11.11.2010
Looking for Designers
I have decided to start a series of posts with individuals and companies who design quality photobooks. I have an email from one designer requesting a post and I thought it would be a nice feature for this blog. If you have a great designer to recommend for this feature, please email me melanie (at) melaniemcwhorter.com.
Photolucida Wow Picks: Christopher Churchill
My third top pick for Photolucida is Christopher Churchill. I found this work fascinating as I look at the work before the statements and I often enjoy guessing what the work is about. I was quite surprised that the 10 images used to represent his work here we under the theme of American Faith.
"American Faith is an exploration into the inherent human need to be connected to something greater. It documents faith as a universal part of the human experience and the various ways this is manifested throughout the United States. I began this project in 2004 at the height of political and cultural tension in a post September 11th America. The topic of religion was fueling intolerance, bigotry, nationalism, and negatively influencing our societies perspective of its self. Personal faith had been tied to religion in a way that inverted the hierarchy of the two. It’s meaning was redefined to describe radical religious actions and righteousness rather then the universal commonality it brings to humanity. In our migrant society there is little opportunity for meaningful interaction with others. It is these elements that caused Americans to see faith in enormous groups rather then the individuals who make up our society. While the reasons for making this work would evolve these initial observations served as the impetuous for me to begin. I had decided to travel through every state in the country, photographing strangers and collecting stories of their experiences in being a part of something greater. Always in a visceral, fluid way, never planning where to go, I would place my own faith in a certain random process. I would abandon efforts of trying and instead allow events to inform each other. I began to collect physical evidence in images and recordings of there being a larger sequence of events in the world. Testing my own faith in this process everyday. One event would influence another and I would slowly work my way into an almost predestine path of mariachi bands and Hutterite colonies. As this project ends and its relentless beckoning fades, I am humbled to be the ambassador of these stories and images."-- Christopher Churchill
11.06.2010
Photolucida Wow Picks: Alexandra Arzt
I know the work of artists like Robin Schwartz, Colleen Plumb, and Amy Stein (Amy even won one of the Photolucida book awards) have worked with the idea of human and animal interaction and the intermingling or intersection of one in the lives of the other and vice versa. I obviously enjoy this genre even picking Nicole Jean Hill's portfolio Home Turf for a brief interview for NPR's The Picture Show. Alexandra Arzt's work is similar in some ways to the aforementioned portfolios, but it expands on the fetish nature of the animals in these humans' lives. Whether living or stuffed, adorned or wild, breathing or inanimate, many of Arzt's animal and human representations seem artificial, awkward or just a bit unusual. Arzt states about this project Human-Animal: for a brief interview on
"These are photographs of real people and the animals, objects, and places that belong to them. I am fascinated by the similarities between life forms and how alike our basic drives and behaviors are. Though the basic physiology of mammals is extremely alike from organs to skeleton (even a barnacle has a mouth, intestine, penis) there is something indefinably different about each species. Even as I find the affinities between life forms intriguing, the boundaries between humans and other animals also interests me. I am not simply referring to the large brains that endow humans with culture, logic, self consciousness, and advanced language or our bipedal movement or opposable thumbs. To me, the indefinable difference is the mystery of animal perception that humans are only able to access through imagination and theory. In her book Adam’s Task, Vicki Hearne describes inter-species interactions as when each individual “knows for sure about the other…that each is a creature with an independent existence, an independent consciousness and thus the ability to think and take action in a way that may or may not be welcome (meaningful or creature-enhancing) to the other.” When we see another living creature, we can never truly know how they perceive us or their environment."
Read more of Arzt's statement and see more of her work on her website.
11.04.2010
Photolucida Wow Picks: Christopher Capozziello
For the judging of Photolucida's Critical Mass, the jurors get to score the entrants with four different scores. The best of which is Wow. It is difficult to define what Wow is exactly even though you are given a definition by the staff of Critical Mass. My decisions were based on strength of the entire project. If every image was strong, in my opinion, it often got a Wow. If the concept of the work was different from anything I have seen before or took a theme or concept that I had seen and expanded upon that idea in a totally different, it often got a Wow. Out of 170 photographers, I selected 10 people who received the top score. It might seems like a ridiculous way to communicate an appreciation of an artist's work, but you have to have a way to show your appreciation for this artist's efforts. I can hardly buy all my favorite chocolates (nor do I really need to do so) much less all my favorite images. So for a show of my appreciation, I will post a few images from each artist with a small statement about why his or her work seduced me by pulling my heart strings, giving me some good eye candy or forcing me to actually use my brain. Today's selection is from Christopher Capozziello.
