The Online Photographer

Lee and Maria Friedlander Meet Joel Coen and Frances McDormand

As regular readers know (and might be tired of hearing), I refer to The New York Times as "The World's Best Photography Magazine"...although, of course, its photographic content tends to be interspersed with a whole lot of other stuff. And I recommend subscribing. If you don't subscribe, you can access up to 10 articles a month for free. Another way of getting everything is to subscribe to the print version of the Sunday paper, if it's available in your area, as that comes with all digital access included.

Anyway, a number of readers (thanks to all) have tipped me about this: "Filmmaker Joel Coen Puts His Spin on the Photos of Lee Friedlander: Working in his California home 3,000 miles away during Covid, the director struck a sympathetic chord with the venerated photographer. A book and two gallery shows resulted." Not to be missed.

Joel Coen at Cannes, 2001. Photo by Rita Molnár.

Lee Friedlander is, in Yr. Hmbl. Ed.'s humble opinion, one of the two greatest photographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and at age 88 he has published more than 50 books. Joel Coen (b. 1954) is one-half of the famous Coen Brothers film-making team (although recently they have been working separately), whose works include Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). And The Man Who Wasn't There from 2001, which is my favorite...because it's in black-and-white (please don't kill me, please).

Lee Friedlander, self-portrait, 1994

The catalyst of their project together was the San Francisco gallerist and book publisher Jeffrey Fraenkel, who started his gallery, now on Geary Street, in 1979. His second show back then was Lee Friedlander. 

A couple of quotes from the article I liked. Lee says of Joel, "he says all kinds of nice things that I don’t recognize. Splitting, splintering. Evidently my pictures are that way, but I didn’t think, ‘I want to take a splintering picture.’ If you’ve done the same thing for 60 years, you don’t think of motive very much. I just walk and see something interesting [...] it's just a great game." Joel says, "I’m extremely sympathetic to Lee’s point of view in how he thinks about his own work. It comes up with any writer, photographer or filmmaker, because you’re always asked to analyze your own process or the obsessions of your own work. I’ve always been very much of the opinion that the obligation of the person who makes the work is to make the work, and the obligation of the people who view the work is to think about it."

Most of Jeffrey's books are terrific—some of them are faves. I need another Friedlander book like I need a hole in the head (only because I have no place to shelve books here, and it's a problem)—but I had to order this one from the gallery. Too cool to pass up. The cost is close to $100, after shipping and tax are added. But hey, once they're gone....

Check out the article. Worth a read, and some good links. Thanks to everyone who suggested it.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

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David Turnley Print Sale Ending

Nelson Mandela's first dinner after being released from
prison. Photo by David Turnley.

Just a reminder that David Turnley's year-end print sale is ending two days from now, on Wednesday.

If you'd like to listen to some of David's well-earned war stories, literal and otherwise, see this lecture in the University of Michigan's Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series. Excellent.

See the pictures here.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2022 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

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Metrics

I just did some delving into the site stats for all of our history since 2007. TOP exceeded 30,000 pageviews 49 times; but the post I've always named as being our all-time record, "Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon," from Wednesday, 17 December 2008, which attracted 54,575 pageviews, is actually only in 7th place all-time. The runner-up post by the actual numbers, which attracted 86,517 pageviews, was "Are UHS-II Cards Worth It?" published on Friday, 16 January 2015. The all-time draw unfortunately concerned a scandal: "The Sad Fall from Grace of Nicholas Nixon" drew 103,723 pageviews on the day of publication, Thursday, 05 April 2018, and a whopping 210,993 views the following day. At least I assume that must have been the attraction; the next day's post was about a tree that fell in my backyard, which I can't see being of interest to 210k people even though the picture was kinda nifty. Often, with a really heavily looked-at post ["popular" didn't seem quite the right word here], especially one for which the traffic is driven by referrals, the biggest traffic happens the day after.

The only way we could have gotten such an overwhelming number of visits on one day is for one or more much larger sites to link to our post, but I wasn't aware of what was happening at the time. Anyway, it's nice to know what the all-time record was, although I could wish that our most-viewed post was about something more...positive. I'm surprised it came so late in the arc of TOP's lifetime.

Yesterday's count was 13,566 pageviews. That's about two-thirds of the average daily traffic TOP got during the "glory years" of roughly 2011–2015, but I'm happy with it. [UPDATE: I forgot that there are also 9,275 people signed up to receive the feed, although it's more difficult to know how many of those read any particular post. I suppose a lot of people look at the title and don't read it? Like any newspaper.]

Another Nixon
And speaking of Nick Nixon, in looking into his current status I came across a recent annual installment of his series "The Brown Sisters"—as you no doubt know, Nick took large-format portraits of his wife and her three sisters annually beginning in 1975. He did one in 1974, but it was in 35mm and he threw it away because he didn't like it as a picture. Well, here's the one from 2020, the first year of the pandemic, taken "socially distanced":

Everybody's had to adapt.

I also ran across the following, which I thought was interesting, in a LensCulture interview, a description of how he became a photographer:

When I was in college, I had a bunch of jobs, and one of them was in a bookstore—a big, fancy art bookstore. In my spare time, I started to look at photography books and art books. I saw that Ann Arbor offered a summer course in photography for people who weren’t in the art school. Because I had seen Cartier-Bresson and I had looked at some of the books, I thought, “Oh, wow. I should do that.”

I signed up, and on the first day, that was it. The first day, I thought, “This is what I’m going to do.” All of a sudden I wasn’t a coach anymore—I was a player. Even if I was going to be a bad player, I’m a player. The future was uncertain, but it was instinctual. I thought, “I don’t care, I want to do this. I love it.” I was just smitten. I went down to the local drugstore, which was also the camera store. They had a Leica M3 in the window, a used one. I loved Cartier-Bresson already, but I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t know this was his camera. I saw that thing and I thought, “Boy, that looks like a way to make pictures.” I went right in and I put $270 out of $300 I had in the world right down on the counter.

Whether he knows it or not, or accepts it or not, he will never outrun his disgrace, and the meaning of his life's work will forever be touched with it. A shame.

Mike

At the Limits of tl;dr: Sam Abell at B&H

I don't usually post on Saturday, but I also usually leave you on Friday with something tasty to occupy some of your free time on the weekend, and I didn't do that yesterday. So, this video, suggested by Josh R.:

(Here's the link to it on YouTube.)

Some of you will no doubt remember the book, which was a bestseller through our links. The book is still in print (and quite inexpensive—it's a nicely made hardcover [UPDATE Monday the 26th: it apparently sold out after I mentioned it. Only used copies available now]). If anything, the talk is even better than the book, because you hear Sam's voice and get some measure of his character. Although of course you see the pictures better on the printed page.

The video is probably pushing the limits of "tl;dr"—"too long, didn't read." You might have noticed that YouTube recently has started pushing "shorts"—little micro-videos that possess the depth and profundity of greeting cards. Perhaps the apotheosis of society's collective attention-deficit disorder*. Not for Sam Abell such truffles. His talk goes firmly in the other direction, clocking in at just under one hour and fifty minutes. 

And yet it's engaging the whole way through, and not difficult to watch. You get into it. He does something in this video that I have long thought would be an invaluable tutorial about shooting—he shows the evolution of a number of shots, starting with what initially attracted him, and then how he works it to end up at the final result. I don't know about you, but that's how I shoot. You see his "visual thinking" visually, with voiceover. Very valuable.

I haven't watched even a large minority of the videos that were suggested here recently, so I'm in no position to declare where this one ranks relatively speaking. But it's excellent.

And really, it's no longer than a movie, or a football game, whether American football** or World football. And we watch that on weekends. So perhaps this is something for a change.

Mike
(Thanks to Josh)

P.S. I got out photographing yesterday! Didn't get anything, but back in the saddle again. ::thumbsup::

*I did hear a good Dad joke on one: "My wife asked if I'd seen the dog bowl. I said I never knew he did."

