zondag 30 november 2008

Living Africa by Steve Bloom Photography

Hamar woman, Omo Valley, Ethiopia
A young woman from the Hamar tribe attends the Dimeka market. In the past, the blue beads in her traditional head band and necklace had more than an aesthetic function; they were also used as a form of currency between neighbours and tribes. Held weekly, the Dimeka market is a place where a number of different tribes meet to trade, notably the Hamar and Karo.

Living Africa - Steve Bloom expresses the essence and the diversity of this gigantic continent. From the tallest sand dunes in the world to the swirling markets of Ethiopia to the windswept rocks and gullies of South Africa‘s Table Mountain, he captures the colours and cultures of Africa today. 236 photographs of Africa‘s peoples and wildlife encapsulate the vibrancy of tribal traditions and the beauty of the landscape. In a series of essays, Bloom combines vivid personal experience with a passionate articulation of the challenges faced by Africa‘s people and environment in the 21st century. Everywhere is apparent his deep affection and affinity for the continent where he grew up, and to which he has felt compelled to return throughout his life.

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Karo gathering - Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Karo people differentiate themselves from neighbouring tribes by excelling in body painting. They use ochre, chalk, charcoal and pulverised mineral rock to achieve a variety of colours which include orange, white, black, yellow and red. Body artists use vibrant designs to accentuate fine facial features and enhance their graceful movements.

Suri woman - Omo Valley, Ethiopia
A woman is caught unawares while playing with her lower lip, stretched to accommodate a lip plate.

Living Africa by Steve Bloom Photography

Hamar woman, Omo Valley, Ethiopia
A young woman from the Hamar tribe attends the Dimeka market. In the past, the blue beads in her traditional head band and necklace had more than an aesthetic function; they were also used as a form of currency between neighbours and tribes. Held weekly, the Dimeka market is a place where a number of different tribes meet to trade, notably the Hamar and Karo.

Living Africa - Steve Bloom expresses the essence and the diversity of this gigantic continent. From the tallest sand dunes in the world to the swirling markets of Ethiopia to the windswept rocks and gullies of South Africa‘s Table Mountain, he captures the colours and cultures of Africa today. 236 photographs of Africa‘s peoples and wildlife encapsulate the vibrancy of tribal traditions and the beauty of the landscape. In a series of essays, Bloom combines vivid personal experience with a passionate articulation of the challenges faced by Africa‘s people and environment in the 21st century. Everywhere is apparent his deep affection and affinity for the continent where he grew up, and to which he has felt compelled to return throughout his life.

See the slideshow ...




Karo gathering - Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Karo people differentiate themselves from neighbouring tribes by excelling in body painting. They use ochre, chalk, charcoal and pulverised mineral rock to achieve a variety of colours which include orange, white, black, yellow and red. Body artists use vibrant designs to accentuate fine facial features and enhance their graceful movements.

Suri woman - Omo Valley, Ethiopia
A woman is caught unawares while playing with her lower lip, stretched to accommodate a lip plate.

Paradiso Stills / Paradiso Stilllives the Movie the Photobook a sneak preview Photography


In 1986 a photography book called Paradiso Stills by Max Natkiel appeared. It was a selection of the thousands of portraits he made of visitors—mostly snotty nosed punks—to the famed halls of pop temple Paradiso. In the years that passed, many of these photographs reached iconic status, and good luck to anyone trying to find a copy of this book without paying a small fortune. Film-maker Marc Geerards ended up tracking down 200 of these people, asking them to pose again for a film camera and in a setting of their own choosing. The result is the hypnotic and eerie film Paradiso Stills / Paradiso Stilllives .

De film ‘Paradiso Stills/Paradiso Stilllives’ van Marc Geerards is gebaseerd op het werk van de Nederlandse fotograaf Max Natkiel. Die maakte tussen 1980 en 1985 portretfoto’s van duizenden bezoekers van Paradiso, overwegend tieners en pubers die deel uitmaakten van de punkbeweging. Geerards spoorde 25 jaar later 250 van deze mensen op en liet hen opnieuw poseren, ditmaal voor een filmcamera.

Geerards toont in zijn film de zwartwitfoto’s van Natkiel en laat deze overvloeien in de door hemzelf in kleur gefilmde portretten van dezelfde mensen zoals die nu zijn. Onder hen zullen sommigen Simon Vinkenoog, Peter Klashorst of Diana Ozon herkennen. ‘Paradiso Stills/Paradiso Stilllives’ laat zich in zijn totaliteit kennen als het portret van een subcultuur en wat daar van geworden is. Zonder commentaar toont de maker de statische foto’s van toen om die vervolgens over te laten gaan in de bewegende beelden van nu. De film confronteert de kijker met het voortschrijden van de tijd; de kijker komt oog in oog te staan met de vergankelijkheid.

