I was able to get up to Danzinger yesterday afternoon and it was absolutely worth the drive. Danzinger is a great space, in Bergamot Station which has so many cool gallery spaces and is actually pretty easy to get to considering how hectic summer traffic can be in Santa Monica. The staff at Danzinger is also outstanding, they know the exhibition well and were actively engaging visitors to explain interesting facts about the work. The staff obviously has a passion for art and are motivated, I wish every gallery was like that.
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Bergamot Station Arts Center - Santa Monica
In the other blog post I am putting up today I talk about the Todd Papageorge exhibition at Danziger which is why I went to Bergamot Station Arts Center yesterday. While I was there, I bounced around the other galleries and found enough other good work that I liked so I decided to do a separate post on the other spaces.
Galerie XII - Los Angeles. French photographer Sacha Goldberger’s first Los Angeles solo exhibition “Alien Love” is a lot of fun. His images are stunning, so well made, and the story line is hilarious. 1950’s Sci Fi feel with the clean look of modern image making. There is an accompanying DIY book of the Alien Love portfolio, which is interesting, but I took pass on it. The book printing is okay, but it doesn’t come close to the beautiful prints in the exhibition, so it wasn’t the same for me. It is a solid exhibition still which runs through September 3rd. Below are my two favorite photographs. I am sure my law enforcement background, my ties to Arizona and its Saguaros, and my appreciation of beautiful brunette women had something to do with these prints standing out for me.
Galerie XII was also showing Matthew Arnold’s “Longing for Amelia”. I was not familiar with Arnold or his work but found “Longing for Amelia” to be a tight exhibition with lots of unique details. I felt it had good value.
Rose Gallery had Life:Still by Godeleine De Rosamel which I would best describe as pottery-based sculpture. I thought it was interesting and fun, I enjoyed viewing it, but it doesn’t fit my collecting interests.
I absolutely loved some of the paintings up at Skidmore Contemporary Art. Jessica Brilli’s “Chrystler in Carport” brought me back to my mom’s blue Chevy station wagon I grew up in and Jessica’s “Morning of the Camping Trip” was equally beautiful. I love her style. Richard Baker’s “Sonoran Sunset” was also awesome. Reminded me of Ed Mell’s work, one of my favorite painters. Lia Skidmore has a solid eye for work and a nice space, I will definitely be back there again.
Peter Fetterman Gallery had his “Power of Photography” exhibition up to coincide with the release of his new book of the same title. I love the fact he chose a Max Yavno photograph for the book cover, I love Yavno’s work, and how he used a long lens to flatten out his subject matter, an interesting different perspective and wonderful prints. The same print is on the wall in Fetterman, and it is such a beautiful rich print. Fetterman always has classic prints up, always something good to see there. It should be noted that Peter also has a book signing and discussion scheduled at Arcana Books in Culver City on Saturday August 13th from 4:00 - 6:00 PM. Arcana is one of the best fine art photography bookstores in the country, their stock is amazing, great space, and knowledgeable staff. John Divola is also signing his new book “Scapes” at Arcana tomorrow, Sunday July 24th from 4:00-6:00 PM. See Map below for Arcana Books location:
Lensculture Street 2021
One of the images I submitted to the 2021 Lensculture Street Photography Awards was recently selected by the editors to be featured in the Street Photography Awards 2021 Competition Gallery. This on-line gallery is visible to everyone who visits the Lensculture’s website. Lensculture describes their Competition Gallery as a highly curated group of images selected by their editors to showcase some of the best submissions in the competition.
I am thankful that the above image was featured in this on-line gallery and would encourage you to visit the link above to see all the other great images that the editors have chosen to showcase. This image is standing out as one of my top images from last year. Sarah Kennel, Curator of Photography at the High Museum, also selected the photograph for a group exhibition in Alabama which just concluded this week.
Atlanta Airport Exhibition 2021
I am proud to announce that I have two photographs in the Atlanta Photography Group’s annual Airport Show which opens this Thursday at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Juror Amy Miller selected 30 photographs 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 exhibition will also be featured in the Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival Guide because the festival will be occurring during the same time. The 2021 Airport Show is scheduled to be up September 30th to January 19th 2022.
My two included photographs are from different series. One image is one of my all-time favorites and a prominent photograph from my Santa Anita book. The photograph documents a fixated crowd watching a simulcast race, from another racetrack, on a large television monitor.
Simulcast Race - Santa Anita Racetrack - Arcadia California - October 14th 1990 SA-137 #08
The second photograph is from last year and part of my new portfolio documenting the experience of the pandemic and all that has happened since it began. I love the irony of this image, and as soon as I saw the rainbow that day, I knew the most logical way to frame it for the times would be having the rainbow end in a trash can.
The Reality of 2020 -Newport Beach - California - April 10th 2020 NB DSC_9483
I think both images will work well in this space and unthemed exhibition. These photographs can be experienced while walking past them and each image can provide a deeper experience for those who have a moment to stop and spend time viewing it.
