May 16th, 2010

The New York Photo Festival opened last night in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn with a speedy tour for members of the press. The festival’s four main galleries – called “pavilions” – feature so much strong work and provocative imagery that it seems quibbling to note that some of the shows in which these images appear lack coherent themes. 

It’s a criticism that was leveled at last year’s festival, too (most thoughtfully by Joerg Colberg ofConscientious).  In the festival’s third year, it may be time to give up trying to glean any significance in the juxtaposition of the images. Maybe the best way to approach the festival is just to poke around and see what’s cool. And consider the festival’s four main pavilions a lesson in how difficult it is to curate a show. 

Critic Vince Aletti said the death of the great still-life innovator Irving Penn last year inspired him to put together a show of contemporary still-life photographs.  “In the context of this Festival,” he said, choosing to focus on one of photography’s oldest genres “seems very conservative.” But sometimes the best ideas are the simple ones. “Object Lessons” brings together artists who photograph inanimate objects for a variety of purposes, from autobiography to abstraction. It includes Andrea Modica’s black and white studies of underpants; Sharon Core’s painterly images of food; Bill Jacobson’s graphic object studies; Sally Gall’s studies of spider webs and Adam Bartos’s large-format juxtapositions of objects that could be taken for homages to Penn’s editorial illustrations. 

For “Use Me, Abuse Me,” the prolific creative director and book publisher Erik Kessels wanted to look at how artists are painting on, drawing on,  cutting up and repurposing their own or other photographers’ images. Kessels noted that as more photography becomes digital, more artists “want to work with their hands again.” He also noted, “I was interested in how far you could stretch the use of photography these days.”  The show includes Linus Bill’s doodles, which were made by drawing with light on photographic paper; ceramics interpreting and incorporating photographs; and a family photo album in which artist Claudio Sola, after a fight with her father, stuck Darth Vader’s head over his image  (boy, that’s showing him).

Author and educator Fred Ritchin also seems interested in exploring what a photograph can be these days. Is it a “decisive moment” selected by the photographer? Ritchin’s show includes a series of surveillance photos by Michael Wolf, and what appear to be Constable-esque landscapes recording the changing seasons in a field, but were taken using a web camera by James Pomerantz, who has no idea where the camera has been set up. Can a portrait present a person’s essence? Ritchin’s show includes Robbie Cooper’s photos of video gamers dressed as their avatars; Linn Underhill’s photos of herself posing as various male artists; and a series of identity card portraits of Algerian women, posing without their veils, which Marc Garanger was forced to take when he served in the French Army during the Algerian War of Independence. Is a photograph a record of the present?  Jessica Ingram and Raphaele Dallaporta have probed history by photographing what appear to be unremarkable buildings but were actually the sites of past horrors:  murders committed during the Civil Rights era  (in Ingram’s photos) and modern-day slavery (in Dallaporta’s photos). The show also includes photos of Antarctica by Lim Young Kyun and social documentary images of poor Americans by Joseph Rodriguez.  Ritchin calls his show “Bodies in Question,” but it seems to pose several questions at once. 

The fourth guest "curator" for this year's Festival is Lou Reed. Reed took some of his favorite photo books and placed them in black portfolio cases. He also laid two framed Henry Darger illustrations on a table. The title of this display is “Hidden Books, Hidden Stories.”  He is also showing several dozen images from the books in a slide show set to a soundtrack he composed. The images are very nice. And that’s all there is to say about that. 

Besides the four guest curator pavilions, the Festival includes an exhibition of young Latin American photographers; a show of 24 photo essays on the theme of human rights and social justice presented by Anthropographia; “Warzone,” presented by the Noorderlicht Photo Festival;  images by the 2009 Tierney Fellowship winners; the inaugural show of the photographers in the Sombra Projects, which showcases “social documentary photography within a fine-art esthetic”; an exhibition of photos of North Korea by Liu Yuan, curated by photographer and editor Taj Forer, and other presentations and slide shows. The Festival continues through May 16.

(Photo © Sharon Core. From "Object Lessons" at the New York Photo Festival.)

May 14, 2010

Sean Penn has been sentenced to three years of probation, 300 hours of community service and 36 hours of anger management counseling after pleading no contest to vandalism charges stemming from an incident last October in which he allegedly kicked and punched a photographer.

Penn had been facing misdemeanor battery and vandalism charges, and faced up to 18 months in jail if convicted, according to an AP report. Penn's attorney explained that fighting the charges would just distract Penn, so he "decided to accept the terms and move on."