Geerards: “De film gaat onder meer over kijken en bekeken worden, over het passeren van tijd, pose en authenticiteit, afbeelding en werkelijkheid, fotografie en film, toen en nu. Maar de film is ook een document van een generatie; door sommige sociologen wel eens aangeduid als ‘de verloren generatie’. Ik heb ongeveer 250 mensen opgespoord en die gefilmd in zo'n 150 portretten; meestal soloportretten. Ook zijn er groepsportretten van twee, drie of vier personen, altijd naar analogie van de foto’s van Natkiel. Verder zitten er enkele overledenen in de film, zoals b.v. Herman Brood. In de uiteindelijke film heb ik 100 portretten opgenomen.”

Geerards besteedde, met tussenpozen, vijf jaar aan zijn project, werkte samen met zeven verschillende cameramannen en deed zelf productie, regie, geluid, montage. Momenteel werkt hij aan een verfilming van de ‘Tractatus’ van Wittgenstein.





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NATKIEL, MAX - Paradiso Stills
Amsterdam, Fragment. 1986, 1st edition. (ISBN: 9065790179) Ppbck. orig. wrprs, 22,5 x 20,5 cm. No pagination (ca. 200 pp).

Short introduction in Dutch, English and French, otherwise just pictures without text. b/w-photographs of punks and other youngsters at the Paradiso, an international meeting-centre of sub-culture in Amsterdam. One of the fanatic visitors of Paradiso was Max Natkiel. From 1980 onwards he decided to bring his camera along, when going to concerts and other occasions, as if to try and stop time. He was only just in time to capture the end of the first punk-wave and the transition into the eighties, with its diversity of Skins, Rude Boys, Rasta's, Rockers, Mollucans, Teds, Mods, Autonomists, Heavy Metal Hardrockers and once more the Punks.

vrijdag 28 november 2008

Water in Photography Rising Waters by Marnix Goossens

Water in PhotographyNovember 29 – March 1, 2009

Document Nederland: Rising Waters Marnix Goossens photographs Dutch ways to keep it dry. This year Marnix Goossens has been granted the distinguished documentary assignment Document Nederland by the Rijksmuseum and NRC Handelsblad. He portrays the tendency of the Dutch to keep on seeking new relationships with ever-rising water. Goossens, who has acquired a reputation for his poetic and humorous way of working, has aimed his camera at earthly problems caused by climate change and arising sea level.

Water in PhotographyAs a counterpart and supplement to this exhibition, Huis Marseille's own program will also revolve around the theme of water. A small retrospective of water-related photography from the past has been compiled from the Rijksmuseum's rich photo collections. In contrast to this 'engineer's outlook', another presentation provides a contemporary view of water as a phenomenon and source of inspiration, with photographs by Balthasar Burkhard, Naoya Hatakeyama, Roni Horn, Asako Narahashi and Syoin Kajii.

Balthasar Burkhard Normandie 1995

Roni Horn Untitled (A Brink of Inifinity) 1996

Asako Narahashi Kawaguchiko 2003

Water in Photography Rising Waters by Marnix Goossens

Water in PhotographyNovember 29 – March 1, 2009

Document Nederland: Rising Waters Marnix Goossens photographs Dutch ways to keep it dry. This year Marnix Goossens has been granted the distinguished documentary assignment Document Nederland by the Rijksmuseum and NRC Handelsblad. He portrays the tendency of the Dutch to keep on seeking new relationships with ever-rising water. Goossens, who has acquired a reputation for his poetic and humorous way of working, has aimed his camera at earthly problems caused by climate change and arising sea level.

Water in PhotographyAs a counterpart and supplement to this exhibition, Huis Marseille's own program will also revolve around the theme of water. A small retrospective of water-related photography from the past has been compiled from the Rijksmuseum's rich photo collections. In contrast to this 'engineer's outlook', another presentation provides a contemporary view of water as a phenomenon and source of inspiration, with photographs by Balthasar Burkhard, Naoya Hatakeyama, Roni Horn, Asako Narahashi and Syoin Kajii.

Balthasar Burkhard Normandie 1995

Roni Horn Untitled (A Brink of Inifinity) 1996

Asako Narahashi Kawaguchiko 2003

Valparaiso Du Sergio Larrain Photography

Du. Atlantis. Kulturelle Monatsschrift. Conzett & Huber, Zurich, February, 1966. 150 pp. with 16 pp. feature on Larrain accompanied by Neruda's text.

View the entire Valparaiso series on the Magnum site.

"Sergio Larrain began photographing the famous Chilean port in the 1950s but it was not until 1963 that he spent more time there, this time, in the company of the poet Pablo Neruda. The text and photographs in Valparaiso were published in the journal Du in 1966. But it had to wait until 1991 before it was published as a book, which has since gained a cult following. Not only did Sergio Larrain ceaselessly climb the narrow streets, the stairs, and the hills of this city frozen in time, but he also shed light on an entire bohemian lifestyle in the neighborhoods nearby the port, which then counted some one hundred brothels and cabarets. The result is a series of pictures that has become an essential reference in the work of this photographer who escapes categorization."--Magnum Photos

Also see Jeff Ladd's piece on Larrain, posted on his always excellent photobook blog, 5B4


donderdag 27 november 2008

Best Photography Books of 2008 by PDN Photography

pdn has announced their list of Best Photography Books of 2008.

