The Online Photographer

Random Excellence: Jeffrey Ladd

Jeffrey Ladd, Mrkonic Grad, Bosnia 2001

The heck with 5B4.

Well, no, I don't mean that. I don't mean that at all. 5B4 is a valuable and unique site, one I visit often (even though I actually get to see for myself barely one out of every twenty of the books mentioned. It's a drawback).

The thing is, Jeff Ladd is also just one hell of a photographer. He's really terrific, I think. And why isn't this fact known?

Take a look at the little mini-set of twelve color pictures presented at the top of this page. That's just a great tight little set. Loose, elegiac, allegorical, elliptical, evocative, informed. Love 'em.

Just chucked up there like an afterthought. Surplus prints.

Jeff writes eloquently and extensively about premium monographs from major publishers of other photographers' work. So why is there not a premium monograph from a major publisher of Jeff's work? There ought to be. I'm just sayin'.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Guy Batey: "Great stuff. A fuller version of the series here.

Featured Comment by El Inglés: "Many thanks for introducing me to Jeffrey's work. As a result, I have just donated to secure one of his B&W proofs for my wall at home, notable in that it is the first print I have bought from another photographer."

Random Excellence: Gianni Galassi

Electricity, Juan-les-Pins, 2008

Gianni Galassi works in a very consistent style, using black shadows and intense colors in the square. It's a style very far from my own, but I enjoy his inventiveness within the strictures he's chosen. I particularly like the way small and more tonally conventional elements play off the graphic quality that dominates the shots, as in the picture above. (The tonal merger with our background color here isn't ideal, though. Sorry 'bout that.)

I'm enjoying his new blog, too.

Apartment Building, Antibes, 2008

Mike

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Nonrandom Excellence

Juan Buhler, Mendocino, 2009

'Tis a good day to catch up with Juan Buhler, street photographer extraordinaire, on The Water Molotov. The archive now numbers 1,425 photographs. (Just click on each image to get to the next one.)

Mike

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Random Excellence: Stephen Gillette

Stephen Gillette, Tondi (Big Sur #13), pigment on mulberry paper, 11.75 x 8.25"

By rights, these shouldn't work, and I guess I'm not sure all of them do, at least not equally. But some of them sure do. As a friend of mine once said, "it's not the idea, it's how it looks." If you live near Big Sur, you can see them. Here's the scoop, and some more.

(By the bye, I think the prettiest one is #5, but Eolake already posted that one on his blog, so I'm not going to ditto it. Take a look at all of them and pick your own favorite.)

Mike

Random Excellence: Conrad Tan

 Photo: Conrad Tan

Conrad Tan has posted a number of outstanding bird photographs over on FredMiranda.com, all taken with The new Canon 7D with the EF 400mm ƒ/5.6 lens evidently used for most if not all of them. Most of the pictures are described as being "mid to heavy crop."

Mike

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Random Excellence: Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai

If you happen to live in Denver and have a family, you're in luck, because you have a terrific kid portraitist nearby. Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai is a commercial portraitist whose website is divided into "Short People," "Tall People," and "Eyes." A nice list of categories/priorities.

It's quite possible that we have an especial appreciation for photographers who are particularly good at the types of work we ourselves have done, but, professional admiration aside, I think it should be obvious to anyone that Cheryl has a real feel for kids. A visit to her website is a virtual lesson in "How It Oughta Be Done." If that's not enough for you, she teaches workshops, too.

So what if you don't live in Denver? You can pay her to travel, but here's a tip—if three clients hire her from any non-Denver location, she'll travel for free. 

Mike

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Albatross II

...This morning's take is more tragic and disturbing than yesterday's, I'm afraid. A remarkable set of photographs.

We have touched on Chris Jordan before. There's now a book of the work we cited as among the best of 2007.

Mike
(Thanks to Arnaud Réveillon)

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Featured Comment by John:

He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small.

[Ed. Note: From Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Part 7. The poem continues, "For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and loveth all."  —Mike]

Why They Invented Cameras

Photo by D. Shumake

TOP reader Jim Tiemann sent me this picture, with a note:

"Sometimes we need reminding why they invented cameras...

After watching my wife give birth to our new son, they gave him to me. My sister-in-law took my camera, and I got to cry my eyes out in utter amazement and joy. I'm eternally grateful that she pointed the camera towards us...."

Big congratulations to Jim and his family. And a happy weekend to all.

Mike
(Thanks to Jim)

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Encounters of a Small, Wet, Furry Kind

Some pictures of an encounter with a curious fur seal taken on a trip that TOP reader Alek O. Komarnitsky recently took to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.

Alek, who describes himself as a dedicated amateur who "takes way too many pictures and spends way too much time pixel-peeping" (although his wife just says he's "a crazy camera guy"—can anybody relate?), describes the trip as "truly a trip of a  lifetime," adding, "if you ever do this, don't just go to Antarctica, do the triangle with Falklands and South Georgia which are even more impressive."

The baby fur seal actually started nibbling on the lens hood of the remote 40D. You can enjoy the whole set and travel along vicariously at his website, where there's more information, too, starting with a map.

Have a great weekend!

Mike
(Thanks to Alek)

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Random Excellence: Richard Renaldi

Richard Renaldi, Celestino (Portrait of Celestino chopping away, at the
Wailea Agricultural Group in Honomu, Hawaii)

Richard Renaldi's Photostream
Richard Renaldi's website
Richard Renaldi's second book, Fall River Boys, is available exclusively from Charles Lane press, $85 unsigned, $90 signed, in a limited edition of 1200 copies.

Mike
(Thanks to ?)

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Featured [partial] Comment by richardplondon: "Funny thing about people photographed with large format, they often have a look of someone 'participating' in something. Ready steady go, this is your moment, show us your stuff...."

Mike replies: Funny, I was looking at this more from a coloristic standpoint, and at the way the flyaway hat brim plays off the plant fronds in the near bokeh....