A cloud above Dead Horse Bay

Tim Connor, All rights reserved

Back to the garden

"Leaf leaf flower flower," Tim Connor, All rights reserved

Today I'm going to Vermont. I'm exhausted. That's a word you hear a lot these days, but I really mean it. I need to get away from the city. I'll be back Wednesday, May 21st.

Sorry I will miss the New York Photo Festival right here in DUMBO, Brooklyn! If you can manage to get there, don't you miss it. Ciao, darlings.

Separated at birth?

"Atlas V rocket, launched from Cape Canaveral," Simon Norfolk, All rights reserved


"Untitled," Gregory Crewdson, All rights reserved

Two famous contemporary photographers fascinated by similar imagery. Simon Norfolk: a politically charged hyper-realist, particularly interested in the technology of modern warfare. And Gregory Crewdson: a creator of obsessively detailed psychological fantasies that evoke anxiety & dread..

Norfolk's lightbeam explodes upward. Crewdson's descends from the sky.

What does it all MEAN???

"Where am I?": A story about Andre Kertesz

"Chez Mondrian," Andre Kertesz, All rights reserved

"Ten nights before he died, master photographer Andre Kertesz, my friend, tripped and fell while walking back to bed after shutting off the hallway light. As he was 91 and had a fever, he didn't possess the strength to push himself up, and he fell into sleep on the floor of his apartment. He opened his eyes at dawn and thought, "How strange...what lovely light...such interesting angles...where am I?"

Recounted by Sylvia Plachy in Unguided Tour, 1990.

I wrote about Plachy here & Kertesz here.

Subway preacher

"Subway preacher, Brooklyn," Tim Connor, All rights reserved

Another handoutman (woman) portrait. Her handout was "Fifty-seven cents that made history," published by the Old Paths Tract Society. As always, I almost walked past her because I was afraid. When I got up the courage to ask if I could take her picture, she gave me a big smile & nodded yes. Then she posed, silently demure. I asked her if she would please go ahead & preach. She launched into it, full force.

What they did at art school

"Video installation by Jacqueline Arias," Photo by Tim Connor, All rights reserved

Quick impression of Parson’s BFA in photography show at Calumet Gallery: These kids are not taking any chances. Admittedly, I only looked at maybe half the pieces, but these seemed to be all about technique. That aspect was often formidable, as you might expect. But with few exceptions their points of view & content bored me.

I noticed that nearly every picture of people contained one or more nude women. These young women were, each in her way, beautiful -- effortlessly sensual . But after looking at a few, I found myself asking: isn’t it actually unfair to depend on an instinctive biological reaction to make sure a picture gets looked at? Granted, it’s a sure fire strategy. At the very least, every heterosexual male, no matter how civilized & art-minded, will look long & closely. But the truth is counterintuitive. Showing naked women guarantees interest & imparts an avant-garde, even risqué ambience, but in fact -- unless it takes us somewhere new -- it’s a safe, even conservative choice.

I guess I’m getting too old to put up with the time-honored “look how decadent we were in art school” aesthetic.

I went to the show because I was invited by an old friend, Jacqueline Arias [Thompson] --( on fotolog she called herself ticaphoto). I’m happy to report that her video of a movement piece she made was the most interesting thing I saw at the show. Projected from overhead onto a lenticular piled dirt frame on the floor, the images seemed to shift & writhe in the dirt as though they had been created there.

Congrats to Jackie, who's now a bachelor(ette) of fine arts!

Handout man / Eyebrows threading

"Handout Man/Eyebrows threading," Tim Connor, All rights reserved

Handout man / AM New York
Handout man /Modern dental
Handout man / Emma's Dilemma
Handout man / NY Metro