I am interested in the way the textures make a statement within the frame. It gives me the impression of emerging from something negative.
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I’m on a bit of a tear here with some environmental articles and bodies of work. It’s hard to pass them up, primarily because of the immediacy of the situation facing future generations. I think anyone with an eye towards wanting to live on an inhabitable planet and avoiding severe climate disasters might be having some sleepless hours during the night on occasion. Speaking about the gravity of the situation and what may come of it to the youth of our world has become a top priority for many, especially parents. So once again, I bring you something to chew on and think about. This time around is a body of work I saw while reviewing portfolios during Review Santa Fe last November – Cracks in the Ice, by photographer Jason Lindsey.
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The photographic art world is a place where an immense amount of skills and abilities reside. It takes a considerable amount of time and energy to excel in any one of them, and is one of the things that I'm constantly surprised and delighted by. It's not simply that people put so much energy into them, but those with multiple talents that stand out clearly have a passion for the medium, often rising above the fray. So, this is not the first time that the work of Cathy Cone has been on my radar, and it is for this aforementioned reason that it remains there. She embodies the work ethic, sheer talent, and creative energy that it takes to not only maintain a discerning photographic eye but also have the adjacent qualifications that make her a master printmaker. While I am highlighting a specific body of work here, a cursory look at past collections patently spells this out, and I implore you to seek her photographs out whenever possible.
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As an artist, Grew explores her intentions through a variety of media, including photography, painting, printmaking, installation, and collage. For this latest series, she combines alternative photographic processes with installation to create something that piques the imagination with a visual tapestry worth experiencing. Photographic representations of living forest scenes are made as lantern slides using the carbon printing method on glass, with the carbon harvested from the actual coals left behind from the fires. The glass plate images are then hung towards the center of a room to represent the Ghost Forest. As a result, the experience is immersive and interactive. Grew also does an incredible job of rigging the individual plates adeptly throughout the installation through a combination of cables and glass mounts.
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Trees are an essential building block of this planet, and most importantly, without trees, there is no life at all. Artists, writers, and philosophers all wax poetic from the inspiration found in sharing our lands with them. So it’s easy to see why so many gravitate towards photographing trees – they are vital, unique, and have a beauty that is pure and significant to the energy they project.
Adam Gerlach is one of these photographers that feels the pull of trees and captures their essence in his own uncommon way.
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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? As a person and artist, Molly McCall is a favorite around these parts. She has appeared in Analog Forever Magazine, Catalyst: Interviews, and Diffusion Annual – all outlets that show, promote, and emphasize photographic creatives and creativity.
Now she’s here on Poignant Portfolios, and in order to illustrate her work once again as a visual support component for her appearance on The Diffusion Tapes podcast. Apparently, Blue Mitchell and I have been sending up flares for a while now. Oh damn – I didn’t think we worked for her, but maybe we do!
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Diana Nicholette Jeon interviews Nancy Scherl about her recently published book Dining Alone: In The Company of Solitude. Scherl states, “I often consider the work to be both biographical as well as autobiographical. I draw from pictorial and documentary genres in much of my work, notably when working on portraits, where I frequently invoke metaphor.”
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I love the sense of wonder in this photograph. It leaves me with more questions than answers, and in a “good” way. I like when images such as this one keep drawing me back to interpret its clues. There is something at once both pagan and mystical cohabitating within this image. It’s curious and quirky, and those keep drawing me back.
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The lack of a title and statement carries the same ambiguity as the facial expression and adds to the enigma. You sense the image has a backstory, but you are left to make your own. The artist provides no clues.
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Once again, I'm sitting at the table reviewing work for Photolucida in April of 2022, and in comes Landry Major to show me her platinum/palladium and gelatin silver prints of horses and ranch life of the American West. Am I familiar with work like this? Yes. Have I seen a multitude of images of the West through the eyes of the cowboy and what they represent from an Americana perspective? Again, yes. But have I seen it done so well and beautifully that I cannot take my eyes off the scenes I'm seeing presented to me? Absolutely not.
