New Website

 

My site was down for quite sometime and I apologize for the inconvenience. With a sigh of relief, my new site is now up and running - very simple and minimalistic, with no bells and whistles. The site uses a free and  'lightweight' content management system called StaceyApp,

Michael Wesely

©  Michael Wesely

German photographer Michael Wesely photographed the renovation and expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York over a period of three years with one exposure! Wesely setup his custom made cameras in four locations around the museum construction site. Unfortunately, he had some issues and had to take a few cameras down prior to their finish; as his images show with the passage of time, things change (source). 

 

There was no technical details mentioned on what technique did he employ to be able to expose a single negative within 3 years time or how the exposure was made. Another photographer who worked with long exposure is Hans Christian Schink with his 1h Northern Hemisphere series (read details here).     
 

PhPhoto Eyeball & Swap Meet

PhPhoto, an online photography community, of which I am a part of, since year 2000, will be having an Eyeball & Swap meet on June 19, Saturday, 2-5PM at SMX Activity Center, SM Mall of Asia.

For registration, please send an email to: jaja_samaniego@yahoo.com. Registration fee of P200 comes with a free shirt!

Program is as follows:

2pm - Registration
230pm - Games / Raffles
3pm - MOVE workshop
430pm - Launch & More raffles
5pm - End

Workshop speakers are: Anton Sheker, Ken Go, Jay Tablante, Jun Miranda, Jay Jallorina, Edwin Tuyay, Lee Llamas, John and Harvey Chua plus many more!

You may also sign-up via PhPhoto Facebook page.

Piclet.org

piclet.org is an initiative by New Horizon Productions - Agency for Culture. All featured artists are hand selected. If you feel that your work should also be part of piclet.org just drop a link to your website to submission [at] piclet.org. A group of piclet.org curatorial partners will decide whether you will be included in our directory.

piclet.org - The online directory for hand-picked photographers’ portfolios.

50mm

“[At the end of] my first week as one of the staff photographers, [Bossan, creative director at Colors magazine] called me into his office and the only thing sitting on his desk was a 50mm lens,. I wasn’t allowed to use any wide or zoom [lenses] for the rest of my time working with him—those lenses are the easiest way to make a picture nice without having something good in front of the camera.” 

 
- Excerpt from Reed Young Interview, PDN 30 2010

Cheng-Chang Wu

'Visions of Taiwan' © Cheng-Chang Wu

Wu's story is a reflection on his environment as well as himself. In each photograph he is depicted alone and disconnected from a vivid landscape. He lures the viewer in with beautifully intricate scenes from across Taiwan, but his work is one of resistance and social critique. "Situations in the country have been disgraceful for a long time due to Taiwan's government policies and the citizens' habit, leaving most people without feelings, not caring about what is really happening," says Wu.

Wu's images use the apathetic character to bring attention to how we define and interact with our environment. In each photo his face is overexposed, blank and blinded. In Wu's words, the figure "can only look with out seeing." The figure neither registers the beauty nor the problems of Taiwan, leaving us with a lasting challenge to see what we are missing (Source).

See Wu's folio here.

Via ArtistWanted

Velocity Bar

Velocity Bar is the country’s first and only 5-star sports and entertainment bar. Its modern interior design perfectly reflects a chic and hip lifestyle. The bar’s multiple large LCD screens provide great viewing pleasure and its top-of-the-line audio system takes the quality of sound and music a notch higher.

This integrated sports and entertainment bar provides the excitement and camaraderie of sports viewing in a high energy environment with great quality food and beverage. Guests can take their pick on how to better enjoy the game: in the cozy bar area where modern tables and couches are perfect for dining while watching; or in the theater set-up area where they can watch the game just like in a movie theater. Sports enthusiasts around the country are invited to come and watch featured sporting events and throw parties with friends who share the passion for sports.

Velocity Sports Bar is housed in the sprawling Marriott Hotel Manila. Located across NAIA Terminal 3, it’s a quick 15-minute drive from Makati and Bonifacio Global City . The hotel offers first-rate 342 room accommodations including luxurious bedding, high speed internet, 40-inch, high definition LCD televisions with jack pack plug and play systems and spacious work areas. The two top floors house executive level rooms and 19 suites. Guests can enjoy a spectacular view of the 18-hole Villamor golf course from the executive lounge.

