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aCurator is proud to support Aperture Foundation.

"Aperture Foundation is a non-profit arts institution dedicated to promoting photography in all its forms, and as part of our ongoing mission to support the work of emerging photographers, Aperture is presenting an exhibition featuring the work of Australian photographer Michael Corridore, winner of the 2008 Aperture Portfolio Prize, at Aperture Foundation. Part of a new initiative, these prints are available for sale, with the proceeds benefiting both the artist and the Aperture Foundation Emerging Artist Fund.

In the words of Aperture book publisher Lesley A. Martin, 'Corridore's project, Angry Black Snake, is an exercise in minimalism. Each image has been pared down to the barest of elements--urgent gestures and hardly traceable figures cloaked in smoke and dust. Yet each image pulses with palpable emotional tension, telegraphed by these starkest of representational sketches and the subtle shifting colors of the clouds that descend upon each scene like a flimsy curtain.

'As Corridore describes it, the project began as part of a larger portrayal of spectators at various events, including auto races, but became increasingly focused on those few moments where the event and the landscape in which it takes place come into direct and violent contact, for all intents and purposes eliding the spectator from the scene almost entirely. Car race or apocalyptic collision, the true nature of these events is never fully disclosed. Behind the scrim of kicked up particulate matter, however, it's evident that there is something afoot. The few discernible figures raise their arms - in victory, or perhaps to call out in distress; eyes are covered or screened for a better view. The work is remarkable for its use of restraint as a strategy to immerse the viewer in an indecipherable yet tangible Sturm und Drang.'

This year's winner, Alexander Gronsky, and the runners up can be viewed here, and Corridore's prints can be purchased here.

An exhibition of the winning series will be organized for 2011. Exclusive limited-edition photographs will be made available by Aperture. The purpose of the Prize is to identify trends in contemporary photography and specific artists who we can help by bringing their work to a wider audience. In choosing the winner, we are looking for work that is fresh and hasn't been widely seen in major publications or exhibition venues. The deadline for the 2010 Aperture Portfolio Prize is Wednesday, July 14, 2010."

From "Angry Black Snake" © Michael Corridore

Stephen Mallon is a commercial and fine art photographer. Lately, he has become interested in "the secret worlds of salvage", photographing the recycling industry; for example, rubber processing plants, methane reclamation, incinerators, and the U.S.S. New York which is crafted from steel salvaged from the World Trade Center site.

In 2006, Steve met Jayne Rockmill at an ASMP NY portfolio review. Jayne liked the industrial landscape photographs that Steve had been making for both commercial and personal work and suggested he publish a book, but Steve felt he wanted a better body of work if he were to do so. He got to thinking about the recycling industry, found a scrap company in New Jersey and got access for a couple of days to scout and shoot.

An art buyer suggested he include people in his industrial landscapes if the work were to have a broader appeal to advertisers, and it was during such a shoot in New Jersey that Steve spotted a large parked barge. Weeks Marine, the company contracted by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York, became a fan and client. After harvesting their parts, empty subway cars are lifted away to make room for new ones, and Weeks Marine uses ocean-going cranes to take them to other states where they're dumped off-shore to create reefs for the fishing and tourist industries as part of the National Artificial Reef Plan.

These images represent Steve's second solo show at Front Room Gallery. The exhibition entitled "Next Stop - Atlantic" opens September 10th 2010. Limited editions are available at
20x30, 30x45, and 40x60 with 5 prints in each.

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Subway cars © Stephen Mallon

The majority of Karsh's portraits are in portrait format, but I wanted to find some landscapes to take advantage of the full screen magazine. Here you see Jean-Paul Riopelle, Max Ernst, Ravi Shankar, Helen Keller and Polly Thompson, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Bertrand Russell, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Each is photographed in Karsh's signature style in a recognizable environment, except for Lord Russell, who is beautifully framed in silhouette lighting his pipe with a match.

There is plenty more to enjoy on Karsh's official website. Don't miss the videos, in particular the recreation of the world famous Churchill "Roaring Lion" photograph.

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Frank Lloyd Wright, 1954 © Yousuf Karsh

Passionate about music from a young age, Michael Putland's career in the music industry began as he thought it was about to end - closing down his studio because he simply couldn't afford it, the last call to come in was an assignment to photograph Mick Jagger. 30 years later he had accumulated a vast archive of most everyone who cut a record or played a gig. He shot for all the music mags we grew up reading in England, and when I moved to New York I realized those rags, and his work, were just as popular there among music fans in the 70s and 80s as they were back home. Michael himself moved to the States in the late 70s and spent a few years having what sounds like a pretty cool but very busy life, before moving back to the UK and opening a sister photo agency to the one which he'd left running back in NY.

Michael and I were business partners in the photo agency, Retna, for several wonderful years, until 2006 when the stock photo industry became something we were less passionate about (more servers, less personal contact). His focus on the agency and desire to encourage and promote younger talent didn't stop him from shooting, and I remember a session with a very young Brad Pitt among the ongoing music subjects. These days Michael still shoots, and spends time scanning the archive and coming up with great ideas like this, his new series of triptychs.

You can watch Michael talk about some of his best known images in a video interview with ZOOZOOM and read more about where his photographs have been used on his Wikipedia page. You are also welcome to contact me about buying a print.

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Michael Jackson, 1972 © Michael Putland

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