Events this Weekend

_ F R I D A Y _


+ Art Night Pasadena 6-10 pm @ various locations in Pasadena. Participating venues include : Alliance Française de Pasadena, Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center, Lineage Performing Art Center, Pacific Asia Museum, One Colorado, Pasadena Museum of California Art among others. Free shuttle service, bike tours, and of course, food trucks :)


_ S A T U R D A Y _


+ "beauty CULTure" opens today 11 am - 6 pm @ Annenberg Space for Photography and runs till Nov. 27, 2011.

BEAUTY CULTURE presents diverse viewpoints on beauty as it has evolved through the 20th and 21st centuries. These viewpoints are at times challenging, daring and controversial. Ultimately, the exhibition illustrates the power of the still image in shaping cultural ideals and expectations of feminine beauty – and photography’s undeniable influence on conceptions of the Self.

+ LomoJourney to the Huntington Botanical Gardens noon to 4 pm. Cost of $30 per participant includes a loaner camera, 2 rolls of film, a seat on the chartered bus, and entrance to the Huntington Botanical Gardens. . Meet at Lomography Portrait Store noon @ Lomography Gallery Store LA 7998 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90046


+ " Face to Face: Portraits from the Bank of America Collection " opening reception 3:30-5:00 pm @ Museum of Photographic Arts 1649 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101

Face to Face explores one of the largest corporate collections of photography in the United States, illuminating the rich historical diversity of photographic portraiture. Curated from one of the leading corporate collections, Face to Face includes some of the earliest techniques, including a salt paper print from the 1840s by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, and a half-plate daguerreotype by Albert Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes. Other works include portraits by masters of the medium such as Yousuf Karsh, Lisette Model, Tina Barney, Rineke Dijkstra, Walker Evans and Richard Avedon.

+ "Ward of the State" opening reception 6-8 pm @ Rivera and Rivera 454 N. Robertson Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069

Ranging from the 1980s to the present, Ward of the State will feature paintings, photographs, and works in other media based on Tony Ward’s role as a visual icon. Through their respective mediums, each artist communicates a different facet of a man not easily defined. As a collective work of art, Ward of the State reveals Ward as the embodiment of ideals of masculinity, beauty, brutality, fashion, and sexual ambiguity.

+ Anthony Lepore " New Wilderness" opening reception 6-8 pm @ M+B 612 North Almont Drive West Hollywood, CA 90069 as well as Francois Ghebaly Gallery 2600 La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 6-9 pm. Two-fer !

As the title suggests, Lepore’s images recast the wild as it is restaged in the low-budget theater that is the visitor center. These spaces are the vestibules to wilderness—indoor recreations intended to instruct the newcomer on the open spaces they border, asking only that they walk the distance of the parking lot. By reframing these displays, which usually incorporate other photographs, these images also reflect on our predominant way of experiencing nature—through photography.

+ Ori Gersht "Falling Petals" opening reception 6-8pm @ Angles Gallery 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034. Artist talk at 4:30 pm



+ 32nd Annual Student Photography Show opening reception 6-8 pm @ Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery / Santa Monica College (Madison Campus) at Santa Monica Blvd and 11th.


+ Marco Brambilla "The Dark Lining" opening reception 6-9 pm @ Santa Monica Museum of Art 2525 Michigan Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90404

The Dark Lining, Marco Brambilla’s first solo museum exhibition, features seven major time-based works from 1999 to the present. Brambilla’s oeuvre consists of complex video installations. Much of his work comprises found film footage edited, layered, and spliced to create compelling new narratives and stunning visual mosaics. With exquisite technical production and seamless editing, Brambilla’s multi-layered tableaux of interconnecting images and looped video blend into an expansive landscape that forms his hallmark style.

+ Kahn & Selesnick “Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea” opening reception 6-9 pm @ Kopeikin Gallery 2766 South La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, California

“Adrift on the Hourglass Sea” is set on the planet Mars where the artists present a dark and powerful visage of a collapsed civilization on the red planet. Using photo-mosaics of the Martian landscape taken by NASA space rovers (they were recipients of a NASA commission to create work about Mars) and combining them with their own photographs of deserts in Nevada and Utah, the artists present their distinctive brand of sci-fi mysticism.