As I learned, this collection, Winter's Horses, is a subset of a larger body of work from Major, Keepers of the West. However, it was the winter images that stood out to me (note: everything here is incredible). These images were simply magical, as what one might expect from witnessing scenes in such a frosty environment. Making photographs in this environment is difficult at best, but when you couple that with fast-moving subjects of an unpredictable nature, you more or less have a recipe for disaster. That's why I was so stunned by what I saw in this work. Major has committed herself fully to capturing the essence of these beasts and those who strive to control and use them in their ranching efforts.
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I found the book a compelling hybrid of the handmade and the commercially printed. Stockdale takes us along with him on his travels, literally and metaphorically, allowing us to experience his highly personal journey.
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The world of fashion and beauty is most certainly a strange one to most people. Even those who are thrilled and enamored with the latest trends and styles often find a never-ending stream of oddities coming from designers and cosmetic companies. Unfortunately, there's also a dark side to it all - one that teaches young girls the perfection of their skin, hair, teeth, and weight are paramount in their lives. Having been on my fair share of fashion shoots for some of these companies, I can say that I've seen and heard things that are not in the best interest of any impressionable young girl.
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It's no mystery to anyone who knows the slightest thing about me that I'm drawn to art or photography that has an overwhelmingly crushing and f'd up appearance. It's both a reflection and a response. When you couple that with a message about the environment, climate change, or rising sea levels, then you have my undivided attention.
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Bradley began this project during the pandemic. As he walked his dogs, he would pick flowers to photograph during confinement. It initially started when Bradley needed something beautiful to focus on during the pandemic gloom, similar to what my initial thoughts surmised. But it blossomed into something much more profound.
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I love this image for its paradox: Why is the girl prancing in a cape in an area marked dangerous? Why are the 'scary things' so pretty in color in such an ugly, industrial-looking area?
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Several months back, before my year got crazy and I got way too far behind on the writing here, I saw this image by Emack on Instagram. I was immediately taken by how beautiful this work was. Emack, like many others, has been photographing her daughter for almost a decade. With the inclusion of her nieces as well, it resulted in the long-term project, Cousins, which has received a significant amount of attention, well-deserved, in my opinion.
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I saw this image by Alon Goldsmith online the same day as the horrific pronouncement came from the Supreme Court. As he is the father of two daughters, I imagine he wonders about their future as women in this country.
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Thankfully, in the age of digital, there are still photographers experimenting in the darkroom and Jane Olin is one of those folks. Olin has a long history with the community of photography and has studied with some of the biggest influencers in the craft and now has become one herself. We first published some of Olin’s work, Thirteen Crows, in The Matter of Light (Diffusion, Volume VI) and I believe that was my first introduction to her. Thankfully, Ann Jastrab reintroduced us by way of her newest series, Intimate Conversations where Olin has expanded on her darkroom experimentation by creating spontaneous happy accidents with darkroom chemistry and light.
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I saw this image, Period of Existence, in the FRAMES Magazine Facebook group many months back. It caught my eye because the artist, Stephen Schneiderman, noted that he made this image in the darkroom in the early '90s. No Photoshop.
I was familiar with Schneiderman's much more recent, digitally composited work from his FB posts. But until he posted this image, I had no idea that he had taken a workshop with Jerry Uelsmann. Or, more impressive, Schneiderman had a letter written to him by Uelsmann congratulating him on his technical prowess.
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Photographs and photography are a massive part of Carpenter's family story. Her family has been involved with photography since the 1930s; her mother, father, uncle, and grandfather were photographers. These images are from a series where Carpenter explored family stories, especially those related to the fallibility of memory and the fragility of the brain. She once thought she would tell this story in writing, but it seemed more fitting to make images given the family's ties to photography.
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