Glass Jars

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Alec Soth is spreading his narrative wings with video. More please.

2009 Light Work Annual

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The 2009 Light Work Annual is out now and features five images from my Stranded series with an essay by Alec Soth. I'm very grateful to Light Work for inviting me to be an Artist-in-Residence and to Alec for his thoughtful words about my work.

Ornithology Group Show at Jen Bekman Gallery

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Summer is officially here and on the streets of New York you can feel the collective anxiety over the coming stickiness. As Jonathan Richman sang, "if you've been in New York city in July you know when I say sticky I'm right." If you are looking to transport yourself from the muggy muss of the city to something a little more pastoral, I suggest you head over to the Jen Bekman Gallery for the Wednesday opening of the group show, Ornithology.

A diptych from my Domesticated series will be on display as well as bird-themed work by Echo Eggebrecht, Todd Forsgren, Laura Levine, Carrie Marill, Christina Muraczewski, Victoria Neel, Lamar Peterson, Jason Polan, Amy Ross, Alec Soth, Keith Taylor, Bert Teunissen and Luke Stephenson.

Here are the details:

Ornithology | Photographs, Paintings + Mixed Media
Jen Bekman Gallery
June 25 - August 2, 2008
6 Spring Street
New York, NY
Opening Reception: Wednesday June 25, 6-8pm

See you at the opening.

My Dinner with Doug DuBois

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© Doug DuBois

During a holiday visit to Southern California in 2006 I saw the Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection at the Getty. In a show filled with great images by American color legends like Shore, Eggleston and Sternfeld, Doug DuBois’ tense and intimate narratives jumped off the wall and stayed with me long after I left the show.

At the time I was just out of grad school and still discovering and devouring the canonical names and images of photography. I had never heard of Doug DuBois. I had no idea he was featured in the landmark Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort show at the MoMA. I had never seen the hypnotic images from his Family Photos series. I had no knowledge he was a respected photo educator at Syracuse University. Discovering Doug and his work has been one of the great joys of my short time in the photography world.

Shortly after the Getty show I started an email correspondence with Doug. Right off the bat he was open with his advice and heartfelt in his encouragement. He pushed me to apply for the Light Work residency (and may have had a hand in my selection). He even invited me to come up to Syracuse to speak to his class. Doug is the best kind of educator because he doesn’t confine his wisdom to the walls of the classroom.

My Mother’s Scar © Doug DuBois

Friday I was finally able to spend some in-person time with Doug. He showed me 25 years worth of beautiful, rich C-prints from his Family Photo series. Each print feels like a subplot in an expansive epic narrative. The image above of his mother is particularly stunning. It makes me think of my own mother and the pain of seeing one's parents aging and vulnerable. As Alec Soth has said, Doug doesn’t seem to take a bad picture. After seeing the entire series in sequence you can't help but want to go through it again and again. Fortunately, Aperture will be publishing a book of this work in the spring and I will be able to dive into his photos whenever I want.

Yesterday's Tomorrow Today!

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Little know fact. Alec Soth uses this very same flash setup

I love the Modern Mechanix blog. The blog posts scanned articles from old Modern Mechanix magazines that feature everything from fabulously eccentric DIY weirdness to fantastical glimpses of a not-too-distant, but oh so clunky, future. They have a special section devoted to photography, but idiosyncratic insanity abounds behind every turn.

American Photo's Top Emerging Photograpahers

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The current issue of American Photo features their selection of the top fifteen emerging photographers and I made the list. Needless to say, I am very humbled by my inclusion with such a fabulous group of talented photographers. Also making American Photo's list of the "new generation of photo pioneers": Shen Wei, Donald Weber, Mikhael Subotsky, Jason and Carlos Sanchez, Steven Laxton, Alexandra Catiere, Matt Eich, Camille Seaman, Lyric Cabral, Jehad Nga, Michael Christopher Brown, and Nicolai Howalt and Trine Søndergaard. Be sure sure to pick up a copy of the November/December issue on newsstands now. Or you can ask me for a copy. I believe I've cleaned out most of the inventory below 23rd Street.

November/December issue of American Photo

I'm also featured in an Apple Aperture advertorial in the same issue of American Photo.

Aperture advertorial in American Photo

This has been a good month for me and magazines. I was included in an October photography edition of Zeit magazin Leben. Zeit magazin Leben is the weekend magazine of Germany's largest weekly newspaper, Die Zeit. Watering Hole, an image from my Domesticated series, was featured in their "Around the World in 80 Photographs" edition that included works by twenty-five other photographers including Pieter Hugo, Hiroshi Watanabe, and Alec Soth. Good company indeed.

October issue of Zeit magazine Leben

Covers of American Photo and Zeit magazine Leben

Viernes Gigante!

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This Friday will henceforth be referred to as Viernes Gigante! Big Friday! A big opening in SoHo and a big closing in Chelsea and me without my roller skates to zip between the two.

First up, the opening for a great show with some top notch photographers curated by two fabulous people.

© Shen Wei

A New American Portrait
Curated by jen bekman + Jörg Colberg
Opening: Friday, June 22, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
jen bekman gallery
Featuring photographs by Christine Collins, Jen Davis, Benjamin Donaldson, Amy Elkins, Peter Haakon Thompson, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Brian Ulrich, and Shen Wei

© Zoe Strauss

From there it's across town to Chelsea and Silverstein to celebrate the closing of If You Reading This with Philadelphia's third greatest export ever, Zoe Strauss. (Number one is the US Constitution and number two is Dr. J, naturally.)

Zoe Strauss: If You Reading This Closing Party
Silverstein Photography
Friday, June 22, 8:30 p.m.

Should be a great evening with great friends.

My Kind of Town...

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Just back from three fabulous days in the Windy City. More on the trip later, but quick highlights include the 43rd Annual Versionfest Photographic Invitation, Art Chicago, staying with Matt and Betsy, cheap beers with Alec Soth, hanging with Julian Montague, and Sunday brunch with the crew. The Chicago photography scene is tight, focused, and just plain fun. Again, more detail later, but what a wonderful time. Thanks to Brian Ulrich and Jon Gitelson for making it possible.