Sunday, 20 December 2009

Photojournalist Sebastian Rich Joins LPA


Sebastian Rich has been a photographer / cameraman in hard news, documentary and current affairs for over thirty years.

He joined Independent Television News (UK) in 1980 and developed a gift for being in the right place at the right time on some of the world’s biggest breaking news stories; he gained a reputation not just as an uncompromising cameraman in the theatre of war but also as an insightful and highly talented photographer.

Jon Snow the highly regarded British television journalist, describes Sebastian in the forward of his first book 'People I Have Shot' as (“Probably the finest news cameraman and photographer of his time… his camera work is amongst the most sensitive I have ever witnessed” Jon Snow, Channel 4 News) ... more

Photographer Clayton Bastiani Takes Book Industry By Storm


Since focusing on photographs for the book industry, Clayton Bastiani has seen a tremendous interest from publishing houses worldwide wishing to use his photographs as book jacket illustrations... more

Photographer Odette England Represented by Klompching Gallery


Representation:Odette is thrilled to announce that she is now represented in the US (east coast) by KLOMPCHING GALLERY in New York. KLOMPCHING GALLERY is described as ‘dynamic’ and ‘one of the galleries to watch in NYC'. Its exhibitions have been reviewed in publications such as The New Yorker, Hotshoe, New York Magazine, ArtReview, New York Times, The British Journal of Photography, The Architect’s Newspaper and Modern Painters..... more

Photographer Nigel Hillier wins Landscape Awards


Nigel Hillier won the `Landscape On Your Doorstep` category in the 2009 Landscape photographer of the year competition. He had 2 prints commended both of which will be in the awards book. One print will be in the exhibition to be held in London`s National Theatre in December.... more

Marta Kockanek Exhibits At The Mall Galleries London


Sue Ryder Care
Art Liberating Lives 2009 Exhibition at The Mall Gallery

Marta has had two images chosen to be included in a group exhibition, Art Liberating Lives at the Mall Galleries from the 16-20 December 2009.

Marta is a second year Photography student at Coventry University and is thrilled to be included in an exhibition showing at such a prestigious Gallery.

Art Liberating Lives celebrates art as a form of therapy and sees supporting artists submit to be part of an annual exhibition at London's prestigious Mall Galleries... more

Thursday, 3 December 2009

Astrid Schulz Photography invites you on .......


Saturday, 12 December, 3-4pm!

I'm organising a candlelight vigil at my exhibition at Viewfinder Photography Gallery as part of a huge international day of action on climate change. We need a bunch of people to make it work. It’s going to be fun, short and super easy - will you come?

Events like this are happening simultaneously in every corner of the world just as our leaders gather in Copenhagen for the most important climate negotiations of our time. The message is: The World Wants A Real Deal - a treaty strong enough to tackle climate change and the destruction of the planet.

Come and join me! Bring a candle and something to share (cookies, cake etc.), I will serve tea.
This is also a great opportunity to see my 'Car Park: under cover' exhibition, if you have not been already...


Check out the event and RSVP here

If you can't make it to mine, check out this map showing events across the world

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Tate Appoints First Photography Curator


Tate has appointed Simon Baker as the organisation’s first Curator of Photography and International Art. In this newly created role, Simon is working on the acquisition and research of works for the Tate Collection as well as contributing to the photography exhibition programme at Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

Frances Morris, Head of Collections (International Art) Tate Modern, said:
“Over the last few years photography has become increasingly central to Tate's activity whether in relation to temporary exhibitions or to the development of the permanent collection. Simon’s appointment allows us to continue to develop the ways in which we celebrate and explore the art of photography with the advantage of scholarly expertise enthusiasm and focus.”

Simon studied history of art at University College London, receiving his PhD in 2002. He was a Henry Moore Fellow at UCL, then Gould Fellow in History of Photography at Princeton University from 2003-4. Since 2004 until joining Tate, he was Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Nottingham, specialising in History of Photography and Surrealism as well as running the MA in post-war and contemporary art. He has published widely on surrealism, photography and contemporary art, including recent essays on the work of Jake and Dinos Chapman. In 2006 he co-curated the exhibition Undercover Surrealism (on Georges Bataille and DOCUMENTS) with Dawn Ades and Fiona Bradley, and then in 2008, worked with the same team to co-curate the exhibition Close-up: proximity and defamiliarisation in art, film and photography, at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. He is currently chair of the editorial group of the Oxford Art Journal.

Simon Baker is co-curator of Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, a major photographic exhibition opening in May 2010 at Tate Modern organised in conjunction with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

For further press information please contact Bomi Odufunade, Press Officer, Tate Modern on 020 7887 4942 or email bomi.odufunade@tate.org.uk

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

"You're Practically A Man"


"You're Practically A Man"
Photography by Ginger Liu
part of
DRKRM Gallery
Last Picture Show ‘09
Year-End Group Exhibition
Opening Reception Saturday November 14th 7-10pm
November 14th – December 30th

"You're Practically A Man" is a personal essay about identity. The scars are from Abdominal Myomectomy, Uterine Fibroid Embolization (unseen) and Partial Hysterectomy, and represent the efforts I went through to try and keep my womb. I lost that fight to a fibroid the size of a six-month pregnancy. The fibroid weighed down on my bladder and I was lucky to get one hour of unbroken sleep at a time. I couldn’t go out anywhere because I constantly needed the bathroom. And once a month, during my period, I would bleed non-stop for two days and lose so much blood that I was too weak to stand. Hysterectomy was the final option.

