As he wandered around the San Lázaro Psychiatric Hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Watanabe was followed by a woman patient. She nattered on about a toothache and he apparently didn’t pay much attention to her. As he was leaving, she asked him a … Keep readingHiroshi Watanabe
Two critical facts about William Christenberry. First, he was born in Alabama in 1936. He spent much of his childhood summers in Hale County, Alabama–a poor, rural county in the west central part of the state. Second, in 1944, when Christenberry was eight years old, … Keep readingWilliam Christenberry
Edward Burtynsky has been called the Ansel Adams of the ruined landscape. He creates large, stunningly beautiful images of nature, but not the organic nature celebrated by Adams. Burtynsky describes the essential theme of his photography as “nature transformed through industry.” Burtynsky was born in … Keep readingEdward Burtynsky
There is a romantic tradition in American popular culture of the itinerant adventurer. A man alone, traveling around the country, meeting people, becoming involved in their lives for a short time, then wandering off again. It’s a common television/movie trope; we’ve seen protagonists travel by … Keep readingAlec Soth
At some point around 1910 portrait photographer August Sander began to undertake an incredibly bold project—a project of almost unimaginable scale. He’d decided to create a portrait series that would document the entire scope of contemporary German society. The portraits weren’t to be portraits of … Keep readingAugust Sander
Because the World Cup, the premier sports event in the world, is now underway, I thought it would be worthwhile to examine the work of Walter Iooss, because he is probably the premier sports photographer in the world. Although Iooss was born in the small … Keep readingWalter Iooss
He eventually became known as the Poet of Prague, a rather grand title for the son of a house painter. Josef Sudek was born in 1896 in the town of Kolin in what was then called Bohemia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father died … Keep readingJosef Sudek