Robert Adams

While we were in Denver we went  to see an exhibition of Robert Adams work, which by chance was on during our stop there.
I only fairly recently got to know/appreciate Adams work.....I guess in the past I'd been fairly dismissive of anything that smelled too much of landscape ...how stupid I have been...
Anyway, a few months before leaving the UK I bought Adam's Summer Nights Walking, it's a beautiful small book.
So I was happy to find this exhibition on. As always it's a pleasure to be near the prints, and as I discover, to be near to where Adams lived and worked...I begin to understand more beyond the images on the page....
Adams, to me, is a bit of a spiritual man, and some of the small sentences he writes feel so pure in their origin...

"often there doesn't seem to be anything there, I feel foolish to have stopped, but small things can become important, a Lark or a Mailbox, or Sunflowers.
and if I wait I may see architecture - the road, the fields, the sky." RA
this one I also liked
"on the Prairies there is sometimes a quiet so absolute that it allows me to begin again, to love the future"
You can see more of Adams work and listen to him speak here , here, and here

installation Denver

all images © to Robert Adams

They have all moved to the Mall.

While we were in New York, we made a visit to Aperture and came across the newly released book by Brian Ulrich,  Is this great or what.

The book is a 10 year work looking at shopping malls,  thrift shops and shops that have closed down.
It's a really well realised project and well worth buying a copy.
Here is an Interview with Joerg Colberg on Conscientious Extended.

© Brian Ulrich

I only mention Brians work now, because by coincidence  Vanessa received an email from Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa who edits the interesting website The Great Leap Sideways. 
Stanley:   
 "I noticed George had mentioned the absence of people on the streets and downtown, and mention it only because I just interviewed Brian Ulrich about his Copia work for the forthcoming book and he said that he saw that work in a way as taking street photography indoors, because that was where the people had moved to. It casts his pictures in an interesting light I think, when you look at them in that fashion."
I couldn't agree more, the street in small towns and cities has difinately moved to the strip malls.
It's a fairly depressing sight to see. From town to town you see the same companies dominating. In a land that's supposed to promote competition, I think I have never seen such a narrow amount of choice. 
Downtowns have been designated historical centres, with a few independent shops, bars and galleries. But even these begin to take on a repetition. Thankfully the landscape that surrounds these towns is truly stunning, beautiful and keeps surprising us.

Utah

Pier 24 Gallery

Todd Hido invited us to go with his class to Pier 24 Gallery, in San Francisco to see the exhibition "Here". This exhibition presents a selection of works produced by Bay Area photographers as well as a range of images of San Francisco, with an emphasis on the late-twentieth century. HERE. highlights the vibrancy of San Francisco and the surrounding areas through the work of 34 photographers and over 700 images.
The gallery is huge and the exhibition was one of the best photography exhibitions we have seen in a long time. All the work was truly inspiring, beautifully curated and presented. Here is a selection of some of those on show, would have like to have put them all up but takes to much time.

Lewis Baltz

©Leon Borenszstein

 We didn't know the work of Leon Borensztein before this exhibition. Amazing Portraits, looking forward to seeing his new book, Leon Borensztein: American Portraits 1979-1989 published by Nazraeli Press which is due out any day soon.

© Jim Goldberg

© Todd Hido from Homes at Night.

© Richard Misrach

 We've never seen this early work by Richard Misrach. Mostly portraits around Telegraph Ave in Berkeley.  An interview with Aaron Schuman in Seasaw magazine.
We also went to an opening in Berkeley of his exhibition  1991: Oakland-Berkeley Fire Aftermath, which he has only just released, 20 years after the event! Interview with some of the images here, well worth a look.

SF Police department.

   © Larry Sultan,  from the Homeland series, a series he had just completed before he passed away.

© Anthony Hernandez

© Anthony Hernandez

Anthony Hernandez  article here and a slideshow of one of his books, Waiting, Sitting, Fishing and some Automobiles.

© Henry Wessel

© Henry Wessel

© Henry Wessel

Henry Wessel. Capturing one of Honolulu’s most famous neighbourhoods, Waikiki is the photography book by Henry Wessel.  A video here.

Bill Owens an early influence

Today we took a drive around the San Francisco Bay area, starting in Oakland, heading south and up north to San Francisco. Miles and miles of Suburbia. When we got to San Jose, we went past the San Jose Museum of Art and noticed a poster advertising a Bill Owens exhibition. Seeing the exhibition was an unexpected treat.

©Bill Owens

 

 

 

 

Bill Owens statement about this work and the American dream.