**I watched "Thursday Night Football" the other night, which now streams free with Amazon Prime. First football game I've seen in several years. Naturally, this is dwarfed by the fact that the U.S. Open starts in only 16 days!! I know, you can't wait. Me neither.

Book o' the Week

Migrant Mother, by Sarah Meister. "Each volume in the One on One series is a sustained meditation on a single work from the collection of MoMA." Forty-two pages with many illustrations. An engaging guided tour of the history and lore of "American photography's Mona Lisa."

This book link is a portal to Amazon. You're very kind use our links, as they help support the site.

B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Featured Comments from:

Ken Bennett: "We were super lucky to get Sam Abell to speak when I hosted our conference of professional university photographers a few years ago. He gave a similar presentation, working through well-known images and showing how he got there. (Yes, he was sponsored by Canon, and many thanks to them.) I had seen Mr. Abell back in the late '80s or so, at a news photography conference at the very beginning of my career, and that presentation had a huge influence on my work.

"At the conference that I hosted, Mr. Abell gave a great presentation, then came to the hospitality room and stayed talking with our members all night. He was super easy to talk to and I'll never forget that."

Bob: "It is a fascinating talk! His advice is obvious and valuable, yet I don't think I've encountered most of it in all the way-too-many how-to videos I've watched. Thanks for sharing...."

Kenneth Tanaka: "Ah, Sam Abell’s semi-autobiographical 'The Life of a Photograph' talk (and 2008 book). His book has been a bit of a touchstone for me for a long time. Abell’s work straddles what’s become familiarly known as the 'Geographic' style (skillfully constructed but often overly sentimental and scenic) and a more conceptual 'fine art' style, pretty much where I usually aim to live! And while I’ve not yet seen this B&H presentation of his talk, I have seen him give mostly the same presentation in a more formal venue (a Nat Geo Live! presentation, I think). His style of presentation hasn’t changed; a bit slow and a bit too artificially dramatic and important for me. But containing plenty of nutrition. That aside, I have tremendous admiration for Sam Abell’s work. Anyone who could make a living for over 30 years shooting Nat Geo assignments has big chops as both a craftsman and as a politician. And his father’s guidance of 'compose and wait' became a primary strategy of my own work since first hearing it from Abell. So thank you for highlighting Abell's B&H talk! It’s on my watch list for Sunday."

Rohitha Gunetilleke: "I spent five days in a Sam Abell workshop. His teachings changed my photography. These days my rangefinder window lingers on a shot until the micro focus elements fall into place, often a frustrating and finally a satisfying experience."

The Nikon Z7II, UFOs, and Icebreakers

Dave Levingston showed up to visit a few days ago. He's a reader from Ohio who has an uncommon ability to pursue dedicated photographic projects. One is environmental nudes; he was on his way back from Maine (to his wife—he's happily married) where he reunited with the model of one of his famous pictures 20 years after the original photo was made.

He tells me, "my models seldom get paid. Most are volunteers. I try to make sure they don’t have any costs involved with shooting with me. I give them gas money and buy lunch, etc. But I’m serious about sharing the credit for the work. The models get all the photos and full rights to use them. I share copyright. I consider them co-creators of the photos we make together. It’s just a manifestation of the old hippie in me."

Dave Levingston

You might remember that in his work life, Dave was a civilian Public Affairs official for the Air Force. An interesting part of his purview was that if you called Wright-Patterson AFB looking for information about UFOs, Dave was a guy you might end up talking to.

Dave has a new project he's gearing up to start. He's going to be documenting his hometown, Perryton, Ohio, where he grew up seven decades ago. As a photo-historical note, "Perryton is only a few miles from another tiny town, West Carlisle, where Clarence H. White, Sr. grew up. His family moved to Newark, the 'big town' about 15 miles away, when he was a teenager."

Perryton town has only 92 residents and he hopes to photograph as many of them as he can. He'd like to photograph all of them, but he has enough experience to expect that, inevitably, some people will balk and refuse to cooperate. So it goes.

Mighty nice Nikon
He'll be doing the new project with a Nikon Z7 Mark II, a 45.7-MP full-frame body. Dave started with Nikon in 1968 with a Nikon F and stayed with them till he got frustrated waiting for mirrorless, when he switched to Micro 4/3. So now he's back with Nikon, although he says he's not giving up his Micro 4/3 gear, which he loves.

He reported only two downsides to his Z7 II, apart from the time he spent waiting for the backordered 24–120mm lens: first, it's too complicated, such that he doesn't quite feel comfortable with it, or trusting of it, quite yet; and second, that with camera and lens he's noticed pronounced diffraction for the first time in his experience. He avoids ƒ/16 and ƒ/22 with the combination. You can see some samples of this at the blog at his website.

Believe it or not—I know they've been out since 2018—but I have never seen or held any Nikon Z-series camera before.

I was pleasantly impressed. Ergonomically it fit my hand like a glove and the materials felt "warm" and hand-friendly (in contrast to the Sony A7 III, which I felt had unpleasant surfaces and was awkward to hold), and the body seemed to be decently light (615 g, 21.7 oz.). The viewfinder gets out of the way, and the controls are well placed as far as I could tell.

But the thing that really impressed me—I do know this is "old hat" to those of you who have been following the lineup more closely—is the marvelous "third ring." Well, it's the third ring on Dave's zoom, but you can assign different functions to the focus-by-wire ring even on the primes. Dave had his camera set up so that the third ring, which on his lens is the one closest to the camera body, controls exposure compensation (EC).

Now, I know not everybody chooses to shoot this way, but for many years my preference has been to use EC to fine-tune exposure. On many mirrorless cameras you can choose to see the effects in the electronic viewfinder (EVF). (On film cameras, you just had to guess, based on experience.) Well, Dave had his Nikon set up to use the third ring for EC. It was, in a word, marvelous.

Setting EC is the thing I like least, by far, on the Fuji X-H1. I liked my original X-T1 because of the nice dedicated EC dial, but the X-H1 turned that plus into a distinct minus. The fiddly, balky, inconvenient EC setting on the X-H1 makes EC an afterthought and, for me, a continuing annoyance.

But Dave's Nikon? Best EC control ever, in my experience of cameras. It would be worth switching for. (Time for Odysseus to tie himself to the mast again, I guess.)

Pictures as icebreakers
After dinner we walked down to the waterfront in Hammondsport, where I idly made a pano as we were standing there:

That's only about a fifth of the length of our long, skinny lake (I live about a long Aaron Rodgers pass from the shore, 14 miles or so north of where this picture was taken). A while later, when it had gotten darker, a couple came walking along and passed us. While the woman went on down the wharf to explore, the man helpfully improved my composition by walking into my earlier picture:

I kind of liked it on the phone screen, so I just asked the man if he'd like to have it. I sent it to his phone. Turns out his name is Joshua and he's from New York City, where he's a political science professor at a small college. His wife, Erin, who soon joined us, is a physician's assistant. She regaled us with horror stories of the pandemic, which was dire in New York in the early days. They met in California. We ended up talking for quite a long time before the encroaching darkness brought an end to the conversation. Interesting, intelligent, likable folks.

So pictures can be icebreakers! I like to engage strangers in conversation, but I've found it works better when I'm with someone. When I'm alone, people seem to be too wary, or maybe "leery" is the word. There's something about being with a friend that reassures people that you're okay, and loosens them up a bit. If I were photographing my old hometown, I'd hire a high school girl to be my assistant. She wouldn't actually have to do much of anything. People are just more relaxed if they can see that someone else finds you trustworthy.

Maybe I just look creepy? That's a possibility too I guess. I've learned on Zoom that when my face is at rest, I look stern. Here I am with Dave's Z7II:

Another example of that honorable old genre we all have examples of, "the photo friend across the dining table." (I am no longer adding to a different but similar genre, "test shots of camera store counterpeople.")

