The Online Photographer

Random Excellence: Bruce Davidson

Bruce Davidson, Fight, from "Brooklyn Gang," 1959

 

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Random Excellence: Maggie Osterberg

Maggie Osterberg, Dad, November 2009

What can I add? Great face, great light, great tones. And that expression—! When this flashed on my screen, big, I was almost startled. Wonderful.

I found this by following a link in a comment Maggie made the other day. I went first to her website (or one of her websites, anyway) and from there to her flickr favorites.

Have you ever noticed that there's sometimes a narcissistic component to your enjoyment of certain pictures? In that they're ones you wish you'd taken yourself. I believe (or maybe I should use the word "hallucinate" instead of "believe," pace Scott Adams) that I can appreciate all kinds of work—well, most kinds—but I admit I have a special affection (maybe "bias") for work of the kind that I most like to make myself. There's a component of jealousy, almost, in my appreciation of work like that: "I wish I had taken that." 

Here it is large.

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Scott Reeves: "Well-put, Mike, and great photo. I often think that photos I admire fall into two large groups. The first is images where I would have seen the potential for a good photograph but the photographer renders the image better than I could have. For whatever reason (usually simply more talent) the photographer has better execution in the making of the image than me.These are the ones you discuss in your post and the group that the presented image belongs to.

"I believe there is a second group, however. These are the images that I look at and say, 'I never would have seen a potential photograph there.' I think of these as images of recognition—they call on me not to execute better but to see better. They are rarer than the first group but perhaps more exciting."

Random Excellence: John Cyr

John Cyr, Barbara Mensch's Developer Tray

This is a 3:1 mixture of cool and funny.

I'll concede the subject matter won't resonate for everybody, but you've got to admit it's apropos, given my recent project.

Be sure to turn the captions on, using the [+] / [-] toggle at the bottom of the screen. Here's the link to the portfolio. From aCurator.com.

Mike
(Thanks to Stan Banos)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Brian Auer: "I'm not quite as weathered as some of those guys, but my tray is slowly getting there:

Featured Comment by Animesh Ray: "Wow! Her portfolio is striking!"

Featured Comment by Michel Hardy-Vallée: "The reference on the portfolio-about-darkroom-implements-tired-and-covered-in-crud remains Québec's very own Michel Campeau.

"Who was championed by Martin Parr in a 2008 issue of Aperture, I think."

Featured Comment by Dave: "My trays have been in storage for years. You'll have to settle for this:

Random Excellence: Henri Huet

The body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border is raised up to an evacuation helicopter in War Zone C, Vietnam, in 1966.
(AP Photo/Henri Huet)

Like a snapshot from a nightmare, this. The picture comes from a harrowing retrospective set of picture on boston.com's The Big Picture called "Vietnam, 35 years later." The photographer, Henri Huet (right), son of a French father and a Vietnamese mother, had some five years of life left himself when he took it. He was killed in the same helicopter crash that killed Englishman Larry Burrows of LIFE magazine, American Kent Potter of UPI, and Keisaburo Shimamoto, a Japanese freelancer working for Newsweek, in February of 1971. The site of that crash was rediscovered in 1996 and was excavated by a search team from the US Joint Task Force Full Accounting (JTFFA). A ceremony was held at the Newseum in Washington in April, 2008 to finally inter the scant remains of Henri Huet and the other three photographers.

The set at The Big Picture is grim but fascinating, mixing familiar pictures with unknown and alternate views, including several shots surrounding Eddie Adams's well-known photograph of the execution of Nguyen Van Lem by South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan.

Mike
(Thanks to Jeffrey Goggin)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Random Excellence: Evan Baines

The Wedding from Heaven: Let's face it, we've all heard stories of weddings from hell. Photographically speaking, I mean. Either complaints from the photographer about clients, or complaints from clients about photographers. When something goes amiss with a wedding photography gig, somebody, it seems, wants to share a blow-by-blow account of how dreadful it was and how bitterly disappointed or disgusted they are. Those are the tales that get all the attention.

