June 2009
64 posts
dmha:
britticisms:
“Tonight’s Today” by Jack...
Erykah Badu & The Roots, "I Wanna Be Where You... →
Walker Evans in Cuba
I wasn’t kidding when I said Evans’ Cuba shots are underrated — I only found one of the ones I really wanted to show you. I’ll talk about the others I DID find, but with less enthusiasm than I would like.
What I like most about Evans’ photos in Cuba is that they’re the work of a young, hungry man still figuring out what he wanted to shoot and how he wanted to...
britticisms:
“F Kenya Rip” by Highlife
I spent...
Nine Francois is getting me through today
Waaay too many things are giving me emotional whiplash today so this is how I’m going to cope: with the most elegant pictures I’ve ever seen of two of my three favorite animals. (The third, in case you’re wondering, is the elephant.) Thanks, Nine, for avoiding the easy heartwarm and focusing on intelligence and placid beauty.
Don't get caught by Hiroh Kikai's camera
Wrapping up the week with a different kind of portraitist - contemporary Japanese master Hiroh Kikai.
Kikai’s methods are notorious - he spends only about 10 minutes with each of his subjects and lets them choose their backdrops. He finds them, literally, on the street. And he only takes a few shots.
But what a world he captures in those few moments. He wants to capture his subjects’...
britticisms:
“Warm Heart of Africa” by The Very...
Robert Frank at SFMOMA
I finally went to the exhibit of Robert Frank’s “The Americans” last weekend. It’s heading to the Met in New York in August, so see it here or see it there.
The Americans is now 50 years old and may be the most famous photography book of the last century. After all this time the pictures are still so striking and disturbing that they require very little commentary. So...
William DeVaughn, “Be Thankful For What You...
Seydou vs. Sidibé
It’s unfair to highlight Malick without talking about the other great Malian photographer who was working at the same time: Seydou Keïta.
Asking me to choose between these two is like asking a mother to choose between her children; I love them both for different reasons. (They didn’t share my feelings about each other — apparently Seydou, who was about a decade older than Malick...
Malick Sidibé, Master of Mali
I could go on and on about this guy. There are a few important things to keep in mind, contextually. Sidibé was born and raised in Mali; he grew up herding animals in a small village. His is a modern story: a gifted child, he first came to the city to go to school in the 1950s. So the narrative he tells with his portraits — the throbbing energy of the city, of youth, of modern times finally...
Grupo X, “Sunshine”
….well, I...
dmha:
Calm Down Dearest by Jamie T
I thought I...
Tina Modotti in Mexico
A couple of days ago I was drinking with a friend of mine from Mexico City named Alberto. Alberto comes from a wealthy family and he was kidnapped, and held, for six months some time ago. As a result, he supposedly lives in LA “for security reasons,” as he puts it, but he hates it and is always back in DF.
“They try to take me from my family?” he says. “My family is...
Audiences, 3-D and otherwise
Last night, for the movie Up, the theater handed out Kanye-like 3-D glasses. I nicked my pair — they are way cuter than the pitiful red-and-blue paper things I got as a kid — and am tempted to swap out the lenses so I can wear them all summer.
While I was watching the movie, it occurred to me that 3-D glasses rarely add all that much to the screen, but they’ve been responsible...
