I love spending time outdoors. In Portland, I’m not alone. Alongside a wealth of parks and trails, there are also nods to nature in the form of murals and architecture. Some blend in better than others. One (perhaps bizarre) nature-inspired addition to many city landscapes are “trees,” or rather cell phone towers disguised as trees, as […]
Archive for the ‘Photographers and Exhibits’ Category
“Trees”
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits, Thoughts on Photography on February 19, 2014 | 2 Comments »
Agoraphobic, for a day
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits, Thoughts on Photography on February 13, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
Last week’s inclement weather made me realize: I’d make a terrible agoraphobic. Easily restless, I much prefer being out and about to spending four straight days in the house. I was reminded of photographer Uta Barth, who – at the time she was awarded her MacArthur Grant – had been photographing exclusively in her home for […]
Reserved
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on May 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
This Memorial Day Weekend, as the crowds descended on the beach, I explored the roads less traveled. There is a calmness to observing places when no one’s around. Like being the first to venture out after a snowfall, feeling like you’re the only person in the world, alone to discover the stories all around you.
Storytellers
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on November 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Photography is an excellent medium for storytelling. Be it a series of photographs, like Gregory Crewdson’s Beneath the Roses, or a single image as shown below. Each of the following scenes alludes to a rich back story. The viewer is left intrigued, wanting to know more and imagining the history of the people and spaces […]
Admiration
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on September 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
There is a common perception that people who are good at one thing – visual arts, for example – will be poor at another (sports, math, writing). But as my husband is fond of saying, I’m gonna have to call bulls#@% on that. In reality, some of the most articulate people I know are artists. […]
Anticipation and Aftermath
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on August 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
For so many of us on the east coast, much of the past week has been spent anticipating the arrival of Hurricane Irene. While I admit I am often a cynic, when it comes to Mother Nature, I am not. So I heeded forecasters’ advice – hunkered down with flashlights and bottled water – and […]
Two for One
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on August 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Musically, I’ve grown partial to mashups. I’ve listened to a few – like The Beastles or Queen vs. 50 Cent – enough times to think that’s how the original songs were meant to sound. In photography, double exposures are a kind of mashup. The few I ever created were accidental, discovered after developing a roll […]
Art Therapy
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on July 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Over the fourth of July weekend, I attended a photography exhibit at the Woodbury, Connecticut Public Library. It was the first solo show by photographer Steven Willard, now 65. The common theme among the photographs was the American flag (though in most, the flag is not the central focus). The theme was fitting, given the […]
Good vs. Unique
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on June 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Though New York City is BIG in many ways, the New York art world can seem small. On several occasions, I’ve walked into a gallery and seen photographs with the same themes as my own. Early on, the sight of “my ideas” frustrated me, and sparked a sense of possessiveness, urgency and competition – like […]
Taking Pictures, and Credit
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on June 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A photography story made headlines this year. What made it newsworthy was not the photographs themselves, or even the photographer, but rather the discovery of the work. Many years worth of photographs, negatives, and undeveloped rolls of film – all taken by one photographer – were sold at auctions. The men who purchased the images […]
Copyright in the Age of Imitation
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on April 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Nowadays, originality is rare. Even in supposedly “creative” fields. What was the last musical you saw that wasn’t a remake, or the last Top 40 song you listened to that didn’t either sample another artist’s music, or sound just like it? When I started my photography business, I wanted to make sure that my work […]
There in Spirit
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on March 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This weekend I hope to see the Pictures by Women photography exhibit at MoMA I had planned to go back in December, but then couldn’t, so I rescheduled it for the next weekend. And then the next; it’s been migrating across my calendar ever since. In the […]
A Good Book
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on February 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I was given a gift card for Christmas and decided I would spend it on a photography book. Unlike some other artists, I do not possess a large, impressive art library. Living in a small apartment, a few blocks from a great public library, I’ve rarely felt the need to own books. Which is not […]
Slash Photographer Slash
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on January 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
All of the photographers I’ve read or listened to lately have repeated the same piece of advice: multi-task! No matter how talented the photographer, they warn, taking still photographs is no longer enough. Among the other skills expected of today’s photographers: Shooting video. Creating slideshows. Recording sound. Conducting interviews. Writing articles. Washing windows? Travel photographer […]
Give It Time
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on December 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I recently watched a documentary about comedienne Joan Rivers and was introduced to the work of New York photographer Flo Fox. In the film, Rivers is shown delivering holiday meals to those in need; Flo Fox was one of the recipients. On the walls of Fox’s apartment hung a series of black and white photographs […]
X, Y and Z Mark the Spot
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on December 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I am a great admirer of the photographs of William Eggleston. I recently watched a documentary about Eggleston and was impressed to learn that his beautiful compositions are each captured in one shot – no bracketing, no multiple takes, no shooting wide and cropping later. In today’s digital era, where photographers no longer need to […]
Mobile Art and the Rise of the Amateur
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on November 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Since the advent of the camera phone, arguably more photographs are being taken than ever before. As someone who does not always carry her good-but-heavy camera with her, my camera phone has been a blessing. Far fewer shots have I missed, and then festered about, because I haven’t had a camera with me; I almost […]
I Am My Own Intern
Posted in Photographers and Exhibits on November 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The farther I drift into my thirties, the more I begin to sound like Andy Rooney: “You know what bugs me? And another thing!” I recently attended a workshop in New York. The topic was how photographers can market themselves online. While photography is something I am just beginning to pursue, the majority of my […]