"Initially, photographing my twin brother was not something I set out to do; but over the years, one picture has lead to another, and a story has emerged. The time I have spent photographing him has forced me to ask questions about suffering and faith, and why anyone is born with disease. Nick has Cerebral Palsy. Born with this neuromuscular disease, he is able to walk and speak and function on a fairly normal level, except for the fact that at any moment his muscles may spasm and cramp. When this occurs, his body becomes contorted, and he is unable to talk. A cramp may last minutes, or hours; sometimes his body is cramped for days. The pictures have been a way for me to deal with the reality of having a twin brother who struggles through life in ways that I do not. CP has kept Nick from many common things in life that most may take for granted: playing sports, holding a job, learning to drive, having a girlfriend. One of the hardest parts of being Nick’s twin is living my life, knowing that most of my experiences will forever be out of his grasp. Suffering raises countless questions. From time to time, someone will ask if I ever feel guilty for ending up the healthy one. I do. I look at him and think that it could have been me, and am constantly reminded and aware of his struggle. I wonder why he has to be the one who struggles on a moment-to-moment basis. It stirs up this process of grieving that never seems to end, like one long lament. Nick recently underwent Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery. For the first time in our family’s lives, we wait with great anticipation and hope that things will change for him. The doctors say that while the surgery may not completely stop his muscles from cramping, it may significantly decrease the effects of the cramps on his body. Already, Nick has seen improvement, lifting everyone’s hopes and expectations."-- Christopher Capozziello
10.24.2010
New Hassla Book: Dying Birds by Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard
Dying Birds by Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard
Dying Birds by Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard
Buy it here
10.15.2010
Newsprint and the Contemporary Photobook: Part 4, Rob Hornstra
I became aware of the Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra with his book 101 Billionaires, a project based in the former Soviet Union depicting the quotidian lives of the average citizen in the new capitalist economy through portraiture and text. Since making this book and the follow-up after the 2008 economic crisis, 101 Billionaires: The Crisis Edition (Down to 49), Hornstra has been working with writer Arnold van Bruggen on the The Sochi Project. The Russian resort town of Sochi will be the location of the Olympic Winter Games in 2014. For this is a donation-funded project, Hornstra and van Bruggen will continue to document this region of Russia as it prepares for the massive changes brought about with the advent of the Olympic Games. As part of this ongoing project, Hornstra and van Bruggen produced a newsprint publication/exhibition On the other side of the mountains to raise awareness and funding. Here Hornstra discusses the newsprint publication. More info The Sochi Project or to donate visit the website.
MM: Why did you, the designer, or publisher choose newsprint for The Sochi Project On the other side of the mountains?
RH: We don't work with a publisher. So we is me, the writer Arnold van Bruggen and the designers Kummer & Herrman.
This is from our sketchbook at thesochiproject.org
The production had a number of preconditions: at each location we would have use of a piece of wall, but it was unclear how much. Furthermore, 'something with the internet and projections' was expected. In addition, we wanted to give visitors something they could take away, which fits the strategy of The Sochi Project. And if possible, we also wanted to carry out guerrilla campaigns in the various festival cities. The budget for all of this was €3,000.
Based on the success of the poster exhibition in Rome and our introductory newspaper, the question arose of whether we couldn't combine all these elements in one product. And so the idea of a multi-functional newspaper-cum-Do-It-Yourself exhibition was born. A couple of quick calculations revealed that a 64-page newspaper would result in an exhibition of 1.20 x 6 metres. This, combined with an adapted, more public website, would be it.
MM: Does this choice relate to the subject matter or concept of this specific book?
RH: The choice relates to the concept and it fits the subject. But there are more media (for example a small book) which fit the subject.
I wrote before how we came to the concept.
RH: We don't work with a publisher. So we is me, the writer Arnold van Bruggen and the designers Kummer & Herrman.
This is from our sketchbook at thesochiproject.org
The production had a number of preconditions: at each location we would have use of a piece of wall, but it was unclear how much. Furthermore, 'something with the internet and projections' was expected. In addition, we wanted to give visitors something they could take away, which fits the strategy of The Sochi Project. And if possible, we also wanted to carry out guerrilla campaigns in the various festival cities. The budget for all of this was €3,000.
