Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin Documentary - Vile Bodies
Joel-Peter Witkin is a photographer whose images of the human condition are undeniably powerful. For more than twenty years he has pursued his interest in spirituality and how it impacts the physical world in which we exist. Finding beauty within the grotesque, Witkin pursues this complex issue through people most often cast aside by society -- human spectacles including hermaphrodites, dwarfs, amputees, androgynes, carcases, people with odd physical capabilities, fetishists and "any living myth"
His constant reference to paintings from art history, including the works of Picasso, Balthus, Goya, Velásquez and Miro, are testaments to his need to create a new history for himself. By using imagery and symbols from the past, Witkin celebrates our history while constantly redefining its present day context. Visiting medicals schools, morgues and insane asylums around the world, Witkin seeks out his collaborators, who, in the end, represent the numerous personas of the artist himself.
Warning: Not for the faint of heart
Part one of two
His constant reference to paintings from art history, including the works of Picasso, Balthus, Goya, Velásquez and Miro, are testaments to his need to create a new history for himself. By using imagery and symbols from the past, Witkin celebrates our history while constantly redefining its present day context. Visiting medicals schools, morgues and insane asylums around the world, Witkin seeks out his collaborators, who, in the end, represent the numerous personas of the artist himself.
The resulting photographs are haunting and beautiful, grotesque yet bold in their defiance – a hideous beauty that is as compelling as it is taboo. Witkin begins each image by sketching his ideas on paper, perfecting every detail by arranging the scene before he gets into the studio to stage his elaborate tableaus. Once photographed, Witkin spends hours in the darkroom, scratching and piercing his negatives, transforming them into images that look made rather than taken. Through printing, Witkin reinterprets his original idea in a final act of adoration.
Joel-Peter Witkin lets us look into his created world, which is both frightening and fascinating, as he seeks to dismantle our preconceived notions about sexuality and physical beauty. Through his imagery, we gain a greater understanding about human difference and tolerance.
Warning: Not for the faint of heart
Part one of two
NEW work by New Future Graphic. London town.
Birra Moretti Campaign Imagery. Client: Birra Moretti / Amplify.
Innocent Recipe Book. Client: Innocent Drinks.
TIME to make better use of my TIME.
Creative, Enduring, Precise. Client: NFG Studio Project.
See previous post on NFG here.
newfuturegraphic.co.uk
"The War on Cameras"
The above video from Libertarian website Reason.com takes a look into the legal standing for police to stop and arrest photographers for photographing or filming in public areas.
Polaroid Realeases New Instant Printer The GL10.
Polaroid’s GL10 instant printer, which it announced at CES with Lady Gaga, is now available at Bloomingdale’s for $169.99. Thirty sheets of photo paper for the 3″ x 4″ prints it produces runs $19.99.
The GL10 should be available at other retailers next month. Full details in the press release here.
Someone Steal Your Camera? Find Out Who's Got it With "Stolen Camera Finder"
Programmer Matt Burns has written a search engine that lets people find their stolen camera gear by searching EXIF data for their serial number. Users can enter their camera’s serial number or simply drop any photo taken with their stolen camera. Genius!
http://www.stolencamerafinder.com/
Monday, May 30, 2011
Photographer Profile ~ Horst
Horst was Born in Weissenfels, Germany, 14 Aug 1906. After briefly studying in Frankfurt, he entered the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg, where from 1926 to 1928 he designed and made furniture. Following this he went to work as an architectural assistant to Le Corbusier in Paris. There he met George Hoyningen-Huene, who worked as a photographer for Vogue , and through him iconic photographer Cecil Beaton. In 1931 he himself began working as a photographer for Vogue.
His photographs soon achieved an individual style characterized by their striking light effects and sensual use of the models. In 1932 he spent several months working for American Vogue in New York, but his employment was terminated before the end of his six-month contract. He emigrated in 1935 to the USA, again working as a photographer for American Vogue while continuing to contribute to the French edition until the late 1940s. He spent much of his time in New York and Paris, photgraphing celebrities such as Salvador Dali, Marlene Dietrich, Warhol, and the designer Coco Chanel.
"The elegance of his photographs took the viewer to another place, very beautifully; his ability to give his models the untouchable quality is really interesting as it gives you something of a distance; it's like seeing somebody from another world and you wonder who that person is and you really want to know that person and really want to fall in love with that person".
~ Photographer Bruce Weber
$1.9 million USD Leica. ~ Record Price for Any Camera
The camera is the only one of the Leica 0-series to have "Germany" engraved on it, and was the first Leica camera to ever be exported, as it was sent over to New York in order to gain a patent. Maybe it will end up in a garage sale for $10 after the "private Asian collector" passes. . [Gizmodo via Leica Rumors]
Watch the auction below
The previous record for the most expensive Leica was a MP2 that sold for $402,000 in December of 2010.
Via Leica Rumours
Photographer Profile ~ Sally Mann
Sally Mann was born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, where she continues to live and work. She received a BA from Hollins College in 1974, and an MA in writing from the same school in 1975. Her early series of photographs of her three children and husband resulted in a series called “Immediate Family.”
In her recent series of landscapes of Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, and Georgia, Mann has stated that she “wanted to go right into the heart of the deep dark South.” Using damaged lenses and a camera that requires the artist to use her hand as a shutter, these photographs are marked by the scratches, light leaks, and shifts in focus that were part of the photographic process as it developed during the 19th century.
Mann has won numerous awards, including Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Her books of photographs include “Immediate Family,” “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women;” and “Mother Land: Recent Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia.” Her photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
via PBS
In her recent series of landscapes of Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, and Georgia, Mann has stated that she “wanted to go right into the heart of the deep dark South.” Using damaged lenses and a camera that requires the artist to use her hand as a shutter, these photographs are marked by the scratches, light leaks, and shifts in focus that were part of the photographic process as it developed during the 19th century.
Mann has won numerous awards, including Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Her books of photographs include “Immediate Family,” “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women;” and “Mother Land: Recent Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia.” Her photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
via PBS
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