I Heart Architectural Photography, a Lecture at CUNY Graduate School for Journalism

Today I had the pleasure of giving a guest lecture to the photo club at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism on 41st street. It was really fun, and the students were smart and excited about learning the work of such masters as Walker Evans, Julius Shulman, Robert Polidori, Alec Soth, Andrew Moore, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, and my own project. It was a very positive experience, especially as it caused me to re-appreciate these amazing artists' work all over again for myself. Inspiration is always a beautiful thing.





© Julius Shulman

ROBERT FRANK at the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM

One of the most inspiring shows up right now is Robert Frank's work up at the Metropolitan Museum, curated by Jeff Rosenheim. Elegantly presented, the show was fulfilling on multiple levels; presenting the flow of the carefully selected edit of Franks' book; showing contact sheets and workprints from Franks' work process; and cases with original correspondence between Frank and Walker Evans and others of his mentors. For many of the photographs was a brief description of the image, but the text never detracted from the pure enjoyment of the image itself. Perhaps not shockingly, the America depicted was not so radically different from our world today.

On a more personal level, I greatly enjoyed--and was very inspired by--- reading Frank's original Guggenheim proposal, as I am in the thick of preparing my own. His writing was passionate, poetic, and lyrical, a realm wholly separate from the academic artspeak I have been educated in.