P.C.622 Gallery - The Old Pasadena Police Station at 142 North Arroyo Parkway
The P.C. 622 Gallery
California Penal Code Section 622 states the following: Every person, not the owner thereof, who willfully injures, disfigures, or destroys any monument, work of art, or useful or ornamental improvement within the limits of any village, town, or city, or any shade tree or ornamental plant growing therein, whether situated upon private ground or on any street, sidewalk, or public park or place, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
The first time I exhibited any of my photographs was in April 1985 at the Northlight Downstairs student gallery at Arizona State University. it was a small space near the darkrooms but it had lots of traffic and great visibility with my peer group. It also gave me my first experience editing and sequencing an exhibition. I exhibited some early images from my Pasadena Police Department series , which to this day is still my strongest body of work.
I began photographing the Officers of the Pasadena Police Department during Spring Break in 1985 as a class project while studying at Arizona State University. My father was a well-respected Reserve Police Officer, and he arranged the opportunity. I rode with Sergeant Tom Oldfield the first night who was one of my dad’s close friends. Being a Sergeant, Tom had the ability to respond to any interesting call to try and get me as much action to photograph as he could. The most eventful thing was a woman named Tina Hart who committed suicide in the middle of a street by shooting herself. The rest of the week I rode with individual officers and photographed whatever incidents they were involved in. When my professor, Tamarra Kaida saw my early images she realized how good the series was and encouraged me to continue photographing the department beyond the class assignment. Another professor, Bill Jenkins (best known for curating the important New Topographics exhibition) also liked the early images in this series. Bill gave me some outstanding advice when he suggested I start using a wide-angle lens to photograph this series. Initially I had used a 50mm lens and in some instances, I had stood back from incidents to stay out of the way. Bill explained that using a wide-angle lens would force me to get closer to my subjects and make the images more powerful. The combination of putting on a 35mm lens and gaining more trust from the officers I was photographing to my images to another level. Using wide angel lenses has helped me capture most of my best images.
During the first few weeks of the summer of 1985, I started to develop good rapport with most all the officers. I knew how to stay out of the way and not let my photographing interfere with their job even though I was usually making exposures at night in low light conditions using a large off camera flash. I would make prints for the officers, and everyone liked seeing photographs of themselves working. Early in the summer of 1985, I become a Level 3 Technical Reserve Police Officer, which allowed me to volunteer in Police Department’s own photo lab most days before going on ride a longs with officers at night to photograph. It was an ideal situation because it gave me darkroom access while I was away from ASU.
One day I noticed a large empty bulletin board in the main hallway of the Police Station. The area had lots of foot traffic, department personnel as well as public visitors. I recognized the bulletin board could be a decent gallery space to showcase my photographs. I figured my photographs would be good for department morale as well as having a public relations benefit for public visitors. I asked for permission to turn the bulletin board into a gallery and it got approved. The photograph above it from the first group of prints I exhibited. I tried to change out images on a regular basis to keep interest.
I named the space the P.C. 622 Gallery to discourage any of the officers from adding comments to the prints or vandalizing them. Being around the officers I knew how much banter and teasing went on. Lockers were routinely written on highlighting recent exploits or mistakes and I knew officers started doing similar things to my photographs I would lose the space. I searched the Penal Code for sections which would cover that and discovered P.C. 622 which specifically covered destroying or defacing artwork. For the year plus the gallery was up we only had one instance where a print was written on and that was when the group of prints were not changed out for three months during a spring semester. I came across the above photograph of the gallery this week while organizing files and decide to share the story of the gallery. I also think this post also pairs well with my post on the opening of the exhibition at the Atlanta Airport Exhibition space this week, I, like most photographers, always enjoy seeing my photographs exhibited in traditional gallery and museum spaces, But I also love showing my images and prints in non-traditional spaces that have high traffic volume. There is always value in having images seen and experienced by others, especially in print form.
“Just Another Day on Main Street - Los Angeles” CA -DSC 5976 6-2-20 © 2020 William Karl Valentine
Stonehenge Gallery 2021 Photo Exhibition
I am happy to announce that the above photograph was chosen to be in the Society of Arts and Crafts (SAC's) & Stonehenge Gallery 2021 Photo Exhibition in Montgomery, Alabama.
I am especially honored that selection was made by Sarah Kennel, the curator of photography at the High Museum in Atlanta, who juried this exhibition.
For anyone near Montgomery the in-person opening reception is on Saturday, July 10, at 5:30 p.m. CDT at Stonehenge Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama. The gallery is located at 401 Cloverdale Road in Montgomery.
For those unable to attend the live event, a concurrent livestream feed from the gallery will be on “The Nine” Facebook page starting at 5:30 p.m. CDT with an awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Find “The Nine” on Facebook using this link:
https://www.facebook.com/The-Nine-108793704604391
Sarah Kennel, will also present a juror’s talk about the exhibit on Sunday, July 11, at 10:30 a.m. CDT, at the Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery. The gallery is located on the first floor of the RSA Tower in downtown Montgomery, 201 Monroe Street. There is plenty of on-street parking and no need to feed the parking meters on Sunday.
The juror’s talk will be recorded, and the video will be posted to The Nine YouTube channel.
After the exhibit at Stonehenge Gallery closes on Thursday, July 29, the exhibition will then move the International Arts Center, Huo Bao Zhu Gallery, at Troy University. The second exhibition will open on Monday, August 9 and close on Friday September 24th. The International Arts Center, Huo Bao Zhu Gallery, is located at 158 International Drive (formerly Luther Drive) at Troy University, in Troy Alabama.
