I came across the photographs of Stacy Arezou Mehrfar a few months ago and made a point to bookmark her site, with the intention that I'd eventually share her work here. I didn't mean for it to take so long to come back to, but better late than never I guess, right?

from the series American Palimpsests
© Stacy Arezou Mehrfar

Check out her project American Palimpsests, documenting the effects of suburban sprawl on the natural environment -- a very frequent topic in contemporary photography over the last 30+ years, blossoming with the New Topographics. And as we continue along this foolish and unsustainable path of destructive sprawl, I think this subject matter will (rightfully so) persist as a topic of photographic engagement.

In her own words:

"In 2003 I set out to photograph the spate of new suburban housing developments throughout the continental United States. At that time the nation was expanding exponentially. With new homes being built in 60 days or less, communities were sprouting everywhere. I spent long days on the road, submersing myself in repetitively identical communities exploring the effects of suburban sprawl on the natural environment. Initially I was attracted to our strange desires to alter wilderness, meadows and even desert to build unnatural and lifeless environments to live in. After many days spent in such sites, I couldn’t differentiate one town from the other. I found myself nostalgic for spaces that were full of history and people, spaces that had already been defined by American culture. While I continued to photograph the new suburban developments, I began turning my camera onto a second subject: the places beyond the new town lines. I soon realized that what I was fascinated by was not only the effect of suburban sprawl on our natural landscape, but also how the effects of sprawl revealed itself in the rapidly declining older neighborhoods...
...Since the start of this project our nation’s economic standing has changed dramatically. The beginning of this decade saw a housing boom; we left established neighborhoods behind to build fresh ones on new lands. Today we are facing the effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Many of the new communities I photographed for this project now lie empty, with many developments left incomplete. Every day we hear more about the foreclosure crisis and homes being lost. What we don’t hear about is the irreversible destruction to the natural habitat, a direct result of these construction sites that now lie unfinished. If it is true that history cyclical, then we need to look into our past to restore our immediate future."

from the series American Palimpsests
© Stacy Arezou Mehrfar

There's also a great interview with Stacy (see here) on the blog of Amy Stein.
from the series American Palimpsests
© Stacy Arezou Mehrfar

Lastly, wanted to thank Jörg over at Conscientious for making mention of a few of my projects in a post last week. Its an honor to be part of the conversation. And again, the Yard Sales project and the River project are both ongoing, so, more images to come.

A quick fun snap from hanging out last nite with Brian Ulrich, the assiduous chronicler of the "chaotic ass-end of capitalism".
Brian, here's to you: thanks for good times and conversation (and flashlight navigation). Though you know I have to blame you for the fact that I spent more time in a mall yesterday than I've spent in the last 15 years of my life total...
At least it was -- to usurp an old adage (which if I recall correct was originally coined in reference to lawyers) -- my favorite kind of mall: a dead one.

A few more images from my ongoing personal project along the Cuyahoga River. See the previous post for background info.

The Flats. Cleveland

Abandoned boat. Brooklyn, OH

The Flats. Cleveland

The Flats. Cleveland

New office park. Garfield Hts., OH

Trash. Boston Hts., OH

TV carcass. Cleveland

Industrial area. Cleveland

Don, scrap metal inspector. Cleveland

Forty years ago this week, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire when oil-soaked debris floating on its surface was ignited by sparks from a train passing on a bridge overhead. The fire became a turning point for the rising environmental movement and eventually led to the formation of the EPA and passage of the Clean Water Act.
The past few days there's been much hoopla around town, celebrations, back-patting, etc., and some good news/bad news from that very same EPA: while praising the progress Cleveland has made in cleaning up the river, the EPA in the same breath stated that the river will remain on its dubious list of polluted North American waterways, much to the surprise and chagrin of local officials here.
I started working on a personal project about the river in the fall of 2007; it has proceeded in fits and starts since then, and is by no means anywhere near being congruous or complete at this point. But at this juncture I figured what the hell I'll put some of it out there for examination.
Let me be clear though that I'm not necessarily trying to photograph the river from an environmental perspective or make comment about its ecological condition -- so in a sense the "timeliness" of this week's anniversary is somewhat irrelevant to my work and any perceived overlaps in the imagery are likely coincidental (as will hopefully be made clear further on in the text).
Rather, I've been exploring the river more as a greater existential symbol of time and experience (both collective and personal) and its symbiosis with the cities and towns through which it flows. The Cuyahoga, as any other river, has historically served many functions for its surrounding lands in terms of ecology, industry, commerce, recreation and more.
My parents and their parents and further generations past grew up in various towns along the river's meandering path from rural Geauga County south to Akron and back north to Cleveland where it empties into Lake Erie (the word Cuyahoga literally means "crooked river" in the Iroquois language).
The river has been a physical and spatial link between different periods of our lives, so for me it is also as much about certain aspects of personal journey. And I wonder to what extent (if any) this can be extrapolated to parallel larger, more universal, human experiences manifested throughout time in the people and places seen here.

