Elliot Porter 1901 - 1990

“You learn to see by practice. It's just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.” -Eliot Porter

“Every photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside himself by the person who operates the camera.” -Eliot Porter

“Photography is a strong tool, a propaganda device, and a weapon for the defense of the environment...and therefore for the fostering of a healthy human race and even very likely for its survival.” -Eliot Porter, from "In Wildness of the Preservation of the World, Selections and Photographs by Eliot Porter" - 1962

Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach

Untitled 1976 (split toned print)

Richard Misrach started photographing in black and white before moving to colour. He did a wonderful series of night exposures which ended when Agfa discontinued the photographic paper he used to produce his exquisite split toned prints.

San Gorganio Pass California 1981


Desert Fire #1 1983

He began to experiment with colour and night exposures before he embarked on photographing mainly the USA desert landscape using a 10x8 camera and sheets of colour negative film.

Mono Lake #2 California 1999


Dead Fish, Salton Sea 1983

He has produced numerous books and has had countless exhibitions of his large scale prints around the world. It’s been fascinating to watch the Desert Cantos series expand and go from breathtaking views of the desert to the grotesque photos of rotting animal carcasses.

Atomic Bomb Loading Pit, Wendover Air Force Base, Utah 1989

Bomb Crater & Destroyed Convoy, Bravo 20 bpmbing Range, Nevado 1986

When viewed, his photographs can invoke many feelings and show they have been taken by a man who cares, and is concerned about the impact man is making on our fragile earth.

Bonneville Salt Flats 1999

Outdoor Dining Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah 1992

Sadly he doesn’t have his own website to showcase his work, but the links below will direct you to plenty of examples of his photographs and an interview.

http://www.artnet.com/awc/richard-misrach.html

http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/lib/artists/misrach.php

Alec Soth

Continuing my look at photographers who work solely or primarily in colour, I would like to draw your attention to Alec Soth

http://www.alecsoth.com/

He has immerged on the art scene and gained worldwide recognition following the publication of his second book “Niagara”

Two Towels 2004

Melissa 2005

If you have 10 minutes spare please click on the link below, which is for an audio / visual podcast, in which he discusses the Niagara project and it gives a fascinating insight into how the project has developed.

http://www.magnuminmotion.com/essay_niagara/

Rebecca 2005

Teresa 2005

Here are a couple of other links to interviews which you may find interesting.

http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/archives/002245.html

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/spotlight/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002235383

New Year Resolutions

I don't make New Year Resolutions, perhaps I should. But if I did I'm sure they would soon be broken like most peoples. Instead I would like to share some saga like advice from the photographer Ruth Bernhard, who died last month aged 101.

RECIPE FOR A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE

1. Never get used to anything

2. Hold on to the child in you

3. Keep your curiosity alive

4. Trust your intuition

5. Delight in simple things

6. Say "Yes" to life with passion

7. Fall madly in love with the world

8. Remember: Today is the Day!

Ruth BernhardOctober 14, 1995

If everyone could love life,the world would be a better place. – Ruth Bernhard