“Times Square” is an ongoing project by John Aron, a photographer who lives near Times Square/Hell’s Kitchen. Aron uses both traditional and modern techniques to achieve his goal of narrowing the focus of his black and white photographs in order to show what is most important in the scene. Monochrome seems well-suited to the city; New York City is best described in black and white, which captures it in a way that’s simply more dramatic, perhaps romantic.
The infatuation of photographers with Times Square must be almost as old as the square itself, and no wonder. It’s been the perfect place for the dramas and encounters that make great pictures, whether in the happy honky-tonk of the area’s glamorous days, decades ago when the neon lights really were the brightest on Broadway, or more recently, when squalor and crime overtook the area and the facades of the great theaters of the 1890’s along 42nd Street disappeared behind porn parlor marquees.
This piece presents a number of John Aron’s striking photographs of people in Times Square, a slide show of his remarkable photographs and two short videos.
To view these wonderful photographs, slide show and videos, please visit my website:
Steven Wiltshire (born in 1974) is an accomplished architectural artist who has been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. Wiltshire’s work has been the subject of many television documentaries; neurologist Oliver Sacks praised his artistic work in the chapter “Prodigies” in his book “An Anthropologist on Mars.” Stephen Wiltshire’s many published art books include “Cities” (1989), “Floating Cities” (1991) and “Stephen Wiltshire’s American Dream” (1993).
Wiltshire is presently working to complete his last drawing in a series of city panoramas, this time of his spiritual home, New York City. Wiltshire’s collection of already completed works depicting some of the world’s most iconic cities already includes London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Rome, Madrid, Frankfurt, Dubai and Jerusalem. A 20-minute fly-over Manhattan this past weekend provided the memory for a 20-foot panorama of the city that he’s drawing throughout this week at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. Viewers can watch his progress on a live web cam or by visiting the Institute while he works from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday, Oct. 26 to Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
This piece includes a number photographs, a slide show of Stephen Wiltshire's work, a video of Wiltshire's current work drawing the panorama of New York City and a live web cam of him at work on the panorama.Steven Wiltshire (born in 1974) is an accomplished architectural artist who has been... more
“On the Street” is a collection of photographs by Amy Arbus; the photographs presented here were selected from Arbus’s original photo-column that ran in “The Village Voice” between 1980 and 1990, a page that documented New York City’s downtown area’s most vibrant, creative dressers and personalities.
Now that Manhattan is only habitable for the very rich, many New Yorkers love to reminiscently look back to the truly mad and crazy ‘80s, an era when the Bowery could be quite dangerous and apartments were still fairly affordable. Back in the original 1980s and 1990s, Amy Arbus found the subjects for her extremely unique photographs mostly by just wandering around the Village, looking for people who were wearing visually creative and unusual outfits, a lot of polka dots, or stripes, or everyone wearing hats in the summertime. At the time, there was nothing else like it. Until Arbus's photographic work, there hadn’t been any kind of record of the East Village scene when it was comprised of this particularly promising, hopeful group of talented, interesting people.
Describing her pictures from this 1980s to 1990s collection, Arbus stated, “In terms of the clothes, I think they were fantastic and funny and outrageous and silly….There was no kind of judgment going on at the time. Everyone wanted to be noticed, no matter what it was for. That’s completely gone. Being noticed is irrelevant now. You have to make such waves to be a success at things now that dressing differently may make an impression, but it’s not going to get you a career.”
Included here are a large number of wonderful vintage Arbus photographs, a video from her documentary film “On the Street,” a remarkable full-screen high-resolution slide show and an additional audio-slide show of Amy Arbus’s photography.“On the Street” is a collection of photographs by Amy Arbus; the photographs... more
“Construct” is an ongoing project by photographer Laura Kicey, which represents the interplay between architecture and visual culture. The series of images presented here is a collection of architectural building facades in Philadelphia that do not exist. The combined details of the buildings are the artistic result of Laura Kicey’s ongoing photo-explorations that use photographic parts blended together; the intricate details of doors, bricks, peeling paint and mortar are blended in ways that give each of the recreated buildings new perspectives, colors and settings.
