July 2, 2008
© Morgan Silk
I came across the work of commercial photographer Morgan Silk, and I was surprised. This is because it is not often the case that you see such beautiful and artistic work in the website of a commercial photographer. The images are not organized in themes but sort of mixed what makes for a nice discovery to browse the portfolios and archives. If you get over the images that are overly edited in Photoshop [the sad trend that exemplifies commercial work] you will find many images that are really great. Morgan's work has the refined aesthetics of fine art, images that are compelling and interesting and use the elements of composition with elegance but subtlety.
© Morgan Silk
© Morgan Silk
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photographers, Photography 
1 Comment »
June 30, 2008
© Daniel Traub
Daniel Traub is an American photographer located in China. His new series, City's Edge, continues his work documenting the edge, the transition, of the rural and urban China. Cities are about buildings and about people, and even more, about how rural migrations to urban space and the growth of cities creates new spaces, forcing people to adapt to their new environment. What makes Daniel's work special is his ability to both document the urban landscape and the people who reside in these cities. Once you visit his website, it is worthwhile to browse through the different portfolios, all about China.
An informative interview with Daniel [with many images] was published at the ASMP site (American Society of Media Photographers).
© Daniel Traub
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photographers, Photography No Comments »
June 28, 2008
A new website, The Raw File, founded by photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally, a photojournalist focused in urban stories, and by multimedia producer Laura Lo Forti.
The Raw File is a digital multimedia show aimed to host stories that are not sponsored by commercially media. It is a way to give, to expand the forum, for causes that are deserving but don't make the cut for the limitations of commercial publications.
Initially the content focuses on the continuation of Brenda's work that was published in the book "Money Power Respect: Pictures of my Neighborhood" that can also be seen online at her website. They will be accepting contributions from interested photojournalists in the future (information to contribute).
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photography sites No Comments »
June 27, 2008
"That's one of the problems about taking pictures, some people think when they are taking pictures ... the shouldn't think, thinking is bad for taking pictures. Thinking is good for conceptualizing. Taking pictures has to do with seeing things, being surprised, being interested, it is not about thinking, it is about discovering." - Eliott Erwitt at Pix Channel Interviews.
From A Photo Editor I found the reference to Pix Channel. I don't intend to repeat much here, but this site contains so many wonderful video interviews with so many important photographers that I though it is worthwhile to pass it along in case you don't know about it.
The interviews are conducted by Randi Lynn Beach, a photographer who has spent the last 15 years working in editorial, non-profit, and corporate photography, with work published in many editorial publications. She is the person behind the interviews with the well-known photographers at Pix Channel.
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photography, Photography sites No Comments »
June 24, 2008
Purpose
What a wonderful discovery. Paul Demare, shared with me the link to Purpose, a great online photo-magazine. Check out the most recent issue here, and you will understand why I am both glad to learn about it and surprised that I did not discovered it until now. Purpose is published/edited in France but with text both in French and English so that it covers a large audience of readers.
"The margin is what holds together the pages of a notebook." Jean-Luc Godard gave this response when he was called a marginal artist. The most pioneering artistic movements are indeed found at the margin, where they guarantee the vitality of creation against the stagnation of the academy. The artist who holds himself apart from dominant trends shines light on other possible paths; he invites us to be part of the invention, deconstruction and reconstruction of the world." - Purpose
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photography, Photography sites No Comments »
June 23, 2008
© Kathryn Parker Almanas
For anyone who reads this blog it will not come to a surprise if I say that one of the best sites in the web to enjoy photography and discover emerging talent is Flak Photo, run and edited by Andy Adams. This summer Flak Photo embarks in a wonderful effort [see here] to show the best photography around. This is a project shared with Center [formerly the Santa Fe Center for Photography]:
The feature is the most ambitious project I've undertaken with flakphoto.com since launching the blog two years ago - the Review Santa Fe project will show 55 photographers over 11 weeks. I'll be publishing a selection of work from this year's RSF photographers weekdays from June 16 - August 29, 2008.- Andy Adams
This is an exclusive opportunity to see the work of excellent photographers that attended the two-day conference in Santa Fe this last June 5-7th. The Review Santa Fe is perhaps the best known and prestigious reviewing event of photography in the USA, with only 100 selected photographers attending the last event. Flak Photo will share the work of fifty five of them photographers in the coming weeks.
Flak Photo is pleased to team up with Center to feature a selection of images from Review Santa Fe, an annual juried portfolio review for photographers who have created a significant project or series and are seeking wider recognition. This year's conference was held in Santa Fe on June 5-7, 2008. In support of the event, Flak Photo highlights fifty-five of these photographers over the course of the summer and includes images from Myra Greene, Thomas Broening, Julie Denesha, Andrew Kaufman, Jennifer Boomer, Peter Snyder, Myriam Abdelaziz, John Abousief, Keliy Anderson-Staley, Jessica Auer, Justyna Badach, Alexia Beckerling, Andrew Beckham, Elise Bloom, Mara Bodis-Wollner, Tami Bone, Caleb Charland, Dylan Chatain, Javier Eligio Chavarria, Meghan Cronrath, Stephen Dahl, Scott Dalton, Rachael Dunville, Davin Ellicson, Linda Foard Roberts, Steve Hanson, Angela Jimenez, Barbara Karant, Marvi Lacar, Doug Landreth, Rose Marasco, Bryce Marback, Felicia Michaels, Ella Naef, Katie Orlinsky, Kate Orne, Eric Percher, Coleen Plumb, Sarah Renkes, Felix Rodriguez Cid, Mike Schwartz, Brian Shumway, Rebecca Sittler Schrock, Sarah Small, Fernando Souto, Stuart Sperling, Richard Stultz, Anthony Thompson, Peter Treiber, Hiroshi Watanabe, Angela Wells, Jimmy Williams and Natalie Young.
