Highlights: 2011
Less than six months ago, I hatched an idea to begin a blog that showcased talented photographers discussing their work in their own words. Rather than rewriting source material or interpreting what has been said in the past, it was my hope to dig a bit deeper and create a compelling conversation with some remarkable visionaries. And so it was, Underexposed was born.
This blog would not exist without the artists who generously agreed to be interviewed. And it’s my hope to keep you in touch with what their doing yearly by having them report back with their highlights of the year. So without further ado, here are their personal highlights.
(note: names of photographers are linked to their original features)
Antone Dolezal: 2011 was the year I made the leap of showing my work to the greater photography community and the support from so many others was much more than I had expected. I am naturally inclined to wander the landscape with my camera and watch the birds fly by rather than promote my own photographs. So between David Bram inviting me to show my work in Fraction, my pals at Finite Foto taking me under their wing, the emails of support from a few of my photographic heros, and being featured on Underexposed, my understanding and focus of my own work has certainly changed. A big thanks to my friends for continuously poking me with a stick and helping bring my work to light.
Jane Fulton Alt: 2011 was been a splendid year, one in which I deepened my spiritual life and rediscovered my love for encaustics (beeswax).
S. Gayle Stevens: In 2011 i have found my voice. it sang out in, through my looking glass.
Leon Taylor: A short cold snap in October followed by a long and mild Autumn meant that I was able to continue my Wild Mushrooms project for much longer than I hoped this year. They were abundant in the woods near to where I live.
Jennifer Schlesinger: Collecting eggs one day in 2011 I thought about how we always have too many, and while my 5 year old’s egg business is booming, we are still left with a plenty. So as I was in a daydream, it occurred to me : ALBUMEN! I have spent the entire year honing the handcoated, 19th Century albumen process and I am excited to debut the beginnings of my new series, “here nor there” in 2012. (However, after losing 5 out of our 11 hens to a hungry, lurking, intruder last week - I will have to almost immediately start the hen raising process all over again come Spring - ah the life cycle).
Michael Kirchoff: 2011 was an incredible year with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles and New York, as well as my first international exhibit in China. 2012 holds the promise of personal and professional growth that I look forward to embracing with open arms.
Brigitte Carnochan: I’m happy to say that 2011 is the year I learned to print with platinum/palladium, a process that is so congenial to me I wish I’d started it much earlier. On the other hand, it’s lovely to come to it now because my enthusiasm for the process has charged a whole new body of work: Natural Beauty. The full portfolio can be seen here
Elizabeth Opalenik: I shifted gears in January 2011 and volunteered with a team of eye doctors in Colombia. It was great to collaborate with two former students, Dr. Joe Fammartino, heading the team, and Rita Villaneuva, who photographed along side me and acted as translator. It is great to give back, especially around sight. Going back to the Amazon this January. More images here.
Rania Matar: 2011 was a pretty important one for me. A Girl and Her Room received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist grant, and won the Legacy Award at the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Half the year was also consumed in producing this body of work into a book due to come out in the spring of 2012, published by Umbrage Editions and with texts by Anne Tucker and Susan Minot. Here is the book website. And I started a new body of work titled La Femme-Enfant. Above image titles: Lucy 13, Brookline MA, 2011 and Maryam 12, Beirut, 2011
Jonathan Blaustein: 2011 was a crazy year, one that I’ll certainly remember forever. If I had to pick one highlight, it would probably be dropping off a portfolio of my work at the Library of Congress on a great summer day in August. It was such a tremendous honor to have “The Value of a Dollar” project be included as a part of American history, and I got to spend a couple of fascinating hours chatting up the curatorial team as well.
Brad Moore: These three images visually sum up 2011 for me.
Michael Crouser: In 2011 I was incredibly honored to be included in Tim Mantoani’s book Behind Photographs - Archiving Photographic Legends.
Mitch Dobrowner: The personal highlights for 2011 for me would have to include:
1. Two (2) new limited Edition books published by 21st Editions: Deluxe & Prism.
I’ve always wanted to have at least one book published at the highest quality possible before I died (for my kids and grand kids to have). These 2 books are just that… my dreams came true. And note: I’m not planning on dying anytime soon!!
