© David Aschkenas

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Sleep Walking

Thoughts on my work…

This series is made up of older work along with new work.  My biggest challenge was to give a cohesive “feel” and “look” to the entire series of 28 images. The originals were a combination of black & white film, color film, Polaroid prints, Polaroid SX-70, 8×10 Polaroid image transfers, digital photographs, and chromes of different formats. No plug ins or presets were used.  Each image was treated as an individual image with layering of textures, burning, dodging, hue and saturation adjustments.

The name SLEEP WALKING was arrived at after the series was completed, because that’s the way it made me feel.

-David Aschkenas,  Pittsburgh, Pa., 2010

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David Aschkenas is recognized as a fine art photographer and is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts grant. A freelance photographer for 30 years, he is doing Annual Reports, Advertising, and Editorial photography for clients worldwide. His photographs are represented in the Polaroid Collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa., Minneapolis Inst. of the Arts, Bayer Corp., University of Alaska Art Museum, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Howard Heinz Endowment, and many private collections. His work has been exhibited at The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa., Kim Foster Gallery, NYC, Moore College of Art, Phila. Pa., Allentown Art Museum, Southern Alleghenies Art Museum, Friends of Photography, Carmel, Ca., Mendelson Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pa., Clarence Kennedy Gallery, Polaroid Corp. and many others.

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More images and many other subjects, can be viewed on Aschkenas’s web site: http://www.daschkenasphoto.com. He can be contacted by e-mail at: daschkenas@earthlink.net

Angora Goat

Dodging the limelight

Though drawing and painting have been my passion from a very early age, photography has always fascinated me, too. Taking photos allowed me to remember much more of the places I went, the people I knew. It never did evolve beyond the taking of snapshots though, mainly because I spent all my time and efforts in drawing and painting. But a couple of years ago, I gradually started to take it more seriously. I started to get addicted to going to old abandoned buildings and photographing them. I also looked at thousands of photos taken by other people and each day I raised the bar a little for myself.

Frankly, I don’t really care about stuff like the rule of thirds, or any other technical do’s and don’ts. I don’t think when I photograph, but I look. And when what I see feels right, I press the shutter. So I guess you could say I am an emotional photographer, haha. I am not easily satisfied with what I create.

Beside derelict buildings, I really like animals too. They are unpredictable and fickle, but that makes getting a good shot even more rewarding. I hope I can capture a bit of their personality. It bewilders people when you take both cute cat photos and scary dirty deserted rooms. I think most people want an artist to repeat the same thing over and over again, in a slightly different jacket, and looking around, I feel most popular artists give these people what they want. But there’s too much of interest in life to focus on just one thing. And life’s too short – so I will keep dodging the limelight.

-Ineke Kamps, Holland, 2010

Both Doomed

If you’re real quiet you can hear them

Closet ghost having a rest

Oink

Drink Me II

The girl has come undone

Kitchen Stories

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Ineke was born in 1972 in the south of Holland and studied illustration design.  She exhibited her photographs and paintings throughout her native Netherlands and in Belgium and Germany.  “I generally am just unprofitable and maladjusted without prospect of cure,” she says.  To see additional photographs and her paintings, visit: http://www.inekekamps.nl, and you can email her at: i.kamps@tiscali.nl

Welcome

Another New Beginning

The end of one year and the beginning of another … the end of one decade and the beginning of another.  Looking back, it’s kind of hard to believe we’ve learned anything about ourselves we didn’t already know, and many times tried to change. We’ve seen greed unbridled from Wall Street to Dubai, sports figures and politicians  revealed for the human beings that they are, common people with uncommon talents taking center stage, a victorious political party unable to deliver on its promises, and a world still waiting for its next real heroes to surface. Thank god for the arts. When all else fails, they still deliver.  
We’re glad you’re there for us; we’re glad to be back for you. This issue ofWe’re glad you’re there for us; we’re glad to be back for you. This issue of ragazine.cc , the on-line magazine of arts, information and entertainment, continues into its 6^th season with the usual eclectic mix of poetry, fiction, photography, art, politics, the law, and more – all of which has helped keep us afloat these last five years. If you haven’t taken the time to read through the Creative Non-Fiction pieces selected by CNF editor Leslie Heywood, take twenty minutes or a half hour and do yourself the favor.  You won’t regret it. Need a laugh? Find out why everyone should go to law school in the Casual Observer piece by Mark Levy. Wondering how to protect your intellectual property? Check out our Feeding the Starving Artist column by Mark and his associate Ryan Miosek.  Poetry editor Joe Weil has harvested the poetry of Raymond Hammond, and poetry in translation from Mario Moroni. See a world deconstructed by artist Roger Williams, and a long view of Iceland by photographer Chuck Haupt. Step into the fiction of Elizabeth Spencer and Alex Straaik; sneak a peak at Art Basel Miami, and hear Jeff Katz’s take on music, starting with the complex issue of vinyl packaging. Leave us your comments. Your feedback means a lot to us.

