Robert Pledge, ever-delightful founder and president of
Contact Press Images, has mounted a show of contact sheets with the prints of the images that were selected from them. Seen all together, the show is incredibly moving and Robert followed up with a presentation of some 300 images he curated showing events from the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 through to September 11th, 2001. I had not seen Annie Leibovitz' images from the Tutsi massacre before.
It was a real treat to go through the show with Robert who, as you can see, has not lost a jot of enthusiasm in the 35 years he's been running Contact.
There's just so much good stuff going on here, including
James Mollison's 'Where Children Sleep'; an
Abe Frajndlich restrospective; sweet and delightful
Bruce Davidson's 'American Photographs'; a selection from
Mary Ellen Mark;
Bjorn Opshal is my new friend-to-take-the-piss-out-of who is a great photographer with no formal training; and a wonderful new discovery for me -
Annelise Kirsebom, an 82 year old woman who took up photography late in life but whose scenes might as well have been taken when she was in her 30s (and for whom I can't find a decent link.)
I'm completely blown away by
Stuart Franklin but I'll address that separately.
I love this idea of having the students create a pop-up gallery by wearing their best image on a T shirt.
Here's me having a sneaky fag with the inimitable (the word was invented for him) British attorney Rupert Grey. Since I always thought I might have been a lawyer if only I was inclined to study hard, I enjoy talking rights and cases with Rupert and this is the first time we've met face-to-face in the twenty years we've known each other.
We're not done yet and tonight we'll be treated to a conversation with Mary Ellen Mark. Tomorrow I have four hours of portfolio reviews and I can't count how many photographers have come up to me and told me how nervous they are. I don't know why...
Poor photos © Julie Grahame
The Punk Professor, aka 
