Salutation

Every year seems to pass faster than the last and 2013 was no exception. I can't believe it's almost 2014 as I write this. 2014! It sounds like a date in a Sci-Fi film. 

My photo year has been action-packed. I've had shows in several cities. Shows are fun. Sort of. The best thing about them is they're an excuse to explore new places and meet new friends. If you're reading this and we crossed paths in 2013 over beers or photographing a grimy alley or just in passing, it was fun to meet you. And if by chance I slept on your couch or guest bed during one of my photo junkets, I am eternally grateful. Except you, Carl. Your "couch" sucks. But Stephen, Brian, Luka, George, Chris, Faulkner, Loly, Bryan, and Chamo Kim, thank you so much! Hopefully I wasn't an inconvenience. And if anyone wants to offer me a show/couch this year in, say Lagos or Tokyo or Pittsburg, or some other city I've never been, I will be there, prints in hand. 

But wait a minute, I hear you saying. That's not how it's supposed to work. You're supposed to build a career strategically, not willy-nilly. Well cancel all that. I can't pursue the standard path. Too many issues to go into here. But basically I'm like the guy whose tattoos extend above the collar. Fortune 500 jobs are forever closed to him. But not the NBA. And as for phlebotomist, well that's hard to say. I'm in the same boat. It isn't about gunning for MoMA or private collections or bigshots buying your prints or anyone giving two shits about them. At least for me it has definitely not been about those things, although I wouldn't turn them down. No, it's about flying to a new city, munching Neccos, and partying hard. And trying to find your way "home" later, shutter button blazing the entire time.

I've been through some changes online too. I became active on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Python, and Griswold. I took a blog sabbatical, enjoyed many stimulating interactions, and I've gradually come to terms with the fact that I can't keep up with every online development. After all I just turned 45. I've been writing this blog more than half my "adult" life. I'm on the verge of my dotage. The photo world is quickly changing and many things will just pass me by, and I'm ok with that. "Let it go," said my mentor many years ago. Then he snarled, "It's fucking mine." And I said, "It's all yours, Fred." Because if the NBA is his dream, who am I to stand in the way? I'm man enough to let it go.

As usual I've seen a buttload of photos this year, mostly online but also in books and on gallery walls, and spread across gorgeous centerfolds, and as loose prints laid on the kitchen table. There's an incredible crew of talented photographers working today and it's been a joy to engage with new work, and old work too. I think you know who you are. But even if you don't, like say you have amnesia or Alzheimer's or something, your photos have still been a true pleasure. It's OK, I know you won't remember. That's why I've written it down.



But of course the highlight of any photographer's year is making photos. I've made a ton, and I've even grown to like some of them. As I enter my late 40s I am slowing down a bit. I'm working at more of a marathon pace than a sprinter's. But I can still shoot any of you young whippersnappers under the table. I'm well on track toward my eventual goal to take more film photographs than anyone else alive. If I outlive Araki, Cunningham, Weber, and about 15 others, and film continues its swan song, the title should be safely mine.

Making photographs is the most important thing! If you are a photographer you already know this, or at least you should. I realize that sometimes we get sidetracked by unimportant concerns, especially online.  This blog, for example, is just a silly sideshow compared to what's really important: fast cars, bling, and the fact that Photographers Make Photographs. I know it's cliche but it's ever so vital. Not to be preachy but sometimes you've just got to Google search griffenholtz.

As always, I appreciate all B readers. I know you have many sites to choose from, and that some of them offer free cheese blintzes. And many don't disappear for 3 months with no warning. So any page views that come my way are very welcome. I wish I could promise more quality content in 2014 but honestly I have no fucking clue what the future holds, and neither do you.

The only certainty is that 2014 is upon us. It's time to put the rest of life aside and get cracking. Stop reading this. Go create shit, starting now...

With pride and affection,
Your faithful Cantrol,

-B

New Year's Resolutions

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Photo Of The Year

Favorite Photobook Lists of 2013

These are the glory days of Photobook Lists. Just a decade ago there were very few to choose from. But the past decade has seen an explosion in such lists, transforming listmaking from a rather listless condition into veritable list lust. More importantly, listing has become democratized. While 10 Top Ten lists were once the exclusive province of large media conglomerates and perhaps Dave Letterman, the internet has allowed anyone to join the fray. 

And join they have. Every year hundreds of Photobook Lists are published. They now come in a wide variety of sizes, designs, and quality, offering something for all. A healthy Photo List collectible market has developed, and indie stores selling Photobook Lists are popping up all over. We're living during a true Photobook List renaissance. The unlisted number of Photobook Lists is not just astonishing. It's probably beyond listing. 

