Papapetrou by Tam

In case you did not see it Thursday, Jane interviewed Australian artist Polixeni Papapetrou for Nymphoto Conversations. Take a look here. To find out where you can see Polixeni's work in person near you, check her site: www.polixenipapapetrou.net


Miles from Nowhere © Polixeni Papapetrou

Madonna, Mark Romanek & More

Mark Romanek is an accomplished director that is clearly well versed in the history of and contemporary film, photography and painting. Often inspired or referencing other artists in his high-budget music videos. And thus a perfect match for Madonnna. They collaborated memorably for two videos Rain and Bedtime Stories.
I much respect Madonna's accomplishments and I think her strong persona was a positive influence on me while I was growing up. I certainly do not agree with everything she does, but I find her strength positive.
Madonna's videography is something to marvel at also . Always meticulously executed and always reflecting contemporary ideas and often rendering homage to masters such as Bruce Davidson (Secrets), Horst P. Horst (Vogue) and others.
Some of my favorite videos are , Frozen (minimalist, beautiful, moody- and my all time favorite- by Chris Cunningham), Into The Groove (love the NY/NJ 80's vibe), Don't Tell Me (clever take on Americana and I love Jean Baptiste Mondino) and Mark Romanek's Bedtime Story (the song was mostly written by the wonderful Björk).
Bedtime Story is now part of the collection at MOMA. You can view Mark Romanek's works via his website: www.markromanek.com

More Tintype, More Willis

Another tintype portrait I recently found:

It reminded me about a book I read in college -- edited & with an introduction by Hank's mom, the prolific and very respected Deborah Willis -- titled Picturing Us. It's a great book to revisit and it complements Hank Willis Thomas' upcoming Aperture monograph Pitch Blackness.

A Photographer's Place

Sometime this summer I was walking on Mercer Street and I saw a sidewalk vendor with a selection of photography books and a larger selection of vintage tintypes. I of course could not resist browsing through these and ended up with a few beautiful ones at a bargain price and in a nice chat with the man.
At one point I said to him: "Oh, this reminds me of what used to be one of my favorite stores, it was located right here actually, a bookstore only carrying photo books. Back when Soho was still full of galleries & artists". The man smiled gently and said: "That was my store - A Photographer's Place."
Yes, the man I was speaking to was Harvey Zucker, who now sometimes sets up shop on Mercer Street, I think mostly out of a passion for selling collectible photography items.
He seems like an awfully nice man now and did back then too. And I miss the store. It was perfect.
Here are two of the tintypes I bought from Mr. Zucker:


Mr. Zuccker said I look like this young girl- I'll take the compliment ;)


both tintypes from the collection of Nina Buesing Corvallo

Michelle Obama by Stephen Crowley

On August 25,2008 The New York Times published an article titled Michelle Obama, Reluctant No More by Jodi Kantor. An fascinating image by Stephen Crowley of Michelle Obama accompanied the article, you can find it here.

Introducing Jane Tam

from Foreigns in Paradise © Jane Tam

Well, I don't think Jane really needs an introduction, but since she is our newest addition to the collective we wanted to introduce her officially.
So head over to the Nymphoto site and check out the Featured Artist section, which showcases the work of Jane Tam and is accompanied by an interview with Jane. Enjoy!


documenting family © Jane Tam

Raphael Hefti

The other day while contemplating the posting of A Photo Editor and the quality of US magazine & newspapers, my sister stopped by and brought me the latest issue of Dummy Magazine from Germany. I previously posted about this thoroughly un-PC and boundary pushing publication, which continuous to showcase outstanding photography.
With the previous issue I was introduced to Arno Schidlowski and this issue introduced me to Rapahel Hefti's breathtakingly beautiful series Disco: artificially lit nighttime mountainscapes taken in Raphael Hefti's home country of Switzerland -- the result is a must see, find the series at www.raphaelhefti.ch

It's Sunday (The Day after 'Caturday')

This little guy and his siblings are up for adoption at Animal Haven on Center Street. I wish I could take them in. © Nina Corvallo

It's Sunday and for many hopefully a serene day of rest. I thought this would be a good day for a sweet blog entry about cats.
I am a bit of a cat-nut. And I am not ashamed of it. Babies: Cute. Kittens: Ahhhhmaaaaazing ;)
My husband grew up with cat(s) and when we first started to live together, he convinced me that we should get two cats not one dog. And soon I became a devout cat lover. Ergo my love for the anthropomorphic I Can Has Cheezburger.
To depict cats is no easy task, because the feline species is so overexposed and traps of cheesiness are hard to avoid. One great photography book about cats is Tony Mendoza's Ernie - a classic really.
A similar aplomb and humorous sense of observation -- and add a great color palette- can be found in the series Cats in Space by Geoffrey Hutchinson - whose work I discovered via Rona's Plum & Lion blog. Take a look below and visit www.geoffreyhutchinson.com to see more work.


look, there is even a modern day Ernie! All Images © Geoffrey Hutchinson

Mario Sorrenti

I still love fashion. Not so much the magazines, nor the industry of it, but I like seeing fashion of the individual -- how someone expresses themselves. That is why I love The Satorialist -- because his images are more about the people and less about consumerism.
It still gives me pleasure to see beautiful fashion photography -- when I can find it.
Perhaps it is my lessened interest in fashion, maybe I have a more sophisticated & demanding eye now or maybe fashion photography simply is just not as good anymore.I don't know.
There are a few exceptions of course and one of them is Mario Sorrenti.
If you head over to www.30daysoffashion.com you can read a rare interview with the photographer and if you head over to his agent's site (art department), you can see some of Sorrenti's images.