Dave made it back to Ohio, and Emily, without incident.

Mike

Book o' the Week

 All About Saul Leiter. The Amazon writeup for this book says "Photography lovers the world over are now embracing Saul Leiter"—and oh boy, is that ever true of me—"who has enjoyed a remarkable revival since fading into relative obscurity in the 1980s." One of my favorite photographers. Beautiful photopoems. Saul's Early Color (which you can still get for around $300) was one of our all-time bestselling book links. (I bought two, one to thumb and one to not touch!)

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Link to B&H

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Featured Comments from:

John Krumm: "A month or so ago I bought a Z6 just to try it, lightly used and a good deal. Handling wise, I think it's my favorite mirrorless, more like a compact DSLR, with good build quality and a clear viewfinder. Fits me just right. Plus, the IBIS seems a little better than my Fuji IBIS, which is surprising. It's a keeper. And the Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S I bought for it is one of the sharpest lenses I've used. I'm also on the waiting list for the 24–120mm."

Tom Burke: "I'm sure that Nikon is a fine camera—all these mirrorless cameras are—but it's not small, is it? Especially with that lens. I checked some weights earlier today: 700+ grams for the body, and 630+ grams for the lens, making about 1.35 kg. That's approaching three pounds.

"And talking of pounds, they're not cheap either, are they? In the UK the Z7II retails for a shade under £3,000, and that lens adds another £1,000+. Far too much for my budget these days. And of course if you want the ƒ/2.8 zooms, you need to take a deep breath...the standard trio (14–24mm, 24–70mm, and 70–200mm) are each over £2,000—call it £7k for the set. I was thinking of putting my Canon 90D up on eBay recently, but I suspect the announcement of Canon's EOS R10 and EOS R7 APS-C mirrorless cameras a week or so ago will have eviscerated secondhand values for the DSLRs, so I might as well hang on to it.

"But more and more I'm using the iPhone. I took the 90D to Dubai in February and didn't take it out of the hotel room, whereas the iPhone got a lot of photographic use."

Trump Makes Headlines

...But not in a good way. Click past the break at your discretion. (Don't want to make anyone upset.)

Pierre Charbonneau Comes to Visit

You know a bit about me, if you've been reading this blog for a while. From time to time I also get to meet you. I got to meet TOP reader Pierre Charbonneau on the 3rd. You might have seen his name in the Comments. He came by on the first leg of a planned four-week journey taking pictures and visiting friends around the United States. We had lunch at the Chat-a-Whyle restuarant in Bath, which seemed apropos.

Pierre has had a successful career as a commercial location photographer. He started out in magazine and fashion photography, but eventually decided that his clients in that world tended to be fickle and influenced by who's in style at any given moment—he found that corporate clients are more loyal and less influenced by who happens to be "hot." He's almost exactly my age (65), and has been in business in Montreal, Canada, for 42 years. He said a typical assignment for him is doing all the publicity and instructional photographs for new commercial and private jet planes; he recently completed an extensive job doing all the photography for a new Gulfstream.

He's been reading me since very early on—since way back in Camera & Darkroom (originally Darkroom Photography) days. That's been a while. I took Jack's M10, hoping to show him a cool camera he hadn't seen before.

Pierre

No such luck. He had his own M10. He works with two lenses, a 50mm and a 35mm, one on the camera and one in a pouch on his belt. 

This is his answer to the question "what's your favorite M lens."

We met for lunch in Bath after he toured the Corning Museum of Glass. He speaks excellent English with a strong French accent. He's charismatic and knowledgeable and told me he's a photo hobbyist in addition to being a longtime pro. I really enjoyed lunch and I wish you well on the rest of your photographing trek, Pierre! Please stop by on your way back if you can.

Mike

This is Actually a Different Book o' the Week

It's Not About the F-Stop by Jay Maisel. Jay was suggested by Moose and this book was suggested by Albert Smith. I got to meet Jay Maisel once. Everybody should meet him in his books, if they haven't already. Might help; cannot hurt. Jay's is some of the most positive, hopeful, and generous picture-taking advice you'll find.

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Four Photographers You Might Not Know

Here are a few photographers readers sent me links to that I thought you might enjoy—

Alessandra Manzotti

Longtime reader John Hansen-Flaschen sent this link. It's a video with stills serving as a "virtual exhibit" of the work of Alessandra Manzotti, who was invited to join six other photographers on an expedition to Mongolia in 2018, where she documented the burkitshi, the eagle hunters of central Asia.  I admired the phrase "trading easy drama for resonant simplicity" quoted near the end. We should all be able to say as much. I like the work; it skirts around the pictorial and the picturesque with just enough specificity. John writes, "I spent three weeks in Mongolia years ago. The eagle hunters are among the most remarkable humans alive today." If you want to know more about them, there's a good article by Andrea DenHoad at The New Yorker.

Anne de Henning

Regular reader Animesh Ray sent a link to Anne de Henning, who I didn't know. Which makes some sense, as she appears to have been most active in France and the Middle East, and her books are published in French. As often happens, my loss—she's a highly accomplished photojournalist with a long list of credits, not to mention a life full of adventures. Take a scroll down through her brief illustrated bio—quite a life! (It might help to understand that when I was comin' up, the globetrotting photojournalist was the model for aspiring hobbyists and amateurs. They were who everyone wanted to be. Later, the model shifted to the moneymaking pros, and now I don't even know what the model is—social-media influencers? That's a post for another day.)

Raghubir Singh

Although obviously an accomplished photographer in her own right, I learned from Anne de Henning's website that she was married to the late Raghubir Singh, a photographer whose work I greatly admired when he was active. Although he lived largely as an ex-pat, his subject was his native India. Unfortunately he died young of a heart attack at 59 and he and his influence left the scene. I admit I hadn't thought of him in some years, although I have several of his books, including Kerala, River of Color, and The Grand Trunk Road. His website is moribund, but you can see a small sampling of small JPEGs at MetCollects. Raghubir Singh is ripe for a revival one day; he was the real deal. His is a name you should know.

Dina Litovsky

This video by the young New York City based photographer Dina Litovsky points up an important principle in photography—it's that, consciously or unconsciously, we tend to have stock or standard ways we like to picture things. The quintessential study of the Amish "the way we like to see them" is probably the lyrical, pastoral work of George Tice, as in the book Fields of Peace. That's the romanticized vision. But getting too stuck in tropes can mean we blind ourselves to people and things as they really are. As you'll see in the BBC Reel video Where the Amish go on holiday, that's what interested Dina Litovsky about the Amish on the beaches of Florida.

=    +    =    +    =    +    =    +    =  

Hope you enjoy checking out a few of these four. Big thanks to John Hansen-Flaschen, Animesh Ray, and my friend Steve Rosenblum, who sent along the Litovsky video link. (Thanks also to everyone who sends me tips, whether I use them or not. One of my Resolutions for 2022 is to follow up on more of them.)

The Print Sale starts at 2:00 U.S. Eastern Time today.

Mike

Book o' the Week:
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny, by Ann Marks, is the most complete picture of the mysterious governess-photographer yet—and the picture is more surprising than we thought.

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Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Meet the Doukhobors

Photo by Natela Grigalashvili

Found a wonderful portfolio last night—the photographer's name is Natela Grigalashvili and the portfolio is called "The Doukhobors' Land"—it's a portfolio on ongoing work from Georgia (not the U.S. State—the Eastern European country*, just East of the Black Sea).

To see it, go here and click on the text box, then navigate with the arrows. Sometimes people in various places are not able to see sites that I link to, and I apologize if that's the case here. If you can see it, however, I think you'll appreciate it. Beautiful, committed work.

The photographer also has a Facebook page, and a book was recently published in France.

Mike

*By population, the U.S. State is two and a half times larger than the country. In fact, Atlanta is more populous than the country.

