The latest Vice Photo issue has just come out weighing in at a hefty 210 pages with images from everyone and his dog, including ‘dirty old men’ and Vice regulars Terry Richardson, Richard Kern and many others with some rather predictable results (sex, booze, drugs, androgyny, neo-hippyism, YOUTH) as well as some even-more-disgusting-than-before-but-strangely-compelling imagery from Asger Carlsen and one terrific little portfolio by Jason Fulford which stands head and shoulders above the rest in my view. Maybe this is a sign that I am turning into a nostalgic old man, but I have to admit that the thing that really excited me about this issue (and is the reason for this post) is that the cover (image by Jim Mangan above) is scratch-and-sniff. This is the first photo-publication I know of that uses this magical and sadly forgotten technique and for that, Vice magazine, I commend you. Choose from banana, cherry, coffee, weed, something called “Ocean Mist” and coconut (this last one isn’t listed on the press release but I’m convinced it’s in there, or at least that they printed the whole magazine on coconut-scented paper). Sadly this blogpost is not scratch-and-sniff (I can’t believe there is no WordPress plugin for this), but the magazine is free so you have no reason not to go out and get a copy. Scratch-and-sniff everything forever.

No related posts.

Hiroh Kikai, A woman living by herself and her pet, 1974

It’s Chinese New Year today and this will be the year of the rabbit. I can’t think of a better photograph to usher in this new year than this gem by Hiroh Kikai.

新年快乐!!!

Related posts:

1. Welcoming in 2010
2. The art of the caption
3. Interview: Hiroh Kikai, A man in the cosmos

Yoko Okutsu, 2008

One of the most worn clichés in the realm of photography is the notion that a photographic portrait can somehow “capture the essence” of its subject. This has always struck me as pretty problematic; the idea that there is a moment that can be captured on film that encapsulates some fundamental truth about us, about who we really are seems to be a little reductive… I have always liked to think there was more to me than that. I can understand a photographer’s search for an image in which the subject is as natural as possible, forgets the camera and maybe even themselves. However, this may not be any more revealing about the person being photographed than an image in which the subject is playing to the camera, showing another side of themselves in the process.

Whatever your take on the ability of a photograph to capture someone’s essence, it turns out that there is a camera that is built to capture something pretty close to it. The aura camera was developed by an American scientist in an attempt to record what psychics might see (or perhaps those that are fond of the odd acidic experiment) when they look at someone’s aura. Carlo Van de Roer‘s Portrait Machine project makes use of the aura camera to show us a few celebrity and other lesser-known auras and raise some interesting questions about the photographic portrait and the roles of the subject, the photographer and the viewer. The camera works by connecting the subject “directly to the camera by hand-plates that measure biofeedback, which the camera depicts as an aura of color in the Polaroid and translates into a printed diagram and description explaining the camera’s interpretation of the subject. It also explains separately, what the the subject is expressing and how they are seen by others. … This printout, which includes information about the subjects emotions, potential, aspirations, future, etc. is presented to the viewer along with each photograph”. Click here to see the camera’s description of Yoko Okutsu’s remarkable aura (above).

If you are feeling inspired by Carlo Van de Roer’s work, you might want to try out aura photography for yourself. Luckily it turns out that there is an online specialist aura camera store through which you can buy yourself the necessary equipment. The aura camera is currently discounted to a mere $3,497.00 (a remarkably specific price) and even better, their latest 3.1 version doesn’t require those cumbersome hand plates and is a “nicer black color” than the previous one. What on earth are you waiting for?

No related posts.

Laundry on Rue St-Urbain

One from the inbox: I received an email from husband and wife Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano with links to their pothole photography project. Sadly, I do not have a driver’s licence, and therefore am unable to fully relate to the urban curse of the pothole. However, I have recently started watching Treme, David “The Wire” Simon’s new series on post-Katrina New Orleans, in which the character Davis McAlary runs for mayor with the slogan “Pot for Potholes”, so potholes have been taking up more place in my life of late.

