Exhibition Announcement - APG Selects 2024 - Opening September 17th

August 27, 2024

I am honored that the above print is included in the Selects 2024 exhibition which will open next month at the Atlanta Photography Group gallery.

The exhibition was curated by Aline Smithson who is a photographer, educator and founder of Lenscratch.

The Atlanta Photography Group describes Selects 2024 as an open-themed showcase that celebrates the diverse world of fine art photography, encompassing a wide range of subjects, cultures, and the global landscape. In the selection process, Smithson considered how the images worked in conversation with one another. She worked through 634 images submitted by 125 artists to choose 50 for Aline Smithson Selects 2024.

All work in this exhibition will be considered for the APG/Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Purchase Award, a $3,000 prize which is made possible through a generous grant from Edwin Robinson and Julin Maloof, in honor of Gloria and Ted Maloof. Lisa Volpe, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will make the decision for the museum purchase award.

The Opening Reception will be a hybrid event on September 28, 2024 6:00-9pm ET, with Ms. Smithson and Ms. Volpe in attendance, and featuring a juror/artist talk beginning at 7:00pm ET.

The Image

This is the first time I have exhibited this image which I photographed this past March in Chicago.

I first traveled to Chicago to photograph in 1987. In the past 37 years I have photographed in Chicago more than any other city outside of Southern California. On my trip to Chicago this year, I encountered a noticeable population of recent migrants from South and Central America, something I had never seen there before on such a big scale.

I learned that since 2022, ~38,000 mostly South American immigrants have arrived in Chicago, from our southern border. The people I saw all had new winter wardrobes, and many were asking for money or selling candy. I usually don’t interact with people I photograph on the street, but in this case, I knew it would be wrong to assume their situation and I needed to know the truth. The people were reluctant to speak at first, but luckily my limited Spanish knowledge was enough to gain some trust. They said they had arrived from Venezuela and Ecuador three months before. I saw resiliency in the eyes of the kids, while the parents seemed completely unprepared for their new environment.

Photojournalists have documented the situation at the US/Mexico Border in great depth, but I think the story of the migrant population assimilating into our communities across the US is even more important and also needs to be told. Hopefully this image, along with more of my images, will help spark further conversation on these people and their situation.

The Print:

The exhibition print has an image size of 24” x 16” which is the largest sized exhibition print I have produced so far in an edition (I have produced some larger prints for commercial clients). This print is on a sheet of 26” x 18” Hahnemȕhle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth paper, framed with a window matt to an external size of approximately 31” x 27”. The print has an edition of 9 for this image size.

The print was made, and framed by, by Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta who I have been using to produce all my large print editions. Owner Barry Glustoff is fantastic to work with and his lab is one of the top certified printers of Canson and Hahnemȕhle papers in the world.

***Published by Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Author - Lisa Volpe (2023)***

America and Other Myths - Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955

October 24, 2023

I went into my favorite hometown bookstore, Vroman’s in Pasadena, on Monday for something and before I left, I checked out the Photography section for any new book arrivals. I was surprised to see they already had a copy of America and Other Myths - Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955 so I grabbed it. I follow the author, Lisa Volpe so I knew the exhibition was opening at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and that the book/exhibition catalogue had just been released. I thought Vroman’s might get the book in stock before the end of the year, but I never expected to see it on their shelf within two weeks of its release. I like to support Vroman’s because they are independent, and they took care of me when I released my first book.

The exhibition, and this accompanying catalogue, compare the work of photographers Todd Webb and Robert Frank who received separate Guggenheim Fellowships in 1955 to document the United States. Robet Frank’s photographs were published in book form in France in 1958 then in the US in 1960. The book, The Americans, is arguably one of the most iconic photography books of all time. Webb’s 1955 photographs were not widely seen and were basically lost for some time before being rediscovered in a collector’s basement. In 2017 Webb’s 1955 photographs were obtained by Todd Webb’s Archive which began the archiving process of the images. Curator Lisa Volpe became aware of the Webb photographs around the time they made it to the Webb Archive and then had the vision to curate this exhibition comparing Webb’s unknown work Frank’s iconic body of work.

I became familiar with the Lisa Volpe, who is the Associate Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston, a year ago when she selected two of my photographs for an exhibition in Atlanta. During the submission process I researched Lisa online and found a couple videos of her talking about photography. Lisa has so much passion for photography and that energy comes across when she talks about the medium. I have followed her ever since.

