – those in which you don’t know exactly what you are looking at, in which he is gently teasing the viewer about what is real and what is not like "Near Lagosanto, Ferrara (1989)". In fact I might just have to copy that one: “Have you seen my Ghirri?”

There’s a lot Ghirri did that I don’t do, and that I probably won’t do – but I’m sure glad he did it!

P.S.
As I was writing this I realized I did not know what reference the title was making so I e-mailed Melissa Harris and got this reply which is too good not to share:

Dear James,
No reference in the text at all, but here goes...

I was trying to think of a title for the book which would be more interesting than the typical: "Luigi Ghirri: photographs of Italy" or something.

I was sitting at the Empire Diner one morning for breakfast and started thinking about Antonioni's "The Passenger" which I had seen at BAM a few nights earlier (such an extraordinary film -- I had never seen it before) and kept recalling the line that is exchanged 3 times with the Jack Nicholson character--which is something like, "It's beautiful here isn't it" -- sometimes a question, sometimes an observation.... It suddenly occurred to me that this could be a perfect title for the book, albeit odd. My mind was in some mixture of Antonioni and Ghirri land as I left the diner, thinking that maybe, finally, I had a title and saying it over and over in my head (i hope) while picturing Ghirri's images -- and I walked smack into a sandwich board -- it was for NY magazine (i think it was NY magazine) featuring Jack Nicholson on the cover (some new movie he was in)! Of course, I took it as a sign! So, I ran the title by Lesley, Andrea, and Kristian and they loved it, as did Yo (Yolanda Cuomo-- book designer) -- and then I asked Paola Ghirri about it and she adored it. So--that's that! Hope this helps

Best to you,
Melissa

Weekend Video - Philippe Petit

On Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of seeing a preview of the film "Man on Wire" - a remarkable documentary about Philippe Petit, and his 1974 tight-rope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. 
Directed by James Marsh the film interviews all the main participants - the girlfriend who stood by his side in spite of her misgivings and fears; the childhood friends who collaborated on the myriad steps of the plan, and Petit himself, who is one of the most charismatic documentary subjects one could find.



A combination of artist, dare-devil, and madman, Petit's sense of wonder, mischief and enthusiasm both in the archival footage and in the present day interviews give the film a relentless forward momentum.
 Thanks to the extensive archive material, some excellent reconstructions of the action, and Michael Nyman's dramatic music, you can’t help but feel tense even though you know the outcome.

Director Marsh does an excellent job and at times it feels like the film is more Hollywood thriller than existential documentary. The team plan their operation like a heist, spending months studying the towers, inventing ways in which to transport their equipment up and then across the towers, and dressing up in disguises as they case the WTC Towers.

Then there was the real danger involved. The wind velocity at 1,368 feet, the elasticity of the buildings, and of course the omnipresent threat of death. Yet Petit’s dream stirred a city mired in depression and crime, and the fact that he refused to explain himself, in spite of the everyone asking 'why', makes the event all the more mysterious and affecting.

At the end of the screening Petit came out for a question and answer and his presence, charisma, and command in person were no less than in the film. By the time he was finished, I felt I had the privilege of meeting the greatest performance artist of all time.

Embarrassment at the Met

It’s an embarrassment of riches for photography at The Metropolitan Museum right now - two amazing shows and a scattering of riches as you walk along the hallway of the Prints & Drawings galleries. (There’s always an interesting selection of works from the collection here – a visual diversion or appetizer for what’s to follow.)

First up you are met with a large close-up of Pierre-Louis Pierson’s peek-a-boo portrait of the Contessa Castiglione – the perfect precursor for the contemporary show to follow. Ovcr a period of six or so years in the late 1860s, Pierson and the Countess produced more than 700 images of her. In a shocking reversal of convention, however, it was the sitter who directed every aspect of the picture, from the angle of the shot to the lighting, using the photographer as just a tool in her obsessive pursuit of self-expression.

A few steps further takes you into the new Tisch gallery for contemporary photography and “Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960”. This exhibition – only the second to display the Met’s new-found interest in contemporary work – presents four decades of photography by artists who have turned the camera on the medium itself. Richard Prince, Sherrie Levine, and a
host of lesser known names make for a interesting meditation on appropriation, authorship, and conceptualism. The show’s signature image, made by British photographer Janice Guy in 1979 is a slick turn of the tables on the viewer’s preference for the nude female form.

Last but not least, stretching over half a dozen galleries, is “Framing a Century: Master Photographers, 1840 – 1940”. Aside from its clunky title, this exhibition tells the story of photography’s first 100 years through the work of 13 key photographers - Gustave Le Grey, Roger Fenton, Carleton Watkins, William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Nadar, Édouard Baldus, Charles Marville, Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Brassaï.
It’s a little like showing off as you pass by one master print after another of some of photography’s most iconic images – but hey, it’s the Met!

Janice Guy. Untitled. 1979

Sherrie Levine. After Walker Evans, 1,2,4,&7. 1981

Richard Prince. Detail from "Untitled" (three women with their heads cast down). 1980

Lutz Bacher. Detail from "Jackie & Me". 1989

Nadar. Nadar with his wife, Ernestine, in a Balloon. c. 1865

Roger Fenton. Reclining Odalisque. 1858

Gustave Le Gray. Cavalry Maneuvers, Camp de Chailons, 1857

Carleton Watkins. Cape Horn near Celilo. 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron. Sappho. 1865

Edouard Baldus. Group at the Chateau de la Faloise. 1857

Walker Evans. Room at Louisiana Plantation House. 1935

Brassai. Introduction at Suzy's. 1932-33

P.S.
As I was walking away from the museum, there was an unusually talented caricaturist creating gentle watercolor likenesses. I didn’t
want to interrupt the work in progress but I did find out he’s only
there on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Parallel U.

The new China Central Television headquarters building in Beijing. Yesterday's most e-mailed photograph on Yahoo.

Do we all live in different worlds? Has the internet created parallel or alternate universes where we sometimes but rarely intersect? I ask these questions because having never spent any time on Yahoo, I recently set it to be my home page and then went one step further to personalize it to be “My Yahoo”. (The same week .mac changed their name to .me. Is this the beginning of a new "Me Decade"?) Anyway, the reason I changed home pages was that I was particularly intrigued by what photographs the approximately 150 million unique monthly viewers were most taken by and how it differed from the kind of pictures those of us with a fine art predisposition are drawn to.

For those who follow the “Most Emailed Photos on Yahoo” section, it’s a wild and wacky world out there. Spectacle, novelty, freakishness, and animals rule. Subject trumps all. Artlessness is a virtue. I say this without snobbishness because as readers of this blog know, I’m fascinated by pictures that have a purely visceral impact without any connection to aesthetics. And if the “Most Emailed Photos on Yahoo” doesn’t get to you – how about ”The Daily Puppy” link, or ”OMG”?

I’m intrigued to know what readers of this blog set their home pages to and what kind of pictures they hope to see. Please comment. In the meantime, a selection of popular Yahoo pictures:

Kim Taylor of Stewartstown, PA, thought she had set the emergency brake, but her wayward red convertible nonetheless rolled downhill, crashed through a fence, and plunged into her neighbors' in-ground pool.

Toes are nibbled on by a type of carp called garra rufa, or doctor fish, during a fish pedicure treatment at Yvonne Hair and Nails salon in Alexandria, Va.

From "The Daily Puppy", Tek, the Australian Shepherd puppy, who was named after Jason Varitek, the captain of the Boston Red Sox.

From the "OMG" section of Yahoo - Diane Keaton.

The International Center of ....

It’s no longer a shock to open your e-mail and receive solicitations for different kinds of porn, but it’s somewhat surprising when the purveyor is that august New York institution – The International Center of Photography. Still all’s fair in love and photography and I imagine they’re having a rollicking good time on the corner of 43rd and 6th.

In all seriousness, ICP has one of the best photography bookstores in New York (the other being Dashwood Books) and offer both a great selection and guilt-free browsing – a nice combination. And if you feel like it, you can also take in three interesting shows there right now -Heavy Light:
Recent Photography and Video from Japan; Arbus/
Avedon/ Model:
 Selections from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection; and Bill Wood’s Business (Diane Keaton’s latest archive discovery). I particularly recommend Heavy Light.

But back to the bookstore and their e-mail offering, in addition to selections from British collector/dealer Danny Moynihan’s private collection of pornographic photographs, if you're looking for more porn there's a rare limited edition set of playing cards featuring images from Daido Moriyama's "Kagero & Colors".

If you’re looking for more respectable fare, there’s a brand new monograph on Hannah Starkey (one of England’s most interesting photographers but rarely seen Stateside); a republished version of Peter Beard’s seminal "End of the Game" designed by Ruth Ansel; and a new monograph by the Dutch stylist/photographer Erwin Olaf. Enough to make venturing into midtown where the temperature is well into the high 90s as we speak worthwhile.