To know more about the hotel and its promotions, call (02) 988 9999 or visit www.mariott.com/mnlap

Visura Magazine Issue 8

Lots of great work at Visura Magazine which features entire issue to Institute for Artist Management photographers Simon Norfolk, Rob Hornstra, Jodi Bieber, and Lauren Greenfield among others.

Check out Visura Magazine Issue 8.

Seth Godin on Photography

"When everyone has a camera, and everyone thinks they are a photographic artist, it’s clear that access to the device is not a scarce resource. If that’s all you’ve got, I’m not going to pay you. The art isn’t in the taking of the picture. The art is in what you do the other 21 hours in a day.

If you don’t like that, you should become an amateur and do what you love, but don’t expect to get paid for it!"

Continue reading here.

Found via Burns Auto Parts

Manjari Sharma

© Manjari Sharma

With every new visit, I've had a new protagonist; a new plot and a new parable of hurt and heroism that has come undone under my shower. Secretly, I have been told by my subjects that it is thrilling, and adventuresome to be in my shower; secretly cheating my traditional and tame Indian upbringing I live through all of my subjects. Fighting their wars and braving their fears and for those few hours, we are connected through this controversial pious space.

Visit Manjari Sharma's The Shower Series

The Photography Post

The Photography Post

Our mission is to indulge that passion by providing a dynamic environment loaded with original content. We'll bring you interviews, columns, a visual aggregate that's updated every 15 minutes, our Museum of Online Photography Collections, and a marketplace.

Whether art, fashion, reportage or commercial, The Photography Post delivers the most current discussions on the state of photography.

Check out The Photography Post now.

Found via A Photo Student

STRIP 2010 Artist Talk

My photographer-friends will be talking about their work on Saturday, February 27, 3-5pm at Silverlens Gallery. Please come!

Documentary photographers Tammy David, Jake Verzosa and Veejay Villafranca launch STRIP 2010, a new annual photography show by Silverlens Gallery. To document the here and the now, these three young photographers carry with them the tenet of their craft: accessibility is key in unlocking the power a photograph has in telling a story.

David's work, It takes an island; or how to be alone, reveals a part of her life story only a select few (if at all) have seen. Pointing the camera at herself, David lays it out for us. She looks like that when she wakes up; she exercises in her bathtub; she has a habit of pulling her hair.

Documenting the ‘other’, Verzosa’s work, Communal Identity, captures the faces and everyday lives of the indigineous peoples of South East Asia to bear witness as well as to connect. Verzosa highlights human connection amidst cultural diversity by exposing how everyday life is the same everywhere. There is routine; there is a need to make a living; and there is a want for expression.

Immersing himself in the world of the Baseco compound in Manila, which is rift in poverty and violence, Villafranca narrates a story of the forgotten and the struggling. Marked: the gangs of Baseco by Veejay Villafranca documents the story of the gang member- from the rehabilitated ones seeking decent livelihoods to the compound’s children so vulnerable to the lures of gang life.
In their artist talk, David, Verzosa and Villafranca will in turn reveal how their stories came to be, and in what direction they want to take documentary photography next. Indeed there’s always a story behind the story.

This event is free of charge. RSVP email manage@silverlensphoto.com, call 8160044, or through our Facebook Page (Silverlens Galleries).

STRIP 2010 with Tammy David, Jake Verzosa and Veejay Villafranca runs in Silverlens Gallery until March 13,2010. This show runs simultaneously with Malikmata by Mark Orozco Justiniani in SLab, and Saucerful of Secrets by Mariano Ching with Haraya Ching in 20Square at SLab.

For inquiries, contact Silverlens Gallery at 2/F YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati, 816-0044, 0917-5874011, or manage@silverlensphoto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm and Saturdays 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto.com / slab.silverlensphoto.com.

How to Deal with Infringements

Rob Haggart of A Photo Editor writes a lengthy post on how to deal with infringements. Read more here.

