Winter 2014/2015

ON CAMPUS
W I N T E R
2 0 1 4 / 2 0 1 5
RAW
TALENT
How Rachel Barrett’s
art traces her life
NOTES ON STYLE
Portrait pros Paul Jasmin and
Eric Ray Davidson talk shop
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WINTER 2014/2015
D E P A R T M E N T S
4
EDITOR’S NOTE
20
Photography has changed a lot over 25
years. How will you evolve the medium next?
5
TWO YEARS OUT
Isadora Kosofsky connects with marginalized
people in various stages of life. BY JACK CRAGER
8
BOOKS & SHOWS
From T-shirt typology to radioactive ruins,
photo projects to check out.
10
PHOTO REALISM
What will really set your work apart? Here’s
how not to be a cliché. BY ALLEGRA WILDE
34
PERSPECTIVE
Paul Jasmin reveals how his own mentor
inspired him to shoot. BY JACK CRAGER
F E A T U R E S
12
UNSTILL LIFE
For Rachel Barrett, making art means
adapting with the times. BY MEG RYAN
Cover: © Rachel Barrett. This page, from top: © Danny Clinch; © Rachel Barrett.
20
PHOTO BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Twenty affirmations that photos and the
printing press were made for each other.
24
THE ART OF GETTING IT
Celebrity photographer Eric Ray Anderson
converses with his mentor, Paul Jasmin.
G E A R
31
PREVIEW
The Samsung NX1 brings serious power
to mirrorless ILCs. BY MIRIAM LEUCHTER
32
TOOLBOX
The gear you need now to make the
most of your photo education.
12
From top: A Danny Clinch portrait of punk-rock pioneer Joey Ramone, from his
book Still Moving; a New York City street scene by Rachel Barrett.
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 3
E D I TO R ’ S
N OT E
ON CAMPUS
<
ON THE
COVER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MIRIAM LEUCHTER
FEATURES EDITOR Debbie Grossman
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Crager
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Russell Hart, Allegra Wilde
SENIOR TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Philip Ryan
MANAGING EDITOR Jill C. Shomer
PHOTO EDITOR Sabine Rogers
DESIGNER Wesley Fulghum
COPY EDITOR Meg Ryan
WEB EDITOR Stan Horaczek
ASSISTANT WEB EDITORS Jeanette D. Moses, Eugene Reznik
Rachel Barrett
made her name
as a documentary
portrait shooter,
but she recently
turned to still
life with her
Specimens series,
including “We
All Have Kneeds,”
from 2014.
BONNIER’S TECHNOLOGY GROUP
GROUP PUBLISHER GREGORY D. GATTO
PUBLISHER ANTHONY M. RUOTOLO
[email protected]
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, MARKETING Michael Gallic
FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Tara Bisciello
PHOTO AND TRAVEL MANAGER Sara Schiano Flynn
NORTHEAST ADVERTISING OFFICE Matt Levy, Shawn Lindeman,
Frank McCaffrey, Chip Parham
SALES, EVENTS, AND PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR Marisa Massaro
MIDWEST MANAGERS Doug Leipprandt, Carl Benson
AD ASSISTANT Lindsay Kuhlmann
WEST COAST ACCOUNT MANAGER Bob Meth
DETROIT MANAGERS Edward A. Bartley, Jeff Roberge
AD ASSISTANT Diane Pahl
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Irene Reyes Coles
DIRECTOR OF CUSTOM SOLUTIONS Noreen Myers
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN DIRECTORS Amanda Alimo, Wilber Perez
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR Justin Ziccardi
DIGITAL MARKETING PRODUCER Joey Stern
INTEGRATED SALES DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Alex Garcia
SENIOR SALES DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Amanda Gastelum
SALES DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Kate Gregory,
Charlotte Grima, Kelly Martin
SALES DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Mojdeh Zarrinnal
GROUP CREATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR Ingrid Reslmaier
MARKETING DESIGN DIRECTORS Jonathan Berger, Gabe Ramirez
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Sarah Hughes
DIGITAL DESIGN MANAGER Steve Gianaca
GROUP EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR Beth Hetrick
DIRECTOR OF PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS Michelle Cast
ASSISTANT EVENTS & PROMOTIONS MANAGER Vanessa Vazquez
CONSUMER MARKETING DIRECTOR Andrew Schulman
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR Kim Putman
CORPORATE PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Jeff Cassell
PRODUCTION MANAGER Rick Andrews
We didn’t plan it. But when I read through the nearly
finished pages of this issue before their final polish, I
recognized a theme running through them: evolution.
In our cover story, Rachel Barrett talks about the
dramatic shift in her work after she had a child and
stopped wandering the country in pursuit of a story.
The subject of our Two Years Out profile, 21-year-old
Isadora Kosofsky, recently returned to school after
dropping out to immerse herself in the lives of others. And in the Perspective column, Paul Jasmin talks
about having finally found his way to photography after
careers as an actor, painter, and commercial illustrator.
As he tells Eric Ray Davidson, one of the many photographers he has influenced, “You find out where you belong. You grow, and that’s where the work comes from.”
Photography itself has evolved during your lifetime.
How much became clear to me while working on the
January/February 2015 issue of American Photo, the
parent magazine to this one. In our 25th anniversary
issue, we celebrate the most important images of the
past quarter century and point to what’s next. Look
for it on newsstands starting in mid-December, or take
advantage of our special student discount on one-year
subscriptions at AmericanPhotoMag.com/college.
4 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
From top: © Rachel Barrett; © Patrick James Miller
WORK IN PROGRESS
MIRIAM LEUCHTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
CHAIRMAN Tomas Franzén
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Dave Freygang
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Eric Zinczenko
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER David Ritchie
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Nancy Coalter
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Lisa Earlywine
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Elizabeth Burnham Murphy
CHIEF DIGITAL REVENUE OFFICER Sean Holzman
VICE PRESIDENT, INTEGRATED SALES John Graney
VICE PRESIDENT, CONSUMER MARKETING John Reese
VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLIC RELATIONS Perri Dorset
GENERAL COUNSEL Jeremy Thompson
COPYRIGHT © 2014, BONNIER CORPORATION. AMERICAN PHOTO®
IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF BONNIER CORPORATION.
