Ethan and I opened the first Pause, to Begin exhibition last Friday, January 2, 2009 at Booksmart Studio in Rochester, New York. It was an enormous success, and we were pleased with the turn out and response.

It was great to see many new and old faces. We both had the pleasure of meeting Tony Bannon, Director of the George Eastman House, whom commented on the high quality of work being shown.

Thank you to Andy Super, Gallery Manager at Booksmart Studio for all the work he did in bringing the exhibition together, and thank you to Eric Kunsman, our publisher at Booksmart Studio, for continuing to support and believe in our project.

Thank you to all our girlfriends and friends who willingly (I swear!) gave up their time to hang the exhibition: Katie, Hannah, and Eric.

Thank you to Shannon Johnstone and Sonja Thomsen. Shannon flew in from North Carolina and Sonja flew in from Milwaukee. It was wonderful to see and catch up with you both. We had a blast.

And a special thank you to my parents for making the drive all the way from Syracuse in a snowstorm AND staying the entire 3 hours. That’s love.

A few pictures from opening night…

Sonja made some pics and a post, too. 

On the left is myself talking to Shannon and on the right is Ethan talking to Sonja.

In January 2009 I leave Maine for Alebtong, Uganda, where I will spend two months volunteering and photographing for A River Blue, a non-profit arts empowerment project for the children of internally-displaced persons in Northern Uganda.

I will be using my large format camera to photograph the people and landscape for a traveling exhibition and book that will be used to raise funds for A River Blue. Details will be announced in the spring/summer of 2009.

To raise funds for the trip, I am offering a selection of my limited edition prints at substantially reduced prices.

Please visit www.davidwrightphoto.com/blog to support my trip, A River Blue, and Africa.

Thank you!

http://www.terryrichardson.com/

 http://www.terryrichardson.com/

 Resurfacing after little more than a year, Vibe Magazine’s September 2007 interview with Obama seems especially relevant this week.  Tuesday (October 7) marks the last day to register to vote for this year’s presidential election and it seems like almost everyone has something to say about it.

My opinion regarding celebrity endorsement of presidential candidates is a matter that I will keep to myself — but I am particularly interested in the the number of photographers who are choosing to endorse their candidate of choice.  Above are fashion photographer Terry Richardson’s images from the Vibe interview.  Falling in step with his characteristic flash-on-camera style, Richardson’s images are a welcome juxtaposition to the lack-luster stereotypical candidate portraiture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/

 An additional note, more than fifty photographers (including Elinor Carucci, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Mitch Epstein, Larry Fink, Todd Hido, Richard Misrach, Alec Soth and Joel Sternfled…et all!) have donated images to http://www.artforobama.net – an online auction benefit organized by five artists who “have come together to help the Obama campaign.  Because we cannot afford to make large donations ourselves, we want to bring together the leaders of our community to help create change.”

Larry Fink ‘The Candidate’ (2008)

Edition 13/25

Value: $4,000.00
Starting Bid: $2,000.00

Included in the bidding is this image by Larry Fink, another interesting take on the theme of Obama portraits I am exploring in this post.  The auction is open from October 3 to October 10 and all money earned will be donated to moveon.org.

This weekend the Camden International Film Festival presented midcoast Maine with the world’s finest non-fiction documentaries.

Although I was not able to see as many films as I would have liked, I did have the opportunity to see The Way We Get By, Full Battle Rattle, and Red Gold. All of the films were visually and emotionally compelling, but Red Gold hit home particularly hard.

Taking place in Bristol Bay, Alaska, aka the home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, Red Gold focuses on how plans to construct the world’s largest mine, the Pebble Mine, threatens to forever negatively impact the fragile, 300 million dollar salmon industry and more importantly, the livelihoods of Alaskans and the future of Pacific Salmon as we know it.

If and when the mine is created, toxic mineral waste, also known as tailings, will be generated as copper and gold are mined from the earth. When this toxic waste ever enters the salmon watershed, the fish will immediately begin to die.

I say “when” and not “if” because there is no question that no matter how many precautions are set in place and environmental regulations established, the toxic waste will at one time or another enter this watershed and have an enormous, forever-negative impact on not only Bristol Bay, but also the world.

What can you do to stop the world’s largest open pit mine from being created and in turn protect the world’s salmon industry? Head over to Save Bristol Bay now.

