The Wonderland

 ... of Jason Eskenazi! A most definitely known photographer- and for good reason.

The NYC Landscape

 Photo: © Rob Stephenson

If you're a photographer in NYC, you're a street photographer- unless you got a studio and shoot portraits. What's that... landscape? How many shots of the skyline can one possibly take? 

Obvious questions lead to obvious answers. And deciding what to shoot (and doing it well- the tricky part) is a problem that besets every photographer, especially in an era when anything and everything seems to have been done ad infinitum... But not everyone goes the usual route, assumes the usual role and makes the usual contribution. Brian Rose has presented a more diverse NYC, he has wondered the geographical limits of the five boroughs in search of a more diversified landscape shaped and influenced by its diverse population. Rob Stephenson is also a landscape photographer, defined by the mundane, repetitive and overlooked commonalities that saturate New York's outer boroughs- neighborhoods and communities that don't look anything like Manhattan.

The four boroughs adjacent to Manhattan are anything but scenic (Manhattan itself is hardly... 'beautiful'). NYC is built for expedience and practicality, it sure ain't Paris, not even London, which is at least quaint in parts. Some of it is downright ugly, most of it, just plain forgettable, from the poorest of working class neighborhoods, to its more well to do environs. 

Mr. Stephenson makes the most of these unremarkably ordinary of landscapes with a series of very memorable typologies, memorable for their remarkably diverse feature set within a uniformity of presentation. His Dead End typology features the aforementioned signposts in a variety of industrial, residential and more 'pastoral' settings. The sheer variety and uniqueness of settings is more than I could have possibly imagined. And his Split series is an absolute joy- something I would have never, ever contemplated saying about anything to do twin homes! These banal and usually (intentionally?) overlooked residences pepper the real estate landscape of NY; the very thought of photographing them seems preposterous, laughable at best... who the hell would want to photograph something so overwhelmingly boring and aesthetically dismissible!?

And yet, these home portraits of fraternal, if not identical, twins are absolutely fascinating!  I would have never in my life thought these architectural nonentities could be so endlessly intriguing, so curiously captivating. The not quite mirror images, the minute details that entrance and delight! But that's what good photography and photographers do- reveal the mystery and uniqueness of that which we overlook and undervalue... Can't wait for the book!

 Photo: © Rob Stephenson

Red Eyed

Photo: © Frank Fournier

Had the pleasure of stopping by the Leica Gallery in San Francisco this past Saturday just before closing and picking up Frank Fournier's joyous little book- Red Eye, a beautifully small 8x8in. book of visual poetry. Taken in 70's New York, they do contain a certain amount of nostalgia for this expat New Yorker growing up there at the time when the city was supposedly at its worst... Who knew? We were young. 

The book however does not just rely on nostalgia for its existence. The photos are pictorial paeans to a city so desperately alive, despite its decay. They're contemplative, but acutely representative of the details and rhythm of a city that's forever in motion, filled with the people that create it, regardless of how they feel or what it thinks of them. 

PS- The gallery is currently featuring the work of Patrick Corrigan and Hendrik Paul, and the former's print of a ladder against a tree is one of the most beautiful prints I have ever witnessed in my seventy years... can't stress enough- the jpeg depicted merely hints at the experience.

Photo: © Patrick Corrigan

The Lo-Fi Photo Zine King!

Hamburger Eyes- the brand, the slogan, the B&W Photozine King Y'all! If you're down San Francisco way from now till end of summer- make sure to stop by the main public library at Civic Center, make an immediate right at the main entrance, and down ya go to the Jewett Gallery on the lower level where you'll get a taste firsthand of what Mr. Ray Potes has conjured up in the last 25 years... Congrats!

Truck Stop!

I describe my first encounter with these unique vehicles in the preface (see preview- and don't forget to click the embiggen arrows) and how I decided to photograph them as a typology. All the 'subjects' were confined to a one block square area, but I had to work fast: I chose an overcast day for more even light (along with a small flash), but the sky was clearing overhead and I had about fifty vehicles to cover in all- which I did injust under an hour, just before... it started to pour!