Weekend Video - Viva Las Vegas

At a charity auction a couple of weekends ago I bid for and won three nights in Las Vegas. So to inspire my wife I thought what could be better than finding some songs from Elvis’s “Viva Las Vegas”! Needless to say there were plenty on YouTube and iTunes and I was particularly struck by the energy and brightness of the film, not to mention a title track that has been recorded by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to ZZ Top.

Released in 1964, “Viva Las Vegas” was Elvis's 17th of 31 movies he made in 11 years (for an average of three a year)! “Viva Las Vegas” is generally considered to mark the end of the better films (by Elvis standards) and the beginning of an overall decline in quality. Nevertheless, “Viva Las Vegas” has a lot going for it. The director, George Sidney, was a man with serious musical credentials (“Anchors Aweigh”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Show Boat”, “Kiss Me Kate”, “Pal Joey” and “Bye Bye Birdie”) and he surely knew how to shoot wide screen color and stage a dance number.

“Viva Las Vegas” makes ample use of real Vegas locations at a time when The Strip was only about a mile long with headliners playing in low-lying hotels in a fairly unphotogenic part of the city. But above all, “Viva Las Vegas” has a stunning Ann-Margret who steals the show. Colonel Parker (Elvis’s manager) was particularly concerned with this, and from then on Elvis movies had no competing female leads. The movie has the usual early 60s political incorrectness with Elvis walking a fine line between girl-chasing and stalking, but as a cheerful period piece, and not discounting Elvis's enduring appeal, it’s a hoot.

Below: Elvis' friend, George Klein, discusses the making of the film.

Dark

I know what I’m looking forward to! And I’m not usually a fan of summer action movies, but the recent Batman films directed by Christopher Nolan are done with such care, skill, and creativity that they truly are works not just of commerce but of art. The cinematography in particular is just gorgeous – every frame darkly
and richly lit, the color balanced beautifully for the dark palette the filmmakers are working in. Just watch the trailer.

I’ve also particularly enjoyed the design and roll-out of the posters – a brilliant blend of photography, illustration, photoshop, and graphic design.

There’s a rumor on the web that this could be the first film to gross $200 million on its opening weekend. Let’s see if all this care, commitment, and chutzpah pays off!

La Vie En Tulip

As I mention frequently, I am always interested in when vernacular or press photographs transcend the everyday to have some greater visceral impact. Sometimes it’s the subject, more often it’s the composition, and sometimes as in these photographs it’s a combination of both. And originality is always key. These three images, via London’s Daily Mail and AP, but uncredited, are pictures of the northern Netherlands in the middle of the tulip season. (Planted in the fall, the bulbs bloom in the spring, after which the land is cultivated for a rather more mundane crop of vegetables.)

A Google image search of “tulip fields” will yield plenty of mediocre pictures of this scene, but these, to me, have a conciseness and a lack of sentimentality which make them memorable.

My Life as a Model

From GQ. Courtesy: The Sartorialist.

Earlier this year, when my friend Scott Schuman a.k.a. The Sartorialist was looking for bike riders for his GQ page he asked if he could include me. I’m realistic enough to know that being a male model is not high on my list of career opportunities and to no great surprise I ended up being the smallest of all the pictures used, but my son’s classmates were impressed and there was certainly no downside to my brief moment of fame.

Shortly afterwards, I got a call from a friend in the casting business asking if I would model (perhaps “strike an awkward pose” would be a better description) for Apple, who were doing a shoot at their 14th Street store, and this time it was a paying gig. So off I went to the Apple Store, where it became clear I was to play the role of the grey-haired small business owner as opposed to the dashing blogger/cyclist. The other “models” were younger out of work actors whose ability to appear natural in their roles was far greater than mine. However, the photographer Roy Zipstein, was a total pro, and with only the latest state-of the-art Canon digital camera, his pictures looked like they had been produced by a full size production and lighting crew.

I had forgotten all about this until I got an e-mail this morning from the shoot co-ordinator to tell me we were now live on the web! True to my prior model status, you have to scroll way down to see me, but there I am - a polo-shirted businessman hoping to use Apple’s Commercial Credit Program so that financing a Mac will be as easy as using one. I hope you are feeling the emotion behind the role!