Winter storm approaching. Boston Hts., OH

Near my grandparents' grave. Mantua, OH

My grandparents' grave. Mantua, OH



Crooked river. Cleveland

Memorial. Sagamore Hills, OH

Fresh in the July issue of Smithsonian magazine, tearsheets from a shoot with Dr. Carlo Croce, head of the Human Cancer Genetics Program at Ohio State University, for a story about microRNA and breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer.

A few quick updates on some very talented colleagues of mine:
Read a fun little interview with James Pomerantz on APB, where he defends the square format (yes!!) and talks about some new projects including Agua Sagrada and a series of images of U.S. towns (such as Versailles, Ohio) that share names with famous world cities.
from the series Agua Sagrada
© James Pomerantz

Versailles
© James Pomerantz

A selection of his works will be part of the group show "Hot Fun in the Summertime" opening TONITE at Bonni Benrubi Gallery, 41 E. 57th St. 13th floor. Opening reception tonite from 6-8pm. Show runs through September 5th.In a recent post I mentioned a congrats to my Redux colleague Erika Larsen on her winning the first WIP-Lightside Individual Project Grant. WIP now has a feature posted about Larsen's project Sami, The People, which she will use the grant money to continue work on. From the summary:

"I have seen the Arctic as a place where the extremes play out in the daily lives of the people that inhabit this land. It is a place where man has learned to adapt to the environment that surrounds him rather than adapting the environment to him. Here I found the Sámi, which translates to ‘The People.’ They are the indigenous people living in the Arctic Circle region of northern Scandinavia and it is the largest area in the world with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal migrations of the animals. The Sámi are by tradition reindeer herders and live a nomadic lifestyle based on the reindeer migration.
I have come on a search to understand the primal drive of the modern hunter by taking an inclusive look at an original hunter-gatherer society. I have come to see if when the land speaks there are those that can interpret its language. I have come in search of silence so that I could begin to hear again.
I will spend the next year exploring the Sámi’s symbiotic relationship with the environment. They are the only people who can own and sell wildlife in Scandinavia. By possessing a livelihood that is dependent on their surroundings the Sami are acutely aware of the changes in nature. They have managed to survive in extreme climatic circumstances for ages. I believe that through exploring this culture I will better understand our role as stewards of the earth."

Artic River
from the series Sami, The People
© Erika Larsen

Nils Peder Manno
from the series Sami, The People
© Erika Larsen

Lastly, Larsen and a group of other photogs (including amigo Kevin Miyazaki and inspirator Brian Ulrich) are featured in a new exhibition by Fraction Magazine titled The Un-Natural Nature of Food, very poignant stuff.

Tonite in Collinwood, come on over for the newest show opening at Low Life gallery, entitled "This is Cleveland (All the Stuff I See)". The exhibition will feature images of Cleveland shot by 30 city residents who were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph their own personal interpretations of the city. It should prove to be somewhat of an insider look at the city from the perspective of the people who actually live here (as opposed to well-meaning organizations who are ultimately misguided in their half-hearted investments in the city that its their job to promote, or those who say they "love Cleveland" but wouldn't actually be caught dead in the city unless for a Cavs game, theatre event, or sipping overpriced cocktails at some cliche bar in Warehouse District).
There's a nice summation of the show's theme and background here on the blog of the Beachland Ballroom. And while you're in the neighborhood, not to be missed too on Friday nite, should be a kick-ass show at the Beachland, right down the block, with a rare Party of Helicopters reunion so if you're game for wandering over there after the gallery...
But to return to the previous topic, can I talk about Cleveland for just a minute? 'Cause this "fly-over" city generally gets a bad rap.
Here's a little story: a short bit ago a local comedian (a funny one, might I add, someone I met in college) came up with a few "hastily made" videos poking fun at this place he and we call home. The jokes were biting but hilarious, and very accessible, so everyone has a healthy laugh, ha ha.