About the Photograph: “Just Another Day on Main Street”
On June 2nd, 2020 I set out to photograph some of damage from the George Floyd protests/rioting which had gone on in Southern California the night before and hopefully document some of the protests rumored to be happening that day. My son drove so I could photograph from his truck and we could cover more areas. We started in Westwood, and I found lots of boarded up business and an emptiness that made for solid images. As we drove East on Wilshire, we encountered a march in Beverly Hills which we had no idea about beforehand. The march was organized and, on the sidewalk, so I was able to photograph from the passenger seat as we drove along side of it. In Hollywood we found lots of damaged businesses then stumbled in to the middle of a massive protest march, while we were out on foot, for an hour as the marchers moved through side streets trying to avoid being stopped by law enforcement before they could close a major intersection. From there we drove to Los Angeles City Hall where I had planned to meet up with a friend who is an LAPD Sergeant who was assigned to guard City Hall. Other than a vehicle pursuit which drove past while we were there, things were calm at City Hall. While standing on Main Street talking, the girls in the photograph caught my eye as they approached. I quickly realized the potential of the National Guard soldier and the Armored vehicle in the background and made the exposure when I tought everything lined up well. The pedestrian with the LA hat was a nice bonus and I think the red of the bike tires really enhance the message of the image. As with most my work I am looking for a good document of the event while also having elements in the frame that contrast one another to encourage the viewer to think deeper. I finished the day photographing a drive in protest at Pasadena City Hall. All in all the day was one of the best days I have had photographing considering the number of quality images I captured and their potential long term significance. In the past I have avoided titling most of my images but there seems to be a greater expectation today with submissions for a title so I gave some thought for a title for this image. The irony of the contrast between girls on a bike and skateboard with a soldier and armored vehicle are obvious, the masks nailed the fact it was 2020. The contrast was so crazy that I wanted a title which also had an element of contrast. The “Just another day” part came to mind while looking at the image. At first I thought “Just another day in Los Angeles” but then I realized the street we were on is actually Main Street and knew the perfect title was “Just Another Day on Main Street - Los Angeles” ( CA -DSC 5976 6-2-20 are file numbers for referencing).
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix Art Museum - Ansel Adams - Performing the Print
At the end of March I saw a social media post from Beck Senf , the Norton Family Curator of Photography for the Phoenix Art Museum, about the Ansel Adams “Performing the Print” exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum. She encouraged people to see the exhibition and said it was coming to an end soon. Because of this I got in the truck and headed East on the 10 freeway, from California, to check it out. Okay, I better give a disclaimer here, we were already heading out to see some Cactus League games but I still made a point to get over to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the exhibition after seeing her reminder.
I remember well seeing an exhibition of Ansel Adams prints at the Friends of Photography in San Francisco years ago and being so intrigued by his different printing styles over time. Seeing his prints in person is always a great reminder of what a good print should look like. I don’t recall if the Friends of Photography had as much text explanation next to the prints as they included in the Phoenix exhibition. I thought the accompanying text at the Phoenix Art Museum exhibition was outstanding. It clearly and concisely described how the prints differed and it was written in a way that everyone could learn something from it. From a casual museum patron to a photographer with darkroom expertise. Unfortunately, the exhibition closed earlier this month and had been interrupted by the pandemic lockdown, but luckily I was able to see it and share the experience here.
There are better resources than me regarding the differences in Adam’s printing styles so I think it is best to just show a few photographs of the exhibition here to highlight what the exhibition was like.
The Phoenix Art Museum is itself a work of art, one of the best museum spaces I have ever seen. I would go there to see the building even if there weren’t any exhibitions up, the design and space is just that interesting. Below are a few examples of the space. Plus, you have to love any museum that has Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings in their collection. If you live in Phoenix join the museum and if you are just visiting make sure to get over to see the Phoenix Art Museum, you will not be disappointed.
One other
Dr. Maurice Berger at the Legacies of LIGHT Symposium at the Center for Creative Photography 1-19-20
Dr. Maurice Berger 1956 - 2020
As I have written before in posts, when I was at the Legacies of LIGHT symposium at the Center for Creative Photography back in January I realized I was participating in something very special. Not only was the event documenting an important period in the history of the medium of Photography but I felt the symposium itself would one day be looked back upon as an historic event. One thing I noted was that the symposium would most likely be the last time all these incredibly influential people, those who helped shape where our medium is today, would be in the same room together. I had no idea how soon this would happen but on Monday March 23rd the Photography / Art / History worlds lost an important professor and curator who was at the symposium.
Maurice Berger was a writer, cultural historian, and curator whose work focused on the intersection of race and visual culture. In 2018 he won the “Infinity Award” in Critical Writing and Research for his NY Times Lens Section columns “Race Stories”. He was also the Research Professor and Chief Curator at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His spouse of 27 years was Marvin Heiferman who was a former LIGHT gallery employee and presenter at the symposium. Maurice passed away in New York from complications related to the COVID-19 virus.
I did not know Maurice personally but I photographed him several different times at the symposium, including the moment he was photographing Marvin with their long time friend a fellow LIGHT gallery alum Laurence Miller, some of my best images from the symposium.
