Rober Frank Walker Evans

I was in Switzerland the other week to lead a workshop on Portraits at MAZ..
On the train from Zurich airport to the main train station you are treated to the sounds of bird song and cow bells...I thought of Robert Frank....
and then of course I thought of Walker Evans who Frank assisted ....

Jason Eskenazi is compiling a list of photographers favorite choices from Frank's The Americans along with their reasons why they chose the particular image...
Here are two images that have touched me from Franks work along with one of Evan's images.
Sick of Goodbys of course was not part of The Americans book but made several years later ....
All images copyrighted to the artists

Format Festival, Derby, UK

If you're in the UK at the beginning of march don't miss Format Festival

Runs from  4th of March until 3rd of April

August Sander

I'd not seen this August Sander image before so wanted to share it.
The haircuts are reminiscent of the ones my sister and I had circa 1966

Summer Sifestival in Savignano Italy

The summer continued with Sifestival in Savignano

I wrote about this festival last year.
This year I was invited to participate in the Global Photography exhibition.
It was a pity not have been able to be there as there were several works I would have really liked to have seen as an exhibition, including Roger Ballen who I mentioned earlier.



My attention has been drawn to Mark Steinmetz's work, a photographer I wasn't really familiar with until relatively recently.

Other works include Simon Robert's We English
Amy Stein's Domesticated ( as part of the Global Photography group)
Finally Joakim Eskildsen's Roma journals.
All images copyrighted to the photographers
sorry I can't figure out the ordering of the images...small technicalities sometime defeat me..please forgive me!

Summer

It's been a busy summer.
If anyone's considering going on a workshop next year then this is the one I would happily recommend. An intense week of photography taught by fantastic and creative teachers.
Last year I was invited teach at ISSP in Latvia, this year George was invited and I went along as a guest reviewer and floating assistant.
Other teachers this year included Roger Ballen, Peter Bialobrzeski, Ville Lenkkeri, Veronique Bourgin, and finally Andrei Polikanov,.
Images copyrighted to Peter Bialobrezeski and Roger Ballen respectively.

Alexander Gronsky

I had the pleasure to meet Alexander Gronsky and his partner Iveta Vaivode at last years ISSP, who were both teaching at the summer school there.
This year Alexander won the Paul Huf prize for young photographers under 35, and the Aperture Foundation portfolio prize. His work is currently showing at Foam Fotografiemuseum in Amsterdam, and will later be shown at The Aperture Foundation Gallery in New York.
All images © Alexander Gronsky

Justyna Mielnikiewicz

This week marks the beginning of Visa Pour L'Image. International Festival of Photojournalism.
I wanted to highlight the work of a good friend, Justyna Mielnikiewicz who was 2009 Canon Female Photographer of the Year. Her work will be exhibited during the festival.
Justyna, orginally from Poland, has lived for the best part of a decade in Georgia.
Her work shows the dedication of someone who has spent time really getting to know and understand the place where she now considers her home.