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unsolicited original artwork, photographs, slides, or manuscripts. Customer service:
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[email protected]. American Photo On Campus, Winter 2014/2015, Vol. 18,
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FI LTER
DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD
BOOKS AND SHOWS 8 PHOTO REALISM 10
T W O
Y E A R S
O U T
ISADORA KOSOFSKY
© Isadora Kosofsky
Isadora Kosofsky connects with marginalized
subjects in various stages of life
BY JACK CRAGER
Above: Jeanie and Will,
from The Three.
‘
‘
MIXED EMOTIONS
Photography allows me to feel less alone.
sadora Kosofsky’s approach to documentary photo projects involves total
immersion. “It seems that I spend more
time with my subjects than friends
and family,” says the Los Angeles–based photographer. “Time and commitment are essential to earn
and develop trust.” While she documents stories as
an observer, she feels that the process is also one of
self-discovery. “It’s important to show that you, too,
are as vulnerable as the subject in front of your lens
is. You have to accept that certain realities about
I
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 5
T W O
Y E A R S
O U T
yourself will show through in the project.”
Now 21, Kosofsky took up the camera as a teenager, not long after the death of her grandmother,
who raised her. “I began to travel around Los Angeles to various retirement and nursing homes,” she
recalls. “I found solace in photography as a way to
alleviate loneliness—and my subjects feel less alone
through our relationship and the creative process.”
Her time with elderly subjects led to her first
major series, The Three: Senior Love Triangle. “I was
photographing at an assisted-living facility,” she says.
“As I watched Will and Adina drop Jeanie off at the
gate, I related to her separation from them.” She
befriended the trio and discovered that they relied
on each other for emotional support, sharing an
unorthodox intimacy while living in different
facilities. The series earned her the 2012 Inge Morath
Award, a grant from the Magnum Foundation to
support the completion of a long-term project.
Kosofsky’s next series, This Existence, was even
heavier, focusing on a pair named Rosie and Adam.
“They were a couple for 20 years despite their 20year age difference,” Kosofsky says. “When Rosie
was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, Adam became her primary caretaker.” Her series poignantly
From top: An image of
Jeanie from The Three; a
shot of David’s fiancée and
child sharing video visitation in Vinny and David.
6 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
© Isadora Kosofsky (4)
FI LTER
From top: Vinny’s mother
Eve cries about a custody
ruling in Vinny and David;
Rosie sits in a hospital,
from This Existence.
documents Rosie’s final days and Adam’s grief.
In striking contrast to her work on senior citizens,
Kosofsky’s Vinny and David: Life and Incarceration of
a Family focuses on a pair of young brothers. “I was
photographing in juvenile detention centers,” she says,
“and I wanted to step outside the institutional setting
and create a more personal story.” Her images of the
troubled youngsters, one of whom is a father himself,
reflect a blend of empathy and hard-time realism.
This project shifted both Kosofsky’s career path
and her academic plans. Her self-imposed “Two Years
Out” began abruptly. “I turned 18 the first week of attending university, the same time I received approval
to photograph in certain domestic youth correctional
facilities,” she says. “Around this time I met Vinny
and David, and I couldn’t imagine returning to school
when I felt that my life’s purpose was to tell their
story. So I took off from school for two years to shoot.
But I have recently returned to university [at UCLA],
where I am a Gender Studies major.”
Kosofsky also recently completed the World Press
Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam. “I’m
shooting a project about developmentally disabled
adults,” she says. “I identify with the emotional
spectrum in the lives I choose to document.” AP
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 7
B O O KS
&S H O W S
BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.
Nadav Kander discovers haunting remnants
of atomic explosions
RUINS By Nadav Kander Hatje Kantz $100
WHAT REMAINS
Delving into what he calls the “aesthetics of destruction,” Kander documents hidden cities and
missile test sites in the former Soviet Union, secret
military zones that were not visible on any map
until well after the Cold War and are now eerie,
desolate ruins (above). In regions bordering Russia
and Kazakhstan, hundreds of nuclear weapons
were tested (and the effects on nearby civilians duly
documented) before the sites were closed around
1989; the book’s accompanying app includes maps
and a timeline. Kander writes that the ticking on
his Geiger counter while photographing reminded
him not to linger, but the pictures have a haunting formality. “These images do not make beautiful
what is not,” notes Will Self in the intro. “They ask
of us that we repurpose ourselves to accept a new
order of both the beautiful and the real.”
Museum of Contemporary
Photography, Chicago, IL,
Jan. 26 – Mar. 22, 2015
mocp.org
This show gathers the
work of four artists—
Leiko Shiga (at right),
Barbara Diener, Pao Houa
Her, and Jon Rafman—
who examine displacement within unstable
sociopolitical climates.
Themes include memory,
loss, separation, a long­ing
to feel rooted in a place,
and the continuity between past and present.
8 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
FI LTER
Opposite, from top: © Nadav Kander; © Leiko Shiga. This page, from top: © Estate of Larry Sultan; © Lee Friedlander, courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; © Susan A. Barnett.
LARRY SULTAN:
HERE AND HOME
Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, Los Angeles, CA,
through March 22, 2015
lacma.org
In a radio interview
on NPR in 1999, Larry
Sultan described photography as an exterior form
of memory whose greatest
truth is to leave a trace of
what has been. A decade
later, in 2009, the photographer passed away,
leaving behind profound
traces of American life
through extensive explorations of home, family,
labor, and suburbia. This
retrospective includes
more than 200 photographs from five major
bodies of work, including
his seminal Pictures from
Home on his parents’ postretirement domestic life.
THE PLOT THICKENS
T: A TYPOLOGY OF T-SHIRTS
By Susan A. Barnett Dewi Lewis $40
This volume culminates Barnett’s five-year journey
throughout the U.S. and Europe shooting people
from behind. Her study of the T-shirt combines fun
(if odd) portraiture with sociological commentary,
reflecting a boom in graphic self-expression among
primarily young subjects during economically
uncertain times. Much of the book’s charm stems
from its photo editing, which juxtaposes optimism
against gloom, tolerance opposing hate, aggression
next to warm fuzzies, and the demonic by the divine
(above). The sheer diversity makes for a dazzling mix.
Fraenkel Gallery,
San Francisco, CA,
through Jan. 21, 2015
fraenkelgallery.com
Fraenkel Gallery cele­
brates its 35th anniversary with an unorthodox
exhibition comprising
nearly 100 photographs
spanning three centuries.
Accompanied by a 250page catalog, the show
juxtaposes found imagery
from various periods by
anonymous photographers
with work by such masters as Lee Friedlander,
Helen Levitt, William
Eggles­ton, Katy Grannan, Nan Goldin, and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Many of
these photographs are being exhibited here for the first time.
