July 2009 Archives

A "stellar" jury of international photography experts has been confirmed for the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2009.

The jurors include: Stephen Mayes (US), Sujong Song (South Korea), Christopher Rauschenberg (US), Stefanie Braun (UK), Mary Virginia Swanson (US), and Jim Casper (US/France). Full details and brief biographies of each juror can be found at Lens Culture.

Lens Culture is delighted to be participating in the first Risor International Photo Festival, in Risor Norway, August 12-16. Photographers Roger Ballen and Neo Ntsoma from South Africa will be the special guests of honor. Many other internationally-known photographers, as well as up-and-coming Norwegian photographers will exhibit their work, hold lectures and give workshops in this charming city south of Oslo.

There will be exhibitions in galleries, museums, hotels, as well as in a sanctuary, a fire tower, shops and outdoor exhibition spaces. The Photo Program HiO, Photo College, and BILDER Nordic School of Photography will all participate. The festival is organized by the Risor Artist Council: Tore Holter, editor of the magazine and website FOTOGRAFI, Rolf M. Aagaard, an experienced photographer from Risør, and Ellen-K.Syverstad.

More information to be found at www.fotofestivalen.no, where the text is mostly in Norwegian, but includes links to many of the participating photographers — some very interesting new discoveries!

If you will be at the festival, please try to connect with me in person through Lens Culture's Twitter and Facebook sites. Cheers!

The playful, brilliant photography team and co-writers of the popular blog Mrs. Deane have launched another great personal project: Joghurtbecher.

Here's what they have to say about this new work:

"We're having fun with a new typologies series: joghurtbecher. It's a silly play on words in German - becher also means container -, but we simply could not resist. We'll be scouring the shops to find all the available sizes and shapes for what promises to be a growing hommage to Bernd and Hilla Becher. It has become almost impossible to still be making typologies with a straight face in the presence of their legacy, and you cannot expect the viewer to simply ignore noticing their influence."

"Taking a somewhat more lighthearted and less earnest approach often helps. The joghurtbecher typology acknowledges this fact, but also takes its clue from the consequences of the dominance of the Becher surname. For instance, if someone unable to read would be presented with the results of a Google image search for the word 'becher', he might come to believe the word means approximately tower-like building, judging by the number and kind of images produced by the query. The meaning 'cup, container' would be utterly lost upon such a person - and another semantic shift would have happened, creating myriads of possible misinterpretations in the distant future when German will be as dead a language as ancient Chinese."

The ever-prolific David Lynch just completed a personal photography project in collaboration with musician, artist and producer Danger Mouse. The photos are odd, tripped out, discontinuous as a dream, and fun. See some preview images, and read more, here in Lens Culture. For the moment, you can hear the entire album for free at NPR. More info at Aline Smithson's blog.

This is a short, fun, inspiring video. I found it through my tribe at twitter.com/lensculture. Cheers!

Great news! We are so thrilled to post this link to our fantastic archive of audio interviews with great photographers from around world. We’ve been recording these conversations for more than five years now, and our hardworking staff at Lens Culture Towers finally got around to pulling them together into one accessible place!

So – click here to scan the list (a virtual who's who of contemporary photography), and listen to photographers’ personal stories of epic journeys around the world; learn their strategies for new approaches to photography; explore along with them the contradictions of photojournalism and fine art; experience the shutter-click of decisive moments; share their thoughts on processes and equipment – and much, much more.

We recommend listening to these interviews while you click through each photographer’s work (or while watching their slideshows) – the insights are often amazing, delightful and surprising. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Zoë, Kara, and Millie for listening to hours and hours of interviews, and transcribing cool excerpts, and compiling this archive together into one neat location!

Lens Culture International Exposure Awards discover, recognize, reward and promote talented, new and emerging photographers from around the world.

We’re looking for exciting images from every continent, and from diverse points of view: documentary, fine art, photojournalism, street photography, poetic, personal, abstract and human.

An international jury of photography experts will review and judge every photo submitted.

Four winning photographers will each earn cash prizes — plus prominent, exclusive photo features in Lens Culture, giving them access and broad exposure to an enthusiastic, influential worldwide audience.

Additionally, 25 photographers will win Honorable Mentions, including the display of one single image each in the Winners' Gallery in Lens Culture, and a link to their personal or professional web pages — a powerful way to get the attention of hundreds of thousands of photography lovers!

Check here for entry details. Deadline is September 15, 2009.

Send in YOUR best photos today. This is an exciting opportunity for all photographers — professionals and serious amateurs. Good luck, and cheers!

Prix Pictet winning photographer Munem Wasif talked with us about the ecological and personal disasters in Bangladesh caused by a vast influx of shrimp farming. He also provided some insight into his evolving philosophy as a concerned photographer. You can listen to both of these short, articulate audio interviews here in Lens Culture.

Special thanks to our summer intern, Kara Cohen, for editing the original 1 hour, 38 minute interview, down to tightly focused 8 minute excerpts. Great listening!

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Les Rencontres d’Arles festival of photography.

For four decades, this festival has helped to define the best and brightest in photography — and it has generated quite a bit of controversy along the way, often featuring the work of iconoclasts, renegades, and troublemakers, some of whom are regarded as superstars today.

So, there is a good deal of heightened anticipation about what we will discover from this year's guest curator, New York photo legend Nan Goldin. Let's hope it's edgy and controversial, really fresh and new — and surprisingly good.

We’re delighted to feature 94 preview images from the official festival selection. As always, it's an eclectic mix. Be sure to check out our high-resolution slideshow, and check back next month for our report about our own personal discoveries from the front lines!