Photography: "The Alignment of Fleeting Specificities"

Alec Soth posted something on Instagram recently that was worth saving and remembering. Here was the text, and the 2 images follow:

2002


2019

Review Santa Fe

I recently got a catalog for "Review Santa Fe" in the mail. I was one of a 100 photographers who took part in this event 14 years ago (before I was blogging). Here's a bit from their website regarding what it is:

CENTER’s premier juried portfolio review event, the Review Santa Fe Photo Festival, is a weekend conference and festival for photographers who have created a documentary project or fine art series and who are seeking audience expansion, critical discussion and community gathering in a unique place.

[...]

This special weekend festival has been called one of the most effective professional development programs for photographers in the world. The reviewers and the 100 Photographers travel from around the world to take part. Hosting over 1,000 one-on-one portfolio reviews with curators, editors, publishers and international festival directors who each year come to Santa Fe to view the photographic vanguard.

I was lucky enough to get accepted right out of grad school, and I even was given a travel grant/scholarship to attend (most likely partly due to a great letter that Alec Soth wrote for me). Inside the magazine that recently came in the mail, they shared a listing of participants over the years, and I found my name:

The 2005 crew.


There I am!

Advice from Alex Soth

I came across this article in Format magazine nearly 2 years ago, but I had it buried until now. It's some quick "no nonsense" advice from Alec Soth:

Film or digital?

Alec Soth: Use whatever tools that best suit the project.

Social media: For personal updates or professional work?

Use social media if you feel like it, but not out of a sense of obligation.

Travel: A good way to start new projects?

Travel can be a way to avoid distraction and heighten engagement, but it can also be a crutch.

What’s the best way to approach strangers to take their portrait?

As Wegee said, ‘If you want to be a professional, you can’t be a Nice Nelly.’

Should photographers have a diverse body of work—portraits, landscapes and still lives—or just stick to one thing?

Having limitations is essential, just don’t box yourself into a corner.

Your project with writer Brad Zellar, The LBM Dispatch is a secondary outlet for your work. Would you recommend other photographers to start a project like this?

One of the things I like about photography is that you can have dozens of outlets: books, magazines, galleries, websites, etc. It’s a good exercise to maintain ownership of some of these outlets, but I would find it extremely limiting to put all of my eggs in my own basket.

Part of The LBM Dispatch is collaborating with Zellar. What’s the benefit of building a creative partnership?

Photography seems like a solitary art form, but all art eventually requires some form of dialog and collaboration. Building strong relationships makes your work better.

What’s the differences between presenting work in mediums: books, exhibitions, magazines, etc.

Everything changes by virtue of the context in which it is seen. I see my role as a photographer as not just making pictures, but as engaging with the contextual relationship of their distribution.

Do you plan and research your ideas before starting a project?

I think of planning my work similarly to planning for a road trip. I like to know that there are hotels and restaurants where I’m going, but I don’t like to book too many reservations in advance. I want to feel free to wander around the outline.

Do you have any lasting advice for staying creative, inspired, focused and productive?

Never stop working. When things get tough, try to remember the first time you got excited about making stuff.

"Winter 2016" at Weinstein

This afternoon, I took my Digital Photo II class from Hamline to the Weinstein Gallery in south Minneapolis. I hadn't been there to see a show for a while, and this show was packed with big names. So we had to check it out. Here are a few snaps of our visit:

Looking at some lesser-known Annie Leibovitz photos.
(These aren't the style of images that I picture when I think of her work.)


Some classic Mole and Thomas images on the left, and some quirky Elliott Erwitt's on the right.


Mapplethorpe.


Soth.


I've been a fan of Vera Lutter for many years, so it was great to see some of her
one-of-a-kind pinhole paper negatives. My class was intrigued.


Edward Burtynsky had some beautiful images that entranced my students.


Some newer Alec Soth work.

It was a great show. It's up for another 3 weeks, so check it out.

Random Thoughts of Late December

If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been making much work lately. Well.... I haven’t been making any work lately. I’ve been sending work out, applying to contests, etc, but I haven’t picked up a camera in a serious manner since my residency in Red Wing.

And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Spring semester I’m signed up to teach 5 DIFFERENT classes. It will help with the hope of a new home for Sarah and I in the next few months, but it won’t help my photo life. Or my sanity.

Don’t get me wrong - I really like teaching. I initially went to graduate school with the intent of teaching afterward. But now I feel like I’m not doing my photography career justice. I feel like if I could devote more time to making and promoting photos, I could go somewhere with my work instead of using my work as a way to get teaching jobs. But spending much more time on my photo career could be a pretty big gamble, and for how open-minded I am, I’m still a realist. And the realistic part of me says “Don’t squander your time away making pretty pictures.” I don’t know.

Speaking of making lots of work, check out Alec Soth’s photo blog. And, go get his (fairly) new book, Niagara. His work is great, and he’s simply a superb fella.

More About Winning the Golden Light Award!

About one week ago, I was informed that I had won the Maine Photographic Workshops Golden Light Award Grand Prize in the Photographic Project Award Program. A few days later, I was informed that I had also won their Annual Photographic Print Competition in the Social Document category. There will be a show in Rockport, Maine that will showcase 4 prints each from different photographers around the world. They asked me to send 7 images. And one of my images, Homecoming Queen, was chosen as the frontpiece for the show! (This was also the piece that won the award in the Social Document category.) Below are the 7 pieces that made it into the show:

Winning the GLA Grand Prize didn’t put any cash in my pocket (unfortunately), but I did win a spot in this great exhibition that will go up shortly. I also won some great prizes (many of which only fellow photo geeks will appreciate):

• $1,700.00 grant in tuition and fees to attend a Master Class at The Workshops
• Two-hour consultation with Photo Consultant Mary Virginia Swanson
• Leica C-LUX 1 digital camera (Black)
• Gitzo G1327 tripod & G1378M head from Bogen
• Gift certificate to Modern Postcard for 500 4 1/4 X 6 postcards
• Crumper photo bag
• Gift certificate to Archival Methods for $100.00
• One-year subscription to LensWork

I won a few more things for winning the Social Document category as well.

Check out the press release announcing the Award Winners (local Twin Cities photographer [and photo Rock Star] Alec Soth took home the Book of the Year Award for his book Niagara).