J.B.

3rd Ward Emerging Photo...

One totally emergifying experience...

Aint It The Truth...

My Favoite Museum Guard

How many published, award winning photojournalists and Guggenheim recipients do you know of that work as... museum guards? Well, I currently know of only one (thanks to Lens blog). Jason Eskanazi- a helluva extraordinary photographer, human being- and...

White and Normal...

As CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin argued on air: "What's worth noting about what Jeff Sessions -- the line of questioning, was that being a white man, that's normal. Everybody else has biases and prejudices ... but the white man, they don't have any ethnicity, they don't have any gender, they're just like the normal folks, and I thought that was a little jarring."

HOPE?

I usually refrain from such "easy prey" images, but sometimes the ironies before your very eyes are just too damn strong to ignore. Obviously, you can't pin homelessness on Obama- but what specific action has he initiated to inspire HOPE particularly in relation to this problem? Realistically, I didn't expect much more than a "Black Clinton," but so far he has actually continued many Bush policies. He previously voted to excuse, forgive and actually strengthen domestic spying, has continued indeterminate detainee detention, staffed his Cabinet with corporate finance insiders, retained Bush era prosecutors, and shown no interest whatsoever in providing accountability concerning the blatant, unrepentant criminal actions of the previous administration.

For now, HOPE remains very much looking aloft safely behind those security bars, deftly ignoring the reality curled up directly beside it.

Send Lots of Your Money To Planet Mag...

You can call this a case of being a sore loser all you want- but I've lost often enough over the years to know better than to submit to any competition expecting to win. I'm usually reluctant to enter such things, but occasionally, being human and all, hope (and desperation) does get the better of me.

Regardless, Planet magazine does have quite the set. Their 2nd Annual Global Travel Photo Contest is ridiculously high on the list of money grubbing photo competitions- at least as high on the list as their first annual contest, which also charged FIFTEEN Dollars PER Photo! That's right- each and every image you submit will cost you 15 greenbacks!

Now, no one forced me to enter, true that. All I'm saying is that you'd think for that price they'd at least honor their own obligations which stated entrants would be automatically notified upon receipt of submission- I never was (despite two inquiries). That's one... two... three separate opportunities to respond with a simple yes or no reply. But they sure as hell notified me right quick when to send more $$$!

Fool me once...

The Hurt Locker

I've read how The Hurt Locker is neither pro nor anti-war. Something I find hard to believe after watching one of the most harrowing, nerve wracking war movies ever made. The film has the viewer share the relentlessly vulnerable experience of being a constant target. The tension and suspense is not in how big a hero you're going to be (no one cares), or how many bad guys you're going to kill (they're faceless, interchangeable and unlimited); it's quite simply- are you going to stay alive one more day? And it slowly, inexorably eats away at you each and every second whether in the field, at base awaiting the next operation, or back home marking the days toward next deployment to relive hell all over again. How does any soldier survive the experience without PTSD, or the viewer leave this movie wanting to exchange their life (no matter how miserable) for this veritable living nightmare?

Vacation Over...Earthquake Soon

Vacation's over; for two pitifully short weeks I actually got to make believe I had some small amount of control over my life. Now it's back to the 50 other weeks of debt and reality. It's not the most comforting thing ending vacation watching a History Channel special on just how much more devastating the inevitable, and sooner, rather than later, earthquake in San Francisco will be compared to its 1906 predecessor. Of course, if it happens while I'm here, I got the 20, the Widelux and the Tri-X ready to roll... That is, if the wife and I are not crushed under several tons of debris, burned beyond recognition, or impaled, dismembered or decapitated by falling glass... Until then, the bills for my lavish lifestyle will keep me occupied.

Cyclist- 6/27/09

Separating The Men From The Boys...

Well, Le Tour de France really starts today as they hit the Pyrenees. Will Alberto Contador finally announce himself as his young legs propel him up the mountains he's meant to dominate? Will the 37 yr old legs of Lance Armstrong remain as formidable as before? This battle for leadership, within one team no less, is tension and excitement enough... Or will someone else create their own drama and leave the favorites behind?

PDN Rapid Response Time...

Must say, found it curious that PDN Pulse pounced on this story on the very same day the issue of digital manipulation was raised; but PDN had to be publicly shamed into responding over a period of weeks to the charge of passive racism on their count...

And for those who still think racism is well... just so yesterday- check out the post directly below! And this one, and...

What Year Is This???

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

Photographic OCD?

Well, it certainly looks like yet another "documentary photographer" has been caught with his hands in the "art" photography grab bag. That is, someone who has purposely gone so out of his way to deny he does any digital manipulation, certainly appears to have both hands deep into it- so much so, the NY Times has removed his featured essay from their site. Some people are obviously better able to spot such things than myself, I guess the question is- since this wasn't particularly a flash news item, shouldn't these images (all images in this day and age) have been vetted more meticulously by a photo editor who can, in fact, identify such manipulation for such a prestigious organization? Perhaps, this should even be a separate position- Image Authenticity Editor?