The trailer for Red Gold:

The NYT Feature:

I am pleased to announce that the Pause, to Begin trailer to be released on October 6th will feature the music of El Ten Eleven.

I was first introduced to El Ten Eleven’s music in the winter of 2006/2007 while at a friend’s house in Rockport Harbor, Maine. El Ten Eleven’s “My Only Swerving” was emanating from his upstairs speakers while we sat downstairs sipping Jameson and watching snow fall into the harbor.

From the El Ten Eleven Wikipedia:

El Ten Eleven formed in 2003 after bassist and composer Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty had played experimental music together in an organic/electronic four-piece group.^[1] They released their first album, El Ten Eleven in 2004 on Fake Record Label, and through Bar/None Records on September 20, 2005. Stylistically, they have been described as atmospheric, putting a much more ethereal spin on the southwestern post-rock/Americana movement than bands like Calexico or The Court & Spark, though less electronic and more organic-sounding than Tortoise or most shoegazer bands.^{[citation needed]} Comparisons have also been drawn to Sigur Rós and The Mercury Program, and has, so far, remained a primarily instrumental act. Spin, which picked them for Band of the Day, September 29, 2005, describes their work as “experimental instrumental music that’s both highly skilled and deeply felt.”^[2] They continue to play live shows in their native Los Angeles, California home, and were a showcase artist at South By Southwest on March 17, 2006.^[3]

Alan Winslow and Morrigan (Mo) McCarthy, two great friends of Pause, to Begin, are about to embark on a journey called Project Tandem that will take them bicycling across 10,000 miles of the American landscape over the course of 1 year.

Alan and Mo are not only traveling 10,000 miles to see the American landscape at 15 m.p.h., but more importantly to seek out, meet, interview, and publish unique stories about people in local communities doing eco-friendly things overlooked and unpublished by the mainstream media.

Both documentary photographers, Alan and Mo started Project Tandem because they “…believe that sharing the stories of everyday people stepping up to help the environment will bring awareness to the issue in a new way. You always hear stories in the news of people doing huge, amazing things for the planet, but we think that even the small actions need to be celebrated.”

What will undoubtedly be a nationally recognized endeavour, Project Tandem has already received sponsors from notable companies such as Smith Optics, PhotoShelter, Ortlieb, LaCie, B&H, Klean Kanteen, and Adventure Cycling Association.

But Project Tandem still needs your help.

Donate to Project Tandem.

Spread the word about Project Tandem.

Stay updated at the Project Tandem Blog.

Pause, to Begin photographer Tealia Ellis-Ritter begins showing work tonight at Co-Prosperity Sphere gallery in Chicago.

From Tealia:

There are some great young Chicago photographers being featured and I’m happy to have my work included. I know some of you are out of town or out of state but I hope a few of you will be able to come to the opening…it would be nice to see some familiar faces.

The Co-Prosperity Sphere is located at…
3219-21 South Morgan Street
Chicago, IL
60608

Phone: 773.837.0145

The opening is July 18th at 7pm.

Some links to info on the show.

http://reubenkincaid.blogspot.com/2008/07/hic-et-nunc.html

http://www.lumpen.com/CPS/location.html

Tealia Ellis-Ritter © After the Break Up

Tealia Ellis-Ritter © Fallen

Although we’ve been quiet on the blog, we’re going strong with Pause, to Begin and will have a selection of major updates to announce during the coming weeks.

This week Ethan is assisting our wonderful juror and fantastic photographer, Cig Harvey, at the Maine Media Workshops. As well, I am assisting one of our phenomenal advisors, John Paul Caponigro, during his Print II workshop class.

During the coming weekend, Ethan and I will be speaking via Skype with two Pause, to Begin selected photographers, Brea Souders and Hin Chua. Hin lives in London and Brea was ill while we were on the road, so we’re looking forward to catching up!

© Brea Souders

© Hin Chua

I have been listening to “Heartbeats” by the Knife over and over. I recommend you do, too.

Ethan and I are in the process of moving into new homes and starting back to our jobs, but stay tuned for Pause, to Begin updates and more regular blog posts during the coming weeks.

Sigur Ros’ new song, “Gobbledigook”, off of their forthcoming album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (English: With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly), sums up my excitement quite well regarding the coming weeks and months ahead. A long time listener and believer in the music Sigur Ros makes, it is fascinating to see them debut a song that is so different, yet so welcoming, from their previous creations.