I have seen Lisa’s recent posts about the exhibition America and Other Myths and the pending release of book/exhibition catalogue. The concept and images looked so fantastic that I have even been considering a trip to Houston to see it. I don’t know if I will make that happen but at least I have a copy of the book know so I know how good this exhibition probably is. But this post is a book review so let me get on with that.

Review of the Book:

The book was published by Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. As stated above the author is Lisa Volpe - Associate Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston. The book was released this month and contains 184 Pages, is 10.00” x 10.70”, has 115 duotone images, and was printed in China. Directors’ Forwards were provided by Gary Tinterow - Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair - The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Betsy Evan Hunt - Executive Director of the Todd Webb Archive. Novelist and Professor Susan Straight provided the afterword.

The book is outstanding in every aspect. The design is obviously the first impression with any book. I love the cover image; it represents what it to come well and I like the font selection. The book is a really good size, you can hold it easily if you are lounging, so it has intimacy, but the book is also a little bigger than some other books which allows the images to be bigger so you can see more details in the image reproductions. The duotone printing is very good, the images are beautiful, and the printing quality also helps with seeing the image details. I absolutely love the page design where the image information is on the same page as the photograph, in a font that is easy to read but does not interfere with the experience of looking at the image. I made a point to do the same thing with my Santa Anita book because I always hate hunting through the back of the book to find the information about an image. With the writings, the text spacing is good, the font size is easy to read, and it has a nice font style.

There is an incredible amount of written information in this book. I don’t mean there is page upon page of reading to do to get through before seeing the photographs, that would have been a negative for me. What I mean is everyone who contributed text wrote in a way to share interesting facts about the photographers and their journeys in a wonderfully entertaining, clear, and concise manner. I obviously just brought this book home and have only read the introductions and skimmed the other text, but even with that I have learned so much about both photographers that I never knew. The story of how Webb’s 1955 photographs were rescued from a basement and preserved before ultimately being shared with the world now is amazing. The in-depth examination of both photographers and how they approached their Guggenheim projects is incredible. I look forward to spending a lot more time with this book to learn even more. Volpe’s writing style conveys her passion for the project and Susan Straight’s afterword is a nice compliment to the images and is very appropriate. Normally I wouldn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the Bibliography, Index, and Credits but again there is so much good information here about the images and the exhibition it is worth noting. Lisa and her team documented everything about this project, she could have been a good Detective with her skillset.

The image selection and the sequencing in the catalogue are again, outstanding. I have really started paying attention to how curators edit then hang their exhibitions over recent years. The curator’s process is often far more creative than the average museum visitor realizes. The pairings in the book are interesting, they work, and again I like being able to glance down to see which photographer created each image. Like most photographers, I was well aware of Robert Frank’s work in the exhibition, and I always find value in revisiting it. Like the rest of the world, except those involved in this project, I had never seen this body of Webb’s work before. In reading the descriptions in the book it appears that most all of Webb’s prints in the exhibition are Inkjet Prints printed this year. I assume that means Lisa and Betsy had to go through negatives and digitize images as part of the curatorial process. If so that makes the accomplishment of this exhibition even more impressive.

Image Showcase:

This photograph above of a barber in New Mexico has been on my mind ever since I saw it. The light in this image is amazing, as was Webb’s ability to capture it. I don’t know if there are words good enough to describe the quality of this image, this image doesn’t need words. Thank you, Lisa, for including it.

Two of my photographs compared two images from the book:

William Karl Valentine - NY-061 #07 9/5/00

Todd Webb - 1955

William Karl Valentine - CA-087 #17 5/29/95

Robert Frank - 1956

I had learned from Szarkowski’s book on Garry Winogrand that both Winogrand and Robert Frank had photographed the Father Serra statue in Los Angeles, even though all of them thought the statue was of Saint Francis. Because I knew they both had photographed something close to home, in 1995, I decided to search for the statue and also photograph it. I have written a previous blog post about all that whole process and how the statue had been moved. In September of 2000, almost exactly one year before the attack on the World Trade Center, I was in New York and captured the image above from the Empire State Building. At the time the person looking up at the claw railing had good value but after the attacks the the image became more powerful, and deeper for me. I don’t ever recall seeing Webb’s photograph from my exact same vantage point before, so I was excited to discover this image in the book this week, immediately realizing we had been in the same spot, just 45 years apart. I always find it interesting when I have the opportunity to photograph somewhere, or something, that a great photographer has. There is a unique connection and I like comparing the changes over time, or the lack of changes; it can be fascinating.

