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:

Zimbabwe Election

"We were just told to go and vote, so we had to. All night they were singing in the street, revolutionary songs, and chanting that we must go and vote. We were intimidated to vote." --Stella, 35

This group of pictures from Saturday’s New York Times showed Zimbabweans on their election day where they were forced to vote for the only candidate, President Robert Mugabe, for fear of punishment unless they could produce a finger colored by red ink as evidence they had cast their ballot.

According to the newspaper, the subjects agreed to be photographed and interviewed on the condition that their faces not be fully visible while the pictures ran uncredited for fear of reprisal against the photographer.

Given the information provided - the first name and age of each subject as well as in many cases, enough of the person pictured to make them identifiable - I'm not sure the story holds together in quite the way the front page treatment suggests. However, as testimonial to the freedom we often take for granted, as well as a creative use of photography, they were a striking group of pictures.

"I put an X on both candidates to spoil my ballot because the result will be the same. M.D.C. has withdrawn, so the result is obvious: ZANU will win. I just wanted ink for security reasons. I fear victimization from the ZANU-PF militia. It is obvious they will come door to door. If they see you don't have ink, they will know you are M.D.C." --MacDonald, 33

"I'm not voting at all because the outcome is still the same. Mugabe still wins. I'm not worried about having ink on my finger. Ink or not, it is the same -- they will beat us." --Agnes, 25

"I spoilt my ballot because I wanted to vote for Tsvangirai. I went to vote because I fear victimization if I don't have ink." --David, 32

"I'm registered in Chitingwiza, but there is no use in spending money on transport to get there when the result will be the same." --Loraine, 27

"I spoilt my ballot because this election is not free and fair. It is a one-horse race." --Sidwell, 34

"We have no choice; we must vote. It doesn't matter who I vote for, the result will be the same." --Mary, 43

"I just wanted to finish the process which was started. I don't want to say who I voted for. I just wanted ink on my finger." --Judith, 65

"I did not register. I moved into town recently. This is a one-man race. It is a waste of time." --Edna, 25

Weekend Video - Flashdance

For some reason, the 25th anniversary of the film “Flashdance” is passing by without the usual fanfare accorded to such decade defining films. So to redress the balance a montage of scenes set to the film's Oscar-winning Best Song “What a Feeling” (music by Giorgio Moroder, lyrics by Keith Forsey and Irene Cara).

For those in need of narrative assistance, a brief re-cap: “Flashdance” featured Jennifer Beals as Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel-mill welder by day, and exotic dancer by night. Harboring dreams of a career in ballet, she is supported by her hunky but kind-hearted boss Nick (Michael Nouri) and her tough but big-hearted instructor Hanna Long (Lilia Skala). Will Alex get in to the prestigious dance academy? Will true love bloom? Will leg-warmers stay in fashion?

Controversy ensued when it was revealed that many of the film's signature dance scenes were largely performed by Beals' dance double Marine Jahan, but the film went on to dominate the summer box-office.

Can we start talking revival here?

Found and Lost

Many years ago, I was in the bookshop at MoMA and came across a French book on the history of motion in photography with the above picture by Eadweard Muybridge on the cover. I loved the contrast of the romantic moment captured with such scientific treatment and also the obscurity of the image. I had seen and handled lots of Muybridge, but never this particular image and I couldn’t get it out of mind.

(Muybridge famously developed a precursor to motion pictures when he rigged up a set of cameras to settle a bet as to whether a horse's four legs ever leave the ground at the same moment.. They do - but not in the outstretched position that artists had assumed until then. The only time they leave the ground simultaneously is when they are tucked under.)

Anyway, when I went back to MoMA to buy the book it was nowhere to be found. So I began to call everyone connected to Muybridge to see if they had the image. No-one. It was as though I had dreamed it up.

A number of years later, I was at Photo LA and speaking to some dealers who had Muybridge on their walls and everyone thought they had seen it at the fair but couldn’t remember where. Eventually I tracked the picture down at Michael Dawson’s booth and bought it!

This should have provided it a happy ending but instead of taking it to the framers it went into one of my various storage places and somehow getting lost. This is an extremely rare occurrence as in 18 years of dealing photographs, I have only lost one other print (the Manuel Alvarez Bravo photograph “Good Reputation Sleeping”).

