Congratulations this week to: Charlotte A. of Mentone, California who’ll be receiving her copy of Class Picture, and to Charlene H. of Uncasville, CT. who’ll be able to protect her DSLR with Camera Armor, one of our favorite products to share.

Coming soon to a screen near you……

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From Adobe Systems, there has been something being talked about for a while: On-line photo editing.
Photoshop Express was demo’d again this week at a developers conference.
Built to compete with many freebie photo editing programs, this flash based system has some features that look very cool. And easy to use. One of the items that peaked our interest was the thumbnail view of all possible corrections within a section. In other words, to change the color temperature of a photo, you see the range of possibilities all laid out for you to pick from. Plus you can easily change the color of separate subjects within a scene. Lots of Photoshop features, in an easy to use package. Not meant to replace but democratize.
I guess the questions is when will it be available? Hello? Adobe?
One thing we do know though is that it’ll be free.

(at the end of this post we have another on-site free giveaway for you. check it out.)
Of course we did some photos at Aperture. This is what the space looked like:

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The only shooting restriction was Continue Reading »

OK, we’ve been traveling around the city of New York and seeing some of the new exhibits meant to tweak your fancy, so to speak.
After digging on the excellent show at Aperture, a quick walk around the corner,brought us to one of our favorite galleries, Yossi Milo. Famed for introducing Loretta Lux to these shores, the shows here always have a particular point of view that seems to be on the cusp of the next thing, whether a group show or a one person exhibit.

Photographs by Kohei Yoshiyuki from his series The Park
September 6, 2007–October 20, 2007 presents us with a look at a part of Japanese culture you may not be familiar with. Using a 35mm, and infrared film, in the 70’s,he captures the couplings at a famous park where people, both homosexual and heterosexual, are caught in their trysts.
But you know, caught is not quite a right word. There are there in the midst of the acts. And there are small groups also watching, in a very clandestine manner.[photopress:ky_13_small.jpg,full,centered]

Disturbing in the sense of extreme voyeurism, with secret love, or more appropriately sex, caught with the techniques available at the time. The deepest pit reached here though, are the people watching the acts at night in the park.

Oh wait. You can join in also by watching the voyeurs, watching the secret sex. At night. In a park.

Controversial to say the least, this show has been getting it’s share of press. As a matter of fact, while stepping out of the gallery, there was a class of adults apparently doing a walking tour. The leader was disclaiming what they were about to see. Is there a bigger titillation factor, than telling someone that they may be shocked? Seeing art ? I don’t think so. A few of the folks tried to meet my eyes to maybe gauge a reaction to what they were about to see.
Well, trust me, i made sure that my eyes did not belie my sentiments. We’re adults. Make up your own mind.
Not seen for almost 30 years after the scandal of the first exhibition, this is sure to be the talk of the town.

And you can order the book too, if you can’t / won’t make it to the gallery.

Now, I love this gallery and the images it brings to the world. If you are not challenged by the art sometimes, you will live a very boring life.

I’ll go back. Just not for this show.

Yossi Milo
525 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
tel: 212-414-0370

After walking the floor of Aperture at the Lisette Model show, they have a great little lounge area. I’d like to think of it as a great place to rest your barking dogs. AND you can sit comfortably and look at all of the offerings on the bookshelves. A bad place for me to be. Only because I think that some new bookshelves will have to added at the office. The order went in online today.
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© Dawoud Bey
“Kevin
One of the books that kept me there was this volume by Dawoud Bey called Class Pictures.
Now usually, if an image needs text, it doesn’t hold that much power for me.
Except here.
Not only are you treated to blend of very real, very true images of one of the most vital times in a persons life, but there is an accompanying self interview examination, giving you a first person insight to the subject. Sure they were edited, however the character comes forth and adds another rich ingredient to the portrait.

if you happen to be in Andover,Mass. you can see the entire exhibit.
Addison Gallery of American Art
Phillips Academy
180 Main Street
Andover, MA 01810-4161
Tel: 978-749-4015

Or get the book. you’ll want to go through the pages slowly. Buy it at the link or maybe you’ll get it for free from us.
Here is how: Continue Reading »

Yeah, you do.
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Coney Island, New York, Bather Standing
© Lisette Model

This past weekend was spent trying to drink in just a portion of what NYC had to offer the public in the first set of exhibitions of the Fall Season. Always meant to come out strong, and perhaps even shock.
It did not disappoint.

As a matter of fact ,this coverage of a galleries will be split in two.

So first up was a visit to the Aperture Gallery in Chelsea on 547 27th St.

Lisette Model and her Successors

“ Photography is the easiest art, which perhaps makes it the hardest ” Lisette Model

As a photographer, she approached her subjects with a straightforward honestly and presented them with generous space in the print. In other words, the characters physical presence commanded almost edge-to-edge real estate in her large, for the time, prints. Grain was her friend, and it was the head-on celebration of these people. Diana Edkins referred to it as “intractable perversity of Model’s artistic approach” Larry Fink called her “.as elegant as she was profane. She could entertain the angels in heaven while luridly looking up their skirts” Model herself described it as “investigating glamour.” “ Exploitation is not my aim, revelation is.”

As an artist and teacher she touched many lives, and perhaps how you see photographs today.

This is a Lisette Model retrospective with a twist. A huge one. Continue Reading »