Although Photobook Lists are produced throughout the year, most are published in late November or December. It's in December that certain figures make their list, then check it twice. And this is also when critics and tastemakers edit their lists of the year's best Photobook Lists. A Photobook List published in December is more likely to be remembered, and so naturally the last few weeks have been a listmaking bonanza, as listers scramble to have their lists noticed. My list below is no exception, and I hope it will find a spot on your list of favorite lists.

Even though most lists are concentrated in one period, it's still tough to keep track of them all. Fortunately someone has booked a list of Photobook Lists. In the past, Eye Curious and PhotoEye have filled the role. This year, Photobook List collectors Photolia and QT Luong have compiled lists of 2013's book lists on their respective sites, with Luong's ranking listings by number of times listed.

I'll admit that I didn't see every list listed this year. Some were published and went quickly out of print before I could list them. Other lists were produced in small quantities or with limited distribution. I can only list the lists I've personally encountered. Please know that although I listened closely to what was out there before listing, this list is not meant to be any objective measure of merit. It's merely a subjective impression listing some of my favorite lists. Last but not least, lest my list seem laced with sarcasm, I assure you that possibility was not lost on me as I made my list. 

My Favorite Photobook Lists of 2013:

Tom Claxton: A Year in Ten Titles

Expectations were high from this long overdue publication and on release, it certainly didn’t disappoint. Startling light penetrated every voyeuristic detail while the list’s manic sequence/design further intensifies this energetic experience. Never fully aware of what is being observed, this is a chaotically charged document, blurring the real and dreamt. 

Microcord: Swell Books of 2013

The idea seems to have been that of a tolerably good package of decently sized titles, held down to a very palatable price. It’s a collection of “solitary moments of disconnection” (in the lister’s words), or perhaps of indecisive moments (not his words). We see individuals listing, individuals not listing, scenes likely to start one listing — yes, it’s free-ranging. There’s even the occasional crowd, though the individual seems in a pocket of space within it. And many pleasing plays of light and shadow. 

Eric Gundersen: Personal Favorites of 2013

"It's been an interesting year. SO many lists, and in the past I've relied on those lists to source out a lot of books in my collection. This year was different. This year I did a lot of my own research. I've gone hunting a lot more and I think I've ended up with a collection I really love and appreciate." I did not see a more heartfelt sentiment on any other list. 

ABC: Worst Photobooks of 2013

Comprised of mainly postcards, contracts, meeting minutes, advertising agency reports, newspaper clippings, scripts, scripting notes, and correspondences, it only contains a few titles and they are old. Nobody needs to see this stuff. Or do they? This list is a paradox that keeps on giving, even as it sucks you dry. That you can get it covered in your choice of four sickeningly garish colors makes this a no-brainer for my top ten list.

Roger May: My Favorite Photobook Buys of 2013

Roger has a heart bigger than the English Isles and it rings true in his list. We can all learn a lot from him. It’s the epitome of what I look for in a list: maps, smart layout, and a balance of titles by the observer and text/interviews with people in the list. I’ll never be able to reassemble this list the way it was put together (it’s not bound), but whatever. It’s just beautiful.

Joerg Colberg: My Favorite Photobooks in 2013

Colberg makes the political and the state of the country a large part of the list, mirroring what appears to be a growing feeling that things seem to have gone off the rails a bit. This is the kind of list that re-engages an audience with a photographer’s work smartly. It’s the kind of list where I thought I had it all figured out, and then I didn’t. I’m a bit surprised I didn’t see this list on more lists this year. 

Clement Paradis: top 5 Photobooks You Can Actually Afford

Don’t expect him to talk again about books like Broomberg and Chanarin’s Holy Bible. He already has a bible (that he paid 2 bucks for) and he doesn't open it often, so don't expect him to buy another, even for the sake of sarcasm. Yeah you got it, he's just in a bad mood cause he can’t afford those lists. And really who can? The blogger making a list of favorite Photobook Lists? They get them for free you know! A suitable list for those on a budget or people who already own a bible, and a jackpot for those with a foot in both camps.

Tim Clark: The Best Photo Books of 2013

Incorporating sculpture, performance and photography, this beautifully designed, tautly-edited list is at once a heady mix of the abstract and the figurative, reality and illusion, and a resonant testimony to the market’s organic and temporary nature. Through his intervention, Clark has not only rescued a corpus of vernacular photography from oblivion but produced a hugely significant, complex, and most crucially, unassuming list.

Matthew Carson: Ten Photobooks from 2013

Some people out there cast doubt on the whole idea of creating a list. Ten photobook lists. Why ten anyways? Carson has this ability to submerge you in nature. Who doesn’t like blurry nature? His list is filled hallucinatory titles from Tokyo, Paris, London and New York, a grainy and black and white list that screams off the page.

