“RNP the Blog”

Spent most of the past week with some dear friends in Rochester, NY. Got a chance to spend a good portion of one day at the Eastman House. If you are ever in the area do yourself a favor and visit the museum.

They currently are exhibiting “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape.” To give a little background it is a recreation of an old show that became one of the most-talked about shows in the history of photography. The original show was held in 1975 at George Eastman House and it signaled the beginning of a new approach to landscape photography.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was interesting to view it in the context of the times we are living in, which has some similarities to the times they show was originally launched. If you have an wider interest in the work there is an interview with curator Alison Nordstrom here.

I also have to say that I have a man crush on Stephen Shore. His prints (which in fairness to the other works were significantly larger and in color while all the other images were “8 x 10″ black and white prints) really took my breath away. On a side note I saw an exhibition of Shore’s work about a year ago at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art here in Kansas City and it totally rocked my world, so in any context Shore’s work just speaks to me.

I felt like I was buzzing when I left the Eastman House, after viewing work that really connects with me I always feel like I see the world a little clearer. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone but as I walked back to my friend’s house after viewing the work I felt like I was seeing the world in HD.

I drug the “polar bear” all the way to New York with me. Shot two frames which I will share once I have them back from the lab. I am still very much enjoying working with the large format system, but traveling with an “8 x 10″ view camera requires some determination. I did enjoy looking at the faces of the TSA folks when my camera bag went through the x-ray machine. Three of them gathered around their monitor and shared a puzzled look with each other. Sometimes the best pictures are the ones you don’ take.