This weeks featured photographer is Joe Sobel.  I’ve known Joe for several years now.  In the Winter semester of 2009, Joe and I were in the same photography seminar course at Northern Michigan University.  From the outset of that course, Joe’s work was striking.  He was the most junior of all of us, but his work was, arguably, the most mature in it’s approach and methodology.

It didn’t matter what he shot, it was keen, fresh and almost always fostered the most interesting discussions.  The series that I’m presenting today was born in that class.    Our professor constantly encouraged us to step outside our comfort zones, to see our environments as an outsider would and to pay scrutiny to our assumptions.  More than any of us , Joe did that.  (If anyone from that class is reading this, please forgive me if you disagree)

I got to watch this concept unfold from the initial couple of images to the massive series that it is today.  I remember the first day he brought a few of these images in for critique.  He appeared to be slightly apprehensive, but confident in the work.  The apprehension was undue as the images were well received and further work was encouraged by at least most of us, but probably all of us.  He worked and worked and worked on the series.  Printing more and more of them.  His ability to speak about this body of work improved with each critique.  This tireless effort paid off for him as he now working towards an MFA at Cranbrook.  (If you’re not familiar with Cranbrook, you should be.  It’s one of the top art schools in the country, especially it’s photography program.)

About the work.  As you, no doubt, noticed his subjects are the undesirables, the unclean.  They are society’s castaways and forgotten ones.  These people are reflections of the conditions (physical and mental) in which they live – poverty, dependence, mental illness.  When we walk by them on the streets we hardly pay them a glance, but when we do it’s often judgmental.  We take a step to the side to be certain we are clear of the dirt and grime and the craziness that we know isn’t transmissible, but all the same is best to avoid.

These images, like the subjects have the faint patina of the grotesque.  Instead of focusing on a sense of universality, Joe “emphasize[s] that stigmas placed on marginalized individuals throughout history have not completely disappeared in today’s so-called, enlightened society” and considers these individuals deviants by our design.  After all these people are largely incapable of conforming to our mores and standards because our societal models ostracize unfavorable attributes.  Because of this they are neglected by society and forced into asocial roles – seen, but not likely to interact.  Although a formal title to the series does exist (“Distortions”), Joe refers to the people as “Out of the Societal Sense.”

I believe Joe is going somewhere and I believe that he will accomplish some very great things with photography.  He’s a newcomer, but he’s diligent.  His work is strong and compelling and it will mature even more.  I’m excited to see what Cranbrook is capable of digging out of him.  I’m going to keep tabs on what he’s working on and I think you should too.

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As promised last week, here is the second installment of Susannah Benjamin’s photographs.  I’ll keep the writing to a minimum this week and just let you enjoy these amazing photographs.

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Today is a rare day.  It’s unique in that I often have difficulties picking only a few photographs from each featured photographer, but I always manage to do it.  Not this time.  You will notice that the title indicates that there are going to be multiple posts on our next featured photographer, Susannah Benjamin.  It truly was impossible for me to limit this feature to just the standard five to eight pictures that I normally show.  I have broken the feature into two parts – color and black and white, with each containing the normal maximum allotment of eight images.  Sorry to those that I have struggled with in the past, but alas, as the owner and editor, this is my call to make.  Quite honestly, though, I do not think that any of my readers will be disappointed in this decision – most of the time more pictures is better, especially when they are of this caliber.

Susannah Benjamin has a vision that is not especially rare for young people, but her ability to express and convey that vision, most certainly is.  When I first viewed these images I was taken aback.  The quality of light, the expressiveness of the models, the technical ability and their conceptual nature were forthright and convincing, seemingly relevant in the world of conceptual photography.  What really got me, however, was these images were taken by a 16 year old (she is now 17).  It took quite some time for me to wrap my head around it.  I have been immersed in photography culture for the past several years and can honestly say that this is the first time I have seen work executed so well from anyone so young.  In my experience, most of the work that I have seen produced by people this age are banal, focused on hedonistic desire and actions, and irrelevant.  Most lack this level of foresight and vision.

