Fourth of July- Jay, New York. Robert Frank 1955

Hoping everyone had a safe and glorious Fourth of July, whatever it was you did or however you happened to celebrate it. Here in my hometown it was a spectacular day and as the sun went down the night sky put on a show of red and blue tints.Everyone gathers at the local high school to watch the fireworks. Enjoy your freedom!...

Closely related to the Hallowed Places series and the vehicle damaged trees in the previous post are these images of naturally damaged trees. I took these in Minnesota last Fall and would like to continue this theme. It was being mindful of various types of naturally occurring destruction that happens to trees in the wilderness that initially brought about my awareness of roadside vehicle damage.



beaver damage. Minnesota 2008



bird damage. Minnesota 2008




wind damage. Minnesota 2008

Hallowed Places. Horsham, Pa. 2009

Continuing a series of images of automobile crash sites. The wounds left on trees after impact from a vehicle are silent reminders of the event for years afterwards. The tree itself becomes a roadside memorial.


resting places

I am really enjoying the new blog Southern Girl. It's a beautifully selected mix of photography by various artists all featuring subjects and themes with a southern context. Check it out...

the offering. Tom Chambers

Southern Girl

All of the photographs I have been collecting for my series on empty retail buildings have been shot in black & white. I couldn't resist shooting this one in color, with it's vivid orange stripes. I dialed down the saturation and I think it works with the black & white images


these hard times

Animals of Fashion (a concise history)

Edward Steichen. 1935



Richard Avedon. 1955



David Bailey. 1968



Richard Avedon. 1981

"The magical and funny picture is, above all, a great fashion photograph. What better way to sell a dress than to set its elegant sleekness of line and expensive smoothness of texture against the rough, wrinkled hides and ponderous shapes of elephants? It is instructive to compare this picture with what may have been its inspiration: Edward Steichen's celebrated Vogue photograph of 1935, for which he brought a white horse into a white-tiled lavatory and posed three models in white clothes around it-a notion that comes out looking as ridiculous as it sounds. Why Avedon's even more outrageous idea works when Steichen's doesn't could sustain a course in fashion photography".

from A Series of Proposals
Essays on the Aesthetic of Photography: Diana & Nikon
by Janet Malcolm (1980)

There is a nice write up on Sarah Stolfa in today's Philadelphia Inquirer...

Sarah Stolfa article

I first met Sarah a couple years ago at Abington Art Center when she presented a slide show on the history of portrait photography as well as her work The Regulars. At that time she was just about to head up to Yale University for her MFA. I have followed her work ever since, including her group show last year with the other 2008 Yale MFA graduate show.

Yale MFA 2008 Photography exhibit


The Regulars series has now been published in a book, and there will be an exhibition and book signing at Gallery 339 on July 14th at 6pm. If you have not seen the portraits from this series, and even if you have, this is a highly recommended show. The current 2009 Yale MFA group show will still be up at the gallery on that date, so it is well worth checking out.

buy the book

Gallery 339