The title of the essay refers to a woman’s comment made to me after I told her about my operations and represents the consequential view from some people that women are not whole unless they have children. A male friend of mine also commented that my hysterectomy was no big deal because I am a gay woman and gay women don't have children."

Ginger Liu is a graduate of London’s University of Westminster with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Media Practice (Photography, Film, Multi-Media). Her work has been published in the UK and USA, and has appeared on MTV. She is a Hollywood based photographer, writer and publicist.

drkrm. gallery is an exhibition space dedicated to fine art and documentary photography, cutting edge and alternative photographic processes and the display and survey of popular cultural images.

drkrm. was founded by John Matkowsky who has a twenty-five year reputation as a fine art black and white printer in Los Angeles. Mentored by Tom Consilvio, the founder of Silver Lab, John learned the finesse of the fine artistic print while working on the images of Gary Winograd, William Claxton, Lou Stoumen. and many other renowned photographers.

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Linda Lieberman - Exhibition and Book


Linda Lieberman's work is published in a new book 'Silver Footprint' by Robin Bell. Also included is work by Don McCullin, Lee Miller, Ernst Haas, Terence Donovan, Tom Stoddart, John Swannell, and more!!

As digital photography has become increasingly popular and dominant, the more traditional film-based black and white photography and the chemically produced photographic print have become uniquely repositioned in art, craft and culture. The art of the photographic printing is now recognised as a serious craft, a rare skill that is much admired and respected.

The book is published by Dewi Lewis Publishing and is supported by an exhibition .... more

Portraiture Photography Competition


Call for entry is now open for the LPA Portraiture photography contest.
This is the sixth year of Let's Face It and in that time we have been introduced to some very talented photographers.

The Portraiture Award - As always we encourage photographers to interpret the brief in the widest sense, portraying your subjects with emphasis on their identity as individuals.

Categories:
Single entry
Series of up to 6 Images. A series must have narrative / theme.

You may supply a caption of up to 100 words to support your entry.

View last years single and series winners.

Entry details here

Photography by Loui Sanches Martin, single image winner 2008

LPA Launch Video and Film Showcase Website


The London Photographic Association (LPA) are launching it's sister website LPA - movingPictures.com in December 2009.

LPA movingPictures will promote the work of its members to the international advertising and editorial community as well as a large international audience of film lovers.
Members will manage their own portfolios and profiles.

The development of movingPictures is in response to the growth of moving images on the web, both commercial and fine art. As many of our members are embracing video and film we felt it was time to offer a professional platform for film makers, videographers, directors,directors of photography,editors and producers.

The movingPictures website will have the same SOE functionality as the LPA website, this makes it a strong marketing tool. It will have plenty of space for members profiles and news items as well as their films.

Christmas present from Blurb


Our friends at Blurb have come up with a nice festive offer to make your books even more affordable this festive season: free shipping on up to five books!* So if you’ve already made a book and want more copies for that special Christmas gift this year, no problem, this offer isn’t just open to new customers – it’s for everyone! But you’ll have to be quick as the offer must end on November 24, 2009. It’s available on any size book too. Simply enter the code BLURBCHEER2 at the checkout to redeem this offer.

CODES:

BLURBCHEER (USD)
BLURBCHEER2 (GBP)
BLURBCHEER3 (EUR)
BLURBCHEER4 (AUD)

Ts and cs: *Offer valid through 11/24/09 (11:59 p.m. PST). Offer extends to any Blurb user and covers shipping costs up to $7.99, £3.99, or €5.99 or AUD $12 for up to five books, made by you, shipped to one address. Offer is valid for transactions in USD, EU, GBP, or AUD only. This offer is good for one-time use and cannot be combined with any other offer.

LPA's Gallery 1839 represents Luis Sanchez Martin


LPA member Luis Sanchez Martin is now represented by Gallery 1839.

Based in Spain, travels are a source of inspiration especially in street and scenic photography where some cities like New York, Prague, Budapest or London are authentic creativity shelters for him. The recurrent travel to his childhood is also reflected in many of his pictures.... more

LPA Photo Contest Results

The LPA photography competitions have a habit of finding interesting people doing interesting things.
This is why we run them of course. You can now view the winners and read their interviews.

Photographs were submitted in response to a quote by Henry Bromel.

Love and Pain and Beauty
"We all carry around so much pain in our hearts. Love and pain and beauty. They all seem to go together like one little tidy confusing package. It's a messy business, life. It's hard to figure - full of surprises. Some good.
Some bad".

'Henry Bromel', Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991
Single and Series winners and commended galeries

Benedite Topuz: Paris, France
Series category, Gold - Interview

Natalie Tkachuk: Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom
Series category, Silver - Interview

Rene Roalf Jensen: Viborg, Denmark
Series category, Bronze - Interview

Boris Austin: Beijing / London, United Kingdom
Single image, Gold - Interview

Guido Torres: Mexico City, Mexico
Single image, Silver - Interview

Richard Ansett: London, United Kingdom
Single image, Bronze - Interview
Photography by Benedite Topuz


Friday, 6 November 2009

Bonhams Photographic Department


Bonhams appoint Jocelyn Phillips as head of new photographic department.