Clockwise from top left:
Kander’s “The Aral Sea I
(Officers’ Housing)”; Sultan’s
“Dad with Golf Clubs,” 1987;
Lee Friedlander’s “Grand
Canyon,” 1992; a pair in T;
an image from Leiko Shiga’s
Rasen Kaigen series.
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 9
FI LTER
T
‘
IF YOU MUST
USE GENRE
BUZZWORDS,
USE THEM
TO SHOW
THAT YOU
SPEAK THE
LANGUAGE OF
THE MARKET.
‘
he pressure to define
yourself as a photographer is no doubt in the
back of your mind (or
the very front) as you
prepare your final projects or portfolios
and possibly head out to make your way
in the professional photography world.
Naming your genre or area of subject
expertise, as your teachers and mentors
likely will advise, may make sense to you.
Indeed, you might think all photographers must place their work in a niche
that potential clients can latch onto. “I’m
a fashion photographer,” for instance, or
still-life, or landscape or, the worst, fine
art (more on that later).
But in his fantastic book, Zag (find
it at liquidagency.com/zagbook), Marty
Neumeier suggests that when trying to
brand ourselves or our businesses, we
don’t go far enough in saying what we do
that is truly unique. In my talks to photo
classes, I repeat his suggestion to try to
complete this sentence: “I am the ONLY
photographer who __________.” This
will be impossible if you think in terms
of overused genres.
I posed this question to one client, a
fashion photographer who was rethinking her marketing. Her response: “I am
the only photographer who takes graphic,
colorful fashion images from a neurotic
woman’s perspective.” You know what?
This was exactly what her best work
looked like, and she was able to capitalize
on that clarity with her image selection,
the look and feel of her marketing materials, and her shooting.
Now, I don’t suggest you turn your
statement into a tagline. Just knowing
it for yourself will help you clarify your
brand and your career goals, and it will
go a long way in helping you edit your
own work.
Of course, you actually have to organize and name departments on your site.
So here are some practical suggestions
for doing so while demonstrating your
unique strength.
<
ALLEGRA
WILDE
YES:
1. Have a main menu item called
Portfolio, containing your best, most
relevant work. If a viewer looks at only
one thing on your site, it’s this.
2. Consider another main section of
Projects, with a submenu of six to 10
different ones. Whether you’re looking
C O N T I N U E T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N :
twitter.com/APphotorealism
facebook.com/APphotorealism
10 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
for commercial assignments or a gallery
exhibition, this is your chance to show
how you can stretch conceptually and
shoot all the way around an idea. These
mini portfolios (15 to 25 images each) can
be collections of similar subjects, bodies
of personal work, or specific projects with
a beginning, middle, and end. Title them
poetically and meaningfully.
3. If you must use genre buzzwords, use
them to show that you speak the language of the market. Create a menu item
called Categories and include submenus
for still-life, documentary, fashion, and
the like. Keeping these more mainstream
and commercial images separated will
prevent them from “infecting” the purer
iterations of your vision in the Portfolio
and the Projects sections.
NO:
1. Don’t call anything on your site “Personal.” Doing so sends the message that
everything else is... What? Not personal.
2. “Fine Art” is not a category. I know,
you’re trying to say you want your work
to be shown in a gallery. Trouble is,
nothing about this so-called genre says
anything about the images.
3. Don’t equate credibility and volume; it
only muddies your vision. Nothing brings
a beautiful, original portfolio down faster
than padding it with weaker images in
an effort to impress potential clients.
Instead, keep your more utilitarian work
in the Categories section.
These suggestions should allow you to
organize your work in a way that anyone
looking at your images can understand.
Without getting mired in generic descriptions, you will be able to develop and explore new directions in your photography
and your career goals. Because you are
the only photographer who __________.
The cofounder and chief operations
officer of Eyeist, the online portfolio
review service (eyeist.com), Allegra Wilde
is a picture/visual strategist, creative
director, and consultant to artists,
photographers, and other art-based
businesses. She has served as an MFA
mentor for the Digital Photography
program at the School of Visual Arts
and as a visiting instructor at Art Center
College of Design, FIT, and many other
university photography programs,
where she has regularly critiqued
graduating students’ final portfolios.
© Riley Kern Studio
P H OTO
R E A L I S M
6873_American_Photo_final_ol.pdf
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UNSTILL LIFE
For Rachel Barrett, making art means adapting
with the times. BY MEG RYAN
ife changes, and with
it, so will your art.
“It’s called an art
practice because you
have to practice it,” says Rachel
Barrett, 33. Earlier in her career,
she criss-crossed the U.S., documenting cooperative, back-tothe-land communities in Bolinas,
California, and upstate New York,
as well as roadside markets and
oddities at points in between. After
the birth of her child in March
2014, she traded many of her
travel-heavy projects for new ideas
she could explore locally. Working
in her home studio in Brooklyn,
New York, she’s creating a series of
still lifes called Specimens.
“This work is still very new,
so a lot of it feels more like an
exercise,” Barrett says. She sets
weekly milestones for herself, such
as completing one or more photo­
graphs or generating new ideas.
One of the first images she made
in the series “has a lot of purpose
and significance,” she says. It’s my
daughter’s umbilical cord shaped
into a heart, a crystal from a
dream catcher my best friend made
for me upon my wedding, and the
wishbone from the chicken my husband and I had for dinner the night
I went into labor. But I’ve shifted,
simplifying many elements so
others take on more significance.”
L
From Rachel Barrett’s
series Specimens: “Orange
You Glad,” 2014 (left)
and “Taste of Rainbow,”
2014 (opposite).
12 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
© Rachel Barrett (2)
L I F E
© Rachel Barrett (2)
U N ST I L L
14 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
CLOSE-UP
Rachel Barrett
rachelbarrett.net
Lives In Brooklyn, NY
Studied At New York University, BFA, 2003;
School of Visual Arts, MFA, 2008
Awards Include PDN’s 30, 2011; Tracey Baran
Award and Fellowship, 2011; 1st Place, Camera Club
of NY’s National Competition, 2010; PDN Annual
(Personal Work), 2010;
Tierney Foundation
Fellowship, 2010
Clients Include
Alba, andnorth.com,
Bloomberg Businessweek,
Calypso St. Barth,
Culture, Edible Manhattan
and Edible Brooklyn,
Jason and Strivectin,
Kmart, Popular Mechanics,
Tablet Magazine,
The New York Times
Above: “Shira,” 2012,
from Wassaic, a series
depicting a cooperative
community in upstate
New York. Opposite:
“Ties That Bind,” from
Specimens, 2014.