Thanks Andy for taking on this initiative. It will be a treat to follow every week this summer.
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Exhibits, Photography No Comments »
June 19, 2008
© From Access to Life by Alex Majoli [Magnum]
Remarkable collaboration between Magnum and The Global Fund to fight Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV.
"Access to Life", describes the impact of anti-retroviral treatments for HIV using the example of the life of 31 patients around the globe, portrayed before and 4 months after the initiation of treatment by several top Magnum photographers, Jonas Bendiksen, Jim Goldberg, Alex Majoli, Steve McCurry, Paolo Pellegrin, Gilles Peress, Eli Reed, and Larry Towell.
The photographs and the stories are fascinating and they are presented as multimedia projects with perfect integration of video, still images and audio. A great example of the importance of multimedia as a great way to enhance the impact of still photography in photojournalism. You can see the stories here, and read the narratives here.
An exhibition of the images started at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. this month, and will travel to Mexico City, Paris, London, Berlin, and Rome throughout 2008 and 2009. A large-format book will be published on World AIDS Day 2008, December 1st.
For 25 years, AIDS has ravaged the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Since the early 1980s, nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS. But over the past few years, a quiet global revolution has enabled millions of people infected by HIV to live healthy lives.
In the early 1990s, when antiretroviral drugs became available, AIDS was transformed from a certain death sentence to a manageable, chronic disease–but only for some. The expense of the drugs and their distribution prevented 95 percent of those living with HIV from getting access to them. International outrage that millions were dying because of economic disparity helped reduce drug prices, and also helped to create the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2002. Through the Global Fund and the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, the world began to invest in a massive roll out of antiretroviral treatment in more than 100 developing countries. Doctors and health care workers around the world have adapted complicated procedures to settings where people often could not access even the most basic care. Already, millions of lives that otherwise might have been lost are being saved. Equally important, providing treatment is becoming a central part of the efforts to prevent further spread of the disease.
Read More
About The Global Fund
About Magnum Photos
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Humanitarian Causes, Photography 2 Comments »
June 17, 2008
American Surfaces by Stephen Shore, book teaser at photo-eye.
"The heroic articulation of the real", this is how photography historian Gerry Badger defined the photography of Stephen Shore. A great definition for a style of photography for which Stephen Shore became a pioneer and innovator. Few days ago I was happy to receive my copy of the new print of Stephen Shore's book, American Surfaces, published by Phaidon.
This is a formal description of the book by the publisher:
The book is comprised of a chronological sequence of photographs of vernacular America taken in the early 1970s, most of which are previously unpublished. These photographs have been widely exhibited and discussed throughout Europe and the United States. AMERICAN SURFACES is styled as a photo-diary of Shore's travels across America, bridging the gap between the road trip tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank and the fascination with the ordinary exhibited by Bernd and Hilla Becher and Martin Parr.
What the "official" description doesn't convey is that this is a series that compose a unique piece of work, revolutionary in ways that perhaps it is difficult to grasp today given that the work was first exhibited in 1972. At the time, formal fine art photography was very much dictated by "rigid" rules of composition and aesthetics, with prints elegantly framed and exhibited. These images broke many rules of formal composition, appearing to be snapshots rather than "fine art" images, and were exhibited as small glossy prints, of the kind that anyone could get at the photo store after a vacation.
What turns to me more remarkable is that the casual look of the images defines a distinct portrait of America in the seventies, so real and so tangible that the subjects come to live, with an immediacy that formal compositions would have never achieved. One by one, as isolated images they could be easily forgotten, but as a set, this is one of the most remarkable series that there is.
For anyone who likes the work of Stephen Shore, you will find in this publication the work of this photographer with his unmistakable style, in a beautiful book with the high quality one expect from Phaidon.
A final reference to Stephen Shore, a recent and very interesting interview of the photographer by Darius Himes that I found reading Conscientious.
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Books, Photography No Comments »
June 13, 2008
© In Camera 2003-04, Luis Mallo
One of the qualities that makes images attractive to the viewer is the presence of patterns. Sometimes patterns are obvious, other times they can be inferred from the juxtaposition of different objects or subjects that convey the sense of a repetitive sequence. Visual patterns become far more interesting when they are interrupted, a visual sequence that suddenly is stopped by a different component of the image.
Looking at the work of Luis Mallo, it is very obvious that he plays with patterns and the interruption of sequences as the main visual concept in the design of his images. This is work about patterns that become the main subject of the image, well composed and very interesting.
© In Camera 2001-02, Luis Mallo
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photographers, Photography 1 Comment »
June 12, 2008
© JP Jespersen
Quite interesting images by JP Jespersen. Landscapes, night photography and don't miss his family images and his blog.
© JP Jespersen
Miguel Garcia-Guzman
Posted in Photographers, Photography No Comments »
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