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Paula Barr

Posted on December 11, 2019 by APAG in Member Profile
Red Dirt Alabama, 1977
Ernest at Gulf State Fair, 1977
Atrium MIMC, 1995

WTC in A Mud Puddle, 1978
Flatiron Building, 2000
WTC Facing East, 1984

The Paula Barr Archive representative is Dr. August Krueger.

To contact, please email info@paulabarr.com or visit the website, www.paulabarr.com

 

Paula Barr was born in Pennsylvania.  She was raised in Mobile, Alabama during the tumultuous times of the 1960’s.  Barr studied painting at Boston University and gained a BFA with honors. Upon graduation, she went directly to New York City to set up her first studio in Little Italy.  It was a magical time in New York City – the late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s – it was a small bourgeoning community of artists’ sharing ideas. An ideal day was spent in the studio making art and a nightcap at Max’s Kansas City to connect with friends.

In 1974 Barr was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.  She received grants from the Z.B.S Foundation and the A.I.R Committee for the Visual Arts in 1976.  In 1985 with the birth of her son, Barr broadened her palette to include photography and alternative media. She was an innovator in creating site-specific public art installations.

In 1995 Barr was commissioned to create “Twilight Interlude”. The 10’ x 74’ photo-mural is composed of glass-photo tiles for which she holds a patent. Her public commissions are found at; JFK Airport, Penn Station, NYC, Columbus Circle MTA subway, Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, Alabama, Bellevue and Goldwater Hospitals.  In 2008 Barr was invited by the World Economic Forum to exhibit at their annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. She presented “Gulf Coast Echo Pre and Post Hurricane Katrina”. The mural size images showed the international leaders the reality of a natural disaster after it is no longer reported in the news.  Since 2011, Barr has worked with the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Presently the 9/11 Museum has commissioned two silk scarves of the Twin Towers, which may be purchased exclusively at the Museum’s shops.

From 1967 until the present, Barr has exhibited and is in the following public collections that include; Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum and the Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of the City of New York, Bykert Gallery, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, New York Public Library, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, Chase Manhattan Bank, Getty Museum, Bill Gates, Henri Gallery, Neikrug Gallery, Newark Museum, Indianapolis Museum, Cincinnati Museum, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, International Photography Museum, New York State Museum, One World Trade Center, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Penn State University Gallery, Fine Arts Museum of the South, Huntsville Museum, Mobile Museum of Art and the John Samuels Collection. Paula has been a Guest Lecturer at New York University, School of Visual Arts, The New School, Penn State University, and Spring Hill College.

Peter B. Kaplan

Posted on July 23, 2019 by APAG in Member Profile

 

Obituary: Photographer Peter B. Kaplan, 79

Please contact Sharon Kaplan with any questions, or to license or purchase any photos sharonrkaplan@gmail.com

Peter B. Kaplan – bio

Peter has been featured numerous times on shows such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, Real People, and CNN. He has appeared as a spokesperson for Eastman Kodak, Nimslo 3D Camera, Soligar Lens and Nikon Cameras. His photographs have appeared in almost every major magazine in the world and have hung in shows at the Canton Art Institute, Ohio, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NYC, Municipal Arts Society of New York City, New York Historical Society, NYC; N.Y. State Museum, Albany: Nikon House, NYC; Museum of Modern Art, NYC; Smithsonian, Washington DC and International Center for Photography, NYC; to name a few.

He was honored when the United States and French Governments selected his image for the Statue of Liberty 100th Anniversary Commemorative Stamp issued July 4, 1986. His images of the Statue of Liberty restoration and celebration were also selected to appear on 170 different commemorative stamps in thirteen other nations.

Harry N. Abrams published his first book, ‘High on New York’ in 1985. “These unusual pictures combine the skill of a professional photographer, the perception of a fine painter and the daring of a trapeze artist.” said Paul Goldberger, Architectural critic for The New York Times. Kaplan went on to produce several other books. His next two concentrated on the Statue of Liberty, and were published for the Statue’s centennial, ‘A Celebration of Freedom and Liberty, The Statue And The American Dream,’ published by the National Geographic Society.