It’s a shift that parallels the one she’s experienced in her entire approach to her work, balancing her personal projects with freelance editorial
and commercial photography as well as teaching.
And it’s a shift that’s often easier said than done.
“In school, things feel finished when they may not
be, and in many ways you work in a bubble,” she
says. “Trying to make your life as a photographer
is a juggling act. You can only learn to time manage and prioritize by actually doing it.”
Indeed, Barrett has found that making photo­
graphs isn’t just a part of life but integral to it.
After graduating from New York University with a
BFA in photography, she made her way into working in independent film; her own photography fell
by the wayside, but the hiatus was brief. “When I
picked up my camera and started shooting again,
I knew I needed to rededicate myself to photography,” she says. “But I needed the structure and
discipline of school to help me.” So she enrolled
in the School of Visual Arts, receiving an MFA in
photography, video and related media in 2008.
Structure and self-discipline have served her
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 15
© Jaime Permuth (3)
16 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014
© Rachel Barrett
well in her career, but her interest in other
people, and the interplay between individual
and place, are equally essential to her work.
Her earlier projects explored the dynamics of communal living and connection to
the land. “Bolinas is a place where time
stands still,” Barrett says of her 2009–10
series documenting life on a cooperative
in Northern California. “And photographs
are a place where time stands still. So my
intention was to create an expression of
experience.” This idea of the individual
interdependent with community, she says,
helps to propel the creative process. “Even
if your process is incredibly solitary, you
need peers who are equally engaged to help
you move your work forward,” she says.
Even Specimens has its origins in relationship, though of a different kind. “In
most of these images I’m using objects that
don’t belong to me. That led me to thinking about my relationship to objects, with
myself as a collector and organizer,” Barrett
says. “Making the early images led me to
where I am [with the project] today, with
much more purpose and intention. I’m still
figuring it out.”
Allowing an idea to change is all part
of the process, an important lesson
Barrett took away from her graduate
studies: “Don’t dismiss an idea before you
try it out, because although it may not
ultimately work, it may well lead you on
to something great,” she says.
As a student, Barrett says, it was easy
to think of work and art as separate from
the real world, but in fact, she’s found, they
are an essential part of life. And when
they operate in tandem, it can lead to new
projects or opportunities, like making books
or, importantly, getting hired. Her series
chronicling the end of the independent New
York City newsstand as they were replaced
with uniform kiosks throughout the city
from 2006 to 2012 is in postproduction and
being shopped around to publishers. And
her thoughtfully intimate, nature- and
light-filled aesthetic has drawn numerous
commercial and editorial clients.
“In 2009 I was out in Bolinas working on
that project, and took a day trip up to Point
Reyes. We were shopping at the Cowgirl
Creamery and this amazing woman—
A portrait of Meghan Shea,
who at age 18 invented
a low-cost water filter,
for Popular Mechanics,
October 2013.
AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 17
L I F E
Shorty, of Shorty’s Produce, next to the Creamery—
saw my camera and started talking to me,” Barrett
says. “It didn’t take long before she picked up the
current issue of Culture magazine and said I should
contact the editor, Kate, who used to be at Cowgirl,
and gave me her email address. When I came back
home the following week I sent an email saying
that I’d love to work for them. It was a few months
before I heard back. The photo editor told me they
had been holding on to my email for when they had
shoots in New York, and they hired me repeatedly
for really fun stories.”
The moral of the story, she says, is that while a
distinct personal style rarely gives a photographer
total control over a project, it’s next to impossible
“Broadway and Murray
Street, NW corner,
August 30, 2011” from
The NYC Newsstand.
18 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
to get in the door without one. “Sometimes a client really wants me to make work like I normally
would,” Barrett says, pointing to her portrait of
Meghan Shea for the October 2013 issue of Popular
Mechanics magazine as an example. “Other times
I’m there to help actualize an existing vision.”
Whether making still lifes at home with her
baby nearby or shooting an editorial portrait,
Barrett sees whatever she creates as a piece of
a whole creative existence. “I’m doing what was
so exciting to me about photography when I first
began making pictures 20 years ago,” she says:
“looking at familiar things in a new and unfamiliar
way, how these things look when photographed,
and, always, the magic of the light.” AP
© Rachel Barrett
U N ST I L L
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putting the best tools available in
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and encouraging them to engage
with the world in a meaningful way.
Please check Sigma-University.com
for program details.
Sigma-University.com
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SIGMA_AmericanPhoto.indd 1
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PHOTO BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Proof that photographs and the printing press were made for each other
CONTRIBUTORS: LINDSAY COMSTOCK, JACK CRAGER, RUSSELL HART, JEANETTE D. MOSES, MATTHEW ISMAEL RUIZ, AND MEG RYAN
DISCO NIGHT SEPT 11
red hook editions | $55
This book’s ironic title derives from a roadside sign in the
cover shot, alluding to the blithe disconnect of many Americans during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Magnum
photographer Van Agtmael documents the U.S. wars of the
aughts in striking depth and detail. His text veers from diaristic entries to firsthand accounts; it accents vivid imagery on
the battlefront and in the barracks. Van Agtmael also captures
key moments in the U.S., from grieving widows to warmer
homecoming scenes, such as the shot above of Specialist
Raymond Hubbard playing Star Wars with his kids, now
that he’s home after losing his leg to a mortar shell in Iraq.
by Peter Van Agtmael |
THE SOCHI PROJECT
by Rob Hornstra | aperture | $80
Over five years, Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen traced
the construction of the Olympic Village for the Winter Games in
Sochi, Russia—which had been a beach town (with an adventurous tourist trade, as seen in the cover shot, at right)—and the
environmental havoc it wreaked on surrounding communities.
20 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
OFFICE ROMANCE
by Kathy Ryan |
aperture
| $30
Ryan snapped this collection of iPhone photos in and around her
workplace—where she’s director of photography at The New York
Times Magazine—and then posted them to her popular Instagram feed. Many images examine the play of light and shadow
around the office building (as at right), while others artfully
home in on the accoutrements of work: sticky notes, computer
monitors, X-acto knives, and of course, people. In her intro, Ryan
writes that she’s not a photographer; we’re not buying it.
TESTAMENT
by Chris Hondros |
powerhouse
| $45
Before his death in 2011 in Libya at age 41, Hondros was a daring
and prolific war photojournalist, but what shines through here is
his humanity: He portrays glimpses of heroism amid chaos and
hope among ruins, all with a storyteller’s gift for yarn.
PHOTOGRAPHER’S PARADISE: TURBULENT AMERICA 1960-90
by Jean-Pierre Laffont | rizzoli | $55
French expatriate Laffont dogged the big stories that came to
define modern America—from anti-establishment chaos to battles
over gay rights, immigration reform, and other social issues that
still vex the nation. In images more about the streets than politics, he fearlessly shot with an outsider’s fascination, making this
volume a personal testament to our country’s difficult growth.
Opposite, from top: © 2014 Peter Van Agtmael; © Rob Hornstra. This page, from top: © Kathy Ryan; © Mariah Robertson.
#SANDY
edited by Wyatt Gallery |
daylight
| $40
After Superstorm Sandy struck the Eastern seaboard, social
media became a hub of the relief effort. This striking book collects
iPhone images of the storm from 20 pro shooters who leveraged
their Instagram networks for the donation of time and money to
the cause. The book’s proceeds go toward continued relief.
NEW YORK
by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao | aperture | $95
Using several shots taken with medium-format film that he
scans and combines, Liao creates digital panoramas that offer a
fantastic and larger-than-life view of the city that never sleeps.
RAINFOREST
by Lewis Blackwell | abrams | $60
This book makes a powerful case against deforestation by
showing the fabric of the natural world: the intricate patterns, resourceful use of sunlight, dynamic relationships, and
existential wisdom within the flora and fauna inhabiting these
unbroken ecosystems. “We need to recognize that our lives
are a part of a greater living community on Earth,” Blackwell
writes, “the vast wonder of which rainforests represent with
their extraordinary diversity, richness, and mystery.”
MELTING AWAY: OUR ENDANGERED POLAR REGIONS
by Camille Seaman |
princeton
| $55
WHAT IS A PHOTOGRAPH?
by Carol Squiers et al |
international center of photography
| $50
This catalog surveys artists including Mariah Robertson (above), Eileen Quinlan,
James Welling, and Matthew Brandt, whose experimentation moves beyond mere
aesthetics. These works expand our perception of what we call photography: contemplating the banality in everyday objects, reflecting the increasing ubiquity of the
image, using alternative processes to transform the medium, and sometimes blurring
the boundary between still images and other media to manipulate the picture plane.
EDEN AND AFTER
by Nan Goldin |
phaidon
| $100
As monolithic structures carved
Goldin brings her visual style of intimacy and candor to
by light and shadow, the melting
the worlds of children and child rearing—in all their in-
polar icebergs Seaman shows us jut
nocence and complexity. She depicts pregnant women in
out from the landscape, serving as
the glow of expectancy, live-action scenes of childbirth,
both a showcase of grandeur and a
breast-feeding rituals, and the hijinks of unpredictable
compelling call to action.
kids with unabashed frankness and joie de vivre.
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 21
P H OTO
B O O KS
O F
T H E
Y E A R
THE NINETY NINE AND THE NINE
by Katy Grannan |
fraenkel gallery
| $65
Grannan’s portraits of the homeless and destitute show
how capitalism, addiction, and illness leave many behind.
Yet this collection also offers insight into the lives of
people on the fringe of society (as in the anonymous shot
at left) and the beauty lurking within weathered bodies.
KURT COBAIN: THE LAST SESSION
by Jesse Frohman | thames &
hudson
| $45
Little did Frohman know, when hired to shoot Nirvana
for the London Observer in 1993, that its leader would
self-destruct within months. Here we see Cobain’s complexity: defiance, charisma, playfulness, and anger bound
up in a shaggy persona behind goofy oval sunglasses.
NEGATIVE: ME, BLONDIE, AND THE ADVENT OF PUNK
MY RULES
by Glen E. Friedman | rizzoli | $55
by Chris Stein | rizzoli | $55
Friedman captures the golden eras of skateboarding,
As cofounder of Blondie and longtime partner of Deborah Harry, Stein was the group’s
punk rock, and hip-hop with an emphasis on raw
shutterbug, documenting their rise from underground punk rockers to global new-wave
energy and attitude. My Rules is an intimate history
stars. This collection gathers candid views of Harry and her bandmates with lots of
from the top of the pool and the edge of the stage.
unruly company—from Iggy Pop and Joey Ramone to Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde.
HORST: PHOTOGRAPHER OF STYLE
U.S. MARSHALS
by Brian Finke |
by Susanna Brown | rizzoli | $75
Spurred by
Horst P. Horst’s brilliant oeuvre gets lavish treatment here, with
an old friend’s
sections on fashion, nature, nudes, and editorial shoots, plus entire
new vocation,
chapters devoted to muses Marlene Dietrich and Carmen Dell’Orefice.
Finke captures
For artfully statuesque glamour, nobody did it better.
federal law-
MUSIC
enforcement
officers in both
by Deborah Feingold | damiani | $30
crime-busting
Feingold’s anthology brings together 40 years of her intimate, often improvisational
action and
portraits of music icons. Early images of James Brown and Prince blend with more recent
quiet portraits
color portraits of Keith Richards, Tina Turner, and Madonna. The photographer’s gift
with his crisp
is capturing her famous subjects at total ease, presenting them as people above all else.
visual style.
22 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS FEBRUARY
2013
WINTER 2014/2015
powerhouse
| $35
Opposite, clockwise from left: © Katy Grannan; © Jesse Frohman; © Brian Finke. This page, from top: © Matthew Brandt, courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York; © Danny Clinch.
LAKES AND RESERVOIRS
by Matthew Brandt | damiani/yossi milo | $75
Though hardly a brand-new topic, the question What is a
photograph? regenerated sparks in 2014, underpinning a
major ICP exhibition and catalog (page 21). At the center of
this discussion is Matthew Brandt, who just brought out his
own stunning monograph of experimental imagery. Brandt
has taken Los Angeles–based conceptualism in the lineage of
photo-driven artists like John Baldessari, Robert Heinecken,
and James Welling back to the land for this series: He makes
photographs of bodies of water throughout the western
United States, then soaks the C-prints in liquid specimens
collected from the sites depicted. The result is a psychedelic
blend of lovely, surreal chromatic aberrations.
MINOR WHITE: MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT
text by Paul Martineau | getty | $40
STILL MOVING
White left a rich legacy as teacher,
editor, poet, and critic, but it’s his
by Danny Clinch | abrams | $50
mid-century photos that transcend
Clinch was there: in prison with Metallica, at the blackboard with Kanye West, in the
time. Here we see a complex artist
studio with Eminem, on the road with Lucinda Williams, near a fan eruption for Iggy
who revered formal elements of
Pop (above), next to a couch with Beck and John Lee Hooker—you get the idea. There’s
light and shadow while subverting
no mystery to why stars love him: He makes everyone look cool, onstage or off, and his
common thought about subject mat-
access allows him to capture tender moments, like his shoot with a nervous Chris
ter, extolling spirituality in art while
Whitley or a pensive Eddie Vedder surrounded by lyrics in the studio. And several
grappling with his own sexuality.
photos—like the two-page gatefold portrait of Tupac Shakur, gracefully saved from the
book’s gutter—are truly iconic. Clinch is called “my patron saint of new rock dreams”
in the book’s foreword, by a dreamer named Springsteen.
For more Books of the Year, see the November/December 2014
issue of American Photo or visit americanphotomag.com.
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 23
THE ART OF GETTING IT
24 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
Is artistic vision innate or developed? Commercial photographer
Eric Ray Davidson and his mentor, Paul Jasmin, ponder the possibilities.
Paul Jasmin and Eric Ray Davidson met
and bonded in Jasmin’s photography class at
Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,
California, in 2001. Jasmin began his illustrious
career in fashion and glamour photography
at the behest of his friend and mentor, Bruce
Weber [see Perspective, page 34]. Davidson
has established himself as a successful celebrity
photographer. Here the mentor and mentee
discuss portraiture, artistic growth, and how
to foster the right chemistry with your subject.
Eric Ray Davidson: I used to split time
between New York City and Los Angeles,
but now I’m in L.A. full-time. Let’s talk
about the differences between New York
and Los Angeles for photographers,
especially when they’re just starting out,
and how it changes as you go.
Paul Jasmin: You find out where you
belong. You have to grow, and that’s where
the work comes from.
Opposite: © Eric Ray Davidson. This page: © Paul Jasmin.
Davidson: I don’t know how much stuff
originates in L.A., but it does seem like, with
the increase in celebrity content, there’s just
so much shooting out here. I guess the key
in New York is establishing yourself.
Jasmin: The thing about New York is, there
are too many photographers there. In L.A.,
if you’re smart you can get to the right
people and show them your work. Art directors and editors kind of like someone who
has their own turf and is not too accessible,
not right there with the crowd.
Davidson: Once someone has their degree,
what’s the best simple advice going into
the wild, into the real world? Does going
to New York really make a difference?
Jasmin: Well, I think that technology has
kind of screwed up that equation because
now you can do everything online. I mean,
you can make your pictures look good on...
Davidson: On the phone.
Jasmin: You can always make them look
good, and you have to know how to edit. You
just have to validate yourself. I think that’s
why it’s so important to look at those magazines. And I say those—you know the ones,
the cool ones—because you’ve kind of realized
where you want to go. The same as if you
wanted to be an actor and you only saw
Opposite: A recent portrait
by Eric Ray Davidson of
model Leela for Trendi
magazine in Finland.
Above: An image by Paul
Jasmin of model Annie
Morton, shot outside the
Pink Motel in Hollywood.
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 25
T H E
A R T
O F
G E T T I N G
I T
Above: A Baxter photo for
a story in Popular Science
about the privatization of
space travel in the future.
really bad TV. Well, you’d end up being a bad actor.
And you have to know the world that you want to
go into. And the only way that you can know that
is to go to New York and talk to those people. And
when you talk to those people you realize, I’ve got
to have my shit together. And I have to know more
than they think that I know. You know?
There is a great line from the show Gypsy that
Ethel Merman had. And it really says it all. In the
song “Rose’s Turn,” she says, “Ya either got it or ya
ain’t.” You either get it or you don’t. And if you got it
and you get it, then you learn to edit.
Davidson: But if you have the foundations of
something, how do you put yourself in a situation
where you can grow? I’ve always found that one
thing I was never afraid to do was fail repeatedly,
to learn how to do things right by doing them
26 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
Left: A recent portrait by
Paul Jasmin. “You always
look for somebody who has
the right posturing,”
Jasmin says. “Now, there’s
a posture that I love.”
Opposite: © Paul Jasmin. This page: © Eric Ray Davidson.
wrong. Early on I did a lot of stuff wrong but I
was never afraid to go there. I remember in one of
our first classes together, I did something for an
assignment and you loved it! And I did something
the next week that was horrible. And you said to
me, “I wish you’d never shown me that thing from
last week.” [Laughter] And it was true.
Jasmin: There’s a difference between making
one thing that’s awful and not having it. Some
people don’t have it, and never get it. You have to
have style. You look at an early book of Avedon’s
work or at Irving Penn’s sense of style, or Mapplethorpe’s flowers. Everybody takes those pictures with them; you realize what style is. Either
you get it or you don’t.
Above: Eric Ray Davidson’s
shot of actress Keira
Knightley. “Someone gave
her a cup of hot water with
lemon and I was like, ‘Oh,
perfect. Bring it with you,’”
Davidson recalls. “It was
a case of just reacting and
using the space around
you to your advantage.”
Davidson: There are many talented photographers who have a hard time getting in the door.
How important is being persistent, ballsy, tough?
Jasmin: It’s really important. Somehow you’ve
got to get in that door, but you don’t want to be
obnoxious. Well, what you can do is send them one
incredible image. “Oh, wow!” People remember
that. And if you put it online—a lot of art directors, if they see something there, it’s the same as if
you sent them that picture. It’s a moment.
A lot of young people don’t even realize when
they’ve taken one incredible photograph. I have nine
people in my [photography] class. And recently I
said, All of you have taken a good picture. And none
of you know it.” And I said, “That’s a real problem.”
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 27
Above: An image from
Project Astoria, a series of
mise-en-scènes depicting an
imaginary colony, created
by Todd Baxter and his
wife, Aubrey Videtto.
Davidson: What is your motivation to continue
to teach the class? What does being an instructor do for you? What’s exciting about it?
Jasmin: To find someone who gets it.
Davidson: And to be in a position to find someone who’s excited about photography? I know for
me personally, there was a point in school where
I was beaten down by the process, the competition, the hostility, which comes with being an artist. But you reminded me that photography was
a thing to love and to nurture and grow, and that
was something to follow. Is that the kind of experience that you’re looking for with your students?
Jasmin: There’s always competition. And now it’s
getting tougher. But the other thing is—and by the
28 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
Left: Eric Ray Davidson’s
portrait of actress/
model Nola Palmer
and musician Gambles
(Matthew Daniel Siskin).
T H E
A R T
O F
G E T T I N G
I T
Davidson: You need someone with the right kind
of body awareness. Sometimes, I find, it’s certain
actors—they just have incredible awareness of their
form. One of the best I ever worked with so far is
Eddie Redmayne. He just knows how to sit, how to
stand, and how to move and his body.
Jasmin: I think he’s fabulous. And that’s why he’s
such a good actor.
Davidson: One thing I noticed, when we worked
together, was how the environment that you create on set fosters the right kind of creative energy,
which leads to the right kind of art. Let’s talk about
the importance of creating an environment where
everyone’s in a good mood and in a good place.
Jasmin: You have to do that. Then you can just
wander through that environment. I’ve learned that
from Bruce [Weber] and others. Not everyone can
afford to have the entourage that Bruce brings on his
shoots. But he creates, in the food and the environment—people are just in bliss to be there. He creates
that and then he goes in and sneaks a picture.
This page: © Paul Jasmin. Opposite: © Eric Ray Davidson.
way, this is why there are so few good film directors—you have to fall in love with the person you’re
taking the picture of when you’re shooting them.
Above: A recent portrait
by Paul Jasmin.
Davidson: A lot of it is the details on set. It’s important for people to feel like they’re eating great food,
and the music is good, and the studio has good light,
and it’s a good environment. But it’s also observing
people and picking up on their nature. And you can
get better and faster at making those decisions. I’ve
recently found my way into photo shoots that are,
you know, five minutes, seven minutes. And in some
ways I love it because there’s no fuss. There’s no
thinking. But you find that moment.
Jasmin: It’s finding the right people, it’s editing, and
it’s casting. And in fast shoots, it’s the intimidation.
Somehow in 10 minutes you’re going to break that
person down to where they’ll give you the real deal.
That’s the picture you want. But you can’t tell them
what to do. You have to let them do it.
Davidson: You have to connect. Does that excite
you when it happens? I find that whenever I go to
give a little talk at a class—or when I was TA-ing
with you and working with you closely—it’s very
exciting to pass forward excitement. And it’s
therapeutic, But it’s hard to always be positive
because of all the bullshit we have to put up with.
Jasmin: I’m real masochistic to keep doing that
class. [Laughter] But I realized, how else would I
meet people like you? How else would I be in contact with people not of my age? Most of the people
my age are so frickin’ boring.
Davidson: I think my fastest shoot I ever did was
with Keira Knightley in Toronto. I was supposed
to get her and Benedict Cumberbatch together. She
ended up showing up first and I wasn’t supposed to
get a single shot. But I did. And we were in a very
nondescript hotel room, but the room attached to it
was chaos. It looked like a tornado had hit it. There
was furniture everywhere. And so I had maybe
three minutes to shoot there. And after I took that
photo, something about it resonated with me.
Jasmin: She’s never looked as fabulous.
Davidson: What are you excited to shoot now?
Jasmin: I have a show in Art Basel in Miami, and
I have to do three new pictures. There’re a lot of
oldies but goodies, and those sell now, but I need
new ones. And I found a subject yesterday—it took
me almost three weeks to find the right boy and the
right poses. So it’s, it’s harder for me now. But he
has the posture I want. And you really need that.
Davidson: And it was fun. It’s just reacting and
using the space around you to your advantage.
Sometimes your space—don’t try to make it something else. Make it an extreme version of what it is.
Jasmin: It’s fabulous. And if you know that you did
it and you picked that, that’s the name of the game.
It’s all about emotion. Emotion—I think it’s the most
important word in photography. AP
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 29
PROMOTION
© Jonathan Berger
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GEAR
WHAT PHOTOGRAPHERS NEED TOOLBOX 32
P R E V I E W
S A M S U N G
N X 1
NOTEWORTHY SPECS
DSLR KILLER
Serious power in a mirrorless ILC BY PHILIP RYAN
hile Samsung loves to proclaim how
serious it is about its NX line of
interchangeable-lens compact cameras,
the company should probably just let
its new NX1 do the talking. This camera is built for
imaging power and speed, whether you’re shooting
stills or video.
Consider its 28.2-megapixel back-side illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor—the largest BSI sensor
ever offered in any camera—and its hybrid autofocus system that covers 90 percent of the frame
and samples the scene at 120 frames per second,
and you’ll start to get the picture. The camera also
boasts a tilting 1.04 million–dot Super AMOLED
monitor, as well as an OLED electronic viewfinder
with a super-short refresh rate of 5 milliseconds. It
captures full-resolution images in bursts of up to 15
fps with continuous AF and metering, in addition
to Ultra HD 4K video. And its weather-resistant
magnesium-alloy body connects wirelessly to other
devices using the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.
Samsung has pushed to make the NX1 compatible with all the latest technology, not just Wi-Fi.
For instance, you can use Bluetooth 3 to keep in
constant contact with your smartphone and then
engage Wi-Fi merely to transfer images and video
to your phone, so you won’t drain your camera
W
Shown with Samsung’s new
50–150mm f/2.8 ED OIS
lens, the NX1 brings speed
and robustness to this
compact system.
SENSOR 28.2MP APS-C-format
BSI CMOS
SENSITIVITY ISO 100–51,200
AUTOFOCUS TTL Hybrid with
209 contrast and 205 embedded phase (153 cross-type)
focus points
SHUTTER 1/800–30 sec
MEMORY SD/SDHC/SDXC
card slot
VIEWFINDER OLED EVF
BURSTS 15 fps up to 25 RAW
(12-bit) shots
MONITOR Tilting 3.0-inch
Super AMOLED touchscreen
with 1.04 million–dot resolution
VIDEO Records at up to
4096x2160p24; H.265 HEVC;
micro-HDMI output
DIMENSIONS 5.5x4.0x2.7 in.
