Capturing the world at exactly the same time....

David Dunlap, of Lens in the New York Times, writes of a timely global mosaic, created by all of us on Sunday, May 2nd at exactly the same time...that would be 8am Pacific time, 11am Eastern time.

Wherever you are, we hope you’ll have a camera — or a camera phone — in hand. And we hope you’ll be taking a picture to send to Lens that will capture this singular instant in whatever way you think would add to a marvelous global mosaic; a Web-built image of one moment in time across the world.

We extend the invitation to everyone, everywhere. Amateurs. Students. Pros. People who’ve been photographing for a lifetime or who just started yesterday.

What matters more than technique is the thought behind the picture, because you’ll only be sending us one. So please do think beforehand about where you will want to be and what you will want to focus on. Here are the general topics:

Religion
Play
Nature and the Environment
Family
Work
Arts and Entertainment
Money and the Economy
Community
Social Issues

In New York, it will be 11 o’clock on Sunday morning when the clock for Coordinated Universal Time — which carries the neither-English-nor-French abbreviation U.T.C. (it’s formerly Greenwich Mean Time) — reaches 15:00 hours. So some people will be settled into church pews while others prepare to head out to the park, if not the beach. Los Angeles will be a good deal quieter at such an early hour, except for some hard-partying types unwilling to concede that it’s no longer Saturday night. Lunch time will be at hand in Rio de Janeiro, dinner time in Cape Town. Dusk will be bringing an end to another tough day in Afghanistan, while midnight will be an hour away in Beijing. For Australians, it will already be first thing Monday morning.


Once you have taken your photograph, submit it here by Friday, May 7th.
For more information, go here.

Hisaji Hara

Many photographers, myself included, are inspired by painters. Toyko photographer Hisaji Hara has reproduced art works by Balthus in timeless black and white imagery. An exhibition of his work opened on April 6th at Gallery Bauhaus in Toyko, and will run through May 22nd.

Hara's tranquil monochrome portraits look strangely familiar -- and indeed, all are modeled after paintings by Balthus (1908-2001), one of the most revered artists of the 20th century. Although the figures and background furnishings are not identical to the originals, the compositions are. Through this tableau-vivant-like approach, Hara somehow manages to capture the essence of Balthus's works.

photograph of Balthus and his wife


Images by Hisaji Hara followed by the paintings that inspired them.

Cheng-Chang Wu

Cheng-Chang Wu, from Taiwan, recently won The Power of Self, "an international search for the world's most compelling self-portraits", a competition hosted by Artist's Wanted. Wu's work was selected from hundreds of entries judged by Guggenheim Curator Helen Hsu, actor Steve Buscemi, producer/director Chris Weitz and Flavorpill founder Sascha Lewis. Wu was awarded $7007 cash; a publicity campaign and a flight, hotel stay and an artists reception in New York City, New York.

Cheng-Chang Wu of Nan-Tou, Taiwan from William Etundi Jr. on Vimeo.

When faced with the pressure of life and the society, “photography” has been a means for me to find emotional relief. Going back one day afternoon, with successive setback at the job and in life, I turned to the “photographic mode” to express my perception of my life then, with a “disorderly” mindset. Standing in the space where I usually worked, I photographed myself with long exposure by flashing my face with multiple flashes using a handheld flashlight, in which my face become blank due to overexposure, and through which I had completed the first image of “Vision of Taiwan” series – School.



The “flashlight” was an instant explosion of accumulated energy, and the instance release of the lights seemed to resemble an emotional outlet for relieving the many trepidations and setbacks in life. The human-less domain seemed to have withdrawn from the reality but entered into a vacuum setting, leaving behind only my “silent” protest to the environment.



Thereafter, I have attempted to expand the breadth of my dialogues with environmental spaces by expressing my personal observation, experience and opinions of the environment of Taiwan. I attempt to explore, amid the changing social environment, the realistic domain gradually shaped by the cultural, political, and economic factors, and beyond the visual aesthetics in the visual expression form the “environmental” issues and the conflicting perception of “aesthetics” hidden behind the visual perspectives, insinuating the absurdity and conflicts that exist in the environment. I can only confront the existential environment with an unfeeling remorse, and turn a blind eye to the current status that exists in the environment.

