Feature Shoot's Online Group Show #3: On the Road

This past Friday Feature Shoot posted their third online group shows called On The Road. After coming across Feature Shoot's second online group show back in March I decided to continue following them. I had never heard of an online art/photo site call a collection of any kind a "group show", maybe only 'projects' like on BOOOOOOOM(still not the same), so it's interesting to see if these will catch on and be something we see more of in the future on other sites as well.

Moving on, FS's 3rd online group show has of course great photos, hands down, but again Feature Shoot (as in their previous show: Window Seat) does not provide much detail or signage as to why they chose the photos in the collection or what the significance is about the collection On the Road. In the post for call for submissions the only guideline feature shoot gives is that the topic of the group show is road trips.

Again, of course, with this show the title of the collection brings the photos together. Having only the title be what relates the photos to each other makes the collections quite open ended and not significant in terms of what the purpose of the show is and why the photographers took the photos. I would like a group show to be more forward and clear on what the images are about and why. If the show is meant to be open ended, then I'd like for the show to address that in some clearer way, and maybe even why it is open ended. If this show was meant to have few restrictions and binding significance of collective photos  because it was to be produce quickly and over the internet with public submission then that is understandable, but if Feature Shoot is not thinking about these factors of photo significane in a group show then they need to reevaluate what they mean when they title collections group shows. It is clear they want to showcase the work of photographers, like they do with their other more descriptive postings, I just wish FS would keep the same level of communication on the works they show.

& like I said about Window Seat, it would even be great to at least caption where the photos were taken, since this show is about travel....

However, even though not much is said on why the specific photos were chosen to be presented for either of Feature Shoot's group shows, I do like that with On the Road there is more visual variety. Window Seat was a collection of closely similar images, and without much explanation or statement included I wish more diversity was given. Since there is more variety in On the Road I am much more intrigued and curious to see mother work from the participating photographers.

*Just wanted to add that when I initially wrote this post I tweet the link directed to Feature Shoot, and the next day FS tweeted back, saying "good points, thanks for this". So I don't think my criticism is too out of line or harsh - they're really just comments of my observations.

Select photos from On the Road -

By Arnaud Teicher

By Andrew Sullivan

By Dan Depew

By Ellen Jantzen

by Hizuan Zailani

By Magali Duzant

By Marcus Bastel

By Marisha Camp

Silver & Light, Wet Plate Photography by Ian Ruhter

This new video of Ian Ruhter's project with large scale wet plate photography was released a few weeks ago.
Although Ian grew up with the global transition from traditional to digital photography he has always stuck to his roots of his traditional work.
The video presents Ian's new project of wet plate silver photography, where he and his team have converted a large truck into a functional camera to produce wet plate images.
As Ian says, his project wasn't about making actual images or building the world's largest camera, but more about making sacrifices to hold on to the thing he loved the most. Wet Plate photography has given him the chance to use his hands, use raw materials to create his own film and one of a kind images.
The project was not just making everything largest but having to redesign everything of camera and film so it worked on a larger scale.
We see the difficulties Ian faced, it's not a case luck or of trial and error, but rather learning how to get produce and reproduce great images with the camera and wet plates.
I think what can be frustrating so much when it comes to non-digital photography, is making mistakes, because of course you want to get a great images, you don't expect to make mistakes and especially when you're so passionate about creating something and it does not work out right and it's even worse when you don't know why it didn't work(when there are many variables that come into play).
Ian's self realization that the only limitations are the ones he puts on himself continue drive him in producing these large scale wet plate images with his own funds and all his emotional investment.
What Ian has already done and will do with the camera is worth all the sacrifice and efforts he has put into this project.
Other photographers and groups do similar work as Ian's such as the 6 foot negatives for The Vanishing Cultures project by Dennis Manarchy and also Photobooth's tintype portraits we saw with Bex Finch's feature on American Hipster Presents.




Follow the project's twitter account here and more of Ian's work on his tumblr here.

Instagram for Android - Good, Bad, Why?

*This post is one of my "Substantive" posts for class.

With news of Instagram being bought for $1 Billion by Facebook a few days ago Instagram has surely been in a lot of conversations lately. Just last week on Tuesday Instagram, the popular photo sharing social networking smart photo app released it's version for Android devices, which was previously only for Apple IOS systems. Several online news sites posted information on the huge news, including The Huffington Post, New York Times, and gadget culture blog Gizmodo. Within 24 hours over a million android users downloaded the app. 

