LEE FRIEDLANDER + MADONNA'S VAGINA = $10,000-15,000

In 1979, photographer Lee Friedlander paid an unknown dancer $25 to sit for some nude portraits. In 2009, Christie's auction house is expecting to sell a black and white 13" x 8 & 5/8"print of one of the shots for $10,000-15,000 dollars. The model Friendlander photographed was a 20 year old, pre-fame Madonna.


Nude (Madonna) 1979

Even with Madonna as the model, I don't think the image is necessarily good or beautiful. It's a run of the mill nude photograph. If Madonna's fame wasn't attached to this image, it surely would have slipped away from any notoriety or notice.

Here's one of Friedlander's nudes (part of the Museum Of Modern Art's collection in NYC) that is worth looking at:

Nude, 1982

Friendlander is in no way one of my favorite photographers, but if I did have a spare $10,000-15,000 burning a hole in my pocket, here are some of his images I would be happy to hang on my wall:


Haverstraw, NY 1966 (the man in the photo is Friedlander)


Texas, 1965 (note: Friedlander appears in shadow)


Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota 1965


Albuequerque 1972

Friedlander is often the subject in his own photographs - either directly through self-portrait or indirectly through inclusion of his shadow.

Here's my ode to Friedlander photographed December 28, 2008 in Venice, CA:

GOIN' TO PHOTO L.A.

I'll be spending the weekend over in Santa Monica at Photo L.A. The fancy description of Photo L.A. is that it's the 18th Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition, but basically it's an annual event where galleries from all over the world come to L.A. to show and sell their photos and books. Most of it is high end stuff - photos that cost five and six figures - some by historically significant photographers, others by contemporary artists. But for those of us that aren't big spenders there's also work by newer, unknown artists that will cost you a few bills or Vernacular photography for sale where you can pick up images for under a hundred bucks. I'm not going to Photo L.A. to buy anything (well maybe some books) - for me it's like walking around one great big photographic museum for the weekend. Last year was my first time at Photo L.A. and I really underestimated the volume of photography to take in. By the end of my first day, I hadn't made it through the entire show and my brain was seriously overloaded by too much beauty.


Last year, Martin Schoeller's 7 foot tall photos of female body builders visually and physically dominated the show.





More Schoeller - a great visual dichotomy - Iggy Pop and Tammy Faye Baker



John Divola - the one artist whose work I would love to bring home if his pieces weren't 5 grand. This photo depicting his Isolated Houses and Vandalism series' doesn't do his work justice.



Along with great work by photographers, were photos on sale capturing great photographers.

Diane Arbus


Andy Warhol (in drag) photographed by Christopher Makos


Photographer/painter Ed Ruscha


Photo L.A.
Barker Hangar
3021 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 9040

PUBLIC FAIR HOURS
Friday, January 9th, 12pm - 8pm
Saturday, January 10th, 12pm - 8pm
Sunday, January 11th, 12pm - 6pm

TICKETS
$20 1-day pass (includes catalog)
$30 3-day pass (includes catalog)

Reflections On Opening Night

After going to the Julia Dean Gallery the past two years and always looking up at the photos on the wall and hoping and dreaming that, "one day one of my photos will be up there," it finally happened.

Julia Dean Gallery - Photography Now Opening Night

Julia Dean and Me

My fantastic teacher/mentor/friend Aline Smithson and Me

Photography Now Group

Ray, Lydia, Aline, Derek

Sharp, Me, Sonya, Mike

Sharp Squared

Me, Jim, Nancy, Dad

Dad and Me

Me and my photos

S and L

Daniel, JR, Sonya, Mike, Lydia, Sharp

Me, Lawrence, Dan

Me and Uncle Myles

Me and Charlotte

Charlotte and Sharp

Kim, Cheryl, Susan, Sharp, Lydia

Dee, Lennard, Lydia

The show opening was hectic and lots of fun and I'm so glad that I had a video camera running the entire evening so I can take it all in again. I'll post a quicktime soon of 3 hours cut down to like a minute or so. Thanks so all my family, friends, associates, etc who came to support me and check out the show. If I had to do it all over again, I would have mic'd the area near my photos so I could have listened to all the chatter later - good, bad, indifferent, whatever. I put the video camera in my corner for a little while and captured some really interesting comments so I would have loved to have heard more. The thing that suprised me most about the reaction to my photos is that women seemed to like and respond to my distressed cars the most - and I NEVER would have guessed that in a million years. In fact the one photo I thought people in general would have the most difficulties with - a VERY distressed Ford Econoline van - turned out to be the one that people seemed to like best. So you never know. The show is up til Nov. 30 (what would have been my Mom's 76th birthday), so check it out if you can.

MISSING MOM

Well tonight is the opening night of my first gallery show and I'm very excited and a bit nervous. Between the Outfest screening of Nine Lives that I hosted and moderated at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on Tues and this gallery show, it's been a very BIG week for me. I've been trying to keep the emotions at bay, but last night it hit me how sad I am that my Mom won't be there beside me to share the experience. Anyone that knew my Mom will know how proud she would have been to see me have my moments to shine. She really understood and nourished my artistic side because she was an artist in her own right whether putting together a great meal from scratch, wrapping a gift, or writing her "soul scrolls" and UCC newsletter. In that sense and truly in every other way, I couldn't have asked for a better Mom. My Mom cast a huge shadow - with her being, her presence and her earthly and spiritual gifts. But it really wasn't until my Mom died that I began to see my artistic potential truly flourish. I was able to step beyond her shadow. Everyone participating in the show is trying to bring something to eat or drink and it popped into my head that I HAD to go to Bea's Bakery in Tarzana to get rugula as my contribution. I haven't been inside Bea's Bakery in YEARS, but buying a box of rugula there just felt like something my Mom would have done. It's my little way of having a touch of my Mom with me there at the show. The only difference between my Mom and me is that I bought 2 boxes (a little over 2 pounds) of rugula and other cookies at Bea's Bakery while my Mom would have brought a platter big enough to feed a small army and STILL have leftovers. :-)

DEBUT

Very exciting news, my work is being shown in my first group photography show. The show, called PHOTOGRAPHY NOW, opens Oct. 19 at the Julia Dean Photo Gallery in Venice. It's been exacty two years since I started shooting with a SLR after many years of going the tiny camera, point and shoot route. I was always into taking pictures, but it wasn't until I took photography during my junior year of high school that Iearned how to use a SLR and discovered my eye for composition and real love for photography. My camera back then was a hand me down Canon AE-1 Program (all manual focus) with a kit 50mm lens. I retired the Canon in my early 20's opting for the ease of carring a much smaller point and shoot camera. But I always missed the creative control that an SLR affords. I finally got back into SLR shooting 2 years ago when the Nikon D50 came out. Finally here was a digital SLR that wasn't crazy money to buy and that had a decent amount of pixels and photo quality. I had to go back to school to relearn how to use an SLR (you know to understand f-stops and shutter speed and metering). I took a basic intro to photography class at Valley College taught by Nancy Kaye . On the first day of class, Nancy told us that within a couple weeks we would never want to use the auto or program mode on the camera and instead would be doing everything manually. We all basically looked at each other and expressed a doubting, collective, "Yeah, right!" But Nancy was right, and I haven't looked back since. I never realized how much artistic potential buying that Nikon D50 SLR would unlock. My photography has grown 1000% since that first day of class. I'm finally producing the images I want (and without that annoying shutter lag of a point and shoot camera). Nancy still teaches that basic class (plus advanced) at Valley College through their extension program and I can't recommend her enough. She's a great teacher and all around nice person. So here I am 2 years later about to take part of my first gallery show. Pretty exciting times. There's still so much to learn when it comes to photography and I'm enjoying every aspect of the journey. Here's the postcard for the show:

GONE

One of the ongoing photo series I'm shooting is buildings/businesses that are here today, gone tomorrow in Los Angeles, and more specifically, the San Fernando Valley where I grew up. Prototypical suburban "Ranch Houses" are getting bulldozed at an alarming rate to make way for McMansions that barely leave a strip of land or grass to call one's own. Whenever I see a longtime business put up their closed sign, I'm racing to get a photo of the facade or signage before it's obliterated. Yes I'm more than a little nostalgic about my L.A. past and if all I can do is take a photo of a place that has held memories for me (even if that memory is just driving by), then I'm doing my best to get out an take a picture before the construction crews show up.

ABOUT MINIMALISM

I just read this article in the current issue of JPG Magazine and WOW I really related!

ABOUT MINIMALISM (an excerpt from JPG Magazine Issue 12) by Grant Hamilton

Part I:
A nice lady with a dog: Why are you taking a picture of the side of a bus?
Me: Well, umm, I take these pictures of stripes and things...
Nice lady: Why?
Me: I scan them and put them on a website. Lots of people seem to like them.
Nice lady: They do?"

Part II:
A famous photographer mentoring a workshop in Tuscany:
Does anyone have some photos they'd like to discuss?
Me: I have a few.
Famous photographer: I see. What is it?
Me: It's the side of a van I spotted in Orvieto.
Famous photographer: It's...interesting. Do you have anything else?
Me: Well, I like this one a lot too. It is a sign on the side of the road that was near the abandoned building everyone else was photographing. I was pretty pleased that I got the tip of the arrow to exactly touch the edge of the frame.
Famous photographer: Yes, it is quite symmetric. Did you shoot any of the abandoned building?
Me: No. But I got a good one of the side of our bus! Hold on, let me find it..."

I'm a huge fan of Grant's Polaroids - check out his work at:
flickr and jpg and on his own site sxseventy.com

here are my photos that fall in line with ABOUT MINIMALISM: