“But… what of those who work today with equal commitment and sincerity, using straight photography in the cacophonous present? I will not name names here, but for these serious photographers the fog of time still obfuscates their efforts, and the blindness j’accuse some of the art world of suffering from, narrows their options. It means their work will almost never be considered for Documenta, or placed alongside other artists in a Biennale, or found for sale in major contemporary art galleries and art fairs. This does not just deprive the public of the work, and the work of its place, it denies these artists the self-confidence that enables them to grow, to feel appreciation and affirmation, not to mention some modest financial reward allowing them to continue to work. It is also, most importantly, seeing the world of visual art in narrow terms. It is seeing the apple as unreasonable.” – Paul Graham

Every few weeks an essay or blog post appears that seems to strike a chord with a cross-section photography folks. Those YES! EXACTLY! type pieces of writing that seem to articulate ideas and thoughts we all intuitively feel but often aren’t able to communicate.  But when we read the words and see other people Tweeting and quoting the piece, we know that we’re a little less crazy.  It’s comforting, but more importantly inspiring.  One such article was Paul Graham’s essay ‘The Unreasonable Apple,’ a presentation he made at first MoMA Photography Forum, 16th February 2010.

In essence, he’s making an argument or plea for the importance and appreciation of ‘straight’ photography in the fine art world. He’s able to articulate much better than I, so I won’t try, but what struck me, and what I found inspiring was that he’s making this case even though he’s been widely embraced in art circles (or maybe not, but I think so).  He hasn’t strayed too far from the ‘New Documents’ that inspired him to pursue photography in the first place.  There certainly are many others working in this tradition that have broken through like Alec Soth for example, but for the most part it seems that if you’re out doing this work, there’s very little chance it’ll be widely seen in the fine art photography world.

But that’s nothing new, right? Very little photography deserves the accolades and attention.  But much like Paul, I believe in this type of photography and want to see it reach an audience that appreciates it.  I’m sure many of you can see where I’m going with this, and that’s the web.  Anyone whose followed ‘street photography’ the last ten years know that it’s having a bit of a renaissance because it’s practitioners and enthusiasts have been able to network through the internet, create communities (like iN-Public, HCSP, and many others) and discover an audience many probably didn’t think existed.  While I’m speaking about street photography, you should check out Nick Turpin’s post, Undefining Street Photography, which makes a point that I agree with about the essence of street photography, and really photography itself.

“When a child picks up a camera and pushes the button that simple spontaneous image is a Street Photograph, it is, first of all, a raw reaction to the scene in front of it, a person, a car, a color. That primitive urge to react, to make a picture is at the heart of Street Photography beyond any other area of picture making, it comes before any other agenda.” – Nick Turpin

It would be impossible for me to argue that these are novel ideas, but that’s not really important. What I’m excited about and what drives my passion for photography is that I know there are thousands of photographers devoted to and passionate about this type of work.  And irregardless whether or not it’s accepted again in fine art circles, it will be appreciated.  The photographers I’m most interested in these days all seem to be working without ambition. And when I say without ambition, I mean they aren’t concerned with contests, portfolio reviews, gallery shows or a photography career (I also respect many that have fine art career ambitions. It’s not an either or situation).  They’re just out there making work, refining their vision and building their audiences online.  For many, that’s good enough, and for some of those photographers who were out there in the ’60s and ’70s when Winnogrand and Friedlander were making their name, gaining a bit of an audience online all these years later probably makes them feel like they’ve arrived.

We’ve been following a few photographers who have been shooting for years, and are now posting their work, new and old online.  We have a few features lined up, and are always on the look out for new work.  If you haven’t seen it before, check out our feature on Pierre Wayser whose a prime example of this type of photographer.

Related posts:

1. OpEd: Getting Drunk at Photography’s Funeral
2. Thoughts on Blake Andrew’s post about “The photography-integrated-into-life method”
3. OpEd: Some New Work From….

“Smiling Faces Tell Lies”

Edited by Luis Torres

Contributors: Fermin Guzman Martinez, Ciarli Scappa, Pedro Ramos, dirtyfeet, Karen Rudd , Iván Santiesteban, Luca De Marchi, Matheus Chiaratti, Barry Fisher, Francesca Nicolosi, Ludmilla Morais

View Show

Related posts:

1. March, 2009 Show – Smiling Faces Tell Lies
2. From the Archive – February, 2009 Show
3. From the Archive: March, 2008 Show

Edited by James Turnley

If you’d like to learn more about the idea for the show, here’s the post on our Flickr group.