Last Stop- Brian Rose

Recently got my copy of Last Stop by Brian Rose, been a fan since I discovered what will probably always remain my favorite work by him, The Lost Border- with Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a brilliantly conceived, executed (and printed) visual testimony to the area surrounding Mr. Giuliani's errant Four Season debacle not far behind. Mr. Rose is a documentary photographer with a knack for making said work rise above the mere documentary more often than not. The idea of riding the NY subway to its very ends is not a new one to photographers [I don't recall the name(s)], but this is certainly the best effort I can recall. New York City is separated into five distinct boroughs- Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx. Of course, most people associate NYC with Manhattan, while Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island (Queens alone is five times the size of Washington, DC), the Bronx the only borough on the mainland and Staten Island, well, I think the rest of NYC thinks it's really part of New Jersey. But I digress... 

New York is far from beautiful, but it obviously has its allure. Rose captures much of its architectural distinctiveness, and when you go to its very end(s), you discover just how truly diverse NYC really is in terms of topography, culture, history and ethnicity. The results speak for themselves, and BTW, although safety considerations are always exaggerated, it does take a particular bit of... nerve to go about the ends of NY, camera gear in tow...

Best price, here; And if you're not doing anything on the 21st, there's an online interview with Mr. Rose- you can sign on for it, free... here!

Subjectively, Objectively Fine!

Andy Adams recently recommended Subjectively, Objective and while it opened up a whole new world of beautiful (somewhat minimalist) landscape photography, it also seemed vaguely familiar. The reason became apparent as I attempted to add it to the blog under my listing of: Magazines, Galleries, Resources, Etc- it was already listed! While Subjectively, Objective is a host of varied, vibrant projects (book and magazine publishing, online galleries, real life gallery, printing service, You Tube channel, etc) all under the capable auspices of Noah Waldeck, it seemed that the blogging endeavor linked to on my blog (since fixed) pretty much ceased circa 2020, and foolishly not looking beyond it, I assumed the whole enterprise dead in the water. I believe Mr. Waldeck does indeed write and update on Substack, Reddit, IG or some such app, social media, dark web medium (all of which I do not frequent)- only a handful of certain fools continue to publish an actual blog these days. Anyway, he most certainly has his hands full with all I've already mentioned, which is most definitely very much active under any definition...

I recently ordered one of the many available magazine/monographs on site (Richard Fraser, Vol 123) for... $8 (+$2 SH) and received a lovely little 5 1/4 x 8 1/4in zine of eleven photos that were finely printed and a pleasure to hold and view- already ordered two more... I mean what can ya buy for eight dollars anywhere today, except for a microbrew- and ya piss that out in a coupla minutes, ya get to keep the zine! The hardbound books also look absolutely fab- wanted to order Observations In The Ordinary, but sold out. Fortunately, Investigations In Infrastructure and Everything Is Narrative also look pretty damn tasty!

End Of An Era!

The Last Photo- © Stan Banos

And just what era might that be? Well, for the last dozen years or so, I've been attending the annual leather fairs in San Francisco (the Folsom St. Fair and the Dore St. Fair). And although I'm not gay, and don't even have an interest in S&M (I'm sure some have their doubts, whatever)- they sure have proved to be fertile ground for photo ops, around 120 keepers to date! 

And although I'm quite thankful to all that allowed me to photograph them, and all that didn't object, the writing's clearly on the wall, the law of diminishing returns have come into play. Hey, that might be... nah, got one similar, only better. Everything has its expiration date, and what was once fun and challenging has now become almost chore-like and routine. 

This Sunday, I just knew it was the end- the thrill, the novelty just wasn't there... Will I be tempted to go back next year- you bet, precisely because it remains such a wealth of possible photo ops to this day. But it's a bit more complex than that, and it's precisely because I'm not of that scene, that I feel somewhat uncomfortable with the changes that I personally perceive, and my right to objectively and justifiably criticize. I've always considered myself a guest at the event, one who enjoyed and appreciated the event for the photographic results in what was often not unlike a collaborative undertaking. I also enjoyed a lot of the energy that celebrated the power and energy of the individual, that which was original and different- Viva La Difference! 