Spaghetti & Meatballs on Greenwich Street

Until Ficca and Luciano came on I had never realized the myriad potential applications for these simple holes in the road: a convenient place to crush grapes, great when all the dishes are dirty and you’re looking for something to eat your bolognese out of, or just a handy outdoor laundry basin. In their hands there’s not much that a pothole can’t do.

Winemaking on Rue St-Zotique

No related posts.

1. Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), $3,346,456, February 2007, Sotheby’s London auction. 
2. Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), $2,928,000, February 2006, Sotheby’s New York auction.
3. Dmitry Medvedev, Kremlin of Tobolsk (2009), $1,750,000, January 2010, Christmas Yarmarka, Saint Petersburg.
4. Edward Weston, Nude (1925), $1,609,000, April 2008, Sotheby’s New York auction.
5. Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe (Hands) (1919), $1,470,000, February 2006, Sotheby’s New York auction.
6. Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe Nude (1919), $1,360,000, February 2006, Sotheby’s New York auction.
7. Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) (1989), $1,248,000, November 2005, Christie’s New York auction.
8. Edward Weston, Nautilus (1927), $1,082,500, April 2010, Sotheby’s New York auction.
9. Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 113.Athènes, T[emple] de J[upiter] olympien pris de l’est (1842), $922,488, 2003, auction.
10. Gustave Le Gray, The Great Wave, Sete (1857) $838,000, 1999.

(Source: the modern day Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia)

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you (although Wikipedia may very well be): Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, is second only to Gursky and Steichen for this view of the Kremlin Tobolsk.

Dmitry Medvedev, Tobolsk Kremlin

Admittedly he achieved his tidy $1.75 million sale price at a charity auction where Putin had previously managed to sell this masterpiece for the puny sum of $1.14 million, but should we be reconsidering Medvedev’s standing as a photographer? After his recent address to the Russian people on the subject, perhaps we should.

Related posts:

1. Moment of sublime strangeness: Medvedev on photography

Related posts:

1. The mus-mus @Paris project
2. André Kertész @ Photographers’ Gallery, London
3. Photographers speak

Megumi Tomomitsu

Megumi Tomomitsu is fond of the plastic bag. She has even compiled a pretty exhaustive list of reasons why. For someone (and somehow I think I am not alone here) who stores hundreds of the things for absolutely no discernable reason, this interests me. Thinking about it, I probably own more plastic bags than photobooks, than items of clothing, than pretty much anything actually. Thank you Megumi, you have convinced me that I should learn to love my plastic bags, or at least to set them free.

No related posts.

A little Friday fun for you: the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, on a 7-minute rant on the nature of photography. I love the way this is all delivered straight to camera, as if he really wants every last Russian to know his thoughts on the subject. Would love to know who wrote this speech for him.

(via foodforyoureyes)

Related posts:

1. Plagiarism in photography

4th of July 1951

After a period of overuse I barely give Flickr a glance any more. The proliferation of animated gif ‘awards’ for best-super-duper-gr8est-pic-ever that get handed out to anything that is posted and the intricate descriptions of what kind of strobe lights were used to take some of the world’s most boring images just makes me want to run a mile. To use an analog analogy, I think you have to have a crate-digger of great skill and patience to find the good stuff on Flickr (Mrs Deane is among the best that I know of).

But once in a while Flickr does throw something pretty unexpected at you. The level of detail that goes into these photographs by Michael Paul Smith is pretty astounding. Models fascinate a number of contemporary photographers (Thomas Demand, Naoya Hatakeyama, Naoki Honjo) and while I don’t think Murphy is driven by the same motivations, there is something inherently fascinating about this kind of photographic ‘illusion’. Check out the full set here, complete with mustachioed ‘behind the scenes’ evidence.

No related posts.

Agan Harahap

On a lighter note… Agan Harahap‘s ongoing Super Hero project involves dropping super heros (Darth Vader also pops up quite a lot) into photographs of important historical moments of the twentieth century.

No related posts.