Voices of the Past

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IF YOU HAVE EVER WALKED THROUGH an abandoned building, you know it can be a very unsettling experience. Voices of the past, long stilled by neglect and abandonment, can still be heard if your imagination is sharp. Natural creeks and groans of the building itself, the aggregated debris from decay, barrage your senses. The sound you make is amplified, echoing down the halls and announcing your arrival to God knows what or who. Nature, or it’s omnipotent power for change, is ever present, doing its job, taking its time—for nature has all the time in the world. You feel like an intruder. You will never “belong” to an abandoned building, you are always a trespasser even if you have permission (which you rarely are granted). Yes, abandoned buildings are simply repositories for the ghosts of another time. And if you enter one, you’ll probably already know that the only ones comfortable there are the bugs and mice and the voices of the past.

All images are © from various Flickr sites and were found via Pixcetera.

Ghost Image

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I LOOK FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES THAT WERE NEVER MEANT TO APPEAR. Like this image— which, over the course of 100 years, seeped through to the paper backing on this glass plate image. I love the accidental mirror image we are left with— mysterious and unintended.

Pleasantville

Above: “Peeping Tom.” Click any image for larger view.


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VIOLENCE AND DEBAUCHERY IS COMMONPLACE IN PHOTOGRAPHER JONAH SAMPSON’S WORLD. In Sampson’s “Pleasantville,” everyday is not so pleasant. This is because of an abundance of peeping tom’s, sex in public places, ax murders, bear attacks and other everyday, mundane things.

Via Jonah Sampson.

An Extraordinary Photographer

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SCOTT FERGUSON IS ONE OF THOSE PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO SAYS “IF YOU CAN IMAGINE IT, I CAN MAKE IT.” Like a Hollywood producer who brings dreams to life, Ferguson has a natural gift for the theatrical. Let’s say you suggest something easy— like “a fantastic flying machine made of cobbled together bicycles cruising 100 feet over a farm field—populated by 8 actual chefs from local restaurants.” Scott will figure out the scenario, find the props, shoot the chefs, and with a Photoshop file over 100 layers deep, methodically make it happen. You could call Scott the man behind the curtain—the guy behind the scenes pulling the levers and adjusting the dials to give the tin man a heart, the lion his courage, the scarecrow a brain and Dorothy a ride back to Kansas. All in a day’s work.

At the same time, Ferguson is an equally gifted straight photographer who can capture your true personality or maybe the person you’d just like to be. If you’re quirky and fun, he’ll find it. If you are tough, he might make you tougher. And videos? His work is sensitively done, revealing a blend of his talented eye with thoughtful composition and perfect pacing.

With nearly 25 years of experience, Scott Ferguson has captured tons of awards and worked with art directors all over the United States. You can see more of his work at FK Photo. Or email his rep Teenuh at teenuh(at)fosterreps.com.

3-D Photo Sculpture by Gwong Osang

GWONG OSANG IS A KOREAN SCULPTOR WHO IS MAKING WAVES IN THE PHOTOGRAPHY WORLD. Yep, in photography. His recent sculptures involve the act of actually building the object he is photographing from hundreds of photographs he has taken of the subject. Osang’s original intent was to make light sculpture, as opposed to the traditonal methods of sculpture which often creates objects that are heavy. While Osang maintains that he is a sculptor first, it was the photography world who showed interest in these new and compelling works.

Yesterday and Today

(Above) New York State, 1970, from Ken Josephson portfolio, 1973/1975 via Artnet.

(Above) Photo by Ken Josephson.

(Above) L.A., 1982, by Ken Josephson portfolio.

(Above) Polapan, 1973, from Ken Josephson portfolio, 1973/1975 via Artnet.


(Above) Oregon State University

(Above) Sweetland Building, Carson City, Nevada

(Above) Thema Woche 23- Alt & Neu, Bild 1

(Above) Savannah Street

(Above) Carroll Street

(Above) Boy Scouts, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

(Above) Inlet Bridge, Washington, D.C.

(Above) Thomas Circle, Washington, D.C.

(Above) 7th Street, Washington, D.C.

(Above) Peace sign (from the early 70s) in front of the Environmental Sciences Building on the U.W. - Green Bay campus.


I HAVE SPOTTED SOME INTERESTING CONCEPTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS ON FLICKR RECENTLY, WHICH triggered a memory of some similar photos I have seen in my studies of contemporary photography. But I just could not recall the photographer until I contacted my friend Alan Griffiths, proprietor of the voluminous and fabulous photography Web site Luminous Lint. I gave Alan a brief description and bingo! Alan nailed it instantly.

