Historical Image of the Day

Ansel Adams photo of Hoover Dam, 1941

Latin American Photographers Distinguish Themselves Globally with Amazing Photos in 2008

A couple of weeks ago, the Latin Americanist pointed out that several Latin American photographers who first prize for their photos in the World Press Photo contest (I had previously put up one of a sequence of these photos here before). The winners included Luis Vasoconelos of Brazil, for his images of police evicting a woman with child in arms; Lissette Lemus of El Salvador, for her image of schoolchildren in a van passing the body of a dead woman in the street; Argentine Walter Astrada's image of post-election protests in Kenya; Carlos Gutierrez's amazing photo of a volcanic eruption in Chile; and Mexico's Carlos Cazalis, who did a series of remarkable photos of Sao Paulo's homeless. The overall photo of the year went to Anthony Suau for his stunning photo of an armed sherriff in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland's county) going through the home for an eviction.

And you can see all of the photography winners (including non-Latin Americans) from last year here.

My New Favorite Photographer Must Really Like to Count...

My friend just showed me this artist: Chris Jordan.  His collection called "Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait" looks at contemporary US culture through statistics.  And the numbers are staggering (3.6 million SUV sales in one year and 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries every month), but they really don't mean anything until you can see them.  His giant photographs are composed of thousands or millions of smaller photographs to correspond with the statistics.  I would post some of the pictures, but you really have to go to the website so you can see the zoomed-in versions to really get an idea of what they are showing.  They are clearly not meant to be seen on the computer instead of in person, but sometimes you have to work with what you have...

Because a lot of his pieces have to do with consumption and over consumption, Jordan has been labeled an environmentalist - which I'm sure he is.  But it interesting to me that pictures of oil barrels and junk yards inspire more of an environmental ethic than landscapes.  Landscapes are mass-produced and sold in stores like Hobby Lobby so people can hang them above their couches, but they certainly do nothing to inspire an environmental consciousness.  And landscape painters have certainly never been called environmentalists.  Why is it that images of the thing we are supposed to be protecting (nature) do not affect us, but pictures of our trash can be so profound?

Also, here is a link to a video of Chris Jordan speaking.