On the Web: April 2005 Archives
Can't believe I hadn't run across this before, but SeeSaw Magazine is an outstanding new online photography site. Two "issues" have been released, the latest with a "cover" by Thomas Allen. ( The magazine conceit doesn't really work for me. Covers, issues, etc. all seem so superfluous on the Web.)
A few weeks ago, the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery came online, offering a vast range of photographs from its various collections free to the public. Bernice Abbot's Changing New York" and Lewis Hine's recording of the Empire State Building's construction are probably the most high-profile series to be made available through this new site.
Sifting through these online galleries is akin to visiting a flea market for the rare quality photograph worth the steep price of $5. The Library of Congress has also put a large helping of its photography collections online, albeit in a much less refined site than the NYPL. Deep in the bowels of their collections are works from the likes of Edward Curtis, Roger Fenton and the Matthew Brady Studio, all with hi-resolution files available for download. And Ansel Adams. I'm not a great Adams fan, and don't pretend to be an expert on his work (Adams aficionados are a strangely fanatical crew) but the LoC's collection of his photographs of the Manzanar internment camp made in 1943 turned up a couple of gems.
Left: People walking, Manzanar Relocation Center, 1943
Right:View south from Manzanar to Alabama Hills, Manzanar Relocation Center, 1943
(Click images for larger views.)
UPDATE: after re-reading this entry, it struck me as odd and perhaps a bit tasteless to be talking about photo gems in the context of Manzanar. And perhaps it must have struck Adams a bit odd, too, when he was shooting there.
Ran across a couple of good photography-related posts yesterday. The first, on Modern Art Notes, is about aerial photography, specifically as it relates to the "new" Google Maps satellite view (this has been available for several years on other sites.) Tyler reviews a short history of aerial photography. Terry Evans is one of my favorites in this area, and Edward Burtynsky is currently working on aerial photos of highway interchanges.
The other post is on From the Floor. Todd's reviewed the Arbus retrospective at the Met. My family and I visited Howard Greenberg Gallery this weekend which was showing a small selection of Arbus' work. I had a similar reaction to Todd.
The other day I was perusing Frank Einspruch's art blog aggregator, artsfeed, and noticed that Gallery Hopper had fallen off the list of blogs he's tracking. I scratched my head as to why and thought about asking, but today Frank's cleared this up. It ain't pretty.
UPDATE: It seems I was a little too quick on the trigger and a little too tired from working til 4am to realize that today is April Fool's Day.
