12.01.08
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 11:07 am by Michelle
For a nice change, last week the Holga fun was in downtown Seattle. Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates, two fabulous photographers from Tucson, are sharing an exhibition, called “Breaking Tradition”, at Benham Gallery (along with David Amator). Rosanna’s work is all Holga, and her prints are created in a way that they are objects in themselves, not just a vehicle for an image, as most photographs are. They’re all individually messed with, toned, and coated with beeswax; some are mounted on the wall, while others are in funky little wooden boxes. Matt’s photographs are dark and moody, and find homes in unique antique frames. The show is fantastic to explore; the variety of formats and the way it’s hung give it many layers, and it takes a while to explore them all.
The opening party was a blast, with loads of people through and lots of munchies, and even champagne!
Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates at the opening.
A visitor looking at Matt’s work.
On Sunday, Nov 23rd, we had a photo afternoon, starting with an artist talk by the 3 photographers leading the crowd around the gallery explaining their processes and inspiration. Afterwords, we had a Holga Meet-up. Holga photographers emailed in images and brought prints along. We projected images, talked about process and image, and generally gabbed about Holgas and how much we love them. The photographers included Ryan Synovec, who shoots stunning infrared landscape images that I hadn’t seen before (wow!), and Shannon Welles, who makes great lith prints of her Holga images.
Matt & Rosanna speaking at the artist talk
Marita Holdaway, owner of Benham Gallery
“Breaking Tradition” is up through Dec 24th; check it out.
~Michelle
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11.28.08
Posted in Photography at 6:17 pm by Michelle
I lucked out in my November visit to San Francisco with sunny days with temps in the high 70s – it was delicious!
I went for the West Region conference of the Society for Photographic Education. It was a sweet little gathering (compared the national conferences I usually go to), but I got to see lots of people I know, and meet some new ones. Erika Gentry & Ann Jastrab were a couple of the organizers – Erika teaches at the City College of San Francisco, and Ann runs the gallery at Rayko Photo, where I sometimes teach. It took place at the Academy of Art, where I often guest lecture.
The theme was “Inspiration,” which was a really great one, and led to some wonderful sessions and discussions. The opening panel, on that idea, included Ted Orland, who’s a big presence in my book, and Danny Hobson, another great photographer I know. Great group.
I also went to a couple of book release parties featuring Chronicle Books‘ newest selections (including Linda Conner’s), led by Michael Rauner, whose book “Visionary State” is just stunning. Four books were featured at the party at SF Camerawork, where the gallery was covered salon-style with prints for its upcoming auction (Dec 6th). You won’t find a better selection of photographs anywhere (check out the photos beforehand, or online, and better yet, go to the auction and bid!).
An extra with the conference was a curator’s tour of a fantastic exhibition at SFMOMA: Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900, which features sections on photography with microscopes, telescopes, x-rays, electricity, and strobes to stop motion. The collection of vintage prints is just stunning. I must get the book!
As always, I combined business with pleasure, seeing friends in SF, caught a show, and had a fantastic time photographing the door grates with my Rollei MiniDigi – I’ll have to do more of that!
What a great city!
Photos from the Rollei MiniDigi
~Michelle
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11.03.08
Posted in Photography at 2:03 pm by Michelle
Wow.
Have to start with wow.
This was a spectacular week of photography fun in New York, center of the photography world.
I started off attending the Lucie Awards, bringing together a huge cross-section of photography folks, from all over the world, in some serious swankiness at Lincoln Center. Funny that the group of people I met happened to be from Portland (the westerly one…).
And it just went uphill from there.
My guest of honor for the week was Christine So, from the Tokina Company – not the Japanese Tokina which makes lenses, but the one in Hong Kong which makes Holgas! In talking, oh, 5 days earlier, about ideas they have to reach out to the photography world, I suggested (OK, insisted) that the best way for her to see how it all works and meet loads of people would be to hop on a plane to NY and meet me there for Photo Plus Expo. And so she did!
Me, Christine & Patrick Dellibovi at the Freestyle (FS Distribution) booth
We went to the Blurb meet-up, spent three full, fun days doing Photo Plus at the Javits Center, visited ICP and B&H Photo.
On Sunday, we gathered for a lovely lunch with a group of Holga photographers at the home of Jill Enfield, a Holga fan and one of the photographers in my book.
Annu Matthew, me, Jill Enfield, David Burnett, Pauline St. Denis & Christine So at Jill’s house
Christine met a zillion photographers, photo professionals, and other artists and enthusiasts. We bounced around lots and lots of ideas – keep an eye out for upcoming developments on the Holga front!
With Teru Kuwayama, who brings his Holgas all over the world, at the show, “Battlespace: Unrealities of War” at Sideshow Gallery
Most of all, I had a fantastic time with Christine and seeing all the sparks flying when we and my friends talked about art and photography; it was thrilling!
