helen reveals an eerie sense of finland and helsinki, residents weathering seasons, living their lives, the city protecting and exposing them at the same time. have a look at the rest of her blog.

My first post as a New York Times contributor is up. Have a look here. If you feel compelled, I’d be ever so grateful if you’d leave a comment on the Times site.

how refreshing.

see the post here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/ash-wednesday-new-orleans/

and his profile here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/alec-soth/

fool’s gold is currently seeking a publisher

that’s unfortunate, because what’s shown on jesse chehak’s website of fool’s gold had me wanting to see it in print, in hand, and in person.

it’s a well-balanced mixture of beautiful and grand photos of landscapes that add to our collective mental definition of the nature of the western united states, and careful portraits that remind us of how the west is a land of transience but also a land of settlers, and of roots.

with a subtle color it draws us deeper in, invitingly, and yet somehow with that feel of tumbleweed.
and it reminds of the promise and hollowness that is so often core to this area leave the viewer wanting for more.

i jumped to her site and really enjoyed browsing through some of her work, at first especially the landscapes section. interestingly, and unexpectedly for me, many of the photographs include one, two, or three people, lending a subtle counterpoint to the lush and (sometimes) expansive compositions.

her “details” seeds the sightings, objects, and experiences of “everyday” in a not overly formal way, with clever use of color to cement mood and context (or limit it), in several instances with expected objects placed in expected situations yet with an unexpected situational denouement.

a pleasure, indeed.

the (inside) front page features several artists with links to photography and/or interviews. i was initially drawn to shen wei’s “chinese sentiment“.
shen wei is a photographer based in new york and shanghai, perhaps best known for the series, “almost naked.” These images were made mostly in or around several major chinese cities. shen’s intent is to look past the materialistic surface and he definitely hits that mark. varyingly focused on the urban environment’s exterior and interior, there are glimpses into everyday domestic life, semi-private moments, and moments of self- and shared-contemplation, often in very gentle and beautiful light. these are balanced with a look at how people are distributed within the urban environment, sometimes at public events or public areas such as beijing’s forbidden city. there is a sense of revealing portions of wei’s private journeys as well, but leaving many others yet to be discovered, or forever in private store. more images from this series are available on his web site.

susan worham’s “some fox trails in virginia” chronicles the return to her home state in her mid-thirties. fox, as used in the title, is also a pun on a family name, and the puns continue in the visual representation.
there are some beautiful and intimate portraits in the collection, including some of family and friends that have been a part of her life, and photography, for an extended period. she’s produced a wonderful visual representation of family artifacts and relatives, as well as the depiction of virginia as a natal place that has simultaneously deteriorated and become fragile but also remained somehow strong and with a spirit of permanence and resilience. some photographs aren’t to my taste, such as “lynn with fox,” which seems contrived and overly up-front. fox is part of worham’s metaphorical map, as she explains in her statement, but i’d have prefered something more subtle. there is a reference in her statement to her boyfriend michael who, “stands on the street i grew up on, bridging the gap between past and present.” however it’s not included in the collection for ahorn – perhaps this was a favourable omission, as it seems this also would have been overly obvious.

an interview with andrew phelps discusses his project and book, “not niigata.”
the featured photographs are a beautiful preview of the book’s 36 images and intice the reader into further investigation about the book. phelps described how the project began, how he initially approached it, and how he quickly had to abandon and regroup once he arrived in japan. the interviewer observantly describes phelps’ results as “meditative,” which phelps happily sees as a rephrased (and improved) synonym of boring. they’re definitely meditative and certainly not boring. i very much appreciate phelps’ methodical and considered approach to his photos and portraits. he describes his pace as slowed down, initially approaching subjects without the camera in-hand, and then how editing plays such a strong and important part in the final work. the title suggests what phelps freely explains in the interview: that the photos show how he came to not understand niigata, and the process of that non-understanding. he explores the relationship between traditional life and the influences of western culture, and the photos seem to intrinsically carry that cohabitation within. i really enjoyed this section.

the current issue on the front site is issue #4, but more are available in the archive. it’s great these are made available – i’ll be happily browsing through the back issues.

ikea's ask anna!

joe biden on the cover of new york times magazine

biden’s stern expression is simultaneously inviting and forthright, honest and unapologetic. and his gaze is so direct one can’t help but stare right back. (is he pained?) the sparse wall is broken only by the electrical connections near the floor and a map of iraq, or rather, a map of a northern part of iraq. both the wall and the map are the color of sand, the color of desert – a primary color of iraq. iraq is certainly a serious matter and fitting to current events in the national and international discourse (though lately perhaps not as much as the situation in afghanistan). nothing else is on the wall, and one is left to wonder if this is the ‘iraq room’ or the war room, a stark incubator for coordinating strategies that are executed on the other side of the world.

yet given the gravity of the situation and location, it’s slightly unexpected that he’s not standing or even sitting behind a desk. would that have been overly presidential? the caption below, indicating the title of the article (after cheney), places him on the same page with his predecessor, whose name often surfaced in discussions of abuse of power. his half-perch onto the chest of drawers seem to indicate some level of casualness, even if cloaked in a dark suit. presumably, the deep, dark chest is filled with files, information, things the vice president is privy to (that none of us are). his clasped hands are warm and also resolute, definitive.

the photograph was made by taryn simon for a story by james traub. i was unfamiliar with her work so i scoured around for a bit. her wikipedia entry has links to several sites featuring her photography and a healthy list of awards, nominations, and exhibitions. the gagosian gallery has a link to her lecture at TEDGlobal 2009, Session 8. perhaps not coincidentally, her project titled, “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar,” was inspired by events in iraq and during the emergence of the war. (article from artabase)