Archives
volume 7 (2.2006-6.2006)
Cuba 2005
Jeff Cowen visits modern-day Havana and returns with timeless photographs — moody, resigned, and quietly emotional.
Ballet & Sport in the USSR
Russian avant-garde artists Natasha and Valera Cherkashin create photo collages interweaving modern imagery with Soviet-era public icons.
Defiant Portraits
Isabel Muñoz photographs warrior tribes of Ethiopia. In an audio interview, she talks about challenges, surprises and gaining trust.
Bodies and Abstract Art
Ernestine Ruben plays with shadow, light, cropping and framing to create dizzying abstract plastic space.
Breakfast
with Salgado
A personal report from a workshop with the master.
Essay by Bennett Stevens
Landscape with Figures
Massimo Vitali documents the places and postures of Europeans relaxing and at play in public.
William Klein Retrospective
An exhibition in Paris, and a new book, including some pithy quotes from the original bad boy of photography himself, and John Szarkowski.
Edward Burtynsky — China
From 2002 to 2005, Edward Burtynsky was granted unprecedented access to photograph inside China with a large format camera. His new book delivers a visual report on many aspects of contemporary China. In an exclusive audio interview for Lens Culture, he talks about his experiences there, and his fears for China and the world.
30 years of war: Christine Spengler
Since the early 1970s, war photographer Christine Spengler has put herself in the midst of conflicts and captured images of the women and children who are literally caught in the crossfire. Here are 46 photographs in a retrospective look at wars in Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Western Sahara, Beirut, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. She also recounts several stories behind these pictures with an exclusive series of autobiographical audio recordings.
Lucia Nimcová — Instant Women
Slovakian photographer Lucia Nimcová has been documenting the everyday lives of women and girls in Central and Eastern Europe. Here are 20 photos from this engaging work in progress.
Audio Archives
Edward Burtynsky13 minutes
Christine Spengler
13 and 19 minutes
Massimo Vitali
6 minutes
Isabel Muñoz
10 and 3 minutes
Archives
volume 6 (9.2005-1.2006)
Bordello
Contemporary photographer Vee Speers captures the look of lush decadence on location in Paris bordellos from the 1920s and '30s.
Martin Parr
In this exclusive audio interview, the king of biting social documentary talks about searching for vulnerability in societies, irony, humor, photobooks, and more. Enjoy!
Aral Tengizi — story of a dying sea
The demise of the Aral Sea (formerly the second largest lake in the world) over the past four decades is more than another ecological disaster. Its fate is a reflection of the negative consequences of political and economic policies across Central Asia. A photo-essay by Radek Skrivanek.
Manhattan Camera Obscura
Charles Schwartz and Bill Westheimer explore the wonders of the camera obscura in modern upper Manhattan — playing with perspective, surface, the effects of the sun — and capture the results with digital photography.
Nylon: Intimate Archaeology
Elaine Duigenan creates modern-day digital photograms to capture exquisite details of women's nylon stockings — pale specimens glowing in inky black space.
Killing Time in Paradise
Book Review:
Harvey Benge creates zen-like juxtapositions of images from his world travels. This word-less book presents his unique view of urban social landscapes in a poetic visual language.
Preview: Photo NY 2005
Forty-five galleries, private dealers and artists from the United States and around the world will be exhibiting and selling their latest and greatest photo-based art, October 6 - 9 in NYC. Here's a sneak peak.
After Postmodernism?
an essay by David Bate
What's new in Europe and beyond?
Paris Photo 2005: Preview
From November 17 –20, 2005, Paris Photo, one of Europe's largest photo expositions, will host more than 100 galleries and publishers from 14 countries. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend. Here's a preview of what will be showing. The photo above is Onno, 2005, by Alex Ten Napel.
The Stilled Gaze: John Blakemore
Reknowned British landscape and still-life photographer John Blakemore has produced a breathtaking body of work and has influenced generations of photographers through his teaching and workshops. Here we present just a dozen from his Tulip series, plus a generous and articulate audio interview that ranges from technique to philosophy and more.
How do you apologize?
Photographer Trish Carney photographed animals that she found dead by the side of the road. She says, "I photographed them, not so much as a document of their passing but more as an acknowledgement of their existence, an acknowledgement that the lives and the remains of animals are very much a part of our landscape, a part of our day to day world."
Audio Archives
Martin Parr10 minutes
John Blakemore
12 minutes
Archives
volume 5 (7.2005-8.2005)
People I Don't Know
Aline Smithson rephotographs anonymous found photographs held in loving hands.
Racing Seen
U.K. photographer Martin Amis documents the quirky, colorful drama of sleepy British racetracks.
Important Things
Tamara Lischka makes tender portraits of unborn creatures, reminders of the miracle of life.
Waking from Dreams of India
Neil Chowdhury visits the towns of his ancestors in India, and tries to come to grips with the confluence of old, new and imagined. The results are intriguing photo-collages.
Boris Mikhailov:A Retrospective
Book Review:For more than 40 years, Mikhailov has used photography to document and understand "real-life" in Soviet and post-Soviet societies.
Report from Dakar
Sharon Stark presents a lighter side of Africa, with global fashions and hip-hop culture.
Mana: Beyond Belief
A new movie explores worldwide belief in "power objects"
Boredom in NZ
Fashion photographer Derek Henderson took a break to spend 4 months documenting his homeland.
Nouvelle Vague
This Paris-based group has re-fashioned the new-wave and post-punk songs of the 1980s into moody and funny acoustic bossa nova tunes.
Mr. Mkhize's portrait & other stories from the new South Africa
Book Review:
Intimate and poetic reportage links history with contemporary tales of strife in post-apartheid South Africa.
World Press Photo Award Winners 2005
An exhibition touring the world presents almost 200 images of the best in photojournalism — difficult, haunting and beautiful. Here is a sampling of 20 moments from around the world.
On the Road in America: 1960s and 70s
Photographer and teacher Elaine Mayes has made many, many photographs since the early 1960s, but has rarely shown them in public. She talks about her work, her ideas about photography, and current projects in an audio interview.
Isolation and Arctic Technology
Christian Houge makes large-format panoramic photographs to capture the stark beauty and melancholy of a remote coal mining town in the far north of Russia and some high-tech outposts in the Arctic.
Rencontres d'Arles 2005 Photo Diary
The 36th annual summer-long festival of photography in Arles, France kicked off with a blockbuster opening week in July. Pictured above is a slide show of Henri Cartier-Bresson images from India, accompanied by live sitar music by Anoushka Shankar. There are more snapshots inside. The next issue of Lens Culture will feature interviews, essays and portfolios from the best and brightest at this year's event.
Audio Archives
Elaine Mayes interview15 minutes