Earlier this month I sent prints to many of the people I photographed at the symposium . Larry Miller got his prints before Maurice and Marvin, Larry showed his prints to Marvin who immediately reached out to me asking for a copies, not knowing I had already made him prints. I am in shock right now with the realization that two weeks ago I was trading emails with Marvin about these images and two days ago Maurice died from the COVID-19 virus. After hearing the news last night I looked on Maurice’s Instagram page and saw a week ago he had posted an image of Marvin photographing in Hyde Park, NY and made a comment in another post about being in a crowded upstate New York market listening to people discuss the virus. Maurice’s decline and passing must have been incredibly fast which is scary. I was in Boston with my son, Brent, when concerns about COVID-19 started to really take hold in this country. We had planned a long road trip back when Brent’s hockey season ended but changed plans for a fast direct route when we realized how serious the situation was becoming. We have been back in California for almost a week now after witnessing the country shut down more and more as we traveled West. Hopefully we will continue to stay healthy as this pandemic passes through our society. Maurice’s passing brings mortality in to focus for me one more time this year (just a brutal year of loss), hopefully others in society will recognize the seriousness of the situation and be even more vigilant in their habits. My thoughts and prayers go out to Marvin, Maurice, and all their family and friends.
Obituaries for Maurice:
Liz Allen working on her “hand” print for the book
Interactive component of the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition at the CCP
An important component of the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition is the interactive element. I focused on it some in my initial post about the opening. Since there was more activity during the symposium I documented it and felt it worked best to highlight it again in a separate post.
So again there were basically three interactive elements people could do. First was someone could have their photograph taken at a replica of Harold Jone’s LIGHT gallery desk by CCP’s David Ragland. Next you could sketch your hand to create a drawing to be bound in a book at the conclusion of the exhibition. LIGHT gallery did this at one point and the CCP was recreating that. CCP’s Camilla Stevenson was in charge of getting people to participate with this at the symposium and added a component by taking instant photographs of people to be included in the book with their hand sketches. I pushed the envelope with my sketch using my left had to sketch my right hand (most hand sketches were of left hands), then I had Camilla sign the instant print she took of me so she could lay claim to having a print in the exhibition then . The final station was where you could draw your own personal line map connecting yourself back to LIGHT gallery. I had completed my line map in December and after the symposium I could have added a lot more connections. I brought home a blank sheet so I will probably eventually update a copy for myself. All completed maps were pinned to the back wall of the interactive space to be shared. All three elements were fun and I especially loved the process of the line map.
Marvin Heiferman and Laurence Miller recreate their photograph from LIGHT gallery 1/19/20
Marvin Heiferman & Laurence Miller - The Qualities of LIGHT
I thought this moment was worth a separate blog post so it didn’t get lost in the larger body of post on the symposium.
On Sunday when there was a break before the final event I wandered around the gallery, which was mostly empty, and was rewarded for it. I already wrote a specific post on meeting Fern Schad which was fantastic. I was also able to photograph Alec Soth talking to Rick Wester about prints in the exhibition. Then I noticed Laurence Miller and Marvin Heiferman preparing to recreate the photo of them when they both were at LIGHT. Emily Una Weirich from CCP was getting a stool for Marvin to sit on and Dr. Maurice Berger was preparing to use his iPhone to photograph it. I saw the opportunity to photograph again so I took it.
For me I am very interested in the use of the cell phone in today’s world. I often look for phone use in my street photography and probably already have a solid body of work documenting phone use. I look for folks photographing with cellphones then see what I can compose. So not only did I capture the image above but I also photographed the photographer. One side note that I found interesting at the symposium was I one of the few people using a camera to document the event. Granted it was a small Sony RX100 vi , it still has a one inch sensor and is a camera. Everyone else seemed to just be using their cellphones to take an occasional photograph. This I found really odd because the lobby of CCP had large proof sheets of images from the parties and openings at LIGHT and it was obvious they used to document and photograph each other all the time. I am thankful they didn’t mind me intruding on their moment to document it.
Dr. Maurice Berger photographing Marvin Heiferman and Laurence Miller
William Karl Valentine and Fern Schad - The Qualities of LIGHT exhibition at the CCP - Tucson, AZ 1/19/20
Fern Schad - Legacies of LIGHT at the CCP
I must admit something, before the inclusion of my print in the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition I didn’t know who Fern Schad was. I graduated from ASU in 1986 just before LIGHT closed so they were still an active gallery and most my history of photography lessons had been about photographers not galleries or institutions.
At the Legacies of LIGHT symposium at the Center for Creative Photography, I quickly learned who Fern was and what an important role she played in helping to establish Photography as an accepted medium of art. I detailed the experiences of the symposium in a separate blog post, but I wanted to do a separate post on Fern to highlight some things.
First, I truly enjoyed listening to her describe LIGHT, the time period in New York City, and her experiences. She is a great presenter.
On Sunday after the last panel session concluded there was a break before the concluding celebration of Harold Jones and his work. Most people were interacting in the lobby but luckily I went back in to the gallery to look around again.
I found Fern walking through the main gallery alone looking at the photographs of the LIGHT artists. I watched her as she spent time with each image and tried to imagine all she was recounting, not only about the images but of that period of her life. I stayed back and took several photographs hesitating for her to between walls before interrupting her.
