Binh Danh’s Chlorophyll Leavings
Binh Danh has been recrafting memories, using chlorophyll, leaves and the sun.
“Immortality, The Remnants of the Vietnam and American War” is a project that addresses the continuum of war, both in the artist’s memory, and in the life and landscape of Vietnam.
Binh says the original idea for this exposure process came from seeing the time-based effects of harsh sun on his lawn. Objects such as hoses or tools that were left out left imprints of their presence on the baked, dry grass.
Binh uses this transference to explore his personal understanding of the Vietnam War, casting his temporal views in resin, as artifacts.
From his statement,
“This process deals with the idea of elemental transmigration: the decomposition and composition of matter into other forms. The images of war are part of the leaves, and live inside and outside of them. The leaves express the continuum of war.
They contain the residue of the Vietnam War: bombs, blood, sweat, tears, and metals. The dead have been incorporated into the landscape of Vietnam during the cycles of birth, life, and death; through the recycling and transformation of materials, and the creation of new materials.”
See more of “Immortality, The Remnants of the Vietnam and American War” and read his project statement here.
Cristina de Middel Reaches the Moon
Cristina de Middel was the recent recipient of the Women in Photography Lightside Individual Project Grant. The $3,000 award helped fund her projects “AFRONAUTS” which explores Zambia’s 1964 program to become the first in space.
Read the WIP article here.
Women in Photography is a fantastic photography resource, begun by Cara Phillips and Amy Elkins, now run through the Humble Arts Foundation.
Jon McNeal Shoots our Everyday Unravelling
Jon McNeal was a participant in this year’s Spring Open Studios through 1890 Bryant. One of the reasons I always love these events is the change you can see between years. I love Jon’s work, and it was great to see the direction he’s moved in since last spring.
I am always drawn in by the vast spaces Jon shares in his images, and the weight of their presence in a room. His landscapes seem to open up and unfold as you would see them in person. Each place seems as familiar as my own environments, even those that are, in fact, completely alien terrain.
Jon recently self-published a book of his work, including many of the photographs seen here.
Kim Sikora: I’m sure, like most of us, you have a point in time where photography caught a hold of you. When did you become a photographer in earnest?
Jon McNeal: I’ve had an interest in photography since childhood, but it took some time for me to become a photographer. When we went on family vacations growing up my father always had a 35mm film camera. He would shoot mostly slide film, and we would have slide shows at home after the film came back. As a kid, the fact that you could shine light through a little piece of plastic and have a luminous image, and a memory, appear on a wall was pretty magical. I was fascinated by the fact that an instant in time and personal experience could be embedded in something and then recreated and shared with others.
When I went to college in Houston, architecture studio classes required us to research project sites which included taking documenting photographs. I wasn’t trying to be artistic by any means, but it lead to discussions about composition, color and lighting in photography, and it elevated my interest in the medium.
I subsequently had an internship in Genoa, Italy. Weekdays were all work, but on the weekends I had little money and no obligations, so I would hop on the train and take pictures of the hundreds of cities and villages that were within easy reach of Genoa.
I shot about 50 rolls of film in my two years there, so it was clearly something I enjoyed. My interest and habit have continued to grow steadily ever since.
KS: How has your imagery changed in the past few years?
JM: It’s pretty common for artists to develop a series, but I’ve only recently started shooting work with an eye for how it might fit into a larger body with a specific subject. This has caused me to be more selective in shooting and editing. It’s made me work harder for an image… waiting for light, researching sun angles and weather, and carrying more of the gear to pull it off.
It goes back to the documentary nature of photography that interests me the most. I think one of the best ways to describe the feeling of a place is through providing information, texture and detail, which is best conveyed in a large print.
KS: A lot of your imagery has an otherworldly quality to it. Can you tell us a bit more about your shooting process?
JM: I think my process is rooted in a documentary point of view. It’s what first attracted me and keeps me interested in photography as a medium. With the landscape, water, and built environment work I’m not trying to inject my personality into it. I want to let these places and moments speak for themselves, so that the viewer can make as direct a connection as possible to the setting.
As for the otherworldly quality, I think it may be because I’m interested in the environments that lie just at the margins of the everyday, or enable our everyday; they’re a mix of the familiar and strange. I think these transitional environments can tell us a lot about what we as a society value: where we’ve been and where we’re going.
Generally I want a viewer to recognize at least one element in a photo, but I want to avoiding being didactic about why it is the way it is. It creates a deeper bond when viewers search for their own understanding of what’s generating the scene. Extreme examples don’t interest me as much; they’re too spectacular, too disconnected from our lives to be as informative of our immediate, ‘normal’ surroundings.
