graeme mitchell » still & ‘scape work

Walker Evan’s Still Lifes

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:26:06 +0000

Walker Evans is one of the cornerstones in the history of American photography, and while a few of his seminal images are in the popular canon, the heft of his oeuvre is, I believe, oft passed over for more accessible photographers like his contemporary H.C. Bresson. Yet, Evan’s work to me is nearly on a different plane – not above or below, more far to another side – unsentimental, demanding, lasting, and intensely intelligent. Indeed, Bresson wrote himself in a letter to a colleague in 2001, “[i]f it had not been for the challenge of the work of Walker Evans, I don’t think I would have remained a photographer.” Needless to say, if you haven’t, you should find a book on Evans. He did a lot. A lot. Or the Met has an immense Walker Evan’s archive online, and the MOMA also has a succinct collection of his work.

I’m mentioning Evans b/c recently I’ve begun to look at his still lives and interiors. They leave me enthralled and immersed and nearly stunned. No hyperbole. In these I see everything from Pop art to Roger Ballen. This isn’t exactly internet work, so to speak, not wow work I guess: it’s quieter than that, but still, do not underestimate it.

photo: Penny Picture Display, Savannah, Georgia.. 1936. By Walker Evans.

photo: Kitchen Corner, Tenant Farmhouse, Hale County, Alabama. 1936. By Walker Evans.

photo: Kitchen Wall, Alabama Farmstead. 1936. By Walker Evans.

photo: Negro Barber Shop Interior, Atlanta. 1936. By Walker Evans.

photo: The Cactus Plant, Interior Detail of a Portuguese House, Truro, Massachusetts, circa 1930. By Walker Evans.

photo: Dressing Stand with Oval Mirror in Bedroom, Hobe Sound, Florida. 1934. By Walker Evans.

Bresson and Weegee audio recordings A photographer (thanks, James!) sent me these great little finds...

A Cabbage

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:33:32 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

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Flowers from Spring 2

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:39:40 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Flowers from Spring photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Flowers from the Fall, 2 “his very body was an empty hall echoing with sonorous...
Flowers from the Fall, 3 “that meagre and fragile thread… by which the little surface...

Cape Cod

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:21:02 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

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Flowers from Spring

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:01:27 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Flowers from Spring 2 photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Flowers from the Fall, 2 “his very body was an empty hall echoing with sonorous...
Flowers from the Fall, 3 “that meagre and fragile thread… by which the little surface...

The Mojave Desert

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:53:57 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

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Valley of Fire, Nevada

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:00:15 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Happy Valley, Oregon ‘You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; ‘They called...
Lake Mead, Nevada photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo:...

Salton Sea, California

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:59:53 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Amboy, California photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Twenty Nine Palms, California photo: Twenty Nine Palms, California, 2010. ©Graeme Mitchell Speaking of...

Lake Mead, Nevada

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:44:07 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Valley of Fire, Nevada photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...

Amboy, California

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:41:53 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

Salton Sea, California photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Twenty Nine Palms, California photo: Twenty Nine Palms, California, 2010. ©Graeme Mitchell Speaking of...

Twenty Nine Palms, California

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:16:19 +0000

photo: Twenty Nine Palms, California, 2010. ©Graeme Mitchell

Speaking of Twenty Nine Palms. A really great great great photograph by An-My Lê was taken at the marine base there. It’s in the MOMA collection.

Amboy, California photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Salton Sea, California photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
Walker Evan’s Still Lifes Walker Evans is one of the cornerstones in the history...

Joshua Tree National Park

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:33:27 +0000

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell

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Happy Valley, Oregon

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:50:14 +0000

‘You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
‘They called me the hyacinth girl.’
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Od’ und leer das Meer.

-from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

photo: Happy Valley, OR. 2010. ©Graeme Mitchell

Valley of Fire, Nevada photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2 This is a continuation of the series I began, here....
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 3 More of these, photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell....

