“We had dreamed of building cities, fields of glittering towers, urban fantasies meant to house our hopes of progress; now we seek our dismantled landscapes, abandoned, collapsing on themselves. Rather than creating the next utopia, we uncover the vestiges of failed attempts, the evidence of obliteration” (Maisel, 2013: 124). This is a very poetic way…
Category: Masters of Photography
Robert Delpire @rencontresarles
Last year, the great French publisher, Robert Delpire (1926-2017), passed away at the age of 91. To celebrate the life and achievements of this extraordinary publisher the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival hosts a spectacular exhibition: https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en/expositions/view/746/robert-delpire-photo-poche Famously known for inventing the ‘Photo Poche‘ book format, a small format photographic album, Delpire published many iconic photobooks…
Henri Cariter-Bresson @aperturefnd
The new book of Interviews and Conversations made with Henri Cartier-Bresson between 1951 and 1998 has just been published by Aperture. A pure delight to read, full of exciting details and inspiring facts, this collection brings together twelve interviews with the master, most of which have not been reissued in English since their publication. From…
Notes from @rencontresarles
It has already become a tradition for me to make some images exploring the photographic life of Arles during the Rencontres photo festival. I will be returning to this idea in several future posts. Sincerely hoping that the images will speak louder than words. What attracts me in these scenes is the immediacy of life,…
Flânerie @rencontresarles
This year the world famous Rencontres d’Arles photo festival is full of surprises. First of all, the Magnum photograher, Raymond Depardon presented his exhibition ‘Depardon USA, 1968–1999’ at the iconic Espace Van Gogh, where the famous painter spent some time in Arles. Secondly, Todd Hido is showing his new series ‘La Lumière sombre’at Palais de…
ECOSYSTEMS PHOTOBOOK
Dear Friends, this moment has come! I am launching my new ‘Ecosystems’ photobook. Designed by two talented University of Reading MA Book Design MSc, with texts by Dr Joachim Spangenberg, this book will celebrate the complexity and diversity of ecosystems. Shot in Colombia, Brazil, USA, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, Dubai, Kazakhstan, Singapore…
Hiroshi Sugimoto @MarianGoodman
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s ‘Seascapes’ fascinate, puzzle, surprise and, finally, encourage further examination. I came across a major show by Sugimoto at Marian Goodman Gallery that celebrated 40 years last year. What appears at first sight to be very similar images of nothing more than a horizon with the upper half of the image occupied by sky…
Burtinsky @EdwardBurtynsky: OIL
Given the current state of the world with CO2 emissions concentration at 407.96 ppm (Maua Loa Observatory), over half of the world’s biodiversity lost in the last 40 years (Living Planet index declined 58% between 1970 and 2012 according to WWF Living Planet Report) and 8 mln tonnes of plastic waste entering the oceans every…
Visconti (1957) Le Notti Bianche
The fifth magnum opus by Luchino Visconti, Le Notti Bianche based on a short novel by Dostoevsky is undoubtedly an experience that is not easily forgotten. The original story written in Russian is taking place in St Petersburg during the ‘White Nights’ or a brief period of just over a months from the end of…
Cartagena @Guardian
I am immensely pleased to have my celebrated image from Cartagena, Colombia published in the Guardian newspaper again: Cartagena by Dr Stanislav Shmelev. There is a good chance that it will be seen by some of the 6.97 million Guardian followers on Twitter. Carthagena, a coastal town on the Caribbean coast of Colombia is a…
Burtinsky. Watermark
My first encounter with Edward Burtinsky took place at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London where the screening of his documentary, ‘Watermark’, accompanied by a Q&A session, was organized a couple of years ago. In ‘Watermark’ Burtinsky tackles a very important topic of water, the origin of life, related to survival itself. His film…
Salgado. Genesis
To say that I was overwhelmed after seeing Sebastiao Salgado’s ‘Genesis’ exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London is to say nothing. I was simply blown away. My first encounter with Salgado’s work took place at the Somerset House in London, which showed some of Salgado’s Brazilian landscapes and Polka Galerie in Paris where…
Eco Art Gallery 