At this point enters the city tourism board, their panties all in a bundle. They launch a counter-attack, putting out a call to the public to create their own "homemade" (shoestring budget, etc.) tourism videos to promote the city in a positive light, and the board tried to kick-start the entries by creating one as well.
I'm not gonna dignify their pathetic video by providing a link to it here, because its a waste of space. Their uncreative clamoring for cliche is probably part of the reason why Cleveland doesn't really fare well in the national imagination. Having the Rock Hall here doesn't help either.
But suffice to say that the vast majority of their "hastily made tourism video" was -- get this -- shot out the window of a passing car as they drove around to various tourist spots in the city... which in my mind begs a very serious question, because it gives off the impression that Cleveland is a fun town to drive around in, but getting out of the car is a whole 'nother thing.

So, really, is Cleveland not worth getting out of the car for? Is it too "dangerous", or just plain boring? Or what?

By now the fiasco is old news, with the comedian and the tourism board more or less shaking hands and calling it a day (because in the end, its truly a win-win: they both get tons of exposure, even if bad press is good press, and the tourism board actually walks away with a huge ad campaign basically produced on the cheap, if not downright free, by Clevelanders willing to give away their intellectual property to the "contest").
But the roots of the entire issue really bother me on many levels. Essentially, Cleveland has a self-esteem problem.
Maybe its the Cleveland Complex.
Its caused by too much snow, too much grey, a Vitamin D deficiency from not enough sunlight, too much sulfur in the air, a river that actually caught on fire, heartbreak at the hands of ineptitude from sports and political figures, music touring schedules that go thru Toledo or Columbus but never here, The Mistake by the Lake, etc. etc. etc.
Oh and by the way, this news and this news don't help either.
This dilemma has been fodder for many conversations between friends and I for a while; I've made the point that the Cleveland psyche is stuck somewhere between the Midwest (anchored by our big brother, Chicago) and the East Coast (the behemoth that is New York), bouncing schizophrenically back and forth between each and looking for direction, inspiration, validation, anything. One friend added: Cleveland won't sanction anything until its already been given the nod by others.
In other words, its like Cleveland is constantly trying to be someone else.
Well what the fuck, Cleveland -- be yourself; let's embrace Cleveland for the authenticity of its true character, however flawed or covered in failure or soot it might be.
Our neighbor to the east, Pittsburgh, I think has found success in this, marketing itself in a very tongue-in-cheek way as "a glamorless destination for the post-luxury age" (see this Post-Gazette story, and an old Rust Wire post here). Pittsburgh has vibrant city neighborhoods, cutting-edge art scenes, unique architecture, world-class restaurants, and an overall city character that is distinctly its own.
The key here, I think, is that Pittsburgh has defined Pittsburgh on Pittsburgh's terms. Cleveland must do the same. Yes, there may be lessons to be learned from Pittsburgh, that's one thing, but ultimately Clevelanders needs to decide on Cleveland's treasures and Cleveland's direction. Some of the greatest power in Cleveland lies in its neighborhoods and in the hands of those of us who call the city home.
So maybe Friday nite at Low Life is a step along that path. Cleveland through the eyes of Clevelanders, on Cleveland's terms.

Coming down off another period of hectic craziness, trying to catch up here.
First things first, the American Youth exhibition and book launch here in Cleveland went off pretty well last Friday. We had a steady stream of visitors all nite, including many who had seen the promos around town or otherwise just wandered into the gallery while roaming the neighborhood on a beautiful evening weather-wise. We even managed to sell some books too. Ultimately my only regret was that there was only one of me, and there's never enough time to say hello and catch up with everyone who showed up.
Big big thanks to a lot of people:
--To all the people I photographed for the project. It really would've never happened without your openness, generosity, and willingness to collaborate with me. Extra special thanks to the subjects who were able to make it to the gallery that nite too!!
--Dave at Low Life gallery for hosting us for the weekend
--Sarah and George and crew at Arts Collinwood for helping to put this together and doing promos (look out for Waterloo Arts Fest later this month!)
--Nikki at Gypsy Beans & Bakery for donating some amazing food
--My friends and family and colleagues who showed up in support, you all make me feel really fortunate to have such a great crew of people to be around

Okay, sorry, had to get that stuff out of the way...enough with the sentimentality for now. Here's a few photos from that nite, courtesy of Ben and Dave:






We wrapped things up with a quick after-party at The Thermadore but then it was late to bed, early to rise as a car ride to Chicago beckoned at 8am the next morning for a weekend visit with some friends. Rolled into the Windy City just in time for a tasty plate of tuna bruschetta with avocado and basil at Sit Down Cafe in Hyde Park, then over to Comiskey for a cold and rainy ballgame with Tim and Mike (though damn, it felt good when the sun peaked out in the 8th inning). By the time we nightcapped with Old Style, tater tots, and photobooth shenanigans at the Skylark in Pilsen, I think I was passed out (succumbed to exhaustion...not what you were thinking) on the living room floor before midnite.
Good thing though, 'cause between that and an energizing brunch at Medici, I was ready to face a long day on Sunday. After brunch skipped into Powell's Books where I promptly dropped a wad of cash on some discounted photo books (I'm counting "The Transparent City" by Michael Wolf and "I Love Borås" by Lars Tunbjörk among my favorite finds). Then its off to downtown for the weekend's main event: wedding party for our dear friends Wes and Kate.
As usual they set the bar high, with cold beer and delicious eats as we partied aboard a freighter docked on Lake Michigan, good times catching up with Rob and Heather and some old Chicagrapher friends. And of course no nite in downtown hanging with Chicagraphers is complete without a stop into The Billy Goat for cheezborgers. Cap that off with a late-nite view of the cityscape from atop the Tribune tower, and you got a mighty fine adios to a whirlwind weekend in Chicago.
Having returned home now, its back on the horse with two shoots and travel (car leaves in...20 minutes?) this week, thus preventing me from making it down to Virginia for LOOK3, but if you're there be sure to check out their American Youth exhibition at the McGuffey Art Center.
Finally had a chance to catch up with other goings-on in the photo world too, first off a big congrats to my Redux colleague Erika Larsen on winning the first WIP-Lightside Individual Project Grant! Can't wait to see some of the new work she'll create with this opportunity.
Also, NPR Picture Show blog has a feature about the New Topographics and a resurrected exhibition at the George Eastman House.
© Bernd and Hilla Becher

The original showing in 1975, entitled "New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape" resulted in a profound paradigm shift in photography, historians say, because the photographers (people like Robert Adams, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and of course Stephen Shore) and their works were uninterested in idealized images of nature (a la Ansel Adams) but instead more concerned with documenting how man has impacted the natural landscape.
© Robert Adams

This movement in photography has had a lasting impact that remains strong even today...partially because its main subject matter--the pattern of sprawl and suburbanization that accelerated in the post-WWII period and has ravaged the national landscape--has also continued more or less unabated.
Lastly, check out the new project "Secrets and Lies", a series of pictures from North Korea by photographer Tomas van Houtryve. There's also a BBC interview linked through his blog.
© Tomas van Houtryve

On top of being a poignant and intimate look into modern-day life in that society, his work comes with an interesting back story (via DVA Foto):

"Adopting the persona of a Belgian chocolate magnate, complete with disguise and funny accent, Tomas van Houtryve made his second trip to North Korea in February 2008. Despite his credentials as a foreign businessman keen to invest in the country, he faced hours of interrogation, was threatened by apparatchiks, and at one point was almost exposed as a journalist. His bold tactics gave him access to factories, hospitals and government offices, some of which had never before been seen by a Western photographer. He was also able to catch a fleeting glimpse of the lives of ordinary people."

Sneak peek at one part of the exhibition for tonite.
If you're in the area, hope you'll come down and join us!

Greg Ruffing
"American Youth" book launch and exhibition
Friday June 5th, 2009
6-9pm
Low Life Gallery
16001 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110

After-party at The Thermadore, E. 175th St. / Grovewood Ave.
Welcome to Collinwood!

Coming up this week for those of you reading from Ohio, I've put together a local exhibition and book launch for the American Youth book project, Friday nite at Low Life Gallery in Collinwood.
The details:

Greg Ruffing
"American Youth" book launch and exhibition
Friday June 5th, 2009
6-9pm
Low Life Gallery
16001 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110

Go here to get additional information.
The show will feature selected images and outtakes from my contributions to the project (environmentalists, Muslim youth, and b-boys/hip hop culture).
Meanwhile, the larger Redux group show that debuted at NYPH a few weeks ago is currently on its way to Charlottesville, Va., to be exhibited during Look3: Festival of the Photograph next week.