With the fall publishing season in full swing and 2009 fast approaching, PDN gathered together some of our favorite books for a look at the publishing year that was.

woensdag 26 november 2008

Desirée Dolron Erwin Olaf Wijnanda Deroo Auction Christie's Amsterdam Photography

Desirée Dolron (DUTCH, B. 1963) Fleur du Mal transparency in lightbox 56.5 x 56.5 x 16.5 cm. See for a review ... & read more ...

Desirée Dolron (DUTCH, B. 1963) Study for Xteriors X. signed, dated, inscribed with title and numbered 'Desirée Dolron 2005 19/100' (on the reverse)gelatin silver print 37 x 30 cm.
Desirée Dolron (DUTCH, B. 1963) Esperito Y Carne I transparency in lightbox 153 x 125 x 18 cm.
Désirée Dolron (DUTCH, B. 1963) Espirito Y Carne II transparency in lightbox 153 x 125 x 18 cm.

Erwin Olaf (DUTCH, B. 1959) Royal Blood, Julius Caesar, +44 B.C. signed, dated, numbered, inscribed and with the artist's label 'HC1 2000 Erwin Olaf Amsterdam' (on the reverse)c-print mounted on perspex 120 x 120 cm. From an edition of 7 and 2 artist's proofs and 1 hors commerce.

Erwin Olaf (DUTCH, B. 1959) Royal Blood, Sissi, +1898 signed, dated, numbered, inscribed with title, inscribed and with artist's label 'A.P.2, 2000/Erwin Olaf, Amsterdam' (on the reverse)c-print mounted on perspex 140 x 120 cm. From an edition of 7 and 2 artist's proofs and 1 hors commerce.

Wijnanda Deroo (DUTCH, B. 1955) Flamingo, 1996 c-print 70 x 70 cm. and Another c-print by the same hand, entitled Mobile home, dining room, 26.5 x 26.5 cm., from 1995.

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Architectural America Sticks & Stones by Lee Friedlander Photography

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Lee Friedlander Sticks and Stones

Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) has been photographing for nearly sixty years. A 1967 exhibition of his work, along with that of Diane Arbus and Gary Winograd, at New York's Museum of Modern Art, propelled him into the front ranks of American photographers. He has worked in series over the years, but whether photographing people, landscapes, cityscapes, or nature, his focus has been on American subject matter and his artistry one of subtle wit, keen observation, and disciplined understatement.

Friedlander's most recent series, Sticks and Stones, photographed over a twelve year period, consists of cityscapes observed not for their glamour or urban buzz, but with an emphasis on the mundane. A selection of thirty-four (from the collection of 192) of these black and white photographs, printed in uniform squares of about about fifteen inches, make up the current exhibition at Fraenkel Gallery.

The photographs are completely devoid of images of people, though the presence of people is palpable in the way the the images cumulatively define what people have created as their urban and suburban visual environments. Some of the photographs were taken from the inside of a car, suggesting the perhaps dominant viewpoint from which Americans observe their surroundings. "Las Vegas," for example, shows the massed highrises of fantasy-fulfillment hotels through the driver's window, but also slyly exposes the more ordinary, lowrise buildings caught in the side-view mirror. "Great Falls, Montana" shows a clean-lined modern, brick factory with aluminum framed-windows of reflective glass. The effect is to make the interior of the building a complete mystery, at the same time contrasting it with the older buildings across the street, seen reflected in the glass.

Indeed, contrast is the principal subtext of these works. "Arkansas" has a flatbed truck moving a mobile home down the street of a town. In the rear there's the modest neoclassical facade of a small commercial building; in the foreground, an elaborate street clock rests on an Ionic pedestal. Together the images speak to the modesty of small town life as well as its striving for something grander. "San Diego" shows nondescript buildings and some dumpsters arrayed in a parking lot, but at the curb is a small garden of flowers protected by a low picket-type fence. One of the "New York City" photos looks through a rooftop opening in an older building, ornamented with sophisticated brickwork and a large architectural urn on a pedestal; the building seen in the distance is a colorless commercial curtain-wall high rise.

Sometimes Friedlander foregoes the thematic, simply finding compositional interest in the accidental juxtaposition of diverse elements, as in "Bismarck, North Dakota" or "Tarrytown," the latter contrasting the textures of brick in the foreground building with the frame structure across the street, the street itself on a sloping hill that provides a strong angular element, and the shadows of electrical wires thrown on the frame facade adding further complexities with their linear tracery. November 7, 2004 by Arthur Lazere Read more ...