State of the Art

Annals of Fashion: Meisel+Mendez=Art

Steven Meisel has done it again, this time shooting actress/model Eva Mendez for a story in Italian Vogue. In the various images, she wears corsets, sucks her toes, and exposes her breasts. No doubt "Access Hollywood" will be all over this story, which I suppose is justification enough for the photos. But they don't need any other justification--they're pretty great, period. Is it me, or is Meisel getting better and better? Mendez has  already bared her bottom for a PETA ad. She's also signed on to be the face of Calvin Klein Underwear--so we're wondering what's left for her to show?--David Schonauer

Question of the Day: Should Retouchers Get Photo Credits?

Yesterday I bumped into the inimitable Laurie Kratochvil, photo editor par excellence, who told me to make sure and read the profile of digital retoucher Pascal Dangin in this week’s issue of The New Yorker
   The profile is interesting, in the thoughtful, thorough, and long way that New Yorker articles tend to be. But it raises some important points about the art of photography now.
     Dangin is the owner and resident genius of Box Studios in New York, the place where lots of big fashion photographers, magazines, and advertisers get their images perfected for print. “His success lies…in his ability to marry technical prowess to an aesthetic sensibility: his clients are paying for his eye, and his mind, as much as for his hand,” writes the article’s author, Lauren Collins.
     At this point I think we’re all aware of how important retouchers have become to the photographic process. Often, as the article points out, it is Dangin who creates a successful image by altering the work a photographer has already done.
     So I have a question I’d like to put out into the world: Should retouchers like Dangin be given photo credits when their work results in something useful? If it truly is his artistry that makes an image work, shouldn’t we know that? Of course that might upset lots of photographers. But what do you think?
     (Above: A photo of Dangin for the New Yorker by Josef Astor. I don’t know if it was retouched.)—David Schonauer

Moscow in May: Why So Serious?

Maybe the partying came later, I don't know. But the stage looked pretty dreary in this photo as Dmitri A. Medvedev spoke after being sworn in as Russia's new president. At left, of course, is Vladimir V. Putin, the former president, who has already been named prime minister by Medvedev. The two pale power brokers don't look like this arrangement is going to be much fun for either of them. The space between them is odd, at least to my eyes, suggesting some emotional if not political distance. (On the other hand, if Putin had been standing right next to Medvedev, it might have looked as if he were working a puppet.) As it is, both men seem to be striking identical rigid stances, which might be reassuring to Russians who prefer a strong and closely controlled state. Still, Putin's the man here--the darker coat and hands clenched for a fight. (Maybe it was just cold there.) Meanwhile, Medvedev has those furry microphone breasts. The press pool image, which ran on the front page of today's New York Times, was taken by Dmitri Astakhov. I suppose this is what they call red carpet photography in Russia.

This Day In Photographyy, 1937: The Hindenburg

On May 6, 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenberg exploded while attempting to moor in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. The disaster resulted in the death of the commercial trans-Atlantic zeppelin service and the rise of the mass news media. On this date, still photographers, filmmakers, and radio broadcasters put together a perfect storm of coverage that set the stage for the future of communications.
     At least it seems that way to me, but I’m no historian. Yet I can’t think of any event before the Hindenburg explosion that equaled it’s multi-media coverage.
     There are a couple of angles here that are interesting for photographers today.
     (And lots of interesting trivia: According to this article, the Hindenburg was to have been filled with non-flammable helium; however, the United States owned all the world’s helium and had placed an embargo against selling it to Nazi Germany. The Graf Zeppelin Company, which built the Hindenburg, turned to hydrogen as an lifting agent. Kapow!)

Where to Go and What to See

There are lots of good shows going up this week (Bruce Davidson at Jackson Fine Art, Saul Leiter at Howard Greenberg, Jerry Schatzberg at the Rizzoli Bookstore...). But it was a no-brainer to decide which I was most interested in, since my photo is part of the show (what? we editors are allowed to be self-interested occasionally).