In May of 1987, the Friends of the Golden Gate Bridge appointed Mr. Kaplan the “Official Photographer” for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge. Eastman Kodak created a limited edition of dye transfer prints from this assignment and presented these to various dignitaries.

In 1990 he was sponsored by Eastman Kodak to produce a one-man show called ‘Three Coasts’, which was on display for over a year at the Museum in the St. Louis Arch for their 25th Anniversary. In the summer of 1991, the Operation Welcome Home NYC committee named him the Official Photographer for the parade. In 1992, he created the advertising photos for the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain. The following year he created advertising photos for the German Bundapost in Berlin, Germany. Both of these images were created from cranes with his signature 16 mm fisheye overview lens.

In 1985, he married his wife in a ceremony held on the 96th story ledge of the Empire State Building. Their wedding bands were created from scrap copper of the new torch of the Statue of Liberty. They have a daughter, Ricki Liberty, and a son, Gabriel Liberty. In 1995, Mr. Kaplan moved his corporate headquarters to Hockessin, Delaware where at present he resides with his family. Since moving to Delaware, he has had several one-man shows, worked on many book projects, and received numerous honors for his achievements. He created and self published a book for Turner Construction titled “Citigroup LIC 2.” At present he has been working on another book for Turner Construction that he started in 2008 on Tower # 2 at Ground Zero.

In 1997 he was awarded a State Fellowship and a NEA Grant to work on his newest Statue of Liberty book, called ‘Liberty for All,’ written by his co-author Lee Iacocca. In the spring of 1998, the U.S. Postal Service released the Art Deco Commemorative Stamps in the Century Series using Mr. Kaplan’s Chrysler Building image. In November 1998, he did the first pull out cover for the 90th Anniversary issue of Philadelphia Magazine, along with an eight-page essay inside showing his signature heights technique called “Pole Shots.” In 2002 he had more images selected then any other photographer to use in the one-year commemorative book of 9/11 titled ‘Eleven,’ published by Rizzoli. In 2003, his work was selected for the book series ‘America 24/7,’ as well as the Delaware state version where his image was chosen to be used on the cover along with many inside. In 2007 Turner Construction published a special edition book called “CitiGroup LIC #2” featuring Kaplan’s photographs of their construction property. In 2008 one of Kaplan’s images was chosen to hang along with Gordon Parks Show at the Delaware Art Museum and in 2010, Mr. Kaplan was given the honor of being one of the guest speakers at the opening ceremonies of the Gordon Parks Museum in Ft. Scott, KS.

Dan Weiner

Posted on April 12, 2019 by APAG in Member Profile
Martin Luther King outside church, 1956, Bus Boycott
Man with Cane, Posey Parking Lot
Tony Bennett

Fritz Thomas family, Mondamin, Iowa floods, 1952
Arthur Miller, NYC, 1956
Times Square, New Years Eve, NYC, 1950

www.danweiner.org 

American photojournalist Dan Weiner (b. New York City, NY, 12 October 1919; d. near Versailles, KY, 26 January 1959), despite a professional career that lasted only a scant ten years before his untimely death in a plane crash, remains one of the most important and most eloquent documentarians of life in the 1950s, both at home and abroad. He is widely credited for the pivotal role he played in the development of documentary and humanitarian photography.

Working during the heyday of the great picture magazines – Fortune, Collier’s, This Week, Life, and Look – he produced images, almost always of people, that are still widely recognized and reproduced more than half a century after his death.

Weiner’s parents were immigrants to New York City from Russia and Romania in the early 1900s; Dan grew up on East 104th Street, a middle-class neighborhood at the time, in a brownstone that his family shared with his grandparents. He attended New York City public schools and developed an interest in painting, much to the distress of his father, who had had little success in any of the several jobs he had held. In 1934 on his fifteenth birthday, Dan received his first camera, a 9 x 12cm Voigtlander, as a gift from an uncle and began to teach himself to photograph, develop, and print his pictures.

He studied painting at the Art Students League and later at the Pratt Institute, supporting himself by working during the day. He joined the Photo League, where he was associated with Paul Strand, Sol Libsohn, Dorothea Lange, and Sid Grossman, and became familiar with the work of the great photographers of the Depression era: Walker Evans, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Lewis W. Hine, Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Brassai, and others. Soon he was teaching an advanced class at the League, while taking part in Grossman’s Documentary Class, out of which grew the “East Side Group,” photographing people and events around the lower East Side. As his wife Sandra, whom he met during this period, later wrote, it was “an inspiring period for a young photographer.”

