Irving Penn has passed away at the age of 92. From what I hear he was still working! Incredible.

Here is a great article in The Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/arts/design/08penn.html?_r=1&ref=arts

Penn made quite an impact on fashion photography throughout his long career. He made classic portraits of artists, but by far I enjoyed his still life work the best. Simple. Well-lit. Stunning. Clear. Beautiful. Here are some great images I found online. All images copyright Irving Penn. RIP.

Thank the internet gods for the folks over at Indexhibit.org. I have completed almost my entire web update in ONE DAY! It’s not even done and it looks loads better than it ever has.

Please check out their website at: indexhibit.org

Download their free software.
Donate MONEY – trust me, it’s for a good cause.
Customize your css and change entire galleries at once.

Sleep better at night.

Please send me feedback about the new look.

Recent shots from my ongoing Holland Series – about Holland, Michigan and my family that resides there.

Tulip Festival, May 2009

Marching Band, May 2009

Windmill Island, May 2009

Grandma’s Grave Marker, May 2009

I generally find still lifes to be the most appealing photographs. Some of the female photographers I admire, Laura Letinsky and Sharon Core, are champions of the still life. Both of these artists are directly referencing 17th/18th century still life painting in their work: Letinsky replicates the foreshortening and spatial feel of old still life paintings while Core’s latest works are recreations of Raphaelle Peale paintings.

I also enjoy the art of the “accidental still life”.  These are images that are seemingly candid shots, usually in someone’s home or of one’s personal effects,  but are more than likely arranged just as meticulously as the work of Letinsky and Core. One of the best still life creators of this nature is Wolfgang Tillmans. It is safe to say that any student of photography in the last 10 years is familiar with Tillmans’ work and style (most of us are guilty of replicating his shots as well as his salon style of arranging works). Tillmans not only makes ordinary objects into works of art but also personifies them as well. Magnificent.

Here are some images from these artists whose works are a continuing inspiration to me. All following images are property of the creating artists and are only being used for praise and reference purposes.

Laura Letinsky, From the Hardly More Than Ever series

Laura Letinsky, From the To Say It Isn’t So series

Letinsky’s latest work utilizes disposable products and is fairly monochromatic, a change from her pastel and painterly earlier works.

Sharon Core: Early American, Cut Melon (Raphaelle Peale), 2007

I tried finding one of Peale’s paintings online to see how close Core had matched. The only one I found was the following:

Raphaelle Peale, Still Life with Cake, 1822

Sharon Core: Early American, Still Life with Cake (Raphaelle Peale), 2008

Core doesn’t match the painting exactly, but her photograph adds a haunting amount of depth and clarity to the objects.  Astounding.

Wolfgang Tillmans, Stipped, 2003

Tillmans tends to personify clothing in his still lifes, perhaps because they are the outer skin of a person. These skins, or empty shells, always look defeated.

Wolfgang Tillmans, Still Lifes

I love how he can always manage to make things look happenstance even if they are not. And perhaps they really are. Either way, beautiful images abound.

Recent finds, check ‘em out:

Feature Shoot – Feature Shoot is run by photographer and photo editor, Alison Zavos, and showcases work from up-and-coming photographers alongside work from established photographers, both commercial and fine-art. Submit your work here!

Women in Photography – Not new to me, but new to Humble Arts! The WIP Site features the work of some AMAZING female photographers. WIPNYC recently teamed up with HAFNY. What could be better? Submit your work here!

NYMPHOTO – A collective of female photographers has a great blog and a great roster of talented women. Check out their site. NOW!

We’re Good Together – A Blog featuring inspiring photography, by Christopher from Melbourne, Australia.

Perhaps I will be inspired to blog more often about work I like so that others can discover it too.

I am incredibly privileged to know a very talented photographer named Marcy Robinson. We started working together about 8 months ago and soon after I found out she has a book published of her photographs called Half-Frame. It was published by SteidlDangin (Box’s book company with Steidl), and is a beautiful collection of images.

When I first saw the book I was so inspired, not only because the images are beautiful, but because I felt as though I could relate to all of the images in the book: I felt as if I had or would have taken them. All of them. It is incredibly motivating to see work that is thoughtful and magnificent in such a precious volume, particularly if it in some way (however small) reminds one of their own work.  Perhaps one day I will also be the creator of such a beautiful book of photographs.

Does anyone else ever feel like their website is never good enough? I think it is one of those things that as soon as you’re comfortable with it, you find 100 design flaws and start to think a) you were insane to think it was awesome and b) how did my website come to feel so archaic so quickly? Either that, or I’m just experiencing the whole “you’re your own worst critic” thing. I digress and apologize for the disarray of my website. I am rehauling it…AGAIN. But am delighted to let you all know this means adding new images and probably removing some others. It seemed like a good time to rethink my work a bit.

With all of that said, here are a few new images (or newly discovered) that are my favorites of the past week. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Uncle Ken’s Office, 2009 – From the ongoing series “Holland”

Uncle Ken’s Garage, 2009 – From the ongoing series “Holland”

Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia 2006

Dog on Beach, Atlantic Ocean – Maine 2007

A couple of weeks ago a photograph of mine was featured on the Design Milk blog. Not only did that boost my website visits by 8000%, it also introduced me to a great new blog about art, design and architecture to keep an eye on. So allow me to return the favor and direct your attention to Design Milk:

http://design-milk.com/

Noemi Guajardo – April 29, 1925 – March 23, 2009

My mother’s mother passed away last night. Goodbye Grandma “G”.

Grandma “G” in her chair at  home – Holland, MI, 2003

I haven’t been keeping my site up-to-date (not that anyone has noticed) partly because I am: lazy; incredibly busy with work; afraid my scanner and computer are about to explode; spending all my waking hours cramming for the 32nd American Crossword Tournament!

“What?”, you say? That’s right! This year I am, for fun only, entering the 32nd American Crossword Tournament! For the second year it will be held at the Brooklyn Marriott, and is yet another advantage to living in this great city of New York. If you are not familiar, check out the website for the tournament here!

This is the same famed tournament featured in the 2006 documentary, WordPlay. I will certainly be surrounded by not only geniuses and crossword whizzes, but also the fun-loving elderly. I cannot wait to take some portraits during this event! I also cannot wait to basically embarass myself by my lack of skill.

Anyways, the Tournament is the last weekend in February, so hopefully soon after I will have my very own photo with these two guys:

Homer and Lisa Simpson with Merl Reagle (Famed Crossword Constructor) and Will Shortz (NY Times Crossword Editor).

Thanks to the websites I stole these images from! Also, if you are down with SUDUKO, try this new puzzle KENKEN! ADDICTIVE!