MCC Hosts Smithsonian Traveling Photography Exhibit

Mesa Community College is pleased to host the new Smithsonian Traveling Photography Exhibit "Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change."

Separated from the West by thousands of miles and seemingly insurmountable cultural barriers, China has long been an unfamiliar, romanticized land until recently. In the new exhibition "Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change," the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) partners with Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, to explore the social change in the most populous nation on Earth.

Focusing on the impacts of urbanization and industrialization in China, the exhibition of documentary photographers opens at Mesa Community College on March 1st. "Documenting China" will remain on view through April 27, before continuing on a national tour through 2009.

The exhibition presents the country from an insider's point of view through dramatic works of seven Chinese photographers. With raw black-and-white and color images, photographers Liu Xiaodi, Jiang Jian, Zhang Xinmin, Luo Yongjin, Zhou Hai, Lu Yuanmin and Zhou Min unveil truths about China's internal struggle a battle between modern industrialism and the traditional, agrarian past that has sustained the country for thousands of years.

When: March 1- April 27,

Tuesdays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fridays through Sundays, Noon to 4 p.m.

Closed Mondays

Location: Mesa Community College's Southern and Dobson campus, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, main library (LB145)

Admission: Free of charge

Information: Contact Zoe Luter at (480) 461-7286.

MCC Webite: Mesa Community College

Digital Imaging In A Classic Camera Package: Rolleiflex 5MP MiniDigi AF

Many people may think of Rolleiflex professional cameras as classic if somewhat clunky affairs. Those people may want to start reevaluating that view, however, now that Rolleiflex has once again released a super cool miniature digital version of its twin reflex camera. Once again, we have to say that this mini Rollei is cute as hell. (Whoa, can't believe we just said that.)

The Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 is just three inches tall but it includes some fairly decent digital features, making this tiny camera more than just a novelty. Though it may look like the original MiniDigi released back in 2006, the AF 5.0 model includes several improvements including autofocus (between 10CM and infinity); 5MP interpolated image files, and a 1.1-inch screen on top of the camera for reviewing your shots.

The coolest part though is how much is resembles a shrunken version of an original Rolleiflex which used two lenses, one above the other, a hand crank lever, shutter release, and hooded viewfinder. The crank lever on the new MiniDigi prepares you for your next shot – rather than advancing the film – while the classic pop-up hood and viewfinder lets you do some traditional-style "waist-level" shooting and prevents stray light from getting in. Another interesting throwback is that the MiniDigi AF 5.0 shoots digital files in a square format just like in the old days.

Along with being small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 offers one distinct difference from the classic coal-black model –it comes in fire engine red. Oh how very racy it is!

Cost: $399
Further information: http://www.dsmww.com/
Image © PDNOnline
Article by Dan Havlik

Lyle Ashton Harris Exhibit At Scottsdale Museum Of Contemporary Art

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Galleries 3 and 4

Lyle Ashton Harris: Blow Up
February 8, 2008 - May 27, 2008

This first museum survey of Lyle Ashton Harris’s art spans nearly twenty years of work, from the early, formal studio self-portraits for which he first gained acclaim to the large-scale constructions featured in the 2007 Venice Biennale. Harris approaches photography as a social performance. He "blows up" preconceptions of portraiture, mass-media imagery and street photography and zeroes in on the viewers’ role as a reader of images—images that are also evidence of one’s sense of self, gender and race. This exhibition is structured as a vast collage of imagery that weaves back and forth over time and reveals the artist’s dynamic, recombinant creative process.

SMOCA Website
Image © Lyle Ashton Harris

Barbara Bosworth Exhibit Begins April 19 at Phoenix Art Museum

Phoenix Art Museum
Norton Photography Gallery
Human Nature: The Photographs of Barbara Bosworth
April 19, 2008 – July 27, 2008

Human Nature presents the contemporary landscape photographs of Barbara Bosworth. Drawing together nearly twenty years of work, the exhibition demonstrates Bosworth's ongoing interest in people's presence in nature. She focuses on points of contact: bird-banders and their fragile catch, rifle hunters and their prey, lush green meadows marked by tire tracks, and the magic of natural phenomena easily overlooked: birds' nests, soap bubbles, an eclipse. Her photographs reflect the beauty she finds all around her, from a tiny bass swimming in a jar to the dramatic power of a pounding waterfall.

This is Bosworth's first exhibition in the American Southwest and features more than 40 prints, including both color and exquisitely printed gelatin silver photographs.

In addition, Human Nature will debut a monumental print of an overgrown meadow; shown on such a commanding scale, its deep green foliage immerses viewers in another world.

Phoenix Art Museum Website

Image by Barbara Bosworth.

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