Conclusion:

If you like photography books you will love adding this book to your collection. For the $50 price, it is a great value. Every time you revisit this book you can come away with new experiences and knowledge, it truly is outstanding.

Additional Information:

Yale Press had links to a half hour podcast of Lisa Volpe being interviewed about the book which was fantastic as well as a half minute You Tube video of page turns showing off the book. Links are below.

Lisa Volpe - Yale podcast interview about the exhibition

Yale Press - You Tube book reveal (less than 30 seconds)

At the APG 2022 Selects opening with High Museum Curator Gregory Harris who curated the Selects exhibition. 10-20-22

Atlanta Photography Group - 2022 Selects - Gregory Harris, Curator

December 9, 2022

In October I flew to Atlanta for the opening of the Atlanta Photography Group’s Gregory Harris Selects 2022 exhibition.

This exhibition was APG’s feature exhibition for Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) 2022, the month-long, citywide photography festival. The Exhibition was open themed and juried by Gregory Harris, the Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

APG’s Program Director Nicole LeCorgne introduces Gregory Harris at the opening on October 20th.

I have been a member of APG for several years and this was the fourth APG exhibition I have had work featured in. Concurrent to this exhibition I also had two photographs up at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in APG’s annual airport show, which was juried by Lisa Volpe the Associate Curator of Photography at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. I also had a photograph in the APG’s 2022 Street Photography exhibition, curated by Henry Horenstein, which proceeded this exhibition. I have been so impressed with how professional everyone at APG is and the list of guest jurors they have brought in the last few years is amazing. So having the opportunity to see my photographs up in two separate exhibitions, and to also meet a curator like Gregory Harris, I jumped on a flight and headed to Atlanta. This was also an opportunity for me to visit Atlanta for the first time and explore a region of our country I need to get to know better.

I was honored as soon as I found out Gregory selected my photographs for the exhibition. I knew Gregory has an impressive curatorial resume and focuses on documentary photography when I submitted work for consideration. I also knew the High Museum has a prominent photography collection. Below his is statement about the exhibition:

The photographs gathered here are all straightforward pictures that respond to the wonders of quotidian human experience —the abiding pleasures of family and friends, the unexpected beauty of our built environment, the sheer marvel of the natural world—yet plumbing the depths of ordinary life offers boundless possibility for revelation. What links these seemingly disparate images is that their makers felt very little need to overly orchestrate them, and each was masterful at turning the most mundane situations into discretely poetic records of simply what was there before their cameras. – Gregory Harris

When I landed in Atlanta the day before the opening and immediately went to see the airport exhibition after getting my luggage, it was nice to finally see the space since I have had photographs in the airport exhibition twice now. The next day I went to the Atlanta Photography Group in the morning to see the exhibition before the opening. The APG space is outstanding, it has great linear wall space with a high ceiling and is laid out perfectly for a gallery. I was also happy to see that both of my photographs had prominent positioning in the center of the primary wall. I knew then I had made the right decision to fly back for the opening.

Going to see the exhibition early also gave me the opportunity to really get to know Nicole LeCorgne who is APG’s Program Director and a Curator. It was fantastic having so much time to learn about APG, the Atlanta photography community, and Nicole’s photography background.

Nicole LeCorgne, Caroline Hollingsworth, Beth Lilly, and William Karl Valentine

At the opening I was able to meet several APG’s board members and other long-time members who helped lay the foundation for this outstanding group. This gave me the chance to go to dinner with Benjamin Dimmitt, Mark Caceres, Peter Essick, Chip Standifer, and Beth Lilly after the opening. It was exciting to learn more about how vibrant the Atlanta photography community is and to just spend the time talking about the medium. The APG membership has a strong core of established photographers as well as many young emerging photographers, it is a nice mix. For example, I heard 22-year-old Joshua Walls tell us this was his first prominent exhibition when he spoke during the opening. For me, this was my 50th exhibition. The only thing I missed out on this trip was being able to meet APG Executive Director and Curator Donna Garcia in person because she had to be out of town that week. I have corresponded with Donna numerous times coordinating submissions and she has always been so helpful and professional. Donna is obviously taking APG to the next level.

Holding my photograph from the Street Photography exhibition which preceded the 2022 Selects exhibition. All three photographs were printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag ULTRASMOOTH Fine Art Paper and framed by Digital Arts Studio.

