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| The Neophyte - January - March, 2002 | |
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| March 19th, 2002 Barely hanging by the thumbs We are getting the much needed rain on the first day of spring. Will there be enough so we won't have to feel guilty running so much water in the darkroom? Doesn't look like it. For earth's sake, maybe we should all trade in our silver for ink. In the letter section of last months' Vogue ("Talking Back," p. 106, Vogue, Feburary), there was a curious drawing of a person, hanging by just two fingers (one on each hand). A red box tells us that it is a sketch by Irving Penn. Turned out that there was an error in the text accompanying Mr. Penn's portrait of Marc Jacobs in the November issue of Vogue, and he wrote in: "The VOGUE words that accompany my photograph of Marc Jacobs credit me with ten years of life not yet lived. I value these years, possibly to draw on in the future. In the meantime, I hope the writer is hanging uncomfortably by her thumbs." Mr. Penn, turning 85 in June of this year, still has a sense of humor. Perhaps as a token of apology, there were three consecutive articles in that same issue of Vogue with Penn's photographs - "Private Eye," about Penn's two exhibitions in New York (Earthly Bodies at the Met and Dancer at Whitney) features three of his photographs - a dancer, an earthly nude, and a spider; "Towering Inferno" about Liam Neeson carries a full page portrait of Neeson by Penn; and "Peel Appeal" about "exfoliating home peels" with a full-page photograph of a peeled apple (the fruit). Penn's colleague Richard Avedon (78 years old) is mentioned in another fashion publication, Women's Wear Daily (March 18th, 2002). Barely There, a brand for bras, has a 12-month ad budget around 20 million dollars, "according to industry estimate." They have chosen Mr. Avedon to take photographs of models wearing the Barely There bras, which supposedly are making quite a reputation among women. There will be two and three-page spreads from August through November in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Jane, In Style and Harper's Bazaar. If you just can't wait to see what Mr. Avedon does for the Barely There bras, visit their website. The cover shot, with the girl's hair blown back and wearing a green (green?) bra, is by Mr. Avedon. I think. March 18th, 2002 Photographing a Disaster There was a conference in New York City last week - the spring national college media conference, hosted by College Media Advisers at the Roosevelt Hotel. I was there on the second to last day of the convention, Friday the 15th, to listen to the Keynote - Photographing a Disaster. The speakers: Todd Maisel, NY Daily News; Shannon Stapleton, Reuters; Bolivar Arellano, NY Post; Stan Honda, Agence Frace-Press; Angel Franco, NY Times. The subject: the disaster on September 11th, 2002 and what these photographers did that day. The session was held at the Grand Ballroom, filled with college students, most of them white. In the front, there is a long desk with the speakers sitting behind it, and to the left of that, a screen and a speaker's stand. Each photographer takes turn to walk up to the stand to tell us his story, with their photographs shown on the screen behind them. The first to speak, after the host gave the obligatory introduction, is Todd Maisel. Mr. Maisel, a man of small and thin stature with a high-pitch voice, reminds me of the actor Edward Norton, or a young Woody Allen. He showed us photographs of people running and screaming, after the World Trade Center was hit by the plane. Then he paused, and said something about censorship and went on to his next picture. It was a photograph of a hand, close-fisted, except for the index finger, which pointed out straight, like some basketball players would do triumphantly when they make a shot, except that this one is pointed downwards. And then you see the hand is by itself, ripped from the arm. You can see the flesh beyond the wrist, and a piece of bone sticking out. I heard gasps and "oh my God"'s, and the speaker explained that the hand was from someone who jumped off of the building. He proceeded to show us more photographs and told us what happened to him - the buildings came down, he hid, he put away his equipment and carried just one camera, he went out to take more photographs, he helped the firefighters. One photograph came to mind, that of a firefighter standing, just standing, standing in disbelief. Many photographs were accompanied with no words, or with just one word, "helplessness." Mr. Maisel explains at the end that even now, a freight elevators' noise reminds him of the first (World Trade Center) building coming down, like a "chalk scratching a board, it penetrates you ... you can't get it out of your mind." The next speaker is Shannon Stapleton, who was in a black shirt, dark brown pants and black shoes, looking more like a model than the person behind the camera. His first photograph of the disaster is at Times Square, outside of his agency, Reuter, where he took