Seminal photography journal 1000 Words is doing a Kickstarter to fund its ten-year anniversary issue. You should damn-well support it.

The past decade has seen internet light years of change in the photographic landscape – or at least how it’s exhibited, written about, shared through apps and processed online. Many journals, online magazines, and blogs have appeared and evaporated, but those who have stuck with it have refined their voice and authority by leaps and bounds.

Enter 1000 Words. Launched in London in 2008 by Tim Clark, the online magazine mightily expanded the conversation on new photography with interviews and long-form essays from great minds like David Campany, Susan Bright, and Lucy Soutter. To celebrate its ten-year anniversary, they're launching their first-ever print publication, international photography city guide, and other inspiring projects.

Since 1000 Words has been an invaluable champion of photographers worldwide, we encourage you, dear reader, without hesitation, to support their Kickstarter campaign to fund this celebratory project.

So, hold off on that PBR six-pack, Richard Prince reproduction, or submission fee you were hesitating about spending money on this month and support this project. It’s going to be that good.

On the eve of the campaign launch, we caught up with Tim to discuss 1000 Words' history, inspiration and learn more about the ten-year anniversary project.

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedMarch 12, 2018

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Publications

TagsKickstarter projects, Tim Clark, 1000 Words Mag, 1000 Words Photography, New Photography, Photography Fundraisers

Andrew Waits photographs Seattle's evolving landscape as dark, uncomfortable footnotes.

Aporia – a term attributed to the early dialogues of Socrates – is often tied to feelings of doubt, confusion or impasse, and has been associated with meandering, unsuccessful attempts to process trauma. It's also the title of Seattle-born photographer Andrew Waits' recent series and limited edition photobook, which he uses to address the emotional gravity of his native city's rapid economic and architectural boom.

Waits' black and white photographs look at the city's shifting skeleton and its impact on the human psyche. In contrast to his earlier, more traditionally documentary style and day job as a freelance editorial photographer, Waits approaches urban development and gentrification with a brooding, poetic gaze. Buildings battle with light and shadow, foliage juts in where it can, and people, when sparsely represented, bend like branches under increasing weight.

I corresponded with Waits to learn more about the metaphors and new directions in his work.

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedMarch 1, 2018

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio, Publications

TagsAndrew Waits, New Photography, black and white photography, situationists, guy debord, gentrification, Seattle photographers

If you've been in New York City on Ash Wednesday, you've likely spotted someone with a cross-shaped smudge of ash on their forehead. For some secular individuals, it's a strange sight that turns heads in confusion. Many know little about this religious practice, which marks the first day of Lent in Western Christianity, beyond what they see on the surface.

On Ash Wednesday for the past twenty years, Greg Miller has carried his hulking 8x10 film camera throughout New York City to make street portraits of those who participate in this ritual. In some images, subjects look directly back at the viewer, confronting our inquiry head-on. In others, people pause and gaze off - sunlight or shadows drench them with metaphor.

In advance of his twenty first Ash Wednesday shoot, Miller and I spoke about his work and upcoming book (which you can pre-order HERE.)

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedFebruary 13, 2018

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Publications, Portfolio

TagsAsh Wednesday, Catholicism, religion and photography, large format photography, contemporary portraiture, Greg Miller, Street Portraits

Naomi Harris and I go way back. Her series of Floridian Jewish grandmothers, which appeared as the cover story for the second issue of HEEB magazine during my senior year at Bard College in 2003, was single-handedly responsible for me approaching the magazine to shoot for them, and later serve as their photo editor and Creative Director.

Harris' sharp observational hilarity, documentary chops, and an informed "art photography" sensibility is rare and unforgettable. Her most recent project EUSA, which documents American-themed places in Europe and European-themed places in The United States has been keeping my attention since she began, both for its strange sense of humor and for its rich cultural commentary. So when FlakPhoto's Andy Adams messaged me on Facebook a couple weeks ago saying. "Do you know Naomi Harris' work? Have you seen her Kickstarter? You should write something about it for Humble," I jumped to attention. It's a project that demands to be a book, and there are only a few days left to support it. WHICH YOU CAN DO HERE

If this isn't enough of a hard sell, spend some time hearing from Naomi:

Interview by Jon Feinstein

PostedOctober 2, 2017

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Portfolio, Publications

TagsNaomi Harris, Cultural Landscape, New Photography, kickstarter photography projects

When asked about Begin Anywhere: Paths of Mentorship and Collaboration, a project realized as a book and an exhibition hosted by SF Camerawork, photographer McNair Evans described its origin as “a sense of overwhelming gratitude.”

Evans, Amanda Boe, and Kevin Kunishi experienced dynamic professional and personal growth through working with mentors during and after completing their graduate degrees in 2011. Through conversation, the three determined that a collaboration focused on the challenges and benefits of mentorship was a fitting way to thank those who had so profoundly influenced their respective practices.

In 2012, the primary artists contacted their mentors, and those who would become their mentors - Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Mark Mahaney, Mike Smith, and Jason Fulford - to ask about their interest in participating. Five years on, after multiple rounds of photographic exquisite corpse maintained via regular mail, word games, and the production of new work, the primary artists seek to answer the question posed by curator Monique Deschaines: “how do you show mentorship?”

Humble's Senior Editor Roula Seikaly interviewed Evans, Boe, and Kunishi about this unique project, and how being both mentee and mentor has impacted their work.

PostedSeptember 7, 2017

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesPublications, Exhibitions, Artists

TagsMcNair Evans, Roula Seikaly, Amanda Boe, Kevin Kunishi, Mark Mahaney, SF Camerawork, Begin Anywhere Exhibition, Begin Anywhere Book

10 Years With 1000 Words: The Next Photography Kickstarter You're Going To Support

Photographing the Psychological Crush of Urban Growth

Unto Dust: Twenty Years of Ash Wednesday Street Portraits

Naomi Harris' EUSA: The Sharpest, Funniest, Strangest Documentary Photobook You Should Help Fund Right Now

Begin Anywhere: Paths of Photographic Mentorship and Collaboration