Gillian Wearing

In working on my thesis i recently just looked into Gillian Wearing's work, specifically her series entitled "Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say" 1992-93. I was intrigued with this series not only because i find a connection to my work, but the style in which she photographed her subjects and the relationship between these random people, their personal thoughts/lives and public and private identity. I also thought it would be interesting to look through for our portrait project.

Amanda Chapman

I came across these images while searching for images for another class. I thought they were interesting and fit well with our portrait assignment. The photographer's name is Amanda Chapman. Here is her website: http://bludomain22.com/~aman/index2.php

Sally Mann

Sally Mann:

- born in Virginia in 1951

- winner of several awards including:

(3) National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and a Guggenheim fellowship

- her work is included in the permanent collections of:

The Met, The MOMA, The Whitney, and The Corcoran Museum of Art

One of the things I really admire about Sally Mann is the way that she creates these really warm intimate portraits without ever showing you the entire person. In fact, she compartmentalizes the people she photographs, but instead of it having an objectified effect on how we perceive the person being photographed, we seem to feel as though we know that person better since we are so close to their face or their body.

Sometimes in photography, especially large format photography, we forget that it is an artistic process. We get caught up in all the specific and almost scientific practices we use to compose the perfect technique in photography. This definitely is true of our class as a whole since we are still learning. However, Sally Mann is a refreshing reminder that like other art forms, photography is a process. She is unafraid to try new things, mix new materials, and use those "mistakes" as a polished masterpiece.

Overall, I thought that her perspective on portraiture and the way in which she makes images was some great food for thought as we all start planning out our future studio portrait project.

Large-Format Landscapes

Just some color 4x5 landscapes that are breathtaking. Even though everything in New Jersey is indefinitely shrouded by snow and covered in ice, these are inspiring as to what we can accomplish as we contemplate our own experiments with the field camera!

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/qtluong/

Gillian Drew website

Gillian is a friend of mine from home who just graduated from Syracuse with a degree in photojournalism. I've always admired her for her inventiveness and her portraits...she's interested in ethnographies, and is really great at capturing particular parts of her subjects. I love the series "American Girls", her photos from Nepal, and even her couture magazine shoots...she has great control and a good eye for different situations while still bringing her distinct quality to each image she makes. Check out her website and let me know what you think! I feel like often times, there isn't enough emphasis on young, talented female photographers, so check her out and post your thoughts! http://gilliandrew.com/

"100 Most Influential Photographers of All Time"

http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Magazine/Photographic-Inspiration/100-most-influential-photographers-of-all-time

Hank Willis Thomas, Louis Agassiz, and Annie Leibovitz?

I've been thinking about portraiture and the many different forms it can take. The above image is one from Hank Willis Thomas' series "Branded", which explores the commodification of the Afican-American male body, especially in sports and advertising. Thomas references real advertisements that subliminally play on race, class, gender, etc to sell products, and by re-creating and putting his images in these contexts, exposes it. The above image from the series in particular reminds me of Louis Agassiz's early slave dagguerreotypes, full-frontal and side portraits remniscient of mugshots that were meant to 'catalogue' slaves from various African tribes, and illustrate their status based on the physical. Whether intended or not, Willis' above image can be interpreted as a response to these images.
[http://hankwillisthomas.com/splash.html]

Also, I was recently reading a relevant article regarding Annie Leibovitz, famed Vogue and Vanity Fair photographer, and a cover that she recently shot that has caused a lot of backlash because of the racist implications (although it should be noted that the original image in question is war propaganda)...what do you think?
http://gawker.com/5004715/time-for-leibovitz-to-confess

Current Exhibitions Of Interest

Wolfgang Tillmans at Andrea Rosen Gallery
Thomas Ruff at David Zwirner
and much more at Photography-now.com

Deborah Turbeville

In the spirit of NY Fashion Week (FYI - Ryan McGinley sat front row this afternoon at Rodarte), and following our discussing of Irving Penn, I figured I'd post about one of my favorite fashion photographers: Deborah Turbeville.














Turbeville began her career as a fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar (an Alexey Brodovitch in reverse?) before transitioning into the role of photographer. Her images have appeared in American, British, French, Italian and Russian editions Vogue, W, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times, etc. I love that she has such a signature aesthetic. All of her photographs are equal parts eerie and elegant. (Her earlier work, which I couldn't find online, was a bit bizarre and dark.. but still has a fashion angle). Her use of soft lighting and these decrepit-yet-beautiful settings has definitely had an impact on the fashion/editorial world. I constantly see editorials and ad campaigns that seem to be inspired by her images... Like this Chanel campaign from Fall 2008 shot by Karl Lagerfeld.

Jessica Dimmock: The Ninth Floor (headlong into the rabbit hole)

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I found this photographer on the blog, American Suburb X. In 2007 her three-year-long body of work, "The Ninth Floor", came out. In 2004, Jessica began following a group of about 20-30 young addicts. She was a film student at the time, and was wandering the streets with her camera when a coke dealer approached her. He gave her permission to follow and photograph him. The last place he took her was the apartment where her project started. He was arrested soon after and never heard from again. But because of his introduction, she was able to return with some prints. After a while, she was welcome to return whenever she wanted. When she found "the crew", they were living on the ninth floor of a building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The squatters slowly destroyed the floor, selling anything of value, until they were eventually evicted. For the next three years, Jessica followed several of the original squatters, documenting their recovery attempts, arrests, jail time, pregnancy, and survival. At times she would stay with one or more of them for several days.

I find these photos so impressive because of their painful honesty. Several reporters noted that her work is so unique because it was shot when she was still a student. She didn't have time to become jaded and blend in with crowd. None of the photographs are staged, or have artificial lighting. Despite what happened, Jessica never intervened with her subjects; "at this point I have spent a great deal of time with some of the people from this project and I care about them a great deal. I recognize that I cannot change them, nor save them, but they have been incredibly open with me and there is a lot of trust in our relationship. It is hard to watch these patterns get repeated and to watch the pain that occurs".

In 2006, The Ninth Floor won both Magnum Photos’ Inge Morath Prize, the Marty Forsher Fellowship for Humanistic Photography of PDN/Parsons.

Ryan McGinley

Following the great introduction to portraiture in class today, I wanted to highlight more of the work done by Ryan McGinley, the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney.

Like Abrams had mentioned, his work tends to be vibrant in color and full of this free-spirited, youthful optimism. The focus seems to be on out of body experiences and a reckless chase for adventure, and his work as a collection feels like one large road trip (and often involves a road trip). However, what I find truly impressive is how he managed to create the same experiences in his photographs for the 2010 Olympics. It's one thing to create a supposed adventure while on the road with models, but it's quite another to take the experience of someone else as a witness and manipulate it to feel a certain way.






















































































I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you visit his personal site to see all of his work!

http://www.ryanmcginley.com

don't be lazy. do it!
it's cool, i promise!
especially moonmilk!!!

sneak preview of moonmilk: