Photojournalism Now

May 12, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 12th May, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - three very different exhibitions are on in Melbourne with works by Helga Leunig, a group show on street photography and Tom Goldner. Plus David Katzenstein's fabulous Bronx Bodegas photo essay. And for those in Sydney, don't forget that Head On Photo Festival is on until the end of the month.

Exhibitions:
Helga Leunig - 3 weeks in Cuba
Australian documentary photographer Helga Leunig brings to life the everyday in her beautiful, relaxed and joyful images of Havana, Cuba.

(C) All images Helga Leunig

Until 7 July
3 weeks in Havana
Epworth Art Gallery
1 Epworth Place
Waurn Ponds Geelong
(about an hour from Melbourne)

Group Show - Shot in the Heart of Melbourne
This annual street photography and photojournalism exhibition, which is now in its 6th year, features work by 21 diverse photographers who use the city as their canvas to “celebrate the decisive, and often indecisive, but always graceful moments that occur within our gritty, yet beautiful city”. Presented by the Australian Association of Street Photographers.

'Degraves Street Reflection' Mark Lourensz

'K9 Uber' Kathy Chapman

'Footscray Station Footbridge' Joe Chow

'Bourke Street from Spencer Street' Joe Chow

Until 22 May
Victorian Artists Society
430 Albert Street
East Melbourne

Tom Goldner - Passage
Melbourne photographer, and gallery owner, Tom Goldner's Passage features photographs taken on medium format film and meticulously printed by Goldner in the Fox Darkroom which he founded in 2014. These contrasty, black and white images of the Mont Blanc regions of Italy, France and Switzerland taken in 2015 and 2016, capture this majestic landscape, and show how analogue practices can bring something new to the contemporary landscape discourse.

Photo Essay:

David Katzenstein - Radiant Excess: Inside Bronx Bodegas

I love this series that captures this American tradition in all its colourful eccentricity and celebrates the diversity of one of New York's most iconic boroughs, The Bronx. To see more visit David Katzenstein's website.

May 05, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 5th May, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up – part two of the Head On Photo Festival features my interview with Markus Klinko about his Bowie Unseen exhibition, plus a sneak peek at exhibitions by Rennie Ellis (Kings Cross 1970-1971), Younes Mohammad (In the Name of Religion) and Stephen Dupont (The Australians).

Special Feature:
Head On Photo Festival - Part Two

On Saturday 6th May the annual Head On Photo Festival will officially kick off in Sydney with the announcement of this year's Head On Photo Festival Awards winners. The Festival features an eclectic array of photography exhibitions spanning all genres plus special events. Many of the featured exhibitions are showing in and around Paddington and the CBD making it easy to gorge on this visual feast. Check out the Festival's website for daily happenings.

Don't forget to register for the debate with photographers from around the globe, and moderated by myself, on the question "Does photojournalism facilitate or counteract 'fake news'? Click here to register. It's free! This Sunday 7.30pm, Beauchamp Hotel, 265-267 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.

Exhibitions:

A reminder of some of last week's top picks:

Juli Balla

Dina Litovsky

Maggie Steber

If you missed Head On Photo Festival feature part one, you can see more images here.

Interview:

Bowie Unseen - Markus Klinko

by Alison Stieven-Taylor

(First published in the Australian Financial Review Weekend)

“When Iman came to the studio to choose the photograph for the cover of her book I Am Iman, she brought her husband with her, which was a great surprise,” says Swiss-born photographer Markus Klinko recalling his first encounter with David Bowie back in 2001.

At the time Klinko, who had been a notable international harp soloist before an injury cut short his career, was trying to break into the highly competitive field of celebrity photography. Working out of a small studio in New York, he says he was blown away when the musician walked in. “He was every bit as charismatic and extraordinary as one can imagine, but really kind and lovely to talk to”.

Impressed with the photographs of his model wife, Bowie suggested that Klinko work with him on the cover for his album Heathen. “That was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had…David was so collaborative. He came with a lot of ideas, but was also interested in my thoughts”.

“Iman and David opened a lot of doors,” says Klinko who has since photographed a procession of contemporary musicians from Beyonce and Lady Gaga to Kanye West and Mariah Carey. He’s also an A-list photographer for celebrities including Kate Winslet, Will Smith and Eva Mendes.

Now based in Los Angeles, Klinko is in Sydney for the debut of his exhibition Bowie Unseen, one of the headline shows for this year’s Head On Photo Festival. The show features 22 images of Bowie along with two of Iman, which were shot for the cover of Vanity Fair on the model’s 60th birthday. The images of Iman were taken with his photographic partner, Koala, who has also curated the show.

Bowie Unseen includes photographs from the Heathen shoot as well as a series of complex composite images used in the 2002 GQ Men of the Year issue. In these photographs Bowie is pictured holding wild wolves on a leash. Or is he? In fact these images are a combination of two shoots, as Klinko explains.

“GQ wanted to feature David on the cover, but he wasn’t available. I had this idea of David with these wild wolves and talked it through with him. I told David I could extract elements from the Heathen shoot and combine them. He was intrigued and trusted me. When he saw the photographs he loved them, joking that he’d never have to do another photo shoot!”

(C) All images Markus Klinko

Klinko hired a “very brave” model to act as a body double. The wolves were smuggled into his Soho studio, as it was illegal at the time to have wild animals in the city. The wolves’ trainer kept them placated with raw meat treats, while Klinko set up. “It was an adventure,” laughs Klinko adding that while he was nervous about having these enormous creatures in his studio, he wasn’t scared. “It was intense, but I wasn’t shaking like I was when I was working with Janet Jackson and had two wild black panthers in the studio!”

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Until 3 June

Blender Gallery

16 Elizabeth St

Paddington

More exhibitions to add to your 'must see' list (there's a black and white thing going on):

Kings Cross 1970-1971: Rennie Ellis

Head On Photo Festival, Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive, and Mossgreen Gallery present this series of images by one of Australia’s most iconic photographers, the late Rennie Ellis (1940 – 2003).

This exhibition features photographs taken by Ellis over the summer of 1970-1971 in Sydney’s notorious red light district of Kings Cross, where Aussie rock, social protest and the freedom of youth rubbed against the underbelly of the city. Ellis’ images unmask the subculture of the Cross, as it is known locally, in all its out-there glory capturing a place that Ellis said “has a pulse rate and a lifestyle unlike anywhere else in Australia”.

In the Name of Religion

Kurdish freelance photographer Younes Mohammad presents a series of images capturing the devastation of wars made in the name of religion. Younes took up photography in 2011 and since that time his work has been shown in more than 50 exhibitions and published by AP, Getty Images, CNN, The Guardian and the Daily Mail amongst others.

Venue: Lower Town Hall - Sydney

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Out of town:

Stephen Dupont - The Australians

(C) All images Stephen Dupont

One of the world's most awarded photojournalists, Australian Stephen Dupont presents images from his ongoing series The Australians in which he focuses his camera on local artists and community figures from Wollongong and its surrounding regions (south of Sydney). This exhibition is part of Ambush Gallery’s Here There & Everywhere program and is being held in Wollongong.

Venue: The Gateway Building
Wollongong Central
200 Crown Street
Wollongong

April 28, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 28th April, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up it's all about the Head On Photo Festival in Sydney. Part one of a two part feature kicks off with my top picks for the festival's featured exhibitions, but there are so many shows that there is sure to be something to appeal to every visual style. Next week I'll be blogging from the opening weekend.

And tomorrow my interview with Markus Klinko, about his amazing exhibition Bowie Unseen, undoubtedly one of this year's Head On highlights, is in the Australian Financial Review Weekend.

Special Feature:
Head On Photo Festival - Sydney
5 - 28 May, 2017

The annual Head On Photo Festival is a week away from kicking off with another spectacular line up of exhibitions, workshops, talks and other events including a debate with photographers from around the globe, and moderated by myself, on the question "Does photojournalism facilitate or counteract 'fake news'? Click here to register. It's free!

Get ready to have your mind blown. This year's Head On Photo Festival program rocks!

Exhibitions - My Picks

Juli Balla - Where the sidewalk ends

This stunning series by Hungarian-born Juli Balla features extravagant staged scenes that draw on street photography from the 1950s through to the 1970s.

Their filmic aesthetic is reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson’s work, although Balla has a distinct European sensibility in her visual signature.

Each tells a unique, compelling story.

Visually engaging and meticulously designed and executed, these are fabulous images that capture the imagination.

Also opening at Olsen Annexe at the same time is Australian photographer Tim Georgeson's ethereal series Oracles.

Dina Litovsky – Meatpacking

In this series Ukrainian-born Dina Litovsky, who has lived in New York since 1991, shows us another side to the city’s meatpacking district. Transformed at night into what she calls “a microcosm of sexual politics,” this former working class district was once populated with fetish houses and gay bars.

Now it is a mecca for those flocking to new fashionable nightclubs, which attract young single women looking for romance.

These girls who place themselves on parade hoping for Mr. Right, outnumber the opposite sex creating an environment in which competition is rife, giving new meaning to the idea of 'meatpacking'.

Litovsky doesn’t make any moral judgments, rather she captures scenes as they unfold, the industrial setting making for a startling background to the painted and stiletto-heel clad throngs of women hoping to be the ‘one’.

Venue: Head On Photo Festival Pop Up QVB Forecourt, Sydney.

Maggie Steber - The Secret Garden of Lily LaPalma

This is a very personal series of photographs, which Maggie Steber says "was made in the shadows of a dark side of me that, as of late, I have begun to re-explore. Without meaning to make them so, these photographs reveal my fears and private memories, all the things that are wrapped up in a human life. In The Garden there is danger and beauty in a wild jungle that grows unfettered. The photographs are a documentation of my subconscious and imagination, often posing as something entirely unrelated and recognised only by me. They are created spur of the moment. I go from the gut. I don’t want them to be perfect because reality isn’t perfect; it’s messy, and the imperfection of these spontaneous moments reflects what I’m after.”

In addition to the exhibition, Maggie, who is a multi-award winning photojournalist, photo editor and curator, is holding a workshop for a limited number of extremely fortunate photographers. If you want to “Walk on the Wild Side with Maggie Steber” there are still a few places left. Don't miss out.

Venue: AD Space - UNSW Art & Design

In Brief:

Two Australian Photojournalists - Brian Cassey and Michael Amendolia

Based in Far North Queensland, Brian Cassey, who was born in London, but we've claimed him as our own, has been shooting since he was a lad. A multi-award winner, Brian has covered sports, news and features and shares a selection of his life's work in this exhibition at Juniper Hall.

Michael Amendolia is another super talented Australian photojournalist who is best known for his work with the late Fred Hollows, whose pioneering efforts to bring sight to those in third world countries is one of the most remarkable humanitarian stories of the past century. In this exhibition Michael shares some of the images taken over 25 years documenting this marvellous work. His work is on show at Head On Photo Festival Pop Up QVB Forecourt.