Rounding out my trip, I spent time with my family & local friends, visited the Met & several galleries, saw both The Flying Karamazov Brothers and Hunchback, a puppet-flavored version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (playing through November 9 at the New Victory – go see it), took a gorgeous walk in glorious fall Central Park and played in the snow(!) in New Jersey. I love that I get to combine work and seeing family and friends with being in one of the great cities of the world!
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10.06.08
Posted in Photography at 4:29 pm by Michelle
It arrived! It arrived!
My box of goodies from Holga Headquarters in Hong Kong!
I sent out an email to some photo buddies, and we had a nice little group for the unveiling, which consisted of opening boxes within boxes, all labeled with cryptic Holga inscriptions.
Michelle in Holga Heaven! photo by Michael Craft
The stash included fifteen 120 Holgas – 120Ns, 120FNs, 120CFNs, in the plastic and glass-lensed versions, AND all in their new colored versions as well! Also, a 120 pinhole and the one I’d really been waiting for – the Pinhole Wide Holga, which is a bizarre-looking contraption. Whew! Add into that three 35mm Holgas (including a pinhole one). Then, a couple of 110 cameras, which kind of gave me flashbacks to my childhood cameras. One last camera is the strange little Meow camera, which doesn’t just shoot on 35mm film, but it actually meows!
Then onto the accessories: the sets of filters, for use on Holgas and on other cameras, fish-eye lenses, the cable release I love so much, a changing bag, and even a tripod (which weighs all of twice as much as a Holga, giving a combo that totals less than a pound and a half)! We spent hours swapping around the Holgas with my Canon & Nikon digitals – it was tons of fun!
The Holga Assistants: Corey Scherrer, Michael Craft, Annett Mateo, Tim Furst
Thanks Holga & Tokina!
~Michelle
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09.24.08
Posted in Photography at 8:03 pm by Michelle
Well, a little time has passed, but I wanted to do a little blurb on my visit to Portland, Oregon in August.
I went down to teach a workspace at Newspace Center for Photography. I had heard things about Newspace, but hadn’t been there before, and I loved what I saw. It’s a great space, with a gallery, classroom/studio, and black and white darkroom. And seems like a lovely community as well. The class was fantastic – it filled up over a month in advance, so there must be a great toy camera community there south of the border (with WA, that is).
I gave myself a couple more days to wander Portland, and had lots of photo fun. I had lunch with the great folks at Lensbaby, and saw their World Headquarters, which is, in fact, quite small and humble. Got to play with their new toys, which I can actually mention now, since they were announced yesterday.
I also discovered one of the greatest camera stores anywhere: Blue Moon Camera, in North Portland. They sell only film cameras, including my beloved Holgas (although they were entranced by my adorable Rollei MiniDigi). I couldn’t resist taking home a fabulous Zeiss Super Ikonta B 120 camera – I’ve wanted one for years, and there it was! They also repair cameras, and strangely, sell old-timey typewriters, waiting on customers in funky old-timey suits.
With my trusty assistant Dave Scaringe, I wandered the gallery district, and got to see Blue Sky Gallery in its fantastic new home. As a decades old coop, they are an inspiration in photography and community.
I enjoyed Portland so much, I hope I get the chance to return soon!
~Michelle
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08.09.08
Posted in Photography at 4:41 pm by Michelle
So I had a nice surprise last week; I got a message on Flickr from someone claiming to work for Mr Lee, who invented the Holga camera. She was looking for photographs to hang at their headquarters in Hong Kong. I mentioned my book, which she hadn’t heard of, and got very nice feedback, and a little mention of them wanting to start doing some shows and events. The name of the comany was unfamiliar, and this all sounded too good to be true, so I checked it out with people in the know, and it turns out that Tokina Company is owned by Universal Electronics, which I credit with being the producer of the Holga in my book. I sent them off a copy of the book, signed personally to Mr Lee, thanking him for the Holga. This is the response I got last night:
Wow!!! From the man himself! The list of things they’re sending off to me is crazy long; this should be fun to unpack!
This is the photograph of him that appears on page 8 of my book:
photo taken by Skorj with a Fujipet camera
A very exciting moment!! I hope I can start doing some talks with them – we’ll see how it all plays out!
~Michelle
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07.06.08
Posted in Photography at 9:03 am by Michelle
Mmm, mmm. I finally came around, and have taught my first workshop at the Maine Media Workshops, where I got my start back when it was called the Maine Photographic Workshops. The class was “Toying with Plastic Cameras” (are you detecting a theme here?), but it was quite different in some ways than the ones I’ve done before. This time around, we had 5 1/2 days, and it wasn’t just me talking the whole time. At MMW, students really get to explore trying things, making photographs, and in our case, getting down and dirty in the darkroom.