a picture of people standing around looking up at a TV, which was showing the first hit. With a digital camera, he captured the now famous photograph of men carrying Father Mychal Judge out of a dusty background. He said that he knew he "had some images," and went back to the agency to deliver the disc. He went back to Ground Zero with another disc and took more images. He explained, and rather aloofly, that as a photographer, he was looking for light, trying to be creative, and that in whatever situation, he and all photographers still needed to show their "skills." It was an awkward thing to say with the somberness of the subject, but his point was clear at the end of the talk. He reminded us that some people posed the question, "is photojournalism dead?" after the disaster. Mr. Stapleton believed the answer is no, and it is "alive and well." His reasoning: "look at the pictures we all made." With thick dark hair and a mustache, Bolivar Arellano spoke with heavy accent. I had trouble understanding his words, but his photographs were loud and clear. He drove downtown, running "40 red-lights" to photograph the disaster. With a long lens, he took some extreme close-ups of the building, and people jumping out of it. He showed us three of those pictures. The people are small, but against the white exterior of the building, you can see cleary the shape of the person. One has his two arms wrapped around each other, like a diver trying to speed up, and Mr. Arellano believes that the person wanted to go down as fast as possible to end it as quickly as he could. "I am Catholic," Mr. Arellano said, "and I was praying in my mind." There were helicopters around the buildings, and he thought they could help the people, but as we all know now, there was nothing anybody could do. The only thing we could do, he later explained, is our job, and his job that day was to photograph. He showed us a picture of a group of firemen looking away. It was an ordinary shot, something most of us would glance away without remembering. Mr. Arellano explained that it is the sort of picture he would not normally take, because the people have their faces turned away. He pressed the shutter anyway, and he recorded possibly the last photograph of that group of men, who all went back into the Trade Center and were killed. Another picture: the World Trade Center 1, like a candle with smoke coming off of the top, standing by its lonely self without its twin that should be standing right in front of him. Mr. Arellano concluded with these words - "many people say this happened just yesterday. To me, it happened a few seconds ago ... I hope this never happens to anybody in the world." Next, Stan Honda, freelance for Agence France-Press, gaunt in a blue shirt and yellow tie, wearing thin-rimmed glasses. He started his talk with quotes from different papers such as the LA times and Washington Post. One writer he quoted says that photographs, not the words, of the disaster told the story, and they were more powerful than TV clips, which came and gone. "Still images remained still." After the quotes, he showed us photographs. You had to concentrate in your work, Mr. Honda explained, and there was no time to think about what was happening. He didn't see the collapse, and he didn't know what has caused all the dust and debris except that something terrible has happened. It looked like it had snowed, he told us, few inches of thin gray dust covering everything, including the people. He took a photograph of a businessman walking, with his left hand carrying a suitcase and right hand covering his mouth with a handkerchief, dust all over him. That photograph made Fortune magazine's cover. Mr. Honda took another picture of that businessman later on, with the same suit and suitcase, but with a smile and a new American flag tie, no visible dust. You can see the businessman as our capitalistic society, a representative of the white-collar, middle class America, and exactly what the terrorists hate and try to destroy. And he came out unharm. But the photograph made me uncomfortable - perhaps his expression is too cheerful after what has happened to him, or maybe it is his suitcase, which tells us that the man is back to its routine, working for the corporate America. Another photograph: a man at the New York Stock Exchange trade floor, carrying a sign, "We're still open." Last speaker is Angel Franco, staff of the New York Times, and a former student of Ben Fernandez, back in the PhotoFilm days at Joe Papp's Public Theatre. The speak was short. He had a compilation of video and still photographs of Louis Rivera, whose wife is still missing from the disaster. But he could not show the material. He showed us a slideshow of the photographs he's taken that day. Mr. Franco explained that he wanted to take six photographs of the Trade buildings before hiding for safety, he ended up taking just five. Within a store, he took pictures of the glass door and windows. We see the outside through the glass, and it was clear and bright. The second photograph shows a darker room, with dark