State of the Art

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!)

Ballad of the 'Tween Angel

Photographs © VanityFair.com

"You can't just say no to Annie." That was part of the explanation given by 15-year-old superstar Miley Cyrus after photographs were made of her "backless" and clutching a blanket by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. (A VF behind-the-scenes shot is above.) "I think it's really artsy," she told the magazine at the time. "It wasn't in a skanky way."

But by yesterday, Cyrus was backtracking. "I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," she said in a publicist's statement. She further criticizes the magazine in a People article, as the more financially minded press mulls over the fallout  expected to hit Cyrus's Hanna Montana phenomenon and its parent company, Disney.

What gives? Having shot to the heights of international fame at such a young age, is Cyrus an example of media exploitation or, rather, a reflection of prudish attitudes about portraiture?

Flickr Superstar Profiled in Times Magazine

I’ve been keeping a secret for a while now, and it’s time I just let it out, so here goes: I totally don’t follow the whole Flickr thing. I check out images there from time to time, but I don’t know who the big stars and major personalities are. By now I should be an upstanding member of the Flickr community, since I write about photography, but instead I spend all my spare time working.
    So I was really interested in a piece in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine by Vigrinia Heffernan about Rebekka Guoleifsdottir, describes as “one of Flickr’s most popular photographers.
    The point of the story was that some savvy photographers have learned how to perfect a “Flickr style”—images that look good in thumbnail form, with fulsome digital manipulation—and how to work the social networking aspect of the site to make herself more popular.
     As the piece points out, Guoleifsdottir, who lives in Iceland, isn’t shy about posting images of herself (above, for example). She eventually became so popular on Flickr that she was hired to do a Toyota ad campaign.
      I’d be interested in hearing from Flickr members if they believe there is particular style of photography that defines a new aesthetic. Do film images really get shouted down because they seem out of focus? Is it wrong to game the Flickr system in order to become popular? (Analog artists have been doing that forever.)–David Schonauer

The Little Lens That Could

The Lensbaby, an ingenious optic that brings view-camera style selective focus effects to digital, 35mm, and medium-format photography, just keeps on rockin'. The new movie-camera version of the lens, which we've covered in this space before, has been used by director Eric Schmidt to shoot a new music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." Watch it (below) and you may long for something sharp!
--Russell Hart

"Sponge-Worthy?"

Last week while spring-cleaning at home we discussed the demise of Polaroid film, set to be discontinued by year's end, but we made the decision to hang onto our nifty little Polaroid instant camera — "hey, you never know what will happen with this technology so let's not toss it just yet" — while we contemplated whether to snarf up some Polaroid film while we can. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine stockpiles boxes of Sponges and then has to decide whether subsequent dates are "Sponge-worthy." (If you need an explanation for that ... never mind, you're too young.)

Then we saw a piece in yesterday's New York Times Magazine that officially reminded us how, for instant-camera film, time is short.

The piece is in the Consumed column by Rob Walker, a personal friend (I hired Rob eons ago as a reporter for a Texas newspaper and I've steadily watched his writing career ascend ever since). Each week the column is all about trends in marketing and consumption, sometimes not in that order, and Rob rightly points out that Edward Land's invention of Polaroid instant pictures led to its modern digital ancestors — which rendered it obsolete.

Film, Stills, and Albert Maysles

As Dave Schonauer writes in his recent blog, Nubar Alexanian has photographed on the sets of many of Errol Morris's documentaries, work collected in a new book called Nonfiction. If you've never seen Morris's 1980 Gates of Heaven, do: I remember it as a brilliant series of talking still photographs. Another great documentary filmmaker, Albert Maysles, actually took his own pictures as he created such classics as Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens. (Those earlier films were produced with Albert's brother and sound man David, who died in 1987.) Albert was in fact a photographer first, and you can catch his vintage black-and-white prints from the 1950s and 1960s, color stills from the filming of Grey Gardens, and his recent "cinemagraphs" at New York City's Steven Kasher Gallery, where they're on display through March 15. The cinemagraphs (below) are printed directly from frames of actual Maysles films.