Dan Weiner and daughter Dore

Weiner landed a job as an assistant to a commercial photographer, but continued to shoot people around the city and in Central Park. In 1942 he and Sandra were married, and Dan made the decision to give up painting and devote himself entirely to photography. From 1942 to 1946 he served in the Army Air Force as a photographer and instructor, stationed in Georgia where Sandra was able to join him for three of those years. An Air Force buddy gave him a 35mm Contax, and although he had never before used an eye-level camera, he took to it immediately, preferring its size, convenience, and relative unobtrusiveness.

Back in New York in 1946, Weiner set up his own commercial studio, beginning by photographing women’s hats for catalogues. The following year, the Photo League found itself on the U.S. Attorney General’s list of “subversive organizations” and disbanded. In 1949 Weiner gave up his studio and turned full time to accepting assignments from the glossy picture magazines: This Week, Collier’s, and Fortune, where Walker Evans was a colleague.One of Weiner’s first assignments was photographing an old-age home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where twenty-nine individuals had died of malnutrition (Collier’s, 1949). In 1952, he photographed the devastating aftermath of a flood in Mondamin, Iowa. Two years later, having spent four months working in Europe, Weiner met Alan Paton, a South African author. Commissioned by Collier’s to do two articles on African Americans, Weiner and Paton worked together again in 1955, this time on an independent project in South Africa which resulted in the publication of South Africa in Transition in 1956. On another commission for Collier’s in 1956, Weiner covered the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., which is recognized as one of the first significant stories to be published on the burgeoning civil rights movement. In the winter of 1956, Fortune sent the photographer to Russia, followed by Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in the spring of 1957. Weiner photographed extensively during these trips, hoping to capture a comprehensive overview of the people and their lives; many of the photographs which resulted were published in the magazine. In 1959, Weiner’s life and career tragically came to an end, at thirty-nine years of age, in an airplane crash while on assignment near Versailles, KY.Dan Weiner’s work has been the subject of several solo and group exhibitions since his first one-person show, a traveling exhibition that originated at the Camera Club in New York, in 1953.In 1967, in the landmark exhibition “The Concerned Photographer,” Dan Weiner’s work was shown alongside photographs by André Kertész, Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, Werner Bischof, and Leonard Freed, organized by Cornell Capa, founder of the International Center of Photography in New York.In 1989, the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented America Worked: The 1950s Photographs of Dan Weiner, in association with a publication of the same title.

Examples of Dan Weiner’s photographs are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern, many other national and international museums, and numerous private collections.

Eliot Elisofon

Posted on December 16, 2018 by APAG in Member Profile
Gloria Swanson at the Roxy, 1960
Roddy McDowall as Aerial, 1957
Hermione Gingold in Bell, Book and Candle, 1958

Third Avenue El Stairs,1937
Woman and Crane, 1940
David Smith in his Studio, Brooklyn, 1938

ELIOT ELISOFON 1911-1973

Eliot Elisofon was born on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1911 to immigrant parents of modest means. His mother ensured that he was well-educated and took him to museums, concerts and parks. Elisofon’s childhood struggles inspired his mission as a photographer; whether photographing the neighborhood he grew up in, the poor communities in the South, or exploring other countries, the human condition remained central to his work. His humble upbringing drove Elisofon to succeed and to improve the world around him. From his perspective: “art, to be true art, must grow out of human beings and it must help human beings live a better and fuller life. It must extend the field of feeling and vision we are born with.” He became one of the most important LIFE magazine photographers, shooting for the magazine during its heyday. This exhibition presents a broad range of subject matter and aesthetic concern, including a selection of Elisofon’s humanitarian photographs, which underline his mission “to help the world to see” as well as a group of rare photographs of the sculptor David Smith from 1938.