Alan reminded me that the photographer is Ken Josephson, who did a series of photographs back in the early 1970s of his own hand holding various photographs or postcards in front of various backgrounds. These conceptual photographs, some of which you see above, played a visual game with the viewer, testing the truths of perception.

The color images are photos from a site on Flickr here. Definitely pay the site a visit—it’s a great photo pool that includes many who have contributed images similar. The difference here is that the images on Flickr focuses on then and now—taking actual vintage photographs and putting them in the same spot in which they were taken. What you have is a visual time machine—then and now.

Kenneth Josephson was born on July 1, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. He began making pictures with the family’s snapshot camera in 1944, and bought his own 4×5 view camera two years later. He earned a BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology (1957) where he studied under Minor White. Josephson was a professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1960 to 1997, and a founding member of the Society for Photographic Education. He is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship (1972) and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships (1975 and 1979). His work is in the collections of institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Bibliotéque National, Paris; and Foograficka Maseet, Stockholm.

My Select Pics: Be-hold Auction is Today

(Above) Mike Disfarmer: Soldier’s Family, 4 3/8” x 3” gelatin silver print, vintage early 1940’s.

Description:
Complex portrait of the 3 figures, their relationship to the camera and to each other. The wife appears possibly pregnant. One of those photographs by Disfarmer that engages us in a mystery just below the surface.

Pre-Auction Estimate: $7,000 to $9,000
Minimum bid: $3,000

(Above) Mike Disfarmer: Ola Mae Morgan, 5 ½” x 3 ½” gelatin silver print, vintage early 1940’s, subject’s name written in pen on verso.

Description:
The boots reflected on the dimly-seen table make the child seem to be standing on white blocks. She is isolated within the frame, giving this a psychological dimension that is part of what makes Disfarmer’s photographs so fascinating.

Pre-Auction Estimate: $7,000 to $9,000
Minimum bid: $2,500


(Above) A. Aubrey Bodine: Five Fireman, 12 ¼” x 16 ¼” vintage chloride print, 1936, on original mat titled, signed and dated by Bodine in pencil on the mat recto, with 16 exhibition stamps on verso, with title and information in Bodine’s hand.

Description:
A masterful image and print, in a fine modern frame.

Pre-Auction Estimate: $5,000 to $7,000
Minimum bid: $4,000


(Above) Robert Doisneau: Cafe Noir Et Blanc, 7” x 9 ¼” gelatin silver print, 1948, printed later.

Description:
Has Doisneau’s “46 Place Jules Ferry” red stamp, Rapho agency stamp, other stamps and notations in pen pencil on verso. A fine print.

Pre-Auction Estimate: $3,000 to $4,000
Minimum bid: $2,000

(Above) Andrzej Jerzy Lech: Tamworth Ontario, 1995, 9” x 12” sepia gelatin print, printed in 2003 for an exhibition in Florence Italy.

Description:
Lech, born in Poland, now lives in Jersey City. The Journal of Contemporary Photography, wrote a beautiful long article on Lech’s photographs. It begins: “I do not think anyone could look at a photograph by... Lech and not immediately be struck by its ghostly beauty, its brilliant artistry and craftsmanship, and finally its genius.”

Pre-Auction Estimate: $1,000 to $1,500

(Above) Doris Ulmann: South Carolina, Two Women, 8” x 6” platinum print, vintage ca. 1920. Signed by Ulmann in pen on the mount beneath the image.

Description:
Label on the verso from the NYNEX collection.

Pre-Auction Estimate: $3,000 to $4,000
Minimum bid: $2,000

(Above) Ormsby: Beautiful Indian Portrait, 8 ½” x 6 ½” glossy brown toned gelatin silver print.

Description:
A great portrait with a strong character.
Pre-Auction Estimate: $600 to $1,000


(Above) Walker Evans: Residential Area, Morgantown, West Virginia, 8” x 10” gelatin silver print, 1939, printed ca. 1950. Walker Evans stamp and “111/ 3” in pencil within boxes on verso.

Description:
The print shows the full borders of the negative.
Provenance: Harry Lunn to present owner
Pre-Auction Estimate: $8,000 to $10,000
Minimum bid: $6,500

LARRY GOTTHEIM’S BE-HOLD AUCTION 53 will be held today, April 28 beginning at 4pm. It will held at the Radisson Martinique Hotel, 32nd Street at Broadway. The preview is on the Sunday and Monday before, from 10am to 9pm, and the day of the auction from 10am until the auction. Or, you can bid online for the item you want.