I introduced myself, and explained I had studied under Bill Jay at ASU because she had spoken about working for Bill Jay. I asked her about what it felt like being in this space and she spoke briefly about her memories. I then thanked her for LIGHT and explained how the ripple effect of LIGHT was still continuing because I had a print in the Emerging Artists flat file component of the exhibition. She was very gracious and asked to see my print. It was a very powerful moment for me to watch Fern holding my print, studying it, and then talking with me about it. Receiving validation from someone with her expertise and experience meant a lot to me considering how many important prints she has handled in her lifetime. I am thankful that I thought to photograph her holding the print because the moment is important to me. Having this print in the exhibition and later having it added to the permanent collection of the CCP is important for my career. I only spent a few minutes with Fern but the experience will be one of the more memorable ones in my photography career.
Fern Schad viewing William Karl Valentine’s print which is included in “The Qualities of LIGHT: exhibition flat file drawers” at the Center for Creative Photography - University of Arizona.
When I returned home from Tucson I wanted to learn more about Fern. I found she remarried Alfred H. Moses after Tennyson passed and that their Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund has sponsored numerous major photography exhibitions, some of which I have seen. More photographers should know about Fern and her contributions to the medium, I am so lucky I was able to get to meet her and learn of her impact.
Installing the exhibition - push pins, level, tape measure, and “eyeballing it” 1/24/20
William Karl Valentine - Exhibition at SAMYS - Pasadena, California
I drove the 500 miles home from Tucson on Sunday afternoon after everything with the Legacies of LIGHT symposium wrapped up. The next day I headed to Pasadena to check in on my mom and run some errands.
I stopped in at Samys Camera to get a couple things and to tell my friends there about the experience I had at the symposium. While talking with Jeff O’Brien he told me how the prints on the store’s small gallery wall had been up almost three months and he wanted to get some new photos up. He knows my work well and asked me to come up with something. I immediately agreed and started thinking about what I would do.
This reason I am going in to so much detail with this blog post is I want to give the reader insight into my thought process and approach to a simple exhibit so they can better understand approach to photography.
I realize the back wall of a camera store is not necessarily prestigious but in this case it had a lot of value. First of all the wall is very prominent and accessible. Almost every customer sees the wall when the exit the store and any customer going to the rental department walks right by it. This store has lots of knowledgeable photographers who are customers, plus it is two block away from a Pasadena City College which has an outstanding photography department. So the volume of potential viewers is very good.
I grew up in Pasadena and went to Pasadena City College, for me there was sentimental value to go home again. I had also exhibited work at Flags Photo (camera store) in Pasadena during the 1990’s, the store Jeff’s father had owned. I know that most any opportunity to showcase your work is a good thing because you never know who may see your images. I also know the process of editing and presenting an exhibition is a great exercise for a photographer.
When it came to what images to show I knew I had to include the image from my Pasadena PD series which was in the CCP’s Qualities of LIGHT exhibition, but I didn’t want to only showcase images from that series because they are from 34 years ago. I knew I wanted to give an overview of my work when I started editing for it, was thinking a linear display at first, and wanted to highlight images which had been in prominent exhibitions or were in permanent collections. I also had only glanced at the wall, had a guess at the size, but I hadn’t measured it.
Because I wanted to turn the project quickly I decided to make prints specifically for the show and didn’t want to deal with framing them. Michal Raz Russo’s presentation at the Legacies of LIGHT about some of the LIGHT gallery’s installations was fresh in my mind, so I started thinking about a simple way to the present work. The more I thought about it I realized I wanted to avoid a single straight row of prints and that I wanted to break up the pace of the images visually. I decided to make digital prints that were all consistent with each other even if the images were from film. I just can’t bring myself to casually display good silver gelatin prints since it takes so long to make them.
I started going through my image files thinking about which other images would fit. Lee Baroni applying the Carotid hold on the Duster jumped out as a good companion to the CCP image. The photo of Lee is in the permanent collection at the University of New Mexico. The Photograph of the motorcade from Officer Russ Miller’s funeral was another obvious choice. It was featured in the Billboard Creative in Los Angeles a couple years ago and is a signature image. “The Killing Fields” image is in the permanent collection of the Fogg Museum at Harvard, plus it represented my Rio Hondo Police Academy series well. I chose the “Simulcast Race” image from my Santa Anita book because it is one of my favorites. I also wasn’t looking to inspire any more debate over the horseracing industry which an actual horse related image might do. I chose the photo of the Giants coaches to represent my Cactus League series because it really captured how pure spring training used to be. In today’s world I would never be able to access to stand in that position to capture that exposure. I liked the Mariano Rivera image to represent my Wrigley-Fenway-Tiger series because it would help transition well into my street photography images. An interesting side note had never printed the image as large as I did for this exhibition and when I did I found new and exciting details in the image I had not seen in the 23 years since I had made the exposure. The view of the World Trade Center from the Empire State Building was another obvious image and one I have wanted to show more.
After selecting those 8 images I figured I probably had enough images but decided to choose more images so I would have options in my wall design since I was going to figure things out as I installed it. The ASU pool party image was a good representation of my Alphaville series and I came across a scan of ERA activists from San Francisco in 1989 which really jumped out at me. I have become so tired of today’s world with people who have differing opinions screaming at one another and thinking they are properly applying their 1st Amendment Rights. After these choices I selected five recent images that I keep returning to. I wanted to have images from Chicago, New York, and Newport Beach in the show if I could. One image was in color from the 4th of July and I didn’t think it would fit but I decided to print it and just see if there was a place for it.
