At the New York Photo Festival’s “Curating 2.0″ panel, Tim Barber (photographer and curator behind the popular online photography gallery/archive known as Tiny Vices) mentioned that he was working on a series of books with photographers. That same week, I payed a visit to Michael Schmelling’s studio to check out his mock up for The Plan and Michael mentioned he had a book in the works for Tim.

Well, Tim just announced the launch of his new publishing house, TV Books, which includes Michael’s book, The Week of No Computer, as well as a selection of others. The current catalog features 12 titles and a gallery (featuring editioned prints and original works by TV Books’ artists), with many more books, posters and other projects on the way.

According to Tim, the following titles will be available soon:

Hope Against Reason by Brad Phillips
Don’t Look Down by Ben Shumacher
Everyday Demons by Vincent Dermody
Lookers by Eleonore Hendricks
Jesus Book by Peter Sutherland
Purpleviolet14 by Julia Burlingham
Hungry! Horny! Sleepy! by Jason Nocito

Take a look at the current catalog here. Keep up the great work, Tim! I’m looking forward to what’s to come.

I have to thank Ofer for passing on the news that Sigur Rós - a long time favorite band of mine - has just released a track titled “Gobbledigook” off of their forthcoming album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (English: With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly).

Along with the release of the song, the band has unveiled a music video directed by Arni & Kinski, “inspired by and in collaboration with Ryan McGinley.” McGinley, as you may have noticed, is also responsible for the album art; the cover (above) is an image from his latest series, I Know Where the Summer Goes.

Having listened to it for so long, it’s interesting for me to see Sigur Rós’ music paired with McGinley’s “vision.” Personally, I think the two work quite well together.

Download the .mp3 and watch the music video at high quality here.

The PDN Photo Annual winners gallery is now online along with photos from last week’s party in New York (good luck spotting me above).

Again, congrats to all of the other winners!

Site of Russian Armies departure to attack Japan 103 years ago (from “Walking in the Jungle”)
© Kanako Sasaki

Seeing the above photograph by Kanako Sasaki in the Getty Images show at NYPH reminded me that I had been meaning to post about her work for some time, specifically the project entitled Walking in the Jungle.

Take a look at more of Sasaki’s photographs here.

L: Cabin Wall, 2007 R: Hammock Accident, 2003 (from “Camp”)
© Jo Sittenfeld

Each month, the PRC exhibits a photographer’s work online as a part of Northeast Exposure Online. May’s featured photographer was Jo Sittenfeld, an MFA candidate at RISD. I was particularly interested in Jo’s photographs of children at Killooleet, a small traditional, coed camp located in my home state of Vermont, where she has worked for nine summers. From her project statement:

Killooleet is located in a narrow valley in the Green Mountains of Vermont and is comprised of a manmade lake, a main house with a wrap-around porch, a horse barn, and ten non-winterized red cabins. The campers grow up and move on, but the details never change – potted red geraniums on the dining porch windowsills, ham and potatoes for Wednesday supper, and rutted mud puddles down the center of camp created by 100 campers on bikes. Killooleet is familiar and specific. There is the smell of campfire in dirty hair or of a soggy bathing suit hanging in the cabin rafters. There’s also the sound of heavy rain hitting a tin cabin roof or of 130 people belting out the song “Goodnight, Irene.”

Camp is a brief, intense experience filled with change and growth and youthful energy, yet it all transpires on land that is unchanged year after year. This series is about the evolving group of adolescents who come each summer. It is also about the passage of time in a place that remains the same as its inhabitants come and go.

See more of Jo’s work on her website.

There has already been a lot of discussion surrounding New York Photo Festival on the blogosphere: Andrew Hetherington’s and Michael David Murphy’s columns over on Foto8, Robert Wright’s critique of Tim Barber’s Various Photographs exhibition (which Joerg Colberg deemed “the worst photography show [he has] ever seen”) and, of course, many others. While I also have some thoughts about how particular events and exhibitions may have been improved (or how the tagline “The Future of Contemporary Photography” should have been dropped immediately), I was quite happy with the festival in general. As with any curatorial endeavor, not everything about it will appeal to everyone, but in each of the exhibitions I managed to find a number of inspiring images and ideas.

As a way to begin digesting everything that I looked at over the past week, I thought I’d begin by sharing a few of my picks from each of the four major exhibitions.

The Ubiquitous Image, Curated by Lesley A. Martin
Location: 76 Front Street Gallery

© Natalie Czech

© Penelope Umbrico

© Harrell Fletcher

© Curtis Mann

© Joachim Schmid

© Useful Photography

Chisel, Curated by Kathy Ryan
Location: St. Ann’s Warehouse

© Katherine Wolkoff

© Roger Ballen

© Lars Tunbjörk

© Andreas Gefeller

New Typologies, Curated by Martin Parr
Location: Smack Mellon & Dumbo Arts Center

© Sarah Pickering

© WassinkLundgren

© Michel Campeau

© Jeffrey Milstein

© Jan Kempenaers

Various Photographs, Curated by Tim Barber
Location: 70 Front Street Gallery

© Mark McKnight

© Dan Otranto

© Lina Scheynius

© Hannah Whitaker

© Santiago Mostyn

(As well as the work of Christian Patterson, Irina Rozovsky, Danielle Levitt, and Balarama Heller.)

