A Stroll in the Gallery - Le violin de Ingres

Man Ray. Le violin de Ingres. 1924.

Doctoring photographs was nothing knew when Man Ray created this iconic image in 1924. Photographers had been retouching photos ever since Niépce and Daguerre invented the medium in the early 1800s. Indeed, an early test of the “art” in photography was evidence of the photo-maker’s hand in the print. It was understood to be a sleight of hand, known to discerning connoisseurs but not the public at large. What was astounding and revolutionary about Man Ray’s work was the obvious irony of his manipulation. To impose anachronism on it, Le violin de Ingres can be viewed as the Mother of All Photoshopped Images.

The model here is the legendary Kiki of Montparnasse, demurely Orientalist in her salad days.

Walker Evans on Paul Strand’s Blind (1916)

In a 1971 interview with Leslie Katz, Walker Evans was reluctant to talk about photographers and photographs that influenced him. Paul Strand’s 1916 image of the blind peddler was the one photograph he cited:

I remember coming across Paul Strand's Blind Woman when I was very young, and that really bowled me over. I'd already been in that and wanted to do that. It's a very powerful picture. I saw it in the New York Public Library file of "Camera Work," and I remember going out of there over stimulated: "That's the stuff, that's the thing to do." It charged me up.

Leslie Katz. “An Interview with Walker Evans.” (1971) pp. 366-7. In Goldberg, Vicki (Ed.) Photography in Print, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.

Thomas Hawk’s Creative Vision

Thomas Hawk. The Scoble Show, Photo Walking With Thomas Hawk. Flickr.

I found my way to Thomas Hawk’s photography last fall when I stumbled upon a new video venture by Robert Scoble called Photo Walking with Thomas Hawk. Scobile interviewed Hawk as he walked along the north shore of Golden Gate Park, shooting pics of the bridge and musing about the daily work of photography and the transition to digital cameras and processing. This image of the Golden Gate Bridge is one of many from that photo shoot. You see it as a cutaway frame inserted in the video. I was impressed by the Internet synergy between process and product: video documentation of still image making: Podtech and Flickr.

I was impressed also by Thomas Hawk’s laid-back obsession with taking photos. He reminded me of how much I have enjoyed working with photographers over the years. (How a blind photo flaneur could do this is a story for another time.) I checked out his blog, Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection, and lately it has been a point of entry into all kinds of issues related to photography.

Hawk is working on a new photo hosting/sharing startup called Zooomr. He still has hundreds of images like this one on his Flickr site, all available under a Creative Commons license (non commercial with attribution). His Flickr profile includes this artist’s statement:

My statement as an artist is to outdo New York’s Little Angel Angelo Rizzuto, who between 1952 and 1966 documented New York City with over 60,000 photos.

We all have but a short time on this earth. As slow as time can be it is also fast and swift and mighty and then it’s over. I have advantages over Rizzuto at present. I get to shoot digital, I’m starting younger than he did and hopefully I’ll live beyond 61. I'm trying to build a library of 500,000 finished, processed fine art photographs before I die.

The absurdity of my obsessive compulsive statement is not lost on me of course. But it is the absurdity of life that I find most beautiful of all. Where Sisyphus had his stone I have my Canon 5D and a bag full of lenses.

Document, explore, lather, rinse, repeat. Photography for me then becomes a kind of hyperactive life documentary, loosely arranged and presented. My work is less about individual images and instead more about the power of a massive amount of excessive and disjointed images -- a mighty rush of water, where stories, characters and places sometimes stay and other times reappear or disappear entirely for no good reason at all.

Image Theft: A Violation of the Human Spirit?

The dark side of user-generated content: Lara Jade, a 17-year-old Flickr photographer, discovered that a vampish self-portrait she made at age 14 had been ripped off for the cover art of a porn DVD. She tells the story in a Flickr post and asks for help. She writes:

Please could someone help me with this? It feels like I'm pulling at loose strings and that I have no power over people like this. I'm still only 17 and trying to make my way in photography. I feel like I cannot display this picture anymore in case someone knows it from the movie.. or even the fact that someone THINKS im in the movie and it gives me a bad name..

A Thomas Hawk post led me to this photographer, her image, her story… all encapsulated in one Flickr blog post. Maybe the most significant thing I’ve learned in photo wandering over the past few days is the fact that Flickr is a blog aggregator. When I started looking at Flickr last year, I thought of it as an assemblage of photo albums with tags. It didn’t occur to me that someone’s photo stream actually streamed through a feed. I saw comments under images, but only minimal text from the photographer. Stumbling into Rebekka’s photo stream showed me that photographers might include extended text, not just captions. I finally got it! Flickr is a photo blog. Now I’m on the lookout for photo blogs that go beyond the scrapbook mode, blogs that have some ambition about discussing photography and image-making.

