Digital Cameras Are Just So...Confusing

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From Little Brown Miscellanea.

The Grand Taxonomy of Rap Names

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When Werner Herzog Rescued Joaquin Phoenix

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When Herzog Rescued Phoenix from Sascha Ciezata on Vimeo.

Evolve or Die

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© Mona Lisa Productions

I'm a bit of an evolution junkie. I'm particularly fascinated by the idea of evolution in real time. We tend to think of evolution as something that happens over millions of years, but there is evolutionary change happening right under our noses. See this story on Live Science about fish in southern Mexico who are adapting to a centuries old, yearly religious ceremony practiced by the Zoque people. As part of the ceremony, the Zoque stun the fish with a plant toxin. Most fish knuckle to the toxin, float to the surface and are eaten. The fish that have developed a resistance to the toxin live to swim (and reproduce) another day.

Senhorinha do Rá!

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Found Science Images

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Dopamine crystals viewed with polarized light © Spike Walker

From "How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb"

Behavior of waves © Berenice Abbott

Photographers are Terrorists

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Photography is Not a Crime shows us a new poster by the Transportation Security Administration that makes a pretty clear assertion: if you are a photographer near an airport you are potential terrorists and must be reported. Next thing you know some church in Florida will start burning copies of The Americans.

UPDATE: The TSA responds. Thinking about it more, I don't know if the greater insult is the implication that photographers are terrorists or that we dress like LES skate rats.

I Love This Photo

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I'm loving this photo of Jason Polan, me and Melanie Flood by Bert Teunissen.

The Exhibition Lab

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© Dreamboats Collective

Recently, there has been a lot of renewed interest in joint endeavors within photography world. Collectives like Piece of Cake and the Dreamboat Collective have been formed to deepen community and support for their members. Lots of people are discussing their work together and it's helping to rewrite the rules of the art world.

The collective spirit is not limited to photographers; dealers have come together to produce shows and form collective groups as well. Sasha Wolf and Michael Foley have joined forces to create The Exhibition Lab, a study center for people interested in understanding and improving their photography. It's exciting to see people you like and respect putting their necks out to support photographers.

Next weekend the Ex Lab hosts it's first portfolio review. There's a blockbuster lineup including folks from The New Yorker, Harpers, New York Magazine, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Aperture, plus stellar galleries like Yancey Richardson and Andrea Meislin. I'm scheduled to review portfolios as well, but this list is so impressive I'm tempted to sign up myself. Do not miss this opportunity.

Dennis Hopper RIP

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Double Standards, 1961 © Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper's contribution to acting and cinema was singular. He was also a very talented photographer whose body work stands head and shoulders above most celebrity-come-photographers.

New York Photo Festival and NY Perspectives

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© Marc Garanger

May in New York means the New York Photo Festival, which opens this Thursday. Last year I missed the festival because I was traveling, but this time around I plan to get myself to many of the events. There are some great artists talks scheduled including: Deborah Willis and Jessica Ingram, Zed Nelson, Eirik Johnson and Jason Houston, and Marc Garanger.

As an army photographer in the 1960s, Garanger was forced to photograph Algerian women against their will for identity cards issued by the French government. Many of the women in the photographs had never shown their faces in public before standing in front of Garanger's camera.

Garanger returned to Algeria in 2002 to foster a discussion within the same communities around these photographs. The images are haunting and raise questions the relationship of colonialism and the photographic document.

Here's the full schedule for the New York Photo Festival.

© Joshua Lutz

On Tuesday, before all of this gets underway, NY Perspectives, featuring the work of Joshua Lutz, Gus Powell and Carl Wooley, opens at 25 Central Park West. The show features work they made in 2009 through a commission by the City of Amsterdam Archives and Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. I'm not sure what 25CPW is, but it sounds nice. Like the kind of place with hors d'oeuvres and wine in real glasses.

Fortune Rejects Chris Ware Cover

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Fortune Magazine commissioned Chris Ware to do the cover for their annual Fortune 500 issue. He responded with the brilliant critique of capitalism you see above. Fortune promptly rejected it. (Via Kottke.)

Tales From FotoFest

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The stage is set for portfolio speed-dating

I've always wanted to go to Houston for FotoFest. The shows, the people, the line dancing. One year I'll get down there. In the meantime I asked a two friends, Phil Toledano and Justine Reyes, who attended the portfolio reviews this year to report back from the trenches. It's been a few days since they returned home, but you get the idea.

Phil Toledano
Now I know what it’s like to be a cow at the meat-yard, waiting for the compressed-air bolt to the forehead.

Fotofest is a very interesting experience-it peels back the little band-aid the covers the giant weeping rash of desperation that all (ok-most) of us suffer from. Of course, it’s useful-for some of us, it’ll crack open a career. But (to quote George Bush, which I try and do as much as possible) make no mistake-we’re all down here dancing about like monkeys, selling our wares. Is this a little bleak? Well, I suppose so, but then again, I am the Morrisey of photography.

Sometimes I’m asked what I hope to get out of a meeting. Honestly? The only thing I’d like to hear is something along the lines of: “I’ve never seen genius of this importance before in my life-hang on, let me get the curator of MOMA on the horn” That would be great. Or a screaming artgasm ‘when harry met sally’ style, reviewer white-knuckling the sides of the table.

But I’ll settle for a group show in Nebraska.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a good time, and I’ve had some lovely conversations with some people who seemed (at the time) interested. I also met some really great photographers (red Sonja and death reyes-shout out to my peeps!)

We all ask each other how it’s going, and it’s a question I find very hard to answer. Some people liked my work, others, not so much. You really don’t have any clue. It can take a week, a month, or a few years.

