Category Archives: Photographers

New Topographics: Show review and selected books

Posted on by joe
Lewis Baltz -- North Wall, Semicoa, 333 McCormick, Costa Mesa 1974

Lewis Baltz — North Wall, Semicoa, 333 McCormick, Costa Mesa 1974

New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape opened yesterday at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and runs through October 3, 2010 along with the companion exhibit, Picturing Modernity. I visited the museum yesterday, and really enjoyed the show. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the superb New Topographics book — viewing the actual prints was exciting.

Most of the exhibition contains small silver gelatin black and white prints with an open, low/medium contrast style of printing that is befitting of the subject matter. A few of the Lewis Baltz prints are a notable exception, with very deep blacks and stark high contrast printing. Stephen Shore’s photos are the only color images in the show.

Seeing the Joe Deal aerial subdivision views all together on the wall gave them a lot more weight than in the book. There is so much tension in not having any sky or horizon line. My eye wants to see something in the image as the horizon, which gives an off-kilter feeling to some of the images.

Finding a photographic approach that deferred and complexified meaning rather than specifying it, is what made these pictures interesting to me. — John Schott

John Schott’s work was also better on the wall than in the book. His accompanying audio segment is especially poignant. I’m still puzzling out how Nicholas Nixon’s Boston rooftop images fit into the show – they’re dense with the detail of the city skyline. Gohlke’s irrigation canal image is a deceivingly simple image that reflects the man vs. nature theme of the show so well with the beautiful sky and reflection balanced by weeds and tire tracks in the mud.

After seeing large prints of the Becher’s Industrial Landscapes a few years ago, the smaller prints in this show seemed lackluster, and a few are in need of conservation. This re-staging of the 1975 exhibit really shows the modest scale of the prints in the current era of giant 10 foot prints that are trying to compete with painting. After spending a considerable amount of time contemplating these intimate black and white prints, the large scale of the work in the Fisher Collection seemed rather ostentatious at times. Perhaps you’ll want to save that exhibition for another day.

Tip: Pick up the free audio tour to the left of the staircase as you walk into the museum. The New Topographics exhibit features about 2 minutes of commentary from most of the photographers.

Books from the Photographers in New Topographics

The New Topographics book is outstanding. Published by Steidl this year, the title seems to regularly go in and out of stock with each press run. I recommend reading the essays before seeing the show. The reproduction of the original catalog in the book is very cool. Below is a selected book list of photographers in the show, some with brief commentary. If there are photographers in the show that you’d like to investigate further, hopefully this list will save you some time.

Robert Adams

Lewis Baltz

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Joe Deal

Frank Golhke

Nicholas Nixon

John Schott

  • No monographs other than inclusion in the New Topographics book.

Stephen Shore

Henry Wessel

Night photography: Interview with Troy Paiva, night photographer

Posted on by joe

lensflare35 interview with Troy Paiva

Lensflare35 features an extensive audio interview with night photographer Troy Paiva. Troy talks about his influences, light painting, urban exploration, and explains the lighting in a slideshow full of images.

Over the weekend, Blake Andrews posted an interview with Troy Paiva and me about night photography, ruin porn, and urban exploration.

9 Questions on UrbEx

Posted on by joe

A fellow I know who is writing an MFA thesis on urban exploration sent me a 9 question survey on UrbEx. I thought a few of you might find both the questions and answers interesting. I’d be especially interested to hear YOUR answers to #5 and #9 in the comments section.

1. Did you have any early (childhood) experiences with abandoned spaces, or any memories that informed your curiosity for them?

Yes. I remember doing a steep hike with family along the Southern California coast to the site of a shipwreck. I returned to the site with friends in high school and revisited again in college. I’d forgotten about this experience until recently, when I happened across some old footage of the shipwreck online.

2. What was your first experience like? Were you alone or with others? Was it an impulsive trip or very planned out?

In high school I explored abandoned seacoast fortifications and bunkers in Southern California with friends. There was little or no planning — just teenagers driving around and goofing off. During college I explored the seacoast fortifications and bunkers of the Bay Area with friends. Again these were freewheeling adventures.

