One of the strong forces at Paris-Photo were the classic and historical images available. Of course there was au courant photography from the relatively new artists.

And some of it was REALLY big.( just noting continuing trends )

[photopress:costa.jpg,full,centered] © Giacomo Costa

Like this piece from Giacomo Costa, represented by Galerie Clairefontaine.
You have to check out the rest of the work on-line.

There were some smaller photographs too, in the form of publications.

Well represented at the fair were some excellent photography magazines.
Not the ones where you see camera reviews, ads from B&H, and tips on using a flash-on-camera. You still want/need those.

These publications were strictly celebrating the images. And presenting some of the freshest and strongest new photography currently being seen.
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© David Field

One of the stand outs was the quarterly publication Eyemazing.
An oversized magazine published in Amsterdam, they have a direct mission statement, and from what we saw in previous issues and on the web, they have stayed true to their goals.

From their site:
EYEMAZING has a core target of creatives Continue Reading »

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Photo ops abounded.

Just letting you know there are some snaps being uploaded to the Facebook site as “share” photos as opposed to the gallery upload.
A quick way to see a couple of visuals from holiday time in NYC.

While the others shop, you can be discovering history.

Oh, there’ll be doorbusters, Black Friday deals, doors opened at 5:00AM, but you can sleep in , and see the latest offering at one of the best museums in the world : the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sure, they had a major retrospective of Richard Avedon some years back. But most of the fine art photographic history, has been left to MOMA. Don’t get me wrong: love my MOMA.

The short shrift usually afforded the chemical/lens/frozen moment arts has been adjusted in a greatly expanded series of exhibits.

Depth of Field: Modern Photography at the Metropolitan

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Rineke Dijkstra (Dutch, born 1959)
Kolobrzeg, Poland, 1992
Chromogenic print
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Roy R. and Marie S. Neuberger Foundation Inc., Jennifer and Joseph Duke, Gary and Sarah Wolkowitz and Anne Marie MacDonald Gifts, 2001

In a show of mostly massive images by artists who may have begun as painters, there is an homage to the mostly mundane, exploring the intellectual explanation of a visual medium.

The images have interest in an historical reference ( Andreas Gursky early work ) but the reasoning on choice, the accompanying write -ups with the images, of what was on the walls was a bit over the top and made a visceral experience feel plodding and over wrought. Way too much intellectualizing on images that could easily be felt on viewing. Still recommended.

Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860

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Unknown photographer
Spreading Oak with Seated Figure, 1850s
Paper negative; 7 x 8 1/8 in. (17.7 x 20.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Hans P. Kraus, Jr., 2007

However the main show with an historical bent was fascinating both in scope, description and gallery layout. Continue Reading »

This week we have a package of items, all handpicked to hit all the marks in your photographic interests. These are a few of my favorite things. Cue the music……

There is a LowePro gear bag, Giottos mini-tripod, Family of Man, On Photography by Susan Sontag, a Sandisk Mobile Mate Card Reader, and of course, a Photoinduced.com lens cloth.

And how can this veritable cornucopia of goodies be yours?

Just like this: First of all, make sure you are signed up for the NEWSLETTER, you are eligible.
Here’s how the weekly giveaway works: Continue Reading »

[photopress:m_527.jpg,full,alignright] ( before we get started, let’s first congratulate our weekly giveaway winners from last week.Krissy W. of NY,NY will be getting the ShootSac, and Ella M. from Maple Falls, Washington asked “what else is there?” and she’ll find out when she gets a copy of The Photographers Eye)

We’ve been looking around, trying stuff out, and hitting the trade shows to see what may be of interest to you to add to your shopping list for the photographically minded. Yep, good for gifts to give or maybe, just maybe, suggestions for the folks getting you a nice little something.

Totally Free:
To the first 10 people – a photoinduced.com lens cloth and T-shirt.Just send an email to damonw@photoinduced.com, put “free” in the subject line. If you’d like a T, say S-M-L-XL-XXL, for size. then add a shipping address. Anywhere in the world.

Under $20[photopress:51V47H2RS8L.SS400.jpg,thumb,alignright]
For just a few dollars you can gift someone with some cool stuff; great book that can inspire, teach, or entertain or maybe a useful tool that everyone can use.
Family Of Man – must have book in everyone’s library. trust us on this one.
Woman – A Celebration: a beautifully printed collection of some of the classic photographs of women
Digital Photography for Busy Women – plain talk about your favorite subject.
SanDisk MobileMateâ„¢ SDâ„¢ Plus Reader: a portable card reader that’ll take care of your SD cards, cell phone cards, in all sizes. you will need a separate one for memory sticks. ( yeah, Sony likes that proprietary card)

Under $50
Driven: The Motorsport Photography of Jesse Alexander, 1954-1962
Personal Exposures : Classic book by Elliott Erwitt, looks like Amazon has a few copies left at a right price. This one is out of print.
A custom photo book created by you with blurb.com or a gift project.
Paris-New York-Shanghai: one of our new favorite books exploring the power culture cities of the past, present and future. Brilliant in content and design.

Magazines:
On the magazines a great way to do it is to get a copy of the mag, and let the giftee know that there is a sub coming their way with a card. From $12-$60 USD.
PDN
American Photo
Popular Photography
Aperture (now with a 50% off offer!)