Jocelyn Phillips has been appointed Head of Bonhams new Photographic Department to be based in London.

A Cambridge Classics graduate she also has an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from University College London (Institute of Archeology). The thesis for her Masters degree was on 19th century photography and classical art, which was her introduction to the world of photographs.

Jocelyn joined Sotheby’s Photographic Department in 2004 and by 2006 was Acting Head of Department. In 2008 she was promoted to Deputy Director at Sotheby's. During her time there, in addition to the twice yearly various owner sales, she worked on the single owner collection of Dr Ehrenfeld (19th century photographs of India) in May 2005, and the prestigious final instalment of the Collection Marie-Thérèse et André Jammes (part IV, held in Paris in November 2008).

This year she has been a nominator for the Prix Pictet (photographic prize for sustainability set up last year by Pictet Bank in conjunction with the Financial Times. And earlier this year she made a presentation on the auction market for photographs at Foam Museum in Amsterdam, as part of the Foam Editions Collecting Photography programme.

Besides her interest and expertise in Photography she has had a lifelong interest in contemporary and classical dance and has performed at Cambridge University, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at the Royal Opera House, London.

Jocelyn Phillips says, “The market for photographs at auction is constantly developing, showing strength across the board from 19th century to contemporary work. Photography’s universal appeal and central position in our visual culture continues to draw in new collectors as well as inspire veterans of the subject. I am delighted to be a part of this new venture for Bonhams and look forward to welcoming all to our first sales in 2010.”

Matthew Girling, Bonhams European and Middle East CEO comments: “We are delighted to have Jocelyn join us to head up this exciting new development, a stand alone Photographic Department, which will help Bonhams to service the huge and growing interest in collecting photography.”

Friday, 30 October 2009

‘Car Park: under cover’ an exhibition by Astrid Schulz




The award winning series ‘Car Park: under cover’ is going to be part of
Photomonth, the UK's largest photography festival. The exhibition coincides with the ‘United Nations Climate Conference’ in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009.

Astrid Schulz had a very special experience on New Year’s Eve 2006. A sudden change of weather turned her journey upside down, but also lead to the mesmerizing images in her ‘Car Park’ series. Her images remind us of the unpredictability of life. There is an underlining message about the threat of recent climate changes and how little we know about protecting ourselves. Many people are not fully conscious about the meaning of our environmental problems, but in some countries drastic changes have already altered peoples lives often in tragic ways. The images in ‘Car Park’ are a silent reminder to think about the way we take our comfortable lives for granted, but nothing lasts forever…

Astrid Schulz will be present at the gallery during weekends from 12 to 4pm. She is also going to have a talk about the images (Wed 16 Dec, 7-9pm) and is discussing the problems of ‘photographing whiteness’ during a workshop on 6th Dec, 2-5pm (ticket price £5, for booking information please get in touch with Viewfinder Gallery).

Dates: 26 November – 20 December 2009

Venue: Viewfinder Photography Gallery
Linear House, Peyton Place,
Greenwich, London SE10 8RS

Opening event: Friday, 27 November, 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Further information about the images can be seen at ‘Featured Gallery’ on London Photographic Association website.

Viewing times and information about the gallery: www.viewfinder.org.uk

Astrid Schulz Photography home page: www.astridschulz.com

LPA Photography Competition Results



Love and Pain and Beauty
"We all carry around so much pain in our hearts. Love and pain and beauty. They all seem to go together like one little tidy confusing package. It's a messy business, life. It's hard to figure - full of surprises. Some good.
Some bad".

'Henry Bromel', Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

Benedite Topuz: Paris, France
Series category, Gold - Interview

Natalie Tkachuk: Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom
Series category, Silver - Interview

Rene Roalf Jensen: Viborg, Denmark
Series category, Bronze - Interview

Boris Austin: Beijing / London, United Kingdom
Single image, Gold - Interview

Guido Torres: Mexico City, Mexico
Single image, Silver - Interview

Richard Ansett: London, United Kingdom
Single image, Bronze - Interview

Image photograph and design by Guido Torres

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Fuck committees


I was looking through a file yesterday where I keep interesting articles, It's my attempt at trying to keep tabs on the the huge amount of information that I come across on a daily basis. I found this article on an American website (I assume) dated June 1998 and written by a chap called Tabor Kaman of New York, clearly my system is not working quite as it should. Given this was written Eleven years ago it is still, sadly, very relevant.


Fuck committees

(I believe in lunatics)
It's about the struggle between individuals with jagged passion in their work and today's faceless corporate committees, 
which claim to understand the needs of the mass audience, and are removing the idiosyncrasies, polishing the jags, creating 
a thought-free, passion-free, cultural mush that will not be hated nor loved by anyone. By now, virtually all media, architecture, product and graphic design have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, carrying out corporate strategies and increasing stock prices. Creative people are now working for the bottom line.

Magazine editors have lost their editorial independence, and work for committees of publishers (who work for committees of advertisers). TV scripts are vetted by producers, advertisers, lawyers, research specialists, layers and layers of paid executives who determine whether the scripts are dumb enough to amuse what they call the 'lowest common denominator’. Film studios put films in front of focus groups to determine whether an ending will please target audiences. All cars look the same. Architectural decisions are made by accountants. Ads are stupid.
Theater is dead.
Corporations have become the sole arbiters of cultural ideas and taste in America.

