Adams, to me, is a bit of a spiritual man, and some of the small sentences he writes feel so pure in their origin...

"often there doesn't seem to be anything there, I feel foolish to have stopped, but small things can become important, a Lark or a Mailbox, or Sunflowers.
and if I wait I may see architecture - the road, the fields, the sky." RA

"on the Prairies there is sometimes a quiet so absolute that it allows me to begin again, to love the future" RA

"The photographer hopes, in brief, to discover a tension so exact that it is peace."RA

You can see more of Adams work and listen to him speak here , here, and here

I am mightily proud to that George Georgiou will be one of six photographers selected for MOMA's annual New Photography exhibition.

George Georgiou (British, born 1961) began working as a freelance photographer after receiving a BA in photography from the Polytechnic College of Central London. He has photographed extensively in Eastern Europe and Turkey, spending most of the past five years in Istanbul. His series Fault Lines, made on his travels through Turkey, examines the country’s present-day struggle to maintain its traditions and natural landscape in the face of change and development. His pictures focus on everyday life but seek, he says, to “address and question the concept of East and West and the process of modernization, urbanization, and national identity that is happening in Turkey against a rising tide of nationalism and religion.” With its recent contentious elections and ongoing bid to join the European Union, Turkey is at a political and social crossroads. Georgiou follows this former imperial power in its search for a twenty-first-century identity.
Also showing are Moyra Davey,  Deana Lawson, Doug Rickard, Viviane Sassen, Zhang Dali

Doug Rickard

Deana Lawson

Moyra Davey

Viviane Sassen

Zhang Dali

 

Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros RIP

Words fail me these last days on hearing the tragic news of the death of two passionate and dedicated photographers in Libya, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.
I am grateful that so many people in our community have managed to find words to express their thoughts and memories ...

For now I post this sensitive moment by Tim from his sleeping Soldiers series.
© Tim Hetherington
 Rest In Peace.

George Georgiou Athens House of Photography

If any of you are in Athens please take a trip to see George Georgiou's Faultlines exhibition at the
Athens house of Photography.
The gallery space is very new George's work is only the second exhibition they've put on.
The opening is tomorrow evening

For anyone living or visiting Paris, my exhibition  Not Only Rare Birds Sing at Galerie VU  is still on.
Closes on the 19th

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.

Phillip Toledano

Another person from the reviewees group I met at PhotoEspana was Phillip Toledano
Days with my Father is beautifully touching yet unsentimental.
He's recently published a book of the work with the same title, which you can find by going to the books page on his website here.

Photoespana Descubrimientos 2010

For the first time ever I participated in a portfolio review.
It was part of the Descubrimientos
I just wanted to highlight a couple of the other photographers I met there (one of the nicest parts of the whole process in fact).
The First is Nelli Palomaki who's been making some great portraits of children. First 2 images.
The second Photographer is Georges Pacheco
I really love this series "The Memory of Tears"

About George again

Here's some images from the Side Gallery and the cover of his book Fault Lines Turkey East/West

George Georgiou Fault Lines Side Gallery

For the second time the Side Gallery in Newcastle are showing George Georgiou's work.
This time they're showing his work from Turkey.
I was going to upload a couple of pictures, but for some reason the "upload image" button has decided to go on holiday.
If anyone's in the North of England tomorrow George will be giving a talk about his work.
2pm start

William Klein in Rome

And to add to the excitement we managed to catch the opening of William Klein's work from the late 50's in Rome at the Mercati di Traiano, I was a real pleasure to see the great man himself...i will not forget.

The Birth of George's book

We are in Rome for the printing of George's book.
This has been too long in the waiting, but for sure worth every minute, hour, year he has spent making this work.
Here are a few images from the printing house.

Side Gallery

The Side Gallery along with Amber films and cinema has a long history, and is one of the only galleries in the UK completely devoted to documentary photography and film.
The Side is a real gem and has supported many photographers over the years.
One of my early favorite photographers, Chris Killip was one of the directors of the early days of the gallery in the seventies.
Killip's In Flagrante has recently been remade as one of the Books on Books series by Errata Editions.
The Side also has an incredible archive including Killip, Weegee, Iturbide,Konttinen, Chapman, Davies, Steel Perkins....and more.

Paul Strand

Just for the hell of it....have a bit of a look around the net

Arja Hyytiäinen

I just wanted to write a post about a photographer whose work I really like.
I first met Arja Hyytiäinen at the offices of VU, the agency we are both members of.
We were both nervously preparing to visit a publisher...
Arja's book Distance Now published by Images en Manoeuvres is now available from VU as a special edition.
Arja currently has an exhibition on at the V8 gallery at Mohrenstrasse 2, 50670 Cologne.