Jose Picayo found out about the demise of Polaroid a little ahead of the curve and immediately began buying up every box of 8x10 Polaroid film left on the market. Then, with about 900 exposures compiled, he began making mug shots of New Yorkers. The brown-toned, split images will be displayed unframed and "edge-to-edge" at the Robin Rice Gallery starting May 7.

American Photo's editor, David Schonauer, and I both sat for mug shots (see above) -- but my interest in the show is not solely personal. First off, I'm fascinated by portrait photography and was excited to be part of a portrait shoot. But I quickly realized that in many ways this mug shot project creates anti-portraits. Picayo gives his subjects no direction, changes nothing about their appearance, and does absolutely no post-production manipulation. As the show's press release states, "Picayo seeks to revive the concept of  pure and unadulterated beauty, spontaneously captured."

I also love the idea of capturing a moment in time -- both the end of Polaroid film as it has been known and the few months in the history of New York City during which the images were made. Aside from the 8x10 mug shots, Picayo also made smaller Polaroids of each subject and pasted them in books where the sitter was asked to record their thoughts, especially about their ethnic and cultural background and what brought them to New York. I love the idea of recording a slice of New York through the faces of its inhabitants; and the use of a disappearing medium to do that underscores the constant mutability of those faces, and the city, and thus the ultimate impossibility of recording either.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Jose Picayo)

Follow the link below for details about these and many more photography events around the country.
 

ICP Infinity Award Winners Announced

Award season continues apace, and the next big show will occur one week from tonight when the International Center of Photography presents its coveted Infinity Awards for 2008. But the word is already out about who’ll be receiving prizes this year.
     I’m happy to report that the Young Photographer award will go to Mikhael Subotzky, whose documentary work depicting life in South African prisons (below) also earned him an American Photo Emerging Photographer award in 2007. A portfolio of the work that appeared last year in Aperture was nominated for a National Magazine Award as well….so this has been a big year for Subotsky.
     The award for Art this year goes to Edward Burtynsky, whose large-format work explores the connections between landscape and industry. His pictures from China (above) have achieved a kind of cult status at this point.
     The photojournalism award will go to Anthony Suau, who has covered a number of important stories over the past 20 years, including the war in Chechnya. He has recently worked on a project documenting the US during the Iraq war. Suau won the Infinity Award for Young Photographer in 1986.
     The Applied Photography award this year will go to fashion photographer Craig McDean. Photographer Taryn Simon wins the Publication award for her book “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar.” (Read an interview we did with Simon here.) The Writing award will go to Bill Jay for his 2007 book “Bill Jay’s Album.” The Trustees Award is going to actress Diane Keaton, who is also a longtime photography enthusiast. And the Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Malick Sidibe, the renowned Malian photographer.
     I’ll be at the awards show and post on all the goings-on from there.—David Schonauer

Should Lindsay Be the Drunk-Driving Poster Child?

Last Friday marked the debut of this ad, featuring a mug shot of Lindsay Lohan after her arrest last year for drunk driving. I finally saw it today in the New York Post. Somehow it doesn’t seem right to me to use this kind of image in this way. I’m not sticking up for Lohan and her repeated arrests and serial-rehab ways. But does she deserve this?
      The ad is not an anti-drinking-and-driving ad. In fact, it is paid for by a restaurant and liquor group that is campaigning against the mandatory installation of ignition interlocks. These devices analyze a driver’s breath, and if they detect alcohol they won’t let the car start.
      These would be great for drunks like Lindsay, says the ad, but bad for all of us who want some wine at lunch. “No more toasts at weddings,” we are warned. “Let’s stop drunk driving without eliminating our traditions.”
      That’s a shaky argument—the ad wants us to eat our cake (beer at the ball game before the drive home) and have it too (remove drunk drivers from the road).
      The deft use of symbolism is the key here: The ad creates a two-tiered system of drunkenness—an “us” and “them” in which “us” are responsible imbibers and “them” are pretty much without redeeming value—a position that Miss Lohan now finds herself in. A certified cultural scourge, she becomes in this ad a convenient foil, staring at us from the police photo and inviting us to feel ever more virtuous about our own behavior.
      Lindsay Lohan doesn’t have anyone but herself to blame for her life. But this ad let’s the rest of us off the hook when it comes to our own responsibility.—David Schonauer

