Thanks, gracias, grazie...and a couple of shout outs.

So, my Tel Aviv series has been getting a lot of coverage lately online, and I wanted to thank the various people who've taken an interest in my work. First up is the grandaddy of all photography blogs, Conscientious. As many of you know, Jorg Colberg ran his own portfolio competition earlier this fall, and as part of the benefit of participating he's been featuring selected portfolios on his blog. Check out also the interviews he did with the 3 winners, Bradley Peters, Lydia Panas and David Wright. Excellent work all around.


Next up, the Italian site Urbanautica. This site regularly showcases new work dealing with the landscape as a social construct. In their own words, it's "a research project on photography and human landscapes. Dealing with studies on urban and industrial sociology lead us to the idea of a website, without commercial purposes, that tries to bring back people’s looks on the “ways of doing” territories. A sailing by sight, a trip around ideas, people, and what makes them part of nature, and the world." It's run by Steve Bisson and Andrea Filippin, and they publish their short essays and interviews in both italian and english. Lots of good urban landscape photography to look at, much of it from often overlooked parts of the globe.



Alejandro Cartagena is a Mexican photographer whose work has been getting lots of recognition recently (Critical Mass Top 50 and Book Nominee, Lishui Festival, Fotofest International Discoveries, Aperture Portfolio HM, and probably a couple more I'm unaware of: see this blog post over at Flat File for more details). So, first of all, FELICIDADES ALEJANDRO!!! Wow, what an impressive run of achievements. Anyway, I met Ale through facebook and he was kind enough to write a short piece about my Tel Aviv series on his blog. I love the Joe Deal and Lee Friedlander photos he chose to 'hang' next to mine, so we're definitely on the same wavelength. Oh, it's in spanish only btw.

Just a couple more thank you's, first to Exposure Compensation for the nice write up, and to the italian blog click_blog_it for the same. I loved their 'poetica dell'asfalto' description of my work, "Poetics of Asphalt" indeed.


I also recently became a member of an online gallery for emerging contemporary artists, Culturehall. I love the fact that it's cross-disciplinary, so you can see a huge variety of up and coming art from practically every type of media (they do video too). Membership is by invitation or application, so if you're interested definitely apply, you'll be in good company. I found out about Culturehall through Tema Stauffer's blog, an excellent photographer who's also one of their curators. Here's her write up on her most recently curated show up on Culturehall currently.

Her own photography is most definitely worth checking out too, as she's as adept at moody American landscapes as at portraiture.

Two of my favorite landscape photographers, Lois Conner and Steve Smith currently have work up on a show, Of Land, curated by +Kris Graves Projects in NYC. If you have a chance, definitely stop by, some of the most interesting landscape photography on exhibit right now. I'll be doing a review of Steve's work shortly, so stay tuned, but here's a taste of what he does.





More to come on Steve's work, and thanks again to everyone for the interest in my work.

"Tel Aviv at 100" Makes Finalists Stage on Photolucida's Critical Mass and Conscientious

When it rains, it pours I guess. Two separate portfolio competitions have just announced their finalists, and my Tel Aviv project made the cut in both! Critical Mass at Photolucida is the older and more established of the two, and boasts an impressive roster of jurors this year which reads like a "who's who" of the contemporary photography world. Those who make it past the first round have their work seen by these experts, and the top vote-getters get a book of their work published by Photolucida. In addition, they also put together an exhibit of the top 50 finalists.
The second is a brand new competition, run and juried by J.M. Colberg at Conscientious. This is the first year Mr. Colberg is running his portfolio competition, and out of over 500 submissions he's chosen 25 contenders for the top 3 spots. The 3 winners will be announced later this fall, and featured with an interview on Conscientious. Congratulations to all the finalists, and thanks to the judges for all their hard work.

Review of "Tel Aviv at 100" at DLK Collection

My Tel Aviv project just got reviewed at DLK Collection. DLK is a blog written by and for photography collectors, primarily, and they usually only do reviews of NYC gallery shows. I therefore feel honored that they'd write a full review of my work, and am very grateful for the spotlight. Their site is a wonderful place to get a sense of what's going on in NYC gallery-wise, and they are beginning to branch out into other locales. Do stop by and take a look.

Portfolio Review at Rencontres d'Arles Photo Festival

I just got back from showing my work at the Rencontres d'Arles portfolio review, and thought it'd be a good idea to share some advice and impressions from the whole experience. I'll also be doing a few write ups on the exhibits I especially liked, books recently published, and some photographers whose work was repeatedly recommended to me at the reviews.

