Sunday, January 23, 2005
EVENT REVIEW: JAN 20-23: PHOTO L.A. SHOW
by Don Rose
(Santa Monica, January 23) Photo L.A. is, simply put, always a great show -- a must-see on the L.A. event calendar. This past weekend was no exception; experts, novices and photo fans filled the Santa Monica Civic to witness over 80 exhibitors from around the world presenting everything from Polaroids (Warhol's snaps of Ali, Ted Kennedy, etc)... to NASA collages of thumbnail moon pix... to picture perfect prints of any and all subjects imaginable. Of course, as in past years, there were numerous classics from the likes of Bourke-White, Helmut Newton (yes, you guessed it, nudes of tall fatless models), Robbert Flick, and many more too myriad to mention. Attendees also could relish daily seminars with top photogs. Overall, it was four days of photo bliss.
Some images and memories that stand out from the weekend: Helen Hunt making the rounds, while pushing a baby cart... the New York Times archives booth (what a treasure trove they have)... a great oversized print of a mean-lookin pooch with newspaper in its clenched teeth, reading "Man Kills 20 At McDonalds"... the booth full of amazing pix done by persons with little or no sight... several wonderful examples of my favorite photo form, the photo collage (Hockney's classic of his sleeping mum, plus two huge collages near the entrance that slightly warped space as you looked at the Lincoln Memorial and the Golden Gate bridge)... slightly unnerving oversized images of a very young overly-made-up Brooke Shields in very adult poses... and the images of old pulp books where the drawn-characters from their covers have come to life in creative scenes. I hardly passed a single booth that was not wonderful or enlightening or educational or shocking or surprising or all of the above.
The opening reception, which benefited LACMA, was most excellent as well. ZUCCA's pasta was to die for... REED'S ginger beer and China Cola concoctions were wonderful... OCEAN AVE gave out mussels... SONORA CAFE provided delicious crabcakes... and BEYOND FUDGE and KRISPY KREME made sure your dessert calories were accounted for. During all the culinary enjoyment, CANON took instant snaps of receptionees, with pix printed out in around 90 seconds or less; great quality, as I (and most others) now expect from all but the very cheapest of the cheapee digital cameras -- as long as you are not blowing things up way past 8x10, most of these digital wonders will do. So can it be long before someone finally combines these small digicams and almost-as-small printers into, well, a new digital version of the old Polaroid cameras? I am sure someone somewhere is doing just that... right about... now...
(Santa Monica, January 23) Photo L.A. is, simply put, always a great show -- a must-see on the L.A. event calendar. This past weekend was no exception; experts, novices and photo fans filled the Santa Monica Civic to witness over 80 exhibitors from around the world presenting everything from Polaroids (Warhol's snaps of Ali, Ted Kennedy, etc)... to NASA collages of thumbnail moon pix... to picture perfect prints of any and all subjects imaginable. Of course, as in past years, there were numerous classics from the likes of Bourke-White, Helmut Newton (yes, you guessed it, nudes of tall fatless models), Robbert Flick, and many more too myriad to mention. Attendees also could relish daily seminars with top photogs. Overall, it was four days of photo bliss.
Some images and memories that stand out from the weekend: Helen Hunt making the rounds, while pushing a baby cart... the New York Times archives booth (what a treasure trove they have)... a great oversized print of a mean-lookin pooch with newspaper in its clenched teeth, reading "Man Kills 20 At McDonalds"... the booth full of amazing pix done by persons with little or no sight... several wonderful examples of my favorite photo form, the photo collage (Hockney's classic of his sleeping mum, plus two huge collages near the entrance that slightly warped space as you looked at the Lincoln Memorial and the Golden Gate bridge)... slightly unnerving oversized images of a very young overly-made-up Brooke Shields in very adult poses... and the images of old pulp books where the drawn-characters from their covers have come to life in creative scenes. I hardly passed a single booth that was not wonderful or enlightening or educational or shocking or surprising or all of the above.
The opening reception, which benefited LACMA, was most excellent as well. ZUCCA's pasta was to die for... REED'S ginger beer and China Cola concoctions were wonderful... OCEAN AVE gave out mussels... SONORA CAFE provided delicious crabcakes... and BEYOND FUDGE and KRISPY KREME made sure your dessert calories were accounted for. During all the culinary enjoyment, CANON took instant snaps of receptionees, with pix printed out in around 90 seconds or less; great quality, as I (and most others) now expect from all but the very cheapest of the cheapee digital cameras -- as long as you are not blowing things up way past 8x10, most of these digital wonders will do. So can it be long before someone finally combines these small digicams and almost-as-small printers into, well, a new digital version of the old Polaroid cameras? I am sure someone somewhere is doing just that... right about... now...
