FEATURES Last month, Flak Photo highlighted a selection of fifteen images from Pause, to Begin, a photographic book + multimedia exhibition. MORE » |
WEEKEND This month's series features a selection of five images from Beth Dow's In the Garden, a book + exhibition of landscape photographs. MORE » |
IN PRINT Three new photo books including Kate Philbrick's All in the Family, Peter Granser's Signs and Lisa Kereszi's Fantasies. MORE » |
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RECOMMENDED READING A selection of quality online photography exhibits published elsewhere on the web. Updated monthly.
Photographs by Bill Vaccaro 
Roadside Attractions is part of a long-term project of images taken on numerous road trips east of the Mississippi River (including
Canada) that began in 2005. Strongly influenced by memories of a childhood of family vacations watching the world wiz by from the
back seat of the family Chevy — the view of the dome of the U.S. Capitol for the first time, a miniature re-enactment of the Civil
War in a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania museum; a visit to the family farm of his cousin's father in the hills of West Virginia — Vaccaro sees
the road as a beacon that has drawn him to sights as unusual as eight cars impaled on a spindle, or as commonplace
as the swoosh of a horse's tail.
Photographs by Kent Rogowski 
Bears is a series of portraits of the most unusual sort: ordinary teddy bears that have been turned
inside out and restuffed. Simple patterns and
devices never meant to be seen are now prominent physical characteristics, giving each one a distinctly quirky personality: fasteners become eyes,
seams become scars, and stuffing creeps out in the most unexpected places.
Together these images form a topology of strange yet oddly familiar creatures. They are at once hideous yet cuddly, absurd
but adorable, while offering a metaphor for us all to consider. Rogowski's bears reveal an inner core that might help us to better understand our own.
Minnesota Center for Photography 
This fall, Flak Photo teamed up with Minnesota Center for Photography in support of PhotoBravo, a celebration of photographic
arts to benefit the MCP. A selection of photographs from the exhibit ran in these pages from October 29 - November 3, 2007. PhotoBravo is an annual event that provides an opportunity to see a cross-section of today's most
intriguing and collectible photographic art. This year, through live and silent auction, nearly sixty fine photographs are available
for bidding. PhotoBravo provides crucial support for MCP's programs while providing opportunities to acquire contemporary art
from some of today's most exciting photographers.
Ed. Davin Risk & Ross Evertson 
MakingRoom is a magazine about the process, intention and results of image-making. Each issue presents a series of
galleries and interviews with visual artists. Edited by Davin Risk and Ross Evertson, the magazine dispenses with talk of
technique in favor of discussing what compels artists to create. While the online version of MakingRoom continues to evolve, a series of print projects are in
the works under the same name — the first print journal will be released in 2008. A recent addition online is the SOLO feature series; a
single image is chosen to highlight a new artist each week.
A Jen Bekman Project 
This summer, Flak Photo featured photographs from A New American Portrait. Co-curated by Jen Bekman and Jörg Colberg, the exhibit ran in these
pages July 30 - August 8, 2007. These environmental, posed, and self-portraits express a distinctly American point of view. While they appear to be "honest" representations, some revealing and confessional, in truth the subjects
exist within narratives and environments carefully constructed by the show's nine photographers. The exhibition explores potent
themes and emotions which shape contemporary life in America: sexuality, gender, desire, heroism, consumption, fear, class, hope and loneliness are all
in the mix.
by Photographic Resource Center 
Last month, Flak Photo featured a selection of images from Exposure: The 12th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition. Juried by NYC
gallerist Jen Bekman, the exhibit ran in these pages July 10-27, 2007. Another exciting project from Boston University's Photographic
Resource Center is Northeast Exposure Online (NEO), a web-based showcase of emerging photographic artists in the New England
region. Highlighting an artist each month, the online gallery includes images, artist and curator statements, and links to each
photographer's website. Featured artists are promoted in the PRC's monthly newsletter, in the loupe, and past presentations
are archived online. For more information about the program, email PRC Curator Leslie K. Brown .
Photographs by Mark Brautigam 
Admittedly wide-eyed in scope, Brautigam's large format photographs highlight the idiosyncratic character of those environments that have frequently been disregarded. Though captured exclusively in the state of Wisconsin, the photographs do not represent a single locale. Instead, they subtly suggest the universal qualities that comprise this modern existence: irony, humor, beauty, heartbreak, excess and destruction. On Wisconsin is a personal journey that captures the unconventional side of a place and its people by seeking out the intrigue in otherwise overlooked settings. The result is a body of work that comments on the nature of man's interaction with the landscape to reveal a sense of wonder in the ordinary.