CORRECTION: The first version of this post placed Georgia West of the Black Sea. Duh. My old left-right confusion raising its ugly head again...I was looking right at the map when I wrote that. Stupid mistake, very sorry.

Book o' the Week

Photography, The Definitive Visual History by Tom Ang. This is a book that can't exist—it's too much work to put it together, like several others I know of (I'm looking at you, Q.T. Luong). Amazingly, it exists anyway. A brightly-lit shop window for the attractions of photography—a whirlwind tour of people, cameras, and pictures. The author still has time to be an accomplished travel photographer, although I don't know how.

The above is a link to Amazon from TOP. Once you're at Amazon, anything you search and buy will be credited to TOP. The following logo is also a link:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Featured Comments from:

Geoff Wittig: "That's just beautiful work. Thanks, Mike. To my eye it's like Pentti Samallahti decided to start shooting in color. Which is high praise."

Ian McKenzie: "The largest population of Doukhobours live in Canada. During the late 19th century, they emigrated from Russia and area to escape persecution. Leo Tolstoy raised half of the cost of the move to Canada, with the Quakers covering the rest. As in Georgia, the number of active members has shrunk dramatically in the last 50 years, though there are about 20,000 Canadians who have Doukhobour ancestry."

Dave: "Thanks for sharing that link! What terrific photos! From the text, it seems as though photographer Grigalashvili may be the last one to capture the fading 'Doukhobors' Land.' I can't get over the vivid colors of some of the women's vests(?). Even the shots taken in subdued indoor lighting have the vivid colors. The picnic table with the trees growing through it is something I haven't seen before. This photographer has such a great eye and turns out photos with such richness of color. That collection was quite a treat."

schralp: "Natela's work is haunting and beautiful. Thanks for sharing the link. Agree with you about QT; just ordered the latest...."

Paulo Bizarro: "Stunning visual storytelling."

Two Bodies of Work

It's possible my affection for the 41 pictures in Mark Brautigam's "On Wisconsin" is in part due to the fact that I used to live in Wisconsin and am familiar with the State, and have tried to take similar pictures myself. He's caught the distinctive landscapes of rural Wisconsin, some typical activites—the deer hunters, the tubers—and I love the guy with the big old "snow-thrower" in the trunk of his car. I knew some of these types. It's a nicely balanced set, and that style—the half documentary, half art photography on 4x5 color film (I'm only assuming—could be 8x10, could be 6x7) was a typical look fifteen or twenty years ago.

If "On Wisconsin" has got some years behind it now (I first wrote about it on my old Blogger blog, NLA), Brad Walls' "Pools, from Above" is brand new, coming to my attention not even two weeks ago. (If you can't see the Times, here's the set at his website.) It's an interesting strategy, devised as a project that would allow the photographer to work despite COVID-19. He "scouted" the pictures using Google Earth, and shot with a drone, once making as many as 50 attempts before he got what he was looking for.

Neither of these are what I'd call portfolios—they're projects or "bodies of work," single sets in pursuit of a unified idea. Very different from each other, each of them successful in my opinion. Do you like either of these? Do you agree with me that they're successful projects?

Mark is a former Marine educated at MIAD, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and Brad is an aerial photographer who lives in Sydney, Australia.

Mike

Product of Interest this week:

As Porsche does with the 911, Fujifilm just keeps refining its perfect pocket camera and making it better and better. Also available from Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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In Appreciation for David Thorpe

Wise, insightful, modest, honest, sensible, informed, mature...those are some of the adjectives that spring to mind when describing David Thorpe. Micro 4/3 users will no doubt be familiar with some of his many camera and lens videos. If you don't know him already, sample a David Thorpe video or two to see how such things are done when they're done as they ought to be.

A short voice-only message posted a few days ago brings the unwelcome news that he has suffered an illness and is saying goodbye.

Never an arm-waver or shouter, he didn't glorify himself. What came through in the videos and through his gentle, articulate voice and easygoing, respectful manner was, here's a friend we can trust.

We hardly knew ye, as the song said, but God Bless you all the same, David—you're one of the very best.

Mike

UPDATE: There's a nice bio page here. Thanks to Trevor Johnson for suggesting this.

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Steve Rosenblum: "I loved David's voice and the quality of his videos. I generally avoid YouTube camera gear reviews because they are frequently done by inexperienced photographers who have used the gear for a few hours only and really have nothing to offer in my opinion. David brought a very long and deep experience to his reviews which I really appreciated. And maybe I'm just an American who is too much of a sucker for a beautiful British accent, but I find his voice a pleasure to listen to. I am deeply saddened by whatever health crisis he now faces and wish him a compassionate journey."

Paul B: "As a Micro 4/3 user, I have found David’s videos to be an invaluable resource. If you use this format you will be well served to view them. I appreciate his style—calm, honest evaluation, and no hyperbole. As a proponent and champion of our format, and as just a fine person, he will be greatly missed if this is indeed the end. My prayers are for a full recovery! Best wishes, David, and a warm-hearted thanks!"

Quote o' the Day: Hannu Hautala

[I know I said I don't post on Saturdays, but this was too good to resist. Big thanks to Ilkka for submitting the comment. —Ed.]

"Good bird photography consists 30% of equipment, 50% of knowing the subject, and 70% of luck. All 150% is needed; that has been shown in practice many times."

—Hannu Hautala, the most famous Finnish bird photographer

-

[posted by] Mike

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Mike Shwarts: "Funny to find this. I had terrible luck trying to photograph a Mexican Eagle (Crested Caracara) today in East Texas."

What Does Cindy Sherman Look Like?

Cindy Sherman as Cindy Sherman

When a reader left a tip asking the question in the headline, I laughed. The very question seems preposterous. Cindy Sherman, look like someone? Cindy Sherman can't look like anyone. Or rather, she looks like everyone.

Cindy has been around for most of my whole life in photography. I never quite "got" her work—even when I have it explained it to me in a way I grasp intellectually, I still don't quite get it. If I'm honest.

One thing that taught me, though, is that maybe it's not for me. It's a peculiar kind of egocentrism to think all art should be for us. Of course it isn't. Maybe Cindy reaches just the audience she ought to and that she seeks to, and I'm just not in it. That's no crime on her part or mine. The older I get, the less egotistically demanding of others I get, and, also, the more I forgive myself for all the potentially interesting things I don't engage with.

So much art, so little time.

I'll tell you one thing, though, she's the real deal. When I first became aware of her, which must have been in art school—she's only a few years older than I am—my knee-jerk reaction was to suspect that her schtick of being just another attention-grabbing gimmick. Wrong-O, Dektol-breath. No one can sustain such a rich career, varied yet consistent—not to mention remarkably unique—without being sincere and authentically motivated. My initial bratty wet-behind-the-ears insolence was gradually displaced by admiration and respect.

But one question for sure never occurred to me to ask...what does Cindy look like? The question itself must be existential art-world doublespeak! Heh.

Anyway, as you know I take Saturdays off, so on Fridays I try to leave you with something good to occupy your Saturday, in case it might be, for you, a lazy day in which you have some free time. Today it's Art:21's "Cindy Sherman in 'Transformation,'" from Season 5 of that wonderful series.

I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice. Hope you enjoy it too.

Mike

Book o' this Week:
Black in White America 1963–1965 by Leonard Freed, a new reprint of this classic from the Civil Rights era. I got to meet Leonard Freed once. <—This is a portal to Amazon; also available at the Book Depository for global delivery with free shipping.

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James Bullard (partial comment): "I don't 'get' her either but then I belong to the 'witness' tradition of photography and she's a conceptual artist. Her photographs are not about the subjects in the photographs. Her subjects are just a medium, a proprietary visual vocabulary to express her ideas. I don't get her work because I don't share or understand that visual vocabulary."

