(c) Ryan Slack 2008

I’ll take anyone actually. Its for my new project: Astrological Portraiture is an ongoing series of photographs of everyone I know. I plan in compiling the portraits into 12 sections based upon the subject’s zodiac sign. While I do not look to astrology for answers or guidance, I do find it curiously intriguing. The success of each picture is dependent upon the series as a whole. My hopes are, that with a big enough collection of portraits, I may begin to see subtle similarities between people of the same sun sign.

If you live in Austin or Houston and want to be a part, shoot me an email, the more people the better.

(c) Ryan Slack 2008

Thanks to all that came out yesterday to the Photo Document: China show. If you missed it it will be up all summer. This website has pictures from all of the exhibiting artists.

This is a gnarly sweet photo-blog. I took a look through a few pages and all of the photography that this guy likes, I like. I use a web-translator so I can actually read what he wrote, as it is all in Chinese Hanzi characters. So check it out, yours truly is on the page somewhere.

(c) Ryan Slack 2008

A few useful links. The first is the Society for Photographic Education website, they have a list of galleries that are looking for you. , most places have specifics on how to submit your work, but it doesn’t take to long and who knows, maybe you will score a sweet show or residency.

This second site is a listing of non-profit photography organizations. You should go to their site and see what the deal is. The organizations listed have a strong interest in fine art photography

To my 3 subscribed readers: I’m sorry I didn’t do anything blog related for the last week, I’m over it. I went to FOTO FEST in Houston and sat with someone from Lightwork in Syracuse NY I saw lots of interesting work and heard some good critique action. Jock McDonald had some sick black and white portraits, see the rurals section of his site.

If you ever see this ‘zine in your local bookstore, pick one up.  Good printing and usually good photography. They accept writing and photography submissions from students and other hip young folk. I think it is owned by LOOK LOOK Market Research.

This is some cool street photography that focuses on fashion trends in Helsinki, Finland. Using an approach similar to Bernd and Hilla Becher’s, Liisa Jokinen and Sampo Karjalainen photograph people almost as if they are objects for which the current fashion trend can be displayed on. But on a different level, these are pictures of current self-expression. Jokinen and Karjalainen explain thier motivation: “Because we want to document Finnish looks. Because we want to encourage people to dress individually and create their own styles. Because we want to promote emerging Finnish designers. Because we like fashion, clothing, young people and photography. And most of all – because you look great!”

Now, they arent the only people doing this. Lots of people do it. There is a similar site here in Austin, TX called “Austin Style Watch“: same principle but lacking the camera control and cohesiveness that hel-looks hooks it up with.

Bernd and Hilla Becher. Proabably one (or should I say two) of my favorite photographers. By creating precise images of architectural structures, observing strict parameters and grouping the results together in series. This systematic procedure leaves no room for subjective decisions in the production process. The resulting typologies document the architecture of a particular phase in the history of industry, presenting variations in building types and valuing them in their own right as ‘anonymous sculptures’. No one picture can stand alone, rather they are all dependent upon each other. I draw alot of inspiration from the Becher’s work, and I hope you can too.

Thousands of negatives taken by Robert Capa and others during the Spanish Civil War, long thought to be lost forever, have resurfaced. The New York Times wrote a better article than me, so read it. Robert Capa, one of the pioneers of modern war photography, took pictures during the Spanish Civil War before he fled Europe for America in 1939, leaving behind the contents of his Paris darkroom.

(c) Ryan Slack 2007

So my neighbor Matt Ellis was assisting Brent Humphreys on a shoot at some brewery in Colorado last week. Matt reports the shoot was a smashing success and he even got a free beanie out of the deal. Brent and Matt spent the next day snowboarding down an extreme mountain. Only on the second run, home-boy falls and completely destroys his wrist. So now he has a cast which prevents him from doing anything that a photo-assistant would normally do (i.e. lifting of any sort, raising a stand, assembling a lightbox, etc.) Sucks to be you Matt, sucks to be you.