The “Construct” series began about two years ago, when Kicey began experiencing health problems that prevented her from being as mobile as she previously had been. It occurred to Kicey that she could use her archive of architectural detail photographs to build her own buildings, so that while she was no longer able to be out exploring, she could make her own places of imaginary escape. Kicey began creating places that were comprised of detailed images from settings and locations to which she had been in the past. Laura Kicey's imaginary, recreated buildings represent places that Kicey wishes she could visit and see, and she finds that the process of creating them is quite comforting.
Includes a number of high-res. color photographs of Laura Kicey's very creative work, as well as an extensive, full-view slide show of additional fascinating photographs.“Construct” is an ongoing project by photographer Laura Kicey, which represents... more
Irving Penn, a renowned master of American fashion photography who combined a simple aesthetic with with an often startling erotic sensuality, has died at the age of 92. In 1943, Penn started contributing to Vogue magazine, becoming one of the first commercial photographers to cross the schism that had separated commercial from art photography. Art critics have long considered Penn's photographs to be icons, not just images, each one more artistically powerful than the person or object in the frame.
He traveled widely to photograph Peruvians in native dress, veiled Moroccan women or the Mudmen of New Guinea. Despite his appreciation for the art and craft of beautifully designed fashion, Penn later reached outside of the unreachable world it represents. To escape or perhaps contest it, in the late 1960s he started photographing crushed cigarette butts and street debris, using the same graphic precision that he used to photograph fashionable designer dresses. New York’s Museum of Modern Art found the cigarette butts exhibit-worthy in 1975.
In 1950, while in Paris he went from a session of photographing the famous Italian sculptor Alberto Giacometti to photographing French butchers. His collection of more than 250 photos of butchers, bakers, street workers and others was acquired last year by the J. Paul Getty Museum and is on view now through January 10th.
This piece includes a number of stunning high-resolution photographs from Penn's body of work, a musical short film tribute and a remarkable, historic slide show of Penn's photography.Irving Penn, a renowned master of American fashion photography who combined a simple... more
Leaving school at the time of post-World War II, an era when France was being rebuilt and when everything seemed possible, Claude Azoulay began working at France’s Paris-Match magazine in 1954. Having covered the Algerian war, the Six-Day War and many others, his career followed some of the most dramatic events during the second-half of the twentieth century. In addition, his photo-journalism work took him on travels to Saint-Tropez and Cannes, as well as to the major studios and movie sets in London and Hollywood. Azoulay served as an exemplary part of the of great photo-journalism staff at Paris-Match for more than forty years, departing in 1996 to seek other adventures in the world.
Looking through a list of Azoulay’s photographic portraits made of stars and other celebrity figures is akin to opening an encyclopedia of film. Azoulay photographed everything that he could; his portraits of celebrities are so alive and include brilliant images of Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Elizabeth Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Barbara Streisand, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Kirk Douglas, Jane Fonda, Francis Bacon, Peter O’Toole, John Wayne, François Mitterand and countless others. He did not steal their images; rather, they lent him their souls in an attentive and caring mirror. And thus his body of work has become an important portrait of our time.
This piece presents a number of memorable b&w vintage photographs, as well as a remarkable slide show of additional vintage photographs.Leaving school at the time of post-World War II, an era when France was being rebuilt... more
“All Hail to Taxi Cabs!” is a superb collection of beautiful photographs taken of taxi cabs from all around the world. From our own experiences as passengers riding in the cabs cruising around our towns and cities, many of the photographs of taxis presented here are both old and rare, and can elicit both feelings of nostalgic reminiscence and memories from earlier times in our lives.
But these remarkable photographs reflect a deeper emotional perspective, that of the often isolated life of the taxicab driver. “Are you talkin’ to me? Well, I’m the only one here,” said Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.” This last line has seldom ever been quoted, yet it stands as perhaps the truest line in the film. In a sense, taxi drivers represent people with desperate needs to make some kind of contact, to share or mimic the effortless social interactions they see all around them, but in which they can’t or don’t really participate. This feeling of utter loneliness is at the center of the film “Taxi Driver.” We have all felt as alone as Travis. Fortunately, most of us are better at dealing with it.