Rickard Grangården: "Surely that question has been answered ages ago.... :-) "

Mike replies: Great find, thank you! I love it. Never saw that before.

Daniel Speyer: "I don’t look for artist’s interviews or reading usually what they say about their art, but having said this it was interesting to see what my three favorites had to say—they being Hockney, Arbus, and Sherman.

—Sherman is talking about the mechanics (your link was the first time I heard/saw the [real?] Sherman).
—Hockney being interviewed in a (what do they call it: a coffee table book?) book is very intellectual.
—Arbus—well she committed suicide.

"I guess those are three extremes for talking about one's art. In no case, at the level of viewer, do they tell you about their art."

Kenneth Tanaka replies to Daniel: " Right on, Dan! Whenever you have a chance to hear an artist, or photographer, speak directly about their own work, grab it! Even if you don't like the work. Actually, especially when you don't like their work [I second that —MJ]. I have been very fortunate to have had such opportunities many times and it always enriches my understanding of the work. I may still not engage with their stuff but I feel I have a better understanding of why. The case of this Art:21 doc of Cindy Sherman is a good example. This was my first time hearing directly from her about her work. (My earlier encounter with her was largely social.) I still feel the work it kitschy but I understand its genesis much better.

"There are so few artists and photographers still living who affect our aesthetic trajectories or sensibilities. Even fewer can coherently discuss their work. Make time to see or meet with them if possible. If the Internet is the only way to do so, fine! But do it if you have any interest in maturing your appreciation and sensibilities."

Angela Weil: "How Cindy Sherman looks like? I always enjoyed her work as she presented quite a spectrum of the female experience. Now, a few years ago, a person very dear to me did a project as homage to Cindy Sherman—in B&W. I had the pleasure to assist in some of the setups and the costumes."

Mike replies: She did a great job. I really like that.

David Brown: "I only wish I could do something at the level of her work! Not 'her' work, mine, but at that level. Genius."

Stephen Cowdery: "I saw her 2012 retrospective (MoMA, Walker Art Center) and I wasn't expecting much but I was stunned and I am not usually impressed by staged photography. Nearly every image spoke to me, sometimes apparently in a foreign language, but I felt challenged. As David P. Goldman said: 'We may judge what is merely beautiful, but sublime art judges us, or better said, it challenges us to judge ourselves.'"

Dogman: "I've liked her work since 'Untitled Film Stills.' It's not the kind of photography I do but it's engaging and well done. I also like Crewdson's vignettes. Both make little mysteries without resolution."

hugh crawford: "When my friend Jamie Livingston lived in a loft on Fulton street in the early '80s I kept seeing this woman in the elevator who seemed really familiar but I couldn’t quit remember her from anywhere. Turned out that Cindy Sherman was the upstairs neighbor. I thought she sort of looked like Shirley MacLaine."

Ernest Zarate: "For me, what you describe is what I call letting go of expectations. As humans, we seem particularly determined to lay our expectations at the feet of others, and then get mightily offended when they fail to live up to those expectations. Expectations cover so many aspects of life: what we do, what we wear, what we eat, what we drive, religion, politics, sex... and so on. And those expectations, in my book, pave the long, torturous, and soul-sucking road to disappointment.

"A few decades ago, I realized that no one was put on Earth to live up to my expectations. Every person is free to make up their own life, without having to consult me first. I found this revelation to be quite liberating. For me, life is like going to a restaurant with your friends: each person orders what they like from the menu, without regard to what anyone else is ordering. If I order the salmon, and someone else orders a salad, and someone else wants to dive into a bowl of fresh strawberries, it matters not one whit—except to the person ordering it. We all sit down at the table, enjoy our unique meals, and the company we each bring. In truth, the only person Cindy Sherman’s work needs to satisfy is herself. That others (though not everyone) find value in her work is no doubt icing on her cake."

Zyni Moë: "Pretty sure people who do not ever have to obfuscate or hide their identity would find it hard to understand what Cindy Sherman has done. If you are American man (especially white American man), well you never really have to conceal who you are unless you are a criminal or something. We all sneer at you (not you specifically, at all Americans), but you come to us bearing money, nuclear weapons and sometimes even you pretend to high principles, so we accept you as you are. Unless you enjoy playing identity games, you do not need to play them.

"If you are, perhaps, female of Roma (Gipsy) background from Eastern Europe then things are very different. If you say you are romani, people will think you live in a vardo and ride coloured horses and that you are dirty and stupid. Perhaps they will try to help you escape from this imagined squalor, perhaps they will spit on you: certainly they will not accept that you just want to do maths which (despite being smelly and stupid) you are good at. If you tell people on the internet you are female and dare to be more clever than them you will get rape threats (yes, you will: I can show you them). And there is worse I will not say. So, if you will not give up, you hide. You wear masks, you invent characters and play at being them because being what you really are is somehow asking to be ignored or attacked. And that is how you make your way. And Cindy Sherman is interesting to people who must do these things, and what she does is a little more interesting than yet another macho photographer sticking his camera in people's faces."

Mike replies: Thank you for that. It really helps me see Cindy Sherman's work differently. (Your first paragraph reminded me of something my black freshman roommate told me in college: "the difference between you and me is that you think about race whenever you want to. I have to think about race all the time whether I want to or not." I've never forgotten that.)

Crabby Umbo: "I have to respond to Kenneth Tanaka and say I've made some of my biggest mistakes going to hear artists talk about work I admired, only to lose interest because the artist was less than expected. I now make it a policy to never go and listen to artists talk about their work, under that old art director's adage that '...if your work doesn't speak for itself, I don't need to hear you talk about it.' I remember going to a lecture by a photographer (who shall remain nameless), in the '90s, whose work was very out of the ordinary and dark, I thought one of the freshest things I'd seen in years! When I went to the lecture, I realized this person wasn't a weird troubled soul, but his work was all an MFA degree calculation; like he had a marketing crew planning the look to be 'different' (he didn't, but...). I came home and sold my books by him. I've never been to an artist lecture since then...."

Street Photography: Andrew Kochanowski and Don Hudson

Photo by Andrew Kochanowski

Andrew Kochanowski left a late comment to the "New Pentax" post yesterday, which reminded me that it had been a long time and I should catch up a little with his recent work. I turned to Burn My Eye, the collective of which he's a member. There, you can see his Featured Gallery. I particularly like the one with the gun. And that last one, very subtle.

A street photograph is easy to love, if you love it. If a particular example happens to work for your eye/mind and your taste, it can seem like it's somewhere on the spectrum between lucky and miraculous. On the other hand, if a particular street photo doesn't grab you, it can seem haphazard, lame, even puzzling—it can be difficult to see what the photographer saw in it. It would be my guess that most street photographers have to shoot an awful lot to unearth that occasional gem that works for them. And it can be the same way for viewers, too—you have to look through a lot of what seems to you to be dross to find the ones that (again, to you) are golden.

I spent some quality time at Burn My Eye and looked at a lot of the Featured Photos. Check out Don Hudson's picture of the fans all reaching for the fly ball, the Photo of the Month for last January. That's one, for my taste, that has got it all goin' on—love it love it love it. Truly deserves the overused compliment "nice capture" (or as he says, a nice catch). At Instagram he is @Don Hudson. Doesn't hurt (yet again, just for me—you're getting that, right?) that it's historical and also B&W....

Photo by Don Hudson

Andrew has photos in a lot of places around the web. Fortunately, he also has a pretty good "Internet name"—he's pretty searchable. Try "Andrew Kochanowski photographer" and it will lead you to a number of street sites. Here's his website.

Mike
(Thanks to Andy and Don for permission to use their photos)

Book o' this Week:
Accidentally Wes Anderson, the group-sourced book of the Instagram trend, endorsed by the director. <—This is a portal to Amazon; also available at the Book Depository for global delivery with free shipping.