Admittedly, much most of what I feel is simply the blues at project's end- it was fun, exciting, a proven photo mine, and now... the thrill is gone! The other, smaller part is that I also feel it's changed, even though it's always been a celebration of sex, a certain kind of sex, and particularly a certain kind of gay sex (although not exclusively)- it now seems less focused on the individual, originality part, and more on the hard core sex part. Put on a Furry costume, and you're not really that original, just part of a team, same with the diaper guys. And seeing both of those groups, along with more and more others, openly humping each other in the middle of intersections is not my thing, aesthetically, photographically, any which way- yeah, even if it was heterosexual! But hey, I'm just an old straight guy, so who am I to complain about whatever they wanna make it; and no one forced me to be there anyway- got it... 

On the positive note, I do see more women attending, and people with disabilities! It was a long productive stretch (photographically)- and it's their party and I wish them well... Having already made a book called (appropriately enough) At The Fair, this winter I'll edit a larger, more extensive version in zine format, and try and drum up some interest- most likely, with same sa(i)d results. Granted the photos ain't for everyone, they don't break any grand artistic boundaries, they don't ride any current wave- some are pretty interesting, a bunch fairly humorous, a few even kinda poignant...

Three Photobooks

Used to buy my fair share of photobooks, now I tend to get significantly less. One reason is economic, sure- the other, I just want something that is significantly different from anything I already have and have seen, or... it just has to be a degree above that already owned. That said, I'm happy to report there are three books (coming) out that easily fall into one of the above...

One is Last Stop by Brian Rose, photos taken at the ends of each subway line in NYC- which, to be honest, sounds both incredibly boring and fascinating at the same time. "Boring" because that is probably the way it would come out in my hands (so what, it's the end of the line, what's so special about that), "fascinating" in the hands of Rose because he has the track record of coming up with the goods where others wouldn't, and certain to find that which is visually fascinating, in that it is both everyday mundane, as well as delightfully unique and intriguing.

Asa Nisi Masa by Blake Andrews is his first published monograph, and is full of the visual quirks and oddities Blake is so famous for. I still recall the delight I experienced upon first viewing his work every time I look at his work anew. One can feel the joy he experiences in seeing the world from such a delightfully enigmatic viewpoint. Life playing out before you in a series of visual mishaps and serendipities that make it all worthwhile to be out and alive. Much of "street photography" today can be reduced to a bunch of one note visual tropes and formulas, but one never feels cheated with his work- more like rewarded. 

Chicago by Mark Steinmetz is well... what can one say, the guy is a- "master." And for all the baggage the term might carry, the guy has certainly proven it in just about everything he creates, splicing seemingly banal moments of life with a visual assuredness and profundity that... only a master can. Can't go wrong with any of his work, it's that good.

Two Phenomenal Photo Books

At this point in life, I'd feel perfectly fine leaving it at that. These are two books I would have instantly bought last century, when photobooks weren't as plentiful and I had an avid thirst to get my hands on as much quality material as I could afford. Make no doubt, these are two splendid efforts, rife with imaginatively composed images to ponder and consider- images that inspire! Failing by Mike Brodie falls along the line of the personal, on the road kinda epic; while Look At The USA: A Diary Of War And Home by Peter Van Agtmael is more the journalistic effort that covers the "War on Terror" on the battlefield, as well as the ongoing political scene back home. That said, both photographers are highly capable and creative image makers* that leave us all with exemplary photos to remember, moments of life to contemplate...

*(almost said "story tellers," which certainly wouldn't be wrong here, just that it's the most overused term most recently... overused).

Twenty-six Houses Along Waldeggstrasse

I've always had a special (little) place for... special little photo books. And Otto Hainnzl's effort, Twenty-six Houses Along Waldeggstrasse, is the latest to draw my attention  It's raison d'être is simple, but intriguingly so, least to my mind- and eyes! Enjoy...

The Latest, Greatest Same Ol', Same Ol'

Jorg Colberg at Conscientious just compared current day street photographers to historical reenactors- an analogy I find both quite amusing, and definitely not without merit. But then, ol' Jorg was never street photography's biggest champion... to say the very least. 