+ Chris Anthony "A Captured Species" opening reception 8-11 pm @ Merry Karnowsky Gallery 170 S. La Brea Avenue 90036

The photographs in the series were taken with a large-format camera in Big Sur, Sequoia National Forest and Southern California. Anthony uses his 4x5 camera and most of the images are photographed with 150 year old French lenses. The locations are key to providing the necessary context that serves as both juxtaposition and provides a wonderfully or-ganic landscape to the images

Alex Prager getting Lambda C-Prints done. (via A&I Facebook Page)

Feature Shoot Postcard + Business Card Contest

Thought this might be useful to a photographer out there. Click

New York Photo Awards 2011

NYPH posted up videos of selected winners of the Photo Awards 2011. Check their Vimeo page for the others. If you just want to see the list, check here.

"Ward of the State" opening reception (5/21)

RIVERA & RIVERA is pleased to announce Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse, a group exhibition of works centered on shared muse, Tony Ward. Curated by Robert Standish, the exhibition highlights a diverse collection of images by artists whose lives and careers have at various points been impacted by Ward, as subject, muse and myth.

Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists’ Muse includes artwork by Greg Gorman, Steven Klein, Patrick Hoelck, Patrick Martinez, Herb Ritts, Estevan Oriol, RETNA, Tony Ward, Paul Rusconi, Bruce Weber, Robert Standish, Michael Gregg Michaud, Jules Muck, Rick Castro, Christoph Schmidberger, Ray Turner, Maya Mercer and Tony Ward.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 6 – 8 p.m.

Rivera + Rivera
454 N. Robertson
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Sam Comen "Lost Hills"

Sam Comen has been working on his personal project "Lost Hills" for a while now. Last year in 2010, he attended Review Santa Fe and since we're lucky enough he lived in Los Angeles, I went over to have a talk about his project as well as any advices for those going to Review Santa Fe.

I originally met Sam at a MOPLA event last month. When I was chosen to attend Review Santa Fe, I figured I should go talk to those who have been in photo portfolio reviews to get an idea of how to prepare myself. This week, I'm posting this interview and I hope to have a few more posted in the next several weeks.

"unfortunately, at this time, we all agree that we are not willing to pay anything for the images as this sets a precedent in a scenario where other photographers have agreed to let their work be used in good faith as a way to promote their entire body of work. i hope you and xxx understand this. if we agree to pay you, then we have to pay everyone whose work gets used and this just drives the budget out of control."


"I would be very grateful if you would sign the attached release form granting me permission to use xxx photographs in my book. A digital version (TIFF, grayscale or adobe1998 RGB, 1400X2100 pixels minimum) can be sent via e-mail. xxx Publishing also requires that these images be accompanied by a color correct print or photo print for accurate reproduction. Including this with the signed release form would be greatly appreciated."

These are excerpts from emails sent to a photographer inquiring about photographs she had taken of a band decades ago.

Am I surprised ? Honestly, no.

APA/LA "Portfolio and Website Review" (6/4)

APA/LA will have a portfolio/website review next month of June 4, 2011. Three 20 minute reviews for $150 (APA memebrs) / $300 (non-members). The reviewers are : Ginnie Assenza, Sherrie Berger, John Sharpe and Andrea Stern. I did notice on APA/LA's Facebook event page, they listed two other Rob Beckon, Sari Row as well as more reviewers TBA.

Full bio available at APA/LA event page.

