The Blog at Dickerman Prints

Neighborhood Photos From Trish Tunney

Kim — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:37:25 +0000

A little Mission District photo love for your Monday morning.

Check our her blog.

Vanessa Marsh

Kim — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:59:14 +0000

Oakland-based photographer Vanessa Marsh‘s intricately placed people have me caught up this afternoon. Take a look at her fantastical, foreboding, tiny worlds.

Images from “Always Close But Never Touching.”

Images from “Constellation.”

Check out her interview on photographer Klea McKenna and writer Nikki Grattan’s blog In The Make.

Vanessa’s work is on display until the end of the month:

Dreams of the Darkest Night; Works by Vanessa Marsh and Sean McFarland
The Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, Davis, CA
Opening March 29th from 5:30- 7:30
Show runs March 29th- May 27th 2012

Buy Fine Art Before You’re 60

Kim — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:30:26 +0000

I love when curators place beautiful, affordable art in the spotlight. This weekend, curator and producer Andrea Potts is holding a show in Sonoma featuring three of our regulars. Adam Cohen, Henrik Kam, and Michael Bennett all printed their pieces here at the lab.

Here’s a peek at some of the work in the show:

Photograph by Adam Cohen.

“Roman Remnants #1, Via Appia-Antica” by Henrik Kam.

“French Countryside” by Michael Bennett.

Get the event details here.

Varese Layzer’s Exploration of Loss

Kim — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:33:22 +0000

Varese Layser is my new favorite local photographer, born and raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. We met at her recent opening, Illuminations, curated by Jasmine Moorhead of Krowswork Gallery in Oakland. She has two series in the show, both simple, stunning, and poignant.

Varese says that she often hears her portraits and images “take pictures of the inside,” and that’s just how it felt to me. Of her two series in Illuminations, Equity was a particularly moving body of work. Her images are full of time, space and measured reflection. There is a noticeable absence of people, and it seems as though what interactions she does have are insulated by an intense barrier of space; there is the outside world, and the internal world Varese travels within.

See the series here. Click the “Older” button to advance forward.

Kim Sikora: Can you talk a little bit about your series Equity?

Varese Layzer: I wrote it and shot it within the same few days in April last year. I was visiting home (home is the Upper West Side of Manhattan). My mother had died the previous year; this was her home too. Everything about these few days was breaking my heart. On the plane on the way back I wrote the poem that is the text of Equity.

KS: You have a lot of images here that seem like they arose from wanderings. How long were you working on this project?

VL: These were all shot within two days; maybe it was one day. You can see how it’s raining in almost all the shots. The idea to combine the photographs and the writing came a little later.

KS: How did you decide when and where to shoot in NY? Were there destinations with history you tracked down, or was it more or a fluid exploration?

VL: It wasn’t so much a decision. I feel compelled to walk to the same few places every time I go home. So I was walking around unslept in the rain very sad and taking pictures of whatever caught my eye. My hometown happens to be famous but it’s just where I’m from.

KS: What was your biggest challenge with this project during the shooting period?

VL: Keeping the camera dry.

KS: I’m sure most people remember the amount of internet discussion surrounding the incident with your work at Ritual Coffee last year. Now that some time has passed, how do you feel about what happened?

VL: I feel very lucky. I never knew before that anyone would respond to the things I need to say; this knowledge was, and is, a revelation to me. I learned this both when Eileen Hassi insisted the work be removed immediately and when people around the country reached out to me, telling me their experiences. Those people would never have seen the show if its removal had not made the “news.”

KS: A lot of photographers struggle with the balance of personal work and commercial work. How do you make the time and money to photograph consistently?

VL: I have always made time to make art, whatever that art is and however little time that is; I sacrifice “earnable” money for that time. Most artists I know sacrifice more such money than I do and devote themselves even more.

KS: Is there a new project you’re working on you’d like to tell us about?

