Burke & Norfolk: Photographs from the War in Afghanistan

From Tate Modern YouTube Channel: On October 2010, Simon Norfolk began a series of new photographs in Afghanistan, which takes its cue from the work of nineteenth-century British photographer John Burke. [Read more...]

From Lens Culture: Simon Norfolk's 2002 book Afghanistan: chronotopia is now recognized as a classic of photography. It established Norfolk's reputation as one of the leading photographers in the world and has been exhibited at more than thirty venues worldwide.

Simon Norfolk: Jaw Aka Faizal Nahman and his daughter Nono 

In 2010 Simon Norfolk returned to Afghanistan. This time he followed in the footsteps of the nineteenth century Irish photographer John Burke, a superb, yet virtually unknown, war photographer. [Read more...] 

[View lens culture slideshow]
[View Burke+Norfolk Website]
[View Simon Norfolk Website]

Blog Changes

Having discovered that hardly any of this blog's readership is local (Russia interestingly accounting for more than ten times the New Zealand audience), I have started another blog called Rodney Arts Notes and transferred all local (non-photographic) arts news from The Developing Tank blog to the new one.

Anne-Celine Jaeger: 'Image Makers, Image Takers'

I've just read this revealing book of interviews with a number of prominent photographers and related professionals, which probes their motivations, practices, values and experiences. Jaeger has the ability to ask relevant and interesting questions, seeking insights into the philosophies and approaches of the interviewees.

The cast list ranges from well-known photographers such as Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Sebastiao Salgado, Mary-Ellen Mark, Alec Soth and David LaChapelle, to others who were new to me, but interesting nonetheless. Genres range from documentary, to portraiture, fashion and beyond.

In addition to photographer interviews are encounters with curators, an agency director (Diane Dafour, Magnum's European Bureau Chief), publishers (including Gerhard Steidl) and Joerg Colberg, who runs the influential Conscientious photography blog.

If there was one book I'd recommend to an aspiring photographer, it would be this one: it's compulsive, easy reading and a valuable resource.
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Thames & Hudson (2nd Edition; Release Date 13 Sept 2010)
NZ RRP: $57.99
Available at Fishpond: $28.97

Harvey Benge: 'Against Forgetting'

From Photoforum Blog: Harvey Benge will be showing work from his autobiographical series Against Forgetting at the Corbans Estate Arts Centre .... The show opens Thursday April 19th at 6pm and runs until May 27th.

Harvey will give an artist talk about his exhibition, at 6pm  on Thursday 26 April.

See also Havey's blog post about the book Against Forgetting.

Corban Estate Arts Centre
426 Great North Rd

Henderson

Ph: 09 838 4455
Email: info@ceac.org.nz

Yanina Boldyreva

From 591 Photography Blog: Twice One Artist's Statement: The project reflects my vision of consciousness of the person who is in a condition of mental bifurcation. We often feel one thing and we declare another. We try to lay our person in frameworks and representations which are created for us by a society. [Read more...]

Photos from the Twice One essay are displayed in the 591 Photography Blog gallery as well as (more attractively presented) on her website.

Yanina was interviewed for the Satellite Voices website: In my head there are always a lot of different ideas related to countless fields of visual art. Some ideas are brought to life in a moment, some may take a while, others become irrelevant. Implementation of ideas depends on the complexity of execution, availability of time and effort. Inspiration comes from anywhere. It is not included into things or actions, but rather in ways of perception and analysis of reality. The ability to see the ideas and sift for the most interesting ones... [Read more...]

See also photos from her essay Equation with Unknown Quantities on the site copypaste culture.

Yanina's website reveals a kaleidoscopic visual wit; when viewing her recent essay Nonsens, I felt I was looking at the work of a proto-Koudelka. In addition to the overtly conceptual Twice One essay, her other essays display exceptional graphic instinct, which, with their contemplative underpinnings, convert everyday personal and environmental realities into often forceful and abstract art.

I have no doubt that time will solidify her work and reputation. (Viewing her website, I almost drowned in the quantity of images, however, which I felt might be edited down a bit, so that people don't stop at the point of being overwhelmed by quantity.)