It is curious to see the legions of modern day practitioners out and about, unwaveringly dedicated to an art form that has, in fact, long depreciated- since, like... 1976 when Eggleston and The New Color ('81) burst unto the scene and sent old school B&W street into the second hand photo bin. Now, there are countless street: practitioners, ambassadors, mentors, influencers, competitions, vlogs and workshops all devoted to its practice and affirmation. And yet, "the art world" (ie- museums, galleries, top name publishers) continues to treat it as yesterday's paper- Impressionism anyone? Interestingly, in 2025 the photographic art kingdom hasn't moved afar of the large format color photographs that became de rigueur as of the mid eighties- but that's another story, for sure!

Why the almost fanatical devotion to the practice, why the resurgent popularity? Many of these acolytes are insistent on even using the very same image making tools and technology! Although color film (as opposed to B&W) is now the prominent medium of the hardcore, B&W and digital are still very much in orbit. But has anything truly novel been thrown into the mix as far as aesthetics, or is it merely beating the proverbial dead horse? Mr. Colberg clearly thinks the latter, and I'd pretty much have to agree. He presents the work of Fumitsugu Takedo in Ambience Decay as something positive and innovative in the genre, highlighting the prominent inclusion of close up hand and cell phone imagery as well as the extreme crops that are peppered throughout the work.

Can't say I'm sold much, and if we're gonna mention the preeminence of hand and cell phone imagery in innovative street photography, then it is somewhat disingenuous to have that conversation without mention of Jeff Marmelstein's "#nyc." If any street work qualifies as a truly innovative departure (aesthetically and perhaps even... morally?)- certainly that would be it (whether to your taste or not)! Perhaps Mr. Colberg did mention it some five years back, or perhaps he's simply unaware of it, but to not reference it here seems a disservice... 

Perhaps street photography is doomed to be a perpetual reenactor exercise (or as I tend to think of it- endless cover bands for classic rock), or perhaps some current practitioner will open a new door. To be honest, I find the latter akin to one's progeny finding the cure for cancer; but street photography also very much falls under the category of documentary- itself a very legit and worthy avenue of pursuit. We will always need to document everyday life as best we can, as it changes with every passing year and decade- art be praised, art be damned.

Burned Out- Mark Murrmann

Burned Out- Mark Murrmann

Went to the Leica Gallery here in San Francisco a few days ago, and I must say it's far from the stuffy, elitist institution one would tend to think. In addition to the quality exhibits they usually have, they also have a number of books in the back for sale or perusal and the people there are quite friendly and accommodating- not the kind of treatment someone like myself is accustomed to, ie- being followed about as "a person of interest' in many a place that sells high priced, premium items. So it feels kinda nice experiencing how the other half lives...

Anyway, I was looking through a few books, many of which were quite good- but which were so very similar to those I have previously bought over the decades. Then I noticed Mark Murrmann's Burned Out, a small (5x6 1/2in) little indie made on the cheap in a spiral bound format. I love small book formats that one can easily carry about for a 'quick read.' It consists of forty B&W prints mostly printed double truck across the spiral along with some single page verticals. It's a typology of tire burnouts, many of them occurring during illegal 'sideshows' in Oakland, CA. Many of them read almost as abstracts, although several are more documentary in nature displaying adjoining buildings and other neighborhood details. It's a small labor of love, as are many indie publications. I've done a coupla typologies myself, but on the generic Blurb format- not quite the same thing! It lacks the uniqueness, the personalization... the love!

Of course, none of it adds up to anything unless the images hold up- and that's where the imagination really shines. The photos are not only fun, they're unique, imaginative images unto themselves. A first rate how to manual on making something worthwhile and memorable outta literal skidmarks...

© Mark Murrmann

© Mark Murrmann

Jacob Holdt- The Photographic Anomaly

Jacob Holdt is a rather curious asterisk in the history of photography, even within the realm of what has come to be known as "concerned photographers." He came to photography with neither a trained eye, nor a clear purpose of intent. It merely became a way to document a rather extraordinary life, not in a selfie look at me style, but in a... I can't believe this world exists and I am actively interacting with it. And interact with it he did- Holdt was anything but the objective journalist. He purposely thrust himself into a foreign land within lifestyles that could be said were foreign to most of its own natives! And it was not a lifestyle without considerable danger(s) to navigate and endure. 