At this point, it sure seems as if Edgar Martins has got quite the case of photographic OCD. (via HuffPo)

Forty Years and Several Generations...

I was thirteen at the time, and it's taken me forty years to realize the iconic photo above was taken by the infamous Burk Uzzle...

What Place!?!

This is way, waaay too early in the game to draw any conclusions, other than to say that Le Boss still has the thrill factor. This will soon be relegated to ancient history as the days and weeks inexorably wear on in this race of unholy attrition. But the old feuds are back and- new ones to be determined?

A few things from NYC...

I'll be outta town for a coupla days, and then very much stuck home for god knows how long... (the sign on the 3rd one down reads New Is Beautiful, the 4th one down is a tribute to Thomas Roma- and I swear I didn't sneak in the last one from my 70's archive).

Free Bubbles!

New York Confidential

Not unlike the legendary Michael Jackson face that logged an ever increasing array of alterations by the year, the populace of Manhattan also seems to increase in size with each and every visit, slowly morphing into some Western equivalent of Shanghai on the Hudson. On a recent weekend there was, what for all practical purposes appeared to be, a cue just to cross the Brooklyn Bridge! Forever gone are the quiet little nooks and crannies one could seek out on weekend afternoons that made the place livable.

New Yorkers, of course, are born into a constant state of competition. We learn to talk fast, walk fast, and eat while doing both. And everyone on that high speed treadmill is either a potential contact or outright competition. A fortunate few find their mark, others learn to "voluntarily" step off- the remainder are simply thrown aside. I fear there will be more of the latter with such increasing numbers. Neighborhoods once dangerous, are now safe- and unaffordable! New York has always been a city of extremes, it's just a shame that it takes colossal tragedy for its denizens to momentarily stop doing for themselves, and start doing for each other.

The weather: I'm told it has been raining in New York since April. At first the usual April showers, followed by increasing rains in May, then daily downpours in June which are continuing unto July. Pa Banos says he's seen nothing like it in the fifty years plus he's spent there. And the elderly guy crossing the street as I was coming out of the Strand pretty much agreed, "Rain, rain, rain- why does it have to rain every goddamn day!" (7/4- sunny, warm & dry)

This and That: Took a few photos and anxious to see the results. Managed to catch a few photo exhibits- my favorite being Carlos Jimenez Cahua's other worldly Peruvian essay at Anastasia Photo Gallery which has the rather unique policy of attempting to further connect the photographic images and the events they depict by coupling each exhibition with a related philanthropic organization. Cool!

Walked the 1/3 completed NY High Line- would have liked it a lot more if they had just left it alone a lot more- instead of making it so "people friendly." And while NYC does actually seem a bit more bike friendly with some freshly minted bike lanes- I hardly felt the urge to risk life and limb in that potporrri of traffic and mayhem.

Both Williamsburg and DUMBO are tragically overhip, overcrowded, and overdone. Long Island City, as Ber Murphy's Sleeping Giant has chronicled, will also soon be there with all the construction going on. Right now however, it still has a nice balance, not to mention the LIC Bar- a great place to stop by for some suds after a long, humid day lugging camera in hand!

Le Tour!!!

Despite what you may think of him, having Lance Armstrong back in Le Tour de France is a kick. His raptor like concentration, determination and fuck-all attitude make for one eerily scary and winning combination (against the mountains called cancer, or the Alps). I never thought I could get into a sport that is such the proverbial chess match. But it's also so high on the pain, isolation and pure guts thresholds, it could easily give boxing a run for its money. These white boys suffer! Let Le Tour begin...

Photo: AP

Documentaries- Great and Small

In the mid nineties, I watched a "documentary" about a strike that hit every possible high note imaginable for that genre. Based along the conventions of Barbara Kopple’s award winning Harlan County, USA of 1976, I thought I had witnessed a rare masterpiece of documentary film making- until I came upon the list of actors in the closing credits. Yes, the joke was all on us- Dadetown's director Russ Hexter had done his job exceedingly well in separating us from our money in the most cunningly deceitful production imaginable.

Unlike the director above however, the French students who faked their photojournalism essay did not profit financially from their venture. They did not take peoples' money under false pretense. While Dadetown did stir up some dialogue about the structure, conventions and expectations of documentary film making, it could never live down its financially tainted deceit. You can't have it both ways. The French students' goal from the get-go was to stand photojournalism on its head and have it reexamine itself. And they did so more convincingly than Susan Sontag ever did scolding and reminding us that photographs do little but tell us nothing and lie. Nothing wrong with the occasional attempt to keep things honest though- not unlike the venerable Yes Men.