Photographs by Amy Stein 
This selection of photographs explores our paradoxical relationship with the "wild" and how our conflicting impulses continue to evolve and alter the behavior of both humans and animals. We at once seek connection with the mystery and freedom of the natural world, yet we continually strive to tame the wild around us and compulsively control the wild within our own nature. Stein's photographs draw on real stories from local newspapers and oral histories of intentional and random interactions between humans and animals to examine the primal issues of comfort and fear, dependence and determination, submission and dominance that play out in the physical and psychological ecotones between man and the natural world.
A Brandon Stone Project 
Flak Photo is excited to announce that it was named this year's "Best Kept Secret" at the 2007 Photobloggies, held last month in Chicago. Founded three years ago, the annual ceremony celebrates the art of photoblogging around the world and includes a variety of awards based on geographic region, subject matter, and several "best of" categories. Flak Photo finds itself in good company, featured alongside a mix of international winners in 25 categories, some of whom have been featured in these pages. In addition to this year's winners, the nominees are posted for each category, providing a "who's who" of some of the best photoblogs and web photography projects currently published online.
Photographs by Bill Sosin 
Like Giacometti's elongated statues, a jaywalker surveys the gridlocked traffic as the camera observes the shallow focus scene through a foreground field of condensation. This image is a part of Bill Sosin's "City Rain" series — scenes of Chicago photographed through his car windshield. Neon fluorescence and radiant reds from car brake lights are common, but abstract and suggestive patterns also appear: silhouetted pedestrians hasten along sidewalks with pendulous umbrellas, tow trucks and sixteen wheelers lumber ominously in these out-of-focus dreamscapes, and lonely objects in storefront windows are rendered redundant by the inclement weather. Sosin's work is a voyeuristic, random pursuit; he wanders the streets searching for something, capturing the colorations that comprise his ethereal tableau along the way.
A Jen Bekman Project 
Hey, Hot Shot! is Jen Bekman Gallery's quarterly photo competition — hundreds of online photographers vie for spots in her seasonal showcases. Those quarterly winners are featured in Jen Bekman's New Photographers Annual, published each spring, but they also have their eye on the big prize: representation by the NYC gallery through 2008 and a spot in next year's Ne Plus Ultra exhibition. The HHS! blog keeps its readers current on a variety of emerging photographers from all over the world, featuring entries from contenders, news and updates from Hot Shot Alumni. The Fall 2007 Edition is on — submissions will be accepted until November 6th, so apply today!
Photographs by Mikael Kennedy 
Armed with a Polaroid SX-70, photographer Mikael Kennedy has spent the past several years on the road, documenting the people and objects that inhabit his world. The series derives its name from a conversation Kennedy and his brother had while climbing over a barricade onto a crumbling pier, and Passport to Trespass provides a glimpse into this life — one of roaming and restlessness rendered in a vocabulary of landscape and vision. The resulting collection of images reads like small-scale paintings comprised of long exposures and rich colors, each preserved within the white borders of the polaroid print.
Photographs by Todd Deutsch 
Family Days takes place in the middle of a minor madhouse in the upper midwest. It is an autobiographical project based on family, fatherhood, and young sons. Deutsch's photographs describe the fatigue and tension that develop when the arrival of his third son upsets an already fragile domestic peace. Constant activity, endless jockeying for attention and a rising testosterone level spin the family closer to the edge of physical and psychological exhaustion. Set in common centers of family life — the kitchen, living room, backyard, and bedroom — these photographs reflect the craziness in a world overtaken over by three growing boys.
ed. Jon Feinstein 
A non-profit arts organization whose sole mission is advancing the careers of emerging fine art photographers, Humble Arts has launched numerous projects, the most notable being group-show, a monthly online gallery featuring single photographs from a variety of contributors. Earlier this month, Humble outfitted its website with a new design and expanded its projects to include a monthly "solo show" exhibition featuring a larger body of work from individual photographers. Humble will host its Chelsea debut at New Century Artists gallery on Thursday March 15.