The Lensbaby and the Diving Bell

Our Photography and the Movies issue, just out, proves that there’s a happily thin line between still and moving pictures—at least for the artists who ply both media. The respective technologies of film and photography have certainly crossed over in many ways. Canon’s D-SLR lenses borrow optical tricks from their video and film counterparts, for example. And going the other way, the Lensbaby (below)—which started life as an innovative still-photography tool—has now played a starring role in an Oscar-nominated French-produced film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
 

After the Land Camera, What Next?

On this day in history: Edwin Land demonstrated his new Land Camera on February 21, 1947. The camera became better known by the name of Land's company, Polaroid. It produced black-and-white photographs in 60 seconds, which at that time was considered "instant." Cultural and artistic impact would follow. (Go here for the story.) We can celebrate this anniversary while considering the news, recently reported, that Polaroid Corp. will shut down its remaining film plants.  It probably won't take another sixty years before some new technology wipes out digital photography as we now know it. Some people say it will be 3-D photography. Other forward-thinkers are betting on some kind of holographic imagery, so we see can see our friends and family literally walking and talking in front of us, like Princess Leia in Star Wars. And it will really be instant, of course.--David Schonauer

Where to Go and What to See

This week's (and month's) big New York event is the release of a new retrospective scrapbook from Albert Maysles, who, along with his brother David, created the beloved documentaries Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter, and Salesman--and therefore lauded by many as the father of modern documentary film. An accompanying exhibition opening  February 15 at Steven Kasher Gallery includes 50 of Albert's vintage black and white photographs plus large cinemagraphs from his movies. More events are to follow, including a brunch screening of The Gates and booksigning at the Film Forum on February 24.

In San Francisco Lee Friedlander seems to be the photographer on everyone's lips. His America by Car series opens at Fraenkel Gallery on February 14, and next week the SFMoMA launches a huge retrospective of his work, including more than 400 images. Plus, through May 11, Friedlander's images from parks created by Frederick Law Olmsted are on view at the Met back here in NYC.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: © Albert Maysles, "Best Costume For The Day"/Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery)

Follow the link before for details about these and many more photo openings and events.

Break it like a Polaroid picture

In yet another sign that digital photography is killing off film, the inventor of the instant picture, Polaroid Corp., will shut down its remaining U.S. film plants in March, according to the Wall Street Journal. (The move follows Polaroid's discontinuation of instant cameras last year, as outlined by this NY Times blog.) The company will lay off hundreds of jobs and focus its energies on digital technologies, printers, and flatscreen TVs. 

Where will those longtime fans of Polaroid instant cameras turn? "The company is shopping its technology and a sale could result in a third party making film for Polaroid products," said spokeswoman Amanda Schuneman in the WSJ story.

While most snapshot enthusiasts have apparently long ago made the switch to digital, we have to wonder what this development will mean to larger-format shooters who have relied on Polaroids for instant demos. The tools they are a-changin. — Jack Crager

An Enlightening Film This Sunday on CBS

Here's a programming note I'd like everyone to be aware of: This coming Sunday, December 23, at 9 PM, CBS will air a documentary titled "In God's Name." It's a moving and enlightening piece of filmmaking, as you'll be able to see in this trailer. The film, which centers on interviews with the leaders of the world's major religions, was made by Gedeon and Jules Naudet, who also made a remarkable documentary about 9/11. Indeed, it was their experience at Ground Zero--they were there, making a film about firefighters, when the planes hit the World Trade Center--that prompted them to take on this new project. By the way, if their last name looks familiar, it's because Gedeon and Jules are the sons of American Photo Editor at Large Jean Jacques Naudet.

