Double-double-take

Now on for some other photographer's photos that made me make a double take.  Oh, get ready!

Sascha Weidner

Grounded II, 2007.

C-Print, Diasec mount. 90 x 90 cm. Edition of 5

28 Aug - 31 Oct 2009

Galerie Zur Stockeregg
Stockerstr. 33
8022 Zürich
Switzerland

Woah, buddy.  This photograph is intense.  It makes me feel calm and uncomfortable because of the familiar, the eerie and the dissociation all at the same time.  The reverse horizon line, the ambiguity of the models and the relaxed nature of their hands makes me stare.  True art, if you ask me.

Sarah Pickering
Abduction, 2007.

C-Print, 120 x 96 cm, Courtesy the artist and Meessen De Clercq, Brussels

25 Sep - 17 Jan 2010

Manipulating Reality

Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina - CCCS
Piazza Strozzi
50123 Firenze
Italy

Within a show of 23 international artists, Pickering's work draws my attention and makes me want to dissect each element included in the photo.  The show's title, Manipulating Reality, draws me in even more as I wonder how little or how much the photograph has been manipulated.  That fire is extremely well captured in addition to the situation.

YANG YI

"Uprooted #12: Old Town of Kaixian, The Ring Road" (2007)

 C-Print. 100cm x 70cm, Edition of 12; 150cm x 105cm - Edition of 6. © YANG Yi. Courtesy of m97 Gallery.

5 Sep - 31 Oct 2009 

m97 Gallery
97 Moganshan road, 2nd floor.
200060 Shanghai
China

Speaking of having a lot of information to deal with, this photo by Yi takes the cake.  His photographs are based on dreams that he had about his hometown and the residents living under water before it was flooded.  The light/water gleaming through is beautiful and the situation is so calming yet full in it's impending destruction.

Double-take

I love photographs that make me take a double-take.  If I need to scan over a photograph a couple of times to try to soak up all of the information, all the better.  Here are a few photographs that made me do just that.

© Jonah Wright 

Let's call this one 'home improvement project gone bad.'  The expression on her face, the theatre-looking lighting, oh, and the ceiling fan cradled in her arms... I just can't argue with all of that.

© Jonah Wright

 Flying? Riding a hydrofoil bull?  Gimmie-gimmie some of that stop-action!  Talent and beauty in his sport make me happy.

 © Jonah Wright

Between the dark of night, the fire and the folks watching it, this photograph is rich with information.  I love the brightness, the darkness and the long exposure.  It does my eyes good to soak it all in!

A Different Kind of Love

By a different kind of love, I mean not in the 'food is love' sense from the last post that contained my images.  There is a certain relationship that photographers have with those they are photographing and a different relationship that those being pictured have with each other (when there is more than one person in the photograph).  I kept those relationships in mind as I chose the following exhibition photographs.  Feel free to enjoy this dynamical relationship with me...

Sally Mann

Candy Cigarette

1989, gelatin silver print, 66 x 76 cm; courtesy Gagosian Gallery

The Family and The Land

The Hague Museum of Photography

26 September 2009 - 10 January 2010

Stadhouderslaan 43

2517 HV Den Haag
Netherlands

Yes, you caught me.  I'm so much of a Sally Mann junkie that I'm using her exhibitions two weeks in a row.  But keep in mind that these are two different Mann exhibitions in two different parts of the world... not to mention my different intentions.  Who knows, maybe I'll find yet another Sally Mann exhibition in a few weeks.  Quick story: a coworker at my new job asked me a get-to-know-you question, wondering if I could hang out with anyone at all, who would it be.  He looked at me all sorts of oddly when I replied 'Sally Mann' and explained who she is.  I know, I know.  And of course I had a little battle in my head as to whether I should have said Sally Mann or John Dugdale.  In actuality, it's a big toss up because I *heart* John Dugdale and his work.  If you don't know of him, I dare you to check out his website, his work and read his biography.  He is worth the time, I promise! Woah, anyway, Sally Mann became very well known largely because of photographs of her children.  Her kids are beautiful and always seem to have extremely visually striking expressions.  This photograph, Candy Cigarette, is well known in her portfolio and is quite wonderful.  The relationship between Sally as the photographer, her daughter facing the camera and her other daughter facing away from the camera is so rich in content!

Lydia Panas

Private Spaces

Yours Gallery

ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 33
00-071 Warszawa

Uhhh... awkward?  I love the tension in this photograph as well as the softness in the color.  Panas photographed mostly family and friends in this series about the complex process of growing up and maturing.  Mmmm, nothing like being able to cut the air with a knife.  The relationship of these four individuals is interesting through their body language and facial expressions in addition to their relation with the photographer.  It almost looks like they have that expression of "if you dare point that camera at me one more time..."  I love (spectating) awkward tension.  Brilliant!

