What do you do on the first day in New York? You go to the MoMA. Of course. This time I was eager to see the huge Hery Cartier Bresson exhibition. 
We got into the MoMA fast – cutting the line with our online ticket – which was great. Soon I found myself standing in front of the same railing that I always stand to take a picture of my bottom part. Why? Do not ask me because I do not think I know it myself. Anyway, this time it was actually not easy as the light was dim … it was raining cats and dogs outside – which was another reason why I loved the fact, that we did not have to wait in that enourmous line of people that was winding itself around the block.
When I went to Kenya in 2006, I saw all these women in Nairobi with the most magnificent braids … each and every hairdo seemed unique, like a signature. It was so beautiful I thought that I would do a portrait-session there that focussed on hair. I remember I spent quite some time thinking about how to best go about this and how the pictures should be done and look like … I wanted to start the project in Mosocho, where I knew I would spend some time. But what was my surprise when I got there to see, that most women there just had their hair cut short like men. That was unfortunate.
I did get some snap shots, like the above, but that was not what I had planned to do. Next time maybe?
In the MoMA I found this piece of artwork from Lorna Simpson (Wigs (Portfolio), 1994). Not necessarily what I would have done but quite intriguing prints of wigs on light felt. I really liked the texture of it … after all felt is made out of “hair”.
The photograph above is from Diane Arbus and one that I had never seen before despite being a huge fan and knowing most of her work.
Even though it was allowed to photograph the images, it was not easy to do so without capturing the whole room – the same problem occured if you simply wanted to look at the images – you found yourself dancing in front of the frames to help separate the room from the picture. There is magnificent non-reflective glas around and I truly wonder why it is not used for these beautiful collections of photographs.
The HCB exhibition was exquisite (no cameras allowed in there, though) and despite of my promise to myself to not increase the weight of my already heavy backpack … I simply had to buy the hardcover catalogue. It is really worth it – have you ever seen an HCB contact sheet?!
20×200 is offering a beautiful edition from the artist Roger Ballen. It is selling out fast, so if you are interested (like me), hurry up to get one here!
(Image shown with permission of the artist)
Robert Morat Gallery is announcing a 3 day workshop “Das Fotobuch” (probably in German language) from August 27th until 29th, 2010. It is the first time that Peter Bialobrzeski and Andreas Herzau offer a joint workshop that deals with the preparation and production of photobooks. So it will probably we extremely interesting.
There is a restriction to 12 participants.
The location will be somewhere between Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, and the workshop fee is 400 EUR (excluding accomodation).
For more information please write an email to Robert Morat Gallery. And hurry up!! The info just came in a second ago …
(Image taken out of the infomail I got yesterday from Little Brown Muschroom Books … I love this picture and I am happy that I got permission from the LBM-team to show it here)
Are you, like me, waiting, waiting and waiting for the publication of The Christmas Tree Bucket? Then this might make the waiting easier: Little Brown Mushroom just came out with Trent Parke’s first book in 10 years (as they say). Apparently it is the first of a series of photographic storybooks for grown-ups. The book is called Bedknobs & Broomsticks and comes in a limited edition of 1000 copies.
So hurry up to get it, they are selling out fast and I am happy to have gotten my copy!
And I just saw that Trent Parke and his publisher are in New York City this Thursday night for a book signing at Dashwood Books. How I wish I were still in NYC … :(
I almost did not make it.
I was not late, my luggage was not to heavy, I did have my ticket, I did have my passport, I did not forget to do anything … BUT somebody changed my name in the system of Miles&More. So when I printed my ticket, I was not I but I was sort of different. Too different.
Calling Miles&More they confirmed that I would not be able to fly to the US with this ticket, but that there was no way to get a replacement in time for the flight and that I probably did change the name in the system myself. That was an interesting argument, because I cannot do that in an existing account without someone from Miles&More typing the stuff in. Very, VERY bad problem management, I thought. So I went up the ladder of responsability and after talking to the boss there they managed to sort things out. And I got my ticket and my name corrected in time to take my plane. But I admit I did sweat a bit. That was close.
I still wonder who changed my data, though … I have this account forever and never had problems with it. But data just does not seem to be safe anymore these days. Too many humans involved.
The good news were: I had a wonderful flight. Just slept right through it.