A Must See: Gjon Mili's "Jammin' the Blues"

It seems that this week I'm finding some real film gems made by photographer. I found this one on the Turner Classic Movie channel, which often shows hard-to-find film shorts. You have to see it. The film, "Jammin' the Blues," was made in 1944 by the famed Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili, who was one of the great photographic innovators of his time. In its special effects, and in its stylistic black-and-white look, the film perfectly captures Mili's photographic style. Mili's mini-documentary captures a jam session featuring such jazz greats as Lester Young,George "Red"Callender, and Illinois Jacquet. Enjoy this excerpt. For the full film, go here. --David Schonauer

Snapshot of an Innocent

The self-portrait at left is the last picture ever taken of Christopher McCandless. In fact, it's one of the few real images of him we have. Reader's of Jon Krakauer's 1997 book Into the Wild will recognize it as the only photograph of him in that mesmerizing biography. One of the curious facts about McCandless (an ascetic, quixotic adventurer who died of starvation in the Alaska wilderness at age 24) is that he carried a camera -- one of his only modern accouterments -- with him during his Alaskan sojourn, along with a rifle, a scant amount of rice and gear, his journal, and a few high-minded books by the likes of Thoreau and Tolstoy. In the new film adaptation of Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, this self-portrait makes a powerful appearance at the end of the movie. Unfortunately, it's arguably the most authentic and moving moment in the film.

This is not for a lack of trying. Tangentially based on Krakauer's book with a screenplay by Penn, the movie tries very hard to be both authentic and moving -- and many times it succeeds. It's those other times, when it tries too hard and comes off hokey, that drag it down.

Ellen Von Unwerth's Fabulous Fashion Video, Starring Kirsten Dunst

I really don't claim to know much about photography, but I know what I like. The same goes for video. And when big-name photographers become video auteurs, what I like is seeing how their photographic vision extends to another medium. The video here is a case study in how that is done right. The director is the fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, and the star is actress Kirsten Dunst. The video was made to showcase designer Erin Fetherston's fall/winter 2006 collection, but I only recently saw it. I loved it. It has the true character of Von Unwerth's best fashion work--charming,  girlish fun, with just enough naughtiness to keep it interesting. Had to pass this one along.
--David Schonauer

De Palma Says Horrific Iraq Photos Were Cut From His Latest Film

Director Brian De Palma got into a heated shouting match with one of the producers of his new film at a New York Film Festival press conference Monday (see the the video below). The argument concerned De Palma's new film, Redacted, which focuses on the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and her family by a group of American soldiers in 2006. The film is a hybrid documentary/fictional account of the event, and it makes use of home videos made by soldiers and never-published photos that De Palma says he found on the Internet. At the press conference, De Palma accused the film's backer, Magnolia Pictures, of editing out the horrific imagery to avoid offending audiences. Magnolia president Eamon Bowles then jumps up to say that the images were cut because the people shown in the photos had not legally "signed off" on them. Replies De Palma, "How do you get releases for war photographs?" This is sticky legal ground, all right. Can the film be considered a documentary? Would the legal notion of fair use  allow De Palma  as a film maker to use the images without signed releases from the people shown? Most of all, why didn't Magnolia Pictures (which is owned by billionaire Mark Cuban) think of this a long time ago? The film as already been screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it shocked audiences. De Palma says his whole purpose in making the film was to show images that the American press had "redacted." Now those images have been edited out of the public view again. Film producers can usually figure out how to make the law work for them when they want. In this case, I suspect, they got weak knees in anticipation of the reaction of American audiences. But we are exactly the audience that should be seeing the pictures.

Full YouTube video after the jump.

--David Schonauer

11th Hour Notice

Just got an e-mail from Leonardo DiCaprio. (Not every day Leo drops a line.) This was actually through the network of johnkerry.com, the online community Kerry put together during his 2004 presidential run that keeps on ticking along as if Kerry's running again this year. Kerry invited DiCaprio to publicize his new movie: The 11th Hour, touted as a "call-to-arms" for the environmental movement (sort of An Inconvenient Truth with extra dollops of drama and charisma). Apparently it's the 11th hour for the film's nationwide debut -- it opens in several cities today (although it already started its run in New York City and Los Angeles, according to the movie's Website).