Based on the success of the poster exhibition in Rome and our introductory newspaper, the question arose of whether we couldn't combine all these elements in one product. And so the idea of a multi-functional newspaper-cum-Do-It-Yourself exhibition was born. A couple of quick calculations revealed that a 64-page newspaper would result in an exhibition of 1.20 x 6 metres. This, combined with an adapted, more public website, would be it.
RH: The choice relates to the concept and it fits the subject. But there are more media (for example a small book) which fit the subject.
I wrote before how we came to the concept.
MM: What are your thoughts on the non-archival nature of this material and how it relates to this publication?
RH: I wonder what the criteria are for archival or non-archival material. I mean, a newspaper maybe exists for a few years. A c-print maybe for a few decades. A book for a few hundred years maximum. What does it matter? Is a hundred years enough to say that the object is archival material? And if we make digital files from this paper, are these digital files archival material as well (it showed how a newspaper looked like, also after a hundred years).
All of this is not my first concern. We just want to make what we want to make.
MM: Do you think there is a modern movement that prompted this move towards affordable materials aside from economic reasons?
RH: I wonder what the criteria are for archival or non-archival material. I mean, a newspaper maybe exists for a few years. A c-print maybe for a few decades. A book for a few hundred years maximum. What does it matter? Is a hundred years enough to say that the object is archival material? And if we make digital files from this paper, are these digital files archival material as well (it showed how a newspaper looked like, also after a hundred years).
All of this is not my first concern. We just want to make what we want to make.
MM: Do you think there is a modern movement that prompted this move towards affordable materials aside from economic reasons? RH: I wouldn't call it a movement. What you see is that we (photographers, documentary makers) slowly start to move away from all traditional stuff and definitely not only because of economic reasons. We should start thinking from scratch what to do with our work over and over again. I believe an important reason for this is that right now everything is possible. The crisis in the editorial world gives photographers a lot of freedom. You don't have to think about publishers or magazine editors anymore. You can do whatever you want. Personally I never think about editorial stories anymore. Sometimes it happens that a series appears to be successful in magazines. So if everything is possible and if you don't have to think about editors or publishers or who ever, that mean that you have all the freedom in the world. Why not distribute your work via IKEA instead of DAP? You reach much more people if you distribute your work via IKEA. I am not seriously investigating this idea, but what I want to make clear is that we have to delete all our old fashioned ideas and start thinking over again from scratch. I think the self-published newspapers are only the start of many new ways of publishing in the upcoming years.
A newspaper has many of course advantages before traditional books. It is cheap, you can reach many, many people, you can give it away for free, the attitude is magnificent rough and it feels serious and so on and so on. It is a brilliant product.
By the way you also have those great free supermarket advertising newspapers which are printed on a little bit more sophisticated paper. Also very thin, but white and a little glossy. We already informed if we could use this material as well, but it starts from 100,000 copies (at least here in the Netherlands).
A newspaper has many of course advantages before traditional books. It is cheap, you can reach many, many people, you can give it away for free, the attitude is magnificent rough and it feels serious and so on and so on. It is a brilliant product.By the way you also have those great free supermarket advertising newspapers which are printed on a little bit more sophisticated paper. Also very thin, but white and a little glossy. We already informed if we could use this material as well, but it starts from 100,000 copies (at least here in the Netherlands).
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This handmade Collectors Box is a gift to all gold donors for The Sochi Project.For every year they are a gold donator, they will receive a numbered andsigned C-print. This C-print won't be for sale in galleries or anywhere else.For more information, please click on the link image above or visit the donation page.  | |||||
10.13.2010
The First Anniversary Issue of
Finite Foto: Where We Live
"In one short year, this collective has struggled with many issues. Longevity in the time of the internet can be short-lived, but we hope that Finite Foto will continue to produce quality content for years to come. The images in this, our First Anniversary Issue, are a mix of shoot-from-the hip snapshots and well-rounded portfolios about each artist’s notion of their idea of home as place. Many of the artists have supported us throughout the year with interviews, articles and portfolio features and a few are new contributors to our magazine. Welcome to our First Anniversary Issue, we hope you enjoy." — from the introduction of Finite Foto Issue 11
Oh Give Me A Home, Where Photographers Roam: A Commentary on Photography and Home by the Curator of Photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Katherine Ware
This Issue: Where We Live has portfolios by Jonathan Blaustein, David Bram, Micaela Butts, Antone Dolezal, Dan Milnor, David Ondrik, Darby Photos, Kelly Root, Iscah Trujillo, and Wendy Young.
David Bram
David Ondrik
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