uncommons

Talk about a must have — Photo Progress turned me onto the handmade and portable large format cameras by New York photographer Kipp Wettstein. Wow! I have always had an insatiable personal craving for such a camera — just imagine the possibilities in a completely new dimension of photographic quality. It’s a pity that one is most likely out of a journalist’s budget reach. It would be amazing to take this camera for a portrait project or landscape test drive. The results seem to be incredible and the man is a genius for his machinery skills. Check out how he builds them.

8×10 view camera, photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Just look at that camera — it’s hard not to salivate over it. Maybe I can get the paper to buy one?

Mobile large format camera, photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Oh well, another day. Just to rub it in, check out Kipp’s work. He has some contemplative social landscape work that quickly reminds me of Joel Sternfeld. It’s pretty fantastic stuff.

Outside Salt Lake City, Utah. Photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Find all your need about Kipp at his site here.

Anyone see the PDN Annual work? There are a few well-known photographers in the editorial and student categories that I recognize, including Vincent Laforet and his derby work (go purple, go), Benjamin Lowy (former PD intern), some fantastic fashion runway work by Paolo Pellegrin, and a few others worth a look. Carolyn Drake always gets my nod. Her work has always stopped me cold not just for the content, but because the images speak a lot of her personality. She is always my go-to photographer for contemporary work in-and-out of the United States that always holds a personal feel. It’s a shame I couldn’t have talked to her longer during her short stint in West Palm Beach.

Some of the other non-ad work isn’t exactly grabbing my attention. It’s a subjective opinion of course, but I’m really looking for work that speaks more about the photographer than the content. That’s just my thing, especially after hammering Post intern Anthony Soufflé yesterday over the lack of vision in his portfolio (he has the vision, just the edit isn’t my favorite). I really want to see more Strazzantes, Paolos, Kashis, Lyttles and Litherlands, Drakes — those photographers that you look at their work regardless of content and know that it’s one of them that made the picture. The highest compliment someone could pay me is when they say, “that looks like an Erik photo.” Sadly, I haven’t heard that lately. Maybe I’m homogenizing.

And for the record, some of the work just frustrates me for being a bit over the top. However, that is again a personal opinion. Someone could should critique my work and say the same thing.

The ad fashion work is great, and one of my personal bets payed off. I saw Raymond Meier’s work in the last NYT “T” Magazine spread on Natalie Portman and loved it. The color, light, mood, and just plain style absolutely takes my breath away. There are some great ideas in the ad side that I’ll steal er, get inspired by for upcoming shoots.

PDN Website, Raymond Meier for T: The New York Times Style Magazine

Lastly, the LA Times stole my idea not really on the “Missed Connections” stories in the personals of Craigslist. Not only did they blatantly take it from the clutches of my hands again, not really, they did a fantastic job with a beautiful layout and great information. Videojournalist Katy Newton nailed some great stories on video about the lookers that got away. Oh, and to top it off, she’s finding new stories once a week. This is positive proof, friends, that when you pitch the same story over a year ago on deaf ears, then it’s loud and clear enough that you just have to take the story and do it yourself. Even my friend Emily Rasinski emailed me the link in shock. “They stole your idea!,” she said. No, Emily, they didn’t. They just got their act together first and hit a home run with it. Nice work Katy. Take a look.

Have anything else of interest that I missed? Send it along and I’d love to take a look. Tomorrow and Friday you can find me in Jefferson City covering the last days of state legislation. Also, I am spending a lot of my time posting for the Post-Dispatch’s new photo blog, Pictures. Stop by and say hello.