As part of the Ring Festival LA going on currently, theater photographer Monika Rittershaus will have her images exhibited at Ruth Bachofner Gallery with an opening reception this Sat June 6th 6-8 pm. Director and production designer Archim Freyer will also give a talk at the reception.
Monika Rittershaus' photographs reveal images of stillness, depicting instances of a movement as great moments. This stllness makes the singing audible; those moments make the breath of the theater palpable. That is the distinctive quality that constitutes her visual art. - Archim Freyer
Up to the last moment of the party I was using social media as much as possible to get the word out there as well as using postcard promo cards. So here's a quick run-down on how I got the word out.
First of all, I had 5,000 promo cards produced. I made sure to target comic book stores/anime stores/Japanese pop culture stores. Luckily Free Comic Book Day happened less than a week from when I got my cards so using Google, I figured which local comic book stores in the LA area had events plan and spend half a day putting out cards. I also heard of an event out in Rancho Cucamonga, CA where thousands of people show up for free hot dogs, signings with comic book artists/writers. Made sense to advertise there. Through a cosplayer, I was able to talk to the store owner about having my cards at their event. On that day, over 2,200 people stood in line for 45 minutes to get in. Close to 1,000 of my cards were picked up.
Hi Styley! is the work of the Swedish born and Los Angeles based photographer EvaLotta. This is a collection of fashion from in and around Los Angeles. All pictures are candid street shots and not preplanned. I have always been a huge fan of the street fashion blogs and publications from around the world and am excited to join the ranks in helping to document the ever elusive LA street fashion scene.
"The number of successful people working as freelance photographers in America today, is less than the number of guys playing in the NBA." - Kenneth Jarecke (via APE)
And in the comments I find this from a reader : "I'll be honest - I work professionally but I need to supplement my income by doing other things."
How true. You don't know how many photographers I've assisted over the years who have other jobs to make ends meet. Seriously.
Taken out of context the quote above does seem ridiculous but read the link.
Interesting note that for each book Phillip releases, there is a stand-alone website. Before Days with My Father is Phonesex. Also there's never a link to his own photography site on those book sites although at his photography site there's galleries of the books.
Barbara Davidson for Feature Photography with her story of "Bennett Freeze" in Arizona.
Wally Skalij won for his image from Station Fire for News Photography. Wally had also placed 2nd Place, Environmental Picture Story at 2009's NPPA "Best of Photojournalism" competition.
Promise and Peril in South L.A for Multimedia. A series of four stories focusing on South Central. Photographer : Michael Robinson Chavez. A full list of credits as well as other awards here.
+ A little flash mob video for your Wed. morning. This one if by the Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Reading Terminal Market. Lovely ! (Love the expression of the woman at 2:25)
+ The deadline for the Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Award is approaching-June 30, 2010. Application here.
+ APA/LA and Photocrew.com have teamed up to launch findLAphotographer.com to make APA/LA photographers easier to find here in Los Angeles. Very easy to navigate. Click on image to get to photographer's page. There's bio, contact, etc. Currently there's 65 photographers listed.
+ Photoshelter talks to LA photographer Eric Ford about paparazzi biz
+ Oh, finally, quick thanks for Matthew Jordan Smith, Pat from Miauhaus, TJ from Sync Productions among others for showing up at my book release party last Sunday. I had over 300 people come by and sold out of books I bought to the event. Oh, thanks to LA Weekly for covering my event too !
L.A.'s premier fine art nude exhibit and book. Curated by Astor Morgan. Custom printed exclusively by Baret Lepejian of A&I Hollywood. Fine art custom book printed by A&I Books with foreword by Zoe Wiseman. Contributing artists have graciously agreed to share in proceeds of print sales to benefit The Aftermath Project. A&I Books will donate all profits of books sales to the Aftermath Project.