Our culture is corporate culture.
Culture used to be the opposite of commerce, not a fast track to 'content'-derived riches. Not so long ago captains of industry (no angels in the way they acquired wealth) thought that part of their responsibility was to use there millions to support culture. Carnegie built libraries; Rockefeller built art museums, Ford created his global foundation. What do we now get from our billionaires? Gates? Or Eisner? Or Redstone? Sales pitches. Junk mail. Meanwhile, creative people have their work reduced to 'content' or 'intellectual property'. Magazines and films become 'delivery systems' for product messages.

But to be fair, the above is only 99 percent true.
I offer a modest solution: Find the cracks in the wall. There are a very few lunatic entrepreneurs who will understand that culture and design are not about fatter wallets, but about creating a future. They will understand that wealth is means, not an end. Under other circumstances they may have turned out to be like you, creative lunatics. Believe me, they're there and when you find them, treat them well and use their money to change the world.
Tabor Kaman New York June 1998

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Points of View Exhibition At The British Library


Points of View
Capturing the 19th century in photographs 30 October 2009 – 7 March 2010

Points of View brings together, for the first time, a selection of photographs from the British Library’s unique collections, examining the development of the medium and its influence, from its invention and early years up to the growth of a popular amateur market in the early 20th century.

For more information visit www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions

Friday, 18 September 2009

LPA Masterclass with Guy Gowan


The London Photographic Association is delighted to present two NEW
seminars with Guy Gowan on the following subjects,

Retouching Workflow- Thursday 8th October 2009
Fine Art Retouching Friday 9th October 2009

"Having seen Guy present, I believe these seminars will prove invaluable to commercial and fine art photographers alike." Kevin O'Connor - LPA

For more information and bookings.

Wednesday, 26 August 2009

THE EYE OF A HAWK AND A VELVET GLOVE


L’Imaginaire d’Apres Nature by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Written by Christine Booth
Photographs: Courtesy Musee d'Art Moderne
Copyright Henri-Cartier Bresson/Magnum Photos

If you want a treat, get along to the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris before the 13th of September – and, thanks to Eurostar, you can now hop on a train at London’s shiny new St. Pancras station and be in the centre of Paris in less than two and a half hours.

This exhibition was first shown at the University of Fribourg-Misericorde, during the Triennial of Photography in 1975, under the title, Hommage a Cartier-Bresson, and comprises some sixty-eight photographs, chosen then by Cartier-Bresson himself as what he considered his best work. As this was the year that he had decided to give up photography to concentrate on drawing, it can be seen as a definitive exhibition of his entire photographic career.

Recreated here to mark the centenary of his birth, the exhibition has been divided into four sections: Early Works; Henri Cartier-Bresson as a Photographer of Daily Life; Henri Cartier-Bresson as A Witness to His Time and Henri Cartier-Bresson as a Portraitist, and includes some of his most familiar images as well as some not so well-known. Every single one, though, is captivating. Even his most famous shots, such as the boy with the cheeky grin, carrying bottles (Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1952), take on a fresh aspect, especially as the prints are displayed here without glass, removing any annoying reflections.

In fact, they’re breathtaking. It’s easy to see why HCB, as he is fondly referred to by the French, is regarded as the father of contemporary photojournalism. Not just the father, but the master. His photographs are so simple yet so powerful that you stand gazing at them for a very long time indeed, reading the human stories that they tell.
And in these days of digital wizardry, it’s hard to believe that Cartier Bresson’s prints weren’t even cropped. His Simiane-la-Rotonde, France 1969, is so perfectly composed that it looks choreographed, set up, planned. But,no. HCB hated manufactured photographs - or any kind of technical intervention. He photographed life as it is. Armed with just a simple 35mm camera, his skill was his eye – and timing.

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant……In photography the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif.”

And it was in recognizing – and capturing – the human detail that has the power to tell the wider story that he showed true genius, such as in Visit de De Gaulle, Rovergne, 1961, where we don’t see the man himself: just the cynical expressions on the faces of elderly spectators. In Lorraine, 1972, we see lines of washing hanging out in the shadow of a filthy power station, but it’s the presence of a small child in the picture that makes it powerful and shocking.

There’s humour here too, such as in his photograph of a priest and elderly lady trudging along, oblivious to the two dogs mating in the background; and happiness, in Epire, Greece, 1961 – a simple picture of a boy doing a handstand in the hills, bursting with joi de vivre!

There are twelve portraits in this exhibition and, in each one, without the use of any artifice and using only available light, Cartier-Bresson captures wonderfully the essence of the sitter’s personality.

“We must respect the atmosphere which surrounds the human being and integrate into the portrait the individual’s habitat.”

And that’s exactly what he did. I particularly loved his portrait of Pierre Bonnard at home in his studio, looking tiny and vulnerable, with drawings and sketches strewn around; of Truman Capote, taken in Louisiana in 1946, surrounded by huge foliage, giving him a hunted look; and of Alberto Giacometti, taken on the rue d’Alesia in Paris in 1961, trudging across the road in the rain, with his coat over his head.

Cartier-Bresson loved taking photographs, documenting life: it excited him. In his book, The Decisive Moment, he recalls how, after getting his first camera, he “prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung up and ready to pounce, determined to trap life, to preserve life in the act of living.”

