Photojournalism Now: Festival of Photography

Showing posts with label Festival of Photography. Show all posts

September 22, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 22nd September, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - the Indian Photography Festival opens in Hyderabad and locally Press Dynasty opens at Magnet Galleries Melbourne.

Festival:
Indian Photography Festival - Hyderabad

(C) Kate Geraghty

The third edition of the Indian Photography Festival (IPF) opened yesterday. I had the pleasure of playing a small role in the curation of IPF by participating in the selection of the open call entries. I enjoyed the opportunity to view work by many photographers I didn't know, surely one of the greatest attractions of festivals like this.

This year the program boasts more than 520 photographers from 40 countries showcasing a diverse range of work. It's great to see Australian photojournalist Kate Geraghty's work on the drug war in the Philippines (above) as one of the major exhibitions. Other photographers participating in various capacities (workshops, artist talks and presentations) include Natan Dvir, Andrea Bruce, Reza Deghati, Stuart Franklin, Sudharak Olwe, Q Sakamaki, Cecilia Paredes, Prashant Godbole, Manoj Jadhav and Gurinder Osan.

Plus there is a host of lesser known photographers from which selected works are featured here:

Helena Schätzle - Dharavi, Mumbai

Telaj Mewar
Indian Brick Workers

Camillo Pasquarelli - The Endless Winter of Kashmir
Student award of excellence, 2017 Alexia Foundation

Sabine Hartert - Absences

The IPF runs until 8 October. To find out more visit the festival website.

Exhibition: Melbourne

Bruce & Cliff Postle - Press Dynasty

I don't know how many father and son press photographers there have been, but in Australia the Postle name has been synonymous with newspapers since the 1920s when Cliff Postle was shooting for the Brisbane Courier-Mail. His son Bruce followed in his father's footsteps, first with the Courier-Mail before making the move to Melbourne and carving a name for himself at The Age.

This retrospective at Melbourne's Magnet Galleries brings together a selection of images never exhibited together, presenting a fascinating walk down memory lane for many, as well as insights into our recent history.

Until 14 October
Magnet Galleries Melbourne
Level 2
640 Bourke Street
Melbourne

August 25, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 25 August, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - my musings on the 2017 Ballarat International Foto Biennale which opened last week and FotoEvidence and World Press Photo join forces.

Musings:
Ballarat International Foto Biennale

Last Friday I headed to Ballarat for the launch of the 2017 Ballarat International Foto Biennale. The festivities kicked off on Friday night with the opening of the blockbuster David LaChapelle exhibition at the Art Galley of Ballarat. The festival has clearly pinned its hopes on this show with the city's mayor revealing they hoped to attract 50,000 this year to the festival when the last one in 2015 drew an audience of 15,000. You have to admire their ambition and I hope it is a success. But with pretensions to such grandeur, there are some concerns with the festival that need to be aired.

In general I was underwhelmed by the core program, and thought the use of venues could have been better. In particular the Tell exhibition in the Mining Exchange seemed swamped by the size of the venue. And the exhibitions in the little ante rooms or alcoves in the Exchange were so poorly lit and presented that they might as well have been hung in the bathroom - in fact the lighting was better in there! There are some highlights of course. Ich Werde Deutsch (I become German) is an interesting show, and the Post Office Gallery is one of the better venues. Also the group show Rearranging Boundaries has an impressive international line up of documentary photographers, but the lighting of the show was disappointing and I was particularly irritated by lamps clamped to the top of photographs.

So let's cut to the chase. The biggest problem I have with this year's festival is that it promotes a facade of international standing, but underneath is wracked by amateur practices. There, the elephant in the room is now visible!

This is especially evident in the hanging of the Martin Kantor prize (above a photo I took of one of the finalists). With a first prize of $15,000, it's no measly photo comp. It was revealed to me today that 18 of the 27 finalists have penned a letter to the festival organisers to complain about the way their work was treated. Hung on industrial wire fencing, without any covering, you could see the backs of images, as above. The lighting was awful, and there was no information about the photographs save for a few scrappy pieces of paper marking the numbers and names, which we were told to give back as they didn't have enough. It was amateur hour! And knowing the efforts and expense photographers went to in order to put forward their best work, framed and delivered, it is no wonder the majority of entrants were furious.

This amateur approach is also evident in the lighting of the fashion retrospective Reverie Revelry which featured the amazing work of the late Robyn Beeche and Bruno Benini amongst others. I was horrified at how badly lit this show was, the high ceiling fluorescent lights throwing an awful, flat cast over the dim room. I've seen Beeche's work before and it is transformational when handled properly. I was also one of the last to interview her before her untimely death and know she would have been incredibly disappointed.

It is difficult enough for photography to hold its head up in the art world without these kinds of impediments. For all the bluster of the festival and its new direction, some money should be spent on curators who have training and know how to hang and light a show. Curating is an art in itself.

And lastly, there is the trend for festivals to charge photographers several hundred dollars to enter the Fringe. These photographers pay for the privilege of hanging their works in cafes and businesses where it is virtually impossible to view them with any semblance of sophistication or respect and that is infuriating. This grab for money at the expense of the artist is an age old rort and quite frankly photographers deserve better.

One Fringe exhibitor confided that the venue where their work was to be exhibited was less than cooperative, charged them the full rate for catering (they were encouraged by the festival to hold an opening), plus there was no hanging system and no lights. After the festival had taken their money there was no help forthcoming either. It's no wonder that after that experience, this unnamed photographer won’t be exhibiting at the next festival.

I'm always hopeful that things can change. Let's see a festival in the future that is more about celebrating the actual photographs and showing respect to the photographers, than talking a good game and coming up short.

News:
FotoEvidence and World Press Photo join forces

It was announced yesterday that FotoEvidence and World Press Photo Foundation will collaborate on the annual FotoEvidence Book Award which will be known as the FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo.

As a previous jury member for the FotoEvidence Book Award I am very excited about this collaboration and the opportunity for even more people to see this important work. It's great news!

The annual FotoEvidence Book Award recognises one photographer whose work demonstrates courage and commitment in the pursuit of social justice. From 2018 the newly named award will see the winner and two other selected finalists also exhibit their work during the World Press Photo (WPP) exhibition in Amsterdam where the winner’s book will be featured. Additionally, the book will be shown at various other WPP events around the world.

This is a great achievement for Svetlana Bachevanova the publisher of FotoEvidence who has worked tirelessly to bring these important stories to publication.

She says: “We at FotoEvidence are excited about our partnership with the World Press Photo Foundation because of our shared commitment to excellence and new initiatives in documentary photography and photojournalism. After seven years and sixteen FotoEvidence books, we expect the FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo to expand our reach to a worldwide audience, strengthen our mission promoting social justice, and increase our support for photographers who demonstrate courage and commitment in the pursuit of human rights.”

Lars Boering, managing director of the World Press Photo Foundation also commented: "We’re delighted to be working closely together with FotoEvidence on the book award. The World Press Photo Foundation is expanding all areas of its activities, and as part of that we’re more committed than ever to promoting visual journalism that addresses social justice. We understand that photo books which address these topics occupy a special but challenging place in the photo book market, and we want to bring this work to our large global audience. The FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo will build on the commitment of Svetlana and her team and help to further our joint mission.”

May 18, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 19 May 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - the fabulous and expansive Festival of Photography at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) featuring Bill Henson, William Eggleston, Patrick Pound, Ross Coulter, Zoe Croggon and more is now on. This is a really wonderful opportunity to see an eclectic selection of photography, some of which you'll love and others you'll loathe, but isn't that the beauty of art! And it's all FREE. Give yourself half a day at least to get through it all.

Special Feature: Melbourne
Festival of Photography - NGV

Bill Henson
I love these landscape works of Henson's and they look magnificent in the gallery which has been painted a deep grey that allows the works to draw you in with their quiet majesty. Until 24 August.

Untitled 2008/09
inkjet print
127 x 180 cm
© Bill Henson

Untiled 2009/10 2009–2010
Inkjet print National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australia Artist, 2011 (2012.9)
© Bill Henson

Untitled 2008/09 inkjet print 127 x 180 cm
© Bill Henson

William Eggleston: Portraits
There's something so quirky and offbeat about Eggleston's work that you can't help but smile at the absurdity of it (if not the photograph itself, you'll get a laugh out of the often ridiculous curatorial explanations). Of course there is nostalgia now attached to these images which capture and reflect culture themes of a particular time in America that has now passed. Until 18 June.

Untitled (Memphis, Tennessee), c.1969-71 Dye-transfer print, 55.5 x 36.8cm

Wilson Centre for Photography

Untitled (the artist’s uncle, Adyn Schuyler Senior, with assistant and driver, Jasper Staples, in Cassidy Bayou, Sumner, Mississippi), 1969-70

Pigment print, printed 2016, 111.8 x 152.4cm

Courtesy the Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner, New York/London

Untitled, c.1965-9
Pigment print, printed 2016, 33.4 x 51cm Eggleston Artistic Trust
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Untitled (Memphis, Tennessee), 1965 Dye-transfer print, 45.1 x 30.5cm Wilson Centre for Photography
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Untitled, 1965-8
Dye-transfer print, printed 2004 30.5 x 45.1cm
Wilson Centre for Photography © Eggleston Artistic Trust

Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition

(at Ian Potter Gallery Federation Square)

This exhibition is crazy in the most delightful way. Pound, who must be an eccentric character to collect other people's photos, has amassed an unbelievable collection, which is presented in groups - pictures where people have been cut out, faces burned or scratched, removing their identity in an attempt to erase them from the lives of those who have cast out these images; pictures that feature items such as lamps; pictures where the camera case or the photographer's hand is in view; pictures that have been screwed up and tossed out; and those that feature pairs. Stuff that most people would pass by hold fascination for Pound who keeps all of these bits and pieces carefully filed away in boxes. Love it. Until 30 July.

Patrick Pound
New Zealander/Australian 1962–
The photographer’s shadow 2000–17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Damaged 2008−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

The hand of the photographer 2007−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

The hand of the photographer 2007−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Pairs (and the double) 2016−17 (detail)

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland

Damaged 2008−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Lamps 2016–17 (detail)

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland

Zoë Croggon: Tenebrae

Melbourne artist Zoë Groggon was commissioned by the NGV to create these photo collages that draw on themes of the physical body and the environment. It's an interesting, abstract collection that is visually engaging. Until 30 July.

Bow 2013

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne © Zoë Croggon

Fonteyn 2012

digital type C print

102.8 x 99.9 cm

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds arranged by Loti Smorgon for Contemporary Australian Photography, 2013 (2013.699) © Zoë Croggon

Kink 2015

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne © Zoë Croggon

Ross Coulter: Audience
This black and white photographic series documents audience members who were photographed in more than seventy Melbourne galleries and museums between 2013 and 2016. The thing I found most interesting about this exhibition was recognising people I knew in the pictures and working out where the spaces were. Until 16 July.