Flowers from the Fall, 3

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:15:33 +0000

“that meagre and fragile thread… by which the little surface corners and edges of men’s secret and solitary lives may be joined for an instant now and then before sinking back into the darkness where the spirit cried for the first time and was not heard and will cry for the last time and will not be heard then either”

-from Absolom, Absolom! by William Faulkner.

photo: Flowers from the Fall, 2009. ©Graeme Mitchell.

Flowers from the Fall, 2 “his very body was an empty hall echoing with sonorous...
Flowers from the Fall We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from...
Flowers from Spring 2 photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 5

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:29:45 +0000

photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell.

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2 This is a continuation of the series I began, here....
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 3 More of these, photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell....
A series studying reflected light photo: from light study, 2009, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...

Flowers from the Fall, 2

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:13:54 +0000

“his very body was an empty hall echoing with sonorous defeated names; he was not a being, an entity, he was a commonwealth. He was a barracks filled with stubborn, back-looking ghosts…”

-from Absolom, Absolom! by William Faulkner.

photo: Flowers from the Fall, 2009. ©Graeme Mitchell.

Flowers from the Fall, 3 “that meagre and fragile thread… by which the little surface...
Flowers from the Fall We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from...
Flowers from Spring 2 photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 4

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:39:53 +0000

More, yet:

A series studying reflected light photo: from light study, 2009, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2 This is a continuation of the series I began, here....
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 3 More of these, photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell....

Flowers from the Fall

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:51:11 +0000

We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and breathed are now merely initials or nicknames out of some now incomprehensible affection which sound to us like Sanskrit or Chocktaw; we see dimly people, the people in whose living blood and seed we ourselves lay dormant and waiting, in this shadowy attenuation of time possessing now heroic proportions, performing their acts of simple passion and simple violence, impervious to time and inexplicable

-from Absolom, Absolom! by William Faulkner.

photo: Flowers from the Fall, 2009. ©Graeme Mitchell.

Flowers from the Fall, 2 “his very body was an empty hall echoing with sonorous...
Flowers from the Fall, 3 “that meagre and fragile thread… by which the little surface...
Flowers from Spring 2 photo: ©Graeme Mitchell photo: ©Graeme Mitchell...

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 3

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:30:07 +0000

More of these,

photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell.

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2 This is a continuation of the series I began, here....
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 5 photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...
A series studying reflected light photo: from light study, 2009, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:48:08 +0000

This is a continuation of the series I began, here.

photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell.

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 3 More of these, photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell....
A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 5 photo: from light study, 2010, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...
A series studying reflected light photo: from light study, 2009, ©Graeme Mitchell. photo: from light...

A Hand

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:19:20 +0000

photo: A Hand, 2009, ©Graeme Mitchell

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Print Edition: Forest

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:18:59 +0000

photo: Untitled, 40×50″ archival pigment print, edition of 3, by Graeme Mitchell. Related posts:Print Edition: Bolivia photo: Untitled (from Bolivia), 7×10.5″ archival pigment print, edition of... Print Edition: Face photo: Untitled (from beauty story) 2008, 30×40″ archival pigment print,... Used Condom Print, at Museum of Sex This is interesting: this print was just delivered as [...] Related posts:

Print Edition: Bolivia photo: Untitled (from Bolivia), 7×10.5″ archival pigment print, edition of...
Print Edition: Face photo: Untitled (from beauty story) 2008, 30×40″ archival pigment print,...
Used Condom Print, at Museum of Sex This is interesting: this print was just delivered as a...

Minor White

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:51:01 +0000

This picture of Minor White’s is the best argument towards the existence of G_d that I’ve ever come across:

photo: Windowsill Daydreaming, by Minor White.

It is a photograph that poses ineffable questions while at the same time offering inherent answers. One risks vanishing into it.

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A series studying reflected light

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:56:07 +0000

A Series Studying Reflected Light, Part 2 This is a continuation of the series I began, here....

Study, Square Project, SS10

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:33:11 +0000

The look book for Study by Tara St James’ SS10 line.

Study FW10 Just finished Study by Tara St. James‘ FW10 book. Another...
Portrait: Tara St James The designer, Tara St. James. photo: Tara St. James, NYC,...