I will have copies of the book on hand for sale Friday nite.
There will be free beer and food as well, as my culinary friend Nikki over at Gypsy Beans & Bakery in Gordon Square Arts District has promised to whip up some delicious treats.

So I hope you'll put us on your to-do list and head on over to Collinwood Friday nite. There's a bunch of stuff going on in the neighborhood that nite so have a stop into some of the other galleries and record stores too and see what's happening.

So much to catch up with, but I'm trying to remind myself that I have to make time for eating, sleeping and breathing, so this'll be a bit of a whirlwind post.
First things first, big event in New York on THURSDAY nite from 600-800, Brian Ulrich solo show opening nite at Julie Saul Gallery, 535 W. 22nd St. Exhibit runs from 28 May - 3 July 2009.
Dixie Square Mall, 2008
from the series Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes, and Dead Malls
© Brian Ulrich

The show will present work from his series Thrift (2005-2008) as well as new work in progress from the project Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes and Dead Malls. Much of this work is part of the larger project Copia for which he is currently working on a Guggenheim Fellowship for a compilation of photographs to culminate in a book examining 10 years of consumer culture in the U.S.
His show is being featured on the cover of Photograph Magazine. From the intro:

"In contrast to the neatly stacked shelves and the K-Marts full of little girls’ plastic fantasies in his previous exhibition, in this show Ulrich reveals the chaotic ass-end of capitalism, the thrift shops—'last-stop repositories,' Julie Saul calls them—and consumerism’s tombstones of defunct, ghost-box stores, devoid of fantasy, glamour, and customers. ...Historically speaking, the work is far more ambitious than a mere catalogue of catastrophe. Remarks Saul, 'Ulrich chronicles a profoundly seismic shift within society and implicitly asks the question, where do we go from here?.... We can’t say he didn’t warn us, but given the toxic fallout from recent excesses of consumer capitalism, this may be the opposite of disaster gazing. Ulrich’s prescient image captures not merely the end of an era but the beginning of a new one, based on a realistic relationship to the things we make.'"

I'm also in the process of putting together an exhibition here of selected images and outtakes from my projects for the American Youth book. More details coming very soon.
Meanwhile, the book continues to get ink this week, with a slideshow here for Time magazine and another here for NPR.
Lastly, just for shits and giggles here's a few quick images I shot over the holiday weekend in the remains of Cleveland's old subway lines. The county engineer's office opens them up for public tours twice every summer, check here for their schedule.
And check this post here for more photos and info courtesy of Angie and the good folks at Rust Wire.

Check out the work of this guy J. Bennett Fitts. His images are a great documentation of the modern vernacular landscape. Far and away my favorite series of his is industrial landscape(ing), where he photographs the deliberately placed and meticulously manicured "nature Band-Aids" (as Kunstler would call them) littered about around corporate and commercial structures. You know the ones: the skinny, lifeless skeleton of a freshly planted tree in the Target parking lot? The ludicrous caricature of the natural world, imported to make the behemoths of capitalism and consumption seem, well, more friendly and inviting?


all photographs © J. Bennett Fitts, from the project industrial landscape(ing)

The industrial landscape(ing) project has been justly recognized for Fitts too in the most recent AP25 (results here) as well as gaining him a nod in PDN 30.

In other tidbits, MediaStorm is now featuring a multimedia film as part of the "Driftless: Stories from Iowa" book by Danny Wilcox Frazier. From the intro:

"The tension of contemporary rural life plays out here: the struggle of a family farm to continue, disenfranchised youth, the slaughterhouse, migrant labor, and the aged fading from Iowa's mythical landscape. Through their stories we gain insight to a way of life that is disappearing, a culture that could be lost forever.
As 'community' continues to be homogenized in zones of urban sprawl across the globe, we must consider all that we are losing—development should not come at the expense of more fragile communities."

Lastly, if you weren't able to make it to NYPH last weekend, no worries; Visura Magazine has you covered. Their newest is a special issue dedicated to works shown at the festival -- lucky for you, 'cause now you can see more of the Stateless project by Seba Kurtis that I keep raving about. I'm sorry to bring it up again but I really really love that project, I think partly because in it I see very powerful themes of (among other things) identity and place and how they shape eachother -- themes which I see slowly developing in my own work as well, and the anthropologist in me with the deep sociology background wants to foster and explore those ideas further.