2. The acquisition of prints by 3 museums: Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
3. Four solo exhibits: Blue Sky Gallery, Portland; John Cleary Gallery, Houston; Wall Space; Santa Barbara; GADCOLLECTION, Paris
4. Being published by Time Magazine
5. Having Google (Creative Labs, NYC) create a 2 minute spot for their Search Stories Series. The spot is being shown on their Youtube Channels and broadcast/cable TV:
6. Most important to me is the creation of new work. The two images that I capture 2011 for me are the shot of an F3 tornado in Regan, North Dakota and the super violent storm cell over Mobridge, South Dakota (images above). I feel very lucky.
Damion Rice: My personal highlight of 2011 was the night I took this picture: 12th May 2011.
This picture has helped me out this year - it got accepted into the NYPF: Audio/Visual exhibition at the Brooklyn Powerhouse in October and also more recently it got featured in the Jan 2012 issue of B&W Photography (UK). Beyond that I love the image - it was from possibly the best gig I went to all year Iron Chic & Bangers. When great music, friends, beer & Polaroid combine….its hard to beat.
Lydia Panas: It has been an exciting and busy year with the publication of my first monograph The Mark of Abel and the beginning of a new set of pictures (yet unpublished) that continue my exploration of relationships and love. In pursuit of leisure, I found unexpected pleasure by turning my camera towards a piece of fabric and making a series of images about movement, dance and grace.
Jennifer Shaw: This has been a wildly beautiful year with the release of my first book, Hurricane Story - a long time dream/goal realized thanks to the amazing team at Chin Music Press. And I am honored to have a second book now in the works through North Light Press. But community is really important to me, so I’d like to include the coming together of the photo community, both local and national, to create an amazing PhotoNOLA festival this December as one of my treasured highlights of 2011.
Ken Rosenthal: While 2011 has been a very memorable year for me, the release of my first publication, Ken Rosenthal : Photographs 2001-2009, has been the main highlight. I am very pleased that prints of mine have been added to the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego.
And I commenced work on and have begun releasing prints from a new series, The Forest (selections of which are currently on exhibit at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe.
Lauren Henkin: This year has been one of freedom—to create, to see, to record, to share, and hope. I couldn’t have asked for any more.
Susan Barnett: As the Holidays are upon us we are often told that the Holidays mean “family”. Sometimes a Holiday is in fact the absence of family. I found this gal in Union Square Park where she had set up camp as she was homeless and had been on the road for 6 months. Finding this image occurred at a crucial time for me as I was reevaluating my project “Not In Your Face” . It said to me if there are people out there like this they need to be in the series
Douglas Stockdale: 2011 was another wonderful year in which I was able to continue developing existing relationships, while making some new acquaintances.
My primary photographic accomplishment for 2011 is the publication of my first trade photobook, Ciociaria by Edizioni Punctum with the photobook launch at FotoGrafia Festivale Internazionale di Roma last September. In early 2012 I hope to have available a limited edition book and print set.
Pivotal for me in 2011 was a deeper understanding of an extended project that I have been working on since 2006. Although I initially developed this as an Aftermath project, I now realize that this project delves much deeper; to help explore memory and its preservation and how that concept relates to my family history.
Brian Kosoff: 2011 was not a particularly productive year for me when it comes to the creation of new images. It was a year of distractions and obligations that kept me from shooting as much as I like. However I did create a few images, and the one posted here relates to why I have chosen to shoot landscape work over other genres.
The image “Dixon Cemetery” was shot in October on a road in New Mexico. The image itself is not revelatory to me in any way but the experience of capturing it was a reminder of why I love landscape. As I usually shoot with a view camera it is necessary for me to arrive at a scene while there is still light sufficient to focus. Once I composed and focused I then waited, and waited, until the sky became dark enough for the stars to appear and for the Moon to provide some illumination of the scene. So I had the opportunity and time, some 9 hours of standing around, to look at the world around me, and better still, to look up at the unfolding sky full of stars, so clear from a 7000’ elevation, that I so rarely see from my sea level and light polluted home sky of New York. For all the travel I have done I cannot recall ever seeing so much of the Milky Way and with such detail. It was better than any planetarium show I had ever witnessed and I was thankful that I was no longer constrained by a life spent in my studio. That all the discomforts and inconveniences of landscape photography, were as insignificant as but one small star in a sea of galaxies.