Ready to pounce he may have been, but he was never intrusive or voyeuristic. Whether they are portraits of famous artists or documents of daily life; whether they show tragedy and suffering or joy and humour, one quality is evident in all his photographs and that is the dignity and respect he affords his subjects. He knew that ‘trapping life’ carries with it a great responsibility and believed that a sense of human dignity was therefore an essential quality for any photojournalist.

“Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant…..it is essential, therefore, to approach the subject on tiptoe…..a velvet hand, a hawk’s eye: these we should all have.”

This exhibition shows Cartier-Bresson at his best: documenting his times and capturing the timeless essence of human life. Go and see it if you can.


Copyright Christine Booth 15th August 2009
________________________________________________________________________
Quotations from The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson (Pub. Simon & Schuster, 1952)


L’Imaginaire d’Apres Nature by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
11, avenue du President Wilson, 75116 Paris
Metro: Alma-Marceau or Iena
Tel: +33 (0)1 5367 4000
Open: Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 6pm (Thursday to 10pm) Closed Mondays and public holidays
Admission: Adults: 6 Euros; Concessions: 4.50 Euros; Age 13-26: 3 Euros; Free for under-13s
Guided tour for lip readers on 30 August. Admission 4.50 Euros. No booking required.
www.mam.paris.fr

Christine Booth travelled to Paris on Eurostar

Eurostar operates up to 19 daily services from London St.Pancras International to Paris. Fastest London-Paris journey time is 2hrs 15mins
Return fares from £59
Single fares from £35
Trains also depart from Ebbsfleet International (close to junction 2 of the M25 and the Bluewater shopping centre, with car parking, taxi and Avis car hire facilities) and from Ashford International.

Tickets are available from www.eurostar.com or telephone 08705 186 186

Monday, 3 August 2009

Annie Leibovitz faces court claim for $24m


Annie Leibovitz: life’s work at risk. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

A firm that lent millions of dollars to Annie Leibovitz, one of the world's most renowned celebrity photographers, says she has reneged on an agreement to sell her life's work to repay the debt, and has asked a New York court to order her to open her home and studio to its estate agents.

Mired in debt, Leibovitz approached Art Capital, a US firm specialising in loans backed by pricey art collections, last year and obtained $24m (£14m) in credit to right her "dire financial condition", the firm said in a court filing....more

Another nail in the coffin of photojournalism

France's Gamma photo agency on brink of collapse.
By Laure Bretton

PARIS (Reuters) - French photo agency Gamma, which rose to fame documenting the May 1968 uprising in Paris and the Vietnam War, said Tuesday its survival was in doubt, the latest victim of a crisis hurting traditional media.

Founded in 1966, Gamma spearheaded a golden generation of French photo-journalists, whose prize-winning images of world events were showcased on the front pages of influential magazine Paris Match and newspapers around the globe.....more

Monday, 22 June 2009

Kodak Kills Kodachrom

After being made for 74 years, Kodak announced today that Kodachrome will no longer be made.

From the press release:

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 22 -- Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will retire KODACHROME Color Film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

Sales of KODACHROME Film, which became the world’s first commercially successful color film in 1935, have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to newer KODAK Films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered. Today, KODACHROME Film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.

“KODACHROME Film is an iconic product and a testament to Kodak’s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, President of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. "It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history. However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology – both film and digital. Kodak remains committed to providing the highest-performing products – both film and digital – to meet those needs."

While Kodak now derives about 70% of its revenues from commercial and consumer digital businesses, it is the global leader in the film business. Kodak has continued to bring innovative new film products to market, including seven new professional still films and several new VISION2 and VISION3 motion picture films in the past three years.These new still film products are among those that have become the dominant choice for those professional and advanced amateur photographers who use KODAK Films.

Among the well-known professional photographers who used KODACHROME Film is Steve McCurry, whose picture of a young Afghan girl captured the hearts of millions of people around the world as she peered hauntingly from the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985.

As part of a tribute to KODACHROME Film, Kodak will donate the last rolls of the film to George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, which houses the world’s largest collection of cameras and related artifacts. McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls and the images will be donated to Eastman House.

“The early part of my career was dominated by KODACHROME Film, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images,” said McCurry. “While KODACHROME Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the ‘Afghan Girl’ 17 years later, I used KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100VS to create that image, rather than KODACHROME Film as with the original.”

For all of its magic, KODACHROME is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process. There is only one remaining photofinishing lab in the world – Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas – that processes KODACHROME Film, precisely because of the difficulty of processing. This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for KODACHROME Film.

During its run, KODACHROME Film filled a special niche in the annals of the imaging world. It was used to capture some of the best-known photographs in history, while also being the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation.

To celebrate the film’s storied history, Kodak has created a gallery of iconic images, including the Afghan girl and other McCurry photos, as well as others from professional photographers Eric Meola and Peter Guttman on its website: www.kodak.com/go/kodachrometribute. Special podcasts featuring McCurry and Guttman will also be featured on the website.

Kodak estimates that current supplies of KODACHROME Film will last until early this fall at the current sales pace. Dwayne’s Photo has indicated it will continue to offer processing for the film through 2010. Current KODACHROME Film users are encouraged to try other KODAK Films, such as KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100G and EKTAR 100 Film. These films both feature extremely fine grain. For more information, please visit www.kodak.com/go/professional.

