Books
It doesn't get much more tantalizing than this: Phaidon releases a 50 x 35 cm limited edition book each with a C-type Lambda print, signed by Steve McCurry.
Most of us will be familiar with McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' from the 1985 cover of National Geographic, and the story of the follow-up years later when McCurry and the magazine eventually found her again. According to Wikipedia "(Sharbat Gula) vividly recalled being photographed - she had been photographed on only three occasions: in 1984 and during the search for her when a National Geographic producer took the identifying pictures that led to the reunion with Steve McCurry. She had never seen her famous portrait before it was shown to her in January 2003."
McCurry's career in photojournalism began during the Soviet war in Afghanistan when he disguised himself in native dress and sewed his film into his clothes, and he has continued to cover international conflicts. A regular contributor to Nat Geo, McCurry is of course also a member of Magnum.
'Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs' includes images from the streets of India, the temples of Angkor in Cambodia and the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet.
Thanks to Phaidon for the assets. All images © Steve McCurry
Baby in a bicycle sling at Banteay Srei, Angkor, Cambodia, 2000
Kuchi Nomads at Prayer, near Kandahar, Afghanistan, 1992
Caretaker at the Ta Prohm Temple, Angkor, Cambodia, 1999
Boy at Ganesh Chaturthi festival, Mumbai, India, 1996
"We left in the dark of night"
Stella Kramer had been raving about Jennifer Shaw's 'Hurricane Story'. I was excited when she shared an early copy of the book - we both completely embraced the concept, execution and format. Jennifer Shaw was heavily pregnant when Hurricane Katrina arrived. Hitting the road with dogs, cats and husband they made their way to safety and an unknown midwife.
From Chin Music Press, the publisher:
"'Hurricane Story' is a tale of exile, birth and return told in forty-six photographs and simple, understated prose. This first-person narrative, illustrated through toys and dolls photographed with an inexpensive toy Holga camera, depicts Jennifer Shaw's strange but true tale of her evacuation from New Orleans, including the dramatic birth of her first son on the very day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the pressures on her marriage as she and her husband struggle with depression and rage, and their return to New Orleans with their newest family member in time for Mardi Gras. Rob Walker, 'Consumed' columnist for The New York Times Magazine, has written the book's poignant Foreword."
The simplicity of this book, and every image in it, is exceptionally engaging; everything about it just works. I strongly suggest you treat yourself to a copy, and at $18, you can also buy one as a gift.
"When we arrived at the hospital, it was time."
After the birth "We took our hurricane sideshow on the road."
Returning home "The city was strangely peaceful."
"FEMA hauled off our downed trees."
Paolo hit me up with this ongoing project on Stone Town, Zanzibar. According to Wikipedia the name comes from the ubiquitous use of coral stone as the main construction material; this stone gives the town a characteristic, reddish warm colour. Stone Town's architecture has a number of distinctive features, as a result of Arab, Persian, Indian, European, and African traditions mixing together.
Personally, I'm irreligious, but I do love people and culture and beautiful imagery, and helping publicize new images from hard-working photographers. Teamed with a delightful statement from Paolo, we bring you a selection from his new Blurb Book.
"Hidden by mass tourism, victim of an erroneous and monolithic view of the muslim world, and subordinate to a culturally different mainland following decades of unwanted political union, the muslim Swahili culture of Zanzibar tries to survive against all the odds. Simply by carrying on with their daily life, by being proud of their traditions and by not forgetting the magnificence and splendour of what the Swahili culture once was, the people of Zanzibar are trying
to preserve their heritage, as well as to avoid the temptations of the western world that day after day, through the constant coming and going of tourists, risk destroying a place rich with culture and history.
My personal experience in Zanzibar started by chance following a 3 day stop-over on my way back from Australia to Italy, a stop that turned out to be the beginning of a long-term personal project about the Swahili culture, a work in progress that is paying me back with a huge amount of experiences, feelings and emotions that will remain with me for the rest of my life, a work in progress that hopefully will give justice to this fascinating culture.
The experience time after time of seeing the local people I have met during my stays, the joy of watching their children growing up, the opportunity of being considered one of them, to think of them as individuals with a personal story... this is the magic of photography. Breaking barriers, diving deep in a culture and its people, or as the photographer Bruce Davidson once said, trying to document the story that the subject tells me, rather than the one I want to tell."