Courtesy: Roy Zipstein

8.8.08

Paramilitary policemen in the anti-terror drill display "To Welcome Olympic Games,To Ensure the Security" at Datianwan Stadium.

Early last month, China launched a week-long series of anti- terrorist drills called "Great Wall 5", in preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games. It's clearly not a situation anyone can take lightly.

These uncredited pictures from China Photos via Getty Images are just a teaser for what is sure to be a deluge of amazing sports photographs when The Games start on 8.8.08. Finding the images that transcend the average is something I always look forward to, but I thought these were a good start.

Firemen cutting barriers.

Policewomen.

The mighty Segway squadron!

To date, however, the story for me (and I think just about everybody) has to be Dara Torres, preparing to compete in her fifth Olympics as well as just breaking her own record at age 41.

Robert Maxwell, who I think is a vastly under-recognized photographer, took this powerful portrait for the New York Times Magazine showing what 0% body fat mixed 100% iron determination looks like.

Weekend Video - Tex Avery

For a change of pace, one of the most visually inventive cartoons from one of the great masters of animation, Tex Avery. The Shooting of Dan McGoo, made in 1945, is a loose remake of an Elmer Fudd short, Dangerous Dan McFoo that Avery produced at Warner Brothers, but is tighter, funnier, and loaded with sight gags and puns. It's both a pastiche of the Westerns of the period, and a continuous stream of thought taking you seamlessly from one surreal scenario to another.

We’re so firmly planted in the digital world, that without putting down the inventiveness of today's computer animation, it is now so prevalent I had simply forgotten how rich the old hand-drawn style could be.

Stephen Gill

I first saw Stephen Gill’s work at this year’s New York Photo Festival where a group of his black and white still lifes of folded toilet paper made an amusing point in the Kathy Ryan curated show, “Chisel”. But
it was a glimpse of three pictures from his “Russian Women Smokers” series on the blog I Heart Photographs that really caught my attention.

While he is not essentially a still life photographer, these pictures, simple studio shots of discarded lipstick-stained cigarette butts, are at once a reference to the famous Irving Penn photographs and a brilliant series in their own right – elegant, narrative, and redolent of another world and era. While they may not have been possible without the precedent of Penn’s insight, I like Gill’s pictures better.

A visit to Gill’s website shows a fertile mind and active lens, presenting 25 different (or related series) - from a group of prints buried in the earth (to see the effects of decomposition) to several series taken in Hackney, an area of London now undergoing Beijing-like redevelopment in anticipation of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

I particularly like the series “Hackney Flower Portraits” – pictures of people wearing different floral motifs. All these pictures were taken with a camera Gill bought for a dollar at the Hackney market!

Arles

Royal horse guard, England, 2004. Charles Fréger

A sneak preview of images from the Rencontres d'Arles - the annual photo festival which takes place each summer in the south of France when the town becomes host to dozens of photography exhibitions, workshops, seminars, and film screenings.

Every other year a guest curator takes over several of the festival's
major exhibition spaces, and this year's curator is fashion designer Christian Lacroix. It's the first time that the guest curator has not been a photographer, but Lacroix is known to have a deep interest and commitment to photography, a fact I can attest to having met the designer a year ago at France's other photo festival - Hyeres.

While photographers chosen for the festival include some of the big names in fashion photography - Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh,
and The Sartorialist -Lacroix has also selected new photographers whose work deals with social, political, and conceptual ideas, as well as vernacular photography and archival photographs relating to the town's history. Some examples above and below.

For those eager to jump on a plane, the festival runs from July 8 to September 14, but the real action starts tonight.

Karen Elson, "English Sunbathing" Northumberland, England, 2001. Tim Walker

Vanités - Allégorie de la caducité, 2007. Guido Mocafico

The most beautiful day of my life. Jean Christian Bourcart

Emma Cruch, known as Cora Pearl. A.A.E. Disdéri, c. 1860

Observations

No. I'm afraid this blog has not landed a six-figure advertising contract with Estee Lauder. Just some observations on their new campaign for Sensuous, shot by Craig McDean (who I'm a big fan of). According to Aerin Lauder, “Each model represents a different side of sensuality. Hilary (Rhoda) conveys youth, while Carolyn (Murphy)'s classic look communicates elegance. As an actress, Gwyneth (Paltrow) brings an emotional range to sensuality and Elizabeth (Hurley) portrays confidence and wisdom." Clearly ethnic diversity was not high on the sensuous value scale. The message I got was the younger you are, the more you can reveal under your classic white shirt!