The incident involved paparazzo Jordan Dawes, who was staking out Penn with other photographers in LA last October 4. When Penn appeared, Dawes says he began shooting video of the actor from about 50 feet away. Penn then approached Dawes, and started "kicking my legs" and "Punched me in the arm and in my camera," Dawes told E! Online at the time. He's said since then that he had to have knee surgery as a result of Penn's attack.

Dawes filed a civil suit against the actor, which is still pending.

Another photographer at the scene caught part of the incident on video. Penn is seen approaching Dawes quickly, attempting to kick him (video grab shown here), and then chasing him across the street before retreating. Penn can be heard yelling, "Get out!" several times.

The incident lasted about 30 seconds, and is more suggestive of a snarling dog chasing another dog out of his territory than a full-blown assault.

What the video lacks, though, is any before or after context, and the photographer who shot it didn't manage to capture the alleged punch to Dawes' arm (he dropped his camera to retreat to the safety of his car instead). Nor did the video sound track capture Penn allegedly threatening to put Dawes "in a box" the next time he saw him.

But given all the ambiguity, and Penn's stiff sentence, we felt compelled to ask another paparazzo: Don't you just have to expect to take your lumps (or kicks, or even punches) now and again, given the provocative nature of paparazzi work? Or to put it more bluntly, is Dawes a real victim, or just a cry baby?

The photographer we spoke with agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity, and said he didn't know enough about the incident between Dawes and Penn to comment on that specifically.

But he did say, "Photographers know what to expect, especially with celebrities like Sean Penn. He's always challenged photographers." (Penn has attacked photographers physically in the past, but not for a number of years.)

"Some photographers instigate confrontations, because they're looking for easy money," our source told us. "I know photographers who do that. But most of the time, you [suck it up] unless you get seriously injured."

Posted by David Walker on May 14, 2010 at 3:23 PM

May 14th, 2010

First there was the much discussed season finale of Fox medical drama House, and now, it appears, that HBO's forked-tongue-in-cheek vampire series, True Blood, may also be shot with Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLRs.

According to Cinema 5D, the crew from True Blood just borrowed two Canon 5D Mark IIs and a Red Rock Micro rig from a noted Hollywood rental house to shoot the series. It also looks like they might be using Zeiss ZE lenses. (If you have HBO money, why not?)

Yes, this is a somewhat speculative story but considering how many TV shows, commercials and movies are being shot in high def with HD-DSLRs these days, it's very possible.

We'll add more details to this story as we get them. (via Wiegartner.)

May 13, 2010

JURORS:

VINCE ALETTI, writer/critic, the New Yorker magazine;

DARIUS HIMES, editor/curator, Radius Books;

JULIE SAUL, gallery owner/director, Julie Saul Gallery;

ALEC SOTH, photographer; 

HANK WILLIS THOMAS, photographer; 

JAMIE WELLFORD, international photo editor, Newsweek magazine

TAJ FORER and MICHAEL ITKOFF, editors, Daylight Magazine

ALEXA DILWORTH, publishing director, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University 

COURTNEY REID-EATON, exhibitions director, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University

 Daylight Magazine and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University have started an international competition, the Daylight/CDS Photo Awards, to honor and promote talented and committed photographers, both emerging and established.

Two awards, a PROJECT PRIZE and a WORK-IN-PROCESS PRIZE.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN MID-JUNE 2010

May 12, 2010

 That's the good news. The bad news is that an additional $15,000 is still needed in order to publish and distribute War Is Only Half The Story, Volume 3, featuring images by the 2009 winners of The Aftermath Grant, Asim Rafiqui and Louie Palu and finalists Saiful Huq Omi, Ami Vitale, Davide Monteleone, Andrea Bruce, Donald Weber, and Rodgrigo Abd.

To raise the remaining funds, The Aftermath Project is appealing for donations and selling prints by each of the grant winners and finalists. If you've ever thought you'd love to own an Ami Vitale image from Kashmir, or one of Donald Weber's images from Chernobyl, here is your chance. Prices have been greatly discounted, and range from about $400 to $1,000. Many of the prints are signed.

To view the images available, visit the home page of The Aftermath Project,www.theaftermathproject.org, and click on the PDF.

Sara Terry, founder of The Aftermath Project, is also appealing to past and prospective grant applicants. She writes, "To all you photographers who have applied, or hope to apply for an Aftermath grant, you probably know that we don't charge an application fee, and we intend to keep it that way. But any donation you can make — even $10 — will be a big help in keeping us going — so that we can help you tell the stories you're so passionately committed to."

