13 posts tagged “photography”

I have gotten woefully behind in my book write-ups.  (I can't call them reviews because they are so light on content  and my opinions are usually hidden behind a wall of disconnected half-thoughts.)  I've been reading and viewing an unusual number of photography books, and in order to start the new year with a clean reading/writing slate I am declaring this Photography Book Week here at Donkey Central.  And to start out with a bang, today you get a two-fer. Both of today's books come to us from Iowa. I don't know what's up with books from Iowa this year.  There was Dewey, which was more about the town in Iowa than it was the cat.  And now these two:  Driftless : photographs from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier  and The Oxford Project  by Peter Feldstein and Stephen G Bloom.  Both are black and white photoessays of rural Iowa.   They both continue the theme of Till The Cows Come Home, small-town middle-America, which is either vanishing or hangin on, depending on how you look at it.

Driftless : photographs from Iowa is a set of black and whites by Danny Wilcox Frazier.  It bears a short, but compelling, forward by Robert Frank.  The images are landscapes and regular people doing regular stuff: farming, hunting, fishing playing cards, praying, hanging out and horsing around.  There was nothing particularly sad or pitiful in the photos but as a whole they left me feeling a little weary and subdued.  Duke University has a site where you can see a bit more.  Mother Jones has a nice set of images.

Oxford Project is both a book of photography and a document of oral history.  Photographer Peter Feldstein set up a studio in an abandoned storefront and invited everyone in Oxford, Iowa to come have their picture taken.  That was 1984.  Twenty years later his friend, Stephen Bloom, suggested that he re-visit the project.  Feldstein said that he would photograph them if Bloom would interview them.  Twenty years later they went back to Oxford, located many of the his subjects again, and photographed them. 

These are straight-forward black and white full-body portraits.  The faces are not made up, the clothing is not glamorous.  They are the same people from Driftless, this time standing at attention, meeting the photographer's gaze.  These images are a formal (in that they all conform to the template of background, scale, etc.) documents of that slice-of-life middle-America.  A few of the portraits stand out to me as great photographs.  But when you put them next to their 20-year counterpart AND view them as part of this larger organism... the whole thing is rather amazing.

The narratives are also remarkable-- not for being thrilling stories, but because they ring-so true, sound so like the bittersweet stories all around me.

You get all this packaged in a hefty chunk of a book with a cool 3-D pane on the cover (which I tried to capture with my own crappy iPhone camera).  I am going to give OP rare "maximum number of stars."  I read it through as well as leafed it many times.  Thank you library.  Thank you Peter and Stephen.

OP has a very lovely website where you can view more images and I found an interview with Feldstein and Bloom at the Morning News.  You'll find another, rather thorough article at CNN.  I love the way they break things down into bullet-points.  Here's what the banner of the article says: 

Photo project gives voice to 'backbone of America'
Story Highlights

• Peter Feldstein set out in 1984 to photograph everyone in Iowa town
• He then rephotographed them 20 years later and recorded their oral histories
• Feldstein's colleague Stephen Bloom: "My job in Oxford was to talk to the voiceless"
• Resident: "There were things in there that the gossip line didn't know about!"

Gotta love that CNN.

Photographer Dan Nelken has taken his camera off the beaten path to photograph county fairs around New York state.  Over the past 10 years he has frequented county fairs and documented the people he has met and the spirit of the agricultural community in Till The Cows Come Home: Country Fair Portraits. 

My initial interest in Till The Cows Come Home was due to the image on the cover: a man in a John Deere cap, a teenager in a tiara, and a freshly-shorn sheep-- the sheep being the thing that "made" the photo.  I was not disappointed by the animals and I was surprised at how interesting the people were.  Some of them look foreign and unusual and others seem familiar, like somebody you once met... maybe at a county fair.  This element of portraiture carries over to the animal pictures as well in captured gestures and expressions.   

Nelken provides in his short introduction an impassioned synopsis of the "trending down" of the American family farm.  Even before I read the intro I was convinced of Nelken's sincerity.  These are not campy or ironic images, though some may see them as such.  With the exception of a haircut or two, these are not laughable people.  This is not a corny pursuit. 

Or, maybe the unmitigated corniness of the fair makes it the authentic corny, as opposed to that cheap knock-off corny.  In either case, this set of photographs is highly recommended by this country girl.  The artist's website has a number of images from this book and other of Nelken's series.

In farming communities across the United States, the harvest is celebrated annually at county fairs where local farmers showcase their prized produce and livestock.  In some places, this tradition has been established for more than 180 years.  Family farmers are the core participants in these summer events but their numbers are waning.  Agricultural exhibits, once the economic heartbeat of county fairs, are increasingly being sidelined by amusement parks and merchandising interests.