Simply put, we need to pay attention to what Susannah Benjamin is working on.  Her work is not as pretty as it is visually engaging.  Despite their minimalistic appearances there is a lot going on in these images.  It is possible while going through her flikr account to see the transformations she has made with her work in just the past two years.  The growth and conceptual development is impressive to say the least.  She will go on to do great things.  Pay attention now, while she is relatively unknown, I think we will all be glad we did.  Stay tuned, next week I will be publishing part 2, which will showcase Susannah’s black and white work.

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As some of you may know I recieved a BFA in Art and Design from Northern Michigan University in May of 2009 and returned as a post baccalaureate Art History student in January of 2010.  While an undergrad at NMU the Melissa Matuscak, the director of the Devos Art Museum, let me browse through the museum’s George Shiras III photography collection.  I was told that the previous exhibition of his work had been in 1990 – 20 years ago – and that she was wanting to have another exhibition of his work.  My interest was piqued within seconds.  What could be better than a project that merges so many of interests?  Art History, photography, and restoration all in one project.

It took quite a bit of time to get all the details worked out, but in November of 2009 I told Melissa that I would be returning for three semesters and she offered me the project through the Beaumier Heritage Center.  I got to work on it in February of 2010 and worked right up until the day the exhibition opened last May.

So what did we have to work with?  Just under 40 silver gelatin prints made from reproduced 5×7 negatives provided by the National Geographic Scoiety.  Many of them had curled and were in rough shape.  The frames they were housed in, as you can imagine, were old and just a little tacky and really did not carry any air of sophistication that you would expect to see at a professional exhibition.

The negatives, like the prints, were also in a sorry state – more than likely from improper handling 2o years when being used for the initial exhibition.  After talking with Dan Truckey, the director of the Beaumier Heritage Center, and Melissa we decided that what was really in order was a high resolution digital archive of these photographs as well as an exhibition of freshly printed, mounted and framed photos.  I lucked out, I got to do all of the photography and almost none of the historical research, that was conducted by an intern at the Beaumier, Lindsey Strzyzykoski.

Over the course of the semester I used a large format Epson scanner to scan all of the negatives at 4800 dpi.  As I said in the previous paragraph the negatives were largely in very poor condition and required extensive digital restoration.  A good majority of the images took just less than an hour before they were printable, but there were many that took as much as four hours for each one.  I have been working with Photoshop for eleven years – I am very comfortable with the software and create a very efficient workflow.

The restoration, although well within my realm of capability, created the most trying time for me during this project.  Aside from purely visual issues I had to consider philosophical issues of the restoration of historical photographs.  Shiras was by no means a wonderful printer and often relied on the National Geographic Society to do his printing for him.  He was more documentary in his approach, as he and his assistant John Hammer are the folks who literally invented nighttime flash photography in the 19th century.  He photographed wild lands and wild life at night.

So what was I to do?  Should I enhance the images to create a more contemporary aesthetic or do I leave some blemishes and marks that imply age and historicity?  What I did know is that I had to maintain some sort of visual consistency.  I ended up employing a combination of the two.  I removed most of the blemishes from most of the images leaving the ones that I felt carried the strongest implications of historicity.  Meaning I set out to remove the dust and emulsion problems that were distracting, but left the ones that seemed to me to be more “natural” in their occurrance, that includes scratches on the negatives caused by mishandling 20 years ago.

I also had to consider the larger print as a whole.  Shiras’ original images were very contrasty, often with predominantly black grounds with little to no detail or the exact opposite predominantly white with very little detail.  I had to consider this when printing his work.  I chose to continue in this vein and produce contrasty images, although I did have to tame it down in several photographs to make them visually pleasing.  I ended up printing all but five of the images at 13″ x 19″.  Not huge, but not small either – It’s what the budget allowed for and I think that it was perfect.