Photographs by Jeff Brouws 
Like many who grew up during the spread of sprawl — with its predictable landscape of housing developments, interstate highways, and big-box construction — acclaimed photographer Jeff Brouws is intrigued by places that still show signs of the vernacular past. What began as cultural geography of Main Streets became a visual critique of the myth of upward mobility that created this car-centered, paved-over universe. Combining a minimal, bleak beauty with understated social commentary, his evocative color photographs seek a deeper meaning behind the cycle of construction, decay, decline and renewal.
ed. Humble Media 
Group Show is an online exhibition featuring the work of emerging and established photographers. Launched last spring by Humble Media and curated by a handful of editors, there are no conceptual guidelines or requirements to the images in its pages — The galleries provide a collage of the world as its contributors see it. Each monthly installment presents a revolving assortment of 24 photographers, mixing familiar names with new ones from beneath the surface.
Photographs by Terry Evans 
Renowned landscape photographer Terry Evans explores the complexities of Chicago's "urban prairie" from an all-seeing observation point in the sky. Evans' dramatic aerial portraits explore the topographical diversity of the city's contemporary landscape, while exposing the environmental, economic, and social challenges it faces with continued development.
Photographs by Ryan Keberly 
Detroit photographer Ryan Keberly takes his camera into the city to capture a photo a day. He puts his subjects — often homeless folks living on the streets — directly in front of the lens and their gazes are penetrating. The up-close portraiture compels, because it begs us to look at the people whose glance we usually try to avoid.
Photographs by Simon Hoegsberg 
Over the course of three months, Danish photographer Simon Hoegsberg approached 140 strangers on the streets of Copenhagen and New York City and asked them what they were thinking the moment before he stopped them. He recorded their replies and then took their picture. Subtitled, "Life-Snaps," this elegant collection of portraits captures the daily minutiae of modern survival. His subjects' replies — published verbatim from the street recordings — range from the expected ("Should I grab a coffee before work?") to the surprising ("What is the cost of an intermediate-range ballistic missle?").
Photographs by Paul Fusco 
Twenty years ago, Chernobyl's Reactor no. 4 unleashed a modern plague that condemned a region and seeped invisibly into the bodies of those exposed to its destructive presence. Magnum photographer Paul Fusco's interactive essay examines the event's horrifying consequences.
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FLAK PHOTO FEATURES Pause, to Begin | Produced by David Wright & Ethan Jones Flak Photo is pleased to team up with David Wright and Ethan Jones to feature a selection of images from Pause, to Begin, a photographic book + online exhibition that places an emphasis on the process of art-making and art-thinking in the twenty-first century. A unique project born in discussions about the direction of contemporary photography today, Pause, to Begin selected 15 photographers from over 200 applicants in April, 2008. This spring Wright and Jones drove 10,000 miles across two countries to meet and interview the selected photographers. In support of the project, Flak Photo highlighted images from each of these contributors in the month of October and featured work from Thomas Prior, Shawn Gust, Timothy Briner, Hin Chua, Matthew Gamber, Erika Larsen, John Mann, Colin Blakely, Shawn Records, Alejandro Cartagena, Matt Eich, Shannon Johnstone, Brea Souders, Sonja Thomsen and Tealia Ellis-Ritter. Pause, to Begin strives to create a one-of-a-kind photo art experience by working closely with a team of artists and an advisory board to produce a series of multimedia presentations that showcase the work of each contributor as well as an international traveling exhibition and two books of photographs available for purchase in December. Flak Photo's Pause, to Begin feature ran weekdays from October 13-31, 2008 |
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SPONSOR FLAK PHOTO Do you have a web photography project you'd like to promote? Share it with our readers by placing a graphic advertisement in this space. Banner ad space is available for use on a rolling basis. For specific information about our readership, website statistics, or to inquire about placing a graphic ad, send us an email at photo@flakmag.com. |
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IN PRINT / NEW PHOTO BOOKS Flak Photo considers unsolicited photography books from artists, publishers and galleries for inclusion in its pages. To submit a title for consideration, contact editor Andy Adams by email at photo@flakmag.com. 
