vaniljus/ 1

ryan g. widger

ryan g. widger's work is like a cross between robert parke harrison's whimsical constructed worlds and franscesca woodman's claustrophobic corners. some of it seems a little heavy handed to me, but many of the images are stunning in their complete simplicity.

ryan is a graduate of cranbrook academy. he gives me hope i might fit in there after all.

snake in my boot

polish sausage queen

frida fritteuse

emily stein

the exposure project

the exposure project is a new blog i recently came across. i wish i had more time to browse and give you guys an idea what it's like, but i don't. it definitely looks interesting though.

this looks nothing like me

well, it looks like me, as it's a picture of me, but it looks nothing like a photo i would take. yet i took it. so go figure. there are three more on the flickr page if you are so inclined.

svømme/ 6

svømme/ 5

svømme/ 4

new wedding images...finally...

i shot a wedding back in june with my friend miya that was so so much fun. i think the photographs really reflect that. i finally added some to the flickr page. enjoy at your leisure.

svømme/ 3

lessons from meet joe black

my roommate and i were watching meet joe black (which i've seen like ten times at this point) and i had to look these up:

dervish
main entry: der·vish
pronunciation: 'd&r-vish
function: noun
etymology: turkish dervis, literally, beggar, from persian darvIsh
1 : a member of a muslim religious order noted for devotional exercises (as bodily movements leading to a trance)
2 : one that whirls or dances with or as if with the abandonment of a dervish

and...

diffident
main entry: dif·fi·dent
pronunciation: -d&nt, -"dent
function: adjective
etymology: middle english, from latin diffident-, diffidens, present participle of diffidere to distrust, from dis- + fidere to trust -- more at BIDE
1 : hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence
2 archaic : distrustful
3 : reserved, unassertive
synonym see shy
- dif·fi·dent·ly adverb

svømme/ 2

matthew siesco

matthew siesco, an "a flickr a day" alumnus, has this charming photograph of himself holding a book of his own photographs on his flickr page. i'm almost as smitten with the photograph itself as i am with the book. it's only $10.50 (this just covers shipping, so it's quite a deal), but i need to wait for the reprint (it's understandably popular). and by wait i mean matthew siesco is going to get harrassed by yours truly until he's knocking his head against the wall (just like the guy in his below image, obviously).

the specs: 16 pages, 9" x 7", saddle-stitch binding, full-color interior ink

svømme/ 1

mollusk/ 3

brookes britcher

in my never-ending analysis of potential graduate photography programs, i found myself browsing cranbrook academy's website yesterday. as of yet, i remain wary about their program as my work tends towards the narrative, and their philosophy toward the conceptual (they do have a very intriguing reading list though), but i saw some work i kind of really liked. namely, i found the work of brookes britcher who coincidentally graduated a year ahead of me at drexel. i remember his work as being tightly composed, eggelston-esqe images (see below). i remember really liking them.

his most recent body of work (example above), comepleted for his mfa at cranbrook, completely shocked me in how far it came from his work at drexel. if i remember correctly (which i do), brookes went straight from his undergraduate program into his graduate program. i was cautioned that such a choice is risky because you are unlikely to grow beyond your undergraduate body of work. i guess that is a common complaint or something, but this was not the case for brookes. at all. i can't help but wonder if the vastly different philosphies of the two programs provided a necessary framework for moving in such a new direction. if i knew him personally i might ask him.

brooke's project statement:

Pattern and system become a means to process and comprehend the world around us, and the decisions that we consciously and unconsciously make. Through the implementation of a system, form is generated and possibilities for understanding present themselves. The photographic experience lies at the forefront of these thresholds of understanding, and it is through this medium that we have the potential to better comprehend our behavior, as well as our digestion and embracing of the images that confront us everyday. Exploration and assessment of this photographic information is necessary to fully understand our relationship to the image and how that relationship shapes the way in which we interact and experience our world.

it took me a while to break down his project statement into something that fit with my reading of the work. for me, the images decronstruct the snapshot (amoung other things) in order to analyze, almost in a scientific way, how photography dictates our behavior and experience (i'm mostly trying to relate the statement to the above image).

it remains unclear to me, however, whether "pattern and system" refers to the snapshot as such a mechanism or if he is referring to his decision to implement his own system or pattern. either way, the work is really strong. brookes has a website, but there isn't anything on there yet.

