more Pictures of the Day, Oct. 30, 2008

Police officers stood guard outside the Education Ministry in Rome, during a protest against school reform that will reduce spending on education and research. 

Massimo Percossi/European Pressphoto Agency.

The death toll continues to rise after a powerful earthquake in Ziarat, Pakistan. 

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press.

A series of synchronized bombs killed dozens in Assam, India. 

Anupam Nath/Associated Press.

Lise Sarfati (b. 1958, France)

"The New Life" or "The American Series" 

"Her subject, however, as she herself asserts, is not youth or "teenagerhood" per se, but the possibilities inherent in that period of life, during which emotions are close to the surface, reminding us of the individuality, vulnerability, and also fortitude that we all carry."    

-Aperture

"Rough, Cold and Close: A Russian Poem"

Skate Rats

Travis Dove's (www.travisdove.com) images of Skatopia, an 88-acre skate park in Rutland, OH are compelling, repelling, fascinating, disturbing and enchanting all at once. Dove was the gold medalist in the Documentary category of this year's CPOY contest (individual photos of his also won other awards) and his pictures of the anarchist farm show have been published on other sites as well, such as Blueeyes Magazine (blueeyesmagazine.com). After the 18-photo slideshow on the Blueeyes site, I still want to see more shots of his. I think the photos show remarkable nerve, dedication, and desire and ability to capture a facet of society that most people are ignorant of.

CPOY

This is the kind of thing that can make you feel like shit: seeing what other college photographers (even in Ohio!) are doing. Below are some images from the 63rd annual College Photographer Of the Year contest. Started in 1945, the contest is sponsored by National Geographic, the National Press Photographers Foundation and Nikon, among others. Interestingly, many of the winners (this year, at least) are from Ohio University - and many of the projects take place in Ohio - Travis Dove's 'Skate Rats' in Rutland, OH, Kainaz Amaria's 'Above and Below: Life Along the Northwest Appalachian Coal Belt,' at the Central Appalachian Mine, OH, Jenn Ackerman's 'Circle of Love,' in Creola, OH. 

Check out winning photographs from various categories and from various years at cpoy.org. There are some amazing images. 

Dominic Nahr (Ryerson University)

A young Palestinian boy looks back at the camera as others gather around a grave and hold up green flags during a Hamas funeral, 5th January 2007, Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip.

Peter McCollough (Ohio University)

Joseph Gunthrie circles in the cage with blood smeared across his back after breaking his opponents nose with a knee strike during a cage fight in Birch Run, Mich.

Carl Kiilsgaard (Western Kentucky University)

Claude, Richard and Tammie’s newborn baby, suffers from a lack of blood circulation, which was supposedly caused by Tammie’s cigarette use during pregnancy. Here, Richard and Tammie attempt to warm Claude’s cold arms by blowing hot air on them and pressing on them.

Kainaz Amaria (Ohio University)

Central Appalachian Mining Ohio coal miners shower after their shift underground.

ten works with artificial lighting

Fiona Aboud

Patrick Demarchelier

Irving Penn

Magdalena Bors

Philip Lorca DiCorcia

Annie Leibovitz

Inez van Lamsweerde

Robert Mapplethorpe

Ye Rin Mok

Greta Anderson

thinking about A Sense of Place

two artists with a somewhat similar aesthetic:

Justin James Reed

Alec Soth

I also find Alec Soth's portraits compelling: http://www.alecsoth.com 

New York Times Pictures of the Day, Oct. 2, 2008

Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press

Chinese security guards rested next to a barricade near a stage while a fan is "crowd surfed" during the Modern Sky Music Festival in Beijing. Thousands of fans participated in the festival during a weeklong holiday to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949.

Justine Kurland

Having known very little about her or her work going into the lecture, I feel like I learned a lot from hearing Justine Kurland speak on September 18. A few topics she spoke about resonated with me in particular: the history and tribute to the American west in her work, what she called "easter egg gazing," and the exploitative relationship that photographers have with their subjects. 

The slides Ms. Kurland showed of the early American landscape - Carlton Watson, Mathew Brady (during the Civil War), etc. showed a powerful awareness of the traditions that her art has grown out of. It's something that I think is very admirable in terms of knowing your roots and knowing what has been done, as well as inventive - combining the new with the old in her peopled landscape photographs.

She also talked about "easter egg gazing" - her term for what is essentially making pretty pictures for the sake of making pretty pictures. She mentioned that it is something that she has questioned at different points in her career - what is the value of making pretty pictures in a [fucked up] world? Is there an obligation, or a responsibility, to shoot images more relevant to the state of the world right now (NOT pretty, to say the least)? It is a question that I think about in terms of artwork and its "importance" or lackthereof, but also in terms of general being and living in the world - how good is it of you to spend your time traveling aimlessly, looking at pretty landscapes, or making your own art in your own little enclosed studio, while there are possibilities to work directly for the benefit of others, to be involved in trying to fix the awful state of things?

Finally, one of the last things Ms. Kurland spoke about was the possibility for exploitative relationships between a photographer and her subjects. This is an issue that faces all photographers any time they point their camera towards a human subject, or scope out individuals to be in a picture - Why do you want THAT person? Generally, I think, the answer is because the person is visually interesting or appealing in some way that the photographer feels is appropriate for the picture she wants to make. No matter how she may try to disguise her motive, the truth behind it all is that she wants to make a good picture. I appreciated how up front Ms. Kurland was on this subject - she talked about being honest to herself about the fact that she may only be complimenting a 15 year old girl's shoes in order to get her to pose for her (the photographer's equivalent of trying to get someone into bed, I suppose). When you take a little bit of someone's soul, she asked, how responsible are you?