Every summer since 1998, from July to September, I sought out these three-to-ten day county fairs hoping to document through portraits and still-lifes, an agricultural tradition that may be in the sunset years.  Befriending some of the farming families that participated year after year, I was struck by the fact that both young and old compete not for any significant economic gain, but for the camaraderie and the inner satisfaction of knowing that their year-long effort might reward them with the highly-prized "Best in Show" purple ribbon.  I also learned that some had become "part-time" farmers out of necessity, relying on more stable occupations for a reliable income.  Not surprisingly, this par-time status did not diminish their dedication to their farming community, connecting them to the rich agrararian traditions of centuries past. 

Excerpt from Introduction to Till The Cows Come Home by Dan Nelkin.

Land 250 is published by the Fondation Cartier Pour L'Art Contemporain in Paris to accompany a big exhibit earlier this year.  It's a nice hefty volume with a sturdy, grippy cover and medium weight paper.  So, yes, it does feel good to hold. Between my public school French and Ms. Smith's crazy handwriting I managed to turn it into a learning experience.

But the photographs... the PHOTOGRAPHS are the thing.  They are two hundred fifty delicate black and white ones created with Polaroids by Patti Smith.  She started out with a Land 100 in the 70s but later got a Land 250, of which there is a photo in the book. She went back to shooting Polaroid after the death of her husband Fred Sonic Smith.

In her introduction she writes that, "The experience of taking Polaroids connects me with the moment.  They are souvenirs of a joyful solitude."

I felt it.  Time doesn't exist in these pictures. Fred waves back as he pauses before a door. 

Bye, Fred.

Most of these images come from Paris, where used to live in 1969.  French culture was always an influence in Patti: Rimbaud, Genet, Artaud and Baudelaire.  Brancussi,  Houdin, and Maupassant. Man Ray.  Man Ray.

In 69 Patti was sitting on the curb in Montparnasse writing in her notebook about Picasso.  She looked and saw a plaque.  The photograph is of a studio where Picasso worked.

There are the obligatory Robert Mapplethorpe photos: his hands and the tambourine he made for her, seen of the front of "Twelve."  I understand that Patti and he had a bizarre chemistry.  He just gives me the willies.  It's not his work.  I'm good with that.  But the guy starved a monkey to death in his apartment.

Several are shot in Montparnasse cemetery where one is surrounded by poets, philospher, writers, and artists.   They're all dead.  But they're all there.

There is one photo of Susan Sontag's grave on the morning after her funeral.  Patti went back to the graveside to take photos because Annie was too stricken to return.  She said the flowers looked fresh.

There's nothing stiller than a tombstone, but Jackson Pollock's monolith is still-- palpably, creepily still.

Her son, Jackson, has a tattoo of his father on his shoulder. 

For animal lovers I have included a passage and a photograph about a goat she encountered on a beach in Senegal.  The donkey, of asse, is from Namibia.  That's for me.  So is the monkey painting.

You'll recognize that painting of Leonardo's of those guys at that table.

But I bet that you didn't know that Virginia Woolf watched her mother die in a mirror, because she couldn't bear to watch her straight-on.  That pitted mirror is in there.

The Lenny Kaye portrait gave me a lump in my throat.  It wasn't anything special, just a guy in a chair.  But it is so warm.  And strangely spiritual.

In conclusion:  You should go to your library (type in your zipcode & Worldcat finds it) or independent bookstore and pick up a copy of Land 250.  Literally pick it up.  Remember, I said it feels good.  I also recommend the slide show at Lens Culture.  They also have text from the book.  It is a nice site.

 

april is the cruelest month etc. what remains?
brian jones bones, jim morrisons friend jimi hendrix
bandana. sweatband angel...

from Patti's poem "picasso laughing"

Asse, Namibia

Statues is one of three slim volumes (Statues, Charlesville, Cahier) published by the Fondation Cartier pour l'arte contemporain to accompany the release of Land 250 and her exhibition in Paris, 2008.  All the photographs in Statues were taken between 2002 and 2008. 

The QotD a couple of days ago was about my favorite breed of dog.  Today I was looking through a book I had checked out and found another amazing photo of a Tervuren.

Kyle Cassidy began photographing American pop culture in the late 80s. Cassidy became interested in gun owners while he was covering the 2004 presidential election. Armed America: portraits of gun owners in their homes is his photographic exploration of the individual Americans who consider themselves "gun people."

I saw a few people in there that made me shake my head.  Have you ever wondered if there is such a thing as too much freedom?  The funny thing is that for every shiny wing-nut I saw here I also saw a perfectly reasonable person who didn't scare me at all. There were numerous law officers, military personnel, sports hunters, and target shooters. A couple of the people in the book mentioned their experiences in Hurricane Katrina. I noticed a high incidence of kilt-wearers, historically-costumed folk (read SCA), tons of pet owners, and couples who enjoy target practice together. There is the couple in evening dress on the cover photo with the kid in the Spiderman pajamas  The kid's name is Uzi.  My favorite was an elderly couple.  They husband talked about guns and the wife, Jean, just said, "I hate guns.  Don't get me started!'