It's a little like the way we hear so much about Tiger Woods and Jesse what's-his-name with the tattoos. Nobody ever talks about the millions of people who are happily married, love their spouses, are faithful as a matter of course, and wouldn't have it any other way. Where's the sensationalism in that? But there are lots and lots of good marriages out there. I'm not married myself, but I have plenty of friends and relatives who are happily coupled. A number of them have been that way for a quarter of a century, a few for twice as long, or more.

You seldom hear about the wedding shoots that don't go awry. Many wedding photographers do excellent work. Wedding photographers do excellent work every weekend all over the land. In most lands, in fact. Those stories must be as boring as the ones about the faithful husbands and the happy marriages.

Anyway, here's what wedding photography is like when all goes well. I'm going to depart from my usual practice and not show a sample; take a look at the whole set on Fred Miranda. The photographer, Evan Baines, says the scans are bad, so we'll overlook the slightly dicey tonality. If I did pick one to show, it would probably be one of the two with the bride's veil flying in the wind. I like the slight edge of weirdness in those. That's just me. This is also just me: black-and-white film is best for weddings in my not-so-humble experience. B&W negatives are natively archival.

I'll gently point out that it helps to be second shooter—takes a lot of the pressure off—and to have a couple who are so good looking and have mobile, expressive faces (the bride's face is expressive, at least. The groom does his part by looking chiseled and not obviously shell-shocked). And to have it take place in such a great location. And outdoors, with natural light. In such nice weather (wind aside). Sometimes it just all comes together—for the couple, yes, but for the photographer, is what I mean.

Kudos to Evan Baines for a job superlatively done. Lucky couple, to get wedding pictures like these.

Mike
(Thanks to Jayson Merryfield)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Yunfat: "Don't tell anyone...I am the main shooter at my wedding jobs, but appear to be the second shooter who 'doesn't speak English' (in order to deflect any requests coming my way and keep my eye on the bride, my sole concern). I hire a very good pro to do the formals, set pieces, stock stuff, and take the pressure off (parents grabbing you for shots gets old very fast when they know you are the 'main guy'); almost none of those shots make the book I give the clients (even though my second shooter is an accomplished wedding pro in his own right). However, the bride's parents and older relatives like the stock stuff, whereas anyone 35 and under will likely prefer my 'blurry' gallery.

"Only the bride and groom and a few select people actually know I am the talent. It just works."

Mike replies: Yunfat, That is...absolutely brilliant. Never once occurred to me, and I never heard of it before. But...brilliant.

Featured Comment by Anonymous: "I am indeed impressed and jealous of Baines’ work.

"And here is the diametric complement to the second-to-last paragraph: Your difficulties are raised to the tenth power when the groom is pudgy and the bride is wrinkled. And when the dressing room is a dingy church basement that hosts potlucks. And when ceremony takes place outside under midday sun with no shade. And when the reception takes place in a VFW with fluorescent lights and eight foot dropped ceilings.

"Evan Baines is talented and lucky to have such a wedding to add to his portfolio. If any aspiring wedding photographers haven’t figured it out: first and foremost, you need to be a second shooter for an established wedding photographer. The experience is important but the resulting portfolio even more so. With a portfolio like this, you can charge a lot more $$$ for weddings and this is key. Why? Because it’s only rich people who can afford to have extravagant weddings in beautiful places, and only the well-heeled will take a plunge with an expensive photographer who has a stunning portfolio. Last of all, to make a huge (and cynical) generalization, rich people tend to be more photogenic as well.

"Yes, there are exceptions but if you’re an inexpensive photographer, you’re more likely to be catering to the pudgy grooms, wrinkled bridges, dingy church basements, etc. And with a portfolio like that, it will be much harder to climb the ladder."

Featured Comment by Evan Baines: "Mike, Thanks for the review and the kind words! If I'd have known this set would get this level of attention, I would've made sure to get better scans...these are the unedited cheapy Noritsu 1500px autoscans that my lab offered instead of contacts. You're right on about the dicey tonality. You have a great site and I'm thrilled to be featured on it!"

Mike replies: The pleasure's all mine, Evan. Thanks.

