Penelope, 2009
click image for larger view

A very wet spring here in New York City has brought us an abundance of green, which I am pleased to share with you in this print of the month. This photograph was taken at Fort Tilden, a former Army base in the Rockaways. With spectacular views of the ocean, dunes, and a maritime forest, it is a wonderful place to enjoy some time outdoors. It can be quite a surprise, however, to be out for a walk in the woods and come upon a decommissioned military structure like this one. I’m happy to report that it has been converted into a birdwatching platform.

This print is available in two sizes:

8 by 10 inches
Edition of 20
Signed on the back
$25, including shipping to US and Canada (add $5 for shipping elsewhere)

11 by 14 inches
Edition of 10
Signed on the back
$50, including shipping to US and Canada (add $8 for shipping elsewhere)

Thanks for your interest, please contact me if you have any questions.

There’s something about walking along the highway that has always appealed to me. In this case, the Shore Parkway actually has a very nice bike path that goes through some beautiful scenery. Every once in a while, I’ll come across a path that leads deep into the undergrowth. Sometimes it leads into a field of poison ivy and briars, and sometimes it’s just a dead end. Every once in a while, though, one will open up into one of these secret places and it feels like a wonderland.

I stopped by Michael Mazzeo Gallery the other day based on Jörg Colberg’s recommendation. Transmutations is a group show of contemporary abstract photography featuring the work of Caleb Charland, Christian Erroi, Yong Hee Kim, Sebastian Lemm, and Chris McCaw.

The show is cohesive and the work is excellent. Of the five, however, Sebastian Lemm’s Strata series stood out for me. His black and white images are beautifully intricate and invite repeated viewings. I love the way the multiple exposures reinforce the natural patterns of the work. I paid a visit to Sebastian’s website and also found the images from his Schattenseite to be quite impressive, and hope to see more of his work soon.

strata # 1, by Sebastian Lemm

strata # 6, by Sebastian Lemm

See more from Strata here.

I was also extremely interested to see Chris McCaw’s work in person. The reproductions I have seen online and in magazines have been intriguing, but they don’t tell the whole story. McCaw uses extreme exposures of the sun made directly onto silver gelatin paper to create one-of-a-kind original works. The physical aspect of the process includes burned holes, charred edges, and vintage paper, and seeing them in person made me see them in a new light. In the wrong hands this process could easily become a gimmick, but in this case, the process is integral to the work, and it feels very authentic to me.

More of Chris McCaw’s work can be found online at chrismccaw.com.

The show is open until June 20th, if you are in the metro area during that time I strongly recommend a visit.

James Danzinger has posted a nice selection of photos from the Robert Frank show currently at SFMoMA. These are photos that didn’t make the cut for the book but are being used as an example of the editorial process Frank went through while putting it together. I am really looking forward to seeing this show when it comes to the Met.

I think I have made the mistake of thinking that a camera would improve my photographs and it is starting to make me a little bitter.

Let me explain: I have been shooting 6×6 medium format almost exclusively for the last two years and, looking back, I think I was starting to get a little restless. This seems to happen to me pretty often. I started working with color film again over the winter after a long hiatus and was beginning to flesh out a some ideas for a new project. Everything was clicking and I was very happy with my progress for the first couple of months.

Somewhere along the line, though, large format started calling out to me. The thing that probably put me over the line was seeing Joel Sternfeld’s show at Augustine Luring last fall. Although I thought the prints were too big, the luscious descriptiveness and pure beauty that Sternfeld had captured in his Oxbow Archive had planted a seed in my mind.

My 4×5 camera had been sitting up on the shelf for over a year, unused. I had fallen in love with my Hasselblad in the meantime and hadn’t given the 4×5 a second thought for quite a while. But there’s always something, isn’t there? Some magic bullet that is somehow going to push my work to the next level, and I had gotten the idea that large format was it.

I have been using my 4×5 camera almost exclusively over the last few months, and the results so far haven’t been promising. While I’m out working, things feel good. I am taking the same pictures I’ve always taken. When I get home, however, the story changes. Something is getting lost in translation between the pictures that I think I am taking and the pictures that I actually take, and what’s left feels like a pale facsimile of my original intent.

The problem is that I know that large format is probably the right tool for images I am trying to create. The lush and descriptive image quality and the methodical nature of my process are pointing me squarely in that direction. The question is how long I can continue to struggle before I give in.

Darius Himes writes about the choice of tools on his blog:

The methodical precision required by the 8×10, I’m arguing, leads to a methodical precision on the mental level. Because a relatively large amount of time is required to simply deal with the equipment, a corresponding large amount of mental time goes into the image—the type of image—that one makes. The camera physically and mentally slows you down, makes you more attentive in certain ways.

To my mind, that’s exactly what I need. I often feel that my photos are just a little bit too loose. I know that one can develop the necessary attention without actually working with large format, but along with the other benefits, that feels like a step in the right direction for me. So, even though I am completely exhausted and discouraged at the moment, I am not quite ready to give up. Hopefully my moment of clarity is right around the corner, and the camera will start doing what I expect it to again soon.