3. Briefly describe your political beliefs.

Voting on local issues is important, everything else is futile. I’m registered Green. I don’t read the paper. I don’t watch the news. These habits make my life much more peaceful.

4. Describe any powerful emotions you have experienced while on an urban expedition.

Depending on the location, the feelings can range from adrenaline charged excitement (holy crap look at this place!, did I hear footsteps?), to a calm, meditative observation (the quiet, my heartbeat, the stars).

5. Do you follow architectural practice in general?

What I photograph most often are buildings and vehicles. I enjoy studying architecture where I live and when I travel. This interest ranges anywhere from the modest 1920′s Craftsman homes in my neighborhood to a Julia Morgan designed building across town. From a ruined trailer park in one part of the desert, to a John Lautner home in another.

6. What do you think about the way the general population can access public, semipublic, commercial, infrastructural, and historical sites? Is everything as it should be?

Yes — it is what it is. A successful exploration could be anything from walking in to a public place, to getting permission, gray areas, or outright trespassing. Assessing the best methodology for accessing a site is just part of the work.

7. Do you make photographs when you go on expeditions? What do you look for in making these photos?

The experience of being at an interesting site under the moonlight is amazing. Photographs are a way to share the experience. The images are meant to document the location, with the added intangible mystery of place expressed through long, moonlit exposures.

8. Have any perilous encounters made you reconsider going back out on expeditions?

Nothing has made me want to stop. A few experiences have helped define the limits of my preferred access methodologies. I usually make better images if I’m not looking over my shoulder all the time.

9. What do you think of the newfound trendiness or UrbEx? Does it affect the way you think about or conduct the practice?

Is it trendy now, or does it just have a different name? I don’t use the term UrbEx. I prefer using terms like abandoned places and ruins. I don’t relate to a lot of the writing I’ve seen that uses the term UrbEx. The growth of UrbEx hasn’t affected my practice, but will hopefully increase the audience for my photography and photography workshops.

Night Photographer Jerry Day: One Night in the Valley of the Gods

Posted on by joe
One Night in the Valley of the Gods -- by Jerry Day

One Night in the Valley of the Gods — by Jerry Day
Valley of the Gods, Utah, 2009

Jerry Day has some great new work on his website, including the incredible long star trail image above. I often talk about making 6-8 minute long exposures with noise reduction turned off on the Canon 5D, and stacking multiple exposures for 20-30 minute long star trails. What you’re seeing above in Jerry’s work is this same technique, but for over 10 hours in total duration. Jerry and I exchanged emails about his technique:

Yes, this is a digital composition spanning the entire night, sunset to sunrise. Bracketed images at sunset/sunrise processed as HDR, merged and then layered on a base image of star trails from twilight to twilight – about 10.25 hours shot in a sequence of 6 minute exposures. At least 114 images total went into the composition. I shot two compositions that night using Canon 5D for the twin mesa view and the Canon 5D Mark II for the single mesa composition. Had a great night camping out under the stars.

My follow up question for Jerry was “what do you use to power a Canon 5D for a 10 hour exposure?”

I use a DC adapter hooked into a 12V battery pack – the same setup I use for astrophotography with the Canon 20Da. The coupler is modified by Hutech to be DC only – no need for the intermediate AC adapter and power inverter.

For the Canon 5D Mark II, I had the proper DC coupler, but intended to use the original AC adapter provided by Canon for use with the 20Da or 5D. Unfortunately, I found in the field that the coupler was incompatible with the existing AC adapter receptacle – I would need to purchase the full AC adapter kit for the 5D Mark II (Canon strikes again!)

My solution – set my alarm for about 3 hour intervals – crawl out of the bivy-bag, quickly swap battery pack and restart the timer. Done properly, the gaps in the star trails are not any more noticable than the 1 second gaps the Canon timer cable imposes after each frame. For my next outing I will have the proper adapters.

I’d like to thank Jerry for sharing his technique and equipment notes. Check out the rest of the night photography galleries on his website, Dark Sky Dreams.