Chauncey Hare

The story of Chauncey Hare is a rather strange one. Self assigned almost every title except "photographer", Hare saw himself more as social scientist, therapist and protester. After quickly becoming disenfranchised with the photo art world, he abandoned photography and donated his life's work to the Bancroft Library of the University of California in Berkeley.

Information about Hare and his work is relatively sparse. However, his two monographs, Interior America (1977) and This Was Corporate America (1984), are attainable albeit expensive. Steidl has plans to publish Protest Photographs this coming May. This description of the book on the Steidl website addresses Hare's staunch humanism:

"He describes his strong identification with the people whose homes he photographs and his adamant unwillingness to betray them by selling their photographs at any price. He tells of his struggles to have his photographs, accompanied by explanatory text, accepted by the art world. He relates the abusive situations he has endured in his childhood, and in his work life as an engineer at a major oil company and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."











All Images © Chauncey Hare

Paul Graham's Shimmer of Possibility

In light of his current exhibition at MoMA, I thought I'd post a few images from Paul Graham's wonderful series A Shimmer of Possibility. Published as a 12 volume set by Steidl, this expansive project explores the distinctly overlooked, under appreciated moments of American life. This quote, taken from the NPR website, in which Graham discusses a particular sequence from the project says more than I ever could:

"I know it seems crazy, but I'm asking you to trust me and enjoy this quiet journey. Just slow down and look at this ordinary moment of life. See how beautiful it is, see how life flows around us, how everything shimmers with possibility."

You can see the sequence that Graham references here.

a shimmer of possibility
Photographs by Paul Graham
MoMA
11 West 53 Street, New York, NY
February 4–May 18, 2009










All photographs from the series A Shimmer of Possibility

All Images © Paul Graham

Carl Kleiner's Everyday Geometry

I found Swedish photographer Carl Kleiner's work today via OK! Fresh. His series Everyday Geometry, much like the title suggests, finds an assured graphic order in pedestrian objects.











All photographs from the series Everyday Geometry

All Images © Carl Kleiner

Useful Photography

Useful Photography, the brainchild of Hans Aarsman, Claudie de Cleen, Julian Germain, Erik Kessel and Hans van der Meer, is a wonderfully deadpan series of publications celebrating vernacular photography. Often stressing the functionality of photography as a visual means to an end, each issue compiles images culled from a specifically curated theme. Whether amassing images from online auction websites, photographs from the National Missing Persons Helpline, posters of Palestinian suicide bombers or the use of "before and after" photography, Useful Photography celebrates the medium's varied, often utilitarian, applications.

They also have a wonderful website with some of the funniest and most outrageous collections of vernacular photography I've ever seen. If you need some more convincing, just go the gallery section of their website and check out: Girls and Coffins and Magic Mountain. Both of which are bizarre and amazing.

You can purchase some of the publications here.











All Images © Useful Photography

Mass Art's Photography Lecture Series

The schedule for this semester's Photography Lecture Series at Mass Art is quite impressive. Bringing together a number of wonderful artists and critics such as Mitch Epstein, Judith Joy Ross, Paul Shambroom and Luc Sante, to name only a few, this series is both a rewarding and stimulating forum for the discussion of photography. So, if you're based in Boston, you should do your best to attend at least a few of these. The one caveat, however, is that space is extremely limited so if you know for sure that you want to attend, show up early!



Judith Joy Ross
Monday, February 23rd @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Mitch Epstein
Monday, March 2nd @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Paul Shambroom
Monday, March 23rd @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Sandy Phillips
Monday, March 30th @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Michael Light
Monday, April 13th @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Luc Sante
Monday, April 27th @ 2pm
Kennedy Building, Room 406
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA

Image © Judith Joy Ross

Anders Krisár's Flesh Clouds

I've been meaning to post some of Swedish artist Anders Krisár's work for some time now. However, whenever I tried to unearth his name from my memory it always evaded me. In any respect, his series Flesh Clouds is a powerful and haunting portrait of human interaction. Unlike many practitioners who utilize photography's powers of illumination, Krisár abandons this favor of obscuration. The press release for his 2007 exhibition at Galerie Lelong declares:

"In the series, amidst a setting rendered in high detail is an amorphous haze of a figure. The figure is actually Krisár and others, naked and in motion, captured in an extended exposure time. Mysterious and evocative, the images speak of collective experiences and an uncertain sense of reality. In writing on Flesh Clouds, Iris Muller-Westermann, curator at Stockholm's Moderna Museet, notes that Krisar "searches for the invisible behind the visible, and the visible behind the invisible."











All Images © Anders Krisár

Support The Exposure Project!

Hey Everyone,

Over the last few weeks, we at The Exposure Project have started the involved process of organizing our next publication. We received an inspiring amount of exceptional work during our latest call for entries period and couldn't be happier with the selected photographers. It has always been our goal to continually expand the breadth of this project and unite a diversity of vision, process and philosophy within contemporary photography. Issue 4 marks our largest and most ambitious collaboration to date. But we need your help!

As it stands right now, we are lacking the necessary funds for the production of issue 4. In light of that, we are asking you to take a moment to consider donating to The Exposure Project. There is no minimum donation and all the proceeds will benefit the publication and distribution of issue 4. I am fully aware that economic times are hard right now, however, any contribution, no matter how small, would greatly benefit this project. Your generous contributions will be noted and printed in the back of the publication.

In addition, anyone who donates $50 + will receive an editioned, 8.5 x 11 print of their choice. You can view the available editions here. So, if you're interested in offering your support, visit our Donations page!