Foto Motel

My Favorite Books from 2008

Including one re-issue and a pop-up book.

 

Focus on AIDS 11: UpDate

PDN Online reports that, The 11th Focus On AIDS photo auction raised about $270,000. The biggest sellers: Henri Cartier-Bresson's “Behind the Gare St. Lazare, Paris 1932,” for $17,500, and Sally Mann's limited-edition platinum series book, for $8,000.

Steve Smith's book

Congratulations to Steve Smith on the publication of his book, The Weather and a Place to Live: Photographs of the Suburban West. Which was made possible by, The Center for Documantary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize from Duke University.

And I remember when Steve Smith came to RISD. I wonder if he'll sign my copy.

The Ongoing Moment

Is anybody reading The Ongoing Moment, by Geoff Dyer? I hope to finish it this week. It looks promising. Here's a review. If you are in LA (wish I was), he has a reading at The Hammer Museum in November. More HERE.

Mass Photo Opps

Dec 01, 2005 JURIED SINGLE PHOTO CONTEST Seeking submissions in color and b&W from individual photographs. For more info please contact: Santa Fe Center for Photography OR 505-984-8353 OR http://www.sfcp.org

Nov 07, 2005 INTERNATIONAL FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION Seeking all forms of photography (traditional, digital, and avant garde) for showcase. $1,500 Best of Show award and exhibition (including online). Low-cost shipping options for international entrants. For more info please contact: The Naked Truth, The Center for Fine Art Photography OR 970-224-1010 OR http://www.c4fap.org

December 31, 2005 The 2005 National Photo Awards is now accepting entries. Open to all amateur, emerging and professional
photographers. A separate monthly print competition is also available. The competition offers over $6,585.00 in cash and prizes
for the winners in the various categories. Winners will be selected in several categories. $9.00 for each photo entered into the monthly competition, $14.00 for each single photo or $28.00 for each series entered into the main competition. To request your 2005 entry forms and view past winners, contact: 2005 National Photo Awards, 59456 330th St, Warroad MN 56763 OR 218-386-2100 OR http://www.NationalPhotoAwards.com OR awards@mncable.net

November 7, 2005 THE NAKED TRUTH - CALL FOR ENTRIES The Center for Fine Art Photography invites U.S. and International photographers to submit their work. The Center accepts all forms of photography, both traditional and digital and those working in the avant garde. The Center encourages international participation. Awards include: 1. Best of Show, $1,500 US Dollars, 2. Featured Artist in ShowCase, an eight-page insert in CameraArts magazine February-March issue 3. Director's Selection - special recognition in the ShowCase publication, 4. Selected work of approximately 12 other artists from the exhibition will also be included in this edition of ShowCase. 5. All exhibitors' work is featured in the Center's online edition of ShowCase. The Center provides international artists with low-cost shipping options - see details on the Center's website under Call for Entries. Additional details and online submission at: www.c4fap.org, click on Calls for Entry, or call: 970-224-1010.

These appeared in my email yesterday from The Art List. You can subscribe HERE.

Masterfile

Masterfile sends out the best promotional materials. Just got the second in the "unbound" series today. Its so well produced, with its unglamourous paper and "artist book" manufacturing. I went crazy for it. Well, its just nice to get something in the mail at work. Get on the Masterfile client list, you get good stuff.

Abercrombie-Vogue

Some things I never got to post this summer:

• The Polaroid Book, from Tashen
• "Who is Platon?"
• My fantastical idea to collect every magazine cover by Herb Ritts.
• Pitt & Jolie's romp through W
• David Hilliard
• Being underemployed
• American & Other Works, by Andres Serrano
• Why I bought the 800 paged Vogue
• My desire to buy Abercrombie & Fitch catalogs from ebay. I bought a red hoody instead.
• Leitmotif: Photos of celebrities with guns; Madonna and here, Morrissey, Nancy Sinatra, Brad Pitt, Mapplethorpe

Richard Avedon's latest book

Looked through the book, Woman In The Mirror, published posthumously by Richard Avedon, recently during a very un-Funny Face lunch break at Olsson's. Not into this one. The NYT had this to say, "Avedon's photography animated women with spirit and determination." Read the rest HERE. OK, I get it, Dick liked women. Well, I like men and I'm over this. Seriously, In what seems like a pattern of a new book of Avedon's every two years, Woman In The Mirror, is the weakest. We've seen more than 90% of this stuff too recently in other collections. I will say, it was nice to recall a previous fall afternoon when I discovered Avedon's "return to fashion" in the New Yorker years ago, where Nadja Auermann was paired with a skeleton. Which brings up the question, when will his last project (unfinshed), for the New Yorker, "Democracy" be put in book form? Might I suggest pairing it with his 1976 work for Rolling Stone, "The Family," as was done earlier this year at Andrea Rosen Gallery. An election year is right around the corner, get ready.

Looking At Los Angeles

Recent photo book purchases: Looking At Los Angeles, Even if Julius Shulman thinks its a crappy book, the history and breadth of imagery is pretty impressive. Read the crap HERE. Los Angeles looks great, though I still have yet to read Stiller's introduction.

cheerleader-Nazi-homo pie!

Joachim Ladefoged's portfolio in The New York Times Magazine opens up the door to look at the cheerleader in photography. See his work HERE. Not much is coming to mind as far as an extended look at cheerleaders in the form of a book. But you can take a look at the Professional Cheerleader Bog for starters. So I open the door a little wider to include gymnasts. Watch out here comes the flood. Anderson/Low's work with the Danish National Gymnastic Team comes to mind which is also seen in their book Athletes & Gymnasts. Its hard to ignore the similarities to the work of Gerhard Riebicke and Kurt Reichert. Who both worked with the nude in nature in Germany between the wars. You can see some of their work in the great book from Taschen, 1000 Nudes. This aesthetic was soon adopted by the Third Reich's propaganda photographers. Even the photography blog, Conscientious would agree. But not to worry to much, no downers here, the style is seen again and again in homoerotic imagery. Start with a little Herbert List and George Hoyningen-Huene, throw in Bob Mizer and our friends at Athletic Model Guild (Tom of Finland) and it not long before you get Mapplethorpe, Ritts, and Weber.

boys wil do

Looking forward to when Taschen publishes Tom of Finland: The Comic Collection. I love the picture of the huge female hand holding the entire boxed edition of "proud men having happy sex." You can find more on Tom of Finland, HERE.