Shows to See: Photography Shortlist September 2014

September marks the beginning of the school year and also the Fall exhibition season. Here is my list of top photography gallery exhibitions to see over the next few weeks.

Lois Conner at Gitterman Gallery. 41 E. 57th St, #1103. Through November 15. Panoramic landscapes from the American Southwest, China, New York City and other places.

Matthew Pillsbury at Bonni Benrubi Gallery. 41 E. 57th St., 13th Floor. Through October 25. Tokyo.

Mona Kuhn at Edwynn Houk Gallery. 745 5th Ave. Through October 18. Acido Dorado.

Stepehen Shore at 303 Gallery. 507 W. 24th St. Through November 1. Images from Israel and the Ukraine.

Justine Kurland at Mitchell-Innes & Nash. 534 W 26th St. Through October 11. Sincere Auto Care.

Marco Breuer at Yossi Milo Gallery. 245 10th Ave. Through November 1. Abstractions made by scratching through the paper emulsion, folding it, and other things you're not supposed to do.

2014 Fall Photography and Photoshop Classes at ICP

Fall Photography Classes at ICP

Photographic Vision and Composition: Beyond the Photographer's Eye

October 2 - December 11, 2014, Thurs 6:30-9:30 pm


Photographs tell stories. As a writer might use cadence, sentence structure, or even the sounds of words to help advance a story, photographers use light, shape, and color. But beyond employing general visual principles, photographers have a specific set of problems to solve in order to communicate effectively. This course provides an analysis of those problems and their potential solutions. Primarily based on ideas suggested in two seminal writings on photography, John Szarkowski's The Photographer's Eye and Stephen Shore's The Nature of Photographs, the class investigates how photographs say what they say. Through regular shooting assignments dealing with the principles of photographic vision and composition, students develop a better sense of how to formulate and strengthen an idea and are better able to translate that idea into the visual form of a photograph.


Photography II: Digital Intensive
2 weekends, October 25 - November 2, 2014

Why Photoshop?

I've always believed that the process of working on images in Photoshop can be a way of becoming a better photographer -- taking the time to observe and alter the visual relationships on screen over time begins to inform how we see when we go out to shoot. For a lot of photographers, it can be a virtuous circle. Photoshop classes are about learning techniques to solve expressive and aesthetic problems: for example: how do we create the illusion of space in a photograph, how do we identify the subject, how do we use color expressively, how do we create a path for the viewer's eye within an image? In other words, linking the decisions made in image processing and manipulation to ideas about composition and meaning. 

Photoshop 1: Digital Imaging for Photographers
September 30 - December 2, 2014, Tues 6:30-9:30 pm

Photoshop 2: Digital Imaging for Photographers
September 29 - December 8, 2014, Mon 6:30-9:30 pm