Henry Jacobson Yasmina Rossi Joel Levinson Greg Gorman Jim Wright Naoe Ashley West Leonard Ann Cutting Jeff Dunas Philip Condit Josh Elliott Zoe Wiseman Richard Meade Dolores Lusitana Sara Terry Manuello Paganelli Michael Tighe Renée Jacobs Bob Berg Ina Sotirova Steve Diet Goedde Nelson Blanton Perry Gallagher Josh Separzadeh Rene Russo Mark Tanner Jaqueline Truong Efren Herrera Michael Sanville
Thursday, May 27, 2010 from 7PM – 10PM Opening Reception
BTW : Sync Productions is sponsoring a photo booth at the reception.
A & I Hollywood 933 N Highland Ave Los Angeles, CA 90038
I recently got an email from Julia Dean Workshops and among the listing for exhibition and classes I found this letter from Julia Dean about her new blog.
In June of 1978, I moved from Rochester, NY, where I was a student at RIT, to Blanchard, Maine, to become Berenice Abbott’s apprentice. With me was my new puppy Kilo, given to me by my roommates as a goodbye gift. This was, and still remains, one of the most significant moves of my life, though there have been many moves over these many years. I was 23 at the time. Berenice was a month from turning 80.
The year was challenging, rewarding, educational, lonely, fun, fulfilling, and life changing. I learned some of my most valuable lessons during this year and was influenced greatly then and to this day by two people, Berenice Abbott and her biographer, Hank O’Neal.
I have always wanted to do something to honor Berenice, which is how the Berenice Abbott Prize came about. Thanks to permission from Ron Kurtz, who owns the rights to Berenice’s work, we are able to honor Berenice in this wonderful way.
This year, out of nostalgia, I guess, I brought out three detailed journals, dusted them off, and started reading. I’ve been hauling them around for 32 years. In them are quotes from Berenice, about photography, technical information, life, her pet peeves, and about the photographers she liked and didn’t like. One of the journals is solely technical information, showing detailed drawings of where we burned and dodged certain areas in a print. Looking at these journals again, after so many years, gave me an idea.
It’s called, The Last Apprentice Julia Dean’s Year with Berenice Abbott
Take a journey back in time. It’s 1978. There will be daily entries here on our blog, as if it were then. It is typed word-for-word, though I have corrected some punctuation and spelling errors.
This Sunday is a free screening of "Toyo's Camera" , a documentary of Toyo Miyatake, a photographer who after studying with Edward Weston open his own studio in Los Angeles until 1942 when the war broke out and was sent to Manzanar interment camp. Toyo smuggled in materials to construct a camera to photograph life in the camps.
He was discovered after nine months and called into Merritt's office. The Director told him that Edward Weston was concerned about him, and had written Merritt concerning him.
Merritt permitted Miyatake to continue to photograph, at first accompanied by a Caucasian WRA employee who released the shutter. The first "helper" incurred Miyatake's wrath when he carelessly ruined an exposed film. He quit and was replaced by a series of wives of Caucasian employees, who went around with him or sat in the studio, and took the camera lens home at night.....All told, Miyatake made about 1500 exposures during his more than three years at the camp from 1942 to late 1945. (Via)
Over 500 photographs taken by Toyo as well as his friends Ansel Adams and Edward Weston are included in the film. At the screening there'll be speakers to share their stories of their life in the camps. The event is free and open to the public.
His studio, Toyo Miyatake Studio still exists today in the San Gabriel Valley now run by his grandson Alan Miyatake.
Sunday May 23, 2010 Noon.
St. Francis Xavier Chapel Japanese Catholic Center 222 S. Hewitt Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
More importantly though is that since I shot this story, unfortunately, nothing has changed for the Hmong remaining in the jungle of Laos. I think it’s fair to say things have actually gotten worse since the day I entered the jungle. The remaining jungle Hmong are continuously being hunted down, the world continues to ignore their plight, and the 4,000 Hmong who did escape to neighboring Thailand over the years have been returned to Laos, with no true international outcry or reaction.
...
The Hmong now have absolutely nowhere to seek refuge at this point with their last glimpse of sanctuary, Thailand, turning their back on them.
The need for international intervention is greater than ever before.
“They are hunting us like animals…Animals around the world are being protected so they can survive. Why aren’t we? We are human beings, why does the world tend a deaf ear and blind eye on us?” - Cha Her, Hmong veteran of the CIA’s secret war in Laos.
KC Ortiz's images will be exhibited along with artist Pose at Known Gallery over on Fairfax on Saturday night May 22nd, 2010 8-11pm
Known Gallery 441 North Fairfax Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90036
Finally done shooting the People Issue. Two months, 62 shoots, roughly 270 gigs of images, and video footage to boot. In fact, word is, the Weekly will show the video at the opening of LA Weekend on Friday.
Go. I’m showing new work, too. And old work. I think there’s free tequila. Not my thing, but maybe I’ll bring a flask of scotch. (via)
Yup, this weekend is what I believe the 2nd LA Weekly Weekend and yes, Kevin Scanlon will have his images up for exhibition over at the Saban Theater on Wilshire on Friday 7-11 pm plus there's chance to catch Devil's Playground Comic Book Burlesque as well as hear tunes from Tune In Tokyo. $12.50 gets you in Fri and Sat. Proceeds benefit the Charles Mingus Youth Art Center in Watts.
Wanna a peek at Kevin's photography in that issue ?
Meanwhile, check out PhotoInduced for his video "What's in the Bag ? w/Jim McHugh". Here's one of the videos below.
( I miss Polaroid....but not that chemical junk on the T-55 !) BTW : last I heard, Icon still have some expired 665 for sale. Call Icon 323.933.1666. If anyone of y'all know where to find 665s or T-55s around LA, just post in the comments.
So after my post yesterday of the photo pile-up going on tomorrow, this Saturday is another Mixmaster of photo events. So let's start at the beginning shall we ? Doe, a deer, a female deer.
We are pleased to announce that we’ve signed with ZERO+ Publishing for the publication of our project Heroes & Villains.
Over the past five years, portrait photographers Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho have undertaken a behind-the-scenes exploration of the personalities and faces at the forefront of the vibrant art scene that is energizing pop culture movements today. The resulting hardcover collection of 85 portraits will include previously exhibited work, along with never-before-seen full color photographs of many of the world’s most influential artists. As support for this unprecedented selection of portraits, writer Amanda Erlanson will contribute many in-depth interviews, as well as biographical details about all of the artists.
We are looking forward to this collaboration with Kirk Pedersen of ZERO+, who is dedicated to publishing the highest-quality limited edition art books and to introducing this project to a wider audience.
Yup, just like the 405 and the 10, there's a photo pile-up this Thursday folks. Or from where I'm from in Texas, we call it a mixmaster. In Dallas, where the 30 and 35 meet near downtown Dallas is fondly called the mixmaster and yes, like the 405/10/101, it ain't fun ! Lots of things going on so here's a quick run through.
+ 1 - 5:30 pm + First of all, this week, Leica is in town to show off their M and S systems. Wed is the S-System day ($149) and Thursday ($99) is the M-system day. It is held down in Irvine, CA. BTW : the cost of the event can be put forth to buying a Leica system. All the nitty gritty here.
+ 2:30 pm + Currently at the Getty is "A Record of Emotion: The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans" and this Thursday at 2:30 pm, Anne Lyden, associate curator of Photographs will be giving a gallery talk. Info here. It's free but you have to pay for parking.
+ 5 - 7 pm + Opening reception for Eric Ogden solo exhibition "A Half-Remembered Season" over at Hous Projects in the Big Blue Whale...I mean, Pacific Design Center.
+ 6 - 9 pm + At Huf on Fairfax, skateboard photographer Dennis McGrath will have his opening reception.