Monday, 8 June 2009

Frame grabbing: The art of drawing great photography from video


By Edward J. Delaney

[The June issue of Esquire arrives on newsstands Sunday, and there's something unique about its cover photo. Not the presence of an attractive young starlet — that's de rigueur in the magazine business. It's that the photo of Megan Fox was shot with a video camera, not a still one. Photographer Greg Williams shot footage of Fox with one of those jaw-dropping Red One cameras and pulled stills from the resulting video. (As Zach noted recently, Esquire seems to be cornering the market on cover gimmicks: e-ink, mix-and-match flip books, and now framegrabbing.)

I thought that was a perfect reason to post this interview Ted did with Pulitzer-winning photographer (and my former coworker at The Dallas Morning News) David Leeson about frame grabbing — an area where he was an early innovator. —Josh]

To David Leeson, the appeal of frame grabbing seems obvious. It reduces the number of tools a photographer has to juggle, and it enables multiple outputs from the same journalistic workflow. As he wrote about his first experience, preparing to cover Hurricane Katrina in 2005:


"The first thing I did upon receiving an HDV camera…was shoot a few seconds of video, import it with iMovie and make a frame grab. The results were almost as magical as the first time I saw a print emerge in a tray of developer. I knew the world of photojournalism as we knew it, would never be quite the same again."

But he’s been surprised by the resistance among many of his fellow photojournalists. Even as each wave of new cameras to hit the market makes frame grabbing an easier option, Leeson still finds himself preaching to the unconverted. The main resistance may be the core belief that the fundamental art of the photograph is timing the decision of when to press the shutter...... more

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

The Digital Photo & Imaging Show Thursday 18th - Friday 19th June 2009


Thursday 18th - Friday 19th June 2009

Stand 601
is where you will find the LPA at this years DPI show, please drop by for a chat.
REMEMBER to register online now for your free entry to the DPI show (£12 on the door)
The DPI show has been designed to be the knowledge centre for professional photographers and agencies active in advertising, fashion, photojournalism, sports/action, portraiture, wedding and lifestyle photography.

The DPI show will feature the second year of the hugely successful BJP Insight series which will include seminars from many of the leading lights in the photographic market. It provides an opportunity where you can interact with people who have been influenced by photography and in many cases have influenced the world.

We will also have a Live studio run by the Pro Centre, building a full-feature facility at the show illustrating the capabilities of the equipment in a studio environment.

The DPI show will include industry leaders in the photographic market such as Hasselblad, Nikon, Adobe, Broncolor, Apple Solutions Experts, HP and many more...

NEW Speakers announced by The British Journal of Photography - The Insight Lecture Programme

Thursday, 9 April 2009

LPA Photo Forum At Camden Arts Centre


The LPA has linked up with Camden Arts Centre to hold regular photography events and presentations from established and emerging photographers and other professionals linked to the photography industry.

The aim is to provide a platform to the (LPA) photography community to stimulate communication and networking in an informal setting. These evening sessions 6.30-8.30pm, are on selected Thursdays, each month, starting on the 7th May with presentations by photographers Suki Parnell and John Ferguson, discussing their current projects.

For more info or to book a seat, please contact Kevin O'Connor at the LPA

Tickets are £5.00 each and spaces are limited , so booking is essential!!!!

Photograpy by Sukey Parnell

Monday, 9 March 2009

The Arts Forum

The Brighton Media Centre invites you to ArtsfORUM.

A monthly ‘Review of Art in Progress’ for the photography and moving image enthusiasts.

The Arts Forum allows established and emerging photographers to film makers to articulate and showcase their current project to an audience, encouraging discussion and feedback in a peer-led environment.

Led by Vanessa Jones and Beatrice Haverich, it is held every second Wednesday of each month.

Join us for an evening of inspiration

The aim of this event is to serve as a communications network to benefit both the audience and the artist through the process of an open critique. A discussion of the presented bodies of work will provide a platform for the artist to speak about their aims and concerns of their projects.

Submission process please email around 10 images (small Jpgs.) of a body of work in progress to vanessa@mediacentre.org.
The selected artists will be notified 2 weeks before the event.

LIMITED SPACES SO BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL

INFO and BOOKINGS: 07882852659 or 07890834112
vanessa@mediacentre.org or info@beatricehaverich.com

We will have a Bar… before, during and after!

6.30pm-8.00pm
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Brighton Media Centre Gallery
Friese-Greene House
15-17 Middle Street
Brighton BN1 1AL

Wednesday, 4 February 2009

Fujifilm Launch Medium Format Film Camera


It cheered me up to see that Fujifilm are launching a new medium format film camera this spring. We are not sure when it will sell in the UK as yet.

First shown as a prototype at the Photokina trade show in Cologne last year, the GF670 Professional will now be released in Japan in mid-March as a portable folding bellows camera, jointly developed by Fujifilm and Cosina. The production may be limited to just 5000 units.

Its most unusual feature is a mechanism for switching between two different film formats - 6x7cm and 6x6cm. It is also fitted with an 80mm f/3.5 fixed focal length lens, which is composed of six glass elements in four groups. The GF670 has an automatic lens shutter, and an SPD sensor with both automatic and manual autofocus. The ISO sensitivity ranges from 25 to 3200.

