Robert Frank

Swiss-born Robert Frank has a show at the Met and a film at Film Forum. He is 84 and lives in Manhattan. And no one has had a greater influence on photography in the last half-century. Though he took many photos and made many films, his reputation rests almost entirely on a single book published in 1958. The book (a collection of 83 black-and-white images of American life and now on view in a show at the Met) is an intimate visual chronicle of common people in ordinary situations drawn from several trips he made through his adopted country in the mid-1950s. Frank's favorite photo in the book is this one... Canal Street - New Orleans, 1955 He said of it, "It's rare that you have that movement and the variety of people on the street." Philippe Séclier’s documentary showing at Film Forum is called: “An American Journey: Revisiting Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’” and retraces Frank's steps using a digital camera rather than a Leica.

In the field... on the streets...

A friend, David, went on a trip to Peru to be with the street boys there. He came back with these cool photos: Abraham and Jairo reading The Jesus Storybook Bible (Spanish edition).

who and what and why

"We turn to stories and pictures and music because they show us who and what and why we are." –Madeline L'Engle (1918-2007)

water for schools

One photo shows a boy in Ethiopia. The other a boy in the USA. The bottles show the quality of water they have to drink. No prize for guessing whose bottle is whose. Half of all schools around the world, have no access to clean water. This autumn Charity: water is launching Water for Schools--a student-led campaign to bring clean safe drinking water to at least 100 schools in developing nations in the first year. It'll take $2M to get there so they'll need everyone's help to do it... find out how you can help here. Note: 100% of your donation goes to those in need.

Red and Orange Streak

"Red and Orange Streak" (1919), Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) (from the exhibition "Abstraction" at the Whitney) As Holland Cotter in the NYT said, there are two Georgia O’Keeffes. The most familiar is the who does all those cow skulls and flower paintings. I am sure it reveals me as an ignoramus, but I've never much liked them. The other O'Keeffe is the abstract painter. Her abstract works are, to me, much more interesting. But they are mostly overlooked and it's the flowers that she's known for. But the flower paintings didn't start til the 20s. Before that she'd been working on abstract drawings and, as Cotter says, they were "among the most radical creations produced in the United States at that time." Abstraction was simply the only kind of art, she said, that let her express her deepest feelings. She couldn't describe them with words. “Words and I are not good friends.” She had to paint them. Draw them. Here's another of my favorites. One of her small vertical pictures inspired by New York. "Abstraction", 1926 The show is at the Witney through Jan 17th. More here.

coney island rides

PHOTO: polaroid transfer

wonder

"The World does not lack for wonders, but only for wonder." –G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

The last Welsh-born true Prince of Wales

Today, 16 September, in 1400, Owain Glyndwr, was proclaimed Prince of Wales. He was the last truly Welsh-born Prince of Wales... Here's part 1 of a great BBC documentary about this hero. An intellectual, cultured, Prince who reluctantly led his countrymen to war against England in the 15th century and came so close to achieving a remarkable transformation of his country. Makes a girl extra proud of her Welsh ancestry. But what I want to know is... why is he so NOT well known? When we've all heard of the famous Scot, William Wallace (Brave Heart)...? This guy seems to me to be just as heroic, if not more ...