(Short Term) Photo Book Sale

Mike Johnston, of The Online Photographer, has arranged for a package of four books that’s quite the deal.

Clarence John Laughlin: Visionary Photographer (1990)

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Todd Webb: Photographs of New York and Paris 1945–1960 (1986)

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George N. Barnard: Photographer of the Sherman Campaign (1990)

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The Photographs of Dorothea Lange (1995)

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Marked down from $165 to $48! But the offer ends tomorrow, so put down that M-80 and tend to this. Here’s another link, within which is a link to order: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2016/06/last-chance-and-please-help.html

Go now.

http://tinyurl.com/hkjsjgs

2016/07/01
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

Now, Joe Jachna

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One of his former students posted this on social media: “Joe Jachna passed away on March 14th. It’s difficult to express how important he was to so many of his students. One of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was casually registering for his Photography class. It changed my life. And I realize that he became a sort of North Star for me – his teaching and example guiding me through over 45 years as a photographer and teacher. He was a wonderful person, gentle, smart, calm, principled, funny, and kind. He completely separated his practice of photography from the pursuit of career success, concentrating on the search for intrinsic value in photographs and devoting himself to the joys and challenges of photographic exploration. He presented and exemplified a model for a sustained and principled life as a photographer. I’m still guided by things he told us. When my work is going poorly, I remember him saying encouraging things like “You have to take the bad photographs to get to the good photographs.” But his value as a teacher cannot be summarized by the many stories and comments that stick with me – it was more fundamental. Joe taught without ego or baggage. He arrived in each class displaying a true love of photography, and a conviction that photography was important. Perhaps even more crucial, he always looked for – and found – wonderful potential in his students and their work. Often, that gave us our first bursts of confidence as photographers. He took our work seriously, and that helped us take our work, and ourselves, seriously. I’m pretty certain that without his teaching and encouragement I would not be a photographer and teacher today. Joe was truly beloved. He made wonderful photographs. He was an extraordinary teacher. He had such a profound and positive effect on so many of us. I’ve so grateful to have known him. Rest in peace, Joe.”

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http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=Joseph-David-Jachna&pid=179412454

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2016/06/30
Categories: A Matter of Record . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: 1 Comment

Is “Paul” the new Viv?

This time, you don’t have the opportunity to process any film, but you are allowed to, y’know, chip in. (The music’s already been selected.)

2016/06/30
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

Yikes! Fred Sommer was right!

Caveat emptor: not unlike the uneven emulsion on sheet film which made Frederick Sommer exclude open skies from hie compositions in the 1940s, there is a current problem with 120 roll film. It’s too late for those os us who stock up in advance, but check emulsion numbers before buying for a while. Once again (to quote Mr. Stieglitz), a word to the wise is sufficient.

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http://www.johnsexton.com/newsletter05-2016.html#anchor04 and scroll down to IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR USERS OF 120 FORMAT KODAK PROFESSIONAL FILMS- PLEASE READ

2016/06/26
Categories: Information, Tools & Materials . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

Volumes Bookcafe

After more than a year of wading through bureaucratic mire, Kimberly and Rebecca have opened a beautiful new space on Milwaukee Avenue. Hie thee thither!

Chicago’s New, Crowdfunded Bookstore is a Glimpse of the Future

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https://www.facebook.com/volumesbooks/

2016/06/24
Categories: A Matter of Record, Hah Thkoo, Media . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

W. o’ W.: Gustave Flaubert

So… where were we? Oh, yes…

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” -Gustave Flaubert

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2016/06/20
Categories: Words of Wisdom . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

Garry Winogrand, Speaking Plainly

From a 1977 interview published in Afterimage.

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Q: Do you think that photography can be taught at all? In a school?

Garry Winogrand: You can discuss it; you don’t create photographers, if that’s what you’re asking.  Is there a school that’s responsible for the creation of a photographer- or any artist?  Come on.  No.  Out of the question.  I don’t care whether you’re talking about graduate students or undergraduate students. I’m in an art department, so I’m talking about photography, I’m talking about painting, sculpture– there isn’t anybody who I would bet a nickel on, that two years out of school they’re going to be doing anything they’ve been studying.

Q: People doing anything, or anything interesting?

Winogrand:  Well, doing anything related to what they’re doing in school.  The fact is that during your time you’re in school your life is designed for you to do the work.  That’s what school’s about.  When you get out of school, nobody gives a shit.  You’ve got to make a living, you may even have a kid to feed– who the hell knows?  Nobody cares whether you make a picture or not. So, it ends up you, your own passions, for the thing that are going to be tested.

2016/04/12
Categories: Artist's Statement, Words of Wisdom . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

Artur Fischer, 1919-2016

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Father of the electronic flash! http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/business/international/artur-fischer-inventor-with-more-patents-than-edison-dies-at-96.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

2016/03/06
Categories: A Matter of Record . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: 1 Comment

Harry Callahan’s Fatalism

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“I think that if you look at meaningful art, it only comes from some individual who’s out of place. Most teachers know all the right things. But I can’t arrive at any so-called answer for anything. I’ve finally reached the point where I think it’s hopeless to think you know. Your life and my life are only one second in relation to the millions of years of life on earth. Whether it’s genes or whatever, something just determines that you can run a hundred yards in five seconds or that you’re going to be a great artist! You have the equipment to do these things. Like Robert Rauschenberg says, ‘I don’t know where this gift came from.’ It’s the most ridiculous thing, but it’s the truth.”

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2016/03/03
Categories: The Height of Something, Words of Wisdom . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

RIP, JRM

This card arrived via snail mail a few days after its announced start date (no fault of the USPS; that was the Jazz Record Mart’s long-standing M. O.).

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Alas, the business closed fifteen days before the sale was to have ended.

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No more

  • free “brunches” on Sunday mornings during free festivals
  • suburban teen musicians commuting in to work at the store
  • impromptu film festivals
  • visits by gods of the music, in town for gigs
  • massive moves to a new address a block away every few years
  • beat-up vintage posters
  • newsletters in desperate need of proofreading (Lord knows, we tried)
  • (got another one? Send it in!)

Update: we were on the Left Coast when JRM went to heaven, and repeated e-mails did not get a rise out of the ghost, so we contacted the family’s record company. They sent the CD of our choice and the difference. Everybody else goes to heaven as well.

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2016/02/29
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: mrdplus . Comments: Leave a comment

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