Thanks for reading! And don’t forget to tell your friends — we need all the help we can get. But then, who doesn’t?

Happy holidays, and a healthy and peaceful New Year!

 – MRF

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Images of a vanishing present

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Project Alexys

Ely Park Project

Ely Park Project

Ely Park Project

Ely Park Project

Ely Park Project

Ely Park Project

Brazilian native Eliane Lima is studying cinema at Binghamton University. More of her  photos from the Project Alexys and Ely Park Project,  as well as other photographic collections and short films, can be seen at http://www.elianelima.us and http://www.vimeo.com/user942850/videos.  Some of these photographs appear in the CNY Artist Database.

Narratives:

Framing the Dark Side

 By Larry Hamill

I have known Chas Ray Krider since the mid 1970’s, when he would roam the streets of Columbus, Ohio, with his trusty Leica M2. He shot seemingly mundane scenes that on closer examination revealed an aesthetic underpinning, which would continue throughout his life’s work. His deceptively simple compositions lent themselves to more complex narratives

In recent years, he has subtly combined his street images with fine tuned studio photography to create a more cinematographic experience. Through a very distinctive form of lighting, Chas Ray creates a sense of impending drama in his photographs. His exterior environs lead to an evocative interior action as his inner and outer worlds combine in fascinating ways.

Throughout his career, Chas Ray has received numerous grants from arts organizations, enabling him to continue pursuing his Zen-like form of narration. His work has been published throughout the world, and whether he is on the streets of Los Angeles or Madrid, his photographic journey continues.

The following images are from two series: Goodbye Kitty and Days of Noir. 

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Goodbye Kitty

Goodbye Kitty, 6

 

Goodbye Kitty, 17

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Kitty, 18

 

 

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Days of Noir

 

Days of Noir, 1

 

Days of Noir, 1

 

 

 

Days of Noir, 4

 

 

Days of Noir, 8

Some photographers

paint with their cameras … 

… Others just paint them

Weegee & Speed Graflex

The Colorful Camera Series

By Larry Hamill

I began collecting old cameras about ten years ago and starting painting them as decorative objects to place around my studio.  In June 2009, I photographed Jonathan Putnam, an actor with the Columbus based Contemporary American Theatre Company, posed with a silver painted Brownie camera.  I then superimposed him over a 3-D Bryce computer generated image. And thus began the Colorful Camera Series.

 I perused camera stores, flea markets and Goodwill stores for old cameras, painting each with spray paint. Since then, I have asked various members of the community to pose with the  painted cameras – exaggerating the camera in each portrait by using an ultra-wide angle lens. Each subject was then superimposed over an image from my library of manipulated images — a process I call “photilation”.

 Current plans for the Colorful Camera Series include a 2010 calendar and possibly an I-Book, with the hopes of an exhibit of prints to follow.

Far Out Camera

Red Brownie

Banana Colored Camera

Roger Williams

 

 

Arnett Howard & Blue Camera

 

 

 

Colored Pano Camera

 

  

Fluorescent Yellow Camera

Editor’s note:

GUEST CURATOR

Columbus, Ohio, photographer Larry Hamill is guest curator for photography for the  November-December 2009 update of ragazine.cc. Selections of work by his friends and colleagues Kojo Kamau and Chas Ray Krider appear in Photography posts.

 

Hamill is a frequent contributor to ragazine.cc. More of his work and contact information can be found at: www.larryhamill.com and www.larryhamillphotography.wordpress.com

 

 

Capturing the Essence:

Some say photographs

steal the soul, others that

the soul simply is revealed.

  By Larry Hamill and Pamela J. Willits

Kojo Kamau grew up on the east side of Columbus, Ohio. As a child, he bought a Kodak Box camera and became enchanted with capturing pictures of his vibrant neighborhood. After graduating from East High School, he took photography courses at the Columbus Art School before enlisting in the Air Force in 1960, where he served as a photographer. Following four years of service, he was hired as a photographer within The Ohio State University’s School of Allied Medical Professions.

Over the years, Kojo visually documented his ever changing neighborhood and the hustle and bustle of downtown Columbus. A collection of his photographs was published in the book, Columbus Remembered.

One of Kojo’s strengths is his ability to capture the “natural human side of people”. From neighborhood barber and renowned woodcutter, Elijah Pierce, to Maya Angelou, Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, Gordon Parks and many others, Kojo has lent his gentle dignity to their photographic images.  

Maya Angelou, The Ohio State University, October 25, 1976

 

Muhammad Ali, The Ohio State University, January 12, 1979

James Baldwin, The Ohio State University, February 12, 1979

Niki Giovanni, East High School, May 26, 1979

Miles Davis, Ohio Theater, March 23, 1986

Gordon Parks, King Arts Complex, November 14, 1992

Tiger Woods, The Ohio State University, September 24, 1994

Nancy Wilson, King Arts Complex, 2006

 For more photos and information about the photographer, see http://www.kojophotos.com.