“untitled at the moment”

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.

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!

I went to photograph a photo collector today in Cambridge and decided to stop into Rodney’s Book Store in Central Square.  I bought two books, one being A Camera in a Room: Photographs by Abelardo Morell.  This book was published by Smithsonian Institution Press and is part of the series Photographs at Work.

Now, I have a bunch of Abe’s books, but this one was extra special because tucked in the back was an 8×10 press print of the cover image (see above).

The BFA in Photography senior class at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design has continued a great tradition that I started a few years ago.  They will be hosting the 3rd Annual Photo Book & Print Auction, a benefit to help raise money for the publication of their Thesis catalogue.

Wednesday, December 10th at 7pm.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Godine Gallery

Contributing Photographers:

Richard Prince, Peter Beard, Abelardo Morell, Nicholas Nixon, Eirik Johnson, Laura McPhee, Barbara Bosworth, Jerry Uelsmann, Alec Soth, Alex Webb, Bobby Abrahamson, David Goldes, David Maisel, Elsa Dorfman, Eric Weeks, Gregory Crewdson, Henry Horenstein, Jason Fulford, Joel Meyerowitz, Lisa Kereszi, Mark Klett, Michael Grecco, Paul D’Amato, Paula Chamlee, Phil Borges, Rebecca Norris Webb, Robb Kendrick, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Saul Leiter, Stella Johnson, Suzette Bros, Thomas Roma, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Vaughn Sills, Vincent Cianni, William Christenberry, Elinor Carucci, Sante D’Orazio, Michal Chelbin, Brian Finke, The Snorri Bros.,Karin Rosenthal, Matthew Pillsbury and Edward Burtynsky.

For all members of the MFA Boston, you can get 25% off everything at the MFA Bookstore through December 7th.  So for you photo-book lovers out there, here’s your chance to get some at a nice discount.

This was a great read.

I was picked to serve on  jury today.  They told me it should be over in 2-3 days.  They gave us the afternoon off and I have to report back at 9am.

It’s always nice to get a present in the mail. My favorite tough-guy poet and grade-school friend Jon sent me a copy of Bill Owens - Suburbia that he found. The images from this book are a document to the American Dream. As I flipped through the book, the titles and comments captured my attention as much as the pictures did. It’s always nice to see what people thought were the greatest material successes in the past.

It’s fun to break up the glass.
We’re doing our thing for
ecology and the Boy Scouts
will give us a badge for work-
ing here.

I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Andrew Wyeth’s - The Helga Pictures.  This is a beautiful book comprised of the 240 drawings and paintings he made of his neighbor Helga between 1971-1985, whom he used as a model for nearly 14 years in secrecy.  In 1986, a collector paid $100 million dollars to keep the collection in tact.  In 1987, the collection was part of a six-city museum tour that included a stop at the MFA in Boston.

On a side note…Mr. Wyeth will be 91 years old this Saturday.

Robert Pinsky is a poet, a professor at Boston University and was a commencement speaker last year during my graduation from The Massachusetts College of Art. Pinsky was also the United States Poet Laureate from 1997-2000.

I recently picked up his book, First Things to Hand in which he wrote a poem called, Photograph. I wrote to Mr. Pinsky to ask him what influence him to write such poem? He responded that, “I’ve always loved the art, had an enlarger and did a little printing many years ago, pre-digital.”

Mr. Pinsky gave me permission to reproduce the poem for everyone’s enjoyment.

Photograph

Light-inscribed
Likeness

Vulnerable to light,
To the oils of the hand.

The paper sensitive
The dyes ephemeral

The very medium
A trace of absences.

Speed of the years
Speed of the shutter.

The child’s father
Crouches level to her

With the camera and so
She crouches too.

Agile the dancer.
Little room

Of the camera, wide
Gaze of exposure-

Shiva the maker
Shiva the destroyer:

The flash of your hammer
Fashions the shelter.