In writing these salons I’ve noticed a commonality between many of the photographers featured. Time and again there seems to be a moment, an incident, a coincidence that sparks some sort of transformational shift in the person’s view of the world. Something happens that triggers … Keep readingHiroh Kikai
Nan Goldin once referred to photography as “the diary I let people read.” That sounds somewhat self-consciously artsy, the sort of thing you’d read in the Artist Statement of somebody in their first year of an undergraduate photography program. In Goldin’s case, however, it’s pretty … Keep readingNan Goldin
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
Jan Saudek and his twin brother Karel were born in 1935 in the city of Prague in what was then called the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Four years later, Adolf Hitler’s army entered the city. Along with nearly 150,000 other Jews, most of Saudek’s family were … Keep readingJan Saudek
It’s a strange thing to do, when you think about it–using a large format camera to shoot relatively formal portraits of casual strangers in nondescript settings. Yet that’s what Rineke Dijkstra has done for the last decade and a half. And she does it so … Keep readingRineke Dijkstra
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
Todd Hido (pronounced Hie-doe) has a successful commercial photography career, but we won’t be paying any attention to that. He’s been hired by the N.Y. Times to photograph a well-known acting coach who is also a Scientologist, but you’re going to see those shots here. … Keep readingTodd Hido
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton was born in Hampstead, London, on January 14, 1904. His father was a very prosperous timber merchant, his mother was the daughter of a blacksmith. Like so many children of that era born into nouveau riche families, Beaton found it … Keep readingCecil Beaton
She was born in 1935–perhaps in Romania, perhaps in Paris; there is some uncertainty. Her parents are said to have been in the circus–perhaps as performers, perhaps in some other capacity; there is some uncertainty. She spent her childhood years in Constanta, Romania or perhaps … Keep readingIrina Ionesco
Phil Borges was your basic yuppie. A successful orthodontist, socially conscious, politically liberal, he traveled widely to remote areas of the world for pleasure and toted along an expensive camera to record his travels. Like a lot of enthusiastic hobbyists, Borges started taking some photography … Keep readingPhil Borges