Cameramen

I had no idea there would be a trove of Factory images at the International Center for Photography.  I never can get enough of Andy.

 

Eugène Atget: The Making of a Reputation, closing soon, was the initial draw.  Berenice Abbott took the photo of him below.  She certainly was the French photographer's first champion, although Man Ray used one of his photos--Parisians staring at an eclipse with various techniques to protect their eyes--in a 1926 issue of his surrealist magazine.  Atget, however, rejected the classification.  He had little interest in interpreting his work, even though he spent much of his life lugging heavy photographic equipment around Paris to document the rapidly changing city.  He preferred shooting in the morning light, when people also were less likely to interfere; their absence is one of the reasons I've never cared much for his work.

Abbott returned to America to supervise production of Atget: Photographer of Paris, a book that was published several years after his death in 1927 at the age of 70.  With nearly a hundred images of street scenes, shops and architectural details, it made an impression of both Walker Evans and Ansel Adams.  Many of the original prints are quite small; a slide show makes it easier to appreciate them.  I left the exhibit feeling like we shared a mania for capturing whatever our eye finds interesting.  

Other exhibits explored more mannered approaches to photography.  "Latitudes" includes works by two African photographers from Côte d’Ivoire. 

Nuits Balnéaires (partial)

"Fresco" by François-Xavier Gbré (partial)

Hard Copy New York reminded me of the NSFW pleasures afforded by the high quality photo copy machine that the National Orchestral Association acquired when I worked there in the mid-1980s, after returning from Australia.  I spent a not inconsiderable amount of time reproducing body parts as well as images from the family photo album for collage, and photos I had taken with my Yashica single lens reflex camera.  But in an age when photos are more commonly seen on screens than printed on paper, the curators of this show have transformed illicit fun into an inexpensive analog reminder of how photography uniquely reflects the personalities behind the camera.  

This is my heart.

They come in many square and rectangular forms.

In each shape is a face that sits deep within me.

Since 2016, I've been stealing screenshots from the people in my life.

A way to access reality without

A moment in between a yawn and the quivering mouth before they cry.

Friends, family, old and new lovers.

A documentation of my world in

If I know you, you're probably in it, you

This project is an ode to the people in

A reminder of time that was off the

A moment that wasn't interrupted by a camera between you and me.

A way for me to look you in the eyes and make sure we were connected.

 

"Call Me/Love You Excerpt 2, #002 by Gray Sorrenti (partial, 2025)

The process was simple: when I saw a dog coming toward the car I would prefocus the camera and set the exposure. With one hand on the steering wheel, I would hold the camera out the window and expose anywhere from a few frames to a complete roll of film. I'll admit that I was not above turning around and taking a second pass in front of a house with an enthusiastic dog.

Contemplating a dog chasing a car invites any number of metaphors and juxtapositions: culture and nature, the domestic and the wild, love and hate, joy and fear, the heroic and the idiotic. It could be viewed as a visceral and kinetic dance. Here we have two vectors and velocities, that of a dog and that of a car and, seeing that a camera will never capture reality and that a dog will never catch a car, evidence of devotion to a hopeless enterprise.

From the series Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert" by John Divola (partial, 1996-2001)

Stephen Shore, just 17 when he walked into the Factory on Union Square in 1964, took these photos, which are part of a much larger ghost-like mosaic as remote as Atget's Paris.  Although this body of photocopied work is uncaptioned and doesn't include any commentary from Shore, now 78, I'd call it the perfect example of being in the right place at the right time.

Andy, Chinatown restaurant

Lou & Andy

Edie

Nico

As I walked uptown on a perfect spring afternoon, I wielded my i-Phone with renewed vigor.  I suspect New York has changed even more than Paris has since Atget's heyday.  If only I'd had his dedication and determination!

Intersection, Essex & Delanncey 

"When You Open Your Eyes, There Will No Longer Be Anything to See"

I'll be returning to the Bowery soon to check out the recently reopened New Museum, which has been expanded since I last visited in 2023.

View North, Bowery

Plastic Dinner Plates, East Village

Cooper Union, East Village

Fifth Avenue View, Madison Square Park

I'll bet Marty Supreme never played table tennis in Herald Square.  Paddles and a ball are all you need to compete in one of the city's most heavily trafficked areas.

Macy's Flower Show, Herald Square

Deutsche Bank Building, Columbus Circle

Plaza, Lincoln Center

Maybe I need a mission statement . . .