La Lettre

During my daily web browsing today I came across La Lettre, a French-based online site that shares and informs daily on the events in the world of photography, available in French and English.

On their front page they list their current review postings on photo projects, books, and exhibitions which LL labels as "trends". On the link bar at the top of the front page are days of the week to go to for postings from that day - Photographer portfolios are featured on weekends. Below the Weekend link is a Best Of Last Week section, feature the top book, portfolio from the previous week. And Below the Best Of section is a list of categories of features from Advertising, Fashion, Holidays, Portrait, and Schools.

On the bottom of the page is another link bar, the Adenga page is a calendar of feature gallery exhibits and other events such as festivals and auctions. The Agenda is posted by date of course and also labeled with City or Country of event, which makes the listing informative and give the exhibits and events some contexts - On the left side of the Agenda page is a link column of listed Countries to see events by location.

La Lettre has a reputable and experienced team behind the site. It's three co-founders together are news media-specialists,  published photographers, editors, and artistic directors (formerly creative directors at GQ). The regular contributors are reporters,  journalists, and photographers from France, Russia, the U.S., Japan, Italy, and several other countries.

What I enjoy most about La Lettre and makes it unique from other popular and hip art/photo sites is it's  features focus on professional and established photographers and their works. A lot of great popular sites like A Dirty Job, BOOOOOOOM, and Shoot for You Life are mainly showcasing newer emerging photographers and their works. It is important to have a concentration of the "higher" end type of photo work from veterans to learn and be aware of what they're doing as well opening ourselves up from the young and new styles. La Letter shares work coming from people with years of experience and news from established organizations, and that's not to say that it's better in any way or not to degrade newer artists. Honestly, I'd really relate the works of veterans and younger photographers by their parallel of spirit, drive and attitude for their work. Not to go off topic with justifications, but the features on LL are coming from people who've had years of time to their work, to reflect and perfect.
& It is worth noting again that LL has a full staff of experienced editors, photographers, and reporters/journalists who understand the veteran world of photography, and who put a lot of effort and time into operating this site, which most of the hip/popular sites just don't have.

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.

National Geographic April 2012, African Masks by Phyllis Galembo

National Geographic is currently the only magazine I have a subscription to which was a gift to me from my girlfriend, since she knew I had previously been paying for each issue individually from bookstores and other new stands she thought it'd be a nice to have a yearly subscription.
Nat Geo has been one of my top favorite sources of world photography, news, history, and culture. I'd even go to garage sales or thrift stores to find older issues from past decades.

When I sit to read the new issues I take my time to browse and actually read the articles to understand what the photos are about. I've even used articles as sources on science papers. I take the magazine pretty serious. Since the spring semester started I haven't found time yet to read February-April, but when I get them in the mail I'll leaf through and glance at the photos.

In the 2012's April issue the cover story and big spread is on the Titanic and it's story with photos of the shipwreck under water. Looking at photos I'll have to check out the full article and text on it. I'd be lying if I said from April's issue the Titanic was what immediately intrigued me.

It was the colorful, intricate, and spiritual portraits by Phyllis Galembo of African masks was stand out right away.  Phyllis Galembo, a Professor at University of Albany, has for over 20 years traveled to Africa and Haiti to document the culture that comes with the mask.
The April Issue brings attention to what Galembo's work has been about and the fascination that belongs to it.
"It's the creativity. It's not just the mask. It's about the entire ensemble and the uniqueness of ritual dress."


Galembo's photos highlight the creativity and uniqueness to the fullest and NG gives readers the platform to experience of these cultures and lets us look in awe of other worldly beings.

Here are a few photos from the feature -

Cathy Newman writes the article for NG,
In the realm of the spirit world, the mask is more than mere facade. It is utterly transformative. The man in the mask—and it is nearly always a man—may speak in a different voice, move differently, behave differently, because he is a different being. The mask is put on. The line between reality and illusion, god and man, life and death blurs. The masked man is not playing a role. He becomes the role.  NG

The article addresses a cultural distinction, but rather than comparing cultures I reflect on my own and look at what makes ourselves distinct and also try to find examples of what similarities we may share. 

Costume and dressing up has a great history in photography where photographers explore, experiment, and point it out, being inspired by halloween, past generations trends of their own societies, as well as original costumes inspired by nature like the masks from Galembo. 

Read the article on NG and see the full gallery with additional captions for each mask and dress. 

Visit Phyllis Galembo's website to see other work.