Since the prints were just for this exhibition I added text to the prints below the image so I wouldn’t have to deal with identification labels. I put the image information and because they were on display in a camera store I also added information about the camera I used and the film type for the older images. I also listed information if the image was in a permanent collection or had been in a recent prominent exhibition. After making the 15 different prints I made a single 8.5 x 11 print with all the images on it in a rough design which I thought might work. Actually I thought the first four rows would be as they were and the last row was just a reference point of the images, that I would only use a couple of them maybe.
The reference sheet I used while designing installation of the exhibition.
I wrote the artist statement specifically for this exhibition with the primary focus being my connection to Pasadena. Realizing many viewers would be passing by quickly I used bold font to highlight key points so the statement could be quickly scanned. Because I am always trying to increase the exposure of my work I created several QR codes with links to my Instagram and website then created an information page for people who wanted to learn more about my work. I also created a smaller page with a QR code link for the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition.
I decided to pin the images to the wall, because it was a quick and secure way to install the show plus it would do minimal damage to the wall. I also liked the look and feel of presenting that way, but I knew I needed to have metal push pins for it to be right. I thought the idea of the pins was a simple one until it came time to buy them. I literally had to go to four stores to finally get enough pins for the exhibition, thank God for Office Depot still carrying them.
I began the installation process with a tape measure, note pad, and math. I also realized the angle of the floor next to the wall was greater than I remembered since it really a ramp allowing handicap access to the store and easy carryout for large amounts of rental equipment. So obviously the sight line of the space changes and I had to take that in to account.
I always remember from my Northlight days at ASU that the center line of artwork should be like 56” from the floor. I know I am 6’5” and that I like a higher center point, plus I realized the way the store was configured I wanted to have at least some of the prints high enough to be seen above the displays to draw viewers in. Using blue painters tape I marked the center line from the floor up. I taped up a couple test prints and I had my friend who is much shorter than I am go along the wall to find what her eye level was. From that point I went by feel and judgement to adjust the center line and then kept it fairly consistent to the floor by measuring for each new row of prints.
I found that double stacking two vertical images made them too hard to view so I adjusted the Pasadena PD images to go side by side. I decided to pin the prints keeping a 3” gap between all prints. I also used my level with a built-in ruler to keep things accurate. I then kept putting up prints, designing as I went. I had the one-color print left over, but I soon found a place for it. The next section of the wall surface changed, and it had a large framed color print on it which was is a permanent thing but lots of blank wall before it. So, I found a home for the 15th print.
I know this is a relatively long blog post on a simple thing but I thought some readers may find value with the insight in to my process.
This Samys Camera store is located at 1759 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California and is open daily 8am to 6pm. I am not sure how long the exhibition will be up, most likely through the end of March.
William Karl Valentine
Mark Klett speaking with guests at the Land Re-Form opening - Etherton Gallery, Tucson, Arizona 1/18/20
Etherton Gallery - Opening of Land Re-Form - Tucson, Arizona
While I was at the Legacies of Light Symposium in Tucson, the Etherton Gallery coordinated to have the opening of their current exhibition Land Re-Form on Saturday night after the symposium events were done. Land Re-Form features the work of Michael Berman, Frank Gohlke, and Mark Klett.
The best way to enjoy seeing the work in this exhibition on line is to follow the link above, Etherton’s website has so much outstanding content on their artists and their exhibitions.
Owner Terry Etherton has fantastic vision and has built a perfect gallery space in downtown Tucson. His roster of artists rivals the best galleries on either coast, and its also impressive that his gallery is now almost 40 years old.
I have long been familiar with the work of all three of these featured photographers, and Mark Klett was already at Arizona State University when I studied there so we know one another. All three produce beautiful prints and the design of the exhibition is a perfect pairing of their work.
Frank Gohlke’s Mount St. Helens prints.
I have long enjoyed Frank Gohlke’s work, his prints are so beautiful. I was glad I was able to spend time with him at the opening talking about his printing. Seeing great prints always motivates me to produce work, nothing like spending time seeing a perfect print. There is no one more gracious than Frank, I was lucky to be able to chat with him at the symposium too.
William Karl Valentine and Frank Gohlke - Etherton Gallery Opening - Tucson, Arizona 1/18/20
I also picked up two of Frank’s books at the opening, “Mount St. Helens” and “Landscape as Longing: Queens, New York” which he collaborated with Joel Sternfeld and Suketu Mehta.
Other work was also on display in the smaller rooms within the gallery. Just a fantastic variety of iconic images by masters and newer cutting edge work. If you are ever near Tucson, the Etherton Gallery is a must see.
William Karl Valentine at PHOTO LA 2020 - Barker Hanger, Santa Monica, California 2-2-20
PHOTO LA 2020
Even though 2020 has been a hectic year, I was still able to make it out to PHOTO LA this year. I definitely saw some great photographs there, and even better still I found lots of images to photograph myself. I have been writing volumes for this blog the last few days so I will keep this post simple, and for the most part let my photographs do the talking with the exception of one image.
