Lens Culture

If you wake early and can't get back to sleep internet searching is a great way to pass the time; it also means that you come across little gems like this online photography magazine called Lens Culture http://www.lensculture.com/index.html It has a whole range of links to different photographers and different types of photography. If nothing else it's worthwhile going there just to see the eclectic imagery that Bertrand Fleuret has put together in his online book Landmasses and Railways http://www.bertrandfleuret.com/ Happy hunting!

Alison Brady

I know that more often than not we are told to be specific in our internet searches; but sometimes being less specific can be beneficial. I'm not sure I would have got to see the above images by Alison Brady http://alisonbrady.com/contents.html by trying to search unless of course I had known her name, However by looking at Blogs by other people you can open a new string of ideas. I found these images on a Blog by Amy Stein http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.co.uk/ . I've looked at some of the other posts on this Blog and it looks pretty good but I took a chance and chose a name and luckily came up with these images. By chance they have a look of Thorsten Brinkmann and share some of the same aesthetic; but these seem to occupy a more surreal space, perhaps they are more personal in content and on the surface at least they look more American or at least less European. Both these sites are worth visiting and it's worthwhile just taking a chance when internet  searching.

Lorna Simpson

Posting work by Thorsten Brinkmann reminded me of another artist who was in the exhibition and had stand out work, Lorna Simpson. I've been aware of her work from sometime around the eighties and have always enjoyed seeing it. This particular piece is called Please remind me of who I am and this idea of who we are and what we represent is a strong part of her working ethos, equally as strong is the desire to place herself and her work within the context of a black woman in America. You can see her work at http://lsimpsonstudio.com/ .

Thorsten Brinkmann

I find it hard to believe that I haven't posted any work by Thorsten Brinkmann before now. I first saw his work a few years ago at ICP in New York in an exhibition called Dress Codes.The work was based around images of style and personal presentation and Brinkmann's work was a small part of a group show. For me it stood out as being work that significance beyond the immediacy, yes it's striking to look at and arresting but it seems to me that it has a deeper more lasting impression based on a more historically concious thought process. If nothing else you can go to his website at  http://thorstenbrinkmann.com/ and see some knock-out work. This image is from a series called Portraits of a serial collector this particular one is called Bertha von Schwarzflug. According to Google translate Schwarzflug means black flight.

Further link

You can see more work by Tabitha Soren at the Klompching Gallery website along with work by other young photographers including these images by Monika Merva. The Klompching is one of the newer galleries in New York that is specifically for photography work. They have a regular stable of photographers but the current exhibition which is called Fresh is showcasing work by younger photographers.You can find the work at 

http://www.klompching.com/FRESH2012/exhibition/monikamerva03.htm 

Running Tabitha Soren

I came across this image on the Flak website, it's by a photographer called Tabitha Soren. This is from a series of images called Running one of the other sets of images that's worth looking at is Uprooted. I'm not so keen on the other work but these two sets of images are very good.
The  Running series images are so filmic like a small scene from an epic film, very evocative, especially this one which looks like it comes from a David Lynch film. You can find her work at http://www.tabithasoren.com/#/running/3

Instagram

I may be the last person in the world to say this but I think I'm coming round to Instagram. For a long time I've resisted it, mainly due to people who post 'mucking' about with their images too much. However I think I'm getting the point, it's about the immediacy of it, see the above, the ability to have a visual thought, take it and post it. It also seems a great way of developing ideas and testing them out with peer groups. I still haven't tried it yet but I'm getting there.. I think.

I came across these photographs by Chad Moore http://chad-moore.com/index.html in an article in Dazed & Confused. Technically there seems to be a whole lot wrong with them but conceptually and aesthetically the're spot  on. In a digital age we expect our images to perfect these aren't; however they are uninhibited, playful, touching, humane and funny. Most of all they remind me of why we take photographs - to see what we can find.

I came across these images on Flak and I couldn't believe how good they are. They are from a recently published book by Shelly Lee Adams called Salt and Truth, you can find a small section of them here http://flakphoto.com They have a fantastically still quality about them it's almost like they have forgotten there picture faces and relaxed into being themselves. I think they are taken with a 5x4 camera, but I can't be sure.
Either way and which ever way they are taken there really worth a look

I came across this lovely photo on a recommended Blog called Minimal Exposition  http://minimalexposition.blogspot.co.uk It's by a photographer called Yuu Sakai; so simple but really beautiful. I can also recommend the blog which is full of great imagery; well worth while bookmarking.