VL: I am immersed in understanding and processing the loss of my parents and my household and my home base and that is my work. To be less mysterious, I suppose I am working on an exploration of the “60 notebooks in my cellar,” which I mention in Equity. It’s more than 60 notebooks, actually. I hope that this work may be shown. And I hope it’s available not just to people who can relate to my story but also on a surface level: It’s been wonderful for me seeing people look at my pictures up at Krowswork Gallery without reading any text and still responding to them because they like the way they look.

Varese’s series Equity and Making Room currently on view at Krowswork, through May 5th. She and artist RKDB will be having an informal talk at Krowswork April 28th at 4 pm. Stop by to meet her in person at the gallery on May 4th, between 6 and 8:30 pm.

(Pro Tip: Stop by SF Camerawork’s Monthly Members critiques! Varese is a great member of the group, and I had the great pleasure of joining in the last crit, along with Erik Auerbach and other local photographers. Next Critique, Wednesday May 16, 6:00-8:30pm)

The Somber Spaces of Kija Lucas

Kim — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Root Division held their “Taste 2012″ event last week, encompassing some of the city’s best food and drink (hand-cut ice cubes anyone?) alongside room after room of phenomenal artwork.

Kija Lucas had this piece in the silent auction:

Hunting through her website, I found these beautifully dark, familiar-feeling images.

Tightly woven maps of light from “Origin Story.”

From “In Search of Home.”

And “Pillows.”

Spend 10 minutes of your morning link binging on Kija’s work, it’s worth it.

First Exposures Benefit

Kim — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:21:39 +0000

SF Camerawork does a lot. Nationally-recognized exhibitions, lectures, the Camerawork Journal, monthly critiques, you name it.

On top of their herculean efforts to fuel the local photography scene, they also provide free weekly photography classes for San Francisco’s underserved youth. Students are paired with professional photographers as mentors, and put out some pretty outstanding projects.

Next Thursday is the third annual First Exposures benefit, “Looking Forward, Giving Back.” Here’s a sneak peek of their amazing students’ work:

Image by 11 year old digital student, Junaid Iqbal.

“Inception” by 13 year old Stanley Xie.

Image by Francisco Zapata, first-year student in the FX digital class.

Image by Shantel McNeal, 6-year veteran of the program.

Come out next Thursday, April 26, and support First Exposures!
7 – 9 pm
SF Camerawork
1011 Market Street (@ 6th Street), 2nd Floor

Events details here.

CONTEST WINNER: Andrew Fladeboe

Kim — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:54:13 +0000

It’s always a joy to hunt down new photographers. Our recent Best of 12 Photo contest turned out some really wonderful images, and it was difficult to pick just one. Thank you to everyone who submitted! Take a peek at the work of our contest winner, Andrew Fladeboe.

Kim Sikora: Can you talk a little bit more about what led to “The Shepherd’s Realm” series?

Andrew Fladeboe: I did my thesis in school on portraits. I often had the subject’s dogs or cats in the portraits and those turned out to be my favorite ones. I continued shooting animals after I graduated but felt I needed to work on a different series because I thought animal pictures wouldn’t be taken seriously by fine art galleries. At some point a few years ago I decided I shouldn’t care so much about the art market, but just focus on what I love. And as it turns out a particular gallery owner in New York has been very helpful and supportive in creating this series.

Taking an approach to the work that stems more from painting and getting over my “photoshopped photos are not real art” bias, has really helped my work grow.

KS: You speak about the open narrative, and the climatic, or contextual moment that you place your animal protagonists in. Could you walk us through one of these images in particular?

AF: I read Rudyard Kipling’s “the Jungle Book” for inspiration. If you’re not familiar with the book, its a series of short stories with mostly animals as the main characters. I view these photos as scenes from a similar set of stories or myths. The goal for me is adding enough details to convince myself (or the viewer) that a bigger story may be taking place. For example in “Sleeping Bear” a golden bear is depicted sleeping on a mound of dirt. To me this image is about contrasts, a large dangerous beast peacefully sleeping in a curled up position using a rock as a pillow. The trimmed hedges in the background and the fact that he is perfectly placed on this tidy mound of dirt add an extra dimension to the work. What is he doing in this natural but obviously manicured environment instead of the woods? Is the bear domesticated? You know something’s amiss and there is more going on in the image than a simple photo of a bear. This scene is not the climax of the story that would be taking place, but I think it illustrates the bear’s qualities. Narrative is an aspect of the work I’d like to develop further and get more specific in what I reference.