Anyway, DiCaprio's intense efforts on this film may explain why he did not have time to take part in our environmental issue of American Photo, which is out now. Leo was certainly asked -- as part of a story in which we surveyed noted environmentalists about photographs that inspired them to take up the global cause. DiCaprio was busy, but we did get fascinating answers from the likes of Al Gore's wife Tipper, journalist Tom Brokaw, Senator Barbara Boxer, primatologist Jane Goodall, and Wild Kingdom cohost Jim Fowler (who named "Earthrise--Apollo 8," above, as his inspirational photo). Can't wait to see DiCaprio's movie. For a trailer, try this link. -- Jack Crager

Yellow Journalism

And now for something completely different -- wait, wrong film! Before you go to the new Simpsons movie you might want to get in the spirit of D'oh! by simpsonizing yourself. Go to simpsonizeme.com, use the simpsonizing machine to upload a tight photo of yourself and answer a few questions about your appearance -- and, after some extended sound effects, you're rendered as a character from the best cartoon in history. We can't tell you what algorithm the site uses, but it did an uncanny job on one of our editors, as you can see below. (cell phone photo by David Schonauer) -- Russell Hart

Photographer Greenfield Nominated for Emmy

There seems to be an ever-increasing number of photography awards to pay attention to these days...but the Emmy's is rarely one of them. Yet that is where VII photographer Lauren Greenfield was honored yesterday with a nomination for her documentary film (which ran on HBO), Thin. I was privy to a sneak-peak of the film back in November, and can say without hesitation that Greenfield absolutely deserves this recognition. The film is heart-wrenching (as you would expect a movie about eating disorders to be) but also fair and honest -- refusing to simplify her subjects into either victims or monsters. Greenfield spent an incredible amount of time with these women while she was filming, staying involved in their lives long afterward and going back only after shooting the film to record the Renfrew Center (where Thin was shot) in photographs. The resulting book, also titled Thin, allowed Greenfield to reassess the situation from a new angle, giving her the time and perspective to create haunting portraits of the women at Renfrew (like the one above, of Aiva on her first and last day at the treatment center) and to include pages from their own journals. I wouldn't be surprised to see more photographers being acknowledged for their film work in the future -- but they will have to work very hard to reach the bar set by Greenfield.

~Miki Johnson

(Photo: From Thin, © Lauren Greenfield / VII)

New Ed Burtynsky Documentary

If you've heard photographer Ed Burtynsky speak, you've probably heard his explanation for why he hasn't gotten involved in the politics of environmentalism -- even though his large-format prints of humanity's effects on the landscape could easily serve as its posters.

And in a new documentary about Burtynsky's work, named Manufactured Landscapes after his best-known series, we again hear this rationale from the photographer's lips. By refusing to tell viewers what they should see in or conclude about his work, "that may allow them to look at something they've never looked at before," he explains. The film from director Jennifer Baichwal follows that lead -- or at least it tries to.

If You're in San Fran Looking for Something to Do Tonight...

Photographer Scot Hampton from the Process & Proof blog sent a heads up on the following:

Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson, a film directed by Ian McCluskey in 2006, screens this Thursday, May 31, (7pm) at the San Francisco MoMA. The film focuses on Charis, Weston's long-time muse & wife. McCluskey will hold a Q&A after the screening. Tickets are only $7 ($5 for MoMa members) but they are going quick. I was just over to pick up a couple tickets and they only had about 25 left (notice how I posted this after I bought my own tickets...).

Also of Note: Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light (American Masters, 1996), plays daily (except Wednesday) at 2:30pm through the 8th of June also at SF MoMA (at the Koret Visitor Education Center)

- Jay DeFoore

Where to Go and What to See

WARNING: This week's listings include an overwhelming number of exciting events. Attempting to see everything at once may result in creative overstimulation.

To begin with, I'm psyched about the Taryn Simon exhibit opening at the Whitney. I got a taste of Simon's An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, a beautifully executed index of spaces usually blocked from public view, when it was featured in the New York Times Magazine and I'm eager to see the full spread.

Then there are FIVE group exhibitions that are bound to be a good time: SoHo Photo's Krappy Kamera Exhibition (of photos made entirely with cameras from the "lowest end of the technology scale"); the Winter installation of Jen Bekman's Hey, Hot Shot! show; That '70s Show, the powerHouse homage to New York in the 1970s; A.I.R. Gallery's 7th Biennial, including 40 prominent female artists; and The Jewish Museum's survey of contemporary Israeli art, Dateline Israel.

I'm also interested in the first exhibition by Mississippi photographer Henry Clay Anderson at Steven Kasher Gallery, Len Prince's musings on Jessie Mann at Catherine Edelman Gallery, and Kim Reierson's study of trucker culture at the Robin Rice Gallery. Follow the link to find plenty more to pique your own interest...but please, proceed with care!