Have you ever had the experience of learning a new word, only to hear it everywhere for a little while? It’s possible that I just wasn’t paying attention before, but it seems like I have been hearing Carleton Watkins’ name everywhere these days. I first noticed his photographs at the Framing a Century exhibition at the Met last fall. I had seen a few of his photographs in books, but seeing them in person really caught my attention. His photographs seemed to be vibrating at a different frequency than the other images in the show.

I found a short overview of Watkins’ life and work in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, but the jpegs are unsatisfactory in telling his story. Smithsonian Magazine recently published a brief but good article about Watkins, which led me to search of the Library of Congress image archive. All of this research simply fed my desire to see more.

The Cliff House and Environs, Stereographic View, By Carleton Watkins

Portage Railroad at the Dalles Looking West, by Carleton Watkins

Geyser Canyon, California, by Carleton Watkins

Devil Canyon, California, by Carleton Watkins

Many of Watkins’ most impressive photographs were taken with a custom 18×22 inch camera on huge wet plate collodion glass negatives. Watkins traveled extensively along the West Coast, taking some of the first photographs of the Yosemite Valley along the way. The logistics of working with such a camera in those formidable conditions is mind-boggling today. Unfortunately, thousands of his negatives were broken in the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which makes his surviving prints are all the more scarce and important.

His original prints were produced in albumen and silver, and as I said before, the jpegs and reproductions I had seen in books did not do them justice. I set out to find some high-quality reproductions and came across Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception at the local library. The book was produced to accompany a major exhibition of Watkins’ work in 1999. I cannot recommend this book highly enough: not only is the selection of photographs comprehensive and extremely well printed, but Douglas R. Nickel’s accompanying essay is an insightful and enjoyable read into Watkins’ place in the history of art and photography.

Some of my favorite pieces in The Art of Perception are the panoramic views. These triptychs are reproduced as gatefolds, and the result is quite striking. I have considered buying a second copy of the book just so I can cut them out and frame them, but that feels somehow sacrilegious to me. The book is out of print, but there are still a few used copies to be found.

Since discovering Watkins’ work I have also become interested in the writings of John Muir, who used Watkins’ photos to illustrate his argument for preserving the Yosemite Valley, ultimately resulting in the legislation that created our National Park system. I also recently came across a short book on the subject by Frederick Law Olmstead, and bought it for a dollar. Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove: A Preliminary Report, 1865 was written around the time Watkins was working in Yosemite and was suppressed by the California legislature for being too controversial, not to be rediscovered until the 1950s. It is now clear that the report was groundbreaking and it is unfortunate that it took so long to come to light. Imagine my surprise when I looked the book up on Amazon after getting home and found that it is actually quite rare and usually sells for $60 or more!

One of my favorite Watkins triptychs is part of the current Into the Sunset exhibition at MoMA. Seeing these three photographs together in person completely blew me away, and was worth the price of admission alone.

View from the Sentinel Dome, Yosemite, by Carleton Watkins

The show is overwhelming and exhilarating, with some excellent landscape work by Stephen Shore, Richard Misrach, Robert Adams, and Joel Sternfeld, among many others. The photographs are arranged to play off of each other, and are enhanced by the juxtapositions of old and new. But no matter how many times I circled the gallery, I kept coming back to that Watkins triptych. It is truly inspiring work.

Next Thursday marks the opening of a new gallery in Dumbo, and with it, a show from Corey Arnold. It seems that I have been hearing a lot about Corey’s work lately, and with good reason: it is completely, jaw-droppingly amazing. Be sure to check out his website.

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 14, 6:30-8:30 PM

Caption Gallery
55 Washington Street, Suite 802
Brooklyn, NY
718-504-7991

My eyes are tired from looking at too many JPGs. I am happy to report that the United States Postal Service is still in business, and here are a few prints I’ve received in the mail over the last couple of months to prove it.

Photograph by David Bram

Photograph by David Bram

Not one, but two wonderful silver gelatin postcards from David Bram. David is a photographer from Albuquerque, New Mexico who you might also recognize as the co-founder and co-editor of Fraction Magazine. As further proof of the ongoing viability of the USPS, both postcards arrived completely unscathed. Thanks, David!

4056 Waiaha Place, by Camden Hardy

This lovely photo comes from Camden Hardy as part of his Suburban Studies, Lihue, HI series. Camden has another photo from this series available for sale on his website. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but this photo makes me want to go there more than ever.

Photograph by Liz Kuball

Finally, there’s this photograph from Liz Kuball’s California Vernacular series. I grew up in Southern California, and Liz’s photographs hold a mysterious power over me. Liz is also a contender for the Hey Hot Shot competition this spring and was featured on their blog, so be sure to wish her good luck!

Wyman Park, Baltimore, 2009
click image for larger view

This is a companion piece to the print from last month, which was also taken in Baltimore. I like these two together very much. Don’t forget, you can also see the rest of the series here.

As usual, single prints are available for $25; subscribers get a discount and always get access to editions before they become available to the general public. More information about subscribing is available on the Print of the Month page.

About this print:
Image size: 7½ inches square
Paper size: 8½ by 11 inches
Archival pigment print on 100% rag, matte finished paper
Limited edition of 20
Signed on the back

Price: $25, including shipping to US and Canada (add $5 for shipping elsewhere)