June 4, 2011 9 am to Noon

Strauss Studios
6442 Santa Monica Blvd.#204
Los Angeles, CA 90038-1513

"A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now" @ Getty

Revolutionary Project juxtaposes Walker Evans's 1933 images from the end of the Gerardo Machado dictatorship with views by contemporary foreign photographers Virginia Beahan (American, b. 1946), Alex Harris (American, b. 1949), and Alexey Titarenko (Russian, b. 1962), who have explored Cuba since the withdrawal of Soviet support in the 1990s. A third section bridging these two eras presents pictures by Cuban photographers who participated in the country’s 1959 Revolution, including Alberto Korda, Perfecto Romero, and Osvaldo Salas.

“The Museum’s collection of Walker Evans prints is the largest in the U.S., but until now, we have not shown his photographs of Cuba,” explains Judith Keller, senior curator of photographs. “This exhibition allows us the opportunity to showcase this body of work, alongside newer work in the collection.”

The Getty's new exhibition starts tomorrow May 17 till October 2, 2011

I stumbled upon this on Tumblr the other day and I swear that this shop used to be on Wilshire Blvd in Miracle Mile. Southside of the street, probably a block down from where the photo lab, The Icon is located. Can anyone confirm this ?

Events This Weekend

_ T H U R S D A Y _

Downtown Art Walk is tonight so here's some events going on for that...



+ W. B. Fontenot @ Ground Floor Gallery 433 S. Spring St. 90013. Part of Downtown Art Walk.

Social Networking as the present-day “Big Brother” is explored in the mixed-media photography by W. B. Fontenot, who is inspired by the “surreal dystopia of George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

+ Los Angeles Alleys : The Exhibition + Book Release Party @ Groundworks Coffee 108 W. 2nd St.

+ Other Downtown Art Walk photography-related events - Marc Valesella "Legs" @ Edgar Varela Fine Arts (727 S. Spring) / Phil Stern "Odd Ball" @ Phil Stern Gallery (601 S. Los Angeles) / Susan Silas "eyes wide shut" @ CB1 Gallery (207 W. 5th Street) * note : they close at 6 pm*


_ S A T U R D A Y _


+ LACMA Muse Art Walk 2011 (click photo above to enlarge)


+ Echo Park Art Walk noon to 6 pm in Echo Park, CA :)


+ Richard C. Miller "Portraits" opening reception 4 - 6 pm @ Craig Krull Gallery 2525 Michigan Avenue, Building B-3 90404


+ Robert Weingarten "Portraits without People" opening reception @ Craig Krull Gallery 2525 Michigan Avenue, Building B-3 90404


+ Patlove Shutterbugs Gallery Show 4 - 8 pm @ Kopeikin Gallery 2766 S. La Cienega Blvd 90034

Help us celebrate our Pablove Shutterbugs graduation on May 14th when we gather at the Kopeikin Gallery for a group show and benefit! Students, families, mentors and friends will walk the red carpet to celebrate the kids’ photographs and enjoy our amazing silent and live auction, great food and beverages, and entertainment for the whole family. Photographs for auction include works by modern master Weegee, as well as more contemporary photographers like Bruce Davidson, David Levinthal, Zoe Crosher, Alia Malley, Lauren Greenfield and others.

+ Oh Snap ! opening reception 5-10 pm @ Thumbprint Gallery 2637 University Ave. San Diego, CA 92104


+ Rinko Kawauchi "Murmuration" opening reception 6-8 pm @ Rose Gallery 2525 Michigan Ave # G5 Santa Monica, CA 90404


+ Mike Spitz "MADHOUSE Portraits of Mental Illness" opening reception 6-11 pm @ f/9 Photography Collective c/o Patina Studios at 5239 Sepulveda Blvd Culver City, CA 90230 *note : you will have to drive down the alley way to reach the gallery*


+ Meghann Riepenhoff "Eluvium" opening reception 7-9 pm @ Duncan Miller Gallery 10959 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90034


+ NELA (Northeast Los Angeles) Gallery Night is tonight 7-10 pm @ various galleries and location in Highland Park, Eagle Rock & Cypress Park. Full details at : http://www.nelaart.com/


_ S U N D A Y _


+ Jeff McLane "Effulgence" opening reception 1:30 - 4 pm @ Angels Gate Cultural Center 3601 South Gaffey Street San Pedro, CA 90731


+ Museums of the Arroyo Day

Five museums located along the Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles and Pasadena open their doors free of charge from noon to 5 p.m. There is a full schedule of events, including tours, kid-friendly activities, live performances, and demos for the five facilities, which are The Gamble House, Heritage Square, The Los Angeles Police Society Historical Museum, Lummis Home and Garden, and the Pasadena Museum of History.