A conversation: Friedlander on Avedon, then bicycles, then Bill Cunningham

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:50:42 +0000

More a regurgitation of a conversation, but after all, it’s a blog: so: while having lunch in Tompkins Sq. yesterday with photo-friend, Aaron Binaco he gave me some, how should I put it, neat shit. My first sun-drunk-enthusiasm was for that by now well known moment when Avedon went to take Freidlander‘s portrait at his home, and how Freidlander, being a really real photographer (see note), also took Avedon’s portrait. I said I could find the Avedon picture, but have yet to be able to find the Friedlander. Well, Aaron found it and sent it to me. I imagine a sort of stand-off of great personalities, great wills face to face, and even if they were cordial and kind on some level it must have been profound-intense. Either as a matter of attrition of neither ever giving in, or maybe rather of two old masters being able to wink and nod, knowingly.

photo: from Aperture #188, Lee Friedlander by Richard Avedon (left) and Richard Avedon by Lee Friedlander (right)

Both Aaron and I grew up racing bicycles, so then he started on about this Scottish trials rider, saying, “he’d ride up that tree over there and just chill out,” while pointing at this giant bloody elm that a cat could maybe climb. I called, hyperbole!, but then he emailed me this link and jesusmurphy…if you’ve ever ridden a bike you should be able to appreciate this video:

And, yes, I am in fact posting on extreme sports youtube video…sigh, probably a slippery slope, so I’ll post this to balance it out:

photo: Corvette I saw in soho which I voted best possible prop of the day and sent it to a fashion editor with a synopsis of a story involving Death Valley, Bottega heels, and a Camio by Dennis Hopper (as eminence grise, naturally). Fashion editor responded, I weep.

Note: “real photograher”: I was shooting on 5th ave by Tiffany’s on Saturday morning, and I saw this old timer shooting people fast with an old Nikon. I guessed maybe he was part of the old-Magnum-guard. I said, hello, asked his name, he said, Bill Cunningham, didn’t ring a bell. I asked him if shot there much, if he’d seen Bruce Gilden out, he’s always shooting on this corner. He said, I have seen him in the afternoon; how is Bruce? I said, I’ve no idea, I just see him, can’t catch him. He said, now that’s a real photographer. I liked that. Since there was truth in it. We chatted a bit more, then he took off after this super chic blonde to photograph. I thought, huh, mildly-licentious, but, yeah! It wasn’t until I mentioned it later in the day in passing that someone explained to me who Bill is. Love it. Before he ran of he waved and said, keep snapping kid. I offer the same good-bye, keep snapping, Bill!

Portrait: Julian Julian is someone I have the pleasure to photograph whenever...

Photographer Interviews: Koudelka, Moon, Newton, Witkin, Sieff…

admin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:51:00 +0000

I wanted to share this link to interviews of photographers by Frank Horvart. I skimmed the Newton one, which was good, and Sieff is always erudite and deep (French after all…). I’d expect the same of Witkin.

Super short post, but they should be good reading for awhile.

Oh, and a movie: someone sent me some segments of a flim William Klein did in 1986 called Contacts. Worth digging up if you can find it.

Oh, and speaking of Helmut and back to the topic of yesterdays post of Avedon’s sartorial sense, check out the snakeskin belt (↓)!

R.I.P. Irving Penn Here. The last to go of the greats of the...

Remnant: Cigar Stub #1

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:38:26 +0000

(I smiled while looking through Irving Penn‘s still life book yesterday. I’d mentioned while posting the first of this series (here) that I’m standing in his mighty shadow and mentioned his cigarette butts. It turns out he also did a picture titled “Marlboro Pack,” which – you guessed it – is a picture of a Marlboro box he’d found on the street. And gawdalmighty it’s a great picture. And I was worried about his cigarette butts! Alas! Either everything has indeed been done and the exhausted school stands correct, or my subconscious betrayed me!

“History is a nightmare from which I’m trying to awake” – James Joyce.

Worth a laugh at least.)

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Remnant: Note #1

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:10:05 +0000

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Remnant: Cigarette Box #2

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:16:12 +0000

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