Photo Essays on the Web, May 2014
Every month, I try to highlight some of the best, beautiful, mindful, and provocative photography from around the world, both from contemporary and historical perspectives. For example, the more I read about photography, the more I believe questions asked in the late 19th- to early 20th-century still have great relevance in the 21st-century.
1. Vivian Maier: American Street Photographer
Vivian Maier was a full-time nanny to a number of Chicago families. But unknown to them and many, Maier was an avid street photographer. As the primary story goes, her work was shelved and forgotten, until rediscovered by accident in a garage sale. The Slate’s Behold describes the latest documentary on this enigmatic person.
2. “The Place We Live”
With his photographs, American photographer Robert Adams highlighted the large expanse of the central plains in his home nation: the big skies, the big vistas, and our continuous, if not insidious, urban “creep” into these landscapes. Through his photographs, Adams asked questions about where we live, and what we do with where we live.
3. The Double Take
One of the emerging trends on Image Source for 2014 includes “The Double Take”. Does touching or interacting with a mobile or tablet screen make that transaction seem more “real”? A new language has clearly developed, where the combination of sliding finger gestures combined with timed taps on the screen produces a set of actions. Where else might we go? Do we go freely into a brave new world? Check out the article and the included video. The fifth video down reminds me a lot of Radiohead’s bleak futuristic landscapes, and frankly, the video gives me the creeps … but in a thoughtful way …
4. A Look Into the World of Arab Israelis
Jewish-Israeli photographer, Natan Dvir, wanted to understand what happens to Israelis, particularly Arab-Israelis, when they turn 18 years of age. I think Dvir’s photos show perceptiveness, intimacy, and eloquence about a segment of the population that’s not well understood by people within Israel, the Middle East, or around the world.
5. Three of VII: current state of photojournalism
On National Geographic’s PROOF, Janna Dotschkal interviewed three photographers from the agency VII (as in the Roman number ‘seven’) about their continuing desire, motivation, and inspiration with photography and photojournalism.
6. Do Dogs Copy Us, or is it the other way around?
What’s life without both the tragic and the humorous; what Shakespeare might have written had he lived in the 20th- and 21st century. With that, there’s a risk at including yet another “cute” photo-essay about pets or animals. But the following series by Sophie Gamand reveals something very interesting the photographer seems to have captured in fortunate moments. The expressions of the wet dogs seem to mirror our own and very human expressions.
This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com
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