Have you seen the work of ... ?

seastack · November 1, 2009

I love looking at other people's work and my own work has only gotten better in the last couple of years because of it. It can be both inspiring, and demoralizing. Aside from the established greats I am amazed at the level of work from younger emerging photographers (the particularly demoralizing part ;-)). In many ways I think we have entered a golden age in the quality of work produced.

Following is one of my favorites. The project could have been entirely derivative but it certainly was not.

Driftless: Stories from Iowa is a book by documentary photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier. Robert Frank wrote the forward. Frazier spent three years on the project. A followup documentary piece was done by Frazier and Mediastorm. It is excellent and includes a great interview with the photographer. You can find it here.

Do you have a favorite, or two, contemporary photography books/projects for us to discover?

Did I mention Bendiksen? ;-))

sara505 · November 2, 2009

seastack wrote:

I love looking at other people's work and my own work has only gotten better in the last couple of years because of it. It can be both inspiring, and demoralizing. Aside from the established greats I am amazed at the level of work from younger emerging photographers (the particularly demoralizing part ;-)). In many ways I think we have entered a golden age in the quality of work produced.

Following is one of my favorites. The project could have been entirely derivative but it certainly was not.

Driftless: Stories from Iowa is a book by documentary photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier. Robert Frank wrote the forward. Frazier spent three years on the project. A followup documentary piece was done by Frazier and Mediastorm. It is excellent and includes a great interview with the photographer. You can find it here.

Do you have a favorite, or two, contemporary photography books/projects for us to discover?

Did I mention Bendiksen? ;-))

Two books I brought home from the library the other day and are sitting on my kitchen table - open - are David Hume Kennerly's Photo duJour, and Ulrike Welsch's The World I Love to See.

JimW · November 2, 2009

Seastack
Thanks for posting that link. His photographs and story are great. The movies, while they were interesting, seemed kind of sappy to me. They really tug at the heartstrings. The people interviewed are often near tears. The music and editing adds to this. No contrast here, only despair.

His photographs tell the story. He had great access to the people and they must have trusted him. That takes a commitment, which shows up a big in his images. I applaud his efforts, his excellent eye and his commitment. The images appear honest.

Would like to hear your take on his work.
Jim

pathfinder · November 2, 2009

Lovely sad stories, and I say this as a midwesterner.

I see the disappearance of the family farms occurring all across the midwest, not just in Iowa.

But I wonder, doesn't the sun ever shine in Iowa?

Have you seen the work of ... ?

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