+ 6:30 - 8: pm + And in Century City at Annenberg Space for Photography is IRIS Nights featuring David Maisel: "Black Maps". The event is booked to capacity but there's always standby. Free but you just have to wait. Pakring is $1 with validation.
+ 7 - 10 pm + Over in Santa Monica, drkrm gallery west is having their second show "Making Waves" with Anthony Friedkin and Stephanie Ramer. Opening reception 7-10 pm
When I was an assistant, I would love to see the offices of the photographers I worked for. Somewhere in their environment were stories to be told. There's one gal originally from New York who has a house here in LA and her guest house in the back was her office. I swear there were boxes of 120 chrome crammed back there. Oh, this is before digital so back then if someone needed an image, she'll dig it out and Fed Ex it out. Another photographer who lived in Echo Park had his walls filled with tears from magazines. Yes, very Rudy's a la Silver Lake. So I've always been interested in a photographer's space. Heck, I even thought it'll make an interesting book one of these days though the same concept has been used by PDN and others forever now.
Anyways, Patrick Fraser is a photographer living in Culver City with a studio in Venice and this weekend as part of Venice Art Walk & Auctions his studio door will be open for wandering folks to check out his space. Venice Art Walk & Auctions help support the Venice Family Clinic and they'll have several Art & Architecture Tours. This goes on this weekend May 22 & 23.
So if you're curious what a photographer's space looks like, head over and check out Patrick's space. This is his first year participating in this event and I hear he'll be selling some limited edition prints plus I'm sure he'll have some grand story to tell from Cannes - checking his blog I see he's there right now shooting a fashion story yesterday
By the way, the Art Walk is $50 and goes to a good cause !
Oh, besides Patrick there are other events such as Picturing Health – A Photo Documentary by South Los Angeles Teens, Visions of the Arctic: Photography by Florian Schulz among others as well as other photographer's studio.
And since you're in the neighborhood already, head over to The Distillery in Venice afterwards on Sunday. Local photographer Eric Schwabel and James Georgopoulos will be having a show. 361 Vernon Ave, Venice CA 90291
I would wander over myself to check it out but I have my own event going on in Culver City that Sunday. ^^ hint hint
I think the color is incredibly important, along with the other visual tools like composition, lighting, etc. It's no different than a painter who chooses to include some colors and leave out others, creating a palette to influence the feeling of the shot.
It always amazes me how a subtle shift of say, magenta to green (or vice versa) can be the thing that makes a photo work or not work, to me at least. The cool palette is not conscious, I think I do a lot of it just on instinct. In this same group of pictures, there are several images that are very warm, and even go into deep reds, which is always fun to play with.
I usually try to use "motivated lighting", so the light is coming from a real (or imagined real) source, like a window or a lamp. But again, I think you can heighten the emotion by bringing out those colors.(via)
Eric Ogden's "A Half-Remembered Season" just wrapped up in New York and will have its West Coast opening @ Hous Project over in the Pacific Design Center this Thursday from 5-7 pm.
May 20 - July 10
Thursday May 20, 2010 5-7 pm
Hous Projects 8687 Melrose Ave., Space B222 Pacific Design Center Los Angeles, CA 90069
So spotted last week at RJ Shaughnessy opening was LA photographer Brad Elterman. Brad's got an interesting history. He was a paparazzo before the term became known as it was today. Back then he was just a scrappy teenager from the Valley. Times were different back then. In an interview Brad points to around 1984 when things began changing.
"The publicists were coming in, the control was starting to happen," Elterman says. "They wanted you to sign a contract saying you couldn't syndicate the pictures, you had to have permission, you had to give your firstborn child. I'm thinking not only is this not a business now, it's boring. I didn't want to deal with the publicists."
Go over to Brad Elterman's site and take a look through history. Best thing is he's got stories for each photo ! Find the Robert Plant photo and read the story behind that gem. Hilarious !