( will update as I find more events for this weekend )

LACMA Muse ArtWalk 2011

LACMA Muse’s major annual event attracts audiences of all ages to the museum for a day and night filled with exciting programs. Live music, dance performances, large-scale installations, and interactive art projects proliferate around LACMA’s campus in conjunction with a number of unique happenings in the neighboring galleries along the Miracle Mile.

This Saturday May 14th from Noon to 8 pm in Miracle Mile. Check their program guide (PDF) for events.

Los Angeles Alleys - Opening reception + Book Release Party (5/12)

In conjunction with the recent release of Los Angeles Alleys: The Book, we are pleased to announce that selected works from this website are now on display at Groundwork Coffee, an art house/cafe at 108 W. 2nd St. (though the entrance is on Main Street) in Downtown L.A.

The exhibit is slated to run through May and a special reception will be held May 12 to coincide with the Downtown Art Walk. Starting at 6:30, come out and see the works of art, say hi and meet some of the photographers whose great work will be on display.

More details at : http://losangelesalleys.wordpress.com

Opening reception

May 12, 2011 6:30 pm

Groundworks Coffee
108 W. 2nd St.
Downtown Los Angeles

Perfect Exposure Photo of the Week

Bryan Adams

Just found out Perfect Exposure Gallery will be running "Photo of the Week" on their site. This is open to all photographers and up to three images can be submitted per week. Deadline is Wednesday and images posted on Friday.

The judges are photojournalist Armando Arorizo, owner of Perfect Exposure Gallery as well as Aurelio Jose Barrera who has worked as a photographer and photo editor previously for Los Angeles Times.

If selected, the image will be on their "Picture of the Week" page and a 11 x 14 print will be made available for $350 to the public. The artist will get 40% of the sale. The gallery will handle the printing and shipping. Full details here.

LADIG "Real World Photography with the iPad" (5/11)

Join LADIG webmaster Daniel Sofer as he shows you how the iPad can enhance your photography workflow. This presentation is centered on using the iPad to augment your DSLR and computer for planning, capturing, and processing your photos:

+ Scout locations, find out when and where the sun will set.
+ Download photos from your camera to your iPad for evaluation, backup and processing.
+ Use the iPad in a tethered photo session to evaluate your photos.
+ Take your iPad on the road and leave your laptop at home: the pros and cons.
+ Using your iPad with Lightroom and Photoshop on your computer, some surprising ways to increase your productivity by using both.

In addition, Jon Moeller from Digital Fusion will talk about eBooks on the iPad, and our own Greg Dyro will bring along his latest wacky hacks for your information and amusement.

For the public, the cost is $20. For LADIG (Los Angeles Digital Imaging Group) members is there is discount and you'll have to log in to LADIG to see your price.

Doors 6 pm
Presentation 7- 9 pm

Wednesday May 11, 2011

West Hollywood Park Auditorium
647 N San Vicente Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Email Marketing for Photographers

PhotoShelter just released another PDF "Email Marketing for Photographers".

Children's Hospital "Champion Fund" annual fundraiser

A reader Scott Lightner emailed to let me know the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles is having their annual fundraiser on May 21st and includes a photography auction. If you like to donate your work for this benefit, please contact Ersellia Ferron ersellia@gmail.com

Helmut by June

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

This weekend I was cleaning my apt and came across "Helmut by June" stashed in my collection of DVDs. Now, I don't believe this has ever been commercially available but I came upon across this "For Your Consideration" screener copy at a thrift store on Hollywood Blvd around 2008. Just for kicks, I re-watched it and again marvel at how simple his lighting set-up was. In one instance, his assistant holds a flashlight. At one point, Helmut says "Everything is automatic. All I have to do is push a button. It's a camera that every amateur buys." Then he gestures to his head. "It's all in there.". His instructions are almost comical. "Big eyes ! Big eyes !" The documentary was shot by his wife June back in the 1990s and was broadcast on HBO in 2007. Luckily for those who don't have a screener copy, you can find it on YouTube.

