Ruth Bernhard, San Francisco, 1988 © Abe Frajndlich

Abe Frajndlich gave me free reign to put together a second series from his stunning new book, 'Penelope's Hungry Eyes' which is packed with over 100 portraits of the master photographers. If your favourites are not here in my edit I'm sure you'll find them in the book.

"With a single-mindedness and tenacity which can only be compared to Penelope's faith in the return of her husband Odysseus, Abe's "hungry eyes" pursued the goal of photographing photographers for generations. In the course of over thirty years he compiled an ever-growing portrait collection of famous colleagues, 101 of which now appear in his new book."

On December 7th, 2011, the New York Public Library will be host to a discussion between Frajndlich; Henry Adams, author of the introductory text; and Duane Michals, one of the  photographers featured in the book.

Contrary to a news report by Charlotte, North Carolina's WBTV this weekend, Billy Graham is not dead. The 93 year-old reverend is hospitalized with pneumonia. According to Wikipedia, including Obama, Billy Graham has now personally met with twelve US presidents, the same number that Mr Karsh photographed during his career.

Looking through a Google image search on the rev, you can't deny he's always had pretty amazing hair.




Reverend Billy Graham, 1972 © Yousuf Karsh

The cover of the December 5th, 2011 issue of The New Yorker features a bookstore selling more merchandise than books. Notice on the left a row of handbags, one of which is the Yousuf Karsh portrait of Ernest Hemingway. Much purloined over the years, he's been discovered on bottles of rum, T shirts, restaurant menus, and even iPad apps. Long live Ernest Hemingway."I expected to meet in the author a composite of the heroes of his novels. Instead, in 1957, at his home Finca Vigía, near Havana, I found a man of peculiar gentleness, the shyest man I ever photographed - a man cruelly battered by life, but seemingly invincible. He was still suffering from the effects of a plane accident that occurred during his fourth safari to Africa. I had gone the evening before to La Floridita, Hemingway's favorite bar, to do my "homework" and sample his favorite concoction, the daiquiri. But one can be overprepared! When, at nine the next morning, Hemingway called from the kitchen, "What will you have to drink?" my reply was, I thought, letter-perfect: "Daiquiri, sir." "Good God, Karsh," Hemingway remonstrated, "at this hour of the day!""

Dragon's Blood Grove

Khamis Benisa'ad Farm Workers

Superb photographer Don Whitebread sent in a series of photographs he took in Yemen last year. When you're done here, head to his website. I am loving his Star Tracks series (one of which just won a Silver Award in the Black and White Magazine Single Image Issue.)


** Update: Exhibition opens at World Affairs Council where Don will be speaking on April 5th, 2012
 


Shibam Street Game



Khalilla Bokshan Palace Hotel

"In 2010, before the current protests, I was able to photograph throughout the surprisingly diverse and traditional country of Yemen with the help of a friend who lived there. Sana'a, Yemen's capital, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

Despite some serious research, Yemen was unlike anything I imagined. The landscape that I came to photograph was much more visually diverse, and historically richer than I expected. The people and culture of Yemen are firmly but comfortably locked in centuries-old traditions. I found the Yemeni people to be hospitable, confident, and apparently unenvious of the lifestyle much of the rest of the world embraces.

I have chosen to include both color and black and white photography in this series. The natural and urban landscapes of Yemen lent themselves easily to my usual style of black and white work. This was the photography I had in mind when I went to Yemen. The precarious cliff-top towns of the Yemeni highlands are surrounded by hypnotic patterns of terraced farmland. The strangely shaped Dragon's Blood Trees, and the cliffs and dunes of Socotra Island rival anything photographed in the parks of America. After a few days in the cities and villages of Yemen, it was clear to me that the images capturing the lives of the Yemeni people had to be in color. We are familiar with the vintage appearance that attempts to enhance much photography of the Middle East, but the lifestyle of Yemen needs no enhancement."

Images from the series have been exhibited and published, and two are currently nominated for an international Photography Masters Cup award. Don is now working on a book with writing by his friend who lived in Sana'a, before he was arrested and deported during the height of the protests.

Born in Germany and based in Stockholm, photographer Ole Elfenkämper has produced a couple of documentary series in Albania recently: one covers environmental concerns, and the other, which I'm happy we could put together into a feature here, is about a strike by chrome miners that lasted three months and is the longest industrial action since the fall of communism.

Here's another young, raw photographer whose work and attitude I find exciting: Harry Gould Harvey VI is a self-taught 19 year-old high school dropout based in Newport, Rhode Island. We've been emailing for a few months, talking about punk music, wealth disparity, Occupy Wall Street and discontent in general. In between first contact and the publication of this feature, HGH has been on the road with his own hardcore band, Convulsions. I really appreciate the value that this young artist put on connecting with me, saying how hard it is to otherwise access "the world of contemporary photography." This is part of an ongoing series, a sarcastic, social commentary that is meant to be alarming and disconcerting, to convey a sense of anger, and is shot in and around the mansions of Newport.

View the full screen magazine photo feature.

© Christopher Auger-Dominguez
Styling: Amy Auslander. Jacket: Stella McCartney. Guitar: Squire Mini by Fender.

Christopher Auger-Dominguez has embarked upon this fabulous personal project, Vinyl Idols, which I of course fell in love with when we met at NYC Fotoworks.

"Each image will be a reproduction of, or inspired by, famous album covers in rock and roll. "Jimi Hendrix" was inspired by the album Radio One."




I have been talking about #Hendrix a lot lately in my work with Baron Wolman. Baron doesn't like the question of who his favourite subject was, he says it's like asking a parent which is their favourite child, but when pressed, it's Hendrix: his amazing style and presence always shone.

There are now several examples of the bigflannel Portfolio template live online. Sharing some of those here. I encourage photographers to keep this in mind for a new, highly affordable main portfolio site, or for book projects, personal work or other series that you might want to profile under a separate portfolio to your main website.