Have a look at the “trailer” for Stanley Greene’s new book Black Passport, a deeply personal journal of life and a career in conflict. Or perhaps it is, as compiled by Teun van der Heijden, a biography.

I held off posting this for a few days, because it doesn’t really have anything to do with photography, but I can’t hold off any longer. Someone’s put together a supercut of 100 Greatest Quotes from The Wire. The video makes me want to watch the whole series a third time. So good. But, oddly, it doesn’t include anything from my favorite (and many others’) scene from the show. Watch out, though, there’s NSFW language in the above video and nudity in the one below. The 100 quotes video contains major spoilers in from all 5 seasons of The Wire, the below probably counts as a minor spoiler for the first season.

(via kottke.org)

This video reminds me of far too many conversations I’ve had….

(via the APAD list)

Auto-Tune the News #3 has just been released. While it’s not as good as #1 or #2 (above), it’s still worth a laugh. Best if you have an understanding, if not an appreciation, of the tropes of both contemporary pop music (especially Kanye West) and American television news and politics.

(I originally intended a mention of this to be part of a piece stewing on Creative Commons. “Auto-Tune the News” is the sort of creative reinterpretation that makes me understand and support the philosophy behind the Creative Commons movement. However, I don’t think CC will ever work for photography. It’s hard to imagine what a remixed photograph looks like…. That’ll have to wait a bit.)

I can’t believe I’d never heard of John Berger’s 1972 four-part BBC series and book “Ways of Seeing” before. Each episode–”Ways of Seeing,” “The Female Nude,” “Oil Painting,” and “Advertising“–is available on youtube, though I only managed to watch halfway through the second episode before China blocked youtube. The series, which I’m told replays on the BBC every couple of years, starts from a position very relevant to the world today: we’re awash in images, and each of those images, intentionally or not, pushes an agenda which may not readily present itself to the viewer. Berger advocates a critical engagement with all images, from contemporary advertising to the oil paintings of the European masters and beyond, and his series gives viewers the language and tools to do so.

Berger’s inquiry moves slowly and critically, dissecting images, their contexts, and what viewers themselves bring to the dialog between picture and viewer. The book, “Ways of Seeing,” has played a role in contemporary feminist thinking through its exploration of depictions of women in advertising and classical painting. The second episode of the series, “The Female Nude,” takes on the subject most directly, calling into question the whole of classical images of women. Berger’s conclusion, as well as that of those he interviews in the series, is that the paintings of nude women hanging in the great museums of Europe are nothing more than pornography. The women in the paintings are objects to be violated or consumed, and nothing more. I’ve rarely heard someone speak so forcefully against this branch of the western canon, and it’s refreshing.

The series is not without its faults. In the first episode, Berger appeals to oil painting as the highest of visual forms. Perhaps, but likely not. My timeline of photographic art history is a bit fuzzy, but this series likely appeared around the same time that photography as art was making its way into the great galleries and museums of the world. Photography now stands alongside other visual art forms as almost an equal. Berger’s reliance on his own opinions and arguments, too, presents problems. Halfway through “The Female Nude,” John Berger realizes he hasn’t had a single female critic discuss the subject; he quickly fixes the problem with an all-female discussion panel, but the anxiety he feels here runs throughout the parts of the series I’ve seen.

And yet, there’s a lot of value to the series. Speaking or writing about visual subjects is notoriously difficult. While we’re forced to watch Berger stare at paintings more than is necessary, “Ways of Seeing” adeptly weaves the visual with discussions about the visual in straightforward and jargonless language. Berger’s presents his views clearly, making careful observations about the visual without delving into art school discussion-style solipsism, tautology, ambiguity, or equivocation.

I just ran into this funny little film by Laurie Hill about the ridiculous requests that sometimes come into photo archives. The animation’s great, a bit reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python work. Hard to keep a straight face when a request comes in for a photo of Jesus or a dodo. “How about an etching, or a painting?” “Nope, we need a photo…and do you have a picture of Hitler at the 1948 Olympics? Or Neil Armstrong on the moon with a crowd of people?”

After posting about Doonesbury and Garry Trudeau on Monday I came across this interview between Trudeau and Charlie Rose, and just spent the last hour watching it. It’s great, have a look.

In my second ‘fanboy’ post of the night: A youtube clip of Jonas Bendiksen talking about, and walking through, his project The Places We Live that I mention again and again. Still, check this out: Jonas is charming and brilliant and you actually get to see what his remarkable exhibition/installation looks like.. this is the first time I’ve seen it ‘live’ and I’m blown away.

Great quote:

“I think it is really about how to stay relevant (…) The people who will really inherent photography in the future isn’t necessarily whoever takes the best picture, the best composition. I think it is whoever has the best ideas. Who has the most poignant stories to tell.”

Bonus: You’ll get to see the beautiful Oslo harbor … I was there in March, so pretty. Demerit: it is a Canon Europe video and he shills for the 5d a little bit. Oh well, I use the camera too, like it, and would take the sponsorship if it were available!