America, says British photographer Muzi Quawson, “is like a fictitious place.” By ‘America’, of course, she means the United States of America. But that just demonstrates the impact of U.S. popular culture—for good or for ill—on the rest of the globe. It has clearly been … Keep readingMuzi Quawson
Some lives seem more fiction than reality. Edward Sheriff Curtis lived that sort of life. He was born in Wisconsin in 1868, the son of a minister. Curtis’ father gave up the ministry when the family moved to Minnesota in the mid-1870s; he set up … Keep readingEdward Curtis
Kohei Yoshiyuki was an ordinary commercial photographer who spend nearly a decade documenting a strange subterranean aspect of Tokyo culture. After publishing his work, he became notorious for a short period of time. Then Yoshiyuki quietly disappeared from the art scene. It all came about … Keep readingKohei Yoshiyuki
Is he a street photographer? Yes. Is he a documentary photographer? Yes. A photojournalist? A travel photographer? A portraitist? A fine arts photographer? Yes, yes, yes, and most certainly yes. French photographer Marc Riboud isn’t easily categorized, because he’s never specialized in any particular area … Keep readingMarc Riboud
During his career William Gedney only had one exhibit of his photography. He only had a single photograph published in a magazine in the U.S. He never worked on assignment. In fact, outside of a few other photographers, a handful of gallery curators, and a … Keep readingWilliam Gedney
Debbie Fleming Caffery was born in 1948 in New Iberia, Louisiana on Bayou Teche. She is a product of the intersection of multiple cultures; a woman with an Irish name born in an American town founded by Spanish immigrants in a territory dominated by French … Keep readingDebbie Fleming Caffery
One of the problems inherent in looking at the work of a photographer–or any artist or artisan or craftsperson–is trying to decide what information is important and what isn’t. How much does it matter that Elliot Erwitt was born Elio Romano Erwitz in Paris eighty … Keep readingElliot Erwitt
I love Sylvia Plachy and her photography. I first became aware of her in the mid-1980s through the Village Voice, the free weekly ‘alternative’ newspaper distributed in New York City. The contents page of the Voice included a single black and white photograph, usually presented … Keep readingSylvia Plachy
By most objective standards, Eugène Atget would be judged a failure during his lifetime. He tried a number of professions and earnestly worked away at them, but at best he only managed to find a way to sustain himself and his longtime companion, Valentine Delafosse-Compagnon. … Keep readingEugène Atget
There is a long history of social documentary photography in the United States. Before there was Milt Rogovin, before John Vachon, even before Lewis Hine, there was Jacob Riis. Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark in 1849, the third of fifteen children. Although his father … Keep readingJacob Riis