Thursday, May 17, 2012 Last Update: 5:33 am EDT

This is a still. And this is the video. I’ve been waiting for some really subtle landscape video, and this one is checking all the boxes.

Thanks, Grant Cornett.

I realize we’ve had a bit of a hiatus lately over here on TPP, but I’m pulled out of retirement by some really staggering work by Manjari Sharma. In this age of instagram, it’s rare to see something truly new and groundbreaking, especially as it pertains to the photographic medium itself.

Enter Manjari Sharma’s Darshan. Named for a Sanskrit word which means “sight”, “vision” or “view, Manjari’s new project seeks to photographically recreate nine classical images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. These icons are deeply connected to Sharma’s spiritual upbringing. By melding them with her reverence and devotion to photography, she is creating altars of her own.

You’ll never believe what goes into making these images. It’s a full-on production of costume designers, set stylists, jewelry designers, carpenters and painters. Sharma believes art is much about the process, and this is one hell of a process.

This is the first image, Maa Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, good fortune, and prosperity.

Here is more about the project, and an amazing behind-the-scenes look at the work as it is created:

Darshan from Manjari Sharma on Vimeo.

PLEASE consider donating to Sharma’s project. These images ought to be created. Click here and help out! You can even receive a signed, editioned print. Totally worth it, this is an excellent use of Kickstarter.

Here is more from Sharma in her own words:

“I grew up in a Hindu home to parents who were quite spiritual, religious and god fearing as they would call it in India. I visited countless temples, shrines, and discourses as frequently as my parents wanted. These discourses circled around unraveling the mysteries locked in chapters of mythological enigma and tales of deities, reincarnations and astrology. The roots of hindu mythology run deep; my own experiences as a child ranged from being fascinated and enlightened to lost and still seeking. Naturally, coming back home still consists of delving back into the same routine of worship and meditation I left behind.

I moved from India to the United States in 2001 in order to pursue an undergraduate study in Fine Art Photography. The frequency with which I visited Hindu temples in what felt like my previous life, gradually got replaced with visits to art galleries, museums and studios, where creativity in all mediums of expression are revered.

This series bridges two parts of my world. Iconography in the Indian religion found in temples and scriptures are ultimately artistic representations of mythological characters. Most hindus have seen the use of painting and sculpture but rarely photography taken to the level of exacting measures with respect to showcasing deities. The creation of these images has become my act of devotion, to art and to religion.”

Go to Manjari Sharma’s site.

Go to Kickstarter and be inspired.

Stephen Yang recently sent over some images from the month he spent documenting the recent uprising in Egypt. Check out a sampling of the work below. and see many more here.

Terrible, shocking news today, with the report that much beloved photographer Tim Hetherington has died while covering the conflict in Libya.

Read Daryl Lang’s profile of Tim here, and The New York Times’ account of his death, here.

Tim was larger than life, and his war work incredibly resonant. His recent Oscar-nominated film Restrepo made real the perils of war as he was embedded alongside U.S. soldiers in intense combat.

A few years ago he spoke with Sebastian Junger about Restrepo:

Here are a few images from Hetherington’s series Sleeping Soldiers:

RIP, Tim.  You were loved and respected by your fellow photographers. We are so sorry.

addendum: watch this.

Diary (2010) from Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

Read more… (via BJP)

Chris Hondros, at work in Libya – The New York Times’ Lens blog.

In Memoriam: Tim Hetherington – The New Yorker.

‘Restrepo’ director is killed in Libya – The New York Times.

Photographer Tim Hetherington killed in Libya – The Guardian.

A Tribute to Tim Hetherington – The Documentary Blog.

Tim Hetherington: In His Own Words – Human Rights Watch.

Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington – BagNews Notes.

Tim Hetherington, HOST Podcast (October 2010) – Foto8.

Chris Hondros: Life Behind the Lens – MSNBC Video.

Tim Hetherington 1970-2011 – Panos Pictures

Remembering Tim Hetherington – Foreign Policy Passport

1. There’s a lot going on in Philadelphia (Philthy to those who dare) this weekend. My main pick is Soft Smoke Rises in Gay Rings Above the Roof at Bodega. The show features work by Heidi Norton, Carson Fisk-Vittori, Stephen Eichhorn and Ryan Fenchel.

Soft Smoke Rises in Gay Rings Above the Roof

2. Also in the city of Brotherly Love, PPAC is hosting it’s annual book fair! Do not miss this. Exhibitors include Hassla Books, Gottlund Verlag, Blind Spot and Hamburger Eyes to name a few.

3. NEXT THURSDAY, The Sum of All Colors opens at Sasha Wolf Gallery. The show features work by Jessica Eaton, Matthew gamber and Bill Sullivan.

