May 11, 2012
© Courtesy Leica Camera
Jean-Louis Dumas, the former president of Hermès and an avid photographer, passed away in May 2010, but his legacy is being preserved by another brand with which he had a special bond: Leica. The renowned cameramaker has announced the debut of the limited-edition M9-P Edition Hermès Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas camera set ($50,000; available in July), created to honor Dumas, who famously carried a Leica camera and a small red notebook everywhere he went. Only 100 of the cameras will be made. (The standard M9-P Edition Hermès camera, which sells for $25,000, will be available in June.)
The design of the M9-P Edition Hermès combines silver chrome and ochre Hermès calfskin and comes with three lenses: the Summicron-M 28mm, the Noctilux-M 50mm and the APO-Summicron-M 90mm. Owners of the special set will also receive a hand-finished Hermès camera bag, the first bag the company ever created for Leica cameras, and a portfolio of 200 black-and-white images taken by Dumas on his Leica M. Consider it a bit of inspiration—and good luck. Available in Leica stores and boutiques worldwide, including 977 F St., Washington, D.C.; 202-787-5900; leica.com.
July 30, 2012
Photo by Sam Haskins
The playful, undeniably sexy photographs of South African photographer Sam Haskins transcended traditional views of nudes when they came onto the scene in the 1960s. Now, in a partnership between his estate and Vintage and Modern, an online purveyor of vintage goods, some of his most memorable images from the ’60s and ’70s are on sale through October.
The offerings are notable. Black-and-white photos from Haskins’s first book, Five Girls (1962), did double duty, informing his signature style and bringing nude photography to the artistic fore. Cowboy Kate, published two years later, sold about a million copies and was the first of its kind to use photo narrative exclusively. Whether focused on his obvious visual details or looking deeper into his underscoring philosophy, photographers today continue to draw inspiration from his approach and eye. “Fashion photography and fashion design keep revisiting the ’60s,” says his son, Ludwig Haskins. “Since Sam’s books were part of the broad creative explosion that helped to define that decade, it is natural that his photography is constantly being referenced by contemporary shooters of fashion.” vandm.com.
December 12, 2012
Karin Jobst, 2012
When legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson stopped to photograph Detroit in 1947 during a cross-country road trip, he kicked off a legacy in the city that has lasted nearly 70 years. “People don’t think about a photographic tradition in Detroit,” says Nancy Barr, curator of the exhibit “Motor City Muse: Detroit Photographs, Then and Now” at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “But Cartier-Bresson wanted to do a book on Detroit about the American dream and people living it out.”
Barr, a native Detroiter, has long focused her energies on bringing her city’s storied artistic history to life. The latest exhibition, which opens December 14, mixes historical fine-art photography with more contemporary pieces to create an eclectic representation of life in the Midwestern town. The show runs the gamut from high to low, including Bill Rauhauser’s everyday portraits (a woman smoking in the art museum, a teenager selling curly fries) and contemporary works like Nicola Kuperus’s juxtaposition of staged homicides with vintage cars.
And not to be forgotten, the legacy of the automobile—which put Detroit on the map when Ford Motor Company opened its plant at the turn of the 20th century—rightly serves as a unifying theme. December 14 through June 16, 2013; 5200 Woodward Ave.; 313-833-7900; dia.org.
December 26, 2012
Jill Merriam
“I’ve been a photographer since I was 11 years old,” says Michael Chinnici, who founded Photo Workshop Adventures in 2008 as a way to merge his interests in photography, business, travel and teaching. The initiative combines a luxury vacation with top-notch photography instruction in a small-group setting—and not just any setting. The operation travels to some of the world’s most beautiful locations, including Iceland, Spain and Croatia, and is adding even more destinations in 2013.
One of the most exciting recent additions is a nine-day trip to Cuba, a country that has been on Chinnici’s list since 2010 and offers rich photographic opportunities in tobacco farms dotting the countryside, French Colonial architecture and a small village where Ernest Hemingway often fished. Though the United States doesn’t maintain full diplomatic relations with the island nation, a special visa program allows U.S. citizens to travel there for cultural and educational purposes. Chinnici focuses on teaching during the trip, and his co-leader, Collin Laverty (who spends more than half the year in Cuba and has written numerous articles on U.S.-Cuba relations and Cuban society), handles on-the-ground logistics. The journey kicks off in Old Havana and winds its way through Cienfuegos and Trinidad, with stops along the way to meet with scholars, artists and local photographers.
Chinnici stresses that all levels of students are welcome. “We attract the enthusiast and amateur, as well as the semi-pro who is looking for a photography-centric, pre-scouted destination,” he says. “Anyone can take great photos.” March 16–24, 2013; $3,895 (U.S. citizens); 888-834-0288; photoworkshopadventures.com.
February 21, 2013
Chris Friel
Holding to a philosophy that photography is the art of our time, V&M Photography, the month-old sibling of online vintage purveyor V&M (Vintage & Modern), aims to spread the good word with its equally new Emerging Artist series. Dedicated to the cause—the site will post one new photo from a burgeoning artist every day—it is also eager to give back. Through February 24, V&M Photography will donate 50 percent of net proceeds to the New York Foundation for the Arts (nyfa.org), which supports artists affected by Hurricane Sandy.
It is a generous outpour, riffing on an overall desire to foster both the famous and the fresh. “We’re as committed to the shock of the old as the shock of the new,” says Courtney Eldridge, curator of the Emerging Artist series. “We’re equally devoted to the genius of masters like Stanley Kubrick and Sam Haskins as to exhibiting breakthrough photographs of relatively unknown artists—works that deliver the promise of famous careers in the making here and now.”
The talent runs deep. A photo encapsulating a tender moment between a boy and a girl, shot by 17-year-old Connie Gegenfurtner from Germany, provides a raw (though no-less-sophisticated) perspective. Renowned photographer Chris Friel—short-listed for the Sunday Times Landscape Photographer of the Year award four years running—is represented by a mesmerizing unedited shot of the sun taken with a handheld camera from a fast-moving boat (pictured here).
Eldridge and R. Adam Smith, V&M CEO, sifted through hundreds of photographs last November to choose the first 30 images for the series. Their approach mirrored what the site strives to do—let the images speak for themselves. “We didn’t discuss age, nationality, when or where the artist had been exhibited before,” says Eldridge. “[We chose] solely on the merit and brilliance of the individual photographs.” Prints, from $75; photo.vandm.com.