KS: What have your biggest technical challenges with this series?

AF: In the ones that are composites, finding photos of animals and environments in my archives that match with the same basic lighting conditions, depth of field, perspective, etc…

KS: A lot of photographers struggle with the balance of personal work and commercial work. How do you make the time and money to photograph consistently?

AF: Well that’s the big question. I still haven’t quite mastered it. I have regular freelance clients, but that is not my main supply of income. I work 30 hours a week for a jewelry company doing product photography, I like it because I know how much I’m going to make every month, and it lets me hone my photoshop skills. I also have another part time job, so I work 6 days a week at the moment and its really tough balancing work and art. Now that its getting warm out its probably time to cut down my hours, but I try to do a little bit of work on my series every day and fill up my free days with shooting. My work is cyclical in that I shot heavily in the spring and summer and spend the winter editing and polishing off pieces. What gets me through the 6 day work week is knowing I’m saving up for a big photo trip in the future and all the great images that will come from that.

KS: In your statement, you speak about the idea of how the world “could be and should be”. How does this drive your process?

AF: This may be a little more meta-physical than I feel comfortable writing down and sharing. But I think it stems from the most basic of artist’s drives which is to make the world a much better and beautiful place through art. I think people forget about what a beautiful and strange world we live. There is such a large disconnect between society and nature, and maybe I can help bridge that gap by reminding people how awesome the world is by taking photos of these animals I love so much and have a deep respect for. Joseph Campbell talks about finding one’s “Bliss” and the path of happiness and success in this world will make itself apparent . Creating and sharing this work is my bliss, and I feel like my journey has just begun.

KS: Is there a new project you’re working on you’d like to tell us about?

AF: I’m still working on this project and should have a whole 2nd part done by the Fall. This series is probably a “lifer”, something I’m going to continue to work on until the day I die.

Make sure to check out more of Andrew’s work on his site.

Cody Bratt After Dark

Kim — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:45:37 +0000

I first noticed Cody Bratt’s work in an exhibition at Root Division, a great exhibition space across the street. Through his work here at the lab, I stumbled upon his series “Family Vacations.” I was quite taken with the images I found, full of forgotten homes and nighttime blue light. Each of his photograph seems to swim in very still time; past vacation trips remembered for prolonged viewing. Here is our interview.

Kim Sikora: Can you talk a little bit more about your “Family Vacations” series?

Cody Bratt: “Family Vacations” tries to touch the intersection between travel, memory and loss. We’ve got a great picture of what family vacations look like as they’re happening: the summer sun beating down on a father and mother driving the interstate with elbows out the windows, the kids in the back seat playing license plate bingo. What we don’t have a good picture of is what happens to these memories after the long passage of time. “Family Vacations” picks that narrative up.

KS: You have a lot of images shot in low-light situations. Can you tell us a bit more about your shooting methods?

CB: Almost all of my night work is shot between sunset and four or five AM on days around the full moon. These are primarily shot digitally, though I’m working on some experimental non-digital pieces. It requires a tripod with most exposures being in the 4-10 minute range. I also use an LED flashlight to do accent or fill lighting. I might spend an average of 20-30 minutes on a single night setup, giving me about 10-15 images per night of shooting.

KS: What have your biggest equipment challenges been with the night photography?

CB: Luckily, I’ve been blessed on the equipment front. The biggest challenges are locations and location access. For example, shooting photos at Drawbridge, a small ghost down on the outskirts of Milpitas, I had to dodge trains, fell waist deep in a mud hole, and had about 60-70 insect bites by the end of the evening. It’s definitely my worst location experience, but I’ve encountered shotgun wielding neighbors, mine shafts and snakes. I once got trapped in an empty Olympic sized swimming pool by a dog in Slab City. My advice: plan, plan, plan and try to get legitimate access. Also, try not to shoot alone.

