Through a Lens Darkly

I do not usually post full length films to my blog, but I found this to be very interesting and I can still fit it into Black History Month as well!  In case I did not embed the video correctly, you can also watch it here.

To Celebrate the Year of the Goat

Chinese New Year will arrive on February 19.  The year of the goat.  For those of you lucky enough to be in Manhattan, you can indulge in some dim sum, char siu, lo mein, watch a little lion dance and then add a little photography into the mix.  Head uptown a bit and atop in at Aperture to view "The Chinese Photobook".  I wish I could join you.

Love is in the air

Robert Doisneau

In honor of Valentine's Day, some iconic photographs of love.

Alfred Eisenstaedt

Annie Leibovitz

Although this is the image that will be remembered from the shoot, I like the one below as well.

Is there a noticeable difference when a photographer trains their lens on the one they love?

Georgia O'Keefe by Alfred Steiglitz

Charis Wilson by Edward Weston

Eleanor by Harry Callahan

Wife and first born child by Elliot Erwitt

Black History Month

February is Black History Month, but it is also the shortest month of the year.  That being the case I thought I had better post about this as soon as possible before time runs out.  I have listed below a very short list of some influential African-American photographers for your exploration.  If I was unable to find a current exhibition to suggest, I simply added a link to information about the photographer.

Lorna Simpson

Gordon Parks  - Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott, Gordon Parks: Segregation  Story,

James Vander Zee

Carrie Mae Weems

I decided to cast a wider net.  Why limit the list to American history?   I have a few global options for you to explore as well.

Staying Power : Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s - 1990s

Human Rights Human Wrongs

Alice Seeley Harris  Brutal Exposure: The Congo  

Black Chronicles II  - this traveling exhibition just finished up in Uruguay, but there is no indication                                       if it will be traveling to a new location next.  Hopefully, it will.

After the storm

Something to see

     I will do my best to post about interesting photography exhibitions around the world.  I admit that the sole criteria for these choices will be that they will be shows that I would go and see if I could travel anywhere in the world.  This way I will not limit the options to my own geographic location.  To kick this off I am suggesting that everyone that lives in the Philly area jump at the chance to go to the Carnegie Museum of Art to see the various Duane Michals exhibitions  - "Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals" and "Duane Michals: Collector" .  I have long been a fan of his work.  I enjoy his use of a sequence of photographs as filmic storytelling.   I only wish I had a tiny hint of his ability to successfully marry image and text.  I have a wish list of photographs I want to add to my personal collection and a particular piece by him has always been at the top.  If I were able to go there I would also check out the exhibition "Teenie Harris Photographs: Civil Rights Perspectives"

The Beginning

Welcome.  This marks the beginning of a new venture for me.  I wanted to start a space that was dedicated to analog photography.  At this point I do not have everything organized and ready to go, but if I waited for that this blog would never happen.  It has already been a long time coming.  I have decided to just begin and let it develop from here, as it were.  This blog will be all old school.  I know nothing about digital photography so why post about it? 

My hope is to suggest interesting exhibitions to view, give some history of photography and if all goes well, some interviews with regular everyday old school photographers.  I hope it will become a place to visit for suggestions about things to see and learn, people to meet and items to revisit from the past.  I am sure that the majority of the content selected will be chosen solely due to my tastes and interests so please take that into consideration before complaining. If there are things you would like to see posted here just let me know.

  

It has been a long enough wait.  So, let's begin.