gray smoke coming from the left. The last photograph in this series shows that smoke and dust has covered everything outside the glass. We can only imagine the fear of seeing that strange phenomenon - but what is the point in trying to understand the fear? Mr. Franco ended with a photograph of the New York skyline before the blemish. It is easy to look at these photographers with cynicism. What could make anyone stay at that horrible site? They explained, "it is our job." And listening to their stories and voices, we want to believe them, and we believe them. We can hear the horror, hopelessness and helplessness they felt. And we believe that, as Mr. Honda said, they were so concentrated in their work that they do not realize and did not have time to understand what was happening. The photographs they have taken also escape criticism - as least mine. I guess I have not brushed off the dust off of my eyes, I don't see how we can look at the subject here and talk of aesthetic. I have not been reading books or going to galleries to see photographs of what happened on September 11th. TV, magazines, newspapers have shown enough of them to numb my senses. The photographs at the Keynote did not rouse my interests either - not until I hear the voices of the ones who took them. In this case, I think, words were stronger than the pictures. March 8th, 2002 GRUMP! GRUMP is online, here on Hoboken Almanac! This latest issue is extra special, because we're in it. Mr. Vestal quoted what I have promised about having Grump on the Hoboken Almanac - "they'll be up in a couple of weeks..." That was written a couple of months ago. But it's here now, no worries! One comment about GRUMP 80: Don Manuel might be the oldest photographer, but there is another photographer who will share the honor of having three digits in their age. Leni Riefenstahl, more known for her association with the Nazis, will celebrate her 100th birthday in August this year (she is about six months younger than the great Don). Speaking of Mrs. Riefenstahl, her work is being shown at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition, but there's no need to rush. The photographs there are of her earlier work, those of the Olympia, heavily influenced by her early years as a dancer, and with many references to Greek mythology. You can find them in her book, Leni Riefenstahl: Five Stars. Also shown is her famous film, Triumph of the Will, in a small room. If you do go to the gallery and want to see the movie, go early, so you can grab a seat. When I went, there was just one sofa, and it only fitted four people. The film projector in the back is loud (and right behind the sofa), but I guess it gives a certain flavor. There is no subtitle, so I had trouble understanding what those Nazis were saying. Save the time and rent it on DVD - there are in fact two DVDs - you can find them on Amazon or your favorite online/off-line store. March 6th, 2002 AIPAD Part III Almost forgot about the photography at AIPAD. That was really the best thing for me about the photo show, to see the prints (supposedly original and some vintage, but who can you trust these days?) up close. You won't be able to find much work by new artists. After all, the prints that can generate big money for the galleries are the ones by "proven" photographers. A lot of these proven photographers do not make their own prints, such as Henri-Cartier Bresson, who takes wonderful pictures at the "decisive moments," but lets his assistants do the printing. Now that he's a painter, I hope he paints his own canvas. One print caught my attention - it was by Alexey Brodovitch, from his Ballet series. As you might know, the negatives for those photographs were burned in a house fire, and there are not many copies of Ballet lying around these days. And I would imagine the print to be even rarer. But it was there, in Howard Greenberg's booth. The other time I have seen that photograph is in the book, The New York School, Photographs 1936-1963 (edited by Jane Livingston), which has some (terrible) reproduction of Brodovitch's Ballet. The book, however, was a bargain when I bought it, so I can't complain. It is thick, with a lot of words and a lot of photographs in fairly good reproduction. Levingston has gathered the works of a few great photographers who unfortunately do not receive enough attention - Sid Grossman and David Vestal in particular. You can also find in the book some photographs by Bruce Davidson, whom, as I learned from meeting him at AIPAD, is one person who's is not low in self-esteem. (Read below) One gallery was showing some very good photographs by three "unknown" artists. All were good, one stuck in my memory. His name is Edward Sturr, and he is an American, born in 1937. The photographs shown were of size 11x16, black and white, and the subject was the street. Joseph Bellows Gallery represents his works, and the person working at the booth told me that there is going to be a book of Sturr's works published later this year. Let's hope so. February 23rd, 2002 AIPAD Part II The late movie critic Pauline Kael