Meanwhile “New York City Waterfalls,” Olafur Eliasson’s $15.5 million quartet of man-made waterfalls along New York's East River, says to me that not all public art projects work, and what we have here is a strong case of the Emperor's New Clothes. My favorite quote was from the young viewer who said it looked like the Brooklyn Bridge was leaking. Out of the mouths of babes!

Lastly, to finish off our Wimbledon coverage, a final that was played with such commitment, courage, and sportsmanship, it brought a lump to my throat.

P.S.
I forgot to mention that the recent Milan men's fashion shows took up the P.J.s as day-wear in a BIG way. This look, clearly inspired by the postings on The Year in Pictures, from Bottega Veneta.

Weekend Video - Cactus Cuties

I've been waiting for this weekend to share my appreciation of the Cactus Cuties, a Texas based vocal group ranging in age from 8 to 13.
A quintet when this video was made (featuring Andi Kitten - 11; Baylee Barrett - 13; Madeline Powell - 8; Tatum Lowe - 11; Blaire Elbert - 10) they're now down to a quartet. But I won't conjecture why Tatum Lowe is no longer with the group. Of course you worry about the wisdom of having children perform and be commodified this young - but hey, it's
a free country and they sure can harmonize!

A Summer Album

As we head into the 4th of July weekend, a summer album of photographs that are either cool or cooling or hopefully both!

Above one of my favorite anonymous pictures - a summer picnic in which the photographer has resourcefully included herself.

Below - taken at the Central Park Zoo by Magnum photographer, Thomas Hoepker.

Irving Penn's "Frozen Food".

Edward Weston's refreshing photograph of his wife, Charis.

Ryan McGinley's "Dakota".

A rare Giacomelli of the "pretini" (student priests) taken in the summer of 1968.

Arthur Elgort's "5th Avenue".

Elizabeth Taylor by Roddy McDowell.

Steve and Neile McQueen by John Dominis.

A great tennis shot from the current Wimbledon. Unfortunately I
did not note the player or photographer when I grabbed the j-peg. Apologies to both.

Camera Advice

Received this query a few days ago:

Hmm, just lost my camera and am going on Safari in two weeks...I would like a good zoom and fairly light and unobrtusive possibly low light also? Any advice?

Yes. The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K is a smallish 9 megapixel camera with an incredible 10x (equivalent to 280mm) zoom. It also shoots high definition video and you can zoom while shooting. The quality of the video is impressive.

The camera is rated four and a half (out of five) stars on Amazon averaged over 90+ reviews (and you know there’s always one person who hates whatever is being reviewed). So having both used the camera and been on safari, I’d highly recommend this. And make sure to get it in black. Silver glistens in the sun and can scare off animals.

P.S.
Just to confirm I have no relationship with Lumix. I just like their cameras.

Fred Woodward

Two more weeks to catch Fred Woodward’s show “Going Over Home” at 401 Projects in New York.

Taken in 1986 to illustrate an article by Nicholas Lemann for The Atlantic Monthly on the northern migration of African-Americans, the photographs deal with the everyday life of Canton, Mississippi - the people, the churches, the homes, the feeling in the air. It’s a moving and classic show, a little bit old-fashioned but powerful nonetheless. And 401 Projects, a funky rough hewn space off the Westside Highway, is the perfect place for this exhibition.

What not everyone who comes to see the show would know, however, is that Woodward is also one of the most creative art directors in the business. The design director of Rolling Stone from 1987 to 2001 and GQ from 2001 to now, Woodward’s blend of type, photography, illustration, and design make his pages works of art in their own right. I don’t usually open a Woodward designed product without getting some rush from the imaginative execution of an idea. So it’s an interesting experience to see some of his creative as well as personal roots. (One of Woodward’s pitches to get the job was that he came from Noxapater, Mississippi - population 500 - not far from Canton.)

It would be hard to say that Woodward’s heart only belongs to photography because looking at his work and his life, he appears to have a big heart, but I have a feeling it’s what makes him tick. This suspicion is nurtured by the fact that one of the most beautiful photo books of the last decade was quietly and without hype designed by Woodward. It’s “Dune” – a compilation of the sand dune photographs of Edward and Brett Weston as lovingly designed as the relationship and subject it covers.

Some more photographs from "Going Over Home":

My favorite of Woodward's book designs.

Some sample Woodward layouts from Rolling Stone:

And GQ: