GOTHAM CITY, 5/22/07 8:18 p.m.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME? DA

This is the great thing about photography, I guess the arts in general, to find other people in your field who you have never heard of, but are out there doing amazing projects. Whether they are self initiated or assignment work, it gives us all hope that some project will come our way and just blow our socks off. I have just seen the current exhibition at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC and this is such a project. Shot by French man Frederic Chaubin, editor of the magazine Citizen K, he has discovered architectural relics from Soviet Union and they are really something special. These gems, hidden from the Western world since their inception, reveal what architects at the time in the CCCP saw as, I would assume, modern. In comparison to the rest of the world it was either completely ahead of the pack or light years behind, depending on your taste. An Arcihitect I know said Druzhba(above) looks like something being built in Dubai right now, without the height, but considering most of the buildings in the show were finished in the mid 1980's where does that leave you. The resounding theme was the Space Age but others like Brezhnev summer getaway has all the opulence of a Tsarist Palace inside, with the structure of a Soviet administration building. One thing that struck me was that three of the most outrageous buildings were sanatoriums, sick people need art and design too? or they just don't criticize. It made me look around my community, even somewhere as "modern"as NYC and I dare you to find any architecture there as adventurous for that time. The exhibit has a totalitarian look, keeping with the theme. I would not have gone with lamination of the prints, but its a great show, a study of a place lost in time, and of what can be achieved with absolutely no knowledge of whats going on in the outside world.

Mother........

Last night Sundance premier'd the Tierney Gearon film The Mother Project and it is quite a compelling hour of film making. I'm sure most of you by now know the back story of Gearon's work, and the subject of this film continues the interaction between the artist, her mother and her own children. The photographs she takes are personal studies of her family, yet raise larger issues of aging, mental illness, and the complicated dynamic of the mother-child relationship. Also breaking as many photo rules as possible in one hour. Its heartbreaking at times to watch, the mother-daughter aspect not the rule breaking, but a side from the emotional response, my wife especially had, I found myself watching her more as a photographer and how she worked, than Tierney the mother. Catching things she did throughout the film that would get you thrown off set and fired immediately from almost all shoots. Now I know this is petty for such a weighty subject as Alzheimer's, but I just had to laugh as she loaded film in bright, open sunlight, left the bag of film sitting in the midday sun without a hint of shade. She also left the new born baby out in the Midday sun without a hint of shade but which is worse? Many European photographers I know would pick the former. Lots of shooting handheld in very dark situations, yet the images seemed to have no movement. Shooting in bright sunlight and heavy shade but the images have plenty of everything, shadow detail, highlights, not a piece of fill insight. Her printer Mick Jones would seem to be the star here, that guy must do Trojan work. Not all of these are rules but at least general parameters. People will find these photo infractions small potatoes compared to her mothering skills, as I'm sure many people would like to throw her out of the mothers club all together, but all of this led to a fascinating piece and well worth the watch.

ITS BAACK

Anyone who has used Fuji Velvia in their life knows that it is one of the greatest films ever developed. It took kodak 20 years to come up with its rival E100Vs and still the tone and color values of Velvia was unmistakable. Not everyone would have had the need for the super saturated colors it produced or its 50 ASA but it had an iron constitution, you could do anything to it and it still reproduced amazing images. With the advent of digital and most editorial shooters taking up neg, it seemed to just slip away but word from Japan is its back, with ASA 50 emblazoned on the front, not to confuse it with the quite generic 100 speed they have. As with all large format there's a kicker, as of now its only available in Japan from Megapearls webshop and its 16,432Yen a box of 10. OK $142.60, not for the feint of heart.

WE GOT OUR TROPHY BACK

Chelsea fail to beat Arsenal in North London and so Manchester United win the Premiership for an unprecedented 9th time, and go for the double with an FA Cup final win against Chelsea. I can hear the chant now " Were on or way to Wembley Chelsea's gone all trembley La La.. La. la- La La..La.La"

The New York Rangers fail to qualify for Lord Stanley's trophy but bow out with such spirit and grace and grit, that it makes one of the other franchises in another borough look peewee.

The Team that Gehrig and Ruth, DiMaggio, Dickey, Whitey, Scooter, Munson, Heinrich, Mantel, Gator et all, built, bring back the long lost son to Yankeeland, yes indeed the prodigal Roger Clemens. Wandering the wilderness of the national league nigh on these 4 years, searching for a home that was not Boston or Houston or Toronto, with no real baseball family for support, he returns as Suzy W says, HOME. Oh yeah, he gets $28M guaranteed for the season, $1 a start, pitches 5 innings with a 4.63 ERA and doesn't travel to away games. That's how you spell TEAM in the Bronx. Welcome home Rog. The Yaankeeees win, the Yaaaaaankeeeeeeeees win.

THE WEEKENDER

NYC, 600-1500ft above sea level, 4:37 p.m.


Columbia County Fire Tower, N.Y., 1260ft above sea level, 11:24 a.m.


As almost all photographers will tell height is one of the most valuable assists in shooting anything or anybody. How many times have you said to yourself " if I could only get up a little higher" or "where's the ladder... what do ya mean ya didn't bring it". Well this weekend I was lucky enough to get more than those couple of feet. First I was able to traverse lower Manhattan in a helicopter. Couldn't get the 8x10 in but seeing as I was petrified to even move my head I don't think I could have used it anyway. The 4/3 format I have with my digital is really close to the large format dimension so it gives me a very close approximation of what I would see if I could get a view camera to these areas. This is the second time I have been up in a chopper and it is spectacular. Once you get over the initial butterflies and see whats around you, it really is an awesome sight. Unfortunately the blog hurts the image quality so go here for a closer look.
I then found one of the many Fire Towers still standing and dotting New York State. As you can see the panoramas are wonderful, and with any luck this may be a new segment of SKYSCAPES. Thought the 1.65 mile, up hill trek through the State Park might hinder this being a very regular occurrence. We'll see.
PS With all this running around I missed the donnybrook over the Gursky opening at WTJ 'Gursky revealed'. I do have to drop by and see the monsters for myself but for now I will keep my head down, out of the way of the bottle throwing and keep trying to figure out how he gets a view camera 600ft up in in the air over the desert?