All in the Family | Photographs by Kate PhilbrickUntil two years ago, Kate Philbrick's family archive consisted of 35mm black and white prints compiled over fourteen years of photographing the intimate details of her family's life in southern Maine. Working with a small fast camera enabled her to document moments as they happened, while keeping up with the daily requirements of raising three children. Following graduate school, she transitioned to working with a medium format camera in color and black and white with the notion that her family photographs could reveal something about her identity. An investigation of memory and experience, Philbrick's book documents her children in order to discover what they were like at different stages and to fulfill their possible desire to look back into their past. The resulting collection is a photographic guide map for her sons that provides insight into who they are in relation to their family. Hardcover • 90 B&W / color photographs • 106 pages • 13 x 11 in. • $91.95 US • About the Book 
Signs | Photographs by Peter Granser
With keen and objective precision, Peter Granser's color photographs focus on the relics and signs that litter the landscape to provide us with insights into the strange and contradictory state of contemporary US identity. Emptiness and stagnation dominate the atmosphere in this series resonant with skepticism, which deliberately makes reference to the American documentary tradition. Signs adds a new chapter to this legacy, depicting present-day Texas as an intellectually ossified realm where rigorous puritanical devoutness mixes with capitalist and patriotic interests to create a menacing brew. With an unmistakable style that employs the medium-sized square format, Granser's pictures reveal a level of political engagement and knowledge that illuminates a significant aspect of contemporary society. Hardcover • 60 color photographs • 140 pages • 11.75 x 11.75 in. • $65 US • About the Book 
Fantasies | Photographs by Lisa Kereszi
When Rudolph Giuliani's administration cracked down on Times Square strip clubs in the 1990s, a whole new burlesque movement was born in New York, concentrating less on the strip and more on the tease. The young New York photographer Lisa Kereszi was there with her camera to catch it all happening. She began by shooting Show World, a club that was in the process of being closed down by the new laws. In her flash, Kereszi caught abandoned lockers, dressing rooms filled with old shoes and costumes and the grimy elegance of the empty theater — which was never meant to be seen by the light of day. Simultaneously, she began to photograph the new burlesque scene-which went underground in the late 1990s and has since evolved into a conceptually sophisticated, funny and rebellious medium. More pinup than porn, in just a few years, the new burlesque is no longer invisible, and has been gleefully appropriated into mainstream culture by way of Hollywood and the print media. Hardcover • 55 color photographs • 96 pages • 11 x 9.5 in. • $45 US • About the Book |
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Flak Photo is published Monday through Friday, with curated exhibits on the weekends. Don't want to miss a day? Subscribe to our email updates and tune in to our daily photo posts and special section highlights.
WEEKEND / NOVEMBER 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2008 We're pleased to present Flak Photo's WEEKEND series, a curated selection of images that highlights work from new photo essays, book projects and gallery exhibitions. Series photographs are published on Saturdays and shown throughout the weekend.
In the Garden | Photographs by Beth Dow Recently awarded top honors in Blurb's Photography Book Now competition, Beth Dow's series explores historical concepts of paradise, and her pictures possess a meditative quality that reflects the spiritual urges that inspired the earliest gardens some six thousand years ago. These images are not topographical descriptions, and color is irrelevant. Instead, the implication of light and shadow leads the viewer through her own path in the garden. Shot quickly with a hand-held camera, the shape and mystery of these places offer glimpses of the rich traditions of garden making. Her work references the warm tones of early landscape photography and the richness and permanence of the platinum process complements the experiment in immortality that is a cultivated landscape. View the In the Garden series | About the Exhibition | About the Book |
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SPONSOR FLAK PHOTO Do you have a web photography project you'd like to promote? Share it with our readers by placing a graphic advertisement in this space. Banner ad space is available for use on a rolling basis. For specific information about our readership, website statistics, or to inquire about placing a graphic ad, send us an email at photo@flakmag.com. |
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ABOUT FLAK PHOTO Flak Photo is a photography blogzine featuring distinctive work from an international community of contributors that promotes interesting visual approaches to seeing the world and celebrates the art of exhibiting quality photography online. The blog is produced by Andy Adams and features work from new photo essays, book projects and gallery exhibitions from established and emerging photographers. Flak Photo is updated frequently, attentively edited and open to submissions from the general public. SUBMISSIONS To submit your work for consideration, email your photograph (sRGB JPG format, minimum 1000px on the longest dimension) with title and place of capture including city, state/province, country and year to photo@flakmag.com. Contributors are encouraged to include their website URL with their submission. Although we are unable to offer monetary compensation, your work will be seen by Flak Photo's growing readership of photographers, publishers, curators and photo editors. THE FINE PRINT All photographs presented here are the sole property of the contributing artist unless otherwise noted. Published works are protected under domestic and international copyright laws and are not considered to be public domain. No photograph may be reproduced, copied, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without written permission. All rights reserved. |
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