I just received – one of the most wonderful birthday gifts ever – a copy of   Michel Frizot and Annie-Laure Wanaverbecq’s ‘André Kertész’. Produced in tandem with a major retrospective exhibition that started at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, and now on its final leg at the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest (until December 31, so jump to it if you can!), this book has some great essays and around 500 exquisitely reproduced images. Kertész’ attitude and his photography have been very influential on the way I work as a photographer and teacher, and it is lovely to read essays that resonate with his passionate and holistic articulation of the poetic in photography…

“I interpret what I feel in a given moment. Not what I see but what I feel.” … “A good photograph will convey something not only to the eye, but also to the inside. Eyes are never enough. Eyes are always between the image and the soul…” – André Kertész, quoted on page 13 of the book.

Implicit in the comment about image being part of the continuum between seeing and feeling is an acknowledgement of a particular kind of photographic image - and as one looks at Kertesz’ work, intensely looks at it, we begin to realize that he is consistently compressing and conflating all the core components of the medium – time, focus, frame, distance, tone, optical distortion – with the core components of experience – memory, metaphor, narrative, place. This book, by presenting such a large body of work to us in one binding, should serve as a reminder to all students of photography: there is such a thing as a photographic moment, it is singular among all other visual media, and it marginalizes authorship. Barthes was right to recognize the power of Kertész’ work, but he missed the point slightly. Instead of placing most of his attention on photographs of people and the gaze (Camera Lucida, 1980), Barthes should have realized that he addresses the most magical aspects of Kertesz’ work in his earlier essay, Death of the Author, 1967. I know, post-structuralists are going to scream at me, and po-post-structuralists too… just chill out and read Author as if it is was a piece of prose poetry, fuzz your mind, and look with clarity at Kertész’ work. And don’t ask me to explain. All explanations are in my photograph above.

Thank you, Rachel, for this wonderful present. And thank you André and Elizabeth Kertész! (By the way, Elizabeth passed away on the 21st of October 1977. I was about to celebrate my 20th birthday while at art school.)

two versions of Elizabeth and I, 1933  and 1960
André Kertész

Eugene Richards’ work is informed by a clarity of vision and compassion. His silent and transparent approach translates into photographs that place us, as viewers, in moral and emotional spaces that are no longer safe or neutral. He brings our attention to matters that are more often than not left unattended, and now require action or engagement. I respect his work tremendously and think he is one of the most important of photographers. Thanks, Eugene Richards for all you do. I recommend taking a look at his web site, listening to this conversation in the WBUR archives of a wonderful program no longer being produced called The Connection, and watching this video of a talk he gave last year at the World Press Photo Awards ceremonies. Then buy all the books* by him that you can get your hands on.

*this link takes you to Amazon – I do not profit in any way from the process.

Björn Sterri:

‘Natural Experience’, Bømlo, June 2011, Polaroid 88 film
“These 4 polaroids are from a tiny, overgrown, abandoned graveyard on an island called Bømlo on the west coast of Norway. It is not far from were my mother was brought up and I used to spend my summer holidays.

The grave belongs to a girl who died in 1856 only 4 months old.

We will all die one day. And with time we will all be forgotten. Just like that little girl.

To me, this is a ‘family photograph’.” – BS

From the project web site: ‘The Chain’ is the latest project curated by Stuart Pilkington, (curator of The Alphabet Project and the 50 States Project).

Stuart invited 107 photographers from around the globe to participate in the project at the beginning of 2011.

And in February 2011 each photographer submitted a title/instruction to inspire a photograph by another person in the project. The photographers were connected like links in a chain. They were asked to respond to the title set by the person directly behind them. The title they set was directed to the photographer directly in front of them.

from Robert Adams, 'What Can We Believe Where?'

I have spent many years looking at and reading Robert Adams’ photographs and writing. His collections of essays in ‘Beauty in Photography‘ and ‘Why People Photograph‘ cover the most important aspects of photography that make it a distinct expressive and analytic tool, but always bring us back to Adams’ primary interest: place and the land scape (I use these words separately with intent). Recently, I began to look more closely than ever at his work. The collection of images in a new book, called ‘What Can We Believe Where?‘ brought me to reading his work as a fusion of physical and memory-formed space; form and time (and here I speak of form as event-structure and text-in-image, and time as rendered by light and defined by space) meld into immaculate tonal poems. Adams has had a quiet but profound influence on the nature of what I consider to be serious photographic work these past few decades. Take a look at this interview and the other resources on the jump-off page.

André Kertesz, From My Window, SX-70

It has been thundering and raining here in Sewanee, TN, the air is humid and languid, my garden is heavy with petals and greenery. I keep thinking of Josef Sudek and Andre Kertesz. And then I recall this lovely blog post about the two Eastern European photographers who seem to have shared the same soul. Thank you John Bailey, for writing this and assembling some rare images.

Storm. Outside the Studio. April, 2011

Thank you, Mr. Hetherington.

Tim Hetherington: Long Story Bit by Bit

“I’ve never seen myself as a war photographer. This is about narrative. I’m very open to any visual conceits and any possibilities at my disposal to better explain to people the ideas I’m exploring. I like art photography, I like still life, I like war photography. I like to include everything to weave a tapestry to explain to someone, ‘What happened?’” -Tim Hetherington

Then read this interview with fellow photographer and friend, Michael Kamber

Wolf Böwig, from his book with text by Pedro Rosa Mendes, ‘shadows, dreams, shapes: the lulik reality’

Conflict photographer Wolf Böwig spent the last three days in Sewanee. Wolf: your visit has energized many people here – thank you!!

Wolf’s web site: http://www.wolfboewig.de/

several multi-media examples of his work, including the films ‘Kurosafrica’ and ‘Gandhi’s Way’.

Wolf’s collaborative project, Black.Light merges text, drawing and photography to render highly charged pieces about conflict. The project is a collaboration between Wolf Böwig, writer Pedro Rosa Mendes, Henning Ahlers, Kirsten Rian, Christoph Ermisch and a number of illustrators:

Danijel Zezelj, Séra (Phoussera Ing), Greg Ruth, George Pratt, Lorenzo Mattotti, Nic Klein, Thierry van Hasselt, Benjamin Flao, and David von Bassewitz