Update on "The Cove"

According to AP, Louie Psihoyos will be at the screening of "The Cove" in Tokyo on October 17, even though he could be arrested for what the Japanese police says was trespassing when he and his crew filmed the dolphin slaughter in Taji, Japan. Regardless, Psihoyos is thrilled that the film will be opening in Japan.

The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji starts in September, but things have already changed. Earlier in the month 70 dolphins from this year's catch were set free.

"I was elated. I am cautiously optimistic it's the start of good things for the Japanese people," Psihoyos said.

New York Events Coming Up

Here are some of the cool events coming up in New York next week that you should check out. Summer's over and it's time to get focused again.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 22:


President Barack Obama: The First 200 Days
Photographs by Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer
Leica Gallery
670 Broadway Suite 500
6-8pm

The Art of the Deal: An Evening with John Harrington
The Adorama Building
42 West 18th Street - Between 5th and 6th Avenues
5th floor
6:30pm - 9:00pm
Join John Harrington, author of the best-selling ‘Best Business Practices for Photographers’, for an insightful and solutions-oriented presentation on how to generate more revenue from the assignments, through pricing examples and discussion, negotiation strategies, and demystifying licensing of your work. This seminar is sponsored by Adorama and Nikon. To register online

FREELANCE ART PRODUCER/EDITOR EVENT
Vaughan Hannigan, Brite Productions, and Snapindigo are sponsoring this time to get together, network, look at photographer portfolios and have a good time!
If you are interested in attending, please email your email address and contact info ASAP to: thea@vh-artists.com
from 6:30pm-9:30pm
Splashlight Studios
One Hudson Square
75 Varick St. 3rd floor.

Torbjørn Rødland will be giving a free lecture at 7pm at
Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
APA/NY is sponsoring a Back to Work event for members, art buyers and other creatives at:
The Cabanas at The Martime Hotel
88 9th Ave. (at 17th St)
6:30-8:30
RSVP is required to rsvp@apany.com by Sept. 23

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25:


The opening of "A Square" Photographs by Hosang Park
Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street_(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
6:00 to 8:00 p.m
The exhibition is the Korea-based artist's debut solo exhibition in the United States. Park was one of two artists awarded representation by Jen Bekman Gallery in 2008 through the international photography competition, Hey, Hot Shot!

Brace For Impact: Stephen Mallon's Flight 1549 Show is Up!

On January 15 of this year New Yorker's got a ringside seat to a most unusual event, the safe landing of USAir Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. In March I wrote about the problems photographer Stephen Mallon was having in showing the photos he had been contracted to take of the salvaging of that flight.
After lots of publicity and back and forth, Mallon was able to publish his work with minor alterations. Now "Brace For Impact: The Aftermath of Flight 1549" has opened at the Front Room Gallery at 147 Roebling Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I went there last night to see the 13 large scale photographs and they look fantastic! It's an exhibit worth seeing, so get yourselves over to Brooklyn now. I asked Stephen some questions about his background and his work.

Tell us a bit about your photography background
I got started pretty early with my dad’s AE-1, with my first photo being at age 3. I shot on and off for the next 12 yrs, and after not pursuing a military career I decided to go after photography. I got my BFA from RIT in 1996, assisted HASHI, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Bob Sacha, Mark Seliger, and many others, making just about every imaginable mistake and learning from some of them (the mistakes).
I started shooting as soon as I arrived with my first editorial job in '96 for Black Book magazine. By the year 2000 I had my first cover shoot for a computer trade magazine, CRN along with a contract with Image Bank. Both have lead me into many great places in my almost 10-year shooting career.

What made you settle on industrial photography?
Ive always been a fan of the sandbox. It was what I was shooting when I was 15, got away from it for a while but was always staring at the antennas and bucket loaders when I was on the road. As my commercial and fine art careers were moving along, I realized I was always drifting back to shooting dirt and machines. A push came from a creative director who was looking at my work and told me that the landscapes I was shooting were beautiful, but to make it market-friendly there needed to be a human element involved. Another meeting, and another Sr. art buyer pointed out that I needed to incorporate the workers as well to truly succeed.

How did you get to photograph the salvaging of Flight 1549?
Weeks Marine,(the crane company) began commissioning me after I photographed their ongoing project of retiring 1500 NY subway cars and putting them in the ocean to form artificial reefs. Our working relationship started growing from there.

Can you sum up the situation with the embargo and how it was lifted?
The images had been pulled up and down from the web site a number of times between the NTSB and AIG, and it was a little scary when I wasn’t sure if the images were going to be visible ever. Pressure mounted to release the photos and with the help from two lawyers, Amy Benjamin and Victor Pearlman (ASMP!), journalists, and fans, the images were released again. I was able to get the legal firm representing AIG and USAirways to grant all the self-promotional usage that I had asked for as long as the logo of their client was not clearly visible. The NTSB had a hold on the interiors for a little while after that but once the investigation was over they were also released. The interiors are currently not on my site. Please stop by to see the prints at the show!

Tell us about the show
“Brace for Impact: The Aftermath of Flight 1549” opens at Front Room Gallery Thursday Sept 10th (TODAY!) with a reception on Saturday, September 12th The prints range from 20x30 to 40x60 and were printed by Luscious Ink and I have to say look pretty frackin great! A limited edition catalog is available at the gallery.

What are you itching to shoot?
Ooooh nuclear submarines, I might be heading to 3 Mile Island soon, those airplane graveyards in the West and in Australia, the tunneling under the Hudson River, military recycling, and the military's new hydrogen locomotive, to name a couple.

What’s next?
Hopefully 3 Mile Island. I have to work on a grant proposal for a ship breaking yard in Texas, and there is a sewage treatment plant I am on hold for, and lectures! I am speaking at B&H Photo in New York on October 1st, at Front Room Gallery October 3rd, and a little bit at PhotoPlus Expo on October 23rd.

A Short Walk in the Gambia Bush

As you all know from reading this blog, I am a big fan of Jason Florio’s work, and have featured his Makasutu portraits here. Well, Jason and Helen Jones will be going to The Gambia on November 1 to walk the 700 mile length of the country, in order to raise money and awareness for “Gardens for Life,” and create a modern account of life in rural Gambia. They will be covering their own personal expenses for the expedition, but need to raise money for such on-the-ground costs as local guides, buying two donkeys to carry their supplies, emergency medical insurance and the like.

Their goal is to raise $4500 by October 23rd. Please give whatever you can to help them. Donations will be taken today starting at 7:10pm and be accepted through Friday, October 23 at 10:10pm. To find out more and how to donate, visit here

As Florio says, it “takes but a few minutes to help us to put one foot in front of the other and to raise money for the charity (any donations over the target amount will go directly into Eden Projects ‘Gardens for Life’ in The Gambia--registered charity).”

Florio is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, and has visited The Gambia for thirteen consecutive years. With this project he wants to create a unique multi-media interactive website that can be a living document of the oral histories of Gambians in their own country.

This has all the makings of a great photographic adventure, and a lot of people dream of doing something this bold. If you can make a donation you can have a small stake in the outcome. Keep checking back for their progress, as I hope to be able to keep track of what this duo is up to after they set off.