archive • prokudin-gorskii

jim welling just told me about sergei mikhailovich prokudin-gorskii, a russian photographer who made amazing color photographs at the turn of the century. his process involved photographing a scene through three-color filters and making transparencies because he couldn't make prints. however with current digital technology the library of congress has reconstructed them as they were meant to look. i was most interested in the ones where the digital assembling was done crudely and the process becomes apparent. check out their mini-site about him here.

[all from library of congress.]

archive is a weekly column by asha schechter that appears each wednesday on i heart photograph.

interview • daniëlle van ark

i heart photograph: i'm wondering if you could talk about the process and ideas behind photographing something that was once alive but now has been reconfigured specifically for display. in a more general sense, what does it mean for you to photograph something whose purpose is to be looked at?

daniëlle van ark: well it is funny because these animals specifically are not intended to be looked at. they are but they aren't...they are in storage rooms of natural history museums (this one is taken at the natural history museum in new york). they most likely will never be on display because they are old, damaged or just too much, some of them have been standing in the same way for years and years. i don't see these animals as being once alive but i do talk to them when i am in these places. maybe because i approach them as being still alive.

i.h.p.: in this particular image the animal is turned away from the camera and almost functions as a surrogate viewer. it's disturbing and fascinating that the deer seems to be contemplating the process of how it got to where it is.

d.v.a.: to me it is interesting that everybody has a different story with this picture. and that is why this picture or other pictures from this series are interesting. everybody sees something else in it, we tend to reflect our emotions on these dead pieces of skin that look like real animals. with this picture you can only think, what he is doing there? not showing his face makes it more poetic and more open for interpretation, it makes him able to do or be anything in this setting.

i.h.p.: i'm wondering if you could talk about the idea of "nature" or "the natural" in this image and your work in general, given the tension between the subject matter and the way the images look like portraits.

d.v.a.: the tension between the subject matter and why they look like portraits is because in nature you would never be able to observe an animal for so long and from so up close. we as humans get confused here and take these mounted animals for real because we see expression in their glass eyes. in my work i look in an observing way for specific behavior and the way things or humans are proportioned in their environment. with this picture i approach it as 'real', which it is but also isn't. for me stepping into these places, it is real, i see it for the first time and try to find interesting 'moments' just like i would do at an opening in an art gallery. i see the storage rooms as their new nature or habitat and feel like they make the best of being there.

[photo: untitled (deer and skins 01) by daniëlle van ark. 2007. from the series 'the mounted life.' see more of danielle's work here.]

interview is a weekly column by nicholas grider that appears each tuesday on i heart photograph.

archive • dancing with cats

laurel told me about this crazy japanese blog that features images from books. these are from a french book archived there called "dance avec les chats" which looks like one of the weirdest and best books ever.

[all from ahoaho-expo.]

archive is a weekly column by asha schechter that appears each wednesday on i heart photograph.

daniëlle van ark

work by daniëlle van ark. see more here.

[all daniëlle van ark. from the series the mounted life.]

interview • harm van den dorpel

i heart photograph: is this image part of a larger project, and if so, could you explain the basic ideas/impulse behind the work?

harm van den dorpel: this work is part of my project 'semantics'. it is a series of manipulated found images. after applying one action or manipulation i put them back online. in computer programming 'semantics' is opposed to 'syntax'. when i look at media i am always struck by the (stupidity of) visual conventions and expectations; these are these syntactic rules. purposely i generate a syntax error in the visual language of the photos. after the images are processed on a lower layer, they become mine, and carry completely other meaning or emotions.

i.h.p.: the way the image is collaged, it reminds me of natural history displays, except what's being presented is very unnatural and not explained like things in those museums are. i'm wondering if you could talk about the image in relation to ideas of display and (natural) history.

h.v.d.d.: the reason i like to use pictures of animals is because they are close to humans (i tend to consider human beings partly animals too). there's one big distinction when using footage of animals rather than people: photos of animals are not portraits. they are anonymous illustrations of a species. therefore nobody will wonder why i chose this particular ostrich. in this manipulated photo, which i call a reconfiguration, i try to create a confusion between real and impossible. until what point do we still believe a representation? the cliché thought about ostriches is their hiding behavior, putting their head in the ground. i like to do this too in my work. by hiding or taking the original meaning away, the only meaning left is that of a bare and empty visual language. i think there is a lot of beauty in these residues.