Fazal Sheikh

Fehan Noor Ahmed and her daughter Rhesh, Somali refugee camp, Mandera, Kenya 

5 Sep - 29 Nov 2009 

Huis Marseille
Museum for Photography
Keizersgracht 401
1016 EK Amsterdam
Netherlands

Sheikh has a body of work that includes many portraits of refugees from African and Asian countries.  This mother and child photographed also provide tension within themselves as well as with the photographer.  In addition to some perceived somberness, I also feel a bit of hope within the generations and new life.  And of course I can't ignore how delicious those shades of gray are. 

Real Love

A couple months ago, I found myself out with some friends.  We may have been imbibing.  Enter: two sisters who lived with one another.  A foodie conversation gone wrong led to one sister's emotions welling.  It was quite the reminder to all of us that while one sister just thought of food only as the taste of food, food really means love.  From those that take the time and energy to prepare the nourishment for us to being able to meet with friends to enjoy a meal, food clearly means love.  I just got back from a friend's house a bit ago.  The girl knows that she prepares a mean, tasty meal.  Beyond the food itself, I clearly understand that she invites me over for meals because she loves me.  Maybe it's true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  If not just through my stomach, another way to my heart is through photography.  I find myself click-click-clicking away, even as the camera rests on the table during lunch with friends.  Here's a little bit of that food-time love to share with y'all...

 © Jonah Wright

 

 

© Jonah Wright

 © Jonah Wright

It's All About Exposure, Baby!

First off, forgive me.  I realized after my last post that I'm getting a little bit carried away with the exclamation points.  Yes, I am that excited about long exposures and fun, delicious alternative photography.  Absolutely delicious.  Speaking of, this week's first exhibitor is one of my three favorite-favorite-favorite photographers.

SALLY MANN

The Quality of the Affection, 2006

Gelatin silver print
15 x 13 1/2 inches (38.1 x 34.3 cm)
Ed. of 5

Gagosian Gallery

Proud Flesh 

September 15 - October 31, 2009

980 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10075

Oh Sally, Sally, Sally.  She is an absolute inspiration to me.  The woman has MAD SKILLS through her photographic processes.  This current series is of her husband Larry.  Gagosian Gallery describes it as "a series of candid nude studies of a mature male body that neither objectifies nor celebrates the focus of its gaze. Rather it suggests a profoundly trusting relationship between woman and man, artist and model that has produced a full range of impressions – erotic, brutally frank, disarmingly tender, and more."  Talk about a great way to say "I love you" as an artist.  Sally Mann is a master of the wet-plate collodion (glass plate) negative process.  The work exhibited in Proud Flesh was made by way of wet-plate collodion negatives that were contact printed.  I love the imperfection and beauty in the process... and just look at how delicate that lighting is across the arch of Larry's back (and look at me referring to 'Larry' as if he's a buddy of mine).  Mann has such an evolved perspective of life and the earth around her.  Check out What Remains for more Sally Mann goodness.  I would love to just hop on a plane and check out this current series at Gagosian.  Wouldn't that be great!

I finally got some glitches worked out and here's the rest of this week's post:

Franz Hanfstaengl

Portrait of Eugenie von Klenze, 1854

Salted paper print from wet-plate collodion on glass negative, Mounted on paper 

Münchner Stadtmuseum - Sammlung Fotografie
St.-Jakobs-Platz 1
80331 München
Germany

Phone: 089 . 23322370
Fax: 089 . 23325033

I had a post in here of some really sweet work where the artist turned her New York loft into a pinhole camera and had beautiful large negative prints.  It was only after I wrote about and posted it that I realized that the exhibition was already over.  Oops.  To make sure you'll be able to go see work (still) being exhibited (if you find yourself jet-setting in the next couple weeks or so), I chose another piece of work that relates to Sally Mann's photograph we first looked at in this post.  Hanfstaengl was also a master of wet-plate collodion negatives, just... 150 years(ish) before Mann.  This photograph by Hanfstaengl is being shown in an exhibition called 150 Years of Nude Photography (roughly translated).  After studying the wet-plate process and understanding how difficult it can be to do it correctly (a couple of fellow photographers and I are planning on finally trying it one of these days), I have so much respect for the art/process of it.  And that salt print is so rich with information and tonal range!  I love the drapes and drapes and drapes all over the scene that frame in the innocence of the sleeping girl.  Good work, Hanfstaengl!