(140x102x66 mm)
WEIGHT 19.4 oz (550 g) with
battery
BUY IT $1,500 body only; $2,800
with 16–50mm f/2–2.8 S ED OIS
lens; samsung.com
battery by constantly feeding power to the Wi-Fi
antenna. The NX1 also includes a SuperSpeed USB
3.0 connection, along with a micro HDMI jack that
can output a clean signal to record video to external
recorders. You can record 4K video to an SD card
in the latest H.265 HEVC codec at either the digital
cinema 4096x2160 standard at 24 fps or the UHD
3840x2160 pixel count at 30 fps. Normal 1920x1080
HD recording at up to 60 fps is also an option.
To show off just how powerful the processor in the
NX1 is, Samsung created a baseball shooting mode.
In the viewfinder you can see an image of a batter,
with bat extended, superimposed on the scene—align
this over the player you want to photograph, and the
camera will monitor the frame so that you’ll get a
perfect image of the bat striking the ball every time.
It may help you land a job on your school’s sports
desk, but otherwise it seems more fun than useful.
In addition to the camera, Samsung is bringing
out a 50–150mm f/2.8 S ED OIS zoom lens, a 75–
225mm full-frame equivalent on this APS-C-format
system. As part of the company’s premium S series,
this $1,600 lens is weather sealed and promises a
higher level of image quality than lower-tier glass; it
also includes a custom focus limiter to avoid distracting the camera’s autofocus system with extraneous
elements in the frame. AP
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 31
TO O L B OX
NEW YEAR, NEW GEAR
1
1 H I G H - C L ASS C O M PAC T
Although the Fujifilm X100T shares much with the earlier X100S, including
its 16MP X-Trans sensor and fixed 23mm (35mm full-frame equivalent) f/2
lens, just about everything else has been improved. The biggest change
is the revamped hybrid viewfinder—its 2.3 million pixel display now has a
Digital Split Image manual-focus system that makes it more like a traditional
rangefinder. The button layout is more versatile, the AF system more robust,
and film emulation choices more extensive. BUY IT $1,300; fujifilmusa.com
2 D I G I TA L D A R K R O O M
You’ll find many plug-ins to help make digital photos look like they were shot
on film, but VSCO makes one of the best. Its newest pack of presets, VSCO
Film 06: The Alternative Process Collection, mimics the look of some familiar
film stocks such as Kodak Portra and Ilford HP5 when they’re pushed, pulled,
or cross-processed. It works with either Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom
without making you launch another program. BUY IT $120; vsco.co
4
3 RUN A 5K
In the camera world, the race is on to cram 4K video capture into every new
model. The problem, however, comes in editing such massive files, which
is where Apple’s new 5K iMac comes in. The 27-inch, 5120 x 2880 screen is
enough to fit a full-res 4K video file with enough room left over for editing
tools to surround it. It’s configurable up to a 4.0 GHz quad-core Intel i7
processor and uses a 1TB Fusion Drive as well, so it has enough firepower to
push all those pixels around. BUY IT From $2,500; apple.com
4 GET INTO THE ACTION
The smallest camera in Sony’s lineup, the Action Cam Mini still has quite
a bit of photographic firepower. Its 11.9MP sensor can capture 1080p HD
video at 60 frames per second for silky slow motion. The Zeiss lens covers a
170-degree field of view, and built-in wireless lets you live-stream events as
they happen. It even comes with a Live View Remote you can wear around
your wrist to preview and review your footage without having to bring your
smartphone into precarious situations. BUY IT $350; store.sony.com
5 FILM WITH A HUE
When Lomography announced a limited run of purple-tinted film, it sold out
in a hurry. Now the company promises a limited run of LomoChrome
Turquoise XR film for pre-order, to be delivered in April. The company will
make just 5,000 rolls of 35mm and 120 color negative film in ISO 100–400.
Prints will come back from the lab with a serious blue-green tint. It’s not for
everyday shooting, but it seems like the perfect thing to throw into a Holga
for something a little different. BUY IT $60 for 5 rolls; shop.lomography.com
6 E V E R Y D AY H E R O
When GoPro announces new cameras, the top-of-the-line models with
massive resolution and fancy features get all the fanfare. But the humble
Hero, the new entry-level model, is one of the most interesting cameras on
GoPro’s roster. It shoots 1080p video at 30 fps (or 720p at 60 fps), just like
the older HD Hero2. But GoPro shrank its size, got its weight down below 4
ounces, and added features like Auto Low Light mode. BUY IT $130; gopro.com
7 FLASHY PHOTOGRAPHY
Between the radical design of the Pentax K-01 and the wide array of colors
available for its entry-level DSLRs, Ricoh never shies away from interestinglooking cameras. Its new Pentax K-S1 is no different, with a variety of colored
lights in the grip and behind the controls of this slightly modified version of
the archetypical Pentax body shape. Despite the light show, though, the K-S1
is still a solid DSLR. Its APS-C-format 20.12MP CMOS sensor can be cranked to
ISO 51,200, its shutter speed goes up to 1/6000 sec; and its 11-point autofocus
system includes 9 cross-type sensors. BUY IT $650 body only, $700 with
18–55mm f/3.5-5.6 Pentax-DA L smc lens; us.ricoh-imaging.com
32 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
6
GEAR
2
3
5
7
WINTER 2014/2015 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS 33
Paul Jasmin is a renowned photographer,
educator, and mentor
(see our feature beginning on page 24). But
he began his career
as an actor, appearing in films including
Psycho and Midnight
Cowboy. Jasmin later
pursued painting and
commercial illustration. “I always used to
take Polaroids for the
fashion illustrations
I did,” he recalls.
“I went to Paris to
study art, and Bruce
Weber was the person
there who liked my
pictures. Bruce said,
‘Why don’t we do
something together
for Italian Vogue?’
And so that’s the
first [photo job] I
did.” Jasmin considers Weber his mentor,
although he notes,
“Bruce is younger than
I am. But it’s important to have those
people in your life.”
Inspired by Weber’s
innovative approach to
fashion photography,
Jasmin took up that
genre in the 1990s
and perfected his
own painterly style.
Jasmin’s celebrated
series featuring models Tatjana Patitz and
Mike Campbell for
Marie Claire included
the quiet shot at left.
“This was one of the
first fashion shoots I
did,” Jasmin says, “and
I realized, ‘Wow, it’s
emotion!’ That’s why
I like that picture—
because I got her to
the point where she
was still up for it and
he was so cool. That
kind of emotion you
can’t draw. That’s why
I keep taking pictures:
to find emotion.”
—JACK CRAGER
34 AMERICAN PHOTO ON CAMPUS WINTER 2014/2015
© Paul Jasmin
P E R S P EC T I V E
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