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Gordon Lewis: "Thank you for pointing me to Andrew Kochanowski's work. It was delightful. The number of people who call themselves 'street photographers' is countless these days. Andrew is one of the few who has a distinctive enough style and eye to reward those who take the time to explore his photographs, collectively as well as individually. Anyone who thinks what he has accomplished is trivial or easy has clearly never tried it themselves. It takes not just luck, but extraordinary vision, skill and timing."

[Ed. note: Gordon wrote the book on street photography.]

Kenneth Tanaka: "Bravo Andrew! I have admired his work, and that of the Burn My Eye group, for years. Skilled, patient, insightful, often ironic. Browsing their work induces more DIWITT spasms from me than nearly anything outside of a browse through a book of Haas, Leiter, Herzog, et al. A touchstone to remind us all that the pinnacle of photography is vision and capture reflex.

"DIWITT = Damn, I wish I took that."

Andrew Kochanowski: "Thank you Mike for a nice surprise! In case you want a brief note on my thinking about street photography, and even if you don't, let me add one: There is too much of it that doesn't grab my interest because in my view, the genre is too focused on the single, grabby shot. The easy, cheap snap, and the instant Instagram gratification, are addictive. If you make it dramatic, if you make it complicated, if you play with reality, yes, there are a lot of likes out there. Thousands of photographers (several Instagram street photo aggregators have followings of over 100,000 people) essentially copy each other over a few tropes to get that shot before a big aggregator and get 5,000 likes. It's a very different world from Joel and Gerry and Helen and, you know.

"I prefer the essay form to show street photography. I find that I unconsciously look for a few things and when I think I have enough, a photo essay springs to mind. I've put up a number on my site, www.akochanowski.net. While you're right, I can be found all over, I prefer that the viewer look at my work in the context that I present. Thanks again, and thanks for featuring Don Hudson as well. We're both Michiganders, disproportionately represented in our international group Burn My Eye. —Andy."

Blake: "Street photographers are a funny breed. A lot of chest-pumping and declarations, and arguing over what is or isn't street or which ones are good or bad or this or that.... Maybe this happens in other types of photography too, I'm not sure. But street photography seems especially prone.

"Anyway, for contemporary street most of the action is now on IG. I would recommend browsing there to get the lay of the land. Websites are OK too but more static and less relevant in my opinion. Wherever you browse, caveat emptor. It's a minefield of mixed quality, age, style, and promotion. But if one is patient there is much to see. Andy and Don's photos are among the best."

J.B. Forbes Has Retired

[Ed. Note: The primary purpose of this post is a link to a portfolio by an American newspaper photographer, and the link appears to be inaccessible from other areas of the world. The video however is available on Facebook at this link: https://www.facebook.com/STLPD/videos/234414541362864 (thanks to Dave_lumb and Sean for this). —Mike the Ed.]

-

Photojournalism isn't art. Or rather art photography. It doesn't have the unity of vision of art photography, the subtlety and individuality of purpose or consistency of style. As far as feeling-tone is concerned, sometimes photojournalism clubs you over the head with sentiment. But at its best, there's a vigor to photojournalism that's tough to beat—there's always meaning, and usually, significance. You come away from it with your feathers flustered, feeling like you've been jostled by human contact and touched by the energy of that. You've had an encounter with the world.

It's really nice to be writing this and linking to this when it isn't an obituary, by the way. Too often we only grant a flurry of notice and attentiveness to someone when they die. By which time they are, under most belief systems anyway, unable to appreciate it. Ever notice how death notices are sometimes the first you ever hear of a person? Sad when that happens.

But in this case it's only a retirement—Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame member J.B. Forbes has retired after 45 years as a photojournalist at four newspapers, most recently as Chief Photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Upside-down Ozzie
As you know, TOP takes (that is to say, I take) the day off on Saturday. It's the day of the week we get the least visits. So I sometimes make an effort to leave you with something to chew on that'll hold you for the weekend.

Perhaps never more so than this. Check out this portfolio and video of some of the highlights of J.B. Forbes' career:

"The stories behind the images: The photos of J.B. Forbes"

Although I never knew his name, I'm amazed by how many of these photographs I know. I have a good visual memory (not so good with names, numbers, or the exact wording of quotes—my editor friend Jim Schley has great retention for exact quotes). I do remember pictures, though. Often for a long time. I'm almost sure I haven't seen upside-down Ozzie Smith since around the time it was taken, but I've always remembered it. I know I've seen many of the photos in this portfolio before. The fireman and the little boy who wouldn't let go of him, with its particularly poignant caption; Spinks landing one on Ali; the prisoners playing dominoes; the girl with the tears in her eyes; that distinctive pose of an energetic candidate Barack Obama; the child holding the AK-47; the young boy watching the couple kiss on the statue; Harry Carey and Jack Buck. I'll bet I haven't seen a lot of these since they were taken, but they're still old friends.

And some new ones, too. I especially like the one of the deer in the graveyard. That scene has a graceful gentleness about it, doesn't it? And the one of the two soldiers on the snowy road with "Santa" in red beside them.

Anyway, this weekend, if you have a spare hour, take a leisurely look through this portfolio and watch the video (I watched in installments). I bet you'll find something to appreciate.

I'm sure we all wish J.B. Forbes a long and productive retirement! Maybe photojournalism isn't art—but hey, art isn't photojournalism, either.  :-)

Have a nice weekend! See you on Sunday.

Mike
(Thanks to Ray Hunter)

Product o' the Week:

A fantastically comfortable ergonomic mouse for PC users. Should be considered incompatible with Mac unless you want to use only default settings. Available in regular and small sizes, right and left hand, and wired and wireless. WARNING to Mac users: Do NOT download USBOverdrive! It broke my computer. But really, for you PC users, you won't believe how easy on your hand this mouse is.

The link above is a portal to Amazon, through which most anything you purchase will be credited to TOP. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

And here is a portal to...

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

John Robison: "What a treat. Thanks for that link. My favorite was the night shot of the St.Lewis arch with the snow falling. But really, what a great body of work."

Larry Wilkins: "I think the photo of the coffin of the Franciscan friar, Rev. Valerian Schott, in the grave is just about perfect. Thanks for the link."

DB: "A spectacular portfolio and career. Thanks for posting, Mike."

Hugh Lovell: "A stunning collection of images by J.B. Forbes, many overruning with emotion. Thank you for the link."

Madonna and Helmut (Jeff Markus)

I didn't want anyone to miss this great comment, about print size.

Jeff Markus writes: "When I was assisting and printing for Norman Seeff his standard print was 16x20, from 35mm Panatomic-X negs. Image size came in at about 13x19. This had been his standard procedure for many years by the time I started working for him. He originally came up in the business by designing and shooting record album covers, 12x12 inches, so this sizing gave him anywhere from a slight to a large reduction for repro, thus maximizing quality.

"Another consequence of this sizing is that a person's face in a tight shot becomes life-size, or even a bit larger. The impact of this can be surprisingly powerful. And if the shot is a group of maybe half a dozen band members, each of their faces is large enough to be easily read.

"The common practice at that time was for portfolio prints to be no larger than 11x14, the theory being that you didn't want to piss off art directors by making your book too unwieldy. Norman's was 16x20, with about three dozen prints in it, and was a real handful. I do remember at shoots seeing some AD's struggle with that monster, but its visual strength was undeniable.

"When I was printing for Helmut Newton his usual print was 11x14; negs were Tri-X Pro out of a Hasselblad. This worked well for magazine repro and he said he just liked the size. His older 35mm negs worked well at that scale too. He was still putting out Newton's Illustrated at that time, which was larger than the usual magazine format. 11x14 reproduced with a slight upsize for full-page photos gave Helmut the look that he wanted.