Donations can be made through PayPal or by mailing checks to:

The Aftermath Project

4900 Glenalbyn Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90065

(Photo © Rodrigo Abd. From Abd's project: "Reclaiming the Dead: mass graves in Guatemala, a story only partially told.")

May 12, 2010

 Some awards bestow fame, others money. And then there are those that amount to a grateful pat on the back and a plaque. Operation Smile’s Universal Smile Award, given last week to photographers Melanie Dunea and Nigel Parry last week, falls into that latter category.

The two photographers, who happen to be married, have documented various Operation Smile missions to Africa, India, China and other places over the last six years. Operation Smile is an NGO that sends medical teams around the world to repair common facial deformities such as cleft lips and palates, and trains local doctors how to perform the procedures so they can treat future cases themselves. A 45 minute operation, Parry says, can completely turn around the lives of a child and their parents. “It just lifts the spirits. It’s incredible.”

Parry and his wife got involved after contributing prints to a fundraiser exhibition sponsored by a magazine. There, they met an Operation Smile representative who invited them to attend an upcoming mission, and the two photographers have donated their time and talent “as and when we can” ever since, Parry explains.

“All we’re doing [professionally] is photographing faces. To use what you do to benefit someone, other than give money, because anybody can chuck money—to do what you do to help someone out is what the reward is,” Parry says. “The look on the parents’ faces in the kids’ faces afterwards is quite astounding—they always get a mirror and they look at themselves, and they just won’t let the mirror go.”

Dunea and Parry have produced a book [A Journey of Smiles] and various exhibitions to help Operation Smile raise money for its medical services. And the photographers provide images that Operation Smile “can use willy-nilly” for its promotions, Parry says. “It’s the kind of [arrangement] that photographers normally hate, but not in this case.”

Posted by David Walker on May 12, 2010 at 5:13 PM

May 11th, 2010

Honorees at the 26th Annual International Center of Photography Infinity Awards, held last night in New York, paid tribute both to photography’s continuing power and to the photo community that has fostered its best practitioners. Addressing “those who say that photojournalism is dying,” Reza, winner of the Photojournalism award, said that 43,000 years after the first cave painters documented their world, “the visual artist has never been more important. Our picture community is connecting people."

The video that introduced Reza, who founded a photojournalism school for Afghan photographers, noted that he had been imprisoned in his native Iran for his photos. He was not the only honoree who had suffered for his work. South African photographer Peter Magubane, who was given the Cornell Capa Award, spent 586 days in solitary confinement in 1969 under his country’s apartheid regime. In his powerfully emotional speech, he quoted an African saying, “You are a person because of others,” and thanked his family, his editors and colleagues, including Robert Stevens, former photo editor at Time, and photographer Eve Arnold who introduced him to Susan Meiselas who, in turn, introduced him to photo editor John G. Morris, his mentor and friend.

Morris, who while working for Life edited Robert Capa’s images from D-Day and went on to run Magnum’s New York office, accepted last night’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He paid tribute both to the editors he’s worked with, and “most of all to thousands of photographers. I think of them as my real children.”

Other award winners included Lorna Simpson, who received the award for Art photography; author Luc Sante for his book Folk Photography: The Real-Photo Postcard; and Gilbert C. Maurer of Hearst, who was given the ICP Trustees Award. Raphael Dallaporta, who has created a series of still lifes of anti-personnel land mines and architectural photos of Paris buildings where slaves have been forced to work, won the Young Photographer award. French photographer Daniele Tamagni won the Applied/Fashion/Advertising Award for his book, Gentlemen of Bacongo, which documents the colorful street fashion of the dandies in the Democratic Republic of Congo known as “Sapeurs.” Sarah Greenough of the National Gallery of Art received the Publication award for Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans. Greenough told the audience that she learned about photography from visiting the library to look at books by Edward Steichen and Paul Strand, but her first look at The Americans had the greatest impact. “Everything suddenly became clear, I knew right there that photography had grabbed my heart and mind."

The 2010 Infinity Award winners were selected by book publisher Chris Boot, gallery owner Peter MacGill of the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York, and Carol McKusker, curator at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego.

More than 600 guests attended the ICP gala, which was held at Pier Sixty Chelsea Piers. Willis “Buzz” Hartshorn, the director of ICP, hosted the ceremony. Among the attendees were photographers Mary Ellen Mark, Mark Seliger, Craig McDean and Nigel Parry; Harper's Bazaar editor in chief Glenda Bailey; NBC Today show host Ann Curry and ABC's Christiane Amanpour; photo editors Michele McNally, Chris Dougherty and Aidan Sullivan; fashion designer Calvin Klein; writer Ingrid Sischy; curators Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum of Harlem and Peter Galassi of the Museum of Modern Art; book publisher Darius Himes; Aperture book editor Denise Wolff; gallerist L. Parker Stephenson; and rep and Infinity Award co-chair Jed Root. 