After attending Fordham University, Elisofon opened a commercial photography studio with a childhood friend in 1935, making photographs for advertising and fashion. Elisofon pursued his personal work on the side and studied the work of photographers he admired. Early in his career, Elisofon made it his mission to “point his camera at things that needed attention.” He initially turned his camera to the neighborhood he grew up in, often creating abstract compositions. He joined the Photo League in 1936, eventually becoming its president. In 1937 he met the photographer and filmmaker Willard Van Dyke who introduced him to Harper’s Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch, who in turn introduced him to Beaumont Newhall, the curator of photography at MoMA and Tom Maloney, the editor of U.S. Camera. His New York street work was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art and the Julien Levy Gallery. In 1938 his series Playgrounds of Manhattan was exhibited at the New School; for Elisofon the series was a way to bring attention to playground conditions for children in poor neighborhoods. Elisofon befriended and photographed many artists of the period, including Chaim Gross, Isamu Noguchi and David Smith, and his studio across from the Museum of Modern Art served as a gathering place for artists.

Elisofon’s first assignments for LIFE magazine appeared in 1937, Tin Type Photographer and Jewish New Year, and in 1941 his image of General Patton was the first color cover of LIFE. Patton was intrigued by Elisofon’s desire to get as close to the action as possible and nicknamed him “Hellsapopin.” In 1942 Elisofon talked his way into a French Moroccan concentration camp, Sidi El Agachei. The camp held a diverse group of people unfit for labor, including Central European Jews, Spanish Republicans, and foreign members of the French Foreign Legion as well as Italian and French women who had relations with members of the German Armistice Commission. Despite Elisofon’s persistence and protests, French and American authorities ensured that the images were never published. His other photographs of the North African Campaign during WWII became an exhibition titled The Tunisian Triumph, which opened in June of 1943 at MoMA and traveled to 20 cities in the United States.

In 1941 while on assignment for LIFE in Hollywood, Elisofon discovered the potential to use motion picture color filters for expressive use in still photography. While photographing the making of African Queen, Elisofon shared his theories on color photography with John Huston who then hired him as the color consultant on Moulin Rouge.

Over the years, Elisofon travelled to six continents, covering an estimated 2,000,000 miles. His work appeared in LIFE for almost 30 years and 19 books of his work were published during his lifetime. He made 11 trips to Africa, photographing, making films and collecting art and donated his extensive collection of African art and photographic archive of over 80,000 images to what became the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. In 2013 the museum celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives and art collection with the exhibition Africa Re-Viewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon.

Contact Elin Elisofon for more information: eelisofon@gmail.com 

Susie Fitzhugh

Posted on November 27, 2018 by APAG in Member Profile
Traumatized Child, 1987
Edna May and Banjo, 1983
I-95 Drainage Ditch, 1976

Mudpuddle, 1983
Paysons Leap, 1974
The Needed Paperwork, 1992

Susie Fitzhugh
Susie Fitzhugh (b.1942) is a self-taught documentary photographer of
education, social issues, children and families. Over the course of her
career, she worked with foundations and nonprofits concerned with
education, healthcare, the effects of poverty, and of society in general.
Her later work focuses on education in Seattle’s public schools and
on the natural world around her present home on Vashon Island,
Washington.

Exhibitions of her photography have been shown in Maryland,
Washington, D.C., and Seattle in such venues as the Maryland State
Arts Council, the Cloisters Children’s Museum, the Maryland Hall of
Records, and the Seattle City Hall Galleries. Her work is also in the
collections of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Abell
Foundation, both in Baltimore; and the Casey Family Programs,
Pyramid Communications, the Seattle Foundation, and the
University of Washington Medical Center, in Seattle.

Fitzhugh’s editorial work has been published in Life, People, Pacific
Northwest, and Maryland magazines, among others, and has illustrated
the books Dooryard Garden, Changes Everywhere, and Raising a Happy
Child. Her work has been included in the books The Family of Children,
Time-Life Books’ Photographing Children, LIFE Classic Photographs, The
Story of Mothers & Daughters and many others.
If a more extensive c.v. is needed, please request it from me at
susiefitzhugh@icloud.com

 

Fourth Annual APAG Seminar 12/8/18 and 12/9/18 at the School at ICP at 1114 Sixth Avenue, NYC.