Pepa Hristová's 'Sworn Virgins'

© Pepa Hristová

"Sworn Virgins" are women, who have sworn for a life-long virginity in order to fit into the role of men. This has nothing to do with transsexualism. Instead, it is about a rise in the hierarchy of the strictly patriarchal society in Albania; from there on they are classified as men. I was interested in the continuation of this ancient tradition for the preservation of the male domination in a country, which, belonging to Europe, is located no further than 1200 kilometres from the western educated world. Secondly I am very interested in the striking role change of these women, which also has a great impact on their psyche and physiognomy. Over the years their facial features hardens, their voice becomes deeper, outside the family they are not recognized as females anymore. Many of them were also saying that they have never experienced menstruation. They renounce every kind of sexuality for their entire life, which includes any kind of partnership and marriage. I have great respect for these women and the life they have chosen. I am fascinated by the power of this inner attitude.

Continue reading here.

See more of Hristová's 'Sworn Virgins' series here.

Thank you!

To all of you who had been following this blog for quite sometime now, thank you very much! Will be off to Antique Province for the Christmas and New Year. Will be back on the 3rd day of January 2010.

Felt a bit sad though that I have to postpone my trip to Albay province for next year to photograph some portraits (and Mayon Volcano which now is very active!).

Photo: filipino-foods.com

dennisrito.com

It took me a little while to decide between a custom-made and a template-based website. But due to budget constraints, I eventually decided to have a template-based website instead.

Indeed, my workshop with Peter Bialobrzeski and Espen Eichoeffer had been instrumental in helping me find my own 'voice'. I must admit that I was influenced by German photography and all the more I am being drawn to the conceptual approach.

I'll continue to challenge myself and work on several projects I am planning to pursue. Feel free to visit my website. Enjoy!

Dulce Pinzon

© Dulce Pinzon

From her series 'Superheroes' which objective is to 'pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.'

“Superheroes” features Mexican immigrant in New York in a satirical documentary style featuring ordinary men and women in their work environment donning superhero garb, thus raising questions of both our definition of heroism and our ignorance of and indifference to the workforce that fuels our ever-consuming economy.

Dulce Pinzon's work seem to have a semblance with Marc Lathuillière's (which work 'France Face Lost' will be shown in an exhibit next year here in the Philippines).

Stella Kalaw: Cubao Series

© Stella Kalaw

I admire Stella's soft-lit and quiet interiors. Her images are quite inviting too. The chiaroscuro of light in some of her images (above) reminds me of the work of Flemish painters particularly Jan van Eyck.

Art Statement for Cubao Series...

I saw my grandparents once since migrating to America years ago. It was right after I graduated from school in California. My heart ached as I sat next to Lola (grandmother). I held her hand. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and diabetes for years. Before I left, she was still vibrant and it was difficult to see her in this condition. Then Lolo (grandfather) came out from the dining room. I stood up and greeted him with a mano- (I took his hand and pressed it to my forehead). I don't know if he recognized me but I asked how he was doing. All he could mutter was "Ha?" He was hard of hearing. My Lola died in 2002 and my Lolo passed away a week after I took these photographs. Even when I was a child, I hardly knew them despite having spent many birthdays, holidays and vacations together. My memories are few but visiting Cubao resurfaced many that I had forgotten."

View the Cubao Series here.

Visit Stella's blog here.

On post processing

'Avedon's instructions to his printer' via - Monoscope

I can very well remember when someone posted a comment in one of my photo asking if the vignettes were done in-camera (and not in Photoshop). I replied that, no it's not done in-camera. And the guy posted in reply "Oh, I thought it was done in-camera"

I have nothing against post processing except that, like any other things, it must be done moderately and in a tasteful manner. Lest it'll turn out as a digital art and not a photograph.

'Last One Out, Please Turn On The Light'

© Richard Nicholson

This project, shot on 4"x5" film, documents London's remaining professional darkrooms. It is based on my nostalgia for a dying craft (there are no young printers). It is in these rooms that printers have worked their magic, distilling the works of photographers such as David Bailey, Anton Corbijn and Nick Knight into a recognisable 'look'.

From: 'Last One Out, Please Turn On The Light'