The launch vehicle in Hawk’s post was this quote about photo ethics: “I hope that whoever is responsible for the theft of this image pays dearly for what they have done. This is worse than most image theft and is a violation of Lara's human spirit.”

Image theft. A bane to photographers, also to the subjects of photos who are not involved in the social contract implicit in the photograph. In Lara Jade’s case, photographer and subject are one and the same. Consider how “violation of the human spirit” also applies to the blind woman in Paul Strand’s famous 1916 photograph.

A Stroll in the Gallery: Duke Ellington in Paris

Herman Leonard. Duke Ellington at the Olympia Park Theater, Paris. 1958. Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans.

NPR (050707) featured an interview with Herman Leonard reminiscing about the jazz musicians he photographed over a 60-year career. The NPR web page includes photos and text:

Photographer Herman Leonard, 84, captured jazz giants like Billie Holiday and Miles Davis on film as they worked in smoky, cramped, late-night clubs. But he almost lost his amazing collection to Hurricane Katrina.

As the storm bore down on New Orleans, Leonard rushed most of his negatives to a vault at a museum near his home. However, thousands of his prints were lost to the flood waters.

Some of the photos that were salvaged went on display last month at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. And Leonard's latest book, Jazz, Giants and Journeys, includes a full collection of photos that span his long career.

Leonard tells Michele Norris he's grateful for what he was able to salvage from the storm, but much like favorite recipes, photographic prints never turn out the same way twice. He hasn't moved back to his home city of New Orleans, and says he'll live there again only if the city can regain some semblance of what it once was.

A Stroll in the Gallery: Billie’s Killer Shoes

Herman Leonard. Billie Holiday’s Shoes. 1955. Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans.

Jazz photographer Herman Leonard told NPR why he chose this shot Lady Day’s shoes: "I thought to myself, this sort of epitomizes her life. She was in chains most of the time. She never really had any full control of her own life," he says. "I like to photograph images — particularly of well-known people — where you don't see their face, but the image does express part of their personality."

Missing Ms. Modigliani

Photo courtesy Eva Bozzato

Ms. M was spotted by the paparazzi somewhere near Ottawa. Her exact whereabouts remain a mystery. It isn’t Cannes, but it looks azure enough for me.

War Tourists - World Press Photo of the Year 2006

Spencer Platt, Getty Images. Young Lebanese drive down a street in Haret Hreik, a bombed neighborhood in southern Beirut, Lebanon, on August 15, 2006.

According to Spencer Platt:

“I took the image of the young people driving in a red Mini through the devastation of Beirut after a long morning walking through rubble and documenting people returning to what was left of their homes. It had been a difficult day due to the tension between members of Hezbollah, who controlled this area of town, and the media who wanted to document an important story. I was lucky to have a terrific fixer by the name of Wafa who, by being a Shiite, was able to get me into various parts of the city. Only the previous day I had been running through those same streets, which were totally deserted because of continual Israeli bombing. The contrast between the two days was both astonishing and indicative of the resilience of the Lebanese people. On approaching a street packed with families in battered cars surveying the wreckage, I saw out of the corner of my eye the people in the convertible. There was only a second to capture that moment; no time to meter, focus or compose the subject. The moment had vanished in seconds. Once I had a moment to analyze the image I realized just how unusual this tableau was. We often think we know what war looks like, but it is not until we get to war that we realize it looks like us.”

Flight from Terror: Another Lebanon War Image

Here’s the AP cutline for this photograph from Beirut (source: Dispatch 080806):

FLIGHT FROM TERROR: A woman runs past a destroyed building, still in flames, after it had been attacked by Israeli warplane missiles, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon yesterday. At daybreak yesterday, Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with eight airstrikes, stepping up bombardment of the Hezbollah stronghold. It was not immediately clear what was targeted. Picture: AP

Juan Cole wrote of this and other images streaming out of Lebanon last August: “Look at the woman. This is the Shiite "Islamic fascist" that BushMert is making war on?”

War Tourists or Refugees? Google Buzz on Spencer Platt's photo

NPR : Award-Winning Photo Draws Criticism for Subjects

Photographer Spencer Platt captured one of the most indelible images from ... I think there was a French publication - I have not seen it - put war tourism. ... www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7684938 - Similar pages - Note this

Award-Winning Photo Puts Subjects On Defensive

Journalist Gert Van Langendonck located the subjects of Spencer Platt's ... rich Lebanese Christians doing war tourism in the ravaged suburbs of Beirut. ... login.vnuemedia.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003548862 - 25k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

War Tourists or Refugees? - The Lede - Breaking News - New York ...