William Karl Valentine with Mel Etherton by Danny Lyon print - Photo LA 2020 - Santa Monica CA 2-2-20
I met Mel in Tucson in January when I was out for the Legacies of LIGHT symposium in Tucson. Her Husband, Terry, founded Etherton Gallery and I am featuring the gallery in another post here in my blog. To be specific I actually met Mel in Mary Virginia Swanson’s kitchen at a party after the symposium Sunday afternoon as someone was photographing her hair (true story, cool party). Anyways, at PHOTO LA I see Mel at the Etherton Gallery booth and I start a conversation with her, eventually asking her which print is her favorite. Without hesitation she pointed to this Danny Lyon print behind us in the photo , a photograph which is one of my favorites. After we talked about how great Danny’s work is she explained her connection to this particular image. She said they were at a Paris Photo LA event in 2014 when Brad Pitt came by their gallery space which was featuring Danny Lyon. She said Terry was busy with a client or off somewhere conducting business so she talked to Brad and basically sold him the print. The sale of the print made several news outlets and she got to tease Terry about it after that she was the one who closed the deal with Brad Pitt. Epic story, so happy she shared that with me.
So as for the rest of the PHOTO LA 2020 Experience I am just going to post a gallery and let the reader plow through some images.
Dr. Rebecca Senf - Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography and the Norton Family Curator of Photography and photographer William Karl Valentine
Qualities of LIGHT Exhibition - Center for Creative Photography OPENING
On December 13th I drove out to Tucson for the opening of The Qualities of LIGHT Exhibition at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
In my previous blog post I spoke about having a print selected to be included in this exhibition and I wrote about the history of that image. I also spoke about the concept for the exhibition which is to show the importance of The LIGHT Gallery and its impact on the development of Photography as an accepted art form. The CCP exhibition does a fantastic job capturing the spirit of the LIGHT Gallery and documenting LIGHT’s history. One thing LIGHT was famous for was showcasing work from emerging photographers. My print was included in this exhibition as an emerging photographer. My print, along with 120 other prints from other emerging photographers, is on display in one of four large flat files in the middle of the gallery. The concept is that people who view the exhibition can explore the drawers and make their own discoveries. There is also an interactive area where visitors can map their own association with the LIGHT Gallery or others who were influenced by LIGHT. There are also a number of historic artifacts from LIGHT to help recreate the gallery atmosphere.
Below is my print and the accompanying artist statement information. This is a digital print from a negative scan which is archivally mounted.
CCP Director Anne Breckenridge Barrett and CCP Chief Curator Dr. Rebecca Senf speak at the Members opening of the exhibition. I also got meet CCP Curatorial Assistant Adam Monohon and CCP Archivist Emily Una Weirich. Everyone I met was fantastic and I am looking forward seeing them again at this weekend’s sold out LIGHT symposium.
In my previous post I mentioned how this was the first time one of my prints has been in an exhibition with a WInogrand print, and how special that was for me. Below is the Winogrand print, a classic image from Women are Beautiful.
Garry Winogrand print form his Women are Beautiful series - 1968 New York
Pasadena PD Officers Naum Ware & Darin Craddolph conducting a search warrant related to rock cocaine sales. March 1987 (PPD-177 #23)
Qualities of LIGHT Exhibition - Center for Creative Photography
I am proud to announce that a print of the above image has been included in the Center for Creative Photography’s Qualities of LIGHT Exhibition which opened December 13th and runs through the end of May 2020.
This image is from my Pasadena Police Department Series which is one of my most important bodies of work. I began the series while studying at Arizona State University and exhibited the work at the Northlight Gallery just before I graduated. The ASU faculty arranged for Van Deren Coke, at the time the Director of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Photography Department, to meet with me privately in the gallery to review my work. He compared my images to Larry Clark’s work which will always be one of the highlights of my career as a photographer. Photographing the Pasadena PD eventually led me to chose to a career in law enforcement which allowed me to continue photographing more than most other professions would have. The Pasadena PD series has also had increased interest in recent years and I should be producing a book of this work in the near future.
As for my image above, as stated in the title it was from a search warrant related to rock cocaine sales. For me, I saw the damage first hand that the rock cocaine era in Southern California did in the 1980’s. Pasadena’s Northwest area was ravaged with drive by shootings, property crimes by “baseheads”, and gang activity. So many good people lived in that part of town and they basically had to stay inside at night for their own protection. I knew people I went to grade school with who were killed during this time, like Danny Harris who was shot in a drive by shooting while selling rock cocaine. Then I also saw the harm done to small children like the boy in this photograph, Officers like Naum and Darin cared about the community and worked hard to make it safer by taking people involved in crime off the street. An approach that worked in many ways then which we have abandoned today because of political concerns. Could the approach in the 1980’s have been better? Yes with hindsight things can usually be done better but the over all approach to fighting crime prior to 2000 was better for society than it is being portrayed today. Naum made over 1,000 hand to hand undercover “buys” of narcotics during his career, most all in dangerous situations. Darin, recently retired after a 30 year career. Both these officers cared and put their own safety on the line to protect others. Some people today may wrongly interpret this image as oppression by the means of law enforcement, I know the truth behind it because I was there.
