Shout Outs

Check out this interesting blog of Prison Photography by Pete Brook. There is a lot of strong work compiled there. I was especially impressed with the work of Melania Comoretto on Women Prisoners.



(c) Melania Comoretto


Andrew Phelps has a forthcoming book on his stunning new work from Japan titled Not Niigata and a special edition to boot.





Head over o NYU to see Will Steacy's exhibition of his engaging and dramatic new project Down these Mean Streets.








Ian Van Coller has an exhibition of his work in Philadelphia at Sol Mednick Gallery, University of the Arts. The show is titled Looking Forward, Portraits of South African Women. It is sure to be a great show as I love the portraits he has done of domestic workers in South Africa.








and to Tom Sachs for making this...

Thomas meets his cover

Fall River, MA. June 13, 2009

Richard Renaldi traces transitions in 'Fall River Boys' by Mark Feeney

Check this...

I recently emailed an introduction and a link to some of my recent work to the NY Times Lens Blog. I received this rejection email in a very large and bold font - "Thanks much for considering the Lens blog, but we currently don't have space for such projects. Your ability is apparent, though, and I would suggest you continue to send your projects to us -- but if I may make a suggestion: refraining from shots where the subject is looking at the camera will increase your chances of us wanting to do something with your work." I thought it was so funny that I had to post it here. Beware photographers that look into their subjects eyes!

Postscript:
Looks like someone at the Times was listening. Thanks for the shout out Lens Blog. I have also recently received a personal apology from the the editor who explained to me that it was a clerk answering emails that wrote that email (which is as I figured but nevertheless it is very nice to have been apologized to.)

June's 19th century photograph

Japanese Prostitutes of the 19th Century
photographer and date unknown

Book Signing at the Fall River Historical Society Fall River, MA. June 13 12:00 - 2:30

John and his zen sand patch

We met this lovely character out at Revere Beach on Sunday. He was very much committed to bringing the art of sand raking to his neighborhood urban beach. How cool is that...






Revere Beach Boston June 7, 2009

Testimonials about Fall River Boys… from Fall River Boys…

This two emails really touched me.

“I bought the book last week, and I just wanted to let you know that I think you did a really nice job. The photos look great. I often see work by photographers on the underclass, on the outcasts of society that treats the people in the images as foreign or exotic — sometimes reduced to objects. Being from Fall River, maybe I’m overly sensitive to this approach, but that never comes across in your work. There’s a real humanity here. With respect to your main theme, someone could walk down a neighborhood of the kind that’s abundant in a place like Fall River, see these boys, and just see thugs. What they don’t see is that the tattoos, the clothes, the smirks are often masks for deeper insecurities. They’re trying to be men, but a lot of them just don’t know how. I think you’ve captured that.”
-Kyle Marum

“I just found out about your book from my roommate. I just want to let you know that the book looks amazing. Me myself a 19 year old born and raised in the riv could totally relate to the photos, shit I grew up with a lot of those kids. I could name a bunch of them, a couple I am actually good friends with. Those photos bring me back to the days, a couple years ago walking in the rain to work after school. Ice cold, totally gives outsiders a view of life in Fall River.”
- Ellis Rua

Getting Goofy

Not sure if it is due to the recession or what but last week I saw two really funny scenes on the streets of New York.
The first "incident" was a man walking along Union Square West with a cat on his head. The cat was completely calm and perfectly balanced and as you expect this being NY this did not seem to attract much attention. The other pecular incident happened the very next afternoon - a man walking another man on a leash. Mind you this is the west village but not any particular event was going on that day - just a master walking his slave...

2:53 PM F Train between East Broadway and York Streets

Richard Renaldi at Toale Projects

If you happen to be in the Boston area please join us for a pop-up exhibition of Fall River Boys and signing this coming weekend at Toale Projects at 450 Harrison Avenue.
The dates and times are Friday June 5 5:30-7:30 and Saturday June 6 11:00-3:00

Images of the Lucha Libre in Mexico 1940-2007

On Sunday I found myself visiting a very cool public park that was once the Monterrey Steel Foundry Company Complex in Monterrey, Mexico (where I was on an assignment). I entered one of the buildings that had been turned into an arts complex and to my amazement and good fortune there was a fantastic photography exhibition of the Lucha Libre. This the day after I stumbled across an actual fight club called Huracán Super Bar and photographed a young wrestler and the amazing club (see two posts below). The Lucha Libre are Mexican wrestlers and they often wear elaborate cartoonish masks. It was a thoughtfully mounted exhibition with many stunning images and I am so happy that I stumbled upon it - times when that happens are such a treat. I took photos of the photographs and thought to share them here.



