Tuesday, June 16, 2009

SVA MFA Photo Thesis Show 2009



I can't believe a year has gone by since I graduated from the School of Visual Arts. Time really hit me today when I went to check out this years graduates. While I had fun visiting my old classmates, hearing stories about how everyone was doing, and checking out all the new artwork, I must say that for the most part I was disappointed with the output from this class.

Overall I just felt that no one took any risks. I know I encountered this argument even when I was in art school but it just seemed as if all the photographers were scared of tackling their subjects. There were too many pictures of trees, abandoned buildings and people way off in the distance. My praxis is that if one has something to say about the subject, hit the viewer over the head with it. Otherwise it just becomes lost in the onslaught of images that one sees daily.

There were some notable exceptions. My personal favorite was Tina Schula. Her work seemed to be about the escape of Nazi war criminals following the end of World War II. The concept is packed with intrigue. The photographs live up the expectations as far as drama is concerned. My only critique is that I wonder if the viewer would understand if written documentation was unavailable. Some other artists worth checking out include Yiftach Belsky and Lissa Rivera. Both of these artists had theatrical pieces in the show but they came across neatly.

I'd say check the show out. It runs from June 12 — 27, 2009 and is located at
Visual Arts Gallery
601 West 26 Street, Suite 1502
New York, NY.

Friday, June 5, 2009

High School Girl's Softball

Once again I've been shooting for Five Boro Sports. They are great guys to work with and I admit, it's always fun to shoot the kids, especially now that I'm on my way towards working in a high school as a teacher.



While it may not be the most glamorous job, high school sports are at least very fun to do and the access I receive at these events is way more than I could ever hope for with pro-sports. It seems to me that in the Internet Age more and more corporations are going to be doing their own media promotion. Both the National Football League and Major League Baseball are perfect examples. Both have total control over the use of images that photographers take at their games as well as strong media arms that promote the sports in house, on their websites. The NFL has taken it a step further by forcing newspaper photographers to wear vests with advertisements on them, while shooting the games. The NFL has also refused to allow unconditional use of images to newspapers that they once did allow. Basically, as mass media looses readership, corporations are learning they themselves can fill this gap. The point here being, that while high school or college sports are no where near as prominent as professional sports, at least I don't have to deal with the bureaucratic machines that these higher level sports teams have become.



Check out the whole article on the game here. Or from the loosing perspective here.

Last but not least, here is my gallery of shots, and Five Boro's gallery of shots.


Next week I'm going up to Buffalo. Hopefully I'll be able to shoot a project there I have been trying to get done for six months. Keep you posted.