KS: A lot of photographers struggle with the balance of personal work and commercial work. How do you make the time and money to photograph consistently?

CB: A good chunk of photographers I’m friends with don’t making their living from full time “pure” photography. In my case, I’ve got a day job at a large tech company which allows me to focus entirely on my own projects. Time is a little harder. My shooting time is mostly confined to weekends and vacation days. When I add in business and marketing time, it can make things difficult. I’m taking two weeks off to shoot through the Southwest into Texas and Kansas next week. Folks can follow along at home via my Instagram account @codywbratt.

KS: In your statement, you speak about the idea of wanderlust. How does this drive your process? Do you set out with particular images or scenery in mind, and find your photographs from there, or does it happen in reverse… finding the places that suit your already-imagined realities?

CB: It’s a balance between both, though I’ve been tending towards more orchestrated images in the last 12 months. Travel does seem to be fundamental to my process in some fashion, so I usually do a little bit of research and seek out locations which fit rough ideas in my head. When I’ve got people in my shots, I typically have a good idea of what I want them to look like and then try to match that with a sense of the unknown destination.

KS: Is there a new project you’re working on you’d like to tell us about?

CB: “Animalia Obscura” is my current major project. I’m hoping to round out most of the images for it by the end of 2012 so I can exhibit it in 2013. Unrelated, I’ve also collected about 100 packs of expired Polaroid film in the last six months and I’m working on two different instant film projects. While I’m really far from the final form, folks can get a taste on the Instant section of my site.

Photo Contest

Kim — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:25:00 +0000

“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” -Ansel Adams.

Well, we want to see your 12.

Take a look at what you’ve captured in the twelve months. Which images stand out?

Don’t be shy, raid your harddrives, your websites, and your personal blog. You can even share your cell phone pictures.

Your submission gets you a chance at a feature interview on the Dickerman Prints blog. Select images will be shared with our twitter and facebook audience as the contest continues.

Submission Guidelines:
-Please contain email submissions to one email per entrant. Do not span multiple emails.
-All images should be low resolution jpegs, totalling under 2MB as a group. If we need bigger files, we’ll just ask!
-Images may be any 12 photographs from 2011. They do not need to be ordered consecutively, and you are not restricted to choosing one photograph per month.
-Chosen images can be from any period within 2011.

DEADLINE: April 1, 2012.

Submissions to kim@dickermanprints.com

A First Exposure Student Visits Japan

Greg — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:27:13 +0000

Today’s article was written by 17 year old Mariana Castro: a member of SF Camerawork’s First Exposures program. Last Fall, Mariana had the opportunity to travel to Japan for the first time and brought her trusty film camera with her.

Ever since I was little I had always dreamed – and still do – of traveling around the world. Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Norway, Ghana, you name it! I wanted to go everywhere and my constant urge to see the world never died so, after many daydreams and nighttime fantasies my first and second, BIGGEST dreams had finally come true: Canada and Japan.

Photography by Mariana Castro

I was probably still in elementary school at the time, but one day I had gone to my friends house and had noticed that he was moving. I had then asked “Where to?” which was followed by his surprisingly casual response “Oh, Canada.” (Tch) Obviously I was devastated at the fact that my second family was moving far away, and of course I couldn’t convince my parents to let me go with them so, from that moment I had VOWED to go out and see them again. After about 7 years of constant “I’m going’s” and working in a farmers market to scratch and save up for my ticket, my first big dream had finally come true. I was in Canada.

It was an awesome two filled weeks that I will never forget however, after two weeks had passed I was already back in school. Back to doing a ton of work, hanging out with friends, and attending Shimada club meetings every Wednesday during the short lunch period we’d have everyday. I didn’t know how I’d get to Japan until I had joined the Shimada club during my freshman year of high school. “So we’ll all get the chance to travel to Japan if you work hard and attend every meeting” is what I remember hearing my first day there. Of course to everyone in the room I looked sane, but in my head I was all like: “Wait. Travel to Japan? You’re kidding! I… I…THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE! THIS IS CRAZY!”