The "Issue" with the Intsagram opening up for Android users that came up during the first days of the news was the different positions Iphone and Android users had on the app for android, whether is was a good or bad thing. The notion that Iphone/apple users as being superior to users with different systems came into play. In CNN's write up it shared a tweet from an assumed Iphone user, "Instagram went from a gated community to section 8 all in 1 day".

Current culture buzz blog Uproxx also shares more of these negative statements from iphone users, where the overall message being "that Instagram is going to be ruined by the shitty taste of Android users. If you don’t have enough taste to pick the right phone, you can’t possibly have enough taste to shoot supercool images, right?". 

I don't see how the presence of a user you don't want around can bother you, unless you follow them? 

Before IG for android, there were already Iphone users who used the app for no serious reason, they aren't photographers or actively engaged within the photography community within Instagram or not, just people posting anything. But all you have to do is not follow them if you don't want to see their photos. There is no need for this aggressive possessiveness and claim to a public phone application. 

However, even though there were some clearly negative people and out of line comments with the switch there were definitely some warm welcomes from Iphone users, as on Instagram's post that morning. More warm welcomes from users commenting on popular photography accessory store Photojojo's post, and on IG community team member Jessica Zollman' post(JayZombie). It was actually J's post that I first read about Instagram being available for Android and to see the positivity from users, as well as the defense some Iphone users for their friends who had Android phones generates a great spirit in the community.

Honestly, I personally was also thinking it would be great for IG to be open to other systems for some of my own friends and other photographers to partake in photo sharing who before were left out, particularly LA based photographer Daniel Seung Lee.

It's clear there is a division in mentality, notably between those welcoming Android users, who are a little more serious about great photography while at the same time have a playfulness to them that Instagram aslo brings to photo sharing and users who are upset, and seem to care more about what phone they're using.
Why else would it matter who is using an app? But why does that matter?
It's more than silly, it's ridiculous. 

Would those Iphone users have been upset, or ever thought about exclusivity if the app initially came out as an open system app?

The argument against Instagram for Android and other systems is unreasonable because the purpose of the app was not and is not separation, but a tool for community by means of photo sharing.

Bex Finch Featured on American Hipster

On my ride to school today I was scrolling my instagram feed where I saw San Francisco-based photographer Bex Finche's post.
Bex, a film photographer, re-posted a photo from a few months ago taken on a rainy day with a person standing and holding their umbrella that flipped inside out from the wind, writing that this morning a video was released from that day.
That man holding his umbrella flipped is Paavo Steinkamp, host of American Hipster Presents, a new documentary - "Video Portraits of American Trendsetters"from 10 cities across the country.
Today's episode features Bex, her photography, iphoneography, where she talks specifically about instagram and her project documenting her father's alzheimer's disease.

Bex talks about instagram in a way I haven't looked at before. She says that she uses it as practice, composing her photos every time she uses it each day. For the most part I thought instagram as more of a  scenes to people's lives or behind the scenes of companies and brands. That's not the way Bex has used IG, and not why I was so attracted to her that I began following her some time last year. Bex uses instagram as if it were a quick platform for digital photos from her daily scenes, but being as serious as if it were photography-just with a phone. Since she is  heavy film photographer generally her only digital shots would be from her phone that go to her instagram. It makes perfect sense that as a film photographer she uses her phone as a tool for quicker results while still using her fundamentals of composition and light that she definitely uses in her film work. Which is why her instagram looks better than most.
Bex says she prefers using film because of the way it is more intentional, where she is thinking more about about composing things versus just shooting away with digital. She says that film cameras are reliable, give beautiful photos, have a forgiving quality, give different tones, have a more tangible component to them, and allow room to make work more convenient or better but require a little more effort and time.

She also discusses her father's alzheimer's and it's impact on her photography, which has hertrying to emulate him - his condition and state, bringing the idea of being disconnected from the environment, and having listless mood reflected in her work. The continuation of taking self-portraits and taking photos of her father as his condition continues parallel one another, and can be seen as she is trying to understand what is happening to him and trying to put herself in his position to understand what he is going through.



The way Bex talked about the different quality and nature of film reminds me of film photographer who are clear example of what she talks about, work from those who I especially enjoy and follow inlcude Jeff of 12fv and Sisilia Piring, The Sunday Huddle, Extra Bigger, and the blog Terroriss.

Bex's project on her dad is similar to other long term projects that photographers take on where they document people as they change and grow, but specifically observing them through the photos they take. Elizabeth Weinberg has done this with her younger sister and Irina Werning has done something similar with her Back to the Future projects where she take portraits of people in a way that compares themselves of their youth and as adults.

For more on Bex Finch see her website and her instagram @bexfinch.