John O' Leary
1981
Córdova, Veracruz



John O' Leary



Arturo Ortega Navarrete
1970
El Rostro



Juan El Charro Espinosa
1960
Irma González



unfortunately I missed the caption information on this one - apologies.



Photographer Unknown
1980



Graciela Iturbide
1980
Jano, Ocumicho, Michoacán



Photographer Unknown
Stunning!



Juan El Charro Espinosa
1940
El Hombre Montaña



Arturo Ortega Navarrete
1960
Rodolfo Galindo El Cavernario en su zapatería



Rafael Doniz
1980
De la serie Nayari Cora

Ink at Sea

My friend Charles referred me to an article and slideshow in the Times today about an exhibition on Tattoos and the American Sailor at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. I can't wait to check it out.


Photo: Independence Seaport Museum



Photo: Tattoo Archive, Winston-Salem, N. C.

Monterrey, Mexico - May 23, 2009

new Touching Strangers

Angel and Sandy Palm Springs 2009

photographer with subject, with object, wearing object of subject

I was reminded of this photograph the other night and wanted to post it here. It is an image of me and author Gay Talese at the opening of The First ICP Triennial of Photography and Video in 2003. I had some images in the show from my series Madison Avenue Portraits and the image I shot of Mr. Talese was one that was selected for the show. I was really happy that he showed up for the opening and snagged his signature hat for this memorable photo. A funny side story is I was out hustling my work to photo editors around this same time and one of the editors I was showing this particular body of work saw the photo of Gay Talese and said "that's my dad." Indeed it was Catherine Talese photo editor and daughter of Gay Talese!

ICP NY, NY 2003

Charles Lane Press offering free shipping throughout May

Eating in LA

I've been meaning to post about the great food scene in LA for since I was last there a couple of months ago. Needless to say there is an endless variety of inexpensive eating options from across the global food palette. Here are a handful of the highlights from my last trip.

Tamales

Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe, 2122 West Seventh Street


Shrimp Tostada (the absoulte hands down highlight)

El Mar Azul Tostada Truck - 4702 N Figueroa St - Sycamore Grove Park Highland Park, CA


Kimchi Stew

Byul Gobchang 3819 West 6th Street


Burrito al Pastor

Tacos Mexico corner of Broadway and 9th Streets


Spicy Hot Wings

Kyochon Chicken 3833 W 6th St


mmmm Donuts...

Randy's Donuts 805 West Manchester Ave.

Panel Discussion at the New York Photo Festival

Brooklyn, New York

Artist-Publisher:
Mass Produced for Mass Dissemination
Panel Discussion

Thursday, May 14, 2009
5:00 pm

FREE with Festival Admission

New York Photo Festival
St. Ann's Warehouse
38 Water Street
Brooklyn, New York
(718) 254-8779

The panel discussion series, Aperture Presents, premiers with acclaimed NYPH08 curator and Aperture publisher, Lesley A. Martin, moderating the discussion Artist-Publisher: Mass Produced for Mass Dissemination. Participants will include Jason Fulford and Leanne Shapton (J&L Books); Richard Renaldi (Charles Lane Press); and others to be announced.

The second annual New York Photo Festival, founded by Daniel Power and Frank Evers, is an initiative of powerHouse Books. For the second year, the festival features Aperture Presents, a series of panel discussions curated by Aperture's editors. Panels will take place every day from 5 to 6 pm. Visit our booth in the powerHouse arena to see new books and limited-edition photographs exclusively from Aperture.

Exclusive Aperture discount: Receive 10% off all NYPH tickets when purchased through the NYPH website. Use coupon code "APERT10" during checkout to receive this special discount.

Photographer Friends

I love my photographer friends. Here are some of them...

Dawoud Bey



Elinor Carucci



Shen Wei



Nelson Chan



Flemming Ove Bech