Somewhere along the line, he decided to start photographing his experiences, as well as those around him, as best he could; and to do just that, he began selling his plasma to help buy film for his point and shoot camera. Now, that's a certain level of... commitment! The resulting American Pictures will not fare well in the hallowed halls of art gallery walls, but they do serve as potent documentation of those places, people and lives that many of that era had already long dismissed as either no longer relevant, or not even in existence. 

And that after all is photography's number one raison d'etre.

Serendipity

Recently, I talked about the difficulty I experienced sequencing and editing the photos for my most recent long term project. The day after I received a copy of the finished product, I came upon a post on Conscientious, and lo and behold- advice on how to edit and sequence a photobook so that it has a certain, unique narrative flow. And although we expressed it somewhat differently, and I'm not sure if I can claim success in Mr. Colberg's eyes- it was exactly what I was trying to convey, and exactly how I went about doing it to the best of my admittedly limited ability!

Making Book

Usually when I've made my photobooks and zines, they are 3-4 day affairs (of 3-4 hrs work ea) made during a sustained burst of energy. And they usually accomplish their goal of illustrating their singular, selected topic. This endeavor was different, it encompassed a larger time frame, encompassing a larger range of issues that affected and changed the state of a city from pre thru post Covid. I've done stuff on San Francisco (and Covid) before, and you've probably seen most of these pictures before (although it does contain around a dozen new mages). But this particular project encompasses more diverse, disparate influences, incl: crime, homelessness, addiction, Covid, technology, employment, etc. It's a disturbing if uneven glimpse at a steady deluge of conflicting plagues that beset this once thriving city.

Include too many photos of one particular topic or issue and you can go top heavy on tangents that make it hard to reintegrate, not enough and they can seem like distractions or a greatest hits compilation. Maintaining a sense of balance was a constant consideration; I could have shown more 'depressing' images for sure, but one grows weary of that quickly. So exactly how many photos depicting various aspects, negative and otherwise, does one intersperse to sustain a diversity of interest without betraying the topic at hand, one basically illustrating the downfall of a community at large? 

Editing this book was ironically similar to writing a short story, although the analogy is far from perfect. I wanted some sense of narrative, the photographs being the sentences, and how you display them, the punctuation. You can bend and formulate words, sentences, paragraphs to your liking to better fit your storyline as far as pace, sequencing and emotional narrative. It's harder with a series of set images meant to exist as independent structures- your options are more limited, basically: where and when do you present them (in the storyline and on the page), how large do you present them and how do you present them, solely or in groups? Those are your major story telling options in a book of photographs- besides the actual content within the photos themselves. And no, I'm not getting into captions, since there are none.

Fortunately, by using Blurb's magazine format, one has more options as to how to present one's photos. Two horizontal photos on one page, a slightly larger solo, a full page vertical, and yes- a double truck horizontal spread. And this was my first venture using all the above for maximum impact.

Broken City! is my swan song to a second home that has been hopelessly left reeling by leaders, laws and attitudes comfortable enough to evade their own neglect. The pictures only hint at the world of hurt that plagues it, the colors way too pretty and cheerful- again, who would look otherwise? I myself now opt to take the bus to work rather than dodge the landmines of drug addled zombies, feces and detritus that blocks the way and wears-at-you-daily.* Seventies "Drop Dead, New York" was never in question of coming back, it was literally too big to fail, but a city of less than a million, with a downtown hollowed out to the core is a much more vulnerable, dubious animal.