Good times at the New York Photo Festival over the weekend. Yes they're only at year two so a few hiccups are a given, but all's well that ends well.
I got into town late Wednesday nite and made it via planes, trains, autos, and a ferry to Allison just in time to catch up a bit over a late dinner-- Allison, thanks for the shelter and Adara, thanks for the early morning wakeup calls...
Thursday morning over to the Redux office to say some hellos and sneak a peek at our American Youth book before it makes its official premier. Then its off to Dumbo to meet up with Pomerantz et. al. and make the rounds of the festival exhibitions.
Gotta say that my favorite of the day was the Home for Good show, curated by Jon Levy and Foto8. The show tackled the notion of "home" and the everyday experience particularly in terms of how we interact with photography in that context, and how images in newspapers, magazines, scrapbooks, etc., connect people with issues, emotions and events. Really enjoyed the personal images from UK by Venetia Dearden, sleeping soldiers by Tim Hetherington, and steelworker portraits by Adam Nadel.
© Venetia Dearden

© Tim Hetherington

© Adam Nadel

BUT, the real show-stopper in my mind was the work of Argentinian photographer Seba Kurtis, a highly personal meditation on migration and the shifting sense of home and identity, wherein Kurtis intermixes old family photos from his own personal narrative with images of migrant journeys from Africa to Europe via the Canary Islands (his project Drowned, where, in a clever twist, Kurtis sent his film afloat across the same ocean where thousands of migrants had traveled towards Europe, and not all the photographs survived), or Mexicans heading towards the U.S. (see his project 700 miles).
© Seba Kurtis

Friday started early morning with the "Blogging in the Photography Community" panel, which discussed the good and bad of the flourishing photo blogosphere. In general the discussion seemed to solidify that while there may be something to gain (however slight, or immeasureable) personally with photo blogs in terms of promotion, exposure, or displaying one's own work, the greater good really comes in the way that photo blogs help to form online communities: to create conversations about photography, to share personal artistic journeys, and to combat the potential isolation of working as an individual artist.
Another benefit of the blogs has much to do with the "virtual gallery" it houses, facilitating a database or curatorial function such as used extensively by two of the panelists, Jorg Colberg of Conscientious and Laurel Ptak of i heart photograph.
On the flip side however, all seemed to be in agreement that a major con of the blossoming blog world is that it has created an insatiable demand for continually generating new content on a daily or weekly basis, and many times posts get lost in the shuffle and disappear down towards the bottom of the page. Cara Phillips of Ground Glass raised a crucial question on this point as well: what does it mean for the permanence of artworks and their ability to be displayed online? Food for thought...
Onwards though to Friday nite, the main event for yours truly and the rest of the Redux crew: time for our own panel group and launch party for the American Youth book and exhibition. It was awesome to see that our event drew one of the largest crowds for all of the festival's goings-on. Here's a look at our exhibition at Tobacco Warehouse:





The nite was a great opportunity to meet some cool folks from throughout the photo world (chatting with Paul Shambroom over pizza and beer was definitely a major highlight), and new introductions during our own after-party-party to some of my Redux colleagues whom I hadn't met before. Afterwards moved our crew on over to powerHouse Books for a nitecap or two at the NYPH Awards party -- isn't there something kinda dangerous about having people drinking beer and vodka (oh the vodka!) so close to freshly minted photo books...? I know I witnessed a few close calls...
Saturday in Dumbo saw alot of energy on the streets, and fashion shoots abound throughout the waterfront. Had a chance to chat in greater detail with Kevin Miyazaki (one of the many Redux colleagues I met for the first time this weekend) and the Jackanory himself Andrew Hetherington over Tecates and comida Mexicana before jetting over to see the screening of some new projects by Shambroom (Shrines); Eugene Richards (The Blue Room); Lauren Greenfield (foreclosure photos from CA); Magnum photog Alessandra Sanguinetti (The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams, which I was pleasantly surprised by); photo treatises on Russia by Gerd Ludwig and Donald Weber; and a preview of a Danny Wilcox Frazier film from his Driftless project in Iowa.
Many of these projects I had already seen before, and although it was more moving to see them projected bigger than the experience of hunched over my laptop, a part of me was also disappointed and in hopes that "new work" meant, well, "newer" work that what they had shown, I guess. Which isn't to say that these projects weren't worth seeing -- quite the opposite, because they're all great works -- but it became an issue of expectations (again, one of the little kinks that I think needs to be ironed out before NYPH10).
Altogether a blast of a weekend, nicely topped off with tasty brunch and a fruitful trip to Dashwood Books on Sunday. My only regret was not having enough time to see the Vector Portraits show by Andrew Bush over at Julie Saul Gallery, but New York there's always next time, later this summer.