wrote this about Marlon Brando, "I was in New York when he played his famous small role in Truckline Cafe in 1946; arriving late at a performance, and seated in the center of the second row, I looked up and saw what I thought was an actor having a seizure onstage. Embarrassed for him, I lowered my eyes, and it wasn't until the young man who'd brought me grabbed my arm and said, 'Watch this guy!' that I realized he was acting."I had the same embarrassed feeling when I was listening to the lecture by John Szarkowski (Director Emeritus, Department of Photography, Museum of Modern Art), but I don't think it was an act. He could not run the slides correctly, and a couple of them were inserted inversely by mistake. He couldn't speak right, either, as he seemed to be fighting against each word out of his mouth, and there were long pauses, sometimes in the middle of a sentence. Someone thought he sounded drunk, some people walked out of the lecture, some napped. Most people, though, were polite and laughed genuinely at the comic moments (such as when he cursed at the slides control), and gave an uproarious applause at the end. Or maybe they were all just relieved that it was over. The topic, if you have missed it, is "Atget, Evans, Adams and the Photographer's Responsibility." He started with a little rant on Art in general, and went into Atget. He described how Atget's work is high art and can be understood when reading "Flaubert, Hugo and Proust." I'm not sure how many times Mr. Szarkowski has read through In Search for Lost Time and how that it changed the way he sees a photograph, but it is the habit for the high art people to intellectualize the Art to, I suppose, legitimize it. And of course, it sure makes you sound more authoritative when you mention the great French novelists, even if you sound drunk. He then showed a few photographs of Evans, compared to Atget, as to show how the great American photographer is affected by the great French one. And then he told us his story of Arbus. Well, at least he spared us of any mention of Eggleston. As you may know, Mr. Szarkowski has written the text for the book, Ansel Adams at 100. Most of what he said at AIPAD is in that book. After the forgettable beginning twenty minutes or so on Atget and Evans he ventured on to Ansel Adams, and stayed that way till the end. I can't recall what he has said on the issue of "Photographer's Responsibility." In general, however, we've heard of many talks of artists' responsibility, but what about that of a curator? A curator at an institution as (undeservingly) revered as MoMA can easily ruin a photographer's career or blossom it. Perhaps that would be a better topic than another hour or two of praises for famous photographers. I was so traumatized by this lecture that I decided to skip the one next day, given by Larry J. Schaaf, on the topic, "Hill & Adamson: A Beautiful Legacy." And as Murphy's Law would have had it, it was a great lecture, I heard. February 23rd, 2002 AIPAD 2002 (February 15-17) I waited until 5PM on the last day of AIPAD to buy the catalogue. It was sold out, and the lady at the booth apologetically explained that more than expected people showed up this year. That's a good thing for AIPAD, I guess, but it didn't necessarily translate to better business for the galleries that participated in the "world's premier exposition devoted to fine art photography." Most of the crowd was just browsing this year. One gallery representative suspected that some collectors were only checking the prices at the show and will try to find better deals on the internet. That sort of behavior certainly is a trend in our habits of purchasing general goods, as we can almost always find better deals online. But for something like photography, especially vintage photography, which requires close inspection of the work itself and costs an obscene amount of money, internet is not yet the ideal medium. The lack of transaction at AIPAD was just another symptom of our choking economy. AIPAD had an opening reception on the night of Valentine's Day. Many showed up - dealers, photographers, press, and many people who have something to do with photography. People were there to talk business, meet old friends and colleagues, and for the free food (cheese and cracker, grilled eggplants, wine, etc, etc). Everyone was smiling, but none looked merrier than the French photographer, Lucien Clergue. At the age of 68, he looked fantastic and seemed healthier than most of us. And he looked that way for the next few days. I asked him for the secret, and he explained that, "according to Picasso, 'it takes a long time to become young' and according to a medicine doctor, if any man [were to look] everyday for 30 minutes [at a pair of] generous breasts of a charming woman, it will be the best for his health. That day I was looking [for] one hour [at] the superb breasts of my favorite model - Liz - in New York, shooting five rolls." And of course, that he sold some prints at AIPAD made it all the merrier. Another merry photographer, Bruce Davidson, was in a conversation