Hailing from Minnesota, Alec Soth has become a darling of the global fine art market.
[photopress:61zcEje64bL._SL500_AA240_.jpg,full,alignright] But his work is much quieter than all of that. A very unassuming man, his work speaks for itself, whether it comes from the explorations of Sleeping By The Mississippi, or the very personal journey of
[photopress:41kxBWtcF3L._SL500_AA240_.jpg,full,alignright]Dog Days Bogata.
His love is the wandering and the making photographs of what he discovers.

In photography, there is always a tie to some technology, which should just open the visual door wider for you to walk through. Sometimes, it becomes a stumbling block when not used with a deft hand, and you start paying attention “to the man behind the curtain”.

Alec Soth has found his methods, and his photographs have soared because of them.

Using an HP 3200 printer, he (or his studio manager) has found that the process of printing museum quality prints in limited editions, has become less time consuming, and honestly, an easier process.

We met with him in NYC, during PhotoPlus Expo, for a chat about those methods and his work.

You can also see some of his work on our VIDEO SHORTS page under the MAGNUM tab. Yes, nominated in 2004, he became a member of that prestigious collective this year.

Yes, well, what can I say? I’m a fan.
And thanks to Steidl, I can order up this reprint, easily.
We’ve discussed this work before. Need a reminder?

[photopress:447158669_13417e450e_1.jpg,full,centered]© Saul Leiter

Here is the book, Early Color
[photopress:51JA41H6DTL._SS500_.jpg,full,centered]

From The Steidl site:
“None of Leiter’s contemporaries, with the single and partial exception of Helen Levitt, assembled a comparable body of work in color. The lyricism and intensity of his vision come into fullest play in his eloquent handling of color: to the rapid recording of the spontaneous unfolding of life on the street, Leiter adds an unconventional sense of form and a brilliantly improvisational, and frequently almost abstract, use of found colors and tones. Leiter’s visual language of fragmentation, ambiguity and contingency is evoked in Saul Leiter: Early Color by one hundred subtle, painterly images that stretched the boundaries of photography in the second half of the twentieth-century.”

To be eligible to win a free copy of this book, make sure you are a subscriber to our NEWSLETTER. We do a recap of the week, add some extras, and include the details on getting in on our weekly giveaways.
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Next week, a new book from Annie Leibowitz, will be our weekly giveaway. Stay tuned.

First introduced at Photokina this year, the Leica-S2, came to the PDN/PhotoPlus Expo, where we were able to get our hands on it.
Holy Moley.
Even in it’s handmade prototype form (there maybe 2 of these in existence) the brilliant, clean design, made the crowds drool. With a massive sensor and on-board processor, this medium format, pro camera, had a perfect balance in the shooting position, although we only handled it with the normal 70mm lens.
should be available summer 2009.
We have a tour of the camera, with Maike Harberts, Product Manager from Leica. Pay close attention to the info screen as it may be a harbinger of things to come in the industry.

Although some folks felt that Leica was lagging a bit in the digital category, this entry should quell those non believers.
Maybe they just looked at the price tag.
Priced for the pro market, this should be available Summer 2009.
We’re thinking about a rental when it’s available.

From a most refreshing viewpoint, although SmogRanch may not seem to have anything to do with refreshing, our friend and photographer, Dan Milnor, puts forth his viewpoint.
And we dig his writing. He graciously has allowed us to reprint this column, from his site. As he admonishes everyone to read at their own risk, this intelligent, talented shooter, has an opinion about a lot of things photographic.
Check it:

“Friends don’t let friends buy a digi point & shoot!”

“Okay, I’m breaking my cardinal rule of blogging and I’m going to post about a piece of equipment. There, I said it.

Today’s topic is the all powerful “digital point and shoot camera.” Now, at this point in time, most human beings on the planet seem to have one, two, ten of these things, and continue to buy them at an alarming rate.

For the camera companies this is a great thing, and for the consumer this is great because it seems to be one of the reasons why the general public is so excited about photography once again, a wonderful thing.

Now here is my problem. I think that all of these cameras are total junk.

Is that clear enough? I know this opinion is in the minority, like most of my photography opinions, but this one needed to be posted because of the sheer number of photographers who approach me, excited about buying one of these things only to approach me again, a few weeks later, cursing and explaining their return of the unsatisfactory product.

Okay, let me clarify.

If you are not a working photographer and are making what I call “happy snaps,” vacation pics, kids in pool, etc, or straight to web images, then this style of camera is probably fine. These point and shoots are small, stylish looking and are very easy to use. Or, if you love shooting small, mpeg video files I think these small cameras work well, and are far easier to use, and store, than a “real” video cam.

And on yet another side note, a friend recently said he had a seen a report that 70% of people using digital cameras did not know how to get the images out of the camera. Couple this with the fact that somewhere around 95% of all digital photographs are never printed and I can see why people “love their digital point and shoot.” Shoot, leave images on camera, erase, shoot again. This makes perfect sense to me.

However, if you are an advanced amateur or a pro and are looking for something “light” to carry on the side to compensate for your larger body, DO NOT BOTHER BUYING A DIGITAL POINT AND SHOOT. I think this is the biggest scam in the game at the moment.

Let us look back in our short photo-history. Continue Reading »

Whenever I travel, the camera bag that comes on board the plane with me is the ThinkTank Airport International. Looks so much like regular luggage, that it ticks off cabbies in NYC who assume I’m going to the airport when I’m only going to the Javits Center. Kinda like that.

Now, the gear, including the laptop, goes into that case, and I know it’s protected, with me, and fits easy into the overhead. When I get to my destination, usually when it’s a city, I switch out the gear from the roller to a discreet Oakley backpack, that has been packed, empty, into my luggage, which has some perfect pockets and is nicely padded. Also, it doesn’t scream “CAMERA BAG!”. Main roller stays in the room.

So far so good. As different gear shifts in and out of the bag, depending on the shooting, the bag leaves a little to be desired, but works.

The folks at ThinkTank must have been doing some similar stuff, because they came up with the Shape Shifter. Exactly what I’ve been doing, in a much better designed bag. Still discreet, but holds your gear much better. We met with Kurt Rogers, staff photographer at the San Francisco Chronicle, and one of the owner/designers at ThinkTank Photo, who gave us a preview of the bag.
Check this:

Also in the video, you’ll see their newest addition to their Urban Disguise Line, the “35” Fits a DSLR, pro or regular, plus a laptop. Great for walking around in…well…disguise.
As they say, you can get these bags in any color, as long as it’s black.