“untitled at the moment”

Anne and I purchased this Lartigue gelatin silver print while we were in Paris.

1912, Paris.  Bois de Boulonge.  Monsieur Folletête, Le Secretaire de Papa avec son chien “Tupy”

I recently booked two great lecturers at the PRC.  Mark your calendars!

For more information, please visit:  www.prcboston.org

French Photographer, Willy Ronis, died September 12th 2009. A contemporary of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau, Ronis was best known for his portrayals of life in post-war Paris and Provence, displaying a ‘humanist’ approach to photography.

(info from www.magnumphotos.com)

Here is another great show coming to the Museum of Fine Arts,Boston in the fall.

Alec Soth will be coming to MassArt this fall for a lecture on Monday, October 26th.  MassArt will also be exhibiting his project Dog Days Bogata from September 9 - November 28th, 2009 in the Stephen D. Paine Gallery.

Big RED & Shiny just published an interview that I did with photographer Harold Feinstein.

He had this great quote, “When your mouth drops open….click the shutter.”

To read more (click here)

A new addition to the collection:  Keith Carter, Pool, 2003.

Lodima Press printed a portfolio book of this series and it can be purchased directly through their website.

I met up with Alessandra Sanguinetti Thursday afternoon prior to her lecture at the PRC.  Here are some of the questions that I asked during the brief interview:

Jason Landry: What got you into photography?
Alessandra Sanguinetti: When I was a kid, around nine or so, my mother had this book, Wisconsin Death Trip, along with a few other books including Dorothea Lange. I don’t know why she had them. She wasn’t a photographer. Wisconsin Death Trip that just blew my mind. It made me realize that I was going to die. It was really direct. What really got me was the little girl in the coffin with the headband. I think everyone has a point in their lives when they realize they are going to die. I ran around the house saying, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!” I then asked for a camera. Ever since then I was the one taking the family pictures up until now.

JL: Do you find more inspiration photographing in Argentina or the US?
AS: I only photograph in Argentina.

JL: Has your photographing style changed since having a child of your own?
AS: The style, No…I just photograph less.

JL: Is it important that the viewer know in advance when a photograph is staged, or should they look at the work and respond to it without a back-story?
AS: First of all, my pictures are not really staged. In many cases, in The Adventures of Guille and Belinda, it has all of the elements of being staged, but it’s really more of a mixture of me giving them an idea, like, let’s pretend you are husband and wife, and then they sort of make it up a little. With children it makes sense to stage that, because I could represent their life much more faithfully, getting at their fantasies and having them recreate them. I would never stage adults because I have no idea what they are thinking.

JL: What is the most important photograph that you have ever made.
AS: I guess it would be the picture I took when I was ten or so, with a small Kodak square camera. It was a black & white picture of a storm coming toward my father’s farm. I never get tired of looking at it; I always want to go back there.

JL: Can a photograph truly help you remember something?
AS: I’m actually worried about that. I’m taking tons of pictures of my child and she’s looking at them now. And she’s going to be looking at them like everybody until she grows up. I don’t know what her memories will be of, the pictures I took of her, or her experiences.

JL: If you can make one photograph right now, who or what would you photograph?
AS: I don’t have a longing to photograph something that I haven’t photographed yet. I do have a few ideas in mind that I haven’t realized. I’d like to take a picture of Bob Dylan just so I can say I met him, but if I really want to go make a photograph of something, I don’t waste any time.

This interview can also be seen on the PRC blog, BostonPhotographyFocus

Last night, Alessandra Sanguinetti came to the PRC for a lecture.  I had the opportunity to meet up with her in the afternoon for a quick interview.  She gave me a little background information on how she got into photography, her approach when making work, and some brief examples of some of her newest work.

This image is one of my favorites from the series, The Adventures of Guille and Belinda  and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams.

I spent the latter part of Wednesday interviewing Vik Muniz.  The interview was over an hour long.  Once I transcribe it, I will post some of the excerpts here.  After the interview, we drove him to the MFA where he was giving a lecture.  The lecture was entertaining and it was great to get a glimpse into his world.  If you did not see the lecture on Wednesday, I hope you had tickets to Thursday’s lecture.