Tod Papageorge – ‘Dr. Blankman’s New York’

The very first picture that appears in Tod Papageorge’s Dr. Blankman’s New York shows a pair of storefronts: a florist, and the titular Dr. S. H. Blankman Optometrist, who offers (small print) Contact Lenses, and, in larger print than his name, claims “EYES EXAMINED.”

Ok. Ok. I’m not that dense. 1) this echoes the opener of Walker Evans’ American Pictures, with its photo studio, but clearly isn’t interested in showing us, well, us, and instead, 2) perhaps wants us to wonder what, exactly, we’re supposed to be looking at…

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An(other) occurrence at Old Alton Bridge

I wish I had a picture of myself juggling 4 or 5 cameras I had that day in December at the Old Alton Bridge with my darling, adorable wife. And apologies if you’ve tired of seeing the same old scenes over and over again; don’t worry: we’ll go back to Grapevine lake and some film/camera reviews soon.

But for now, it’s the LC-A 120 and some HP-5+ pushed to 1600 (and developed in Ilfotec HC, 1:31, 14 minutes):

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Old Alton Bridge in Half Frame

I don’t know why the Old Alton Bridge and surrounding trails are so crushed with graffiti, but they are… Thankfully, it seems to mostly be neutral or left-leaning, and we saw few swastikas or white power or MAGA stuff that wasn’t covered or otherwise blotted out. After all, to quote some graffiti on the back of a bench near the entrance, “The Only Good Fascist is a Dead Fascist.”

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Gary Briechle – ‘Maine’

If not for Charcoal Books, I likely wouldn’t be aware of Gary Briechle. His first, self titled, monograph Gary Briechle was the Charcoal Book Club selection for June, 2018, and this book, Maine, featuring color digital photographs made roughly concurrently with the collodion prints featured in his first book, was the Charcoal selection for February, 2019.

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Hydrochrome Sutton’s first roll

Lomography are always full of surprises… They took the Sutton-type lens and plastic shutter from the awful LomoMod 1, and the 35mm back for their Belair camera, stuck a plastic cone-thing and part of a Belair camera body in between them, and *poof new panoramic camera!

Apologies, but I haven’t photographed the camera, so you’ll have to make do with Lomo’s store page about it.

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J A Mortram – ‘Small Town Inertia’

Small Town Inertia is a moving collection of Jim Mortram’s portraits of his friends and neighbors in Dereham, UK, portraits that Dave Stelfox, writing in 2014 in the Guardian called “intimate depictions of social exclusion in Britain.” I couldn’t describe it any better, really, so let’s get into the unboxing.

Or, just go order a copy and see for yourself!

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