Photos © Yanina Boldyreva, from the essays Twice One and Nonsens.

Simon Wheatley: Inner City Youth

Simon Wheatley joined Magnum in 2005 and continues to work and live in England, although he is no longer with Magnum.

From Professional Photographer: Simon Wheatley spent more than a decade shooting the harsh realities of inner-city life in London which have given birth to the grime music scene. His new book DON'T CALL ME URBAN! tells the story of the poverty, violence and gang culture from which the music genre has emerged. Here he talks about capturing the lives of his subjects. 

Interview Excerpts: My upbringing was very different from that of the people in the book.... You could say I'm a bad guy, but I went with good intentions, I wanted to tell the story of the inner city, I want my book to provoke debate.... When I decided to end the project I did feel there was really nothing more to photograph, but I was also tired of the moral compromise of being close to situations that I objected to but being powerless to affect them.... I'm learning that in photography what counts is one's connection with a subject. It can take time to connect. [Read interview]

Magnum in Motion features a slide show of Simon's Inner City Youth essay, with excellent narration by him. [View slide show]

[View Don't Call Me Urban! website]

Don't Call Me Urban! is available at Fishpond for $48.99 NZ.

The Colourful Mr Eggleston (BBC)

On Zero1 Magazine I stumbled across a very good BBC Imagine documentary on colour photography pioneer William Eggleston.



[View all video segments...]

I have also added the programme to the Photography Playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Luigi Ghirri: 'It's beautiful here, isn't it...'

I've recently been entranced by Luigi Ghirri's book It's beautiful here, isn't it...

There is a discussion and several examples of Ghirri's work in the blog The Year in Pictures; more of his images can be seen on the Zero1 Magazine site.

From the publisher, Aperture: Luigi Ghirri was an extraordinary photographer, as well as a writer whose career was so rich and varied that it seems like a lesson in the contemporary history of the medium. Although well-known in his native Italy, Ghirri does not yet have the international audience his work merits - perhaps because he died so young. It's Beautiful Here, Isn't It - the first book published on Ghirri in the U.S.- will establish him as the seminal artist he was. Uncannily prescient, Ghirri shared the sensibility of what became known in the U.S. as the New Color and the New Topographics movements before they had even been named. Like his counterparts in Italian cinema, Ghirri believed the local and the universal were inseparable, and that life's polarities - love and hate, present and past - were equally compelling. [Read more...]

The video below is from book's Aperture page.

Eggleston Sued by Collector for Offering New Prints, Devaluing Limited Editions

From PDN Pulse: A major collector of William Eggleston's work filed suit against the photographer yesterday in a U.S. District Court, accusing him of devaluing his vintage dye transfer prints by selling new, large-scale pigment prints of many of his iconic works. The suit by Jonathan Sobel, a collector of 192 of Eggleston's works, was prompted by a March 12, 2012, auction of Eggleston's new pigment prints at Christie's, which brought in more than $5.9 million. [Read more...]

Post Script: An interview with the claimant has been published by PDN: Q&A: Art Collector Jonathan Sobel Explains His Beef with William Eggleston

Adore Noir Portfolio Contest

Adore Noir, which is a Canadian black and white pdf photo magazine, is holding a portfolio contest.

From Adore Noir: Enter for a chance to be one of six photographers featured in the October 2012 issue of Adore Noir magazine. Portfolios will be reviewed by: Chris Kovacs, Editor, Adore Noir Magazine and renowned gallerist Susan Spiritus of the Susan Spiritus Gallery.  The six photographers chosen will receive a twelve page spread along with a Q&A interview in Adore Noir magazine. One of the six finalists will have an image chosen by Susan Spiritus to appear on the cover. The cover image will also appear on the Adore Noir website with a link to the selected photographer's website for two months ($300.00 value)

The contest is open to anyone, any age, anywhere. [Read more...]

Pinhole Camera and Journal-making Weekend Workshop

Darkroom and pinhole camera expert Jenny Tomlin is teaming up with book artist Liz Constable to present a weekend workshop in Titirangi; details are below.

Contact: liz@bookartstudios.co.nz