A few more images from the new personal project. Still trying to figure out if/how these would fit into a narrative, but there's something in them that definitely resonates.




In my mind, their end result partly reminds me of the Buried project by British photographer Stephen Gill (all works below © Stephen Gill), the main distinction being that I think Gill's process is much more deliberate, whereas mine was strictly serendipitous.

Some images from a new, highly personal, side project I started working on over the winter, still in the very very early (read: infant) stages. More photos and explanations coming soon, but for now operating under the working title "Happiness Is"

The newest assignment in the 50 States Project came out last week, on the theme of Habitat. Go here to see all the photos from that group, and go here to see images from the previous assignment, People, if you didn't catch those yet.
A few gems that caught my eye from the Habitat series:

"Untitled" (Nebraska), © Bradley Peters

"Dan and his friend, Selena in their home in Sowebo, Baltimore" (Maryland), © Jack Radcliffe

"A House Divided" (Kansas), © Larry Schwarm

"Untitled" (Missouri), © Carmen Troesser

A few more blurbs about the American Youth project, the upcoming book from us at Redux: PDN has a write-up in the newest May issue (see here), and friend/inspirator/blogosphere big leaguer Andrew Hetherington aka Jackanory has a post here including a Q&A with our own Jasmine DeFoore. Check them out, and again if you're in New York this upcoming week for NYPH, come see the exhibition at Tobacco Warehouse throughout the festival, don't miss the book launch party (RSVP required!) Friday nite at St. Ann's Warehouse -- AND, definitely make some time Friday morning to go to the "Blogging and the Photography Community" panel discussion featuring Jackanory himself as well as other heavyweights Jorg Colberg aka Conscientious, Cara Phillips aka Ground Glass, Laurel Ptak aka i heart photograph, and Brian Ulrich aka Not If But When.

Also wanted to share some work from the German photographer Dorothee Deiss, a recent grad of the Ostkreuzschule for photography and design in Berlin. I had come across her photos a while ago and bookmarked her page, but only just the other day had the time to finally go through the entire website. I was most struck by her project As if Nothing Happened, where she photographed traces of the Berlin Wall, both in its meandering physical path as well as its psychological passage through the people who lived in its shadow.
Deiss writes in her intro:
"The wall was removed, the cleared area built upon or turned into idyllic recreation space and generally taken over by day-to-day life at a swift pace. The scenes and stories experienced there could be seen anywhere. It is as if nothing happened. The absurdity of this normality, the invisibility of the death sector, the forgetfulness of the past were the reasons why I set out on this path. On the one hand, I wanted to look for remnants from the time before, seek out witnesses; I also was hoping to get an impression of to what extent the cultures and mentalities have been assimilated to each other, inwardly and outwardly, and how people nowadays have claimed this no-man's-land for themselves...In many places the neighbors, suddenly no longer separated, had connected. But I also found many who still lived on the other side of a now invisible wall, with the enemy on the other side."
"It is terrible and wonderful at the same time how fast life lets grass grow over history. But the scars remain."(all photos © Dorothee Deiss, from the series As if Nothing Happened)

Come on down and join us in two weeks, Friday 15 May, at the launch for the "American Youth" book project, by myself and the other photographers of Redux. Party plus panel discussion from 6-730pm, and the exhibition will be shown from 13-17 May as part of the New York Photo Festival. My understanding is that the launch party is free but you must RSVP; however, to see the larger exhibition as part of NYPH you'll have to purchase a festival ticket here.

Meanwhile, this weekend the place to be is South Philly, as badass Zoe Strauss continues her annual I-95 show, rain or shine, at the highway underpass near Front / Mifflin sts. All the info here.