Posted on September 24, 2018 by APAG in News, Seminar

PANELISTS:

Ellen Boughn – ellenboughn.com
Alla Efimova, PhD – thekunstworks.com
Loni Efron – ilon.com / intagliogroup.com
Monique Fischer – nedcc.org
Julie Grahame – juliegrahame.com  / karsh.org
Dennis Inch – Archival Methods.com 
Maria Kessler  – bloctechmedia.com
Dr. Loren E. Miller  – nmaahc.org
Hanoch Sheps – mazzolalindstrom
Andrew Smith  – andrewsmithgallery.com
Jennifer Stoots  – Stootsllc.com
Mary Virginia Swanson – maryvirginiaswanson.com
Katie Wagner, Esq. – Katie Wagner, Esq

MODERATORS:

A.D. Coleman – A.D.Coleman
Mary Engel APAG / orkinphoto.com
Julie Grahame – juliegrahame
Stella Kramer – stellakramer
Stephen Perloff – photoreview.org 
Andrew Smith  – Andrewsmithgallery

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Panel #1: 10:00 – 11:30am

Museum Curators: How Do They Find Work For Their Exhibitions and Collections.

Panelists: Dr. Loren Miller, Alla Efimova, PhD – Moderator: Mary Engel


Panel #2: 11:45 – 1:15pm

Conservation and Preservation: What You need to Know to Protect Your Archives

Panelists: Monique Fischer, Dennis Inch – Moderator: Stephen Perloff


Lunch: 1:15 – 2:15pm (on your own)


Panel #3 : 2:30 – 4:00pm

Licensing and Marketing: Learn All About It From the Experts

Panelists: Mary Virginia Swanson, Julie Grahame – Moderator: Stella Kramer


Coffee break: 4:00 – 4:30

Breakout Sessions: 4:30 – 5:30pm


Sunday, December 9, 2018

Panel #4: 10:00 – 11:30am

From a Legal Perspective: Contracts and Copyright

Panelists: Hanoch Sheps, Kathryn E. Wagner Esq. – Moderator: A.D. Coleman


Panel #5: 11:45 – 1:15pm

What’s it Worth? Appraising Prints and Copyrights Associated with an Archive”

Panelists: Jennifer Stoots, Ellen Boughn – Moderator: Andrew Smith


Lunch: 1:15 – 2:15pm


Panel #6: 2:30 – 4:00pm

The Internet: New Technology and How It Will Impact Our Industry

Panelists: Loni Efron, Maria Kessler – Moderator: Julie Grahame


Coffee break: 4:00 – 4:30pm

Breakout Sessions: 4:30 – 5:30pm


SPONSORS:

Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation 

UOVO

Picturae

 

SEMINAR FEES:

(Includes 3 panels each day, breakfast, afternoon coffee, breakout sessions and Sat. evening party) 

One Day- APAG member $225 / non-member $250 

Two Days – APAG member $ 400  / non-member $450 

Additional attendee from an archive/photo studio – member $175 each day 

HOTELS: Below are hotels in Midtown that are within walking distance of ICP. There are many other Manhattan hotels that are also convenient by subway, bus, or cab. ICP is located at 1114 Sixth Avenue, at 43rd Street.

Large Chain Hotels:
Millenium Broadway, Times Square
Marriott Marquis
Small Boutique Hotels:
Paramount
Night Hotel, Theater District or Times Square

B & H blog – APAG and Legacy…

Posted on September 13, 2018 by APAG in News

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/features/concerned-about-your-photographic-legacy-look-to-apag-for-help

Concerned About Your Photographic Legacy? Look to APAG for Help

By Jill Waterman |

9/12/18 

Above photograph: Harlem Merchant, 1937 © Estate of Morris Engel 
https://www.engelphoto.com

What to do with all the pictures? This is one of the thorniest questions facing an active image maker with a sizable, and probably still growing, collection of photographs and/or motion footage, plus other contributing materials that add context to a life behind the lens. In an ideal world, as pictures accumulate, a collection evolves into an archive; yet many photographers lack awareness of this concept until far too late in life. Another daunting hurdle to this process is the discipline for organizing a lifetime of visual output.