To be included in this exhibition has helped me achieve several long time career goals. I wanted to have my work exhibited at the Center for Creative Photography, arguably the most important photography archive in the world, and eventually have some of my prints added to their permanent collection. Being included in the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition accomplished both goals, with hopefully more to come at the CCP in the years ahead. One other interesting thing I discovered at the opening, for me at least, is this is the first time one of my prints has been in an exhibition with a Garry Winogrand print. (Winogrand is my favorite photographer - I traveled to New York in 1988 to see John Szarkowski’s retrospective of Winogrand at MoMA, to San Francisco to see his entire Women are Beautiful series exhibited at Pier 24 in 2017, and again to San Francisco in 2014 to see the SFMoMA retrospective of Winogrand’s work.)
The Qualities of LIGHT Exhibition documents the history of the LIGHT gallery which existed in New York City between 1971 and 1987. This was a critical time in the development of the medium of photography being accepted as art and LIGHT was one of the first galleries to concentrate solely on exhibiting photography. This exhibition examines LIGHT’s impact on the medium which continues on to this day. One important aspect of the LIGHT gallery was it showcased emerging artists and had work from multiple photographers readily available for view by patrons in flat files. My print was selected, along with other emerging artists’s prints, to document that important part of LIGHT.
For more information about the exhibition please follow this link: The Qualities of LIGHT: The Story of a Pioneering New York City Photogaphy Gallery.
Howard Greenberg Collection - Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The Viewpoints exhibition , photographs from the Howard Greenberg Collection at the MFA in Boston was one of the most impressive exhibitions I have seen, I am unfortunately getting to posting this later than I had hoped, I saw the exhibition shortly before it closed last December.
The Howard Greenberg gallery has long been one of my favorite stops when I am able to get to New York. His gallery’s focus on documentary photography, and selection of what work to show, is fantastic. The gallery space is awesome, the staff is so personable & knowledgeable, and their exhibition designs are always so well crafted.
The aspect of the MFA exhibition I loved the most was it gave the viewer insight in to Howard’s vision. It explained his approach to the medium, and what interested him. The collection includes many of Howard’s favorite prints and the stories behind why the images are important to him. In some cases it tells how he came to obtain the prints. There are so many amazing one of a kind prints in this collection, it is such a good exhibition for documenting the history of the medium and the presentation of the collection by the MFA staff is perfect. It is as good an exhibition design as I have seen. I think the best way to approach sharing this with you here is to start posting my photos of the exhibition in groups and just make comments about them.
While drafting this post, one interesting thing I learned about the MFA collection was it began in 1924 when Alfred Stieglitz donated 27 of his photographs to the Museum. The collection now includes approximately 15,000 photographs
The short video accompanying the exhibition was perfect. I loved hearing Howard explain the importance of the different items in the exhibition then being able to go look at them on the walls. The MFA also included quotes with the titles next to the prints which was good too, but seeing the video then going to see the prints he talked about was the best way to experience things. I have looked for this video on line and have not been able to find a link to it. These three still his opinion on the importance of making prints not just capturing images.
The above images show how the exhibition prints were grouped under themes.
Gloria Swanson, 1924 , by Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
Steichen’s print of Gloria Swanson is one of the most beautiful prints I have ever seen. It is also one of Howard’s favorite prints as he describes in the video. in person it is truly amazing.
Above - examples of personal prints photographers made
The exhibition had images I was not familiar with before like the Winogrand and Frank prints above. I really found the Frank print interesting. His “Americans” series was so important in the history of the medium, to see an image he took when he was on his way here to do the project is incredible. I envision him “sharpening the saw” some knowing about the journey he was about to embark on.
With Eddie Adams’s iconic photograph.
The concept for displaying iconic images with their press notes and publishing stamps visible was brilliant. I loved being able to see both sides of these prints, the small wall cut out and the dual glass frame was perfect.
The Henri Cartier-Bresson print below was pretty incredible too. I was familiar with the image, and to see what is the very first print of the image is so special. Enjoyed the story of how Howard confirmed this was Henri’s first print and the path it took to get in to Howard’s collection.
More amazing Steichen prints below. Where Instagram and other social media platforms, like this blog, are fantastic to share information to broad audiences quickly there is also a downside in that many photographers today do not fully understand the medium, especially what a fine print really is. I have written about it before, to truly understand what a good print is you have to view good prints. In person, slowly, and by examining every detail. Unfortunately this can not be accomplished in 2 to 3 second digital views.
After the Steichen print of Gloria Swanson , the two prints below were probably my favorite prints in the exhibition. W. Eugene Smith’s printing skills were amazing, I remember seeing his working prints of the Jazz Loft Project on display at MoPA in San Diego and I was in awe of how beautiful his working prints were. The display in that exhibition was also perfect. I am so glad his archive is also at the Center of Creative Photography where it will properly cared for and shared.
The Diane Arbus print was good to see. I remember seeing her own enlargements years ago and they were not clean. So much dust on the negatives that it was distracting, and no where close to the images which professional printers produced. To see this smaller print which you know she made was another special experience.
Although I have long been familiar with this famous Lewis Hine image and how important it was for bringing about change, I think this is the first time I have seen this print in person. Powerful experience to view it.
Below is a selection of other prints in the exhibition which stood out to me.
I am very thankful that Howard Greenberg donated this collection to the MFA. First so I could see the prints exhibited in this format, which again was an outstanding presentation, but more importantly to assure that such an amazing part of the history of the medium will be preserved together in an institution like the MFA.
I found the following articles on the exhibition which may also be of interest:
Howard Greenberg Gallery Statement