State of the Art

Flip Side of Fame

Back in the pre-digital days, we all kept batches of snapshots in shoe boxes, pulling them out occasionally to marvel at the memories, mainly interesting only to those involved. But when your shoe box has photos of someone wildly famous — and prematurely departed — it could be turn out to be revelatory.

Such is the case with May Pang's shoe box full of images of her 18-month companionship with John Lennon. In her new, splendidly titled book, Instamatic Karma ($30, St. Martin's Press), Pang (at right in 1974) shares pictures that had literally been closeted away since the mid-1970s. A recent piece in the New York Times pointed out Pang's intent — to show that Lennon was not all depressed and unproductive during his "Lost Weekend" months with her — but the book itself weaves a complex portrait of Lennon's time away from his wife Yoko, befitting a man of every-changing moods and contradictions.

Annals of Advertising: Shooting Escorts

Today in political news, we get to see photos of the call girl, “Kristen,” with whom New York’s soon-to-be ex-governor liaised. We knew that was coming, right? The pictures of Kristen weren’t that good, however. So on my way to work I wondered, where would an escort go to get good pictures for online advertising? A bit of research on Eros Guide New York showed that there are indeed a number of photographers who specialize in this niche area.
     “Where there is a demand for a particular service, someone will step in to fill it,” said one of the photographers listed on the guide. (He asked me not to use his name or indicate which company he shoots for. Though he’s been shooting escorts for couple of years, he says he is primarily a fashion specialist. He prefers to keep the escort work private.)

     For this photographer, the decision to shoot escorts was purely market-based. “What’s the first thing you see when you type the word “escort” into Google? Sh**ty pictures,” he says. “I thought, here’s an industry that appears to generate a lot of money, but not much care is being taken with the imagery used to promote it. So I created my business.”
     Given the nature of their work, many escorts simply snap pictures of themselves. A pro photographer can upgrade the look with basic beauty lighting, simple styling, and minimal retouching. “Basically I create the same kinds of images you see in Maxim magazine,” says the photographer I spoke with. “Some clients want their faces in the images, others not. “
     The Eros ad for one photo service makes the importance of imagery clear. “You’ve got about 2 seconds to make an impression on the viewer,” the ad advises escorts. “Make those 2 seconds count.”
     Judging from the ads on Eros, the rates for escort photography is roughly in line with those for actors, models, and others who need commercial imagery—anywhere from $300 to $1,000 or so for packages that include digital images and other services like styling. Most of the photographers advertising on the site in fact also shoot other types of clients as well.—David Schonauer

Every Grain of Sand

Photos © Dr. Gary Greenberg

"In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand."
– Bob Dylan

That couplet has long struck me as among the most heartfelt and poetic ones in Dylan's entire oeuvre. But I never thought it would make a great lead-in for a photo book report.

A bit of background: Recently I posted a Web story on a book called The Art of the Snowflake, by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht. That book features mesmerizing images of snow crystals, a photographic subject rarely explored since Wilson Bentley's pioneering snowflake images back in the late 1800s. Seizing on one aspect of Libbrecht's project, I titled the piece "No Two Alike?"

"People make a lot more out of that saying than they ought to, you know," Libbrecht replied when asked if every snowflake was unique. "No two grains of sand are exactly alike either, but nobody really cares about that." Later, I joked with Libbrecht about the possibility of him doing a book on sand. "People have done this with sand," he said.

He's right. The day after the story was posted, I got a note from Libbrecht's publisher: "This spring, Voyageur Press will publish a new book that will do for sand what Ken Libbrecht’s photographs did for snow," wrote marketing rep Maurrie Salenger.  I just received the new title, A Grain of Sand: Nature’s Secret Wonder, by Dr. Gary Greenberg ($20, voyageurpress.com). And this book, too, is a revealing, iridescent study in microphotography and nature, drawing equally from science and art.