Anyone who finds this to be a familiar concern needs to know about the American Photography Archives Group (APAG), a professional organization for people handling private photo collections, photo-related archive professionals, and photographers actively earning income from fine art or editorial work who are working on their own archives.

All other photographs © Grayson Dantzic, All Rights Reserved 
www.graysondantzic.com

Group photo of APAG members and attendees at the 2017 APAG seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017

Group photo of APAG members and attendees at the 2017 APAG seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017

Founded in 2000, APAG is the brainchild of Mary Engel, who assumed responsibility for the archive of her mother, noted photographer and filmmaker Ruth Orkin, when she died, in 1985. Just out of college at the time, Engel immersed herself in learning about intellectual property rights, conservation and preservation, promotion, and the world of photography galleries and dealers. After gaining a wealth of knowledge about handling her mother’s estate, she subsequently inherited the archive of her father, award-winning filmmaker and photojournalist Morris Engel, when he died, in 2005.

As her experience with archival management grew, Engel became an informal consultant, sharing her wisdom with families of other photographers or estate holders who found themselves in similar situations. Before long, she decided that organizing a dinner with these newfound colleagues would save time and allow everyone to benefit from each other’s experience. This core group included Grayson Dantzic, son of photographer Jerry Dantzic, and now APAG’s executive vice president; Jean Bubley, niece of photojournalist Esther Bubley; and Annie (Rothstein) Segan, daughter of photographer and educator Arthur Rothstein.

“Basically, the reason for the group is to share information, because there’s no magic handbook that tells you what to do when you inherit a photography estate,” says Engel (who has since written just such a handbook). “And if you inherit a well-known photography estate, you inherit lots of photos, scrapbooks, letters, papers, it’s endless. It’s a big responsibility.”

APAG members visit the Gordon Parks Foundation, in Pleasantville, NY, 2016. Other archives visited to date include the Richard Avedon Foundation, and the Museum of the City of New York, with additional trips planned for fall 2018.
APAG members visit the Gordon Parks Foundation, in Pleasantville, NY, 2016. Other archives visited to date include the Richard Avedon Foundation, and the Museum of the City of New York, with additional trips planned for fall 2018.

As word spread about Engel and the helpful resources she offered, the number of dinner guests grew, until it was clear that a larger, more focused meeting space was needed. After gathering for several years at the School of Visual Arts, in 2007 Engel arranged to hold meetings at the school of the International Center of Photography (ICP), where the group has gathered ever since for regular meetings, which usually include a lecture from an expert in the field. In 2011, APAG became a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation, allowing the organization to offer paid memberships and expand on its resources and member benefits.

Currently, APAG counts 82 individual photographers, 72 archives, 4 foundations and 35 different archivists, gallerists, institutions, and students among its active membership. Recent member events have included visits to view important New York-area archives, and a presentation by certified photo appraiser Jennifer Stoots, who provided key insights about the various types of photography appraisals and their differing approaches to value as part of APAG’s latest member meeting.

Non-members are welcome to attend APAG’s most ambitious outreach, a two-day educational seminar, which the organization has held regularly since 2014. Attendees converge from across the country to gain knowledge and inspiration from fifteen or more subject experts who touch on issues of archiving, curating, critical writing, collections and estate management, copyright and legal issues, library science, marketing and promotion, and more.

Alice Zimet leading breakout session at 2017 APAG seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017
Alice Zimet leading breakout session at 2017 APAG seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017

Some notable soundbites from APAG’s third seminar, in spring 2017, included guidance from collector and educator Alice Sachs Zimet, who outlined the initial steps to thinking about a photographic archive as follows.

“Go inward and think strategically: What is my objective? Be honest. [Are you looking for] a quick fix? [Do you want to] monetize fast? Think you are sitting on a gold mine? Long term: Do you want to nurture a legacy? Think through a strategy: Where do you want the archive to go or be seen? What do you have? Can you explain it in print? Can you describe your brand? What and/or who are the right connections? What are you trying to do and how are you going to get there?”

Later, photo critic and historian A.D. Coleman classified archives by differentiating between a heap and a hole. After offering a quote from French writer and Picasso biographer Pierre Daix, stating, “In order to pursue any kind of scholarship you need everything,” Coleman suggested, “Think long and hard before you throw anything away and ask for advice from people who know and work with archives.”