Matthew Gamber

4. ALSO NEXT THURSDAY AND ALSO IN PHILLY, Breadboard is hooking up with the Virtual Public Art Project (VPAP) to launch a city-wide Augmented Reality (AR) exhibit as part of Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. Over 30 virtual art sculptures will be located around the city of Philadelphia and can be viewed via VPAP’s free Layar App for most iPhone and Android smartphone devices. THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!

5. Browse the Brooklyn Academy of Music fundraising auction powered by BiddingForGood and bid on items to help support this cause!! Bidding closes April 10th.

6. Do not miss stunning work from Carlos Reyes, Ben Schumacher, Jo-ey Tang and David J Merritt at the NYU Steinhardt MFA Thesis Exhibition (Part 1). The show closes April 9th.

Jo-ey Tang

7. Antenne Books just launched their new and improved website with new titles from Ryan McGinely, Henry Roy and more!

Ryan McGinley

8. The New York Photo Awards, one of the most dynamic and sought-after showcases for emerging photographers from all over the world, is open for submissions! Deadline for submitting photographs and digital images will be April 25, 2011 at midnight.

9. LAST CHANCE! Now until midnight, join 3rd Ward with no commitment necessary and submit your work for our Open Call Early Entry Award.

10. LAST CHANCE!! Lay Flat pledges to donate 50% of all sales from March 11th through March 31st towards the American Red Cross disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific.

This is the sixth installment in a conversation series initiated by Lucas Blalock with contemporary artists concerning materiality in regards to current photographic practice.

Ruth van Beek is a Dutch artist who works mainly with an archive of found photographs that she manipulates and re-contextualizes in ever changing relationships. The disjunctions in her collage works are often redoubled by the feeling that each piece is somehow part of a greater network. Ruth’s work has been exhibited widely in Europe and the United States and she recently had a solo exhibition, The Great Blue Mountain Range, at Okay Mountain in Austin, TX. I caught up with her on occasion of a two person exhibition (with Philip Miner) currently up at SEASON (a residential gallery opened by Robert Yoder) in Seattle.

Untitled, 2010

LB: I feel in your work a kind of insistence on the subject of the photographs that is often absent from collage / bricolage work. For me, the psychic drama of the work is in trying to reconstitute the object (as in the one above [will be the one attached]) where in most collage the attention is in constructing a picture plane. Is this an attitude that is important to you in making the pieces?

R: Yes, for me it is not so much the technique of collage that interests me, but its the ability to transform existing photographs into the images of my imagination. By cutting and folding,  the work not only represents an object, but also becomes an object itself.

Untitled, (orange), 2009

LB: There seems to be some consistency to the content of the photographs you use. Rocks, animals, and furniture come to mind. Do you see this content as particularly important?

R: When I collect these pictures I think a lot about the way the subjects are photographed. This is more important than the subject itself, since I can easily change or cover up the original subject of the photograph. So in this way the content doesn’t really matter.

But then again, I intentionally go for these kinda nondescript, “useful” photographs.  It is not as if it is just any image that I can get my hands on.  Most of them come from books published to teach people about how to make things: how to decorate your house, how to take care of your plants, how to recognize gemstones, all about hobbies, cats or rabbits and so on. How to do things the right way. So the content of the single image does’t matter to me, but the origins of the photo are important.

Untitled, 2010

LB: For me there is a kind of intimacy in your obscuring. As if by removing or folding together the “faces” of these objects we are left to explore the pictures for other clues. This leads to a kind of weighing and measuring in an attempt to come into terms with the image. Or in other words, it is as if by obscuring the face you have come to reveal the body. Tthis sense of physicality is really pervasive. Does this relate to your idea of an object? And do you see this objectness (the one w/in the photograph) as dependent on the second objectness of the physical thing itself?

R: I like your comparison to the face and the body. I actually try to animate the objects.  The work is much about actions related to the object: obscuring, collecting, transforming, but also the guessing or longing brought out by these interventions.  They come alive once separated from their original function. When I cover up the object, it is to make the viewer curious about what is behind, but I also give the viewer a clear shape in return.  The original object is never to be seen, only to guessed at.  This makes the viewer long for what he can’t see, which in these works becomes an impossibility.

Untitled, 2006

LB: It is a strategy that is really successful in the work! When I have seen your work in the past I feel like the obscured content in the photographs has often been similar — leading to feelings of a group or collection, also a museum display. The works in the SEASON exhibition feel more disparate, which makes you focus on them more as a group of pictorial interventions. Is this something you were thinking about?

R: I guess like the collections I have brought together in the past, the images I selected for the SEASON exhibition also try to tell a story. Either case begs a reconstruction of something by its traces. In this case, I do not only hide and transform furniture and objects, but the people in a number of the pictures also become hidden in their homes. The exhibition is actually in a house. I wanted to play with this.