Abelardo Morell

Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum and Village

Lacock, nr Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 2LG
Telephone: 01249 730459

It is officially time to photo-geek out!  I am tickled that Morell decided to help us all out by turning a room of the Fox Talbot Museum into a camera obscura.  How wonderful that is!  When I was out boating a couple weeks ago, somehow we started talking about pinhole cameras and I was trying to explain the concept of the camera obscura.  I could tell it wasn't making nearly enough sense so as we were sitting inside the camper, I got up and explained that if we blacked out all of the windows and made one little hole on one side of the camper to the outside, we could turn it into a camera obscura and big ol' pinhole camera.  Oh, wouldn't that be great to have a camper as a huge, portable pinhole camera?  If anyone has an extra camper hanging around that they'd like to donate for art's sake, I have a truck with a hitch waiting to haul it away for you!  Anyway, just like if we were to have turned the camper at the lake into a camera obscura and had the image of the lake projecting itself upside down on the opposing wall, Morell did the same thing by projecting Lacock Abbey into the museum.  Oh baby, that's good art!  Has anyone come across that extra camper yet?

Back to Our Roots!

This week I've decided to go 'back to our roots' in photography.   I found some really excellent 'alternative' process work from other photographers that will be posted above; it made me a wee bit nostalgic.  Of course, I haven't had the time I would like to dedicate to any alternative photography in very recent past but I have been playing with night photography.  As I sit outside with my tripod and click away to wait for a 20 to 30 second exposure, I can't help but think of those fun, calming, long exposures from pinhole cameras.  Oh, I love my pinhole cameras!  I sometimes have to lock up my favorite pinhole camera because I get a little too excited and obsessive with my pinhole shots.  *Sigh*  Feel free to ask if you'd like more resources in that realm.  Anyway, a few (digital) long exposures I've been playing with recently...

 

© Jonah Wright

I'm not sure if I should thank my dog or the moon for helping me get started in my recent obsession with night photography.  As my dog and I were on one of our nightly walks of the 'hood, I probably walked into a couple of things because I couldn't stop watching the moon that looked so great as those clouds were passing by.  I ran back outside with my camera and went to town.

  

 

© Jonah Wright

I ended up at the business of a buddy's at nighttime.  Of course I misplaced my tripod so I was walking around his seemingly desolate neighborhood with my camera and a very bulky wooden outdoor chair to set the camera on.  Do what ya gotta, right?  Mmm, look at the color in that sky.

© Jonah Wright

There is something that looks so different in these long exposure night shots.  I can't put my finger on what they remind me so much of.  Regardless, this photo was taken out around the campfire after I was out boating a week or two ago with some friends.  Thank heavens for those long exposures so I had plenty of time to make s'mores.  These folks mean business when they start making s'mores, trust me.  I love the ambiguity in their faces created by the blur of that long exposure. 

Three Matchy-Matchy Works Currently Being Exhibited

The reason that these are 'matchy-matchy works' is because they all match the fun of the outdoors that my three photos provided.  Plus, seeing as though we just celebrated Labor Day, I'm in a bit of mourning about the summer coming to an end.  Let us pay homage to the beautiful sunshine and warmth we were able to enjoy (well I don't know about y'all but I sure enjoyed it)!

Benno Graziani
Gianni Agnelli and Heidi von Salvisberg, 1967

Memories of Summer

Hamiltons Gallery
13 Carlos Place

London

W1K 2EU, U.K.

25 Jun - 11 Sep 2009

     Talk about starting out with some beautiful black and white photography.  The gaze into the camera is... delicious.  It is confrontational and sexy, not to mention that it embodies summertime.  The outdoor, direct sunlight works well for this work.  You may say they're squinting in the sunlight, I say they are confrontational and sexy.  Potato, Potatoe. Graziani spent a lot of time in the French-Italian Riviera with some of the rich and famous during the '50s, '60s and '70s with kats like Jackie-O and folks like these.  Somewhere between photojournalism and high-art document, he might have had it made...

Knut Wolfgang Maron
Early "Bilder über Landschaften" 1979 - 1984

 

Galerie zone E
Kahrstr. 54
45128 Essen
Germany

Date: 02 Apr - 19 Sep 2009  

     Sure, I understand that Maron was more concerned with the landscape and all but what a great study of vintage folk out relaxing in the summer sun.   This time we've moved to the river rather than the lake.  Thankfully we still have a body of water to enjoy the summer with.  Zone E states that these works by Maron are examples "by the German pioneer of contemporary color photography."  Take note: Maron would be an interesting person to do some more research on color photography pioneerism.  Yes, I enjoy making up word add-on things like packing on the 'ism' to 'pioneer.'  It's complicated, alright?  Anyway, summertime outdoor lighting: great for photography and that woman's tan.

Robin Cracknell 

Blue Lake Revisited

C-type print from mixed media, 20 x 16 inches

Starting with a Photograph

An exhibition of Saatchi Online Artists at Michael Hoppen Contemporary 

3 Jubilee Place
SW3 3TD London
Great Britain
10th September – 12th October 2009 

      Cracknell's image is a great way to end my little visual ode to summertime, if you ask me.  Not only is Blue Lake Revisited a beautiful, gritty image, it also evokes a somber loneliness as we look back and remember the past.  Cracknell’s photographs are described as  "deteriorating documents of childhood disappointments and adult regret."  Way to leave it on a happy note, right?  Just think, at least Cracknell utilized that bright summertime sunshine in the initial image taken.  Goodbye summertime and that warm lighting you have provided us.  You will be missed!