Anyway, going through old j-pegs yesterday, I came across this snap of the Muybridge and thought I would share it. If you come across a print, it’s probably mine so let me know!

My other lost photograph.

Anglomania!

Tim Walker’s show at The Design Museum in London is the exhibition that’s got everybody talking. It’s terribly British in a whimsical, fantastical way - full of oversize props, references to childhood and dressing up, and lots of good cheer. If Lewis Carroll was a contemporary fashion photographer, these are the pictures he’d be taking.

Walker’s involvement with photography began at Condé Nast where he helped organize the Cecil Beaton archive. Next stop was a job in New York working as one of Richard Avedon’s assistants, and then back to England where a prize in the Independent (newspaper's) Young Photographer of the Year competition opened the door to a professional career.

While Walker has shot advertising campaigns for clients including Barneys, Comme des Garcons, Gap, and Kate Spade, these uncredited campaigns have meant that he is not that well known in the States, but this is likely to change with the publication of “Tim Walker – Pictures”, the new ($125) book of his work just published by Taschen.

A Bug's Life

One more week to see Sally Gall's show "Crawl" at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea.

Other than the unusual rhyming of the key words (Gall, crawl, Saul) it's an unusual view of nature taken from several inches above the ground. Gall, who has been unapologetic about her interest in beauty throughout her career, now brings a Pixar like scrutiny to a bug's eye view of the world and discovers a wondrous Eden.

She reflects, "Infants know this world for a time. Picnickers and soldiers glimpse it. There is no more dynamic stage of life and death on earth than the first few inches above its surface. This is where prairies and forests are born. Here is where the bulk of our food comes from and where all earthly creatures return when our lives are finished. Comforting, beautiful, frightening, and strange--this is the terrestrial world. And it can only be discovered and known intimately on hands and knees."

One marvels at the patience that must have been necessary to capture these images as well as the consistency and quality. It's a mid-summer treat!

Sent from my iPhone

Like the first bird of spring, the first street vendors selling Obama buttons and paraphernalia have just arrived on the streets of New York City. Of course not a penny of the proceeds will get anywhere near the Obama campaign, but what a shining example of the American way!

As further proof of democracy in action, the vendor next to the gentleman below had a smattering of McCain buttons but informed me they were selling very poorly.

Weekend Video - Beirut

I was recently introduced to the band Beirut and their two videos directed by Israeli film-maker Alma Har’el. Both the music and the visuals make a nice change of pace.

Forbidden

When someone tells me I'm not allowed to take a picture, I take it as an affront and a challenge. I haven't looked into the actual legality of the situation yet, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with photo-
graphing the former TWA Terminal at JFK (above), as I tried to do before I was stopped by security, or in the various stores, museums, and establishments who routinely tell you, "Photography is not allowed". With the advent of tiny digital and cell phone cameras it's pretty hard to enforce anyway, but here are some samples of my recent surreptitious iPhone camera work.

This from Juicy Couture in Beverly Hills, after they would not sell my daughter the bathing suit on the display dummy. (We wanted a visual reference.)

This from the revelatory August Sander show at The Getty (photography not allowed), about which I'll write more later. The title for this picture is "The Photographer after a Nap" so it's an unusual self-portrait!

This from Katsuya - a new-ish Philippe Starck designed restaurant in Brentwood. The tricky thing here was that Robert Downey Jr. was sitting at a table just to the left of the frame so I was trying to get the graphic on the wall while respecting his privacy as a diner. However, I'm sure he thought I was pretending to photograph the wall while really trying to snap him!

Greg Miller

I am in Los Angeles this week so I’ll do my best to keep posting. On
the plane over I was reading TIME Magazine when I was stopped by
the full page picture by Greg Miller (above). It’s from their current
cover story on childhood obesity.

I have known Greg since 1988 when he was photographing for the magazine 7 Days and have always been a big fan. Since then he has had a highly successful career mixing editorial and advertising work but he’s very much a picture person’s photographer. I e-mailed him when I landed to congratulate him on the TIME pic and find out what he was up to and he told me he just received a Guggenheim Grant to photograph around his hometown of Nashville. Patience and virtue have been rewarded!

For a further look at his work, his website is rich with good pictures.

From a recent series taken in Brazil.

From the series "Italy".

From the series "Band Camp".