[photo: reconfigurations (ostrich) by harm van den dorpel. 2008. see more of harm's work here.]

interview is a weekly column by nicholas grider that appears each tuesday on i heart photograph.

andreas till

photograms of bird skulls by german photographer andreas till. see more of andreas' stuff here.

[all andreas till.]

maud fässler

photographs of animal organs by swiss photographer maud fässler. see more of maud's work here.

[all maud fässler. from the series organs. 2003.]

5 things • luke stephenson

woah...luke stephenson's portraits are great. when asked what 5 of his favorite things in the whole wide world were this british photographer responded accordingly. you can see some previous posts with luke's work here and here. and take a peek at his very nice website right here.

1/ birds

i have become a bit of a bird fancier since taking photographs of budgies about a year ago. there are so many variations and colours within the bird world. they are just rather wonderful creatures and they can fly! you can see some of my bird photographs right here.

2/ useful photography

useful photography is a magazine created by erik kessels and friends. i just love this type of photography...it serve a purpose and it looks so good. it just amazes me that people are unwittingly creating such great photos. basically erik kessels is a genius. another good place to see odd photos is as-found.

3/ big shot polaroid portrait camera

this is my favorite camera, it just looks so strange, it's a bit like a plastic toy but it takes such wonderfully sharp pictures. it's a range finder camera so you're always a meter away form the person you are photographing. you can see some of my pictures taken with the big shot here.

4/ my computer and the internet

this is sort of two in one, but you couldn't have one without the other really. i spend far too much time with them both. the internet is just the best thing since sliced bread...you can find out anything, look up anything...it's mind boggling really.

5/ my glasses

my glasses are very important to me. without them i would live in a blurred world, which wouldn't be very nice especially for a photographer. it must have been horrible if you were short sighted in olden times before glasses were invented.

jean robison

some interesting work by los angeles based artist jean robison. see more of jean's work here.

[all jean robison. top to bottom: the gap. 2004. detail from scorpion panorama. 2007. squirrel. 2005.]

nicolai howalt + trine søndergaard

these are from a series called dying birds by danish photographers nicolai howalt and trine søndergaard. see more of nicolai's stuff here (his project 3x1 is also worth taking a peek at). and trine's work here. also a nice post about them on shane's blog right here.

[all nicolai howalt + trine søndergaard. from the series dying birds.]

julian wolkenstein

this image by australian commercial photographer julian wolkenstein was make by shooting dead birds and bees. it's crazy just how much it looks like a painting. you can see more of julian's work here.

[julian wolkenstein. birds and bees / innocence in danger.]

loan nguyen

hmmm...sort of like the equivalent of looking up girls' skirts but with little plastic animals? see more of loan's work here.

[all loan nguyen. from the series bestiaire.]

heiko hoffmann

i thought these pictures by swiss photographer heiko hoffmann were too hysterical not to post. i love the deadpan tone and the awkward framing. see more of heiko's pictures here.

[both heiko hoffmann. untitled.]

joseph o. holmes

i like the stark simplicity in the contrasts between things in these pictures by joseph o. holmes: the natural world + the human world. color + no color. reality + representation. joseph is represented by the lovely jen bekman gallery in nyc. see a great slideshow of more from the amnh series here.

[all joseph o. holmes. from the series amnh.]

nadin maria rüfenacht

something interesting about nadin maria rüfenacht's take on still lives. you can see more of nadin's work right here.

[both nadin maria rüfenacht. 2005. top: nature morte, horsehead with mouse and butterfly. bottom: nature morte 4, heros.]

marianne engel

very lovely owl photos by swiss photographer marianne engel. take a peek at more of her stuff here.



[all marianne engel. 2007.]

catherine sundqvist

as far as photos of horses go, i will admit these pictures by swedish photographer catherine sundqvist are nice. she explains them as a commentary on fashion photography and a play on the ridiculousness with which women are typically portrayed in magazines and ads. these photos won an award from v magazine, and you can read more about that here. they also feature in the recent sports themed issue of soDA mag, take a peek here.

[all catherine sundqvist. from the series miss wibora. 2004.]