Indeed, there was a lot to see. Aside from the major exhibitions and satellite shows, the festival put on artist talks, panel discussions and screenings. It has been said that Roger Ballen gave an unforgettable talk on the first day of the festival. Unfortunately I missed it (kicking myself for this) but I was able to catch a few others, of which I most enjoyed hearing Stephen Gill. When I spoke with Stephen the day before, I could already sense his genuine love for image making but the talk proved it.

As for the panel discussions, I heard good things about the conversation between Martin Parr and Erik Kessels - mostly that it was really entertaining - but was unable to attend myself. I had high hopes for the second day’s panel, “Curating 2.0″ (featuring Tim Barber, Jen Bekman and Laurel Ptak), but was ultimately let down. I imagined much more critical discourse and much less individual presentation. However, “The Secret Life of Images” (featuring Lesley Martin, Joachim Schmid and Penelope Umbrico) lifted my spirits. Lesley did a really nice job moderating the discussion, posing questions to keep the dialogue interesting. I was also happy about the inclusion of the last panel, “Picturing Iraq” (featuring Vicki Goldberg, Nina Berman, Steve Mumford and Claire Beckett).

I commend the founders Frank Evers and Daniel Power for making the festival happen. All in all, it was great first run. I think everyone I’ve spoken to has taken something away from it and, if anything, it was such a treat to be in the company of so many people that share the same passion. It was good to see old friends and make a few: Greg Stimac, Christian Patterson, Michael Schmelling, Jason Lazarus, Will Steacy, Michael Bühler-Rose, Brian Sorg, Cara Phillips, Amy Elkins, Nicola Kast, Victoria Hely-Hutchinson, Joe Tripi, Amani Olu, Jon Feinstein, Coley Brown, Brad Troemel, Greg Wasserstrom, Grant Willing, Alana Celii, Grady O’Connor, Amy Stein, Alice Wells, Harlan Erskine, Patrick Romero, Jesse Chehak, Alys Kenny and Casey Kelbaugh (Slideluck Potshow), Noah Kalina, Alexandra Catiere, Richard Renaldi, Seth Boyd, Marc Yankus, Marcus Schaden and everyone at the booth, Ken Schles, Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren (WassinkLundgren), Darius Himes, Andrew Hetherington, Joerg Coberg, Laurel Ptak, Raul Gutierrez, Michael David Murphy, Michel Mallard, Meagan Ziegler-Haynes, Christina Caputo and many other fine folks

Evers and Power have already begun planning NYPH09, which will last for 10 days instead of 4 and again be held in DUMBO. According to PDN, next year’s list of curators will include Jody Quon (photography director at New York magazine), Chris Boot (founder of book publishing company Chris Boot Ltd.), Neville Wakefield (critic and independent curator) and Bill Ewing (exhibit curator at the Musee de l’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland).

I’m looking forward to it. Though next year I will have to bring a pair of black-framed glasses along…

Christian Patterson, Shane Lavalette, Will Steacy, Michael Bühler-Rose, Joerg Colberg
© Unknown NYPH photographer

I’m honored to have my work in this month’s issue of PDN, featured as one of the winners of the anticipated 2008 Photo Annual. You can pick up a copy at your local bookstore to see all of the selected photographers.

I’ll be heading down to New York on the 13th for the awards celebration and the blog might be quiet until afterward, when you can expect reporting on some of the NYPH08 events.

Until then!

Via The Sonic Blog, I discovered the work of Eric Weeks. His project World Was in the Face of the Beloved is really nice. From his statement:

I have been photographing my wife Stacy, whom I married four years ago this fall. My relationship with her is the closest, kindest and most successful of my life. My photographs of her are a celebration of this accomplishment.

Naturally, I think of Harry Callahan’s photographs of his wife, Eleanor.

Bath (from “World Was in the Face of the Beloved”)
© Eric Weeks

Leaves of Grass (from “World Was in the Face of the Beloved”)
© Eric Weeks

Strands (from “World Was in the Face of the Beloved”)
© Eric Weeks

Georgia (from “World Was in the Face of the Beloved”)
© Eric Weeks

If you’re interested, you can pick up a signed copy of World Was in the Face of the Beloved (the book) for $30 on Photo-eye.

See more of Weeks’ work on his website.

While I like the photo work of Ananké Asseff (Remnants of the Paradise, for example), I was particularly excited to come across her interactive video piece entitled Contemplation.

Model of Contemplation, 2005-06
© Ananké Asseff

The piece consists of a girl sitting on the ground, contemplating the landscape with her back to the viewer. As the viewer approaches the screen, the woman turns (triggered by a sensor) to look at the viewer. When the viewer moves away from the screen, the girl turns back.

A simple installation that works quite beautifully.

See more of Asseff’s work here.

Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life

Last night Ira Glass brought This American Life to the big screen for a one-night only live event. I was able to catch the broadcast at theater in Boston. From his DJ desk, Glass showed some episode previews, outtakes, and took questions from the audience in New York.

I realize the two are entirely different mediums, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but I’m curious if the television show will eventually begin to overshadow the original radio program. Maybe it’s because I’m a photographer and spend too much of my time in a “visual” world, but there is something especially nice about just listening to the stories.

Anyway, fans, the new season looks great. Both programs are brilliant.