Inaccessible Vistas More Accessible Via Internet @12:00 PM
It's so good that different people are equipped to do different things. If I was to try to assemble my own motorized paraglider and fly over the Sahara Desert taking pictures, I would die probably ten minutes into the assembly part. Luckily, there's folks like National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz in the world, so I can do what I do best: sit at my computer. Breathtaking photography is here. 3
Our Legendary Fake History @11:10 AM
Are you following this Errol Morris investigation into the photography of Walker Evans and pals? A new installment, part 3 of 7, went up last night and it is BONKERS. Basically it is about alterations—suspected or proven or even wildly obvious, in retrospect—in 1930s documentary work of the FSA photographers (Evans, Dorothea Lange, et al). Essentially, much of what we view now as documentary—and what we see in our minds as the visuals of recent American history—was actually pretty close to propaganda. READ MORE 25
Why Would Anyone Buy Annie Leibovitz Now? @2:53 PM
I've been on record with my dislike for most of Annie Leibovitz's work, but even I figured it was a good value in the photography market. Her auction record is something like $57,000; today, you can actually buy prints for like $8 grand. But what are you getting? When she got into deep financial trouble, her arrangement with Philips resulted in a "Master Set" of 150 photographs, in an edition of 7; three of the set are broken up for solo sale. So, right: oh, look, a brand new edition! There's World Cup soccer photos in monster editions of 50; photographs, in an edition of 40, and sized 14 by 14 inches, are sold by her gallery. There are so many negatives to start with; but when an artist suddenly introduces a massive portfolio to, well, raise cash, they can seriously erode the value of everything. So far, according to Artnet, only one of the "Master Set" may have been sold. How much worth could that possibly have over time? (Answer: possibly a lot! Total crapshoot.) With all her unbelievable profligacy splayed out for everyone to see, well—you don't buy a public company when it's up to its ears in bad debt, why would you buy a photographer? (Unless: fire sale!) Oh and one more thing about that New York mag piece—wasn't it coy when they talked about how Susan Sontag "hated" the nanny? Huh, how mysterious! 8