with Ralph Hagenauer (Director of Marketing, Leica) and Ben Fernandez. Mr. Davidson was talking about his new book. And after that, he talked about his other new book. Then he looked through the pile of glossy paper he was carrying, took out two sheets (promotional material for his two new books) and gave it to Mr. Hagenauer, and talked some more about his new books. He then looked at his colleague and friend, Mr. Fernandez, realized that he had not given him any paper, and picked a postcard out and handed it to him. It was about his upcoming show at Harlem. He then talked about the exhibition and left. He had to go around and tell more people about his two new books and the exhibition and hand out the postcards. Morris Engel was also at AIPAD. Mr. Engel, at 83 and looking healthy, had many reasons to be merry - there is a sudden interest in his films, on which he collaborated with his wife, Ruth Orkin, some many years ago. The movies will be shown in May at the Museum of Modern Art, which is great at discovering art when it is no longer modern. There is an article written about Mr. Engel in the New York Times, and also an article on all three of his movies in the online publication Bright Light Film Journal. Mr. Engel, as well as the late Mrs. Orkin, started as a photographer, and he is now working on new materials with thin light boxes, which he has purchased from Duggal, I believe. He's looking for cheaper deals, and if you know of any, please e-mail me. And there were many other photographers there, including Ralph Gibson, I heard. But I didn't run into Mr. Gibson. I did see an admirer of his, A.D. Coleman. I once had a brief e-mail exchange with Mr. Coleman. I wrote him to explain that there were some glaring technical glitches with his online newsletter, C: the Speed of Light, and offered help. He wrote back and told me that he has visited Hoboken Almanac, which I have built, and a page on this website crashed his computer "every time" and that there are "enough bugs" on the site to keep me busy. I wasn't going to beg for the opportunity to help him, and we haven't talked since. I reminded him on Thursday night that we had once emailed each other. After a little thinking, and I don't think he remembered the exchange, he said, "ah yes ... I probably bit your head off, huh?" Am I still a pixelhead if my head is bitten off? February 5th, 2002 "Pixelhead" Before the presentation of Leica Medal of Excellence, I was introduced to Ralph Gibson, who was wearing a black shirt, black pants with matching black shoes. When he found out that I have some knowledge of designing websites, he said, while glancing around and never looking at me, "HTML." After a pause he, while still glancing around and never looking at me, said something along the line of, "cyberhead, pixelhead, ah, I know the type... I have a website, for four years... Now everyone is into these high technology and flashy animations." He shook his head and said something that I can't remember. In a room of many good photographers and standing in front of Ben Fernandez, Ralph Gibson needed a ego-boost. I guess he chose to do that by stepping on a stranger who's one or two generations younger than him. What class! February 5th, 2002 Medal of Excellence The ceremony for Leica Medal of Excellence takes place in New York City, and for last year it was scheduled for September 12th. It was delayed, because of the horrible things that happened the day before, and rescheduled to yesterday night (February 4th). The location was International Center of Photography. Most of us arrived at around six, and the presentation did not start till seven. So it was an hour of smooching, chatting, eating and drinking. And there were people looking at the powerful exhibition, "Another Vietnam," on that floor. Marc Riboud, the recipient of the Leica's Life Time Achievement Award, was one of them. In his blue sweater and a Leica camera hanging from his left shoulder, he was studying attentively the photographs taken by the Vietnamese photographers during the Vietnam War. The award presentation was delightfully informal. The host was a representative from Leica, and he spoke in front of a crowd of about thirty to forty people, mostly colleagues, many of Magnum. The smooching, eating and drinking went on, but the chatting subsided as most of them were listening to the speaker talking about the horrific tragedies that delayed the ceremony. I can't recall most of what he said, except how he ended it, with a quote from Riboud. It went something like this, "there are many things that change many things, but everything remains the same afterwards." There was a light laughter among the crowd, and a woman shouted, "Marc says he has never said that!" The host talked briefly about the Medal of Excellence, and how it was started with an idea of Benedict J. Fernandez (founder of Hoboken Almanac) and evolved to what it is now. The recipient this year is Paolo Pellegrin, who was presented with a check of "5,000 Euros, which is less than 5,000 dollars." The crowd demanded for the reason for not giving the