3 articles about Suburbia  and Bill Owens can be found on the excellent American Suburb X, here, here and here

Bill Owens was one of my earliest influences, I used to spend hours at the college library looking at his book, Suburbia. I really felt a strong infinity with his work, it touched my own alienation with being bought up in the London Suburbs, as well as my own relationship to my extended family.
The following 2 images are part of my first real photography project, I was around 21 years old at the time and this was the time I knew I wanted to be a photographer.

©George Georgiou

©George Georgiou

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talk at California College of Arts

Today we did a presentation at the California College of Arts in Oakland and had an informal chat with the students.

Looking at Vanessa's Georgia book dummy.

We were invited by photographer, Jim Goldberg, a professor at the college and this years Deutsche Borse winner with Open See, a project he completed when he received the Henri Cartier Bresson award in 2007. You can see more of his images here and a Guardian review of Open See.
Also on the staff at the college is  Todd Hido,  a photographer Vanessa has had some email correspondence with these last 2 years. Todd is the author of a number of beautiful books. He also has a huge library of photobooks, which he has promised to show us, hopefully we will have time to see them.

©Todd Hido

©Jim Goldberg

©JimGoldberg

Oakland

We arrived in San Francisco on the 4th and are staying with a friend from our days in Turkey, the photographer, David Gross and his partner Mieke Strand. David is not only a photographer but also the designer of our websites. He has now developed and designed a program for making iPad books and is currently working on one with Ed Kashi.

David and Mieke

Just before we left London, my laptop broke. I ordered a new one to arrive at Mieke's place. David is getting it into shape for me.
Mieke has recently changed careers to become a photographer, and has been a really generous host. Also she is originally from Minnesota, where much of Fargo by the Coen brothers was shot. Every now and again she slips into that accent, which is the main reason we will eventually go there. If you haven't seen the film, you must.

Richard Renaldi

This morning we had brunch with Richard Renaldi.

Richard Renaldi at Home Cafe, West Village. NYC

Richard is not only a fine photographer but, along with his partner, Seth Boyd, runs a small independent publishing house, Charles Lane Press.
The quality of their books are stunning, real attention to detail, with some of the nicest hard covers and dust covers we have seen for a long time.
Check out Richards book Fall River Boys

Fall River Boys by Richard Renaldi

Also 2 newly released books
Chinese Sentiment by Shen Wei and  Interior Relations by Ian van Coller.
We will be meeting Ian when we get to Montana.

New Yorker

This morning we went to meet the people at the New Yorker. We met with Whitney Johnson, director of photography, who I first met when she was working with the Soros Foundation, Jessie Wender and James Pomerantz, a photographer who is also the author of A photo Student blog. His blog is a useful resource for those who would like to study photography but don't have access to a college course, a virtual photo MFA.

Viewing Vanessa's Georgia book

 I did a small interview with Jessie for their Photo booth blog.

“The images are from my book ‘Fault Lines/Turkey/East/West,’ a look at a country that is at a political crossroads, with a number of fault lines at play, between modernity and tradition, secularism and Islamism, democracy and authoritarianism—often in unlikely and contradictory combinations,” Georgiou told me. “It was very important for me to allow space within the images, an openness or ambiguity, so the photographs can breathe.”

“In recent years there has been less documentary in the ‘New Photography’ show,” Georgiou said. “The genre is as valid today as it has ever been, and in many ways it plays to photography’s strengths, a representation and commentary of the world we live in and the emotional connection it allows for the viewer.”

Jason Eskenazi and Arai Akiko

Tonight we went to the New York Art book fair at MoMA PS1 in Queens.
The fair was a little overwhelming, partly because it was so crowded and humid.
One of the standouts were the books of Charles Lane Press. There were a number of beautifully crafted and designed editions at the fair and we bought 2 small booklets by Japanese photographer Arai Akiko,   Silver and trip journal #1

©Arai Akiko

We also bumped into Jason Eskenazi, just before he heads back to Turkey for the Bursa Photofest. Jason is the International Photographers Curator for the festival and has done an incredible job of attracting an array of talent to exhibit and talk. As the train pulled off we managed to exchange our books, we are now proud owners of Wonderland.

© Jason Eskenazi

Mr Toledano

For the first 4 nights in New York we were hosted by MoMA. For the rest of our stay in NYC, the very talented Mr Toledano has very kindly offered us his studio. It's great to wake up each morning with a wonderful view overlooking mid Manhattan and the Hudson river.
Phillip has a number of fine projects, including a flawless small book  about his aging fathers last years and their relationship. Days with my father, is a beautifully tender, honest and affectionate reflection.

Phillip handing over the keys

Our inflatable bed

View from the window of the studio

Phillips books

Phillip being the dictator Kim II Sung from his Kim Jong Phil series. Oil on canvas, 30×40 inches