March 25 - April 8, 2022
THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Great Photography Stories
Stephen Shore excerpts his new book in The Paris Review
I enjoyed reading and seeing some of Stephen Shore’s influences and inspirations in this Paris Review excerpt from his upcoming memoir published by MACK, Modern Instances: The Craft of Photography:
“One of the threads running through the history of the medium is the redefinition of meaningful content. Photographers find meaning in something where it hadn’t been recognized before, and then, over time, that content itself becomes a convention. And when it becomes a convention, it lacks the immediacy of the original picture. “Immediacy” means without mediation. Without the mediation of visual conventions. In time the original content becomes a cliché. And the cutting edge of immediacy finds new territory to function as an objective correlative.”
The Guardian highlights some of the work of this year’s Deutsch Börse photography prize nominees
Photographers Anastasia Samoylova, Deana Lawson, Jo Ractliffe, and Gilles Peress were all shortlisted for the big photo prize this year. See some of their photos here, and read more about their photo projects, and the shortlist exhibition currently on view in London at The Photographer’s Gallery here.
“From flood warnings to the Troubles, these images from the four award nominees document the intimate alternatives to preconceived histories”
RIP to Stephen Wilhite, Creator of the GIF file format
While GIFs can be overused, this file format whose primary use these days is to send a quick emotional response over social media have probably brought more moments of quick happiness and good cheer than to more people than most inventions coming out of the tech world. If only Wilhite accepted that people were going to use a hard ‘G’ when they pronounced it! The Verge has a good obit on this influential programmer.
“While there have been long-standing debates about the correct pronunciation of the image format, Wilhite was very clear on how he intended for it to be said. In 2013, he told The New York Times, “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations. They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story.”
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Not that I think I’m ever all that great about noticing details in scenes I photograph, but this short video, one of the winners of the 2021 ‘Best Optical Illusions’ of 2021, shows me, in humiliating detail, how much I can easily miss. I do think optical illusions are a valuable adjacent field of study or interest to photographers - a reminder that much of what we see, or think we see, with our own two eyes is constructed after the fact.
EQUITY AND ETHICS IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Aperture Magazine presented a lot of excellent online programming to accompany their last issue, Latinx.
If you wanted to see some of these talks, but missed the opportunity when they were live, Aperture has now added this programing to their YouTube playlist. Check out great conversations from the links (🔗) below:
“Recently added Aperture Conversations:
Celebrating Thalía Gochez and Las Fotos Project 🔗
The Narrative Arc of Latinx Photography 🔗
Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Sonel Breslav, and Anika Sabin in Conversation 🔗
Genesis Báez, Joiri Minaya, and Steven Molina Contreras in Conversation 🔗
Inside the “Latinx” issue with Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Elizabeth Ferrer 🔗
On Community: Thelma Golden, Dr. Kenneth Montague, Jamel Shabazz, and Xaviera Simmons 🔗
On Power: Mark Sealy, Vanley Burke, Dr. Kenneth Montague, and Richard Mark Rawlins in Conversation 🔗
On Identity: Liz Ikiriko in Conversation with June Clark, Dr. Kenneth Montague, and Bidemi Oloyede 🔗”
OPPORTUNITIES / CALLS FOR ENTRY
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Photo at top of Weekly Roundup: On The Beach, Coney Island © James Prochnik