Art of Photography Show 2011

"The Art of Photography Show is the very best photography competition among all of the competitions which were represented at the APA-LA panel, by far. You guys stand alone as being a pure high-end photography exhibition, produced with excellence and with integrity." - Jim McHugh APA-LA Vice Chair

For the 2011, the judge is Anne Lyden, one of the Associate Curator in the photo dept at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Submissions are currently being accepted until May 17th. Selected work will be hung at the Lyceum Theater Gallery in San Diego's Gaslamp District from August 13 – October 16, 2011. Entry fee is $25 for first, $10 for addition.

Find out more details at http://www.artofphotographyshow.com/

"... it is not the camera that's creating the image, it is the photographer. That maybe we should be less focus on gear instead focus on what you have and getting good with what you have."

How We Hire Photographers - Part 2

Freelance photo editor, Ashley Macknica, has worked at Jane Magazine, New York Magazine, Trunk Archive, and the New York Times Style Magazine. Learn do's and don'ts of dealing with photo editors.

Definitely check out PhotoShelter's Vimeo page for other webinars and helpful videos.

Open Show #6 Open for Submission

Open Show organizes FREE social screenings of compelling work by photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers held in high-profile spaces. Our shows give a rare chance for the public to interact directly with project creators.

Four curated presenters (from students to professionals) have 15 minutes each to show their project while the audience poses questions or provides project feedback.

Open Show Los Angeles is currently accepting submissions for their May 25, 2011 event at The Forge 2636 Huron St. Los Angeles, Ca 90065.

If you have a project you've been working on and like to test it in front of a live studio audience ^^, by all means, submit.

Full disclosure : I am one of the co-producer of this event. I thought it was wonderful to have a venue for photographers to showcase and talk about their work. I remembered a few years ago that Slideluck PotShow had a few events held in Los Angeles. It was an opportunity for photographers to break bread and look at work. Open Show has a similar feel to it though in this case, the presenter is able to take questions and have a dialogue with the audience. We like to maintain a smaller group so everyone can get a chance to meet everyone else. Everyone is invited to attend, feel free to bring a snack or a dish and enjoy an evening of photography.

When I started the blog in 2008, I wanted a chance to bring the community closer via sharing events and other topics related here in Los Angeles. When Open Show came around last Fall, it felt like the perfect fit for me to encourage and support local photographers here in Los Angeles.

The other co-producer of Open Show is Jonas Yip who by the way, has his Paris series currently at the San Diego Museum of Art (plug, plug !). So come on down May 25th, have a bite to eat and enjoy some conversations and photography.

Some of the past presenters :
Jeff Berlin
Marjorie Salvaterra
Jess Koehler
Allan Barnes
Jeff Dojillo
Larry Brownstein
David Uzzardi
David Leclerc
Quintan Ana Wikswo
Alyson Aliano
Mitch & Brittany
Michael Kirchoff
Steve Saldivar
Shawn Nee
Mark Indig

Events This Weekend

_ T H U R S D A Y _


+ Emily Ulmer "About A Girl" opening reception 7-10 pm @ Caporale/Bleicher Project Space 355 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036


_ F R I D A Y _


+ Guy Webster "Rock'N' Roll! Guy Webster: Photographer and Collector" @ Museum of Ventura County opens today.