Where to Go and What to See

This week's big news is the Lorna Simpson show opening on Thursday at the Whitney, organized by the American Federation of Arts and curated by AFA adjunct curator Helaine Posner. A retrospective of the photographer/video artist's last 20 years, the exhibit will include pieces from Simpson's various creative styles: image and text pieces, photographs on felt, film installations, and photographic series.

And in Boston, John Divola's pictures of dogs chasing his car and Eirik Johnson's of animal burrows, both showing at Gallery Kayafas, promise an interesting examination of our relationship with the animal world.

Follow the link for details about these and other photo events happening this week.

Where to Go and What to See

As often happens when you're deciding which galleries to divide your time among, I give you the choice between Fun and Fabulous or Serious and Cerebral. Not to suggest that the first can't the second, or the latter the former, but I think you know what I mean here. First there is powerHouse's Warhol is Dead! exhibit, with images of the first celebrity's celebrity by photography elite and a guest list filled out by Warhol's close friends and collaborators, including Blondie front-woman Debbie Harry. PowerHouse events are always a blast, with DJs and drinks and dancing, but this is likely to top them all.

My second choice for this week, Sasha Bezzubov's Things Fall Apart, is pretty much the opposite of celebrity. This muted, expansive series cleverly combines images from different natural disasters: tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, wildfire, tornado. Bezzubov's pictures  are of sad aftermaths, for sure, but there is something removed about them, avoiding exploitation and "look how sad" portrayals. Instead, they seem to prompt us to recognize how things are put together, and how they come apart (suggested by the title) in similar ways, familiar to us all, no matter where we are when it all comes  undone. There is definitely a sense of our own fragile attempts to fight off mother nature, too—and our ultimate, inevitable failure to do so.

On second thought, these shows might have something in common. Warhol-ism, after all, was partly about the constructing and deconstructing of personalities and personas. And wasn't Warhol himself his own kind of tornado? Luckily, on further reflection, I have also realized that these openings are on entirely different nights, so you don't even have to choose. See them both, and the others too. Squeeze all the life out of it you can, before it all falls apart.

For more information on these and other photography events, follow the link below.

Gallery Reviews and Magnum Previews

At the vast buffet of gallery openings last night, I, as usual, only had a chance to sample a few dishes, but I found them satisfying and intriguing. Read on for three tasty courses from the Chelsea galleries and, for dessert, a sneak peek at a new Magnum project.

Where to Go and What to See

In Jeff Jacobson's new book, Melting Point, he writes, "I live in a meltdown period, when old norms of politics, religion and even photography are changing. Melting is a transformation, one form dissolves, another emerges."

 

The book from Nazraeli press, which Jacobson will be signing during the November 16 opening reception at Peer Gallery, carries plenty of examples of this kind of transformation—in style, and more overtly in subject matter.

• Nov. 16, 6-9
  Jeff Jacobson: "Melting Point"
  Opening reception and book signing
  Peer Gallery
  West Chelsea Arts Building, 526 West 26th St. (between 10th and 11th)

The New Connection

Have you ever found yourself tooling around the Craigslist personal ads just for fun? Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that every couple of months I end up there, and inevitably I find it difficult to stop reading once I've started. Personals in general are fascinating—they allow us to glimpse other humans at their most vulnerable—and with all the internet has brought them in the way of searchability and sheer volume, they are now a nearly limitless entertainment resource.

Jeffrey Aaronson's new show at the Kashya Hildebrand Gallery uses such online personal ads as a starting point for a series of multimedia portraits—and Aaronson gladly does not fail to recognize their innate human appeal.

Walker Evans Goes Digital

More than 30 years after his death, revered photojournalist Walker Evans has moved into the digital realm.

In "Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver," a deceptively benign exhibition of his work at the UBS Gallery (circumnavigating the lobby of the UBS building at 1285 Ave. of the Americas), gelatin silver prints of Evans's 1935 and '36 photos live alongside what could be considered controversial contemporary prints from the same negatives--reproduced digitally.