Starting our photographic journey in our backyard, we look at two New Zealand publications featuring fleeting moments between strangers in one, and capturing the essence of iconic figures of the New Zealand cultural and political scene in the other. We add a volume to our Ellen Mark collection, following her death earlier this year. We also reflect on the significance of the captured moment in photography.
Daylight hours
“Daylight Hours, by New Zealand photographer Hans Weston, explores the life, light and colour of the urban environment. Fleeting moments like a couple’s hands that unknowingly imitate each other or a child admiring her reflection as she passes a large window, to a pair of brightly lit religious icons waiting expectantly on a car dashboard, are caught in the lens. Wellington is the backdrop for the majority of this collection, yet there are no location boundaries for Weston, who always takes a camera along for the ride. Daylight Hours is about noticing the world immediately around us, one that for most, passes unnoticed in our busy, distracted lives.” (Syndetics)
Face to face : conversations with remarkable New Zealanders
“Stimulating, humorous, sometimes controversial and always revealing, Face to Face offers intimate portraits of the lives of twelve remarkable New Zealanders. Through conversations with Paul Moon, one of the country’s most acclaimed historians and cultural commentators, and through the lens of award-winning photographer Jane Ussher, we get to know these extraordinary Kiwis like never before. Face to Face is a rare survey of the diversity of talent that contributes to the character of our country. Sir Richard Hadlee, Patricia Grace, Sir Robert Jones, Hone Harawira, Fiona Pardington, Sir Peter Gluckman, Michael Houstoun, Sir Miles Warren, Dame Alison Holst, Sir Lloyd Geering, Tim Finn, Mai Chen” (Syndetics)
Mary Ellen Mark
“Mary Ellen Mark began working as a freelance photographer in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s, Mark worked on several bodies of work for which she gained her reputation as one of the most provocative documentary photographers, ensuring her legendary status in the history of photography. In 1976, she documented the women’s maximum security ward of Oregon State Mental Hospital, and in 1978 she photographed the prostitutes in the brothels of Falkland Road in Bombay. She was a member of prestigious photographic agency Magnum from 1977 to 1982. She then decided to work independently. In the 1980s and 1990s, she photographed and published books on homeless teenagers in Seattle, a holiday camp for children with cancer in California, Mother Teresa, circuses, and most recently, twins in America.” (Adapted from Syndetics)
Capturing the moment : the essence of photography
“One of photographers true greats, Henri Cartier-Bresson, nailed photography perfectly when he coined the phrase the decisive moment. So perfectly, in fact, that it has foiled all attempts to escape the single, crucial idea of what photography, and photography alone, can do. It has spawned the inevitable contrary terms, such as Geoff Dyer’s Ongoing Moment and Gary Winogrand’s Indecisive Moment, but these simply continue to reinforce the idea that there are indeed perfect instants in the world we see in front of us. This book deals with the unique power of photography to capture slices of times and life. What it is not is a book about shutter speed. It is about gesture, expression, things just touching and others about to happen.” (Adapted from Syndetics)
Understanding a photograph
“John Berger’s writings on photography are some of the most original of the twentieth century. This selection contains many groundbreaking essays and previously uncollected pieces written for exhibitions and catalogues in which Berger probes the work of photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and W. Eugene Smith – and the lives of those photographed – with fierce engagement, intensity and tenderness. The selection is made and introduced by Geoff Dyer, author of the award-winning The Ongoing Moment. How do we see the world around us? This is one of a number of pivotal works by creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision for ever.” (Syndetics)
Light, paper, process : reinventing photography
“Light, Paper, Process features the work of seven artists–Alison Rossiter, Marco Breuer, James Welling, Lisa Oppenheim, Chris McCaw, John Chiara, and Matthew Brandt–who investigate the possibilities of analog photography by finding innovative, surprising, and sometimes controversial ways to push light-sensitive photographic papers and chemical processing beyond their limits. A panoply of practices emerges in the work of these artists. Trial and error contribute to an understanding of the materials and their potential, as do the attitudes of underlying curiosity and inventive interrogation. The results are stunning.” (Syndetics)
It’s what I do : a photographer’s life of love and war
“War photographer Lynsey Addario’s memoir It’s What I Do is the story of how the relentless pursuit of truth, in virtually every major theater of war in the twenty-first century, has shaped her life. What she does, with clarity, beauty, and candor, is to document, often in their most extreme moments, the complex lives of others. She photographs the Afghan people before and after the Taliban reign, the civilian casualties and misunderstood insurgents of the Iraq War, as well as the burned villages and countless dead in Darfur. She exposes a culture of violence against women in the Congo and tells the riveting story of her headline-making kidnapping by pro-Qaddafi forces in the Libyan civil war. Watching uprisings unfold and people fight to the death for their freedom, Addario understands she is documenting not only news but also the fate of society.” (Syndetics)
William Helburn : Seventh and Madison : mid-century fashion and advertising photography
“William Helburn was the go-to photographer for many of the top advertising agencies in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. Shock value and an unrelenting hunger for success helped Helburn to a pioneer’s share in the revolutionary era of advertising and his work would also appear on the editorial pages and covers of major magazines. He worked with the top models of the day, from Dovima and Dorian Leigh to Jean Patchett and Barbara Mullen to Jean Shrimpton and Lauren Hutton. This is the first book to survey the photographic work of William Helburn and gives viewers a taste of the vivid reality that the television series Mad Men seeks to evoke. In addition former colleagues Jerry Schatzberg, George Lois, Sunny Griffin, and Ali McGraw offer insights into the lusty, creative spirit of William Helburn.” (Adapted from Syndetics)
The big picture
“This is Arthur Elgorts first comprehensive book, showing his world-renowned fashion imagery alongside his personal work. The Big Picture spans Elgorts five-decade career and illustrates his longevity as an emulated fashion photographer. His lively and casual shooting style is intriguingly influenced by a lifelong love of music and dance, particularly jazz and ballet. Elgorts 1971 debut in British Vogue created a sensation in the fashion world where his soon-to-be iconic snapshot style and emphasis on movement and natural light transcended norms of fashion photography.” (Syndetics)
Babe
“Curated by one of today’s most sought-after photographers, this collection of work by young female artists captures the voices and visions that are shaping a generation of women. 21-year-old Canadian photographer Petra Collins is leading the way in a contemporary girl power revolution that proves feminism and sexuality aren’t mutually exclusive. Babe includes work by Collins as well as over 30 artists who have been part of her online collective The Ardorous. Though their work is aesthetically varied, it all represents a current zeitgeist characterized by explorations of female identity, scrutinization of the role of the Internet and social media, and a penchant for pastel colors.” (Syndetics)