In closing, he addressed the matter from a historical perspective, advising, “Don’t muddy the waters between the work and the mulch heap that built up during a photographer’s lifetime. Once the artist dies, the work belongs to the world. You do the work a disservice by censoring it.”

Emily Bierman from Sothebys, Stephen Perloff from the Photo Review, and A.D. Coleman at 2017 APAG Seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017
Emily Bierman from Sothebys, Stephen Perloff from the Photo Review, and A.D. Coleman at 2017 APAG Seminar, ICP, NYC, 2017

In another panel, covering what institutions are looking for and how they build collections, Leslie Squyres, senior archivist at the Center for Creative Photography, reinforced the value of ancillary materials to a photographer’s archive by identifying this list of items of potential interest, beyond the photographs themselves:

Correspondence: Letters to and from colleagues in the arts
Diaries and Journals: Showing a day-to-day view of ideas, activities, travels, sales, exhibitions and choices.
Writings: Published and unpublished
Biographical materials
Exhibition materials and scrapbooks
Teaching materials: Lecture notes and syllabi (but not teaching slides or grades)
Research files: Annotated books and notes
Publications by and about the artist
Financial records related to the work: Proof of sale, invoices, receipts, lists, and ledgers
Photographs, slides, contact prints and negatives of the artist, family and friends, of studio, darkroom, etc.

Finally, Robert Gurbo, curator of the Estate of André Kertész, had this to say during a panel on the Legacy of an Archive. “The best thing anyone can do is to organize it really well and know when to get out of the way. Don’t present your overlay [on the material]; everyone has their own perspective,” he added. “Learn the material, learn your role in it, and know when to step back.”

As a supplement to the 2017 seminar, Engel published the 70-page Photo Archive Handbook, available for purchase from the APAG website. Featuring short articles on a range of topics from Copyright Law in Cyberspace to Best Practices in Managing Photography Archives, the handbook also includes lists of professional resources and museums throughout the United States.

Engel (far right) poses with other recipients of Griffin Museum Focus Awards, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, 2017
Engel (far right) poses with other recipients of Griffin Museum Focus Awards, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, 2017

In October 2017, Engel’s passion for helping photographers and forging connections was aptly acknowledged when her work on behalf of APAG was recognized with a Spotlight Award by the Griffin Museum of Photography. Judith Thompson, APAG member and director of the Harold Feinstein Photography Trust, had this to say when presenting Engel with the award. “[Mary] has built an organization based on her experience, and she has invited others to contribute with their own discoveries, making APAG an evolving community of insight, knowledge and resources.”

Upcoming APAG Events

Looking to the season ahead, APAG has carved out a significant presence in the upcoming photography calendar of both New York and San Francisco, where the organization launched a new West coast affiliate, in April 2018.

On Friday morning, September 14, APAG will lead off Photoshelter’s Luminance talks at Brooklyn’s Photoville festival, in a panel comprising Engel, photographer and philanthropist Susie Katz, and APAG Vice President Julie Grahame. Join them from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m., as they discuss the importance of archiving, the best techniques and platforms to use, and how to start thinking about the legacy you’ll leave behind.

On October 14, 2018, APAG West will hold its first one-day symposium at the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism, featuring a mix of panels, break-out sessions, case studies, and general discussion.

APAG has participated with a table at the AIPAD Photography Show since 2017. Pictured here, APAG officers from left to right: Julie Grahame, Grayson Dantzic, Mary Engel, AIPAD, NYC, 2017
APAG has participated with a table at the AIPAD Photography Show since 2017. Pictured here, APAG officers from left to right: Julie Grahame, Grayson Dantzic, Mary Engel; AIPAD, NYC, 2017

Finally, to wrap up an eventful year, APAG’s fourth two-day seminar will be held over the weekend of December 8 – 9, 2018, at the School of the International Center for Photography on Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street. Watch the APAG websitefor details about how to register.

 

James Carroll

Posted on June 28, 2018 by APAG in Member Profile, News
Central Park, NYC, 1998
At Statue of Liberty, NYC, 1968
Sparks, NV, 1990

Fifth Ave., NYC, 2016
Volunteer Fireman’s Parade, Copake, NY, 1974
Fifth Avenue, NYC, 2008

www.jamescarrollstreetphoto.com

James Carroll was born in Salt Lake City, UT in 1940. He spent his early years in Nevada, California, and Long Island and since then has lived in NYC.

In his 20s he was drawn to the story-telling power of BxW photography and studied with Albert Freed, a disciple of Sid Grossman’s. His teaching, with its emphasis on content and meaning, helped focus Carroll’s approach to photography.

He is mainly interested in people: who they are; their relation to each other; the interrelationship that exists between subject and photographer. Major areas of interest have included children, sub-urban teenagers (‘70s), county fairs and amusement parks, Fifth Avenue (‘90s), Central Park, and the new Times Square.

His work has been published by the New York Times, Population Bulletin, American Prospect,Venture, the Fresh Air Fund, the Ford Foundation, and by numerous college textbook publishers.

Trade publishers that have included his work are Time-Life Books and Eastman Kodak. Photographic publishers include Lightwork, Camera Mainichi (Japan), BxW Magazine, and LensCulture.

His work is in public collections including those of the University of Rochester, the Richard Dry Library of Buffalo, NY, the New York Public Library, and the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris.
A past recipient of a CAPS grant (NYSCA) to photograph Westchester Co. teenagers, he was also a finalist for the Honickman First Book Prize (5th Avenue essay).

Bonnie Geller-Geld

Posted on April 16, 2018 by APAG in Member Profile
Tennessee Williams signs books at Gotham Book Mart, 1977
Leonard Bernstein, 70th Birthday, 1988
Garry Winogrand, 1983

Mayor David Dinkins greets Arch Bishop Desmund Tutu, 1989
Rudolf Nureyev in rehearsal, 1985
PM Benjamin Netanyahu (at the time Israeli Prime Ambassador) and PM Shimon Peres at the UN, 1985

My career in photography began in 1976. I covered events for newspapers and non-profit organizations as well as photographing in the classical music world. My work includes assignments for The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Philharmonic, The Juilliard School, The New School, United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Israel Bonds, and The Jewish Theological Seminary. My personal work includes photographs taken at The Gotham Book Mart, the United Nations, in Crown Heights, in and around NYC, in Tannersville, NY, and from my window view of the Hudson River. The majority of my photographs for UJA are in their archive at the Center for Jewish History.

My photographic education began at The Germain School of Photography and continued with study with Philippe Halsman, and Arnold Newman. I taught photography at LaGuardia High School and New York Institute of Technology.

I have been exhibiting my photographs since 1976 with solo shows at The Donnell Library, The Interchurch Center and The Riverdale Y; and group shows at many places including The National Arts Club, Soho Photo Gallery, and Cork Gallery; and internationally in Prague and Edinburgh.

My email address is: Bggeld@gmail.com

My Website is currently under construction. The address is: bonniegellergeld.com

Catherine Ursillo

Posted on October 4, 2017 by APAG in Member Profile


Contact:
Catherine Ursillo

http://catherineursillo.com

I began my professional photographic career as a staff photographer for the anti-war paper The New York Free Press. I also worked for newspapers and magazines covering the political crisis of the 70s.

I continued my work for corporations, industrial and editorial clients. My photogrpahs have appeared in magazines, textbooks, annual reports, corporate brochures and photo book collections. My work has been exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. I have had one-woman shows at Nikon Gallery, Soho Photos, (I was a founding member of Soho Photo), Forum, Trade Center Gallery and others. Group shows have included Leica Gallery, First Woman’s Bank, MIT, United Nations, Museum of Natural History, Museum of the City of New York and others. I have had portfolios published in many photo anthologies, including Family of Women, Photo, Zoom, Popular Photograph, Women See Men and others. I established and directed the photography department for Chemical Bank. During that period I worked on a number of audiovisual shows for fundraising purposes. These included Meals on Wheels, Senior Citizens Organizations, The Bronx and Chinatown.

In the early 80s, I represented my photographic organization ASMP on a trip to China to meet with and exchange ideas with the Chinese Photographers Organization. I also represented OXFAM on a trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Australia.

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