Photography by Mariana Castro

(Cough) So, as you can tell I was having like, the biggest…I don’t know how to even put it. The biggest…oh! THE BIGGEST WHOO-HOO MOMENT IN MY LIFE! Like, the part in Napoleon Dynamite where Kip’s all like “Yes~”. (Ha ha ha) Mmm-hm, just like that. Anyways fast-forwarding a bit, I basically worked my heart out until senior year rolled by, and my second BIG dream had finally come true. I was going to Japan.

I didn’t go alone of course. I actually went with 6 other club members plus 2 old teachers that I used to have before I moved back to the city. I was so happy when we boarded that I could’ve died right on the plane! ª Good thing I didn’t though, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten to: meet my host family, make new friends, practice my Japanese, tell two old men riding their bikes that they were cool, eat awesome food, take pictures of newlyweds while I was on a fieldtrip, and the list goes on and on. Take off was fun because one of our friends had never been on a plane, so she was kind of hyperventilating in the back rows. After a few short naps, playing games, watching movies, and bathroom breaks, we finally landed in Japan.

Photography by Mariana Castro

The next small moments passed like running water. It was all so dreamy. That is until morning came! Breakfast was fresh and served in small portions at a time so it could be nice and hot for the guests. Everything tasted so GOOD! After breakfast my friends and I went on a small excursion around the hotel. IT WAS AWESOME! Men and women were walking in their business suits, the youth and the elderly were riding bikes, school kids were in their super stylish school uniforms, vending machines and convenience stores were a ton of fun, AND HERE I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET DUMBSTRUCK AND HAPPY AS A MOUSE WITH CHEESE! We even walked in the station just to look at people. It was great.

After a while of walking around it was time to head over to Shimada, the place where we would be staying for the remainder of our time eating and having fun with the coolest people in the world. We had a few more small tours and stopped at a few rest stops – where I had my first experience with their high tech toilets – before we finally arrived at the school. It was like we were super star players walking into the stadium being welcomed by an awesome band and clapping from the crowd. The welcome we received from the kids and teachers was the best I had ever experienced in my whole life. I felt so loved, and knew that I was at home.

Photography by Mariana Castro

The next few days were filled with engaging conversations, icebreakers, happy kids, awesome food, fieldtrips, and much, much more. It was truly an experience I could never forget. Days would mainly consist of me waking at the crack of dawn, my mom making me and my host sister breakfast and lunch, a ride on the train to meet our friends to walk to school, going to class rooms, meeting more people, laughing and learning new things, and falling more in love with the country I was continuously getting to know. Everyday seemed so natural. Maybe it was because I was, surrounded by tea bushes, a ton of nature, mt. Fuji and small local farms all day. One morning I even walked around my neighborhood to take pictures before breakfast.

Photography by Mariana Castro

I didn’t want to leave, but then reality had SLAPPED ME THREE TIMES and told me that I had to. It was at the farewell party two days before we had to actually leave. I felt like a train wreck, and time seemed to slow down all of a sudden. It was an excruciating time for everyone. I didn’t want to leave, but we had to go. The last day was very hard, and when I got on the bus…more crying. We went on a couple of small tours around Tokyo and at first we just wanted to go home already, but eventually we got better. We saw the Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Tower, the Edo prefecture where a ton of people went to get steam on their heads, and a lot more.

After all that we finally arrived at the airport where we said our final good byes to our driver and tour guide. The last two people we’d have to part with. We then boarded the plane and were off on our way, back to California. It was a painful ride back because I got sick, but when I looked out the window the clouds were amazing. It took my mind off of the pain and my new friends for a while. It gave me relief. Then we finally landed at SFO. I was home again.

Since opening our C-41 color negative processing department, Dickerman Prints has been developing and scanning film for SF Camerawork’s First Exposures program. The weekly photography class for underserved youth aged 11-18 has been a staple of the San Francisco photographic community for years and we’re proud to be part of the team.