Untitled, 2009

*All images copyright Ruth van Beek

Oh hello there, reader. We have an exciting announcement about a new feature here at TPP: A JOB FEED!

Do you want to be a beekeeper? A painter? A diva? An eccentric shoe designer?* In that case, you’ll want to contact Todd Selby for your photo opp.

But if you want to work with photographers, studios, magazines, ad agencies, post-production companies, printers, or retouching houses, you should stay right here.

Since we have thousands of visitors from the photo industry a month, it seemed like the logical extension to TPP’s growing community to offer industry specific classifieds and, most importantly, an employment search tool that connects talented, experienced job seekers in the industry with the employers that need their skills.

Welcome to the Job Feed; TPP’s photo-job search tool, designed to link people looking for jobs in and around the industry we love with employers in need of their talent, energy and skill.

Search the jobs now, or add a job, if you have an employment opportunity!

-

And for your perusing pleasure, here are some of Selby’s greatest hits:

Find A JOB !

Have you heard about the Graflex cameras with the Polaroid backs? A fellow by the name of John Minnicks constructs them, and a lot of cool kids have them. The latest is Mark Tucker. Here’s his note to me from a few days back:

I’m doing this side personal project, where I’m documenting offbeat characters in my town of Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve acquired an old 1942 custom made Graflex camera that shoots 4×5 Polaroid, and I’m shooting that, plus some Nikon, plus some video. I scan the Polaroids and then work with them. The lens is from 1941, and it’s amazing, how you never know how it’s going to render a scene.

I’ve only been working on it for a couple of weeks, but here is where I am at this point:

http://mydaywith.com

We’re really digging the results, have a look:

We like the goats best.

See more.

ps: the goat picture was actually shot with the NIKON D3X. still, we love it.

1. Humble Arts Foundation & Chelsea Art Museum present The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2 Book Launch & Exhibition Curated by Vanessa Kramer Director of Photographs, Phillips de Pury & Company. Launch party: Friday, March 4, 8PM – midnight. Ticketed event. Exhibition: Saturday, March 5 – Saturday, April 2, 2011 Tickets: $20 (cash only at the door).

David Benjamin Sherry

2. It’s Armory Art week people! If you are overwhelmed, start here!

3. F.L.O.A.T. Gallery is going whole hog in their new Chelsea space with a show called Art of Attraction curated by F.L.O.A.T. proprietors Carol Taverass and Meagan Zeigler Haynes and featuring work by Brian Finke, Camille Vivier, Christian Weber, Ellen Jong, Joseph Szabo, Cass Bird, Løber Nøgan, Sandy Kim, Stephen Irwin, Therese + Joel, Yisook Sohn and Zed Nelson.

Zed Nelson

4. TONIGHT! You may want to consider whooping it up at The Night Event. This is more than a party. Experience exquisite art and performance at the premier event of NYC’s Armory Arts Week, TONIGHT from 7pm – 1am inside the historic Angel Orensanz Foundation. Featuring live performances by Gang Gang Dance, Didi Gutman of The Brazilian Girls, and the Vintage DJ.

5. TONIGHT! HEREart is pleased to present the group exhibition, .gif .jpg .png .tif (gjpt). Titled after common web-based graphics, this exhibition explores the realm of standardized image formats as represented in Internet-based art, websites, videos, applications, and multi- media design.

6. Speaking of Art Fairs, Rhizome will have a booth at the Armory Show at Pier 94, in booth L-26. Artists include: Harm van den Dorpel, Sara Ludy, Takeshi Murata, Seth Price, Anne de Vries and Rafaël Rozendaal.

Anne de Vries

7. TONIGHT! “Moving Image is very pleased to announce the list of participating artists and galleries for its inaugural exhibition, including 36 artists represented by 30 galleries from the US and Europe.” 6:00pm – 9:00pm at Waterfront NY.

8. On Saturday, in conjunction with ARMORY NIGHT – BROOKLYN & the WGA (Williamsburg Gallery Association), Capricious will remain open after hours and invites you to view continuous screening of emerging artist Arielle Falk’s new video work THROWING PAINS.

9. Tomorrow at 7:00pm, FUSE Gallery is hosting an opening reception tomorrow for their latest show, WHAT’S HE BUILDING IN THERE – An ode to the darker side of curiosity.

10. As part of SITE Fest 2011, 319 Scholes is pleased to present Not Spring Not Winter, an annual exhibition of installation + performance by emerging artists from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

I’ve known Lauren Lancaster and her work for some time, but I just saw her website again recently, and I was shocked by the incredible images she has made. Much like haunting film stills, the images are really unique for photojournalism, and speak to an eerie stillness in places like Kabul, UAE and The Western Front– places not known to be calm.

Have a look.

Kabul:

United Arab Emirates:

Western Front:

See much more from Lauren Lancaster.

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