For now, let's concentrate on the reviews themselves. I was definitely someone with some doubts about the effectiveness of these events, having read about and talked to photographers who had serious misgivings about the very idea of a portfolio review. I have to say that, in my case at least, these doubts were wholly dispelled. I think it's primarily a question of expectations, and of how much work you put in before you show up at the review.

First off, there are basically two kinds of reviewers, those that are looking for work to use in their respective venue (gallery, magazine, collection, ad agency), and those who are really only interested in giving critiques. This is as it should be, and what you as a photographer need to do in advance is figure out what you want to get out of the review process. If you feel confident with your work and are primarily interested in marketing, look for people who are there to find new work. If you're esentially still in need of good critiques, look for that type of reviewer.

It isn't always clear of course who's there for what purpose, but if you do a little research, you can narrow it down. It's true, I had a gallerist who I thought was there looking for new work turn out to be interested mostly in critiquing, but by and large, gallerists are interested in new work (even in today's economy). But it has to be the right fit. Take a look at what the gallery is showing and has shown recently, and make an honest assessment of how well it fits your type of work.

One good thing about the reviews at Arles is that you get to choose who you'll show your work to, and there's usually enough time to do some research before choosing. This isn't the case with all protfolio reviews, and the usefulness of such events is, I think, diminished if you can't choose your reviewers. One should keep in mind, however, that no matter how well you pick your reviewers, the whole process is still pretty much a roller coaster ride. Some people will love your work, some won't, and you just have to be ready for both. It is definitely an experience worth having if only because you'll very quickly get a sense of where your work fits in the big world of photography. You'll also get immediate, and pretty honest feedback from people who know what they're talking about. I made notes after each and every meeting, and have started to implement some of the suggestions I got already. But in the end, you have to figure out what it is that you can take from all those reactions to your work, and make sure it helps you go forward, not back.

The other very important point that needs making (obvious though it seems) is to make sure your work is ready to be shown. Do not show the early stages of a project you're not sure about, or haven't edited down to the very best images. Take your best work, period, and make sure you know why you made it. Also make sure it's presented in its best possible way. I brought along mounted contact prints, because my work looks best in that form. Other people brought laptops, huge prints, books of their work, inkjets, etc. The point is, make sure the way you show your work is the optimal way to show it. The only impression these reviewers will have is of what you actually bring, not of what you might have brought if you'd had the time.

Having chosen the right person to look at your work, and the right project to show them in its best presentation, you still have to tell them what it's about. Reviewers are as interested in listening to what you have to say as they are in looking at your work, so make sure you can say something useful and interesting about it. I'd actually recommend practicing this, by sitting down with a few people and walking them through why and how your photographs are worth looking at. The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll feel, and you might be surprised at how much you actually have to say about your work once you try it. Definitely do not wait until your first review to think about what to say.

Finally, the leave-behinds. To some extent, I think their importance is overstated. You should definitely have a business card with all your contact info and (ideally) a recognizable image from the project you'll be showing. A CD of your current work is also nice to leave behind, but if it's on your website already, it might be redundant. Some reviewers like to carry home stuff, some don't, so it's best to just ask. The most important leave-behind is the actual quality of your work, and how well it fits what the person in front of you is looking for. That's where I'd put most of my effort.

So that's it, for now. If you're thinking of going to one of these things, I hope my comments are of some use to you in getting ready. If you think reviews are a waste of time, they're not. People are getting anything from a good basic critique of their work to gallery representation at these events, so it's basically up to you to make the most of them. Do get in touch with me if you have questions or comments, and stay tuned for more on the Arles festival.

Stuck in my mind's eye

I thought I'd share with you some photographs I've been looking at lately, and thinking about when out photographing. The first three are from flickr, the rest from surfing around. There's a definite vertical theme to most of them, other than that, just stuff that has stuck in my mind's eye. Please click on the thumbnails to get a larger view. Enjoy.

Bryan Formhals

Ben Roberts

Joni Karanka


Jeff Ladd

Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander

"Tel Aviv at 100" featured on "Israelity"

My Tel Aviv project has just been featured on Israelity, a blog dedicated to looking at everything that goes on in Israel other than the conflict w the Palestinians. Do stop by and take a look.

More Street

I've been looking over all the street photography on flickr, and there's some good stuff there. I'm definitely very late to that party, nevertheless I'm getting the street bug once more. Here are a few more from my last binge:






I also ran into a street artist who calls himself Klone whose work I've seen all over Tel Aviv recently, and he's been documenting his work on flickr for some time. Take a look, here.
A couple of photographers worth looking at are Ben Roberts and Dr Karanka. There are also tribute groups for both Eggleston and Friedlander, as well as myriad street photography groups, here, here, and here. Check them out, especially if you need a change of pace from "fine art" photography, as I did.