Three of my Photos

I went boating over the holiday weekend and thought that I'd share a few photos that I took up at the lake (Windsor Shores).  

 

     There is more than just dirt in this picture, I promise.  The lighting was pretty direct sunlight but my little friend blended in with his surroundings quite well.  How cute he was.  I thought about bringing him back to the trailer but realized how sooooo twenty years ago that would have been.  Plus, he would have probably ended up as a doggie snack.  No bueno.

I have this thing for taking pictures of reflections.  The rear-view mirror on Bill and Crystal's boat is especially fun  to shoot pictures of.  Natural sunshine lighting, of course in this one.

 

     This may have been one of my very favorite images from Sunday.  The back-lighting from the sky was oh-so-beautiful at sunset.  I love how it silhouetted the old-school, rusted wind gauge.  

Three works currently being exhibited

Gianmaria Gava

Little Austria: Group 2, Plot 14 

Océ print, 60 x 80, 135 x 180 cm.  Edition: 10 + I, 3 + I

Anzenberger Gallery

 6 May - 31 Dec 2009

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10-18

Zeinlhofergasse 7

1050 Wien

Austria

Phone: 01 . 5878251

Fax: 01 . 5879007

I love this photo and it's quirky, bright nature.  It reminds me of American Gothic, mostly by the very posed, straightforward boxy nature of the pictured couple.  Despite it reminding me of American Gothic, ironically the couple is in a little town that was once the base for the Austro-Hungarian army ("Little Austria").  It is an interesting look at urbanization and global pop-culture/culture.

Ralph Borland

Suited for Subversion Prototype. 2002

 

Nylon-reinforced PVC, padding, speaker, and pulse reader, 47 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 23 5/8" (120 x 80 x 60 cm). 

Photograph by Pieter Hugo

The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

November 26, 2008-October 12, 2009

The Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries, third floor

Fund for the Twenty-First Century.

11 West 53 Street New York, NY

(212) 708-9400

I'm in love with this photo.  Sure, I realize that it's more about the design and function of the prototype the guy is wearing but the entire setup is pretty spectacular.  I'm a sucker for good design.  That fire-engine red is strikingly oh-so-intended.  Way back when I worked as a 'sample kid,' handing out all sorts of product food samples in grocery stores.  I found myself relating (speaking of memory) to a Twinkie the Kid costume I had to wear one weekend while handing out Hostess Twinkies.  I was so popular (right?!).  Ironic, I know, for a 17 year-old gay kid.  And then a couple of times I was dressed as a loaf of Wonder Bread (thankfully my face couldn't be seen in either of the genuine costumes.  I'm the only one with the actual pictures-with the head masks off and my big 'ol grin-and I think it needs to stay that way).  I think I'll be alright if I never see another mini-loaf of Wonder bread.  Anyway.  Anyway.  Anyway.  I have this thing for red-brick wall backdrops (real red-brick walls, of course); I love them. The cheekiness of the design (and titling) of the work makes me a bit weak in the knees.  I wouldn't have ever thought about the need for  protection of large-scale street protests in addition to a built-in speaker to help get your point across.  And admittedly, the model is... aesthetically pleasing.  Look at those legs.  Humor me.  This photo makes me laugh a little on the inside every time I see it.

Fredericks Murray

Salt 37

 47 x 58 in., Pigment print - Edition of 7

Hamiltons Gallery
13 Carlos Place

London

W1K 2EU, U.K.

25 Jun - 11 Sep 2009

What a beautiful photograph.  I love the amazingly strong, bold color yet apparent softness (how's that for sounding contradictory?).  The concept of memory, time and of things past are abundant to me through the ominous coloration and how it that horizon line feeds into the light.  It is so simple yet complicated.  Well, rather than simple, it is made to look effortless and simple.  The photo is so visually striking, not to mention a beautiful large beast of a print (at nearly 4' x 5').  Yes, please!

Three of my photos

I chose this photo because it (also) reminded me of American Gothic.  Alright, so maybe I staged it.  Maybe.  Let's just say that my models, Bruce and Connor, were being very good sports while I was doing an unrelated photo shoot of them working in their yard.  There is something stark yet playful about obviously staged/posed photographs.

I am a sucker for design and simplicity.  So maybe it really just made me smile...

 

 Lastly, I was trying to find a photo of mine that I thought correlated with the concept of memory.  I enjoy the shadow looming over the tree rather than the tree's shadow looming over the person.