"One magazine job varied from this a bit, and the result was quite unexpected, to me, at least. He shot Madonna for a spread in Vanity Fair, as a tough leather-girl with a knife, and she had final approval for any images of her that would be published. It was rare at the time (late '80s) for celebrities to have this as a contracted right...Helmut would have to send her a set of prints of his choices for her to okay. We couldn't send his set because they had to go to the magazine; we were on deadline and they might be damaged or delayed. Helmut asked me do another set, but as 8x10's.

"To my surprise, the smaller prints transformed the images into something completely different. They became delicate and gem-like, precious, very unlike any other Helmut Newton prints I have ever seen, or made.

"I sent them out to Madonna late in the afternoon and they were returned the next morning, all approved. The tough girl had rated them by preference, with one to four little red hearts on the lower right margins."

As a former pro custom B&H exhibition printer, I can tell you that if Jeff printed for Helmut Newton and Norman Seeff he's a heck of a printer. Both those photographers were noted for their superb prints and high standards. (If you don't know the name Norman Seeff, he shot the cover photo of Joni Mitchell's masterpiece "Hejira," the famous shot of the young Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged with the original Macintosh in his lap, and the well-known photo of a laughing Ray Charles with the piano keys reflected in his sunglasses. And many more. By the way, younger readers can mock, but I truly miss album covers. They were a brightly-lit shop window for the work of so many photographers).

Thanks much for the tales, Jeff.

Mike

Book o' the Week:

ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History by Jennifer Dasal (Penguin, 2020. Adapted from the popular podcast.)

This link is a portal to Amazon, through which most anything you purchase will be credited to TOP. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Helcio J. Tagliolatto: "Among TOP readers there are great stories of life and profession, waiting to be revealed."

David Saxe: "In the early '60s, Bluenote and Prestige jazz record albums were some of my first photographic influences. There is even a great book, The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff which includes some of their best covers."

Leo Kawczinski: "I love these sorts of posts. They remind me of the depth and breadth of TOP's audience and the experience that informs the comments."

Tom Dills: "Not only do I miss album covers, but I also miss the liner notes."

Toot! (Thanks, Robin Wong)

As you might have noticed, I don't toot my own horn on this site much. Lord knows it's enough about me, me, me as it is, just because I'm the "I" who writes it. I figure it doesn't need any extra added ego—it's got enough already. So I tend to not feature comments that praise me, don't tend to push my own work forward (to the point that readers complain), and try not to make inflated claims of my importance or expertise (the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know). I also try not to contend with self-appointed experts—the whole "dueling egos" thing bores me. (I had to referee several such tempest-in-a-teacup battles when I was a magazine editor.) There's room for everyone. The way I look at it, I might know more about photography—certain aspects of photography, anyway—than some of my readers, but the likelihood is very high that you know a lot more than I do about your field(s) of expertise. That thought keeps me from getting a big head, and I keep it front and center.

Robin Wong

Still, it's nice when somebody else says nice things about me. Robin Wong is a video reviewer who is already familiar to many in the photographic world. Born in the City of Kuching, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo in Malaysia, and an alum of the University of Western Australia in Perth, he was a civil engineer by training who started out writing mostly about Micro 4/3 and eventually joined Olympus Malaysia as a product specialist. Later he was a contributor to Ming Thein's popular website (a list of his articles for Ming can be found here). He originally conceived of his own photography as a creative counterbalance to his highly technical career, and he's the originator of the phrase "shutter therapy"—the notion that getting out and going photographing is a nice way to counteract the blues, engage with the world, and experience and communicate the joy of seeing. I know, and know of, many photographers who have felt that way about it. Too seldom do we stop to consider that it's a lovely hobby and a great pastime, whatever our level of engagement with it.

Anyway, I want to thank Robin for the too-kind things he said about me in one of his videos from a few days ago (starting at about 8:45). Of course I feel he overstates the case, but at the same time for some reason I'm disinclined to argue.  :-)  Very nice of him—and thank you kindly, Robin.

Mike
(Thanks to many readers)

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Thanks to all our Patreon contributors!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Anton Wilhelm Stolzing: "Wow, Mike, you are the one who brought us the term bokeh??? You are a genius!"

Mike replies: Brought you? Sort of. Carl Weese explained the concept to me, and John Kennerdell, Oren Grad, and Harold Merklinger wrote the articles. The original term is Japanese. I changed the spelling, and publishing the articles kicked off the popularization of it in the West, is all. Or perhaps, rather than "popularization," we should say the awareness of it, since of course it always existed.

Here's the lowdown.

Random Excellence: Ellie Davies

Ellie Davies, Fires 5, 2018

As you know, the "random" in "random excellence" merely means it's a picture I happened across by chance. I found this, during an image search for something else, at a site called 1stDIBS, self-described as "the world’s leading marketplace for extraordinary design." It's offered as home decor. (Our print offers are too.)

Ellie is a serious and accomplished photographer however, represented by galleries on several continents and possessing a formidable number of awards. For example:

Her Fires series was selected as a Finalist in the Klompching NY Fresh 2019 Summer Show and received a Gold and two Bronze awards in the Moscow International Photography Awards 2019 and Winner in the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards: Professional Landscapes and Seascapes category. Fires was also selected Winner of the 12th Pollux Awards—Professional Fine Art Series category in 2019, Conceptual Professional Nominee in the The Fine Art Photography Awards 2019 and Winner in the Nature, Environment and Perspectives category of the Urbanautica Institute Awards 2019.

"Fires 5" is likely what I'd call a photo-illustration rather than a photograph. To my eye, the angle at which we're looking at the fire seems subtly different from the angle at which we're looking at the forest floor. Of course the literal content of the picture shows very poor firecraft, or perhaps none at all, and that's got to be deliberate! What jumps to mind are issues of contained fires that are useful versus out-of-control forest fires that are destructive; the peaceful beauty of a quiet campfire implies its inherent dangerousness. There's a lot of that tension here.

Her Statement stops short of admitting to Photoshopping in so many words, but that would be a natural part of the toolkit for her stated aims: "...my work explores the fabricated nature of landscape by making a variety of temporary and non-invasive interventions in the forest, which place the viewer in the gap between reality and fantasy ... The forest becomes a studio, forming a backdrop to contextualize the work." And isn't "non-invasive interventions" nice terminology for the kinds of things Steve McCurry got criticized for? We're good with it if it's artwork rather than reportage or documentary photography.

Spots of warm color in cool-color fields, and spots of light in visual fields of darkness, are probably as much hardwired into our eye-brain instincts as our proclivity to see and distinguish human faces: for countless millennia such a sight would have meant safety amid the vast tracts of the cold, cruel, lonely world. So there's a lot to think about in this disarmingly simple scene, but also surprising (if implicit) drama and a lot for the eye to enjoy.

Mike

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Easter in New York

Our friend Peter Turnley and some of his photographs of New York City under lockdown will be featured on CBS Sunday Morning this Easter Sunday. Here's his announcement on Instagram if you'd like to try to catch it. I don't have a TV or I would!

UPDATE: Peter sends this—

"I have been a documentary photographer for the past now almost 40 years. As it happens, I have covered most of the wars of the world of these past four decades. This time, I have found myself in the middle of a war against an invisible enemy, at home.  As I live much of the year in New York, since the beginning of this coronavirus shutdown, I have been going out and photographing and have been keeping a daily diary of my walks and a record of what the many heroes I have encountered tell me. I go out most days—always with mask and gloves and always keeping a safe social distance from everyone, and return to where I stay alone. I think it is essential that the human face of this crisis be documented for now and for all time. Every person has a story—and there are so many heroes, and victims, and too often, some people are both. I feel that it is essential for me that I contribute in giving voice visually to the people of New York during this extraordinary and unique crisis.

"I sincerely hope that anyone viewing this, aside from watching the short piece that ran on the CBS Sunday Morning Show this morning, will take a few minutes to scroll through my A New York Lock-down Visual Diary. This the human face and words of so many heroes and people living through this crisis at this time. This is their story. This is also our story. With love, Peter."