The five images that I did not print were printed by The Lab in Minneapolis.  Their work is absolutely stunning, they conduct themselves very professionally, and they are very affordable.  They printed for us three 2′ x 3′ prints and two 3′ x 4′ prints and I could not be happier with the results, as I said the images are stunning and are very powerful when viewing them in person.

Once everything had been printed, information panels made, etc. Lindsey and I designed the show in two days.  The two of us and her fiancé created the historical displays, hung the work, ate some food, and had a lot of fun.  The images below are a few of the 37 prints that were on display up until last week.

*Notes on the pictures.  These images are from a PowerPoint that made before all of the images had been restored, as such several do not appear to be finished.  Although these images are now in the public domain, please be courteous and contact me before using them.

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Because of this I will not be able to dedicate significant amounts of time to this blog.  As of today this blog will only be periodically updated.  Just like the past I will write a small bit information and my opinions on the work the that I present to you.  As always you, the reader, are encouraged to join our flikr group and submit images for consideration.  Also you can email me directly with a link to your portfolio (my email can be found under the contact tab).  I promise that I will look through each and every porfolio that you send my way.  I cannot, however, guarantee that I will email each of you after browsing your portfolio, although I will try.  If you ask me specifically for a critique I will do my best to provide that for you within two weeks; I know how valuable peer review can be.  I will email you if I plan on publishing any of your work on this blog.

I will occasionally publish other materials related, in some way, to photography.  Occasionally news pops up that I feel compelled to share with my readers.  I have also been writing on photography quite a bit lately and maybe compelled to share some of those essays with you.  That will give you the opportunity to critique my writing, if you choose to.  On top of all this I have been offered the chance to be a part of  a small team that is curating  a photography exhibition featuring photographs by George Shiras III.  I am very excited to be a part of this team and will give occasional updates on the status of the exhibition and thoughts that I have through the curatorial process.  My apologies for all this nonsense, but given my recent extended leave of absense, I felt it necessary to update you on the future of The Photo Playground.  I hope you enjoy this weeks selection.

These photographs are from the series Dayblind by Belgian photographer, Paul D’Haese.  Admittedly, I am not usually a huge fan of contemporary black and white photography.  I know and I apologize.  My excuse is more or less baseless – my world is vibrant and rich in color, I thoroughly enjoy visually experiencing the world.  I find it hard to relate with many of the black and white images people produce.  I do, however, make exceptions and really there are a lot of them.  D’Haese’s work is one more exception to add to my list.  My first reaction to his images was excitement, they were unnerving, unsettling, and confrontational.  I experienced a sense of anticipation before each click to proceed to the next image.  What would I discover when the next image popped up in front of me?  How would the next image question my sensibilities?

Whether I stared into one of D’Haese’s rooms or peered into one of his landscapes I could not escape the sense that the subject and I were alone.  It was not a benign sense of solitude.  The images confront you with their expansiveness and the harsh juxtaposition of the subject, regardless of what it is.  They conjure feelings of isolation, the remnant emotion of being left behind.

Although the woman’s eyes are partially closed, the portrait is direct in its confrontation.  Behind her eyes lies an expression of nonchalance or is it indifference?  It’s unsettling not knowing for sure.  The passive-aggressive confrontation is always frustrating – you’re always left with the uncertainty of what the proper response should be.  Is she trying to confuse us or make us disoriented?  Should I stay and try to look harder or deeper or should I proceed to the next, resigned with the belief that I wasn’t supposed to know?

D’Haese’s images are mysterious and they offer little in regards to an explanation.  I loved it.  The formal elements, compositional techniques, and the evocation of emotional responses were spot on.  D’Haese has mastered his art and I look forward to seeing what he produces in the future.

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Today I bring a sample of work by Simon Bates, an Irishman living in Finland.  Bates has a BA in architecture and plans to begin work towards an MA in Fine Art next year.

