New York Times photoblogs

Photographs

Fine work

A couple of readers were kind enough to comment on yesterday’s piece about the Reader application put out by the New York Times and pointed me to two NYT photoblogs in the process.

One is Lens and the other is 1 in 8 million. Both are well worth a visit though the latter does take a while to load owing to the inclusion of sound and video. That said, the presentation of both is superb and the use of short introductory sound clips in the ‘1 in 8 million’ blog is inspired, doing just enough to pique your interest.


From the ‘Lens’ blog – Michael Wolf’s essay on glass


From the ‘1 in 8 million’ blog

For a truly splendid profile of an exceptional man, take a look at this piece on Harry Reininger by Sarah Kramer. It’s the scarcity of such people in New York that contributed to my departure from that modern Gomorrah in 1987.

Nice work, NYT!

By the way, it is incorrect to ascribe the demise of newsprint to financial engineering, as one commentator on yesterday’s column states. Rather, the causes are:

  • A drop in literacy owing to falling educational standards
  • Craig Newmark (Craigslist) who has singlehandedly destroyed classified advertising revenues for newspapers
  • A disconnect between the views of newspaper journalists and their readers
  • The trash that is modern television programming – truly the opium of the masses
  • The self-destructive practice of making content available free online

Financial engineering does not account for the drop in circulation. I am no defender of Wall Street, but it is hardly to blame for the above.

Ernst Haas

Photographers

A master of color

This picture by Ernst Haas (1921-1986) is the earliest ‘art’ photograph in color which I recall, having probably seen it in my early teens.

Talk of starting at the top!

While abstraction pervades his work, Haas never abstracts just for the sake of doing so; rather, the context is always clear, the vision insightful and the feel warm and sympathetic.

Check out more of his work in the book Ernst Haas – Color Photography – hard to get, expensive and worth it.

Edwin Smith

Photographers

As good as they get

Edwin Smith (1912-71) was a photographer of the British heritage. That sounds pretty dry, but once you have seen the work of this architect-painter-photographer, you realize that he really is as good as they get.

His wonderful vision, perfect technique and aesthetic sensibilities are perfectly displayed in this book, published by Merrell and the Royal Institute of British Architects, with monochrome reproductions of the very highest quality.

If high aesthetic sense is your thing, executed at an incomparable level of excellence, this book is for you.

Spanish revival

Photographs

A fine example

Built in 1925 in the Spanish Revival style, the US Post Office in San Mateo, California is on the register of historic places. Thank goodness. This should prevent some latter day vulgarian pulling it down and replacing it with a glass and steel box.


5D, 24-105mm at 70mm,1/4000, f/6.7 ISO 250

Snapped in early morning light.