Harold E. Edgerton Exhibit - Scottsdale Museum Of Contemporary Art

Scottsdale Museum Of Contemporary Art

Seeing the Unseen:

Photographs by Harold E. Edgerton
September 15, 2007 -

December 30, 2007
Even in today’s high-tech digital photographic world, the images taken by Dr. Harold E. Edgerton in the 1930s-1960s remain truly amazing. Edgerton was a pioneer of advanced photographic techniques such as stroboscopy and ultra-high speed photography—which led to the development of electronic speed-flashes used in modern cameras. Edgerton was a scientist, inventor and a teacher: his photographs are among the most recognized and memorable of our time.

Seeing the Unseen features 50 large-scale prints from the collection of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] Museum. While a graduate student at MIT (where he then taught), Edgerton designed the first electronic stroboscopic device in 1931, in order to accurately measure the displacement of the rotor in an electric motor. His instrument emitted light in controlled flashes and was capable of “stopping motion” on film. Edgerton experimented with set-up shots such as a splashing drop of milk or a bullet cutting through an apple. The resultant images are highly detailed and stop time to a nanosecond to show. His photographs, as scientific records, bistro on us comprehension and increase our awareness. They reveal new forms, subtle relationships of time and space and the essence of motion.

This exhibition continues SMoCA’s long-standing commitment to modern and contemporary photography.

image © The Estate of Harold E. Edgerton.

Phoenix Art Museum - Debating Modern Photography Exhibit

Phoenix Art Museum
Debating Modern Photography:
Triumph of Group f.64
Norton Photography Gallery
September 15, 2007 – December 30, 2007
In 1934, a heated debate between photographic factions considered the future of the medium. A small group of California photographers were challenging the painterly, soft-focus photography style of the pictorialists. They argued that the appropriate direction for the photographic arts exploited characteristics inherent to the camera’s mechanical nature: sharp focus and great depth of field. Their subjects – arranged still lives, industrial and architectural views, close-ups from nature, and portraits – were selected for their photographic potential, with rich textures and strong forms. This small association of innovators – named Group f.64 after the camera’s smallest aperture, which produces the greatest depth of field – included Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Alma Lavenson and others. This exhibition endeavors to revive the controversy, not only to acknowledge the pictorialists’ arguments, but to illustrate how avant-garde the work of Group f.64 once was. It includes images by members of Group f.64 and such pictorialists as Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen and Karl Struss.

Talking Books with Aperture's Lesley A. Martin

Lesley A. Martin, who has been with Aperture off and on for the last ten years and has been executive editor of the book-publishing program for the past four, was recently promoted to Publisher. Her promotion was “reinforcement,” as she put it, that the revamping of the book-publishing program that she has spearheaded over recent years is a vital part of Aperture and its mission to be the premiere not-for-profit arts institution dedicated to advancing fine photography.

American Photo recently had the chance to speak with Martin to discuss her promotion, how she approaches the refined art of bookmaking, and the overall developments happening within Aperture offices on 27th Street in Manhattan's burgeoning Chelsea district. But first, a look at two upcoming fall titles.

Read the entire article from popphoto.com.

image provided by popphoto.com

Kodak Updates T-MAX 400 Black & White Negative Film

If you're shooting black and white file, you'll be pleased to discover that Kodak has announced an improved version of its Professional T-Max 400 film. The new ISO 400 film offers finer grain and greater image sharpness. According to the company, the emulsion has been altered to further minimize light scatter, which can reduce image sharpness. A UV barrier layer has been added to the back of the film in medium-format and 35mm rolls to prevent accidental exposure to static inside the camera. (Large-format sheets, which might be used for contact printing on UV-sensitive materials, do not have the UV layer.)

Kodak recommends slight changes in processing time for the new T-Max 400. Development times with Kodak chemistry will be published on the box, and the company will update its processing instructions online when the new film is available.

The new Professional T-Max 400 will be available in stores beginning in December 2007. You'll be able to tell it apart from the old T-Max by the "World's Sharpest!" text emblazoned on the packaging. Kodak will also replace its 50-sheet packages of 8x10 T-Max 400 sheet film with 10-sheet packages.

Canadian Photographer Jeff Wall

Early in his career, Canadian photographer Jeff Wall, whose retrospective opens at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 27, enjoyed a high reputation as an intellectual among contemporary artists.

When he first got noticed in the late '70s, critics saw Wall's work as a deconstruction of the imaging tactics of advertising. He made, and continues to make, carefully staged pictures presented as large color transparencies in fluorescent light boxes, like those seen in airports, train stations and department stores the world over.

Read the entire online article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Leibovitz Exhibit Ranges From Royal To Personal

Three official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II will be displayed alongside Annie Leibovitz's signature celebrity photography in a 15-year retrospective exhibition of her work on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

The Corcoran is the third of seven stops for the show titled "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005" and the first gallery to include the queen's portraits, which were commissioned to mark her visit to the United States in May.

The exhibit -- a companion to the book of the same name -- includes 200 photographs that set recognizable high-fashion magazine portraits against a backdrop of reportage photography and personal snapshots.

Read the entire article from the Pittsburgh Tribune.