KS: How did you decide when and where to shoot? Do you always set out with a particular image in mind, or are some of these “happy accidents”?
JM: I would love to be able to support myself as a photographer full time, but until then my shooting time is limited. For now, this limitation may actually be a good thing; it makes me disciplined as I know I have such a brief time to capture images.
I plan my shoots carefully, figuring out how long we have to drive, where to grab a meal along the way, what the moon and sun are doing at what time, how many days/hours/minutes I’ll need, and what the typical weather conditions will be. In spite of the planning, it’s humbling for me that these are often the least successful images!
The shots that I enjoy taking the most are often the ones made on the way to our ‘destination’. This often involves my wife and me happening upon and driving past something that we find amusing and doubling back to shoot it as quickly as possible, since I’m still trying to maintain my schedule. There’s no self-imposed pressure or preconceptions for these surprise subjects, so if they’re unsuccessful, it’s not as disappointing.
KS: What has your biggest challenge been?
JM: Having time to shoot more. Being available to shoot when nature’s light is most interesting is a constant challenge. It would be a luxury to be able to spend several days at a given location, really getting a sense of a place and its light. In the meantime, I’m enjoying shooting within a few blocks of where we live for those reasons, but I would love to be able to expand that intimacy to other geographic areas too.
I would love to have more time to shoot some of the delta cities, like Antioch, Martinez, Benicia. They’re at the physical and economic edges of our region and represent some of the fundamental challenges facing the Bay Area and California at large.
KS: Can you talk a little bit more about your recent work?
JM: In an attempt to bridge landscape and portraiture, I’ve been developing a series on tourists. As a landscape photographer I am fascinated by the primal experience of seeing a place for the first time. Witnessing others doing the same is a means of capturing that sense of wonder and curiosity. More importantly, a tremendous amount of cultural information can be found in observing this moment.
For me, observing their behavior is a perfect mirror to the challenge of photography, and it simultaneously helps me to discover more about a place and our role in it.
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?
JM: I am an architect, and am fortunate enough to work for a firm that has stayed busy over the last few years. It’s allowed me to take one or two small photo trips per year and covered costs for modest equipment improvements. I’m certainly not at the point where photography alone could serve as my primary income.
The good news is that these two pursuits are similar and symbiotic. Architecture is a very long process; it takes a tremendous amount of time to design a building of nearly any size or quality. A project’s concept can be set in place fairly early, and you will work for years to make every detail support that concept; creativity comes in solving a series of small problems to realize a harmonious whole.
Because I have a day job that is demanding, it makes me savor my time to photograph. I go out shooting whenever I can, usually at least 1 day per weekend, and am always planning some sort of photographic excursion… even if it won’t happen for a while, I’m thinking about it.
KS: Is there a new project you’re working on you’d like to tell us about?
JM: I am sending out grant proposals right now for a project to document the infrastructure of the State Water Project, the most well known part being the California Aqueduct. It’s literally transformed the economy and the terrain of the state, and has fueled a majority of the population growth in the southern portion of the state for the last 30 years. I want to show what has made that possible, why it has been successful and why it will always be controversial.
Of course, at some point this game of chicken with the state’s water is going to end…so I want to use photographs to make predictions of the consequences.
It’s very ambitious in terms of geographic scope, time, permissions/access, and budgets… much larger than any single project I’ve undertaken to date. I’m very excited about it and hope to be able to start shooting in earnest this fall.
Beth Yarnelle Edwards’ “Suburban Dreams”
We’re thrilled to announce that photography by our esteemed client, Beth Yarnelle Edwards, have been selected for PDN’s Photo Annual 2012. Beth has been a client of Seth’s for the past 10 years, and we’re so overjoyed by her success.
PDN chose to honor her recent book, Suburban Dreams, available here.
PDN’s Photo Annual is an incredible contest, with judges ranging from Beth Bristow of The New York Times, George Pitts, the Director of Photographic Practices at Parsons The New School for Design to Josh Baker of TASCHEN. Award recipients will have their images published in PDN’s June Photo Annual issue, and on pdnonline.com.
From Suburban Dreams:
Vanessa Marsh
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.”
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
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:
Varese Layzer’s Exploration of Loss
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
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.”
A First Exposure Student Visits Japan
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.
Photograph 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!”
Photograph 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.
Photograph 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.
Photograph 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.
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 forSF 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.