It is an interesting set of images and it stirs up some contradictory thoughts and complicated feelings.  You should check Armed America out.  (This magic link will take you to WebCat which has a place where you can put in your zip code and it will tell you which libraries in you area have this book.  The public library, the fine blue line between you and Homeland Security.)

Here are a few of the other people I met in Armed America:
Chris says that gun ownership is his "God-given right under the Second Amendment."
Tim:  "Some people collect candle holders.  I collect guns."
James, the gun maker:  "I own guns because I am free.  Freedom is taken, never given."
Sean, the Buddhist:  "The gun isn't violent, but the nature of a person can become violent."
Craig, who holds onto a rifle as a the last thing he has to remember his grandfather by.
James:  "I was too old to fight, too sick to run, and since cancer tool my vocal chords, I couldn't yell for help.  I purchased my first firearm."
HT says he owns guns for the same reason he owns fast cars and motorcycles.
Wayne believes that "an armed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny."
Kevin, who mentions the six million of his "people" killed in the holocaust, concludes, "You can't be pro-civil rights without being pro-gun."
Anthony, who says "I own a gun because I'm a fucking American and a Marine.  It's my God-given right."
Jason, well...  he wasn't allowed to have toy guns as a kid.
Brandon:  "Weapons are the last tangible pieces of military history for people to collect."
Dan, in a cheesy Sopranos pose, says he owns guns "because they're neat."
Kyle: "There are too many idiots who own guns."
I think Kyle may also be the guy who mentions that guns are a "great defense against non-stationary cadavers" (zombies).
Jep  say, "We also believe fervently in the sovereignty of the individual and family unit."
Jessica, who protests: "I'm just one little girl in the world."
Brandon:  "Weapons are a matter of personal sovereignty and the Left needs to be armed too, just like the Right."
William:  "But honestly, I own guns because they look cool.  It probably has something to do with GI Joe."

Since I read China Road I have become increasingly obsessed with China and convinced that

I should be there.  At least for an extended vacation if not for infinity. 

Rob Gifford is a journalist who is curretly working in London, but spent six years as the  Bejing correspondent for NPR.  Before returning to Europe he decided that he would travel across China via Route 312.  Starting in Shanghai and ending at the Kazahkstan border, Route 312, aka the China Road, is approximately 3000 miles long.  Gifford walks, hitches rides, takes buses and cabs on his journey.  Wherever 312 diverges from the main highways he always chooses the less traveled path in order to keep in touch with the folks.

China Road goes a long way toward explaining how individual Chinese people see themselves and Westerners.  From Gifford's take on it I get the impression that all the political/ethnic/religious stess in China is actually of less importance than economic advancement.  I guess if people are not hungry they are less likely to stab you with a pitchfork.  And, while there are many there who are living close to the bone, there are many more who can see and feel their economic status improving.

The widely varied geography of China is another thing that is crazy interesing to me.  It seems to be home to every possible type of ecosystem.  I would have like to see more photographs in the book, but a quick trip to the nonfiction section of my public library hooked me up with just the things I felt I needed.

Show us your favorite photo of yourself.

Scenes from the City is packed with great behind-the-camera intel and memorable images from some great movies set in New York.  It's  must see if you are interested in the films of Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, or Francis Ford Coppola.  It would also be a treat for fans of The French Connection, Midnight Cowboy, The Producers, Death to Smoochy, or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.  It even includes a chapter on Law & Order.  There are also a lot of other movies that I would have liked to see included, but then the book would have weighed twenty pounds instead of ten.

Peter Krastner (as Bernard Chanticleer) in You're a Big Boy Now (1966)
Francis Ford Coppola was allowed to film inside the Central building of the NYPL on 5th Avenue only after Mayor John V. Lindsay intervened on his behalf.



Harvey Keitel (as Auggie Wren) in Smoke (1995)
Part of Auggie's day, every day, is shooting a photo of "his corner."  The smoke shop in the movie is actually a former post office at the corner of Prospect Park West and 16th Street in Windsor Terrance, Brooklyn.

Christian Bale (as Patrick Bateman) in American Psycho (2000)
This shot was not filmed in the Wall Street district but in an alleyway in Chintown.

Robert De Niro (as Travis Bickle) in Taxi Driver (1976)
July 1975 was a hot and violent month for New York.  While filming the scene in which Travis kills a mugger, a murder happened around the corner at a bodega at Columbus Avenue and 86th Street.

I found and fell in love with a great little book yesterday.  New York in Store is an eyeful of Big Apple. The photographs by Philippe Chancel tell the story of the city in storefront displays and reception areas.  I love repeated motifs, so I am in heaven flipping through these pages.
 

The beautiful, poetic preface is written by Harry Matthews.  From his preface: