Teller Abroad

For me, the work of the great Juergen Teller is always motivational. Every time I look at what he has done, I want to go out and shoot, shoot, shoot. It's easy to get caught up in his trance-inducing images.

Talking to Strangers

It's my roommate who recommended I look at the work of Peter Kayafas. Professor, as was his formal relationship to her while she studied at Pratt some years ago, was one of those teachers who really pushed her limits as a photographer. I've had those too- the ones who feel almost impossible to please- but a lot of times it's when you succeed in that setting that it is most rewarding.

I can't say that I walked away from seeing his work unmoved. His images are upclose and personal, and those that are taken a step back are decisively so. Really when you take a risk to get a portrait of a stranger, it's their reaction that makes the photograph. I'm starting to understand that pissing people off might actually be the ideal situation. As my Documentary Critique teacher at the ICP said in last week's class, "Sometimes you see a photo that's a really great close up portrait and you wonder how did they get that shot? It's usually because they were assholes." See more of Kayafas' photos after the jump. 

Big Birthday Kid

Today (or yesterday, at this hour) is my birthday, and what a really great birthday it has been! I slept in, went to work late, and enjoyed the forever-falling nyc snow.

To celebrate, I'm posting two lovely pictures published by Life. (What would we do without the visual excellence that are the images put out by this publication?) These capture so well the joy a child has on his birthday-- a little mischief, a lot of innocence, and presents and sweets galore. I'd like if birthdays stayed this way throughout adulthood. Wouldn't that be fun!

From top, photography by: Walter Sanders, Nina Leen, 

Danziger Does Happy

Couldn't help but to spread the word on this one. James Danziger is doing a neat project called "The Happiness Project" on his blog The Year in Pictures. It's a simple concept. Send your happiest picture, be it a snapshot of your own or a fine art image taken by someone else. Explain why it is meaningful to you. After that, Danziger will publish select submissions to his site. I know I'll be searching my images for the perfect one tonight! Click here to get all the specifics.

Above is a happy moment indeed by the man of the "decisive moment" Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Turning to Turned Out

Maya of Turned Out has a way of working the art of the collage. Weaving both images of her own and sometimes those of the glossies, the result is always sort of (read: SO/ very) uplifting. Altogether, Turned Out is a mix of these image montages with Maya's street-style photos of subjects who embody spirit of--when you get down to it--the cool girl. Above is one of my favorite of her portraits and, after the jump, a collage.

Rejecting the Digital Age

Here's a source of inspiration. Ellen Rogers, a London-based photographer, shoots in all analogue, never letting photoshop touch her precious prints. "My techniques mostly come from experimentation with traditional darkroom processes," she says on her web site. "All my work is analogue and does not utilise any digital equipment or computer based manipulation (other than scanning the end result)."

This is a struggle I have had with my own photography-- to cross over to the (digital) darkside or to not cross over to the (digital) darkside.* Ms. Rogers has given me a little extra push to what I know I want: all traditional film, all traditional darkroom. Her work is ghostly beautiful. See more of it after the jump.