Felt there was a lack of documentary photographers and photo journalists on Wanderlustagraphy. Whenever I look at this kind of work it makes me wish I had the guts to pursue such hard stories. But then again, it's not for all of us. For those of you pursuing such stories or know of somebody that is, get that work over here. I'd love to have it on the site.

Kevin S Faulkner, New York
From his Gulf Coast story, post Katrina

Jan Sochor, Born in the Czech Republic. Base between South America and Europe frequently, he lived and worked in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain and the Czech Republic in the last five years.
From the story 'Semana Santa'

Noah Addis, New Jersey
From his story on Iraq
"Muslim men gather in front of the Al-Moshen mosque in the Sadr City section of Baghdad for a Friday prayer after the fall of Baghdad... "

Sorry that this only applies to US Artists, but I wanted to share this in case one might be interested in entering.

BECA Gallery in New Orleans, LA has just notified me of a CALL FOR U.S. BASED ARTISTS for an upcoming show.

Receive deadline is May 5, 2008.
One artist from 3 finalists will be awarded a solo show to open October 4, 2008.

All eyes on you.

Ever noticed how photography allows us to stare with such concentration to every detail and beauty of another that you can get lost within the topography of a face or gesture? Portraiture lures me in this way. It allows for the most eloquent staring contest.

Jeffrey Gray Brandsted, Kasas / soon to be Chicago

Dina Kantor, New York
Eden & Roni, Helsinki, 2007

Shawn Gust, Idaho
"Will, age 16 & Tiffany, age 16, 2007"

CALL FOR ENTRIES:

Women In Photography contains a simple concept:

To showcase work, news and ideas from women in the contemporary photo world.
To create a collection of strong work by women actively creating work.
To reach new audiences collectively.

The blog is now accepting submissions. Those of you interested in submitting should send 5 images from a cohesive project or a work in progress (saved as “myname_title.jpg”, 5×7 @ 150 dpi) and a short statement/bio to womeninphotography [at] gmail.com.

Submission deadline for first monthly spotlight: May 1st. 2008 (11:59)
The 4 selected photographers will be given a week each to showcase a current project or a work in progress.

Oh my wandering ways...

I love how the heritage of photographers has their work mingling with different continents.

These were three photographers that recently submitted.

Samuel Cockedey, French decent / Living in Japan
From "Scapes"

Monty Tran, Asheville, NC with roots in Vietnam.
Self-portrait taken with relatives in Loc Khanh, Binh Dinh, Vietnam.

LSW, Hong Kong
From the Project "You and me are meant to be together"

Food for thought:


"When you begin a picture, you often make some pretty discoveries. You must be on guard against these. Destroy the thing, do it over several times. In each destroying of a beautiful discovery, the artist does not really suppress it, but rather transforms it, condenses it, makes it more sustainable. What comes out in the end is the result of discarded finds. Otherwise, you become your own connoisseur. I sell myself nothing." - Pablo Picasso (1935)

“In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.”
- William Shakespeare

"Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke


These photographs, with their pastel monochromatic palettes, remind me that we are heading towards Spring. Officially it already started... though I'm waiting for the warmth to catch up.

Naho Kubota, Japan / NYC
From "Garage"

Christopher Harris, Medina, Washington
Green Field, Busch Road, Whitman County, 2000

Cole Robertson, Chicago, IL
From the project 'WWErotic', an aestheticized re-imaging of professional wrestling.

"We do not exist in isolation, yet so many photographs, supposed to be portraits, show us alone. We flow through time and are not frozen as a photograph is frozen. An archetypal analogy for life is the river. If Narcissus were to look at his image in a photograph instead of in a river he would not find a true representation of this process of dynamic change that is himself. The mirrored image changes with us, the photograph does not. "

Taken from 'Apparitions: A Meditation on the Portrait in Photography' by James McArdle an article I stumbled upon and enjoyed that can be found here.