All images © Paolo Evangelista
Martin Brink has a piece in Illiterate Gallery's The Big Picture show, now on in Denver. The print is from his new series 'Trash in Grass' which reflects Martin's usual brilliantly tongue-in-cheek observations of what's immediately in front of him.
He's been busy so there's also an interview with Urbanautica, and his book 'The Daily Round', images from which previously seen here in aCurator, is featured at Various Points.
I'm not sure how Jason found time to put together a photography book, in between walking the Gambia with a large format camera and going on a 50,000 mile round-the-world assignment, but... he has and "Makasutu - Mecca in the Forest" looks fabulous.Read about the project.
Buy the book.
Ismaila Denba, Gambian boat captain
Get Off My Lawn is a 48-page photo-zine, edited and published by photographer Geoffrey Ellis. The zine features the work of eleven photographers who are 34 years and older*. Get Off My Lawn is a tongue-in-cheek response to the calls for entry, contests and publications that require "emerging photographers" to be somewhere between the ages of 18 and 34.
There are 222 hand numbered copies and each of the 11 photographers has their own cover.
'Waiting' © Jennifer Loeber
*Yousuf Karsh would say, you may have a camera and eyes, but until a certain age, you don't really see.
There were many gorgeous-looking books laid out at the Aperture press preview, not least of all 'Destroy This Memory', photographs by Richard Misrach. The book is being published to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and accompanied by an exhibition on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art July 24 - October 24, 2010.
"The photographs in Richard Misrach's 'Destroy This Memory' (Aperture, August, 2010) are an affecting reminder of the physical and psychological impact of Hurricane Katrina as told by those on the ground, and seen through the lens of a contemporary master. Rather than simply surveying the damage, Misrach - who has photographed the region regularly since the 1970s, most notably for his ongoing Cancer Alley project - found himself drawn to the hurricane-inspired graffiti: messages scrawled in spray paint, crayons, chalk, or whatever materials residents and rescue workers happened to have on hand. At turns threatening, desperate, clinical, and even darkly humorous, the phrases he captured - the only text that appears in the book - offer unique and revealing human perspectives on the devastation and shock left in the wake of this disaster."
Destroy This Memory, photos by Richard Misrach
Proof: Media for Social Justice is a non-profit created to educate global citizens about the economic, political and humanitarian hardships facing post-conflict societies issuing a variety of media.
One of Proof's current initiatives is 'Child Soldiers'. Up to half a million children have been engaged in more than 85 conflicts worldwide. Proof produced the exhibition, 'Child Soldiers: Forced to be Cruel' based on the book by Leora Kahn, which features 40 photographs taken of child soldiers from all over the world, which "seeks to illustrate the story of children subjected to unspeakable violence and manipulated by war criminals."
Learn more and see how you can support the organization. Donations over $1000 receive a print. You can also buy the 'Child Soldiers' book.
Photo: Peter Mantello
Gina LeVay's 'Sandhogs' book is in the shops, and Gina's on the radio. Listen to her and one of the 'hogs discuss the massive New York water project going on 800+ feet beneath Manhattan that few of us are even aware of. Gina worked seriously hard to gain the confidence of the 'hogs with her persistence and professionalism, and the resulting images are vibrant and eye-opening, not how one might expect them to be so deep under ground.
Sandhogs © Gina LeVay
Phillip Toledano's project "Days With My Father" is nothing but open, honest photography and feelings laid bare. Almost overwhelming but completely compelling, the project is a series of photographs of Phillip's elderly father who was suffering badly from a lack of short-term memory. Facing what many of us may have to, Phillip recorded some beautiful moments, some haunting, some funny. I'm touched that he could be so brave as to make this available to the public, and he himself is humbled; he's had over a million hits to the website and received hundreds of emails. There will be a book in 2010.
Thanks Phillip, you owe me and a million+ other people a box of tissues.
From "Days With My Father" © Phillip Toledano
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Life.com Top Photo Blogs
AdobeAirStream
APA American Photographic Artists
Aperture
ASMP America Society of Media Photographers
bigflannel
Chatterbox
ClampArt
Conscientious
Daylight Magazine
eyecurious
Featureshoot
FlakPhoto
Fototazo
Jeriko
Interview by Dirk Anschutz
Interview by Miss Rosen
Interview by SlideShowPro
Jason Florio
Jealous Curator
la pura vida
Lenscratch
Light Journeys
Luminous Lint
No Caption Needed
Open To Beyond
Prism
Prison Photography
Stella Kramer
Ted Morrison
The Heavy Light
The Rolling Stone Years
Wonderful Machine
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