National Geographic Wins Big at Magazine Awards

The lead on almost every story about last night’s National Magazine Awards show in New York will focus on National Geographic and how it won three awards—two for photography (more on that in a second) and one for General Excellence.
    I was at the awards, and I was a judge in the Photojournalism category (won by Geographic). And I love that magazine, so it wasn’t a surprise for me that it won all those awards.
    What surprised me was how oddly funny former baseball player Lenny Dykstra was as a presenter last night. Dykstra was there because these days he’s also a magazine honcho, having launched a title called The Player’s Club, which is supposed to provide financial and lifestyle advice to pro athletes. (Do they really need that? Probably. According to this story, Dykstra’s magazine is having a difficult birth, in part because he spent $400,000 on a launch party.) At any rate, he enlivened the proceedings considerably, just as he once did the Mets locker room.
     Back to the awards: Go here for a complete list of the winners. As I noted, National Geographic picked up the award for Photojournalism, for a story about malaria in the July 2007 issue shot by John Stanmeyer. It was a great piece featuring true photojournalist story-telling, and I was glad it won.
      Here’s an observation for the American Society of Magazine Editors, which administers the awards through the Columbia University Journalism School: Since this was a photo category, you shouldn’t list the writer of the article ahead of the photographer in the official press releases you send out.
      National Geographic also won the National Magazine Award in the Photography category, which honors use of photography in three complete issues. Geographic won for its March, April, and June 2007 issues.
       In the Photo Portfolio category, Vanity Fair won for a story by Annie Leibovitz called “Killers Kill; Dead Men Die: A 2007 Hollywood Portfolio” in its March 2007 issue. Annie was in the audience, as editor in chief Graydon Carter accepted the award. She was smiling and didn’t seem any the worse for wear following the controversy over her Miley Cyrus pictures.—David Schonauer

Galleries Galore

Last night I braved the chilly rain that is currently plaguing New York's beautiful spring and went to see the opening of William Greiner's Fallen Paradise show at Klompching Gallery in DUMBO. Greiner and I have been emailing for at least a year, so I was happy to see him (and his beautiful prints) in person. But I was even more pleased to have finally made it out to the DUMBO gallery scene -- especially on what was a particularly opportune evening.

Last night happened to be the first Thursday of May, and it turns out that a bunch of the DUMBO galleries stay open until 8:30 on the first Thursday of every month. To make things even more convenient, the vast majority of those galleries are located in one building, 111 Front St. A funny aside: When I first went to DUMBO a couple years ago to see the construction of powerHouse's now-bustling Arena, I made a picture of the huge orange marquis at 111 Front St. (see above), without knowing what lay inside.

So it was pleasant serendipity to realize last night that that building holds many of the galleries I've been including in my weekly exhibition listings ... and that they all happened to be open late for my perusing pleasure. After Klompching, I stopped in at Safe-T-Gallery, showing Larry Racioppo's Brooklyn Interiors. These large, stunning images of the extreme decay hiding inside many of Brooklyn's transitional buildings are startling and enthralling -- one of an abandoned schoolroom reminds me so much of Robert Polidori's images of empty classrooms near Chernobyl.