–reporting by Amber Terranova

(Photo: Lifetime Achievement Award winner John G. Morris and presenter Christiane Amanpour. 

Photo © Stephanie Badini Photography. )

May 11, 2010

In Copyright Case, Court Rejects Corbis's Bulk Registration Practices

Photographers who have participated over the years in Corbis’s copyright registration program may have less copyright protection than they think—or need. The reason is because the bulk copyright registration forms that Corbis filed starting in the mid 1990s are missing a crucial piece of information: the names of most of the photographers.

Photographers Marc and David Muench learned that the hard way last week when a federal court in New York rejected their copyright claim (09-CV-2669) against textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The Muenchs alleged that the publisher used approximately 180 of their images beyond the scope of a usage license. But the court said the Muenchs didn’t have grounds to sue because their images weren’t properly registered.

Corbis had registered the Muench images as part of various compilations in 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2006. By contrast, the court said that 20 images that David Muench had registered himself “appear to be properly registered,” so the Muenchs can pursue their infringement claim for those images.

“Because the Copyright Act is clear on its face, i.e., a copyright registration must contain certain pieces of information, including the author’s name, the registrations at issue here cover only the database as a whole (the compilation), but do not cover [the Meunschs’] individual contributions,” the court said.

The compilation referred to was a collection of images Corbis created in order to registering copyrights all at once. Corbis started the bulk registration program so it could pursue infringers on its own behalf, but the program was also billed as a benefit to photographers because it streamlined the cumbersome copyright registration process.

Under the terms of the program, photographers were asked to assign their copyright temporarily to Corbis for the express purpose of the bulk registrations. Corbis then registered the images as a compilation under its own name, without listing the individual photographers whose images made up the compilation, and then transferred copyright ownership back to the photographers.

The company’s decision to forego naming each photographer was based upon an advisory letter from the US Copyright Office. On behalf of Corbis and other stock agencies, the Picture Archive Council of America had asked the US Copyright Office to affirm the validity Corbis’s bulk registration process. The copyright office responded that it preferred–but did not require—registration applications to name all of the photographers.

Marc and David Meunsch cited that letter in support of their claim, but the court flatly rejected the Copyright Office’s interpretation of the registration requirements. “The interpretation [of the Copyright Office] conflict with a plain reading” of US Copyright statutes, the court said.

Corbis Director of Communications Dan Perlet says that “Corbis, PACA and others believe that this decision regarding the bulk registration process is incorrect and that it will be reargued, in which case Corbis will likely file an amicus brief supporting the bulk process.”

But he notes that Corbis has been listing the names of all photographers in its bulk registrations since February 2009—the month before the Muenchs filed their lawsuit. The Corbis bulk registrations since then aren’t affected by the Muench ruling, Perlet says.

For photographers who participated in the agency’s registration prior to that, “Corbis recommends that contributors wait to see the outcome of the appeal,” Perlet says. If the appeals are unsuccessful, he adds, then Corbis will go back and provide any supplementary information or re-register the images to make sure the registrations are valid.

Corbis has not said how many photographers—or images—are part of its bulk registration program.

Meanwhile, Advertising Photographers of America (APA)—which questioned the validity of Corbis’s bulk registrations several years ago—said in a press release yesterday,“[Corbis] ineffectually ‘registered’ an unknown large number of images that has resulted in a significant increase in vulnerability for photographers that have used this system through Corbis.”

APA added, “This emphasizes the importance of registering ones own images.”

May 7th, 2010

Ok, this is from that super-cheesy Cheezburger network but worth a look on a Friday. The blog is called "Ridiculous Poses" and it features photos of models in…wait for it…ridiculous poses.

Check out "Manicorn" below.

May 4, 2010

Hyper reality was the stuff of science fiction not so long ago. Now, many of us live there a good portion of the time through the screens of our computers, mobile devices, and TVs. The shift has had profound effects on our communications, on our relationships (with others, and with our environments), and on our cultural identity. That makes it a compelling photographic subject. But hyper reality is as invisible as the mind, and just as hard to photograph. So photographers look for inventive ways to capture telling glimpses, or otherwise depict our journeys into this parallel universe.

Evan Baden: "The Illuminati" 

Andrew Curtis: "Cell"

Kelly Shimoda: "I guess you don't want to talk to me anymore"

Gordon Blake: "Reality TV"

Robbie Cooper: "Immersion"