Contributors: Lesha Galkin, Jessica Caisse, Timothy James Kelly, Jordi Gual, Jennilee Marigomen, Daniel Gaskin, Ariane Schrack, Olivia Crawford, Jacob Wolf Miller, Andrew James, Linus Lohoff , David Buckner, Johnathon Kelso, Eddie Geisinger, Coley Brown, Marlon Kowalski, Adrián Zorzano, Laina Briedis

VIEW SHOW

Related posts:

1. Submissions Now Open For February, 2009 Show – Peripheral
2. March, 2010 Show – “And now it’s too late”
3. July, 2009 Show – Too much to dream last night

My friend and frequent LPV contributor Kramer O’Neill recently made a trip to Mexico.  While there he participated in one of Mark Alor Powell’s photography workshops.  Near the end of his trip he responded to an email I’d sent him with: “I got you an outstanding little gift in the DF.  Don’t let me forget to give it to you.”

Once he returned we met at for a beer at the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint where he gave me my gift, which I’m fairly certain you’ve guessed by now was a signed copy of V.I.P by Mark Alor Powell. He’d found it in a little bookstore in Mexico City. Apparently it was the last one and since it’s out of print, it truly was a great gift.  Mark as been a favorite of mine and LPV for a few years now.  We’ve done a feature on him in the past, and look forward to following his work in the future. Since you can’t own the book for yourself, I thought I’d give you a quick, time lapsed view.  You can also view a few of the images on Flickr.

One last thought, I was thinking last night, how interesting would it be if there were some type of series where filmmaker’s made short films inspired by the work of certain photographers?  I imagine Tarantino’s or Jarmusch‘s take on Mark’s work might be interesting.

Related posts:

1. An Edit of High & Low – by Mark Alor Powell
2. Mark Powell
3. Book: True Color by Mark Cohen

photographs ©Craig Nunn

Craig Nunn. Leeds-born, Cambridge-based photographer. Also a one-time Bollywood extra, and one third of a pop group called Internet Forever.

When I opened the email and saw that Craig included latest music video from the band he’s in, I smiled.  It was a first for LPV. But seemed perfectly in-line with our ethos.  Most photographers either have day jobs or other creative outlets.  I’ve always been interested in how these type of photographers integrate their work with other activities, be it their day job or musical career. My friends over at insig.ht wrote an great piece on this awhile back called ‘The Insiders,’ which is worth a read if you missed it.

My taste in music is rather vanilla, and we’re not aiming to be Pitchfork over here, so don’t worry, but I enjoyed the video and thought the song was catchy.

(Note: From our recent entries it might appear that we’re favoring the “lo-fi-grainy-washed-out” look recently, but really, it’s not intentional. Just the publishing flow.  I’m sure we’ll be featuring some crisp, clear large format landscapes soon enough.)

INFO
hrtbps.com
Internet Forever

Related posts:

1. From the Inbox – Lorena Endara
2. From the Inbox – Ben Blacket
3. From the Inbox – Thomas Rousset

photographs ©Anna Shelton – Title from Interview on FILE MAGAZINE

Anna’s work has been featured on several websites, but I somehow missed those features.  Instead it was on Flickr that I discovered her hypnotic polaroid landscapes. I was discussing her work with James the other night and I said that it made me feel like I was entering her magical natural world.  Sometimes you can’t articulate why a body of work resonates with you, which doesn’t bother me because that’s a signal that it’s working on a different level, somewhere beyond the verbal.

VIEW SLIDESHOW

INFO
Anna Shelton on Flickr
file magazine interview
we love you so
fjord photo interview
carpaccio magazine
Booooooom
urbanautica
i love that photo interview
not content
abduzeedo
controlled literature

Related posts:

1. Featured: Kate Kirkwood
2. Featured: James Turnley
3. All we have is now! by Pierre Wayser

“ESTRAGON: What’s wrong with you?
VLADIMIR: Nothing.
ESTRAGON: I’m going.
VLADIMIR: So am I.
ESTRAGON: Was I long asleep?
VLADIMIR: I don’t know. (Silence).
ESTRAGON: Where shall we go?
VLADIMIR: Not far.
ESTRAGON: Oh yes, let’s go far away from here.
VLADIMIR: We can’t.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We have to come back tomorrow.
ESTRAGON: What for?
VLADIMIR: To wait for Godot.
ESTRAGON: Ah! (Silence.) He didn’t come?
VLADIMIR: No.
ESTRAGON: And now it’s too late.
VLADIMIR: Yes, now it’s night”

“Waiting for Godot” – Samuel Beckett

Submissions via Flickr or email – editors at lapuravidagallery.com

Related posts:

1. March, 2010 Show – “And now it’s too late”
2. Submissions Now Open for March Show: Smiling Faces Tell Lies
3. Submissions Now Open For May, 2010 Show – “Badlands”