Random Excellence: Midcoast Studio

I was at my favorite local restaurant the other night when the owner, Siam (Sam) Saeng, seated another patron next to me at the sushi bar. Sam is what Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point refers to as a "connector"—a guy who knows far more people than most people do, and is adept at making connections between them. He introduced me to Madison Ford because he know we're both into photography.

Turns out Madison runs a studio in Detroit called Midcoast Studio, shooting mostly, but not exclusively, cars and motorcycles. He's away from his family now, living in a hotel, while he and his crew are doing three months of intensive shooting for Harley-Davidson, which is based in Milwaukee.

It was fun to talk to a big-time advertising guy. He told me he runs all medium-format digital backs, but that he'd just bought his first DSLR, a Nikon D3x purchased a few weeks back. He said he was looking forward to trying it, but hadn't had time yet to take it out of the box.

Another story he talked about was about a client he'd heard of in L.A. who felt they needed to hire a photographer all the way from England for a relatively simple job. Like there are no competent photographers in L.A.—or the United States!

I know all about that kind of thing, having worked in Washington, D.C.—our studio, like virtually every other studio in D.C., regularly lost work to New York guys. In fact, I knew one photographer who had two studios, one in the Carolinas and one in Grand Rapids, Michigan—his bread and butter was furniture—who kept an office at a major office building complex in New York City. The office was an empty room with a phone and an answering machine in it. He kept it for the Manhattan address and the 212 area code.

There's more than one way to be a "New York guy."

And I'll bet there's a photographer in England right now sitting at a sushi bar shaking his head and telling an acquaintance about some barmy client who had to hire a shooter all the way from L.A. "Like nobody in London can take a decent photograph!" It's all the same the world around—the guy from "away" always has a bit of an edge on the locals.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Rick K.: "Way back in 1994 I was taking a photography class at the local community college in Royal Oak, Michigan (OCC). The highlight of the class, for me, was taking a tour of the Midcoast Studio. Seeing the lighting setups with the huge cycloramas, flying flats and the like, was awe-inspiring to me as a student. The friendliness of the photographers was greatly appreciated as they explained the ways and techniques of their craft and answered our sometimes unprofound questions. I hope they read this comment. Just my way of saying thank you to Midcoast Studio."

Random Excellence: Carl Weese

Thinking about the New Topographics made me think of this picture by my friend (and TOP contributor) Carl Weese, which I very much like for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.

The original is an 8x10 platinum contact print. I've never seen it "in person," but I know from experience that of all the photographic techniques I'm aware of, the qualities of platinum prints survive reproduction in ink the least well—and definitely don't make it into pixels.

But I've seen so many real ones that I fancy I can "see" what the original of this must look like. Sort of. I'll bet it's delicate and ethereal and subtle.

It kinda reminds me of a Geoff Dyer quote..."Photographs sometimes work on you strangely and simply: at first glance you see things you subsequently discover are not there." 

Here it looks a bit...gray, but you have to remember, you're not looking at it. You're just looking at a representation of it. A picture of a picture. For instance, look at that near tonal merger along the left side of the second story of the building—I'll bet that edge is exquisite in platinum.

Mike 

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Random Excellence: Petrut Calinescu

Photo by Petrut Calinescu

Petrut is a 34-year-old Romanian photojournalist based in Bucharest.

Consider the above just a sample, although I think it's a great shot—I love that water-on-the-lens blur on the middle figures with the figures on either side still sharp, with the figure on the left in shadow and the one on the right in sunlight; note also how the picture seems to have more visual "weight" on the left side because of a subtle angle and the reinforcing reflections in the water. (Sometimes, pictures just work.)

...But I digress. As I was saying, in his case I think his whole website is of interest and is well worth exploring at leisure on a Saturday. Not overly much of the usual "dire distress and poverty porn" so beloved of picture editors (and hence p-j's) worldwide; he seems to have a nose for interesting places and a nice balance of humanity with honesty. Some lovely stuff. Too bad he can't stay home more—his work that's most interesting to me is of Romania.

Larger versions of a few of the pictures here.