This piece includes a number of stunning, thought-provoking color photographs, as well as a remarkable slide show of additional photographs.“All Hail to Taxi Cabs!” is a superb collection of beautiful photographs taken of... more
Photographer Joason Flori’s brother is both a heroin addict and a working parent. Florio’s series of pictures captures his brother’s life over 10 years of addiction. As Florio states, “This work is my first attempt to confront a subject that I cannot walk away from....In a sense, his story is common, but I wanted to portray his addiction uniquely. Addicts are often depicted as being poor, undereducated, unemployed, marginalized “losers,” or rock stars succumbing to the pressures of fame.”
“He is in a sense a “functioning” addict, in that he works his life around the continual need to “score” daily whilst being a working parent. The images of him are [from] over nearly a decade and present him in a number of ways. We are all individually multiple; the faces he presents can be at moments so tender and at other times horrifying to witness.”
This piece includes a number of engaging color photographs, as well as a remarkable slide show of additional emotionally moving photographs.Photographer Joason Flori’s brother is both a heroin addict and a working parent.... more
Annie Leibovitz’s life has now taken a decidedly dark turn. In the past five years, Susan Sontag and both of Leibovitz’s parents have died. Her debts now total a staggering $24 Million, payment of which is due on Tuesday, September 8th. If she can’t meet that deadline, she may lose her homes and the rights to her lifetime body of photographic work. Leibovitz has begun to think of herself less as a celebrity artist leading a charmed life and more as a single mother of three, fighting to keep a roof over her head and food on her family’s table. The fear of no longer working is terrifying to her. She has to work.
This comprehensive piece presents a detailed biography, a remarkable, historic slideshow that ranges from Leibovitz’s earliest photography to her more contemporary work, music audio, an extensive, memorable video photo-gallery and links to additional coverage of her work.Annie Leibovitz’s life has now taken a decidedly dark turn. In the past five years,... more
So, you think you’re such a darn hotly-masculine stud? “Men at Their Most Masculine” is a photographic-essay by Chad States. States photographed his subjects in the poses and settings they found to be the most masculine for themselves, making portraits of masculinity that might broaden our ideas of what it means to be a man today. So what determines masculinity? This photo-essay showed a broad range of ideas about what masculinity is or could be for a wide variety of people.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution, color photographs of the guys at their most masculine selves, as well as a slide show of additional photographs.So, you think you’re such a darn hotly-masculine stud? “Men at Their Most... more
“The Storefront Churches of Chicago” is an exquisite photographic documentary of Chicago’s African-American storefront churches. The powerful, reverent images in this work capture the small details that make the church spaces unique, familiar and alive. The churches were photographed mostly empty in order to capture interior images that revealed the unique personality of each sacred space.
The images illuminate the positive influences that these little churches provide as pillars of stability, support and hope, especially where crime, prostitution and drugs are often right outside the front door. As “portraits” of the sacred rooms, these elegantly refined photographs resonate with their creators’ personalities and pay tribute to the day-to-day guiding moral principles of the churches' leaders.
This detailed article presents a number of superb photographs, music audio and a beautiful slide show.“The Storefront Churches of Chicago” is an exquisite photographic documentary of... more
The Chernobyl disaster was a 1986 nuclear reactor accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. The worst nuclear power plant disaster in history, it resulted in 56 direct deaths and perhaps 4,000 additional deaths from cancer.
“This Momentary” is a documentary short film that brings us back to Chernobyl, showing us the place today and the people who still live there. The film shows the abandoned town near the power plant, the abandoned villages where many elderly people still live and the towns where people were relocated. It attempts to show the humanity of the people and capture little moments in their lives in a composed and photographic way.
This piece includes a number of moving photographs, a stunning slide show and the short film, “This Momentary.”The Chernobyl disaster was a 1986 nuclear reactor accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear... more
“Fragments” is a selection of photographs that presents a series of lushly photographed and intriguing scenes that evoke emotions in the viewer, encouraging them to ask questions of what are, in some cases, fairly dramatic scenes. While the photographs are usually described as scenes conveying depression, there remains for the viewer an element of ambiguity, a sense of uncertainty that arouses questions but not necessarily the entire answer.
This piece includes a number of wonderful photographs, a stunning slide show and music audio.“Fragments” is a selection of photographs that presents a series of lushly... more