*That's the very street (see 0:36) I used to walk everyday to work, and now bus, and that ain't no prize either 'cause Crazy also boards the bus (also the street where the photo on p.7 was taken). About 2 of ten passengers actually pay their bus fare; one time while waiting on a red light, an impatient passenger knocked out a window and casually jumped out- when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

Passing Time- Sage Sohier

Photo: © Sage Sohier

One of the things I enjoy most is 'discovering' a photographer I knew nothing about, a photographer whose work is exemplary, the kind that makes you say "Wow, just... Wow!" It's an unlikely occurrence for sure, exactly why it's such a rare and treasured occasion- like when I first saw Sage Sohier's work.*

I've seen the subject matter portrayed in Passing Time before, very well executed before, photographers such as: Shelby Lee Adams, Mark Steinmetz, Milton Rogovin, Larry Fink, Thomas Roma and several others come to mind. And yet, anyone who's actually tried to photograph these (very) common day, yet surprisingly intimate moments, and make them look as graphically and visually interesting, knows just how hard (and perplexing) that can be. There's even a shade of Martin Parr's Last Resort in Passing Time, that story within a story within each section of the frame, the complexity of which not even he could maintain after that particular body of work. And that's just part of what makes these particular images so intriguing, the other being the myriad of social interactions that help connect, contrast and energize those pictured throughout the composition. If I could take a picture as good as the boom box suitor and the contemplative apple of his eye, I could hang up my camera with the realization that I had indeed put it to some good use. 

*Actually, I had seen her work some time before, and just happened to (most ashamedly) forget her name; fortunately, I was recently reintroduced to her upon first seeing Passing Time on  Lenscratch.

Bruce Haley- Winter

I previously wrote about Bruce Haley's Home Fires Vol.1 & 2, am a particularly big fan of Vol. 1 (which I find a bit 'edgier'), and am happy to say that they will one day both be well housed at the Tim Hetherington Photobook Library at the Bronx Documentary Center along with the rest of (what used to be) my photobook collection- I occasionally make mention of that, not to brag, but to inform others should they ever have need of a good home for their collection... 

Anyway, the following video accompanies his third book Winter, in what is now an ongoing series of what will be four books in total. And if it's anything like the previous two (and that certainly seems to be the fact), it's another well produced, well photographed, well worth getting edition.

2/3's Year in Review

Very decent, very economical 11in work prints!

Yeah, a tad early for a year in review post, hence the title. Didn't get to travel much this year except back home to NY, but have still managed a few keepers (with a couple more hopefully to come). Recently though, got kinda depressed that I would never be able to afford even a quarter of the images I'd like to have printed- and then it finally dawned on me... follow my own freakin' oft repeated advice and print all my landscape oriented keepers vertically in a series of 11in Blurb zines- dirt cheap, decently printed work prints for posterity. Not the ideal solution for having your own personal plethora of exhibition quality prints ready to hang on moment's notice at MOMA, but a half decent workaround for anyone on a poor man's budget. So that'll be an ongoing project commencing this winter. 

This Labor Day weekend I got busy reediting my Windows On The Bay project, it was a bit on the thin side when I initially released it unto the world in a semi-manic period of frenzied activity, but the added time has allowed me to round off the project with more images that help fill out the narrative some- so it no longer looks like a work in progress!

And speaking of more images, added about a dozen more recent shots to the color section of my website last weekend, reaching my current subscription limit. Finally, since I'm certainly not getting any younger, I'm gonna send a few of my book projects to a few indie book publishers. A lot of 'em take pdf's- not a problem via Blurb! Yeah, I gotta .004% chance of being accepted by any one of 'em, but- what the hey, something to do till MOMA and Gerhard come a callin'...

The Droning Of Stephen Shore

Photo:  © Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore is widely recognized as an American photographic master of the latter twentieth century- particularly of color photography. And not unlike others who reach such heights of confirmation and affirmation, he chose to go in diversely divergent tangents not wishing to repeat that which he already pioneered and exemplified. And like so many others who choose this route, the aftermath is full of much smaller projects not quite so illustrious...

Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape is one formidable project however, filled with handsome landscapes taken from a bird's eye view via drone. Many of the images are stunningly beautiful and each is lavishly reproduced complete with their respective GPS coordinates. Interestingly, while some are very obviously taken from an aerial viewpoint, one could unknowingly mistake others for the photographer just being at a high vantage point. The former tend to be flatter, more abstract, two dimensional compositions, while the latter provide more depth- and a more unique and intimate perspective... 

All Photos:  © Stephen Shore