Charles Schwartz - New York Camera Obscura

The ephemeral projections of a camera obscura have fascinated artists since the 15th century. Charles Schwartz and Bill Westheimer have been exploring the wonders of the camera obscura in modern upper Manhattan — playing with perspective, surface, the effects of the sun — and capturing the results with digital photography. The location of their camera obscura is fixed, yet it provides a dizzying, ever-changing view of the city's activities, architecture and landscape. This work is not as iconic as the celebrated images of Abelardo Morrell; it captures more fleeting moments, with the intensity of a distinctly personal gaze from a high, darkened room.

Their work was featured in a group show, "Contemporary Obscurists: The Camera Obscura in Contemporary Photography" at Alan Klotz Gallery in New York, September 15 - November 12, 2006. The wide-ranging exhibition also included images by Stephen Berkman, Rebecca Cummins, Vera Lutter, Abelardo Morrell, and Shi Guorui.

Desperately Perfect

In a photo-essay from the renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, Rachel Papo documents how, from the age of ten until eighteen, twelve hours a day, six days a week, young ballet students live lives of fierce competition.

Amc2 Journal, Issue 1

The inaugural issue of AMC² journal brings together odd groups of work that illuminate lost corners of our cultural life. Photography is, as ever, the keystone of the Archive of Modern Conflict collection.

Burtynsky - China

From 2002 to 2005, Edward Burtynsky was granted unprecedented access to photograph inside China with a large format camera. His new book delivers a visual report on many aspects of contemporary China. In an exclusive audio interview for Lens Culture, he talks about his experiences there, and his fears for China and the world.

Charles Schwartz & Bill Westheimer