Back from a whirlwind trip through D.C. and totally exhausted, but wanted to throw out some thank-yous to some folks there, so many actually that it might take a double-fisted cheers to acknowledge everyone:
--to the various photo editors who cleared some time in their schedules to meet with me
--to Noah for graciously allowing me his spare futon to crash on for a few nites
--to Stephen for insights on the working photo world in D.C. (nice to meet you)
--to Andy for the retreat to the Tune Inn in Capitol Hill and some Natty Boh (welcome to Redux, amigo)
--to Pat for a quick visit, congrats on your wedding and ridiculous beard
--to Bill for good conversation, however brief it may be
--to Glenn for the comfy couch and the iPhone photo above of the mini High Life from Quarry House Tavern, a cool little subterranean dive in the basement of an Indian restaurant in his 'hood

Got back from the WDC just in time to catch up with some of my locals before taking Jennie to the Beachland to see French Kicks (we've got a history together), and wouldn't you know it the next day they were headed to Cincinnati just like we were, so why not make it two French Kicks gigs in as many nites? Give these guys a listen:


But just so you don't get the wrong impression and think its all about the booze and music and parties, this is still a photography blog after all. And in fact, on this my 100th blogpost I've decided that I want to dedicate more time talking about the work of other photographers instead of mostly my own. So from time to time I'll try to bring some links and features of photographers whose work I admire, in no particular order or hierarchy.
So without further adieu, coinciding with my D.C. jaunt, may I direct you to the work of Richard Ross and his project Architecture of Authority, which is also now being exhibited in D.C. at the National Building Museum.
Ross' large-format images address how physical architecture can assert power over the individual and dictate our experiences within its confines. His project takes the viewer on a journey through a diverse range of cold, imposing spaces including Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, FBI and Secret Service headquarters, interrogation rooms, detention centers, prisons, churches, and, in a funny twist I'm sure we can all relate to in an everyday sense: the local DMV. Ultimately the overriding themes are those of surveillance, repression and control.
This notion of the physical (or architectural) embodiment of power, whether manifest in behemoth social and governmental institutions or in the so-called "soft power" we situationally encounter in our daily lives, is a certain trait that Ross' work also shares with photographer Paul Shambroom, whose book "Picturing Power" and other projects I've written about here many times before.

Some work from a recent series of shoots for the Wall Street Journal, on a story about the role of artists colonizing blighted urban neighborhoods, buying up cheap real estate through foreclosed homes and studio/gallery spaces in vacant retail storefronts. Go here for the article and photo slideshow.The article talks about Cleveland and Detroit (among other cities like St. Louis and Buffalo) as not only Rust Belt icons of the economic recession's effects nationally, but also more importantly as cities who can serve as noble experiments in this process of artistic revitalization.
Ultimately I was a bit perplexed with some of the crop jobs done on my images, but so it goes sometimes and the more important thing was that these stories are being told, and there's some very talented and inspiring people involved in these movements that I was grateful to have a chance to meet and collaborate with--
Michael and Sunia from Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood were gracious hosts and very patient with their time (even though unfortunately I was too rushed with mine), they've both got some paintings and musical works that are a must-see, and Michael tells me a new website is on the way too.
Big thanks to Sarah and crew at Arts Collinwood for steering me through the neighborhood and introducing me to so many awesome folks. They've got some good stuff going on in the community and in their gallery, stay posted.
Also to the artist Scott Hocking in Detroit for setting aside an entire afternoon to talk about art, the city, and a million other great conversations while showing me the inside track to much of the now oft-documented decay in Detroit. Check out Scott's website to see some of his past projects and installation works, they're really poignant and powerful.
Last but certainly not least a hearty "kudos" and "get well soon" to Angie and her gang over at Rust Wire for picking up the WSJ story and adding it to their already stellar database of crucial information (a healthy dose of both original content and aggregated news stories) about the state of the Rust Belt. If you haven't seen this site yet, I'd definitely recommend adding it to your list of regular readings. They're really providing an invaluable resource for documenting and understanding this region and working towards common goals in places like Cleveland, Youngstown, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, St. Louis and more. Keep it up!
This was one of those stories that, despite its complexities, I really loved working on because its so close to home not only geographically but mentally -- there's something intangible and almost indescribable, yet undeniable, about having roots here in the Rust Belt that sticks in your blood (the topic of much discussion between myself and Scott when I photographed him for the Detroit part of the article). And so as a fellow artist invested in the urban environment around me, to be able to take part in working on such stories that I think are really crucial to this region, is really motivating and rewarding particularly when you get to surround yourself with creative people like the ones listed above, who share similar goals and concerns and passions.