Under $75:
[photopress:Twin_with_Plate_Behind_07.jpg,full,centered] Hahnel battery charger– outstanding fast charger. Took this unit on an international trip and every night had the D200 batteries charged fast AND the video camera’s batts charged too. With a meter to let me know how much juice was left in the battery, my time time resetting for the next day was a breeze.
Just needed a plug adapter different countries and it comes with a cigarette lighter adapter for charging on the road. Folds flat, packs small, it’s a new permanent part of the kit.
Adobe Photoshop Elements – perfect for the photographer who wants to start in on making more of their digital imagery, but don;t need all of the tools in Photoshop CS3. VERY user friendly.

Under $100:
Huey Pro Color Calibration Tool: Have a serious printer on your list? If they haven’t been calibrating their monitor to get the most accurate color in their prints, here is a powerful, easy to use tool that’ll make all of the difference.

For the gadget-y person that you want to spend some dough on, check out Eye-fi, a 2gb wi-fi card.
Basically you can upload to 14 different share sites wirelessly. It does keep your images private till you decide on which ones to go public. OK, it’s a cool idea, great package.

For 3D in a digital world Loreo has a cool lens that, coupled with a printer, will get you want you want. It fits on a variety of DSLR’s, and produces 2 images on one frame, with a parallax shift, which can be viewed using a stereopticon, or a simple viewer.

Speaking of which, Epson printers are perfect for making up your 4×6 prints for 3D or giving out,and they are blowing out an older version for about $60.

In point and shoot land:This’ll kick it up a notch or two ( around the $300-$400 range)
Sony T200 – check out the Smile detection feature. Fun deal. Conversation starter. Needs a bit of light to work right, but overall solid unit.
Nikon S51c: great little unit with email capabilities, and a “wheel” system to help you adjust what you want to control, easily.
Canon PowerShot SD870 IS
Panasonic – Lumix: only point and shoot that does RAW plus manual exposure. Leica lens.

In the world of camera bags, utility, stealth, and comfort are some of the lead requirements.
[photopress:ArprtInlGly1.jpg,full,alignright] For the past 12 months, we’ve been on the road at various times, flying all over the place.
There has been nothing like our ThinkTank Airport International. Fits where we need it, holds a DLSR, video camera, mics,lenses, hard drives, flash, cables, batts and most importantly, a 15″ MacBook Pro. FLAT. yep, they designed the dividers to be low enough for a laptop to sit in the case, not on the outside in a pouch. Very protected and comes out easily at the security points. You may not need it for that, but on a trade show floor, my back is thankful for the wheels.

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On the street, we dig the LowePro SlingShot 300AW. Reads like a backpack with real good zippers.
Saw 3 today in NYC and they just looked like backpacks, not repositories of $3k worth of gear or more.

Now at the holidays you want to see someone’s eyes open wide when they open the package. Oh you’ll know if you did well. It’s in their eyes. So make sure you get some fun, boxed stuff. The hard-core stuff that takes a lot to deal with must be accompanied with fun stuff.
Be it a lens, easy printer, book, viewer, photo vest, camera back, or camera or printer.
Make sure the eyes light up.

On the book front, I’ll never forget giving someone a copy of the family of man and 3 months later I get a phone call with a story of looking at the photos with their daughter and were brought to tears.

Money well spent.

Frames are always good.

Digital frames?
Maybe the ones that will let you put a card in it to set a slide show in motion. Quality is getting there, but see for yourself. We’re not happy yet. Take a media card with pics on it and see how it looks. In the store. Only way to tell.

Now the shooters on your list always dig a flash, camera bag, tripod, lenses, but be careful here, make sure you know what they have already.
We’re not going to touch this area, as it is a big broad animal, and everyone has product needs that you have to stay loyal to.

A perfect solution would be to go to your local camera store, like Samy’s or internet server like B&H and they can handle a gift card for the hard to buy for shooter.

Wait a minuteâ€:.are these some good ideas to let folks know what you may like???
Of course it is.
Remember the folks at photoinduced.com are just like you.
Heck,they are you.

And as we see some other goodies out there ( we’re still looking) we’ll give you a heads up.

There was a ton of stuff at Paris-Photo we want to share with you, but you let us know it was time to shop a little. Cool.
We’ll continue the fair coverage shortly.

Cheers!
Damon Webster

[photopress:focus_sign_one.jpg,full,centered] We’ve just packed up and headed out to NYC after an amazing time at Paris-Photo and surrounding photo events. Special thanks to Guillaume, Sophie, and Violeta for all of your help!

*There will be a wrap-up report on the fair, some exclusive videos, and an overall assessment of the week.Solid stuff.

*Also, it’s just about Chrismahanukwanzakah ( or the holidays for everyone else.) We have become quite the PC society. Have a laugh here. Or be totally offended.You’ve been forewarned.
What we’re getting at is that we’ve been working on the holiday gift list for everyone in your photographic giftee group. They are plenty of items for all budgets and you’ll be proud to give them all.

*Plus reviews of some gear we’ve been using on this trip. Road tested to insure value.

OK, one last image of some incredible French food before we get on another plane.
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And the amazing thing is it’s made with no butter or sugar……..totally Atkins approved.
hahaha.

There are about 23 art fairs about to take place in Miami during Dec. 5th – 9th approx.. Not sure if it’s in the cards, but if you are there, get ready for some visual candy. And lots of choices in the flavors. AIPAD, PhotoMIAMI, Art Basel are just a couple.

The winners of last weeks giveaway will be announced tomorrow, and the new one posted.

Cheers!
Damon