"I was hired by Nippon Phonogram Records in Japan to do this session of the Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie at her Van Nuys home. I previously photographed her on stage, backstage, hanging out, etc. Her twin sister Marie, pictured on the left, also became a singer and the girl in the center is Vickie Ronald, with whom I attended Van Nuys High School. Record producer Kim Fowley later discovered her when he transformed her into "Vickie Razor Blade" in a band called "Venus And The Razor Blades." Like me, they all wanted to get out of the Valley to the other side of the hill to discover the magic."
Last Sunday I talked about how I plan on using social media to sell a photography coffee table book I have coming out so on this post, I'll be giving a little back story. Now this experience is unique to my book and the market so obviously what works for me may not work for your situation.
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure), short for "costume play" is type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies.
Basically, if you walk into an anime or comic book convention, you see folks dressed up as their favorite characters. Cosplay usually refers to those who are into anime and manga while comic book folks tend to be more costuming. Cosplay loosely can define both.
What sort of strange fascinations do people seem to have with discarded furniture ? Apparently they've hooked UK photographer Nicola Collins and tonight she has her opening reception in Downtown Los Angeles from 7 to midnight over at R&R Gallery/Studio on 929 E. 2nd St Suite 106 90012.
Even more curious about abandon furniture ? I've been reading Peggy Archer's blog for a while now and she has a Flickr collection of abandon couches she's photographed around LA. Check her photo stream for current ones.
Maybe this is more of a film industry thing - I do know a location scout who has been taking photos of discarded furniture for years and hopes to do a book of it one day. And I bet some of the readers of this blog has a stash of their abandon furniture photos somewhere too !
In any case, today I'm gonna start my own photo collection of discarded Rosco or Lee gels you see on set lying next to twisted C-47s. And why are they even called C-47s anyways ?
California is loaded. From Disneyland to farmland, we’ve got Scientology and superstars, Silicon and silicone, crips and bloods. The border. Krunkin’ Clownin’ Jerkin’. The surf and the turf. The boom and the bust. California is humanity run amuck and then packaged, branded and sold. California Cuisine, California Love, California Casual, California Gold, California Girls, and of course, California Dreams. If it exists in the world, it exists here and it does so with pizzaz.
Obviously, we love this stuff. That’s why we’re doing this project. Simply put, California is sensational. And the closer we look the better it gets: words and images, stories and songs, opinions and ideas. This project is ongoing. We hope you like what you see and say so. We plan to post often. So until that day, when we finally float off into the Pacific, California is a place. Stay tuned.
I stumbled upon from a link to link and found myself at California is a Place. A website with a collection of stories that we as Californians may not have a chance to really look at but we are aware of. The site is run by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari and truthfully, I can't wait to see more of their work !
I posted my favorite story, Big Vinny above. What he talks about in the car business, I can see shades of it here in the photography business.
This Friday, May 14th, the good and awesome people at Subliminal Projects will be holding a photo exhibit and book release for Giovanni Reda’s Demigods and Cosmic Children. It all happens from 8pm-10pm, and the exhibit features over 60 portraits of professional skateboarders, artists, musicians, and personalities from the photographer’s inner and outer circles, including Angela Boatwright.
Oh, I remember Angela - in the early 00s, her photography inspired me and she later worked as an photo editor for Mass Appeal magazine which died in 2008. Anyways, tonight over at Subliminal is an exhibition and book release of Ciovanni, a skateboard photographer. I found an interview with him when asked why he did a book of portraits vs. book of skateboarding and he replied :
I shoot skateboarding every day, I live it , I breath it and I plan on shooting skateboarding till Im dead. I love shooting skateboarding. I wanna do a skateboarding book, maybe the next one, maybe in 10 years I dont know. I came up with the portrait book because a friend of mine who is a fashion photographer in NYC named Zach Gold has a huge studio, all the equipment, cameras, computers and everything. He told me, when ever he is not shooting I could use it. I never knew what I wanted to shoot in there. I’ve been shooting skateboarding for so long, I’ve met all sorts of people. I thought it would be cool to have all these people I’ve met through the years of shooting skateboarding in one book. I had access to a studio and equipment that should cost about 2 g’s a day for free, so I took advantage.
