“untitled at the moment”

I was recently interviewed by BU Today to discuss the upcoming 2009 PRC Annual Benefit Auction. (listen here)

The Back Bay Sun recently published some photos from the “2009 PRC Collectors Stroll”.  This event, hosted by the Photographic Resource Center was an opportunity to stroll through the homes of some of Boston’s fine art photography collectors.  Hey that’s me!

(photo by Roger Farrington)

For decades, neurological and psychological researchers have been intrigued by the case of Phineas Gage. Now, scientists believe they have discovered an image of him taken in the mid-19th century. They say he is holding the 3-foot piece of iron that rocketed through his skull.

Read the full article on (Boston.com)

(From the collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus)

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)

I finally transcribed the interview I conducted with Vik Muniz.  Check it out in the Big Red and Shiny, Issue 105.

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

If you are still looking at you investment portfolio and watching it dwindle away because of the economy, it might be time to think about buying Art.  Here is a great article from the Boston Globe.

My wife forwarded me an interesting article in the NY Times Monday about a company called the Art Capital Group who lend money to people and use their art as collateral.  Read more about it (here).

PACE/MACGILL will be hosting an exhibition by one of my favorite photographers, Emmet Gowin from February 19 - March 21, 2009.

What I just found out was that Steidl will be re-issuing Gowin’s first monograph this spring!  FINALLY!

When is the last time you heard of a museum closing and selling off their artwork?  (read the article)