Looking at prints, in the darkroom and in the classroom
It started off like any other class, with me lecturing and showing lots of images. Everyone got Holgas, we taped them up and went out to play. Then we got into processing their own film, making contact sheets, and printing. So, after we did sessions in the studio (with strobe lights and all), at night, at Elmer’s Antiques, and in Rockland, everyone ran back to the darkroom to soup their film and see what they got. They tried new shooting techniques, upped their darkroom skills and knowledge, learned to love their Holgas, and by all accounts had a great time. Amazing how a week can seem so short!
Drying Prints and Clipping Holga negatives
I too had a fantastic time! We had our classroom in Union Hall, the wonderfully rickety old building where I spent most of my time in 1991, with a fabulous view of the harbor. I gave a public talk during the week, showing my images on that same wall where I was awed by the work of so many greats, when I was a total novice.
Union Hall – imagine me in the chair, my photos on the wall, and the room full of people
It was just a great week all in all, and I hope to return to Maine again (and again…).
~Michelle
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06.16.08
Posted in Photography at 5:35 pm by Michelle
My latest trip was down the coast in northern California. I’m part of an exhibition of photographs of the Burning Man festival, which takes place every year in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. I applied for this show, 21 Days of Black Rock City, and was awarded not only a spot in the exhibition, but a residency in Berkeley where I made all the large-format digital prints and mounted them. The Creator’s Equity Foundation and Joshua Reichek organized the residency and show. Once I finished the prints, back in February, all I needed to do was show up for the opening, which, of course, was easier said than done, counting in transmission trouble and last-minute flights.
A whole bunch of people made their way to Petaluma (the land of no cell-phone service that even confounds car GPS systems) on a lovely afternoon for the opening on June 1st. The venue is the Marin French Cheese Factory, where cheese is king, but somehow they ended up with a huge empty building for a gorgeous gallery show. The location is also stunning.
The 21 Days of Black Rock City refers to a time-lapse film of the Burning Man festival building up and coming down, on three big fancy screens. Great technology! But the rest of the room is covered with dozens of large prints – up to 40″ x 60″ by 9 photographers: Me; Jason Day; Matt Freedman (a friend of mine from Seattle who I told about the show); Richard Gilmore; Marcel Peelen; Mary Rachel Reynolds; Philip Solomonson; John W. Tucker, Jr; and Joshua Weaver; (along with Lisa Benham, Tony Garcia, and Tom Price from Burners without Borders). These are really stunning. The print quality is fantastic, the mounting and hanging are great, and, surprisingly, the lighting is perfect. I’ve hung many shows in my years running galleries, and I know how hard it is, especially with big art. But they got top-notch lights and everything really pops. The opening was also catered with delicious food, wine and, of course, cheese.
I had a great bunch of people show up: old friends of mine and Matt’s, in from around the country, a posse of Chautauquans, straight from Utah Phillips’ memorial service in Nevada City, and various friends who live in the Bay Area. Topped off with a dinner for the artists (and friends), it was a glorious day!
My photos, taken with a Mamiya 6 medium format film camera (I scanned the negatives to make these digital prints)
My fire photos, shot on film with Nikons and scanned
More photos as I get a hold of them.
The exhibition is up through August 3rd, generally open Fri-Sun, 1-5. Check the website for more details or to arrange an appointment at other times.
~Michelle
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06.11.08
Posted in Photography at 12:03 pm by Michelle
This is a sad post, but also one that is a joyful acknowledgment of someone who’s been very important to me. Ike Royer passed away last week.
I first met Ike in 1997 or so at Photo Plus, a big trade show I attend every year in New York. He was at the Cachet Photo booth; Cachet was a photo paper company I think Ike was president of. I had just won first prize in the Golden Light Awards’ humor print competition, so I showed him my photo in the awards catalog (I had to cajole him a little…). He then consented to look at my portfolio, and I guess he was hooked on the Holga images. A while after that, he featured 10 of my images, with his commentary, on the Cachet web site. It was my first big web presence, and led into other things for me.
I saw Ike on and off over the years. Then, after not running into him for a couple of years, I got a call out of the blue (good lesson for keeping the same phone number). He was now working for Freestyle Photo, which had become the national distributor for the Holga. And, they had a group called the Freestyle Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals, which he invited me to join, sort of as their Holga poster child. After talking to Elizabeth Opalenik, an old friend and board member, I accepted. And it’s been a win-win relationship ever since.