Exhibitions Watch: The Boudoir as Affordable Art

There’s a new photo show opening soon in New York that you might want to know about. I got a preview yesterday. The show is great, but what’s really interesting is the gallery that’s putting it up.
   On March 27, the Lumas Gallery in New York will debut “Boudoir: A Hint of Sensuality,” featuring photograpahy by Michel Comte, Lylia Cornell, GABO (photo above), Jacques Olivar, Howard Schatz, and other photographers. As the gallery notes, “The title of this exhibition refers to the boudoir as “the classical place of transformation through costume and to the joyous sensuality reigning there.”
    It’s a beautiful show, to be sure, but I’m really fascinated by the Lumas Gallery. The New York location, which is at 77 Wooster Street in SoHO, is the first of several planned U.S. branches of this art operation. Founded in Germany by Stefanie Harig and Marc Ullrich, the gallery now has branches throughout Europe. The director of the U.S. gallery, Stephanie Yovi, told me there are plans to open more branches in New York and the United States as well.
     The idea behind the gallery is intriguing: Essentially, it sells very big digital prints of work by a wide range of photographer. The Lambda prints are gorgeous, and prices for the prints start at about $600 and go up into the several thousands. The prices are kept low because the gallery sells in large editions--up to 100 in some cases—while other prints are sold in open editions. The gallery negotiates deals directly with the more than 100 photographers it represents. The list includes names like Steichen, as well as a wonderful new generation of photographers.
     Do I sound impressed? I am. The idea is to open up the notion of collecting to a new, young generation of buyers. The gallery caters to the taste of modern consumers by offering very large prints and by selling them via storefront galleries as well as online. There’s nothing wrong with that: It’s nice to see quality photography being made available to lots of people. It’s one more vision of photography’s future.—David Schonauer

The Political Image: Stand by Your Man

Day two of the Spitzer scandal has produced no imagery to help shape the story—mainly because the governor and his family are in seclusion. But regarding yesterday’s post about whether the innocent spouse should be included in the photo coverage, the comments were illuminating. One reader wrote:

It’s our responsibility to show the reality in what is portrayed right in front of us…even when cropping is allowed in the world of photojournalism, it’s still honorable to show the whole situation.

I tend to agree. When the spouse steps into the public spotlight, the public will expect to see it. And the journalist’s responsibility, finally, is with his or her audience. Those are ground rules. They are the rules that journalists, politicians, and the public are all well acquainted with by now. (NPR has a nice little portfolio of those moments on its website.)

The news guidelines don’t make these news events any less morally confusing for all involved, however. In today’s New York Times Dana Matos McGreevy, former wife of former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevy, explains why she stood holding his hand when he admitted to being a “gay American” and cheating on her. In doing so, however, she also urges the public (and the public’s representatives, journalists) to lay off.

Frankly, all I was thinking about was my daughter. If I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing. I did it for my daughter’s father.
     I wasn’t the first such person in this situation, and Ms. Wall Spitzer won’t be the last. This will happen again, and when it does, let’s skip the psychoanalysis and judgments heaped on the wife. She’s not the elected official. Let him face the cameras on his own.

Reporters, photographers, and public figures know what to do, but that doesn’t necessarily make doing it easy.Photo above by Timothy A. Clary for AFP/Getty Images.—David Schonauer

Photo Editor for a Day: How Would You Play It?

You are the photo editor of a big city newspaper, and your state's governor has just been named as Client 9, the patron of a prostitution ring.  Said governor has just made a public statement. As usual in these cases, the guilty politician is accompanied by his innocent wife, who must stand in front of the cameras to share a disgrace she has nothing to do with. You are discussing with your news editor how to depict this moment on your newspaper's front page. Do you decently crop the women out of the image, allowing her to preserve a bit of dignity? Do you go full on with a photo that captures the woman's pain? Or do you split the difference?  Are you responsible for protecting the wife and the injured family of the erring husband? Or is your job to allow your readers to  see the full spectacle of this public humbling? Let's here some opinions.--David Schonauer 

Annals of Advertising: Underwater Dreamscape

As you know, every once in a while I post about a medium other than photography—hey no art is an island, everything creative is related. This new television as for Farmers Insurance starts out with a series of spectacular underwater visuals. The director, Dante Ariola, used performers from Cirque de Soleil to create the dream sequence.--David Schonauer