Rock'N' Roll! Guy Webster: Photographer and Collector concentrates on Webster's innovative work in rock-and-roll photography, and features images of such legendary 1960s performers as The Mamas and the Papas, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. A number of photographs in the exhibit have never before been on exhibition. Rock ‘N’ Roll also includes a selection of rare racing motorcycles from Ojai resident Webster’s collection, including a modern Italian V Agusta F1000 bike once owned by Peter Fonda, an Italian MV Agusta 175 SS Disco Volante (Flying Saucer) 1955, and a Japanese Honda 160 R Twin,1966.

+ Jason Langer "Female Figures" opening reception 5-8 pm @ Joseph Bellows Gallery 7661 Girard Ave La Jolla, CA 92037



+ Virginia Beahan "Cuba: Singing with Bright Tears" opening reception 5-8 pm @ Joseph Bellows Gallery 7661 Girard Ave La Jolla, CA 92037



+ Nature LA: xRez Studio opening reception 6:30-9:00 pm @ The G2 Gallery 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 90291

xRez Studio is a collaboration between visual effects designer Eric Hanson and photographer Greg Downing. Founded in 2007, xRez Studio is a creative imaging studio pioneering new methods to capture and convey natural, urban, and imagined landscapes. In addition to being visually arresting, the spectacular proportions of the “extreme resolution gigapixel photography” produced by xRez has proven to be incredibly versatile in its ability to contribute to national park interpretation, geologic research, real estate marketing, feature film visual effects, and cultural heritage documentation.

+ J.J. L Heureux "Faces from the Southern Ocean" closing reception 6:30 - 9 pm @ The G2 Gallery 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 90291


_ S A T U R D A Y _



+ "Scapes" closing reception 6-10 pm @ Blue 5 Gallery 2935 S Sepulveda Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90064

“Scapes” is a unique dialogue of photography and painting that reconciles contemporary and traditional aesthetics. Many of the photographers employ approaches more common to painters, as can be seen in the mist of colors drifting over Jeff Alu’s haunting barren scenes. In contrast painters Danielle Eubank and Michelle Nielsen capture frozen moments in an environment more common to photography. David Skinner will for the first time combine elements of his sought after rural California scenes with his introspective personal series.

+ "Twisted Selves" group photo show opening reception 6 - 9 pm @ UCR/California Museum of Photography 3824 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501

Twisted Selves presents work by contemporary artists who depict the human body in altered, unexpected, and disorienting ways. These artists use collage techniques, sculptural props, digital alterations, macroscopic perspectives, and historical source material to consider the physicality of the body and how that relates to our social and psychological senses of self. Featuring Aimée Beaubien, Jeanne Dunning, Wangechi Mutu, Marco Rios, Julie Shafer, and Carrie Yury.

+ Sant Khalsa "River Run : Photographs from Sant Khalsa’s 20-Year Journey with the Santa Ana River" opening reception 6-9 pm @ UCR/California Museum of Photography 3824 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501

I have been photographing the 96-mile-long Santa Ana River and its expansive watershed for over two decades. My work is intended to create a contemplative space where one can sense the subtle and profound connections between themselves, the natural world and our constructed settings. My often disquieting photographs address complex environmental and societal issues and reflect upon my various ideas concerning my/our relationship with the river -- as place of community, economic resource, recreational site, natural habitat, sanctuary, and both source of life and destruction.

_ S U N D A Y _

+ Walead Beshty and Britt Salveson @ Art Catalogues Bookstore at LACMA. 4 pm

On the occasion of the publication of two new books, and the opening of two new exhibitions, artist Walead Beshty and LACMA's Head Photography Curator, Britt Salvesen, will talk about the process of production, the make-ready and the readymade, reproduction and transmission.

RETV : Albert Watson

Emily Ulmer’s “About a Girl” (5/5)

In my photographs, I attempt to show the beauty of childhood in its most natural state, without the romanticizing interpretation of the adult eye. I usually photograph children in their own environments, in order to capture a sense of their world. In many ways, I see my images as a momentary impression of a point in time that we all leave behind. - Emily Ulmer

Opening reception, May 5th, 7-10 p.m.

