For all of you film lovers out there

Courtesy of Film Ferrania

I found this post that I wrote ten months ago but never published.  Things are going very slowly for them as you can see.  It is worth keeping track of their progress.
For all of you film lovers out there, hope is alive.  Check out the story of Film Ferrania and the team that is working hard to bring back analog film in both motion and still formats!  They started with a Kickstarter campaign and have kept it going from there.  You can read all about them here.

Pack your bags

So sorry for the incredibly long silence.  I have been trying to get things in order on my end.  Very soon I will have a large inventory ready for purchase in the shop.  If you are interested in vintage cameras, etc.  Check back here for shop updates.  For now I have decided that it would be better if I posted some future exhibitions worth viewing.  That way, when I slack off at least the information will have already been posted.  Let us start with the upcoming exhibition at the Getty.  "Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium."  Oh, if I only had my own jet to fly around and view everything that I want to.  What I find interesting about this particular exhibition is that it is being shown at the same time as "The Thrill of the Chase: The Wagstaff Collection of Photographs".  In past posts I have encouraged anyone reading this who is unfamiliar with Sam Wagstaff to take the time to do some research on him.  Since Mapplethorpe was so closely tied to Wagstaff it is a special opportunity to see both of these exhibitions at one time.  Please contact me if you get the chance to see these shows.

Manipulating the Traditional

The current Getty exhibition Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography explores artist experimentation with the basic components of photography.  I know that I may come across as a strong traditionalist, but I thoroughly enjoy alternative  processes using traditional materials.  It's really the whole digital thing that puts me off.  I just can't help it.  I am set in my ways.  If I were in California, I would be here.  Let's face it.  I don't really think there is a day where I would not be at the Getty if I could.

Dandy Lion

Sorry for the radio silence.  I recently went to see   Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity    at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.  I had not been to this museum in many years.  In fact, I believe it was at another address.  It is now three floors.  I have read reviews by people complaining that it is a very small museum, but that is the beauty of it.  It encourages an intimate viewing of the artwork.  You can't just blow by.  You should embrace the opportunity to slow down and observe.

The works included in this exhibition utilize both modern and traditional techniques.  There were digital prints as well as silver gelatin.  Though beautiful, I have to admit that the actual digital prints do not really hold my interest.  Show me some beautiful grain and tonal range and I am yours.  Some of the pieces that I found especially interesting were contemporary wet collodion prints.  They beckoned you closer to observe their beauty.  You have to appreciate the level of difficulty there is when working in this particular medium.  It takes incredible skill and patience.

 It is interesting to observe the many black sartorial experience from various countries around the globe.

This exhibition is up for another month so there is plenty of time to view it or plan on seeing it if you are planning a visit to Chicago.

How this is going to work

   Although this blog has not been in existence for very long I have already discovered that it is really just a look at photography through my own personal filter.  For the most part there is no serious research being done, no theories being proven.  I am putting stuff out there that interests me in the hopes that it might interest someone else.    Therefor, I think it best to more often link to other articles and exhibitions rather than compose my own information.  Someone else has already made the effort to do all of the heavy lifting and probably has more to say about the subject than I would.  So, very often I may just link information that might be of interest to others.  I do all of the gathering of information so the reader has an easier time of it.
   I recently posted about an exhibition of the work of Duane Michals.  I know I mentioned that he is one of my favorite photographers.  I wanted to offer more reading about him and his work in case somebody was interested.  There is this article from the New Yorker.  Another from American Photo.  Lastly, the Wall Street Journal.

The Getty

Let's face it.  If I could fly anywhere and explore a photographic collection for a day it would be the Getty Museum.   It houses the photographic collection of Sam Wagstaff.  If you do not know who Sam Wagstaff was, you need to read up about him.  I'll give you the wikipedia on him, but it would behoove you to do your own research on him.

"was an American art curator and collector as well as the artistic mentor and benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (who was also his lifetime companion) and poet-punk rocker Patti Smith. Wagstaff is known in part for his support of Minimalism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and Earthworks, but his aesthetic acceptance and support of photography presaged the acceptance of the medium as a fine art."

After spending hours appreciating the Wagstaff collection I would like to check out two of the exhibitions currently on view at the museum:

In Focus: Play

Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Los Angeles take advantage of this great opportunity.

Lone Star

This is going to be one of those posts based solely on my own interests.  This may be of interest to those of you in Texas.  Since I have never been to Texas and do not foresee a visit in the near future, I am making this suggestion in hope that it will inspire somebody in the Austin area to go out and view this exhibition.  It is Wildly Strange: The Photographs of Ralph Eugene Meatyard at the Blanton Museum of Art.  Ralph Eugene Meatyard has always been among my favorite photographers.  I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with the fact he comes from Normal, Illinois.  I just remember feeling a connection to his work from the first time I viewed it.  That would have been way back in high school.  Something about the children in combination with the masks in those surroundings.  If you are not familiar with his work you should go and check it out.
     As an aside, there is also a contemporaneous exhibition about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland there.  I only mention this because few people realize that Lewis Carroll was a well known photographer.  I am assuming that they will exhibit some of the many portraits Carroll took of the real Alice who was his neighbor.  I am hope they will share some of his other photographic works as well..