Monday, 2 February 2009

Garbo Meets Models in N.Y. Show Pitching Fashion Photos as Art

Spot the Fake #1" by Miles Aldridge
Review by Linda Yablonsky

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Most men in suits don’t look like sex symbols. Gary Cooper did, at least in Edward Steichen’s come- hither 1930 photograph of the actor for Vogue.

In those days, a fashion magazine was the go-to place for seduction by portraiture, publishing the most provocative photographers, writers and designers of the moment.

Today, a style magazine is literally a museum piece at New York’s International Center of Photography. Proclaiming 2009 as its Year of Fashion, ICP is presenting four separate but unequal exhibitions that propose fashion photography as a crucible for new ideas in art.

To accomplish this, the ICP, which prides itself on classic photojournalism, has taken a radical step. Its lead show, “Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now,” pretty much dispenses with photographic prints. Those it does show are nearly lost within a blizzard of magazine layouts, and not even original ones at that. All are reproductions, most published within the past two years.

Fashion trades on fantasy and “Weird Beauty” includes some startling images. Several center on the mouth, exemplified by Miles Aldridge’s bright color close-up of a woman’s blinding white teeth clenching a yellow gemstone between her fiery red lips.

Languid Young Men

This picture is surrounded by Aldridge images from recent magazines, some featuring languid young men sleeping under bushes. Their clothing is secondary to their presentation as objects of desire themselves.

That is what is most striking about the images in this show: Clothes are not the center of attention. The artifice of the image itself is what takes center stage -- the dramatic lighting, framing, styling and posing that combine to brand the style of each of the show’s 40 photographers rather than any designer of fashion.

From Nick Knight we get an overhead, black-and-white shot of a model in a laced-string camisole laid out on an examination table as if begging to be ravished. Paolo Roversi’s “Blue Mask” surrounds the model’s face behind the blow-up of another Roversi photograph of her tinted blue face, with a fake pink mouth attached.

Removed from their commercial context, it might be easier to consider these images as ingenious works of art. But we see them here only in the service of commerce, to sell a label or a concept, not to create any larger understanding of the human condition.

Steichen, who mined the Romantic tradition of the sublime before becoming a hard-core modernist, was one of the stars of the Conde Nast firmament in the salad days of Vogue and Vanity Fair, from 1923 to 1937.

Socialites, Celebrities

His work for those magazines is the subject of a retrospective at the ICP, with 175 photographs of socialites and celebrities who ruled the gossip columns of the day.

It’s interesting to move from the abject surrealism of “Weird Beauty” to the pronounced glamour of Steichen, who established the photography department at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. His formal iconography of famous figures like Winston Churchill, Amelia Earhart, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Cooper has influenced contemporary photographers as disparate as Robert Mapplethorpe and Irving Penn.

Two smaller shows force a closer consideration of the artistry behind a fashion photograph. “Munkacsi’s Lost Archive” presents a small selection of new prints from a cache of glass negatives by the Hungarian photographer, acquired by the ICP after they appeared on EBay.

Before he died in 1963, Martin Munkacsi was a top talent at Harper’s Bazaar whose art took place as much in his darkroom as on a set. The show reveals his process, juxtaposing original shots that include an assistant’s hands or feet in the frame with the tight focus of a cropped, finished print.

Stylish Satchel

More absorbing -- and curious -- is “This Is Not a Fashion Photograph,” a group of unrelated photographs from ICP’s collections that curator Vince Aletti cites as having as much calculated style as documentary truth.

It would be difficult to find a more fashionable image than George Strock’s 1941 photograph of the very stylish baseball great Satchel Paige, who lights a cigarette at a Harlem pool hall.

It has personality, it has social realism, it has class. Which means it may not matter if we label it art, journalism or fashion. At the ICP, such distinctions are completely without a difference.

“Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now,” “Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Conde Nast Years, 1923-1937,” “This is Not a Fashion Photograph: Selections from the ICP Collection” and “Munkacsi’s Lost Archive” are on view through May 3 at the International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of Americas at West 43rd St. Information: +1-212-857-0045; http://www.icp.org.

( Linda Yablonsky is an art critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Linda Yablonsky in New York at fabyab@earthlink.net.

"Spot the Fake #1" by Miles Aldridge, a 2006 photograph published in New York Times T Magazine, is shown here. The photo will be on display as part of the exhibit "Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now" at New York's International Center of Photography through May 3, 2009. Photographer: Miles Aldridge/ICP via Bloomberg News

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Another Lawsuit filed against Richard Prince


Images of Rastafarians under dispute by photographer Patrick Cariou

Andrew Goldstein | 21.1.09 | From the Art Newspaper

NEW YORK. French photographer Patrick Cariou has launched a lawsuit against Richard Prince, claiming that the artist improperly lifted images from Cariou’s photographic survey of Rastafarian culture for a recent series of paintings. The suit, filed in New York, also names as defendants Larry Gagosian, Prince’s dealer who displayed the series in a recent show titled “Canal Zone”, and publishing house Rizzoli, which co-produced the catalogue. In addition to seeking unspecified damages for copyright infringement, the lawsuit also demands the “impounding, destruction, or other disposition” of all of the paintings, unsold catalogues and preparatory materials involved in the making of the works.

