Los Angeles. Tradition names it the City of Angels. Orson Welles called it “that bright, guilty place.” In modern pop culture it’s known as ‘La La Land.’ In an earlier era, L.A. was said to be where intellectuals went to ruin themselves. In its long … Keep readingJohn Humble
Alexey Titarenko was born in 1962 in the coastal city of Leningrad in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Photography occupied a strange position in the Soviet Union. Marxist theory holds that capitalist societies are arranged so that the world of art and art appreciation … Keep readingAlexey Titarenko
Over the last year and a half, in the course of preparing these salon discussions, I’ve done quite a bit of research on a lot of photographers. Not surprisingly, a lot of the same names kept turning up when those photographers discussed their influences. They’re … Keep readingEvelyn Hofer
There’s a branch of social psychology that concentrates on the study of various modes of conflict. One of those modes is called the ‘approach-avoidance’ conflict. It occurs when you’re simultaneously drawn to and repelled by a thing. For example, a person driving by a traffic … Keep readingRoger Ballen
In the middle of the 17th century the Dutch Republic gained its independence from Spain. The Dutch quickly became a major seafaring and economic power, the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world, and one of the most innovative centers of culture. A new European … Keep readingHellen van Meene
Imagine taking a fairly common idea and doing it so well that nobody ever expects–or allows–you to have another. Everybody who has both a camera and a dog has eventually turned the former on the latter. How could they not? Dogs are inherently photographable. But … Keep readingWilliam Wegman
Arthur Tress was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1940 and grew up in that strange period between the Second World War and what was called the ‘police action’ in Vietnam. Post-war America took a determined grip on ‘normalcy’ and refused to let go. It was … Keep readingArthur Tress
I was prepared to like Gregory Crewdson before I ever saw his work. Why? Because I read an article in which he described his photographs as “images without narratives.” I’ve always been of the opinion that a single photograph cannot tell a story; it can … Keep readingGregory Crewdson
NUDES NUDES NUDES When I was young–maybe fifteen years old–I saw a photograph in a magazine that left me gob-smacked. A prim-looking old woman in a long black dress, a twin-lens reflex camera around her neck, standing in the woods. Peeking coyly around a tree, … Keep readingJudy Dater
He was born Gyula Halász in the ancient Transylvanian city of Brassó. In 1902, his family moved to Paris for a year (his father, a professor of literature, had a one year lectureship at the Sorbonne). Given that he was only three years old at … Keep readingBrassaï