Places

Teacher’s Lounge, Trivandrum, South India, 2001
©Beatrix Reinhardt

From the Venezuelan portfolio
©Andrew Cutraro

From the series, Banglore: Steady State 2012
©Mahesh Shantaram

A few of my favorite images from going through the blogs on my reader this week. I like these three images because I am intrigued by the places chosen by each photographer.

Sources: Flakphoto, EV +/- Exposure Compensation and Asian Photography Blog

Richard Avedon Retrospective at SFMOMA opens July 11

Richard Avedon, self portrait
Provo, UT August 20, 1980
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004

Whether photographing politicians, artists, writers, fashion models, or movie stars, Richard Avedon revolutionized the genre of portraiture. He rejected conventional stiff-and-staid poses and instead captured both motion and emotion in the faces of his subjects, often encapsulating their intrigue in a single charged moment. SFMOMA is proud to be the only U.S. venue for this retrospective that spans the artist's remarkable career. Featuring more than 200 photographs along with a selection of vintage magazines, the exhibition presents work spanning Avedon's entire career, from his earliest street scenes to his breakthrough 1950s Paris fashion pictures and the iconic celebrity portraits that brought him world renown. This in-depth retrospective reveals Avedon's singular ability to blur the lines between photojournalism, fashion photography, and fine art.

July 11- November 29, 2009
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Source: SFMOMA website

Goodbye, Kodachrome

Theatre Accident, 1947
© Irving Penn courtesy of Conde Nast Publications
Source: Fraenkel Gallery

Speaking of demise, Kodak announced Monday that the company will discontinue producing Kodachrome color film. After graduating from photography school, I had the opportunity to see the original 8x10 transparency of Mr. Penn's image (Theatre Accident, 1947) taken with Kodachrome film right beside another sheet of the same shot taken with Ektachrome film. After 50+ years since he took the photograph, Kodachrome preserved its color fidelity. It was truly stunning to see the image come alive under a light box. It was as if the film was delivered fresh from the photo lab. Sadly, the other sheet developed a bluish/magenta color cast.

Memories

Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean during the 25th Anniversary of Motown in Pasadena Civic Auditorium. March 25, 1983.


Michael Jackson performing Rock with You from the Off the Wall Album. (Released November 3, 1979, Epic Records)

While walking to the BART last night, I played Michael Jackson's music on my ipod. I spent a good part of my morning today viewing his live performances on YouTube. He brought back memories of my past in Manila. There was a time when my siblings and I repeatedly watched taped episodes of MTV for an entire summer. While waiting for the rest of the class to converge in a classmates' home to go to a party, we listened to his Thriller album. I remember people collectively shrieked every time the first drumbeats of Rock with You played in clubs or parties. Boy, we sang at the top of our lungs while grooving to his music.

I really felt sad when I heard the news that he passed away. Although scandals, health problems and financial woes marred his career later in life, Michael Jackson, the artist, and the music he created will endure forever.

Wandering: Cannes

Last weekend, I finally had a chance to go through the photographs from Cannes. Editing is always a daunting task but I find that I am more at ease going through the process after I've had some distance away from when I first took the images. Looking at the pictures again took me back to those pure moments of joy walking around an unfamiliar city along with my camera with no set schedules to follow nor any time constraints. All I had to focus on was seeing and capturing what was in front of me.

(If you do not see the images on your reader, Click HERE)

A call to serve

©Stella Kalaw

I took my chances this afternoon and walked a block to the Moscone Center to try and catch First Lady Michelle Obama speak at the 2009 National Convention on Volunteering and Services. When I arrived, several flat screens in the lobby were carrying a live broadcast of the event. I could not believe my luck. The door on the right remained open and I had an opportunity to get a glimpse of her in person while she was giving the keynote address.

From the White House press release:

San Francisco – First Lady Michelle Obama and Cabinet secretaries are fanning out across the country today to participate in community service projects as part of the launch of United We Serve, a national call to service by President Obama.

Mrs. Obama will kick off United We Serve by joining California First Lady Maria Shriver and volunteers in helping build a public playground at an elementary school in San Francisco. Later in the day, she will make a call to action to more than 4,500 nonprofit, volunteer, and service leaders at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

United We Serve is an extended call to service challenging all Americans to help lay a new foundation for growth by engaging in sustained, meaningful community service. The Corporation for National and Community Service is leading the initiative, which kicks off today and runs for 81 days through a new National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11.

In a video message released today, Mrs. Obama stressed the importance of service in her own life and urged Americans to go to Serve.gov to find local volunteer opportunities. “This summer, the President and I are asking you to make time and do your part…Wherever your interests lie - whether it's working with young people or caring for the sick and elderly in our hospitals, or helping to make the homes in your neighborhood more energy efficient - or any other issue, the most important thing is for you to get involved.”

Website: Serve.gov

Summer garden

©Stella Kalaw

Yesterday, we were at P's house and his garden was in full bloom. The sun was out and the cool breeze made the plants sway. I walked around with my camera and observed as the dappled light danced with the wind. It was mesmerizing. I pushed the shutter a few times, pausing every now and then to analyze the frames through the digital preview at the back of the camera. I did this for quite sometime until I thought I captured something that conveyed what I experienced that day.

At night

©Stella Kalaw

I walked towards the lamp post where the bus schedule was posted and ran my fingers down the list to look for the next arrival-- 9:15 pm. I retrieved the cell phone from my pocket and checked the time. The wait was 20 minutes. I dialed home to see if T could pick me up. She agreed and said she would leave as soon as we hung up. I swung my backpack to my chest and pulled out my camera. There was enough light left in the sky so I attempted to take a few pictures. I probably shot six frames before I heard a car honk at me. It was T. I ran to the loading zone, got in the car and we headed home.

Book: Ed Kashi's THREE

Three by Ed Kashi
Essay by Alison Nordström

From the publisher:

In a world inundated by visual imagery, our ability to take in more than one image at a time has become innate. In fact, our attention span demands it. Three, a book of triptychs by acclaimed photographer Ed Kashi, plays on the visual appetite of a hectic world. These triptychs span eras and continents, challenging our notions of perspective and the individual image. Contained in a format dating back to Christian art in the Middle Ages, Kashi’s images examine current issues of social and political significance, bringing together the joy, sorrow, destruction, and reconstruction of a world in flux. These triptychs compel us to see the relationships between extreme ends of the human experience and to appreciate the strange beauty inherent in that experience.

The grouping of photographs in Three is deliberate and provocative, asking us to read not only the individual photographs but their cumulative stories. The triptychs defy the confines of any single frame by presenting them in a lyrical, dynamic context, exploring the intersecting points when decisive moments converge, and opening a dialogue between images. A celebration of the language of photography, Kashi’s work layers color, form, and content, while allowing time to pass in the course of three images and offering multiple screens to order the chaos that surrounds us.

Publisher: Powerhouse Books
Clothbound Hardcover w/ tip-on, 11.25 x 8.25 inches, 162 pages (with 16 gatefolds), 87 four-color and black-and-white photographs
ISBN: 978-1-57687-461-5

Quote 03

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, It moves again since it is life.

William Faulkner

The wonders of technology

Glendalough Monastery

Wicklow, Ireland

It's my brother's birthday today and he, along with my two other sisters, are in Ireland enjoying a late lunch. They sent me these images via cell phone this morning after I made a call to greet him.

Wandering 55

©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 54

©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 53

©Stella Kalaw

Quote 02

“Culture is the sea we swim in — so pervasive, so all-consuming, that we fail to notice its existence until we step out of it. It matters more than we think.”

Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss (2008)

source: Rolf Potts' Vagabonding blog