May 5 - May 30, 2011

Caporale/Bleicher Gallery
355 N. La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036

"How We Hire Photographers" Pt. 1

Whitney Lawson, Photo Editor from Travel+Leisure Magazine, takes us through some of her favorite promos and how she likes to be approached by photographers. Travel+Leisure uses thousands of photographers per year to fill the pages of their contemporary-styled magazine.

Man, PhotoShelter is killing it ! Love all the webinar they've been uploading. This one is perfect for a friend of mine who is changing his style towards travel and lifestyle. I'll definitely be forwarding this to him !

Alec Soth "Somewhere to Disappear"

Somewhere To Disappear is a film about the desire to run away. For his project, “Broken Manual”, the photographer Alec Soth traveled across America looking for people who’ve retreated from society. Some live in mountain cabins, some in caves, others in the desert. Who are these modern hermits? Why do they want to escape? And what is Alec Soth really looking for?

This film is about men, America, Alec Soth and the dream to disappear.

Definitely I'm interested in catching this documentary. Right now it is in very limited release. Pretty much film festivals. May 5th (7 pm) + May 7th (1:15 pm) it'll be screening at HotDocs Festival in Toronto. On May 9th @ 8 pm, it'll be screening at New School in New York. You can check their Facebook or their twitter for screenings updates. Once I find out a Los Angeles screening, I'll post about it.

Were you at the MOPLA/Smashbox show last Thursday ? Photos are up ^^ Check out Smashbox's Facebook page and tag yourself :)

CURRENTLY : Charles Brittin "West & South" @ Michael Kohn Gallery

Throughout the 1950s, Charles Brittin was the unofficial house photographer for the Beat community that coalesced around the artist Wallace Berman. Brittin settled in Venice Beach, California, in 1951, and his beach shack became a hangout for the Berman circle, which included actors Dean Stockwell and Dennis Hopper, artist John Altoon, curator Walter Hopps and poet David Meltzer, among many others. A self-taught photographer, Brittin was working as a mailman at the time, and spent much of his free time wandering the streets with a camera; he came to know Venice intimately, and his pictures of the town are freighted with a hushed beauty and forlorn sweetness. In the early 1960s the focus of Brittin's life shifted dramatically when he became involved with the civil rights movement. "I suddenly realized I was compelled to do something," Brittin recalls, "because the times demanded it." As a photographer for the Congress of Racial Equality, Brittin documented the dramatic non-violent protests that occurred throughout Southern California, and made a courageous trip to the deep South, in 1965, to assist with the registration of black voters. As the 60s progressed he documented the antiwar movement, and by the end of the decade was devoting most of his time to the Black Panther Party. These two very different social revolutions are at the heart of Charles Brittin: West and South.

Currently over 100 images are being exhibited at Michael Kohn Gallery until May 16, 2011 before Ryan McGinnes exhibit is hung. Hours : Tuesday to Friday 10 am - 6 pm / Saturday 11 am - 6 pm. 8071 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90048-4517



LINKS
Los Angeles Times "Charles Brittin dies at 82; photographer who chronicled movements of 1950s and '60s"

"I Love LA" photo competition

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, whatever you choose. It could be an image you took years ago, or one you’ll take tomorrow. Just pick great photographic-based images that represents the theme.

Found out about this via email this morning. You may submit up to three images. Fee is $30. 30 images will be selected to join a gallery exhibition held at Duncan Miller Gallery in West LA. Viewers at the opening vote for their favorite and top 3 split a prize package worth $5000.

So who are the judges ?

+ Karen Sinsheimer, curator of photography at Santa Barbara Museum of Art

+ Steven Banks, design director for Los Angeles Magazine

+ Barbara Davidson, staff photographer for Los Angeles Times who recently won a Pulitzer

+ Daniel Miller - owner of Duncan Miller Gallery.

Due date is June 15, 2011 and all the nitty gritty details is on their website.

"The way someone who's being photographed presents himself to the camera and the effect of the photographer's response on that presence is what the making of a portrait is about."

- Richard Avedon