Cariou filed the suit after being alerted that the show contained images of dreadlocked men and woman seemingly copied from Yes Rasta, a book Cariou published in 2000 after a decade of photographing Rastafarian culture in the hinterlands of Jamaica. According to the lawsuit, 20 out of the 22 works in the series—a pastiche-like amalgam of Rastafarian images, porn photos and painterly strokes recalling artists such as de Kooning and Picasso—featured photographs from Cariou’s book. The photographer’s lawyer and representatives for Prince and Mr Gagosian all declined to comment on the suit.

Prince, whose work typically incorporates images from a variety of sources, has previously incurred some resentment for his practice. In the 1980s photographer Garry Gross sued Prince over Spiritual America, a 1983 work that consisted of a blown-up copy of a picture Gross took of a nude, pre-pubescent Brooke Shields. Reportedly the suit was settled out of court. A series of enlarged Marlborough advertisements that brought Prince international celebrity in the 1990s—selling for millions of dollars, a price his work now routinely commands—also created consternation among the lesser-known commercial photographers who shot the cowboy-themed pictures. Prince himself, who has said of his work that he’s “practising without a license”, unapologetically problematises issues of authorship. The essay for the show’s catalogue, for instance, was written by James Frey, the controversial author who fabricated whole swathes of his 2003 “memoir”, A Million Little Pieces.

In the lawsuit, Cariou’s lawyers argue that the appropriations in “Canal Zone” are especially egregious because they involve the recent work of a fellow artist whose images are the result of years of ethnographic research, not simply the output of a commercial photographer. However, the question facing the judge if the case goes to court will largely boil down to whether Prince’s use of the images was transformative and therefore permissible under the United States’ doctrine of “fair use”, which allows for limited reproduction of copyright imagery for the purpose of parody or other creative ends. A significant recent case regarding the practice of appropriation in art was Blanch v Koons, a 2006 action where fashion photographer Andrea Blanch sued Jeff Koons for incorporating a photo she took of a woman’s lower legs for Allure magazine. The suit was decided in Koons’s favour when a judge found the artist’s appropriation to be transformative.

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Lea Golda Holterman at Gallery 1839


Exhibition by Lea Golda Holterman

Gallery 1839 is hosting an exclusive, solo exhibition of 'Exile: an image of women, women as an image' by acclaimed Israeli artist and photographer Lea Golda Holterman at The Assembly Rooms in Soho London.

The gallery will be open to the public on Open Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th January 2009 10:00am to 4:30pm

Gallery 1839 at
The Assembly Rooms
8 Silver Place
London W1F 0JU Map

Online at www.gallery1839.com Prints can be purchased from the online gallery.

All enquiries should be addressed to Kevin O'Connor
Tel: 020 8392 8557
Mob: 07768 275075

Sponsors:
The London Photographic Association (LPA)
The Assembly Rooms

Self Promotion through 2009 - A MUST!!


The past few months have not been easy for anyone in the commercial sector and, as we head into 2009, I think it's important to point out how crucial it is that you all promote yourselves as best you can. The LPA is your association: we are here for you. We can, and do, help members market themselves, exhibit their work, gain extra exposure and even appear higher up Google rankings. Please use us: we want to help you succeed.

Perception is very important in our industry. People want to deal with busy people so make sure you are on page one of Google for relevant search terms: it'll make it seem as if you've got loads going on, and more work will come from that!

This is just one of the areas in which the LPA can really help, but you have to keep us in touch with what you are doing. We regularly publish members' news and it is this text that Google's spiders pick up. The more news you have appearing about you on the internet, the more likely you are to appear on page one of Google, which will ultimately drive more traffic to your LPA portfolio and your personal website.

If you still need convincing that it's a good idea to let the LPA help you with marketing, here are some stories from members who have used the LPA's muscle power. They all got fantastic exposure which has made a positive difference to their careers. Will it be you next?

Photography by jane Chilvers

Cultivate, Portfolio Reviews


Rhubarb-Rhubarb is pleased to announce the third Cultivate series of seminars and portfolio reviews.

Cultivate has been designed for self-taught emerging photographers, graduates or students in their final year of a specialist photography course. The aim is to bring insightful and up-to-the-minute information about the current photography industry. We've sourced some of Britain’s best curators, agents, gallerists and freelance photographers to present a series of seminars and one to one portfolio sessions.

This is a two-day event run in conjunction with London College of Communication. The two events will be held at their building in Elephant and Castle, dates as follows;

Full day of seminars on Saturday 28th February 2009, 10.00 am - 4.30 pm
Portfolio Review event on Saturday 14th March 2009, 9.30 am - 3.30 pm

We're very aware that these are trying financial times for all of us. We've put together a price package that reflects this and is excellent value for money. Prices as follows;

£25.00 for one seminar session ( am or pm )
£40.00 for two seminar sessions
£70.00 for two seminars and 3 portfolio sessions

For further information and online booking, visit http://www.rhubarb-rhubarb.net/13_cultivate.asp

Places are limited and work on a first-come, first-served basis.

We're looking forward to seeing you in London. Any queries, please get in touch.

Sean McGarry
Information Officer

Rhubarb-Rhubarb.net Ltd
212 The Custard Factory,
Gibb Street,
Birmingham
B9 4AA
United Kingdom

e: admin@rhubarb-rhubarb.net
t: +44 (0)121 773 7889
f: +44 (0)121 773 7888