Excuse me while I toot my horn for a second. For the past year I've been working on a photography book on cosplay here in the United States. For the project, I travelled to six anime conventions in America in five months, racked up over 1,6,164 miles in travel and photographed over 1,600 cosplayers between May to September of 2009. (If you thought it was strange I posted about Morel Studio Support, a photo rental house in Atlanta last year, now you know why ! ) The following 6 months I spent editing the book down to 260 cosplayers representing over 30 states. Now next Sunday (5/23) I'll be having my book release party @ Royal/T, a cafe/store/art space in Culver City from noon to 5 pm.
Cosplayers will be in attendance, j-pop/j-rock provided by Tune In Tokyo DJs, and a mini-exhibition of five images will be shown. I'll have to thank The Icon for assisting me with the prints.
For readers outside Los Angeles, I will be travelling on tour with the book to Dallas, San Jose, Miami, and Baltimore with future stops in Seattle, New York and Chicago. Find out more at my website, Cosplay in America.
I'll be writing about how I use social media with this project on a semi-weekly basis. You can see my first post about it here.
So if you are curious about cosplay, come on down to Royal/T and check it out. I'll be happy to discuss cosplay, the process of making a book or social media aspects of it.
Sunday May 23, 2010 noon to 5pm
Royal-T 8910 Washington Boulevard Culver City, CA 90232-2326
Once a year, the artists of the Santa Fe Art Colony open their private live/work studios to the general public. A wide range of styles and mediums will be on view, with over 40 artists, ranging from established to emerging, presenting their work. The complex, comprised of three buildings, houses a vibrant community of creative individuals. Art will be available for purchase. Free.
This goes on Sunday from Noon to 6pm. I dug back through the blog and found what I wrote about in 2009. Unlike last year that was held over 2 days, this time around - just Sunday. So get off your computer and go check out the different artists at the art colony.
I admit I have a certain fascination with vintage photographs. I used to look through Ebay and wonder about buying those lots of black & white images. These lots are just a collection of random photographs - some with writing on the back, some faded, some torn. I've never bought any but I've "watched" several auctions. I've also collected old yearbooks. I have some from the 1920s, 30s, others from the 60s and up to the 70s. I find them fascinating to look at the photography of that time as well as the fashion.
Recently I read Hey Hot Shot blog about John Maloof who at an estate sale acquired around 40,000 undeveloped negatives and embarked on a journey to pierce together this story of the photographer behind the images.
Starting his research with a name written on an envelope inside the box, "Vivan Maier," John began to piece together the story of the photographer. Vivan was a French nanny who photographed the streets of Chicago throughout the 50s and 60s. Though she was an extremely prolific photographer, she apparently never showed her images to anyone. Strangely enough, Vivan passed away just days before John discovered her identity and tried to seek her out, stumbling instead upon her recently printed obituary. The story itself is fascinating enough, but what is most interesting about it all is that images John began to develop proved to be far more than snapshots. Vivan's images are funny and sophisticated—a brilliant look at a world long gone.
Although Vee Speers wasn't at the opening last night, copies of her book "The Birthday Party" were. I love the large size and the feel of the paper. Environment is a furniture store over on Beverly and this exhibition was done in conjunction with Jackson Fine Art of Atlanta. I could see the placement of the image in the space was done with thought and it isn't every day you walk into a showroom to look at art.
I did notice Lisa Jack's "Barack Obama: The Freshman" was hanging on the wall - some of the readers will remember that M+B Gallery in WeHo had an exhibition of Lisa Jack's images last May. Well, it turns out the store has a working relationship with the gallery and thus some of the pieces of their previous shows are here in this space.
I'm curious when this show goes down, what will go up from M+B's collection.