And in other notes I'm posting a heads up that Erik Weeks has a book of portraits of his wife, now out and available to the masses, called "World Was in the Face of the Beloved". One may check it out and/or purchase it at Photo-eye.

James McArdle, Castlemaine, Australia
"Good On You Mum" from the project Consolation.

Maciek Jasik, Brooklyn, NY.
Antonio, Jessica.

Raoul Benavides, Minneapolis, MN
A sweet blend of everyone and nobody

Simple observations that resonate.
Like a poetic crime scene: a spray of rose petals... tracks leading to an edge... a flood lamp in the night.


Ps- finally updated the links again!!

Bryan Lear, Brooklyn, NY (by way of Chicago)
Glove, Waukegan, Illinois

Barrett Emke, Lawrence, KS
Roses

Ryan Barone, Rochester, NY
Untitled (Pile), 2008

Felt it had been a while (maybe not... but I am a portrait fan) since my last straight forward portrait post. Thought these 3 felt good together.

Lucius A. Fontenot, Mamou, LA,
Cedric Watson, 2007

Lee Grant, Australia
Molly

Frank Tribble + Tracey Mancenido, Stone Ridge, NY
Keith, Napa Valley. 2007

A post regarding family... looking back at or into our relationships with our parents.

Lindsey Castillo, Brooklyn, NY
From the project "Mater"

Stephen DiRado, Worcester, MA
Dad with Alzheimer's

Jack Stadtlander, NJ
Transparency

Apologies for not posting anything this week. I have been home with a flu since Wednesday. With that said.. apologies for not making an appearance at "31 Under 31" a group show that opened tonight that I had work in. It's been a lame week to say the least. More next week. Stay tuned.

It's been dawning on me lately that I have a pretty large pool of photos in my inbox and though I've looked at all of them, I haven't been able to get back to some of them for weeks, if not months, to find a wanderlustagraphy theme that pieces them all together again. For those of you that have sent work in and haven't seen it... I'm trying my best to get to it. We can try a few different methods for alleviating the back up. Send in more work/new work (just to refresh my memory if it's been a while since your first email) or perhaps suggest a mini-theme for the following week (s) that could incorporate your work and/or another photographers that you know. It's in my hopes that I am posting new / interesting work. I am open to feedback, comments, criticism, etc.

On a non-photo note, I just saw the Magnetic Fields play a sold out show at Town Hall in NYC and it was awesome.

And on a photo-note, there have been some really good openings in NYC lately. If you are around this Thursday, I highly recommend heading to Peter Hay Halpert Gallery for Martine Fougeron's solo show "Tete-a-Tete" and to Hasted Hunt for Paolo Ventura's solo show, "Winter Stories".

AND last but not least, on Wednesday, the 27th, Summer Kemick and Michael Kwiecinski are showing at the 2nd floor Gallery @ SVA: 214 E. 21st St. 2nd Fl. Btwn 2nd and 3rd ave.


© Image: Summer Kemick

Poem for a Thursday


Through frozen rice fields,
moving slowly on horseback,
my shadow creeps by
-basho

Joseph Tripi, New York
Storm Warning, 2007

Luis Belmonte Díaz, Warsaw, Poland
From the series Zima (Winter), 2007

Chris Schedel, Chicago
Flagged Garage: Bartlett, Illinois, 2007

Its pushing towards the end of the afternoon on a Friday and I'm feeling weighted... still recovering from my post-vacation weariness, from a busy work week and from the cold... perhaps due to this, was enjoying the following photographers work that feels a little heavy. I'm not entirely sure of the background stories on all of these... but they feel personal... a tad on the poetic side... and psychological. They work well as a series, so make sure to look through their websites.

Joseph Rynkiewicz, Chicago, IL
Untitled from the Project "Three Years Later"

Catharina Kousbroek, Utrecht, The Netherlands
From the Project "Genuine"

Mirjam Tonnaer, Utrecht, The Netherlands
From the Project "To Be Continued, the integration of ex-convicts"