reward in dollar, and the host's answer was, "Leica's a European company." Paulo's speech was: "Thank You!" Instead of 5,000 Euros, Marc Riboud, along with the Lifetime Achievement Award, was presented with a Leica camera that was introduced in the year in which he was born (1923). The host explained that it was not the original, however, but a replicate, recently re-introduced to the market (murmurs in the crowd - another Leica collectible!). Riboud took the microphone and gave a speech. I would like to share with you the wonderful things he said, but I had a hard time understanding him through his thick accent. The only thing I caught is that he owes the award to many people, one being Henri Cartier-Bresson, who told him not to be a photographer. "I had to fight harder," he said. I think. Modern photography From Opinion Journal, War is Cool? by Tunku Varadarajan - "...in the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine, which features, immodestly, a series of 'historic portraits of the White House in wartime.' These consist of a dozen photographs--some in color, others in black-and-white--of President Bush and his war-room staff. Why are they 'historic'? Is it because they're in Vanity Fair? Or because of the time at which they were taken--to wit, wartime?I wonder what Susan Sontag has to say about that. Visual Dialogue Foundation Our dear Jack Welpott is featured in the December issue of B&W Magazine along with his colleagues of the Visual Dialogue Foundation. The article is long, informative, and (very) dry. You would think that the writer, Darwin Marable - born in 1937, attended U.C. Berkeley and San Francisco State College, received a PhD in history of photography, and having been through the exciting golden era of photography during the 60's and 70's - would have some feelings for the V.D.F. and something interesting to say. But it was nothing more than a survey mixed in with some details that, at least to me, irrelevant to the topic, such as the restaurant and its location where the first informal awards given by V.D.F. took place - if you're interested, it was "the Savoy Tivoli, a North Beach restaurant on Grand Avenue." Many names, dates, publications and galleries were mentioned, so much that it was extremely difficult to not skim through it. And with the layout of four narrow columns and sans-serif fonts, it was quite a challenge to the eyes. Perhaps this article was written during Mr. Marable's academic years and recently dug up from old manuscripts with very little hindsight thrown in. Nowhere in the first six pages (of seven) of the article does he mention anything of the current day. And when he finally addresses the influences of the V.D.F., he says, rather clumsily, "...the achievements of the group have been validated by the fact that today many of its members' photographs are in major museums and collections throughout the world, and their contributions to 20th-century American photography and photographic education are now clearly established."I still have not learned what exactly are the contributions of the V.D.F. to photography, nor do I agree that being collected by museums validate much. The V.D.F. lived for only four years, what exactly have they achieved, and how have they shaped the photography in the 80's and 90's? I probably would and should have more to ask, but after reading the article, I still do not know them enough to even raise any question. As little as I know of the foundation, I was able to appreciate their wonderful photographs. B&W charges us $6.95 (newsstand price) and artists $30 for submission of prints, and it has many advertisements (feels like about half of it). With all this money I figured they would be able to afford to make nice prints in their magazine, but they don't. The trick is to hold the magazine far from you, like you would look at Monet's paintings. That's a shame, because the V.D.F. championed fine, extremely sharp prints, and I wish I can see their work in big glorious prints. One last thing - at one point, Mr. Marable wrote matter-of-factly, "... to live in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Sixties, one could not help but be influenced by the quest for self-discovery attempted through encounter groups, meditation, psychotherapy, and LSD, and these consciousness-raising techniques impacted on the thinking and imagery of the VDF."Humor? Intended? More reason to believe that this was written in the 70's when taking LSD was probably a "consciousness-raising" technique? Articles of interest "Lens of Revelations" - an exhibit of Alvarez Bravo's works" reviewed by the New York Times. Camera obscura and painting, and "the old French nut who cursed at Caravaggio". GRUMP GRUMP issue 79 (December 2001) is mailed out! David Vestal has agreed to let us publish it here on Hoboken Almanac, so we've decided to put excerpts from past issue and certain sections of the latest issue online. They'll be up in a couple of weeks, I hope. Start somewhere The Neophyte has spoken! Is anyone listening? |
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