This week on the Web: a wonderful video interview with Stephen Shore, the return of Danny Lyon’s Bikeriders, Nan Goldin’s Paradise, an exceptional sale of Bill Gekas’s photos, provocative nudes, a look at the 125th anniversary of National Geographic, and how to create an online photo contest.
► Video interview with Stephen SHORE, an American photographer
http://theimagista.com/stories/stephen-shore/
http://alexjdsmith.tumblr.com/post/82657807271/stephen-shore-behind-the-mythology-via-imagista
With this video, the online magazine Imagista hopes to dispel the mystery of the man behind the mythology that is Stephen Shore. For over forty years, Stephen Shore has contributed his gift to the creative world through books, exhibitions and professorship. Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, Joel Sternfeld and Thomas Struth have all acknowledged his huge influence on their work. Why? Perhaps because Shore is the only living photographer to ever have a one-man show at the MoMA in New York City, shown worldwide at the Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago. He’s also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation to The National Endowment for the Arts.
This video interview revisits his early days at Warhol’s factory, explores his studio and offers a few clues to his wonderful work: “I don’t know if a photographer is an artist or not. I have questions in my head which I’m continuing to explore.” [Photo 01]
► Danny Lyon’s Bikeriders Are Back
http://www.vice.com/read/danny-lyons-bikeriders-are-back
The story of the famous book The Bikeriders (1968) and the reasons for its republication by Aperture on May 30th. Danny Lyon thought that this project spoke about, “the existential struggle to be free.” The book is an example of what was called New Journalism, in which the photographer is immersed and participates in the scenes he documents. This republication isn’t only a tribute to this movement. It invites us to follow our instincts and react to the world with as much confidence as Danny Lyon. [Photo 02, 03, 04]
http://www.aperture.org/shop/books/coming-soon-photography-books/danny-lyon-the-bikeriders-books
► NAN GOLDIN, Eden and After, Phaidon
Nan Goldin’s first book in 11 years, Eden and After, may look sweet from the outside, but underneath the playful photos of children runs a deeply woven fairy tale about the joy and power of childhood and the inevitable end to the freedom that comes with it.
It would be easy to think of Eden and After as a family album, but nothing is easy in Goldin’s work. In photographing children, Goldin says, she’s exploring independent beings, moving freely through their own existence before they’re burdened with self-consciousness as adults. “It’s really about the autonomy of children,” Goldin told TIME, speaking from her home in Paris. “A book about family would be very different, for me. We weren’t even going to include image of parents at first. When we did, the page count of the book went way, way up.” [Photo 05, 06, 07]
Book on Libération.fr:
http://www.liberation.fr/photographie/2014/04/18/nan-goldin-jeunes-instantanes_1000131?photo_id=638243
Plus, an exclusive interview with Nan Goldin by the filmmaker Abel Ferrara in Venice here. [Photo 08]
► Bill GEKAS, an exceptional sale of prints online for a good cause
https://www.facebook.com/billgekas?fref=nf
Photos of the Greek-Australian photographer Bill Gekas showing his daughter in staged photographs reminiscent of the work of 16th and 17th-century masters are well known. Despite repeated requests from people wanting to buy the prints over the past two years, Gekas has refused and doesn’t plan to do so in the future. However, for a limited time, he’s authorized the sale of the photo “Potatoes,” made available for a good cause, saving the life of another little girl, Eliza. This project is organized by the photographer Benjamin Wong is order to raise the necessary money to cure Eliza. See here. [Photo 09, 10, 11]
Also: an interview with Bill Gekas on Artcore, an online Greek magazine, where he revisits the technique used in his projects.
http://www.artcoremagazine.gr/photography/interviews/bill-gekas-drawing-with-a-camera/lang:en
► PORTFOLIO: Ren Hang’s Provocative Nudes
Born in 1987 in China, Ren Hang is a poet and photographer living in Beijing. He uses nude bodies in an obsessive way to compose strange and provocative photographs. Like a Chinese Araki in color, Hang is extremely prolific: he’s already published six books. His work has appeared in several Chinese and international magazines. He is currently exhibiting in Sweden through May 25th, 2014. [Photo 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]
http://lenscratch.com/2014/01/ren-hang
http://renhang.org
►NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC is celebrating its 125th anniversary, with Photo du jour, the Traveler Photo Contest and photographer members
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/
– Photo of the Day: Tunnel Vision by Brian Yen: “In the last ten years, mobile data, smartphones, and social networks have forever changed our existence,” writes Brian Yen, who submitted this picture of an Ocean Park Hong Kong tram to the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. “Although this woman stood at the center of a jam-packed train, the warm glow from her phone told the strangers around her that she wasn’t really there. She managed to slip away for a short moment, a node flickering on the social web, roaming the Earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here—we’re free to run away, and run we will.” [Photo 18]
– The 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. Harness the power of photography and share your stunning travel experiences from around the globe with us. Official categories include: Travel Portraits; Outdoor Scenes; Sense of Place; and Spontaneous Moments. Enter today! [Photo 19]
– Share your photos and become a member of the National Geographic community, and follow the other photographers, a guided visit here:
http://communaute.nationalgeographic.fr/visite-guidee/
► Create your own photo contest on FASTCONTEST!
Free for 50 participants, Fastcontest allows users to organize online photo contests, moderate and manage fans and interactivity, and select the winners either by vote or by jury, or combine the latter two. Test it out here !
Keep your eye on the web!