The eight images above are some images I think are highlights of the auction, but here are a lot of gems available for any taste. Register to bid at: Be-hold. Even if you are not a buyer, it is fun and educational to look at the variety of lots available on line.

Note: Today’s post has a few font issues that I have not been able to solve: I apologize for the inconsistencies.

Urban Letterforms

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“TYPE THE SKY” BY LISA RIENERMANN IS AN ALPHABET FORMED OF SHAPES buildings make against the sky when photographed from below.

According to the original post on the German typographic blog Slanted, the alphabet was created by Rienermann while studying at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

“It began with the Q,” she tells Slanted. “I was in a kind of courtyard in Barcelona. I looked upward and saw houses, the blue sky and clouds. The more I looked, I saw that the houses formed a letter Q.”

“I set out to find more letterforms, spending weeks looking upwards. The more difficult letters such as Q and K were the easiest to find.”

Reinermann admits that the use of Photoshop “was a help, here and there.” The final alphabet was presented as a booklet, inside a slip case box.

The Age Maps of Bobby Neel Adams

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Bobby Neel Adams was born in Black Mountain, NC, a magical place as the former home to the Bauhaus. Working without the aid of digital imaging, and by tearing and gluing the pictures, he creates what he calls “Age Maps,” the kind of thing forensic artists might use to discover what someone might look like who has not been seen for some time. It’s an interesting concept.

Adam’s work is held in the collections of ICP (International Center for Photography), the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Norton Family Foundation, the USB Collection, DiRosa Ranch and the Greenville Museum of Art.

Tom Fuller’s Religious Environment

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Above: This is a scan of one of Tom’s business cards.

Various ephemera from Stefan Hester’s visit.

RECENTLY, I MET PHOTOGRAPHER STEFAN HESTER. During the course of our conversation, he happened to mention that he was recently on a trip (riding his new Stella scooter!) to New Orleans and that he had stumbled onto a religious environment, with “dozens and dozens” of religious signs. At first, I thought he might be referring to W.C. Rice’s religious environment outside Montgomery, Alabama. But he told me that this environment was in Mississippi. I was intrigued—especially when he said he took a bunch of photos.

Stefan had one of those fascinating one-on-one conversations with the owner, a man named Tom, who told Stefan: “you didn’t just stumble upon this place boy... you were sent here and you were sent here for a reason.” Ooooo-kay!

Stefan told me that he was “preached to” for some time until he finally had a chance to speak. His first words were something like: “Sure has been great to meet all these ‘good people’ on his trip.” Tom’s response to that was: “Well-l-l boy… lots a ‘good’ people aren’t saved and you know what happens to sinners.” (gulp!)

Stefan was allowed to take pictures, but not before being asked to sit and have lunch with Tom and his friend. “I insisted that I was not hungry, so they told me I could take the lunch with me,” said Stefan. “He handed me two cans of something called ‘Libby’s Potted Meat Food Product.’ I proceeded to watch them eat the food product with their fingers before I drove off.”

Stefan says he still has the 2 cans of unopened potted meat.

Cloning the Past

(Above) “Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling”, 1527 by Hans Holbein the Younger
(Above) “Portrait of a Young Girl”, 1460 by Petrus Christus
(Above) “Maria Portinari”, 1470 by Hans Memling
(Above) “Lady with an Ermine”, 1490 by Leonardo da Vinci
(Above) “Portrait of Margaretha van Eyck”, 1439 by Jan van Eyck
(Above) “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, 1665 by Johannes Vermeer
(Above) “Portrait of a Chambermaid”, 1625 by Peter Paul Rubens

Rainer Elstermann is a Berlin commercial and fine art photographer who did this series he calls the “Old Masters” (how about that for a title, huh?) and recreates these art historical paintings with… children. What he has come up with is a 21st century spin on classical art. It’s fun.

Have a great Saturday.

Salt prints

I am at the Outsider Art Fair in NY—with no way (where I am) to upload images or spend a lot of time at a computer. Last night was the grand opening, and I have to say, the venue was great. I'll be bringing more in-depth news on that next week. 

Here are a couple of beautiful salt prints (1857) I spotted on eBay a while back— I had them ready to post. I think I like the signatures as much as the images.

More later.