Nancy Newberry

Texas photographer, Nancy Newberry, is usually traveling, on assignment, or can be found "chasing tumbleweeds in Marfa, Texas", but a confluence of events brought her back to her childhood roots and to a tradition rooted in Texas culture, the Homecoming Mum. Nancy injured both of her hands and returned home to recuperate.

While trying to fill my time with something other than learning to open doors with my feet, strains of the high school marching band lured me to my alma mater’s Homecoming Game. Confronted by stands packed with cheering Mum devotees, I immediately realized an opportunity to not only reconnect with the optimism and energy of my own teenage mythology, but to deconstruct and document the Mum praxis.

Virtually unknown outside of Texas, a roughly 60-year-old tradition takes place on Homecoming Friday, aka Game Day. Exchanged between boyfriend and girlfriend, parent and child or friend to friend, the Homecoming Mum is an elaborate corsage, or for the boys, a garter worn on the arm. What began as a simple gift of a chrysanthemum for girls to wear to the game has evolved into an institution regarded as seriously as the game itself. The Mum consists of a large silk flower decorated with long glittery ribbons, bells, stuffed animals and other trinkets, which indicate the wearer’s interests, social
standing, and allegiances to loved ones and friends.

Jay Mark Johnson

I am very happy to be hosting the second of a four lecture series, 4 Evenings with Fine Art Photographers, this Thursday, April 29th, with the amazing image-maker, Jay Mark Johnson. The lecture will take place at A & I in Hollywood, and begins at 7pm. For more details on the event, go here. Hope to see you there!

Jay produces work that is on the forefront of new technology and photographic images that challenge the norms of perception. Employing a process that is distinct from conventional photography, he creates works that merge the recording of space and time into a single, linear “spacetime” continuum. The resulting photographs are akin to both seismographs and electrocardiograms in that, as timelines, they begin on the left and end on the right. The horizontal length of the image conveys an uninterrupted and fluid measurement of a brief span of time, varying in duration from 10 seconds up to 45 minutes.

Belgrade


Johnson writes, “Human knowledge expands and matures through advances in the arts and the sciences in one of at least two general manners. Either they push the outer envelope into newer territory or they construct new symbolic scaffoldings which span across and link together previously disparate disciplines. In the empirical sciences, discernible advances are made when an established instrument or practice develops greater refinement or greater range. Art contributes by challenging perceptions, shifting perspectives or otherwise strengthening or broadening established understandings.”

Roma


"The artist views the works in these series as spacetime photography. He equates his visual experimentation to stepping “through the looking glass” with Alice. In this parallel world of shifted perceptions, the ground rules are changed. Horizontal space is obliterated, shadows are crisscrossed, directional movement is confounded. Individuals appear isolated from the spaces they inhabit, and the relative speed of an object causes its expansion or contraction. Though the images are true photographs, they challenge the viewer’s effort to decode them."

Hazard


Cetona


Hamburg

The Photographic Life

I'm not sure where this originated as I've seen it on a couple of blogs, but there is a lot of truth to it...

Boston Week: Keith Prue

I'm wrapping up Boston week, with one last photographer (and undoubtedly more in the future). Keith Prue is a beantown observer. He notices the imtimate and the expansive, while simultaneously taking in the cultural and environmental impact of man's influence on our world.

When I’m completely present to what is unfolding in front of me, alive to the anticipation and excitement of seeing afresh, there is a mysterious convergence of my inner and outer worlds. It’s a delightful dance, drawing my attention without preconception.
During that moment of wonder, I feel the thrill of connecting with a fleeting moment, a totally unique manifestation of life never to be repeated. Without thought about creating or conveying meaning, I merely respond to the simple pleasure of seeing.
My pictures are not born of ideas about subject or stories, but reactions to what I notice wandering the streets, attending an event or simply observing life.

Keith has a number of interesting series, but the two featured here are Mile Square, conveived to contrast traveling "far and wide" for a picture, where he captured an area one mile square of his local neighborhood, and Intrusion, where Keith explores the "interplay between our constructions and nature, how we share space and coexist."

Images from Mile Square












Images from Intrusion