Aaron McElroy

Our friend Aaron McElroy recently sent us some new images. The keen attention to light and shadow is prominent throughout all of Aaron's work, however, these new photographs have an even more transformative quality.







All Images © Aaron McElroy

An Image A Week: Chris Giglio

Artist Chris Giglio made a series of photograms from old television sets in the 90's titled Cathode Rayogram. The work marries the concepts of system and aesthetics beautifully.



Untitled, from the series Cathode Rayogram, 1994.
40 x 30 inches, fujiflex
(type C) color photograph

Rémy Lidereau

I first discovered French photographer Rémy Lidereau's work in the monograph reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow. His series Trompe-l’œil explores urban, suburban and rural landscapes in a seemingly conventional landscape context. However, much like other contemporary photographers working with landscape issues, Lidereau has subtly manipulated his images. These alterations create a tension between the natural reality that he has captured and the virtual reality that he has created.

I would also recommend looking through his series Corse which has a few really nice images.










From Top To Bottom:

Puteaux, France, Avril 2004

Puteaux, France, Novembre 2003

Courbevoie, France, Mai 2004

Puteaux, France, Mars 2004

All photographs from the series Trompe-l’œil

Images © Rémy Lidereau

Photographic Typologies: Sarah Stolfa

Sarah Stolfa's project The Regulars explores the loneliness and isolation of the urban bar dweller. Her portraits compassionately avoid exploitation, rendering her subjects instead with a quiet dignity. Typological studies that focus on human subjects are as deeply rooted in the history of photography as those that examine more utilitarian themes. From photography's inception, photographic survey teams were dispatched to foreign cultures to typological document the physical characteristics of "exotic" civilizations. When viewed along this historical spectrum, Stolfa's images resonate as a contemporary exploration of social rather than ethnic inquiry. The Regulars investigates the psychology of detachment and isolation in a culture growing continually more fragmented.

Thanks to Stan over at Reciprocity Failure for the recommendation.









From Top To Bottom:

Mike Slaughter, 2006

Ed Taylor, 2005

Joanna O'Boyle, 2005

Arpson Bravos, 2005

All Images © Sarah Stolfa

Photo Success

I have started another blog Success that correlates with a new project I've started. I'm hoping the blog will open up a lot of conversation about trajectories of success within contemporary photography. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
Thanks - Eric D Watts

Moyra Davey at the Fogg

For anyone in the Cambridge area, artist Moyra Davey's first museum retrospective is currently up at the Fogg Art Museum. Davey's quiet and often mundane subjects exist antithetically to the driving trends of contemporary photography, which promote digital manipulation, large scale printing and staged photography. Her deadpan, democratic photographs speak to Davey's philosophy that "accident is the lifeblood of photography.” This casual approach has earned her the title of the "anti Gursky of contemporary photography."

This exhibit coincides with the publishing of Long Life Cool White: Photographs and Essays by Moyra Davey, a book containing retrospective work from Davey's rather obscure career.








Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey
February 28 through June 30, 2008
Fogg Art Museum
32 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA

From Top To Bottom:

UNTITLED (GLAD), 1999

UNTITLED (DISPOSABLE), 1999

NEWSSTAND NO. 2, 1999

All Images © Moyra Davey

Cine Stills: Paris, Texas

As a new feature on this blog, I am going to start posting still frames from cinematographically significant films. The influence that film has had on photography is unquestionably apparent. It is in many ways hard to separate the two; each has historically informed the other through a closely linked visual past. Some of the most interesting contemporary photography has continued to blur these lines even further. Photographers like Philip Lorca-DiCorcia, Jeff Wall, Lisa Kereszi and Alessandra Sanguinetti are just a few of the more obvious people finding inspiration in cinema.

When I was considering which film to start with, I kept coming back to Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. The imagery in this film is absolutely breathtaking. It presents a unique vision of the American landscape, one in which beauty is found in the vast, and often, desolate vernacular of the west. The film's power is also heightened by the distinctive use of color and lighting. Robby Müller's camerawork relies on these qualities, and as a result, the film is just as much an exploration of the psychology of color and light as it is a meditation on pain and loss.

Still from Paris, Texas, 1984 (dir. Wim Wenders, cine. Robby Müller)