I also need to mention Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta and owner Barry Glustoff. I have used DAS to print and frame the photographs for both of my APG exhibitions this year. Their product is outstanding, they made the deadlines, and their fees were very appropriate. I am thankful for their work in really helping my images stand out. Digital Arts Studio is a qualified Hahnemuhle FineArt Certified Studio, one of fewer than two dozen in the United States as well as an accredited Canson Certified Lab and it shows in their product.

The Exhibition ran from October 17th to November 17th, 2022, and included the following participating artists:

Allison Plass
Beate Sass
Benjamin Dimmitt
Dana Weiss
Daniel Raniner
Ellen Mertins
Gwen Julia
Jo Ann Chaus
John Prince
Joshua Walls
Louis Leon

Mark Caceres
Nancy Marshall
Nate Mathews
Peter Essick
Reid Childers
Ross Landenberger
Seth Cook
Stephanie Hanlon
Willard Pate
William Karl Valentine
Zak Henderson

First exhibition for “Ponyhenge”. Photographed off of a rural road in Lincoln, Massachusetts and now displayed in the busiest airport in the world, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Last look before flying home on 10-22-22.

Atlanta Airport Exhibition 2022

November 28, 2022

2022 is the second consecutive year I have had two photographs on display in the Atlanta Photography Group’s Airport Exhibition. This year I also had two photographs in the Atlanta Photography Group’s Selects Exhibition, in APG’s gallery space, concurrent with the Airport show, so I decided to fly to Atlanta last month to see both exhibitions and finally visit Atlanta for the first time.

I had never seen photographs of the Airport exhibition space before, but I had a rough idea of where the space in the airport based on its description. I knew it was outside of security in a food court area. After landing I got my luggage and went looking for the exhibition, luckily it was near by the baggage carousels. There are 30 photographs in the 2022 Airport Show by 22 different photographers. The exhibition was curated by Lisa Volpe who is the Associate Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The prints are uniform in size because of the framing constraints, and they are displayed on four columns within the Central Atrium. My photographs were on a column in front of the Atlanta Chop House; I am sure everyone who knows me would say this is an appropriate location for me and my work. The column had four panels with two photographs on each panel. Below are details of my photographs, the Central Atrium area, and finally a slide show highlighting all the photographs in the exhibition. As I stated in early blog posts about this exhibition, I am honored that Lisa Volpe selected my two photographs to be part of this exhibition. I am thankful that the Atlanta Photography Group arranges this exhibition annually and that they are able to secure top curators, like Lisa, for the selection process. After visiting the space and seeing the exhibition I am even more proud that my photographs are being displayed with so many other strong images, in such a unique space, with so much daily traffic. This exhibition runs through January 25th, 2023.

Slideshow of all 30 prints in the exhibition:

Atlanta Airport Exhibition 2022 Exhibition Announcement

September 6, 2022

I am proud to announce that I have two photographs in the Atlanta Photography Group’s annual Airport Show which opens later this month at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Juror Lisa Volpe selected 30 photographs, from over 500 images which were submitted, to exhibit in the central atrium of the airport. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport with an average of 260,000 visitors a day. In 2019 Atlanta had 53.485,000 total visitors, the next closest airport was LAX at 42,880,000.

The 2022 Airport Exhibition is scheduled to be up September 22nd, 2022, to January 25th, 2023, and this is the second, consecutive year, I have exhibited two photographs in the APG’s Airport Exhibition.

My two included photographs are from two different series. The above image (PPD- 057 #14) is one of my favorite images from my Pasadena Police Department portfolios. I photographed Officer Kevin Hall on December 1st, 1985, at the Do Dah Parade in Pasadena. This parade is a spoof on the annual Rose Parade and the mid 1980’s was when the parade was at its height of popularity. I have always seen this image as symbolic of all the different threats and unique incidents that police officers encounter daily.

The image below (BOS DSC 8022 March 6th, 2021) is from a trip to Boston last year when I discovered Ponyhenge in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The link is to my blog post detailing that experience with numerous other photographs from there.

Having Lisa Volpe select two of my photographs for this exhibition is very exciting. Her insight of the medium is outstanding, and she has so much passion for photography. This interview of Lisa by Aline Smithson for Los Angeles Center of Photography gives fantastic insight to who she is and her thoughts about photography.

If you are in the Atlanta airport later this year hopefully you can check out this exhibition. It is outside of security in a food court area so it’s hard to get to if you are connecting to another flight there. I will try and update this post when more information as it is available.