Then I stopped in at Umbrage Gallery to see the Sylvia Plachy show. I love Plachy and her always light-handed wit ... although, I have to admit, after seeing her massive retrospective at PHotoEspaña last year, this small show was a little underwhelming. An exhibition combining work by Andrew Miksys and Jonathan Gitelson at the nearby Nelson Hancock Gallery had a similar air of insightful levity, especially Gitelson's funny little "Artist's Books," my favorite of which includes a found To-Do list that Gitelson "completes" with a sort of Polaroid scavenger hunt.

Finally, I wandered through Hire Education, the Pratt Senior Thesis Photography Exhibition. There were the usual highs and lows, but I was especially struck by Anita Ng's four studies of friend's bedrooms. Her artist's statement says that she never had her own bedroom, and thus is exploring both how people use personal space and what that personal space represents. Above all that, they are just fascinating spaces to look at -- and to imagine from them what their inhabitants must be like.

So if you haven't gotten the gist of this article yet, let me break it down for you: See these shows, check out 111 Front St., try to hit it on the first Thursday of the month. Especially if it's raining ... you won't even have to leave the building to see tons of good photography (and other art, fyi, if you're into that kind of thing).

~Miki Johnson

Venessa Winship Named Sony's First Photographer of the Year

Clearly I should already have known who Vanessa Winship is. I mean, she won the first World Press Photo award ever given in the arts category; she's exhibited at Visa pour l'Image, Les Recontres d'Arles, and the Leica Gallery; oh, and did I mention...she makes beautiful, beautiful images.

But I didn't know about her until I was sent the press release about the first annual Sony World Photography Awards, the ceremony for which was held in Cannes recently, and by which Winship has been named Photographer of the Year (and awarded a $25,000 cash prize).

There are lots of other winners in both professional and amateur categories up at the awards' site, but I'm satisfied just that this main prize has done what all these new prizes popping up every year should: It publicizes someone too few people know about, and it gives them a bunch of money to keep making excellent art.

Definitely check out Winship's website...I promise you'll be blown away.

~Miki Johnson

Where to Go and What to See

I'm happy this week to be able to highlight a few photographers that American Photo has worked with in the past and that I know personally. We featured Michal Chelbin in our March/April 2007 portraitists issue and are delighted to see she now has her first monograph, with Aperture. Titled Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes, it explores the liminality between childhood and adulthood, performance and play...the strange and the familiar, if you will.

William Greiner is a New Orleans native and keeps attention on the problems that have persisted there since the Katrina disaster with his photoblog. Now his saturated, structural images of the city are on view at Klompching Gallery in Brooklyn.

Finally, Zoe Strauss, the quintessential Philadelphia photographer (and herself a big photoblogger), is taking full advantage of the city she calls home and putting up her annual outdoor exhibition under an I-95 overpass  there.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © William Geiner, "Apartment near levee, New Orleans, 2005")

Click on the link below for details on these and many more photography events around the country.

Colbert Explains the Miley Cyrus Thing

I've been trying to be the only person with access to a blog to not talk about those photos of Miley Cyrus by Annie Leibovitz. But when I saw Stephen Colbert's commentary about the story, I caved. It's hilarious! And...when was the last time anyone on television talked about photography with this kind of knowledge? (After a nice runthrough of Annie's career, he even mentions baby photographer Anne Geddes.) I'm a little shocked at the reaction these images have caused. Then again I'm not a tween girl, and my own daughter is too old for "Hannah Montana." But to me the pictures seem classy enough. I put the blame on all the media who irresponsibly said the images show Miley "topless," which they didn't. At least the New York Times apologized for doing that. Meanwhile, the New York Post merely said the images were "near nude," which is a Rupert Murdoch way of saying "not nude."
    I heard this morning that the Cyrus family feels they were misled by Annie, while Vanity Fair says mom and pop Cyrus were shown computer-generated mock-ups of what the images would look like. (The Cyruses wouldn't lie just to protect all that Disney money  would they?) Meanwhile, Perez Hilton noted that an old photo of Diana Ross by Annie looks suspiciously like her recent Miley picture. --David Schonauer