They never saw Spencer Platt. The first they heard about his picture was when it ... Lebanese Christians doing war tourism in the ravaged suburbs of Beirut. ... thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/war-tourists-or-refugees/ - 50k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Award-Winning Photo Puts Subjects On Defensive

Journalist Gert Van Langendonck located the subjects of Spencer Platt's prize-winning ... "And, yes, there was war tourism going on in Lebanon at the time; ... www.pdnonline.com/pdn/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003548862 - 29k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Lebanon war image causes controversy

Winner of the World Press Photo. By Spencer Platt (Getty Images) ... isn't just a bourgeois, trendy, tourist car, this car played a big role in the war. ... news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6385969.stm - 60k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

My Arabias - Blog

It was at that moment that a red car caught photographer Spencer Platt's eye. ... Lebanese Christians doing war tourism in the ravaged suburbs of Beirut. ... www.mesarabies.com/blog_article.php?id=5 - 16k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

My Arabias - Blog

It is all about having good conscience; the photographer Spencer Platt ... rich Lebanese Christians doing war tourism in the ravaged suburbs of Beirut. ... www.mesarabies.com/blog.php?month=200702 - 23k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this [ More results from www.mesarabies.com ]

The truth behind the World Press Photo winner | FP Passport

You no doubt saw Spencer Platt's arresting photograph of young, lightly-clad ... visiting the poor neighborhood like a tourist attraction," Bissan says. ... blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/3800 - 26k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Acclaimed photo that does not tell full story - World - smh.com.au

They do not deny that there was war tourism going on in Lebanon at the time - "just not in this case". However, they ask why Platt's picture was chosen, ... www.smh.com.au/news/world/acclaimed-photo-that-does-not-tell-full-story/2007/03/09/1173166991691.html - May 3, 2007 - Similar pages - Note this

PHOTO CAPTIONS THAT SAY TOO MUCH: MORE TROUBLE FOR ..

Th

e picture shows “war tourism”, she says. “It shows a negative image of our country ... the agency for which Mr Platt works, accurately convey its content. ... www.innovationsinnewspapers.com/.../06/photo-captions-that-say-too-much-more-trouble-for-photohournalists/ - 46k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Henry Butler, Musician/Photographer

Henry Butler: Musician/Photographer. March 5, 2005. By SeenyaRita on Flickr.

A Stroll in the Gallery: Big Ol’ Kiss

Henry Butler. Big Ol’ Kiss. 2005. Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans.

When I searched for “blind photographer” I got dozens of results for bird blinds a photographer might buy and use to hide in. Therein lies a story, but I may not get back to it today. When I tried again with “photographer who is blind,” the first result was Henry Butler, the New Orleans pianist and recording artist. He also does photography. “Big Ol’ Kiss” comes from How EYE See It, a 2005 show at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans. The show’s web page includes more than 30 of Henry’s images plus a short video in which he talks about his motive and process as a blind photographer.

“I was always curious as to why sighted people looked at images and got so focused and intrigued by and enamored with images on paper or on canvas,” Henry says. “So I decided I needed more than just an intellectual explanation for what I was either touching or realizing through somebody else’s eyes. I decided maybe I’ll just become a participant in capturing visual images.”

I went looking for an image created by a blind photographer to illustrate that point, precisely, in my M.I.T. talk. The talk is titled “Re-Imagining Accessibility in Participatory Culture.” The meaning of accessibility goes deeper than minimum standards of access to media allowing passive consumption. Accessibility’s deeper meaning is engagement in creating and transforming media. Henry was curious about the power of visual images, and he knew he wouldn’t understand that power until he began to make visual images for himself. He wanted to participate.

I’ve had a similar experience this month as I’ve constructed the PowerPoint presentations that support the Re-Imagining Accessibility talks. PowerPoint is a highly ritualized use of visual rhetoric supporting, sometimes displacing, oral discourse. PowerPoint always alienated me in meetings and seminars when my role was limited to passive visual consumption. I didn’t begin to make peace with PowerPoint until I figured out how to work with it using my own accessible technology. Now I’m re-imagining its creative possibilities for me. And I’m thinking about how a blind rhettor can re-claim a little gaze in visual rhetoric.

A Stroll in the Gallery: Blind Boy Reading with His Lips

David Seymour. Blind Boy Reading with His Lips. 1948. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

This photograph was part of a David Seymour retrospective exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art In 2006. Seymour was better known as Chim (pronounced “shim” in French), a contraction of his Polish surname, Szyman. He was a pioneering photojournalist in the 1930s who co-founded the legendary photo agency, Magnum Photos, along with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Brasson.

The photo was taken in Italy in 1948. The boy is reading Braille with his lips because he has no arms. Chim’s humanity and trusting rapport with children is obvious in the way he framed this shot. The image conveys the patient work done by a blind reader to gain access to a text. It expresses one of my deepest convictions about disability: the work of accessibility is creative work.

After Four Years, War Still Is Not The Answer

Mathew Brady . "Federal Dead on the Field of Battle of First Day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania" 1863