Mike
(Thanks to Ned, Neil, and Peter)

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Ray Wallace: "A few years ago I was fortunate to travel with Peter on one of his impressive Cuba photo workshops, and then later was able to bring him to my university for a well-attended presentation as part of the Louisville Photo Biennial. Besides his stunning body of work captured from all over the world, he is a fine public speaker and can relate well to a variety of audience levels. I have followed his work for years and he has been a great influence on my own photographic journey. Simply stated, Turnley is both a true genius behind the camera and an important humanitarian voice in front of it. We all, photographers and lovers of the artistic endeavor alike, can learn a great deal from Peter Turnley’s work. This is some of his very best! Enjoy. Ray Wallace, Chancellor, Indiana University Southeast."

Gary: "Thank you, Mike, for pointing me to Peter Turnley's photo essay of life in NYC during the pandemic. It's long but rewarding."

Luke: "My god, Peter's diary is intense. He is a treasure."

Photographer Desiree Rios

I was struck by the pictures in this interesting and somewhat offbeat feature in the NYT*: "A Luxury Dish Is Banned, and a Rural County Reels."

Politically you could have any of a range of reactions to the story, but let's not go there. In a nutshell, a traditional delicacy for wealthy people is banned in New York City as being gratuitously cruel to animals, echoing many other such bans worldwide, but the poor people who produce it—some of whom have had a dreadful odyssey to reach safe haven—are going to have their lives upended. The article tells the story from every perspective. I guess it touches me a few ways, as I live in rural Upstate New York, and my investment banker grandfather (d. 1993) happened to love duck liver pâté.

But...to the pictures.

They're the work of a young photojournalist named Desiree Rios (right). From the opening montage (I watched it several times through) to the inline illustrations, it struck me as a excellent job of photo-reportage. The pictures don't cry out for attention and don't insist on some forced signature style—they tell the story. But they're beautifully done all the same, and they work in concert with the written story. Words and pictures are full partners, you might say—something I look for, and like, in photojournalistic work.

As far as technique goes, they made me reflect that digital is finally coming of age, not looking like film but not overburdened by the old digital nasties either. And (importantly for me) not looking too much like photo-illustration, all fakey and manipulated. The opening picture ("Vacant buildings...") is perhaps the exception, the weakest picture in the set, too dark and too saturated and with too much perspective distortion, but let your eyes rest for a while on the picture of the duck food mill ("Last year, Cochecton Mills..."). An atmospheric photograph, informative but visually elegant.

Photojournalism is difficult. You have to put the story above your ability to pick and choose what works best visually.

"Desiree Rios (b. 1991) is a Mexican-American photojournalist and documentary photographer from Fort Worth, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Science in Photojournalism at St. John’s University in New York and a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. Rios is currently based in New York City and Dallas-Fort Worth." That's lifted from the "About" page of the photographer's website.

Nice work. She made a difficult task look easy.

Mike
(Inset photo by Ricardo Mexia)

*A.K.A. "the world's best photography magazine." Regular readers will recall that I recommend subscribing for the rich and varied photographic content. [UPDATE on this: see Ken's Featured Comment below.]

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Kenneth Tanaka: "Re '...it struck me as a excellent job of photo-reportage. The pictures don't cry out for attention and don't insist on some forced signature style—they tell the story. But they're beautifully done all the same, and they work in concert with the written story.' I heartily agree with your opinion of Ms. Rios' work, Mike. More generally, I highly recommend that all hobbyist photographers, from 17 to 70 years old, study featured story work in the NYT. It's about as good as it gets. But, more to the educational point, study how the images hold together. Light. Gesture. Context. Color. Figure spatial relationships. Damon Winter produces much of my favorite humanist work. But the NYT has many of today's best photogs producing a variety of work for them each week. It beats a workshop, at least in my book."

Gary Nylander: "Good to see that young photojournalists like Desiree are being championed and that the NYT is willing to give new talented photographers the recognition that they deserve. As an ex-photojournalist who was laid off due to declining revenues on a small daily paper, it makes my heart glad to see there is some photography work out there for these photographers."

Dave Millier: "Photojournalism is an interesting field. This series tells a great story. But it also shows that journalism always comes from a particular perspective or slant; it can't be objective, and the selection of the images demonstrates that.

"I have every sympathy for the livelihoods of the people involved in the production of this food product. Having their entire product line come under threat with minimal warning must be devastating. On the other hand, it is hardly unique: many, many, businesses close all the time with the commensurate misery to employees.

"Imagine if this photojournalism had been done from a different perspective, to tell the stories of the food animals rather than the workers. How would the photos have differed?

"People are cruel enough to one another but the cruelty dished out to animals in the food industry usually has to be hidden away safely from the cameras. A lot of people might by put off their lunch if they were forced to face up to exactly where it had come from and how their enjoyment came at the expense of, in some cases, some pretty extreme suffering.

"I've been a vegetarian for 25 years—at some personal sacrifice, because I do love my food. But one day when my then-flatmate saw me making meat food with carefully homogenised and disguised meat, he pointed out how hypocritical I was to eat products that have been designed to hide from me their true nature. I reflected on that and came to the conclusion it was true. I liked the taste of meat, hated where it came from and bought products that hid the truth from myself and thus circumvented my conscience for entirely selfish reasons. So I became a vegetarian.

"The food industry uses some pretty horrible practices and does a lot to hide this from consumers. A parallel story from the animals' perspective would make a useful counterpoint to this human interest story and demonstrate how story telling is always from one angle or another...."

Mike replies: I'm not sure journalism is ever supposed to be objective, truly, because what we are looking for from it is not an ethical stance or judgement. What it's supposed to do is present a coherent picture of the facts, which I think this piece does. What interests me about this piece is that the ethical and political issues are so complex and interwoven that a clear and plain values-based interpretation is impossible to arrive at quickly and surely. What's important to me about journalism is that I be made aware of the slant or bias of the journalists, so I can take that into account when digesting the information they're presenting to me—I don't have any problem reaching a personal conclusion that is opposed to that of the journalists.

Kenneth Tanaka adds: "With special regard to Dave Millier’s featured comment, readers may enjoy a recent essay by Jacqueline Lopez, an intern at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Photography."

Mike replies: Jacqueline's essay is good and on point, but the "context" I'd like answered is: who is the white guy really and what was his actual relationship with the black men sitting behind him? Who is the white person on the extreme left who the white man on the right appears to be talking to, and what were they talking about? Dorothea has already forced the issue somewhat with her image title, making all of them stand for something other than just themselves. But even so it's we the viewers who assume any relationship at all between the white man on the right and the black men. The word "plantation" is possibly leading, too (in 1936 people would have been widely familiar with Uncle Tom's Cabin in which the word is also used). One feature of photography, however, is its insistent specificity: those were actual people, and presumably they have actual stories. For instance, consider these imagined scenarios:

—The white man is a local farmer who is at the store hiring day laborers. He bucks the local trend by hiring black workers instead of poor whites who also want the work. They men behind him were hoping to be hired but the ones he hired are already seated in the car.

—The white man is an overseer at a huge local cotton plantation and has 75 black workers under his direction. He is known for being ruthless and a stern disciplinarian. He has a high position in the local KKK. The black men in the picture, who work for him, know they are safe in public but feel cowed generally by the power he has over their lives.

—The white man owns a local plantation but the black men behind him have nothing to do with him—they're local guys who often hang out at the store loitering on the steps. They're just listening to the white people talking only because that's what happens to be going on at that moment.

See what I mean? We really have very little context except that which is supplied by the title in concert with our own prejudices and assumptions. Which could be right or wrong. Dorothea was a truth-teller by nature and conscientious by the standards of the time, but we know there were others among her pictures where she got the title or caption substantively wrong.

I suppose the real details are lost to history, but it's what I'd want to know about that picture.