I attended a Freestyle-sponsored conference/trade show in Santa Fe in 2004, where I was introduced by Elizabeth to the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops people, and got a workshop scheduled with them. That directly led to the book (Diane Heppner of Focal Press saw my course in their catalog and contacted me). Ike is the one who gave me the phrase “Toying with Creativity,” which I used for that course, and then for the book. Later, I had a solo exhibition at Freestyle’s gallery in LA, gave a standing-room-only talk there, and graced the cover of their catalog. Ike (and Patrick Dellibovi, my other main champion at Freestyle) were at my book release party in New York, during Photo Plus 2006; I was so thrilled that they were there, since the book wouldn’t have happened without them.
I called Ike “my other father.” He’s about the same age as my fabulous dad (may he live another 20 years), and always treated me with support, warmth, and caring. And always gave great big bear hugs.
I am so grateful to Ike for first taking an interest in a bouncy 20-something with an obsession for strange little plastic cameras, and continuing to help me to accomplish so much over the years.
I’ll miss him.
Ike in his office at Freestyle, February 2007, during my exhibition there, taken with a Lensbaby
~Michelle
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05.27.08
Posted in Photography at 9:48 am by Michelle
My latest trip was down south to the fabulous city of New Orleans. It was much quicker getting there this time – just a couple of flights, as opposed to the six-day drive I took in 2006. When I was there last, it was with the New Old Time Chautauqua‘s Jambalaya Tour, which I photographed, then spent another week and a half in the city, helping out with Emergency Communities while editing my book, in a city in shambles. It was quite the experience.
This time was a little different, but also very fulfilling. I was contacted earlier this year by the New Orleans Photo Alliance about jurying their “Toy Stories” plastic camera exhibition. Since I was already committed to the Foundry show (happening at about the same time), I couldn’t be the juror, but I suggested that they have me down to teach a workshop. Actually, I’d been meaning to contact whoever in NOLA ran workshops, so I could come down and see all my friends there; they just got to me first. They loved the idea, and so did the ASMP Foundation, which gave us grant to help fund the class.
So, I had a fabulous 6-day trip filled with seeing friends, teaching, meeting all the great New Orleans photo folks, checking out the state the city’s in these days, eating good food, seeing local music and theater, visiting Bay St Louis, Mississippi, where the Chautauqua tour was based, biking around the nice flat streets, enjoying the hot weather (and thunderstorms!), visiting my favorite photography gallery, wandering the French Quarter, going to an opening including my photos, and more…
The workshop was just perfect. The New Orleans Photo Alliance is a great organization that is representative of the way community often comes together as a result of tragedy. In a couple of short years, they’ve already started a gallery space, started sponsoring workshops, and instituted Photo NOLA, a month of photography fun including portfolio reviews each December. I’m very excited to be plugged in with them and hope to play more in the future!
The class started with the lecture portion, which was free and open to the public. We had a lovely crowd to see the photos and hear me talk, and a few even signed up to stay on for the rest of the class. In the afternoon we all played with our Holgas, and went out shooting. Sunday we reviewed the results.
.
photo by Bryce Lankard, who also organized the workshop – thanks Bryce!
It was a wonderful group, with several veteran photographers, a couple of total novices, and the rest in between, with varying experience levels with film and digital photography – a perfect mix. I hope they continue to meet, look at images, and support and learn from each other (and send me photos!).
The workshop took places at The Big Top, a cool multi-purpose space with a circus bent (although I didn’t get to experience it), which makes me happy.
Before I got to NOLA, I entered and was accepted into an exhibition at the New Orleans Darkroom, called Abstractions in the Landscape. The opening was the Saturday night while I was there (conveniently enough), so after class, we all went over for the party. As usual at fun photo events, I wore my adorable little Rollei MiniDigi camera, which was a great ice-breaker. One person I met was the juror for that show, Sandra Russell Clark, who happens to live in Bay St Louis. So, on my trip to visit there, we met up and had a lovely evening on the beach with a bunch of folks – beautiful!
At The Darkroom opening with Bryce Lankard, my photos, and the Cutest Camera in the Whole World
Rounding out the trip, I checked out Bay St Louis, which got pretty well smashed by Katrina, and is now a mix of a few ruined houses left, empty lots, FEMA trailers, houses under construction, and some houses already complete. These range from small, subtle homes to huge mansions (which used to line the coast), with some interesting ones thrown in, like the round concrete house, my favorite. Everything is up on high stilts (around 10′), which I assume is supposed to keep them from flooding next time, but to me it looks like they’re ripe to be pushed over by the next strong wind. Good luck with the rest of the rebuilding, Mississippi!
Sandra Clark in Bay St Louis, taken with the Rollei MiniDigi
I also met up with Jennifer Shaw, a fantastic Holga photographer based in New Orleans. She has a fantastic series of work based on her experience of evacuating from Katrina and giving birth – it’s a great story!
OK, that’s the report! I’ll try to post more photos from the trip soon.
~Michelle
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