still from Destruckto
© Bill Burke
It may come as a shock those of us who know him, but Bill Burke does have a website. He recently had the old, broken site replaced with a new one (thanks, Marina!) and lots of work from his various projects. There’s lots to see, including some more recent work that’s pretty hilarious.
Take a moment look around.
From 1992 to 2004, a period of 12 years, Nigel Shafran photographed his lover Ruth and their surroundings. The result is Ruthbook, a self-published collection of these images that make me think back to Harry Callahan’s photographs of Eleanor.
cover of Ruthbook, 1995
© Nigel Shafran
Untitled [from "Ruthbook"]
© Nigel Shafran
Untitled [from "Ruthbook"]
© Nigel Shafran
Untitled [from "Ruthbook"]
© Nigel Shafran
Untitled [from "Ruthbook"]
© Nigel Shafran
Untitled [from "Ruthbook"]
© Nigel Shafran
Ruthbook was made in an edition of 600 and is now hard to find but you can see more images from the book here. Afterward, take a look at Nigel’s current body of work, Flowers for ________, which introduces their son into the picture.
Ivanka and Mariana, Bourgas, 2003 [from "Mechkar"]
© Albin Biblom
Mark McKnight pointed me to the fantastic work of Albin Biblom. I particularly like his project entitled Mechkar, which is an intimate documentary of Bulgaria’s last dancing bears and their owners. As Biblom’s statement describes the situation,
The Roma tradition and profession which has passed on from father to son for more than a thousand years is now coming to an end in Bulgaria. The animal rights organizations Brigitte Bardot Foundation (Fra) and Vier Pfoten (Aus) has built a bear reserve outside the town Belitsa, south of Sofia, where the dancing bears will spend the remnants of their lives. The bear owners are compensated with approximately 2000 Euro for letting their bears go to this reserve.
Visit Biblom’s website to see this and other work by him.
Sweedish photographer JH Engström‘s book, Haunts (Steidl, 2006), is as wonderfully realized as the work. The images in sequence are a push-pull of public and private, emotion and objectivity, strange and beautiful:
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
spread from Haunts, 2006
© JH Engström
Engström describes the book as “part two” of an autobiographical trilogy. Pick up a copy of Haunts here or see more images on Engström’s website. And don’t miss his other projects, especially CDG.
There are some great upcoming talks in Boston that I’m hoping to attend (and you should too):
William Christenberry
October 20, 2008 at 6pm
Massachusetts College of Art, Tower Auditorium
Gregory Crewdson
October 29, 2008 at 6pm
Massachusetts College of Art, Kennedy Building, Room 406
Elinor Carucci
November 3, 2008 at 2pm
Massachusetts College of Art, Kennedy Building, Room 406
Tim Davis
November 13, 2008 at 12:30pm
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Room B-311
Paul Fusco
November 13, 2008 at 7pm
Photographic Resource Center
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
November 17, 2008 at 2pm
Massachusetts College of Art, Kennedy Building, Room 406
Sally Mann
November 20, 2008 at 7pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Riley Seminar Room
Nigel Poor
December 1, 2008 at 2pm
Massachusetts College of Art, Kennedy Building, Room 406
Henry Horenstein
December 2, 2008 at 7pm
Photographic Resource Center
Larry Fink
December 11, 2008 at 7pm
Photographic Resource Center
Last week I went to see Sigur Rós play here in Boston. Though the concert was not as intimate or overwhelmingly beautiful as the first time that I saw them play a few years ago, I was reminded of how great of a band they really are. Here’s a video of a live performance of one of my favorite songs of theirs, “Svefn-g-englar” (which translates from Icelandic to “sleepwalkers” or “sleep angels”). Turn up your speakers nice and loud, make it full screen and wait for around 7:30… gives me chills!
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
Lynn Theater, Gonzalez, Texas, 2006
© Alec Soth
Alec Soth recently updated his website with a body of work that was commissioned by Magnum in 2006, entitled Thirty-three Theatres and a Funeral Home – a series of photographs exploring the architecture of abandoned movie theaters in Texas, inspired by the films of of Wim Wenders.
Take a look.
Yes Tomorrow, No Tomorrow, 2006
© Shannon Ebner
Shannon Ebner will be giving a talk tomorrow at 12:30pm at the Museum of Fine Arts‘s Riley Seminar Room. Those of you in Boston should make sure to be there.
The lecture is being held in conjunction with SMFA‘s “8 Photographers” course, but is open to the public. If you want a printable reminder, the info is all right here.
Photolucida’s Critical Mass competition has just opened for registration. If you don’t already know, Critical Mass is a fantastic way to get yourself out there – not to mention the chance of receiving one of the “Book Award” prizes and having a monograph of your work published by Photolucida.
This year, I am absolutely honored to be on the panel of jurors and am looking forward to seeing all of the work that comes in. I urge you all to register.
Registration will remain open until October 6th.
Barack Obama, Sprinfield, MO, 2008
© Tim Davis
Art For Obama is photography auction in support of the Obama campaign. Great idea, great cause! Organized by photographers Ahndraya Parlato, Elizabeth Moy, Gregory Halpern, Whitney Hubbs and Dru Donovan, the auction includes work from some of the finest in fine art photography.
The auction will open in one week, on October 1st at 5pm EST.
Visit the website for more information and to see the work that is available for purchase. Additional work will be added as the auction date approaches.