Alec Soth: My Top 10 Photobooks of 2013

“A photograph is a secret about a secret,” Diane Arbus said. “The more it tells you the less you know.”  Every book listed in this photographer’s depiction of photobooks is an item of unintelligible secrets. I really wanted to dislike this list, but I was completely won over by the pictures, design and even Soth’s essay. “I don’t want to be famous,” he writes, “but I hope this list is remembered for ever.” I have a feeling it will be.

John Sypal: Favorite Photobooks of 2013

The vertical format makes this list feel somehow more novel-like, the pictures within flow along as a possible tributary headed towards the Styx. Instead of a written response the list answers this question with what appears to be Sypal’s kindest or at least warmest titles yet- although this may be thanks to his stunning subject more than anything else. It’s excellently made and designed in a way that makes no apologies for being intensely personal. With a very particular sense of detachment Sypal's list is intriguing. The theme of reflection isn’t at all subtle but it is moving.

Cunningham/Partridge

Eugene is not exactly a hotspot for strong photo exhibits. There are a few venues around town that regularly show photographs, but they generally focus on local artists. Which is fine. After all Think globally, act locally was the Whole Earth motto growing up, and it still has its place. The problem with photo shows in Eugene is they're think locally, act locally. It's a very provincial vibe in some ways.

But beyond Eugene's myopic focus is a larger problem. The photography here is locked in a past era, specifically the f/64 movement which dominated photography in the mid 20th century. Even though photography has radically evolved over the past several decades, that change hasn't really penetrated the scene here. Photographers may have traded in their view cameras for Phase-One backs but they're still shooting the same shit as 60 years ago: Refined monochrome renderings of barns, mountains, and nudes. 

I've talked with local photographers about exactly why that is. It's hard to draw any firm conclusions. Some think it's the legacy of Bernie Freemesser. Maybe it's just the way it is in smaller cities. Who knows. In any case, if one were forced to guess the year using only Eugene's photo shows and the Country Fair as evidence, it's been 1973 here for four decades and counting.

The current show at Emerald Art Gallery is no exception. It's a relic from the past. Fortunately it is exceptional by just about every other measure. It's probably the strongest show I've seen locally this year.

Imogen Cunningham was a towering figure of 20th century photography, even if she was slightly overshadowed by other figures during her life. But make no mistake, she was brilliant and original and had an epic career. And her son Rondal was no slouch either, learning at the foot of the master from an early age. He helped his mom in the darkroom at 5, and it was only a few years until he was assisting Dorothea Lange. 

Mother and son have now combined to put together a powerhouse dual show featuring a mix of vintage and recent prints in silver gelatin, platinum, and ink jet. If the work seems slightly old fashioned, they have a good excuse. Cunningham isn't copying f/64. She helped invent it. 

Most of the prints at Emerald are smallish. Few of the Cunningham prints are larger than 8x10. It's a welcome respite from current bigger-is-better fashion. The viewer is forced to go toe to toe with the photos, to engage them intimately. And the photos hold up their end of the bargain! Unlike large ink jets (for example, the show currently at Blue Sky), these works just get better and better the closer one gets. Within 2 inches, however, the rule of diminishing returns kicks in. Viewers may experience eye damage or hallucinations. If unsure where to stand just remember the cucumber-in-the-pocket rule of thumb.  

It doesn't come across well on a computer screen but in physical form this Cunningham shot of a boy near a classical statue glowed with a vibrance that stopped me in my tracks. The fact that it's a young Brett Weston is icing on the cake. Brett F-ing Weston!

Complementing the Weston shot is the famous Cunningham photo of her father slung over a cane at age 90, looking old and withered and alive. Together they bookend the show thematically. Two lives in photos. 

I know Cunningham's work fairly well but before this show I wasn't as familiar with Partridge. I browsed his book 10 years ago, that's it. Tuns out he's still going strong today at 96. Like his mom he's a perfectionist, a virtuoso shooter and printer. Craftwise few photographers nowadays can come close to what these two accomplished. To create something with visual interest and strong physical presence from a mundane daily scene is not an easy trick. Just ask any Instagrammer. No, on second thought don't.

Like his mom I think Partridge approaches life and photography with a sense of mischief. His photo of Yosemite here is probably my favorite in the show. I mean, how hilarious is that? Up yours, nature! Ha! Or maybe he's saying, up yours, Ansel? Either way his wry commentary is a welcome slant on the dusty old f/64 world. He's old school, sure. After all he's almost 100. But I think his photos still have a lot to teach us.

The show closes next Friday and I'd encourage anyone within driving distance to see it. It's an old fashioned relic, but a good one. If you are sometimes tempted to dismiss this style of photography out of hand, the Emerald show may change your mind.


Emerald Art Center, 500 Main St., Springfield, OR, Open Tues - Sat, 11 AM - 4 PM