Back from NY, catching up

Just got back from a week back east, went to CT for a bit, then into NY for some meetings, and to see some art. The city was nice and cool, which was nice. NY can be brutally hot in July.

Met with Meghan Hurley at Fast Company, who confirmed that Dan Winters actually does deliver a single print for each job he shoots. No edit, no real choice from the photo editor -- just an envelope from Dan with a single, beautifully crafted print. Apparently he is the only one that can get away with this. I think it's awesome and something to aspire to.

Also met with Lauren Winfield at Fortune Magazine. She has a very cool wall in her office where she hangs images that she likes, or has worked on. I thought this one, shot by none other than helicopter happy Vincent Laforet, was pretty cool:

Didn't have much luck with the ad meetings -- too many people were out of town in Nantucket, Hamptons, anywhere but steamy hot NY. Which was fine, since I'll be back in NY in October.

Checked out the Avedon show at the ICP, about 200 of his fashion images. Avedon consistently blows my mind, it's still hard to imagine how far he was ahead of his time. One image that is permanently burned into my brain is of a woman looking out from inside a car in the rain. I can't find it anywhere online, otherwise I would post it here. The old Harpers Bazaar covers and layouts were really nice to see. This one is insanely beautiful as well, and was great to see up close:

I went to the ICP bookstore afterwards, which has a deep, deep selection, and spent a while browsing. I used to be able to spend entire afternoons in bookstores like this, just going from shelf to shelf, wokring my way through thousands of images, trying to absorb as much as I possibly could. Now I find myself just standing there, looking at the spines of the books, reading the titles. Every once in a while I grab a book, but never spend too much time with it -- just kind of flip through it quickly.


Why this is? I still love photography as much as I ever have. Maybe it's because I think that there is limited storage space in my brain, and I don't want to clutter it with too many images. Kind of like sitting down at a restaurant and ordering everything on the menu, or cramming a million pieces of furniture into an apartment. I guess I am more selective now -- and try to consume only images that have the depth and complexity that I aspire to. It also seems like there are more photography books than ever before, which is great, but I wonder if the quality of the work has increased along with the quantity? It doesn't seem like it.

I spent some time looking at Eggleston, who is one of my faves. Which is funny -- I keep going back to his books over and over, year after year, and I only actually own one (Los Alamos). Still haven't spent enough time with Robert Frank yet, either.