thank you thank you!

i meant to thank catharine for the awesome job she did posting last week, but then i got distracted by the excitment of posting again myself. so for the record: thank you, you did such a phenomenal job.

anni leppälä

i've been failing at writing this post for three days now. i keep reworking it, but it never feels resolved. so here i guess is the pertinent information: i spotted the below image on montmarte's sketchbook by anni leppälä. upon further investigation i found the above image. it reminded of anna gaskell's snow series. it also reminded me of bruegel paintings and harry callahan's abstractions of snow. i think that's all i wanted/needed to say.

mollusk/ 2

mollusk/ 1

i'm baaack

i'm just gonna take this one post at a time.

goodbye

Thank you for letting me guest blog this week. I have even more admiration for Carey and all that she has written here. I wish I had the time to write about Instruction Manuals and Indoor plant photography! next time I hope.

Audrey Culp

ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY

POSTERS

My favorite photographer from Texas is named Keith Carter, he makes pictures that evoke a sense of mythology and beauty that doesn't seam to exist in everyday life. Here are a few of his images with animals in them:

shadowbomb

Raymond

CLASS AND AMATURE SPORTS PICTURES

BEFORE 1980

School pictures are wonderful because they chart the growth and changes in each class while recording the clothing and hair trends of the year. There are a few art photographers who photograph the same people annually, Mary Ellen Mark has been photographing Tiny for decades starting when she was a teenager living on the streets of Seattle. Rineke Dijkstra photographed Israeli soldiers before and after their service in the army.

TINY BY MARY ELLEN MARK

Sports pictures are intriguing because the isolate the face by placing everyone in the same outfit. The backgrounds and harsh gym lighting also make them rad.

YEAH!

Collier Shorr and a women named Diane Meyer (who I took a class from in college) both work in very different ways while referencing high school/college sports. Shorr seams to be taking advantage of young men the in a way that women are usually taken advantage of in art, which is by highlighting their sexuality. Meyer takes a more playful approach through documenting school mascots.

COLLIER SHORR

DIANE MEYER

liebermarlene

meliora spero

POST CARDS

Martin Parr is the editor of boring post cards and boring post cards USA. Apart from collecting postcards he also has the worlds largest collection of Saddam Husein themed watches. He is the king of making the banal interesting and could be linked to every topic discussed this week but I am going to try my best not to do that.

Beyond the fact that your postman is able to read how Rachel thinks her camp counselor is hot, post cards are also easy to keep and cheap mementos.

A few examples of the preferred method of grandparents when it comes to showing they care:


Post card related art is hard to come by, there are artists who collect post cards but few well-known artist that work in the format. This spring I saw a show at the 201 Gallery here in Philadelphia at the Crane Arts Building that included the work of artist Johanna Inman. She photographs the back of old slides, pictures, and post cards with a large format camera and blows up the images to 28x32 inch prints.


The new topographic movement in photography closely resembles the bland and strait-on documentary style of many architectural post cards. Here are a few images from Ed Ruscha's 26 Gasoline Stations:

ED RUSCHA

nicegeoff

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

BETTY CROCKER PICTURE COOK BOOK

VINTAGE RECIPE CARDS

With rounded edges and bright garish colors the Betty Crocker vintage recipe cards embody the beauty of food photography and illustration. The pastel glory! If you are interested in looking at more covers of books or actually inside one you can go to a thrift store or browse the flicker cookbooks group.

Here are a few artists who use food in their photography:

STEPHAN SHORE


KATHRYN PARKER ALMANAS

KYOKO HAMADA

tinker tailor

HELLO

Unlike painting, photography has had the ability to capture billions of events and places in precise detail because it is fast and easy. Consequently, not all images are made with art and preservation in mind. Often pictures are perceived as utility based and even ugly, but through time they mature into images that are interesting and important. They illustrate moments in time which can not be repeated. They show hairstyles, furniture, and people that have passed.

This week (while Carey is moving) I will be focusing on five or six different types of photography which are often taken for granted but are attractive to me. Mainly I will be posting pictures and showing art photographers who work in a similar vain.

Please post photographs you have found that fits.

And thanks for letting me sneak in here.

elinor