The classic instance of this projector-related incomprehension among academics came for me during a 1982 Rosalind Krauss lecture at the Society for Photographic Education National Conference in Colorado Springs. Krauss put one of Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills” images on the screen and left it there for a good twenty minutes. Inevitably, the bulb generated heat in the small space between itself and the slide, warming the celluloid substrate that carries the image. The substrate swelled and buckled slightly, which popped the image out of focus. “Focus that,” Krauss would order. Finally, clearly frustrated, and evidently ignorant of basic thermodynamics, Krauss snapped, “This is a roomful of photographers! Doesn’t anyone know how to focus?” At which point the emulsion on the Sherman on the screen started to melt. […]
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Polaroid has begun to reinvent itself for the 21st century. As you’ll see at the company’s website, Polaroid hopes to reposition itself in the digital-imaging environment while building on its brand-name recognition and long history in the medium. More power to them. Inevitably, some of its earlier products will fall by the wayside during that process — to the dismay of their dedicated users. This represents elementary free-market economics in action. Type 55 film has become one of the casualties. . . . […] Why should student artists get special tutorials in “the business of being an artist” when no one seems to think that student anthropologists need special instruction in the business of being an anthropologist? Do we assume that young artists, as distinct from young physicists or historians or literary scholars, are special-needs cases meriting the pre-professional equivalent of training bras to ready them for the elementary truth that once they leave school they’ll have to earn a living somehow? […] Michael Rosen first published his book Vanilla Sex: Explicit Fine Art Photographs as a free PDF download. Rosen invited me to write the introduction to this project. My essay turned into a meditation not only on his work but on the state of sexually explicit photography in our culture — a subject to which I’ve turned my attention frequently over the decades. That PDF recently passed its 10,000-download mark, which strikes me as remarkable success for a self-published project on such a controversial subject. Now Rosen has published a printed version of the book, via Blurb.com. . . . […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |
BigYellowDaddy Takes Our Kodachrome Away
I try my best to keep up with whatever news affects me as a member of our lens culture, I attend some of the trade expos, I talk with and listen closely to photographers, I observe at first hand what goes on in photo-education programs around the world, and I make a point of reading the handwriting on the walls. So, when Eastman Kodak announced on June 22 that it had ceased production of Kodachrome film after 74 years, I didn’t consider that at all surprising. Indeed, I found myself in the odd position of thinking “I told you so.” […]