Mea Culpa

©Katy Grannan

It's been a very long time since I've blogged and I apologize.  Having gone back to work full time, the past four months have been a whirlwind.  I'll do my best to catch up with extra entries.  Most recently, I saw Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West, a MOMA exhibit documenting the American West from 1850 to present. You could hardly enter a New York subway station without noticing the arresting promotional poster bearing Katy Grannan's photograph, Nicole, Crissy Field Parking Lot I 2006. 

Like the Eggleston retrospective, Into the Sunset was extensive, serving up many iconic photographers including David Levinthal, Cindy Sherman, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Frank.  I came away feeling a bit overwhelmed but also a little disjointed.

Hasted Hunt Gallery

© Nathan Harger

I'm taking a Photo History Continuing Education class at Pratt Institute and just attended my first class on Saturday.  After the lecture, we hiked over to Hasted Hunt Gallery to see their current show, "Contradictions in Black & White."  The exhibit features work by Margaret Bourke-White, Harry Callahan, Michael Flomen, Adam Fuss, Nathan Harger, Vera Lutter, Ray K. Metzker, Irving Penn, and Horacio Salinas.  We were asked to connect the phrase "the camera never lies" to a specific image we saw at the show.  My response can be found on the class blog under comments.

Digital Photo Students at Bucknell University

© Tyler Clavelle

© Lasma Kanele

© Emilija Rygelis

I just finished a semester as the Graduate Assistant in Photography at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA.  Bucknell is not a trade school and students who major in art receive a BA, not a BFA in Art but that does not stop the department from producing many talented artists.  I've included a few images from the Fall 2009 undergraduate Digital Photo class above.

William Eggleston

I was fortunate enough to get to The Whitney while the William Eggleston retrospective, Democratic Camera, was still up.  The first thing that struck me was how extensive the exhibit was, with his work ranging from 1961 till 2008.  I had just gone gallery hopping in lower Manhattan and was starting to get annoyed by the many shows with 10-20 unrelated pieces in an unwelcoming, silent environment.  Eggleston's work was well represented and I really appreciated getting to see his amusing video footage as well.

LIFE Magazine Photos on Jezebel

Youths waiting at Battery Park to see Pope John Paul II. New York, 1979.©Time Inc.

Weightlifting Girls, 1972©Time Inc.

I'm admittedly a bit too reliant on Gawker these days for my irrelevant news stories. I was excited to find a blog post on LIFE Magazine photo archives on one of Gawker's sister sites, Jezebel. The post highlights women in the 70's and some of the photos are pretty fantastic. I've chosen a couple that I particularly enjoyed. Reminisce my friends!

OtherPeoplesPixels, The Best Website for Artists

It's pretty much impossible to be a photographer these days without having some sort of personal website.  For a long time I resisted putting my work up but quickly realized that I'd be at a huge disadvantage without one.  I had done a bit of web design in college but was pretty clueless when it came to HTML and so many templated sites I had come across were completely hideous and overly busy.  I envied my tech-savy friends who had created simple viewer sites so quickly.  A photographer friend turned me onto OtherPeoplesPixels, a site that offers web design specifically for artists BY artists.  It's so easy to use and rather affordable.  I've had my site now for quite a while and absolutely love it.

Julia Fullerton-Batten

From "Teenage Stories © Julia Fullerton-Batten

© Julia Fullerton-Batten

I knew I had to include Julia Fullerton-Batten but the tough task was choosing which images to post.  I believe I was first exposed to her series "Teenage Stories" but really enjoy a lot of her personal work as well.