What drew me in with these photographs is Bates’ attention to and use of spacial relationships. Whether the images have a human element or are of inanimate objects there seems to be a careful consideration of it’s orientation in regards to it’s surroundings.  I think this approach (environmental orientation) combined with many of his straight on shots creates a sense of confrontation, these confrontations with his subjects is what really made me interested. I remember talking about this briefly awhile back about another photographer that appeared on the site. I love being confronted with imagery and in this case it very successful.

Via our Flikr group.

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I was first introduced to Chris Jordan’s work about midway through my undergraduate studies.  The series was “Intolerable Beauty.”  My photography professor at the time showed a few of the images via digital projector.  I still remember that particular session of class.  Since my first exposure to his work, I have become aware of his series “In Katrina’s Wake,” “E. Pluribus Unum,” and both “Running the Numbers” series.  And now he has released “Midway,” the series in which the photos above belong.

I believe that Jordan is one of the most culturally significant and relevant artists working today.  His images directly address many of the issues that arise from mass consumer culture in America and could arguably be ideologically applied to other developed nations and even developing nations.  Unlike current environmental platforms and platitudes, however, Jordan’s work is not overtly aggressive.  In fact, I would say that the initial reaction upon viewing these pieces is that they present as passive, but due to their sheer enormity the greater issue informs the viewer of its importance and has the potential to overwhelm.  Jordan’s work leaves the viewer with the decision to act.  He is not compelling you to move; he is informing you of how we live.

In 2008 Jordan was invited to speak at the TED conference in Monterrey, California.  The video, itself, is short, but very well informed and awe inspiring.  Do yourself and favor and give him 12 minutes of your day by watching the video here.  You should also head over to his website – look at the pictures and read the statements.  Plan on spending at least an hour there.  If you can’t afford that much time in one sitting, bookmark it and go back to it.  You’ll be hard pressed to find an artist so adept at exposing the deep set cultural illness that we’ve all been exposed to in this, our consumer culture and disposable society.

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I found Paula’s work while cruising through Flikr.  Her photostream is light with fewer than 200 images.  It was easy to browse and nearly every single image is fantastic; she is definitely not one of those people that posts every single image she captures, unless of course every picture she takes is gold.  It was incredibly difficult picking these images, as I fell in love with most of the images in her photostream.  Her representation of human banality and emotion is spot on.  As time passes, I believe her work will only get better and become more relevant.  Congrats on the great pictures Paula.

Join our Flikr group.

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Today I bring you Neil Richards.  Although not a professional photographer, per se, he is prolific with the camera.  By day he is a web designer and runs several sites.  Jetpac Magazine is an online arts and culture magazine that is downloadable as a pdf.  Both issues are huge files with tons of pages and definitely worth looking into. According the one of his sites, issue 3 is in the works.  He has a blog here and his professional site is here.

I chose these images because each one told me a story that I wanted to hear.  They are visually interesting and lately I have been incredibly attracted to images that focus on human elements, it’s probably a seasonal change thing or something, I know that soon I’ll be hibernating in my apartment for a few months, isolated from the world and it’s reassuring knowing that there are humans out there somewhere.

Via our Flikr group.

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Normally I write a little piece on the photographers that I present, but today I’m going to let Clare do most of the talking.  Below is how she explained her work on flikr to me:

“The images are mostly taken using my mobile phone camera, which is discreet and so simple to use. The photostream is my visual diary: art-lite. The images are unplanned and an intuitive response to my environment. More recently I have been making montages that echo the expanded cinema work I made in the 1970′s. I have also started to animate some of my stills and accompany the shorts with “found” sound.”

I really like this for a few reasons.  I love mobile phone cameras, in fact, I use mine religiously and am thankful that so many people use theirs in a similar manner.  What’s even better is that she takes her mobile pictures to next level, by making them more dynamic and interesting by placing them in groupings or montaging them together.  Her imagery is visually interesting and enjoyable to look at.  In some cases it’s difficult discern their meaning, but as she explains the images are an intuitive response to her environment, this works for me and I’m going to bet that it works for some of you as well.

Via our flikr group.

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