Justine Reyes
Last day at Fotofest. Trying to summarize this experience seems like an extremely daunting task at the moment. I am exhausted. Being a first timer I guess I didn’t quite know what to expect. For only four days a lot is packed in. I met with ten reviewers today alone and then did an open portfolio night.

On the good side I have gotten to know some really lovely people, talented photographers and critical thinkers. It has been fun looking at people’s work and getting feedback on my own.

On the bad side there is at times this odd competitive/aggressive energy that I naively wasn’t expecting to encounter.

All in all I am glad I got to come and be a part of it although I don’t think I will be able to process this experience fully until after I return home and escape the vortex that is Fotofest.

Plagiarism: The World's Oldest Profession

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With much (too much) discussion of late about plagiarism in the photography world, it's important to have some historical context. To wit, You Thought We Wouldn't Notice points to the interesting similarities between the lions in Peter Paul Rubens's “The Meeting of Marie de Médicis and Henri IV at Lyon” and Paul de Vos's “The Ark of Noah.”





Theft seems to be the one true constant in the long human history of creative expression.

BAMart Silent Auction

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Untitled (Yellow Dress) © Amy Stein

A new image from my Halloween in Harlem series is included in the 6th Annual BAMart Silent Auction. The bidding is open now and runs through this Sunday. If you are in New York you understand how important the Brooklyn Academy of Music is to the cultural landscape of the city. If you don't live in New York, just know it's a great cause and there is some top notch art available in the auction.

Approved!

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Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

Stranded at Foto Freo

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Cheerleaders, New Orleans, Louisiana © Amy Stein

A few years ago Mark McPherson contacted me out of the blue asking if I was interested in taking part in a book project that focused on Australian and American photographers. I thought, hmm... that's random, but potentially interesting. I knew very little about Australia beyond the cliches of surfing, kangaroos and walkabouts. Since Hijacked was released I have been involved in an intense love affair with the country.

Thank you, Mark, for opening so many doors.

After three weeks touring about New South Wales, I'm now in Perth for a series of Foto Freo related events. Thursday, Stranded will have it's solo debut at the Perth Centre for Photography. The show will include 33 images and I'm nervous and excited to see how they work together. Foto Freo also includes talks and shows by Trente Park, Chien-Chi Chang, Jon Levy and friends and fellow Americans Carrie Levy, Stacy Mehfar and Andy Adams.

Thanks to Bob Hewitt, June Moorhouse, Laura Beilby and the folks at the Perth Centre for Photography for inviting me to Australia and Foto Freo.

What Makes Us Human?

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© Ryan Berkley Illustration

There is an interesting article in Seed Magazine that sums up recent research around the growing debate of whether animals are people. It would appear that many of the traits we have long considered uniquely human are not so unique after all. The debate feels less like a struggle for scientific clarity and more like a brainy ape's desperate attempt to hold on to his fragile sense of supremacy.

Instead of "what makes us human" being a question where we are able to constantly adjust the answer, maybe we should make it a statement and choose a definition that commits us to a more humane standard of dominion.

Thank You Kodak

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Through the loupe

A year ago I met Stacy Mehrfar for a drink at the Half King in Chelsea. We'd known each other since our early days printing in the color darkroom at the ICP, but on that day Stacy was in town from Sydney, where she lives with her husband Gavin. As we were catching up over a drink and talking about her new adopted country, she mentioned a strange phrase, Tall Poppy Syndrome. Tall Poppy Syndrome is an Australian societal phenomenon where people who are seen to be successful are resented by their fellow citizens. Having been raised in a country that preaches the religion of individual success (USA! USA! USA!), this concept was foreign to me. As we discussed it further we decided it would be a great structure for a photo series about Australia.

Switch to a year later, I'm in Australia and we are about to head out on the second leg of our photographic road trip exploring the land Down Under.

Mostly unshot film

This project was made possible in large part because of the support of my chairs at SVA and Parsons and the folks at FotoFreo, but there's not a chance in hell we could have pulled it off without a generous film sponsorship from Kodak. As long time Kodak shooters, Stacy and I are thrilled to have their support for this project.

Ready for processing

During our first leg of this trip into the Australian Bush and Outback, we shot hundreds of rolls and sheets of Kodak Portra 160 and 400NC. Yesterday we picked up the processed film and were thrilled with the negatives so far. We'll be posting some early scans of the film in the next week. Stay tuned.

4x5 negatives!

Thank you Kodak!

Greetings From Down Under

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Outback © Amy Stein or Stacy Mehrfar. Who cares?

This blog has been quiet lately because I've been focusing on making images rather than writing about them.

Right now, I'm in Australia to participate in Foto Freo. The festival--which will feature the first solo show of Stranded and a panel discussion where I'll be speaking about online photo communities and blogging with the illustrious Andy Adams and Jon Levy--doesn't start until March 20, but I decided to turn my once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia into a jam packed, three week affair.

Over the past ten days or so I've been working on a new collaborative project with photographer Stacy Mehrfar that has taken us from Sydney to the dusty wilds of the outback. After ten straight days of shooting from sunup to sundown I'm very happy to be back in Sydney.

If you happen to be in Sydney, please come celebrate with me tonight at the Australian Centre for Photography where a solo exhibition of Domesticated is opening. My focus will be squarely on the Sydney art scene and drinking a ridiculous amount of Coopers.

Here are the details:

Amy Stein | Domesticated
Friday March 12 - Sunday April 11, 2010
Australian Centre for Photography
257 Oxford St
Paddington NSW 2021

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 11, 6-8pm
Artists Talk: Saturday, March 13, 1pm