Mike
(Thanks to Dan Matiesanu)

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Featured Comment by John Camp: "Two famous American paintings. The first, by George Bellows, is "Forty-Two Kids" (1907) in the Corcoran; the second by Thomas Eakins (1885) from the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth."

Random Excellence: Michael Paul Smith

It might not be immediately obvious to you why this photograph by Michael Paul Smith qualifies as interesting...

Random Excellence: Umida Akhmedova

It seems to me that every country in the world only has a few really outstanding photographers identified with it. Frankly, the country of Uzbekistan was not in my consciousness before I saw Umida Akhmedova's pictures of it. The pictures—you can see about 50 of them here—are honest and unflinching, as all good photography must be, but they show a country breathtaking in its beauty as well as a proud people for whom the photographer obviously has much affection.

The impact on me of seeing her pictures is that it makes me wish to visit Uzbekistan or, at least, to learn more about the country and its people.

Mike
(Thanks to Michael Seltzer)

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Featured Comment by Ian Loveday: "Yes, they are great pictures for an outsider to see (when or if I'll get to visit Uzbekistan I have no idea, but they certainly attract me). My point is...natives of a country (or region or city I suppose) can react badly to portrayals by (and to a large extent for) outsiders. I bought a book of photographs of China recently (China: A Visual Adventure, published by Carlton Books). Not a self consciously arty or prestigious book to be sure, but I liked some of the off-beat and non-tourist-cliché images it included, like wannabe punk rockers in Beijing. My Chinese wife was horrified. 'It must have been shot by a westerner,' she said. 'No Chinese photographer would publish pictures like that.'"

Mike adds: And don't forget it took a Swiss to do The Americans.

Random Excellence: Tony Stromberg

Tony Stromberg, Fierce Grace

I really did stumble across this very randomly: I was browsing the newsstand at the grocery store on Saturday and picked up the March, 2010 issue of a magazine I'd never seen or heard of before called Cowboys & Indians. (It bills itself as "The Premier Magazine of the West.") Flipping through it, this simple but evocative picture caught my attention (y'all know how much I love horses). It was in a feature by equine photographer Tony Stromberg, whose work can be seen at his website.

I think he mentioned in the magazine that this is a favorite among people who like his work. And no wonder.

Mike

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Random Excellence: 'NewYorkEd' (Edward Rabroziss)

A forumer called "NewYorkEd" has put up a nifty mini-portfolio on the dpreview forums called "Shutterbugs," of people using cameras in New York's Times Square. Clayton Jones, who sent this along, called it "a bunch of excellent NYC street shots of people taking pictures," and says, "some are quite humorous, and it's an interesting and intense look at modern culture and its relationship with photography. Lots of food for thought here."

I agree—and fun to look at, too. The only thing I can add to what Clayton said is that—well, I don't know if you've ever tried this kind of thing, but it's not as easy as NewYorkEd makes it look! He shot these with a now-discontinued Canon digicam.

If NewYorkEd wants to leave a comment with his real name or any other thoughts, I'll add it to this post.

Mike
(Thanks to Clayton Jones)

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Featured Comment from NewYorkEd: "I'd like to thank you Mike and Clayton Jones for the nice article posting and comments. My name Edward Rabroziss. I live here in Manhattan, and Times Square is my favorite place for photographing people. This article posting on The Online Photographer was a nice surprise for me. Thanks again."

Random Excellence: Ayrton

To see this one you'll have to follow the link, and don't even think of it unless you have DSL or better. (You also don't want to try this on your iPhone or netbook.)

A view of beautiful Rio that might be quite heartbreaking to hoar-rimed denizens of the Northern hemisphere right about now! (I don't know about you, but we're in the deep freezer.)

I'm not quite sure if this is a "photograph"—maybe a "web-o-graph"?

Note that you can zoom in or out and look up or down in addition to the slow pan.

Mike
(Thanks to Michael O'Donoghue)

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Featured Comment by AYRTON360: "Hello Mike THANKS a lot for your post. I really appreciate AND made me happy :-) Happy 2010 to you and to all readers. Cheers from Rio de Janeiro."

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]