Thinking About Contemporary Photography

There are so many exciting things going on visually. So many talented image makers. It is humbling and inspiring to see this new work. This level of technique and story.

So here are photographers that I have seen and thought, "Wow!"

Alec Soth (above) has blown up to nuclear levels of success. I loved his work that focused on the South. His eye is blank and full. I saw his work at the Pace Gallery in NY about ten years ago.

Soth: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=alec+soth&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=a0NATfzhBMrGgAeNg5mbAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CE8QsAQwAg&biw=1737&bih=839

He has way more compassion than Avedon, but there is a naked quality to his subjects. There is a nakedness to his landscapes too. Who was that female Dutch photographer who shot the awkward adolescent women with the ocean in the background? Dijkstra Rineke! His work has formal intensity like her work.

Also you have to consider " la vie bohemme lifestyle" photographers like Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans. "Look I am having sex with a junky!" There is an American iconography and vernacular that Soth has continued from these two. Empty motel beds, couples entwined with sad non erotic looks on their faces looking right into the lens.

Perhaps Timothy Greenfield Sanders should come into the discussion. But he seems the one trick pony compared to Soth, who seems to be at play. There is an innocence to Soth's eye that pulls me in. He isn't trapped in a formula.

Soth seems less fucked up than Goldin and Tillmans. Sweeter than those two. Mapplethorpe's portraits took the formality even further. Soth is less fussy about visual cleanliness. He likes the mess and containing it in the frame. Human mess. Industrial landscape mess. Frailty.

Mary Ellen Mark, the low rent Diane Arbus, has to be considered in the Soth discussion. He doesn't look for freaks exactly, but he does demand a certain rawness that Mark pays her rent with.

To go beyond Soth and move into a broader look at contemporary photography, I received a couple of cool tips from my friend Tim Devine.

1) Alex Prager is the love child of Cindy Sherman and Hitchcock. LA Darling and blowing up huge at MOMA. http://www.alexprager.com/

2) Julia Fullerton Batten: She has a great eye for solitude/loneliness as well as a great eye for color harmony, line, and the absurd. Cinematic narrative in a single frame. http://www.juliafullerton-batten.com/

3) Martin Parr: http://www.martinparr.com/index1.html

4) Mark Zibert: http://www.markzibert.com/ He is definitely in the Editorial camp, but his technique is so flawless, it is just interesting to see someone work at the top of their shooting and post production canoodling excellence.

I also have to throw Julia Blackmon into the mix. Her art history winking composites are fun and telling about the privileged suburban lifestyle. She is a morphed Tina Barney on hallucinogenic steroids. Funny and fun!

A couple of interesting blogs to check out!

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/

http://thephotographypost.com/blogs/post/rachel/

Thinking about photography....

My Big Fat Gay Wedding

I had the distinct pleasure of shooting my first gay wedding. When these two women committed and said "I DO!" in front of their family and freinds, a palpable ring of love expanded out from their unifying kiss. I could feel it. The world could feel it. It was love and hope and a huge leap of faith.

Later in the day, they had a photograph made with their grandmothers. I couldn't help but wonder how far we have come. Ending slavery, giving women the vote, getting rid of don't ask don't tell- all of it lead to this moment of liberty for these two people to say a simple, "I Do." Their grandmothers were totally tickled and happy for their babies. 50 years ago this act would have been impossible or at least kept very much on the down low.

But on this glorious, cold day the generations came together to affirm love. To affirm that the this commitment is not for sissies and will take all the family's support to survive. I was honored to be a tiny part of this incredible step forward for these two people and our country. Where love counts. Where love is the final arbiter. Where love in all its messy and true manifestations can ring out in circles for the earth to rejoice in.

Not only are they no longer second class citizens, they are pioneers and ground breakers. I applaud and rejoice their union. It makes it easier for the rest of us to be truly free.