A few months ago, I featured a highly personal project by Gail Seely. Gail had been revisiting a difficult childhood, and in a way, reclaiming her childhood by examining artifacts that her mother had packed away decades before. After that post, Gabriela Herman wrote me that she had also created a body of work that was very similar without knowing about Gail's work. Gabriela's project, Holding On, captures objects that had meaning and significance from a happy childhood before they were lost to the transitions that come with the sale of the family home.
Gabriela's series about bloggers, featured on Lenscratch in February, has gone "viral"-- showcased and celebrated on blogs and in exhibitions, including 2011 Center Forward at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO and the Win Initiative, NY.
Holding On:In the fall of 2010, when my beloved childhood home abruptly sold, I was given a weekend to clear out the 25+ years of belongings that had remained largely untouched. It was pure chaos. Things were being thrown out the third floor window to the dumpster in the driveway below. No time for tears.
Amidst this insanity, I felt the need to capture some of these artifacts, an act which played out like revisiting my childhood in fast forward, frame by frame. The stuff that we accumulate, however valuable at the time, in fact ends up being just stuff, eventually all garbage bound. I had preserved the memories of the past through these objects, but once documented, their physical presence became unnecessary. It is through these images that the nostalgia remains, and I continue to hold on.
When thinking about Memorial Day, and our soldiers around the world, I keep coming back to Tim Hetherington and the difficult and meaningful work that he dedicated himself to. Tim was killed on April 20th by a rocket propelled grenade while photographing in the front lines in Misrata, Libya. As a photographer and film maker, he was our eyes, our consciousness, our interpreter of conflict, war, and death. He also brought a humanity and an amazing life spirit to his work. He gave his life for this vision and I want to spend today, not only thinking of Tim, but of those 18 year old young men and women who are too young to deal with the nightmare of war.
Sleeping Soliders Video, 2009 The work was made in 2007-8 while I was following a platoon of US Airborne Infantry based in the Korengal Valley of Eastern Afghanistan. This is a single screen version of the original 3-screen installation that was first show in New York in 2009 (the original 3-screen version was designed as an immerisve installation, and not for the small screen).
Tim was born in Liverpool, UK, studied literature at Oxford University and later, photojournalism. At the time of his death, he was living in New York, but was traveling the world as a photo journalist. He is known for his long-term documentary work.
"Tim lived and worked in West Africa for eight years and has reported on social and political issues worldwide. His project Healing Sport was published by Thames and Hudson as part of group project Tales of a Globalizing World (Thames & Hudson 2003). Long Story Bit By Bit:Liberia Retold (Umbrage Editions 2009) narrates recent Liberian history by drawing on images and interviews made over a five year period. A new book, Infidel (Chris Boot Ltd 2010), about a group of US soldiers in Afghanistan, continues the examination of young men and conflict."
He was also nominated for an Academy Award, along with Sebastian Junger, for his documentary film, Restrepo, about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan.
Diary Video (2010) 'Diary' is a highly personal and experimental film that expresses the subjective experience of my work, and was made as an attempt to locate myself after ten years of reporting. It's a kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media.
I try to keep posts about my own photo career to a minimum on Lenscratch, but wanted to acknowledge the terrific Photo Radio blog by Lauren Henkin, and a series of recent interviews she conducted at Photolucida, one of which, was with me! Other interviews conducted at Photolucida are with Melanie McWhorter from photo-eye, photographer Cat Gwynn, and Fraction Magazine's David Bram. There are more to come, and be sure to book mark this site for future good listening!
There are many submission opportunities available to photographers--these are some that I highly endorse as they are organizations working to help photographers gain exposure and advance their careers.
WONDERLAND: Photographic Fantasies DEADLINE: Tomorrow, May 30th, 2011 Photo Place Gallery Juror: Blue Mitchell, Diffusion Magazine Photographs can record the detail of the world as we see it. But they can also enable us to present the world as we imagine it. The juried exhibition Wonderland: Photographic Fantasies will feature photos that envision the realms of dreams, the fantasies, and surreal world of the imagination.
16th Annual Photo Competition Exhibition Extended DEADLINE: June 11, 2011 Photo Center NW Juror: Karen Irvine, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography This year the exhibition theme is focused on ANYTHING related to Land or Water– open to interpretation. Selected entries will be exhibited in Seattle, WA at the Photo Center August – Mid October 2011. All photo processes are welcome. Maximum frame size is 32 inches on the longest side. Artists will be responsible for shipping their framed work to and from the gallery.
Klompching Gallery's First Annual Open Photography Exhibition DEADLINE: June 6th, 2011 Curated by W.M. Hunt and Darren Ching The objective of FRESH, is to showcase—in exhibit and online—new talents in contemporary photography that is fresh in approach and vision. The curators are looking for photographs that fully employ the medium of photography within the context of contemporary photographic practice. There is no theme, but submissions with a consistent vision, originality and a strong viewpoint are essential.
I Love L.A. Photography Contest DEADLINE: June 15th Jurors TBD $15,000 in prizes Our theme is “I Love LA”. Submit any photograph you feel that would best represent this theme. Can be literal images, or your own interpretation. Have fun with it, be serious, quirky, dramatic, sexy, edgy, sarcastic, whatever you choose. It could be an image you took years ago, or one you’ll take tomorrow. Doesn’t even have to be taken in LA. Just pick great photographic-based images that represents the I Love LA theme.
Publisher, photographer, and all around visionary, Blue Mitchell, has recently released the 2011 issue of Diffusion Magazine (Vol lll). It's ready for purchase and sure to be another wonderful issue full of inspiration and uncommon images. Also included are articles by Zeb Andrews, Libby Rowe, Lauren Henkin, and Blue Mitchell. Blue began this annual publication in 2009 as a place to celebrate photographs and photographers who were using unusual, historical, and creative approaches to image making.
In conjunction with the launch of the 2011 issue, the Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta will be showcasing many of the featured artists. The exhibition opens on June 11th-July 16th, 2011.
When you think of Vienna, one doesn't immediately think of quirky street photography, but Kay von Aspern has a gift for finding it. Born in Germany, now living in Vienna, Kay is a "Collector of Moments". A member of the German-Austrian street photographer collective seconds2real, Kay looks for those unique juxtapositions that can only be found with the heightened visual acuity that comes from split second observations.
"Sometimes he's a magician. He makes something visible, the others remain hidden. The puzzle pieces of city life creates a single picture in front of his lens. Then he presses the shutter button and keeps the moment in a unique composition. This photo does not form a situation from what it is, but as only he can see them. A bit of luck is occasionally in the game: On bad days the road seems to want to reveal anything and even for hours photographic stroll remains unrewarded. On good days, it gives the photographer a special light or a unique meeting right from your own front door. For these moments, he makes repeatedly on the way to the special in the ordinary noted."
