Photographic buzzwords are still some of the most heavily used, yet meaningless forms of journalism today. Possibly the "millennial" answer to The New York Post's historically obnoxious front page headlines, these "delicious" words continue to get our clicks, regardless of how hollow they might actually be. They make stories more "digestible" with language designed to entice even your feline friends. For many photo editors, this tendency towards linguistic carelessness also finds its way into image requests, and for the self-proclaimed intelligentsia, using art-speak can often seem a bit more "complex" than it actually is. Since we at Humble are guilty of all of the above, for the second time, we invited some of our favorite art and photography curators, writers, editors, and producers to share some of their most beloved/hated photographic buzzword pet peeves, which we illustrated using some of our favorite stock photos and illustrations of cats. Enjoy, and "please share this magical work" widely. Wanna see our 2015 list first? Click Here

PostedMarch 24, 2016

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesPublications

TagsCharlotte Cotton, Liz Lapp, Elizabeth Renstrom, Ellyn Kail, Bryan Formhals, Stephanie Heimann, Jenna Garrett, Jordan Teicher, Jacqueline Bates, Toby Kaufmann, Paddy Johnson, Kate Osba

Ka-Man Tse and Aaron Blum offer unique views into communities that are historically stereotyped or underrepresented by popular media, and show how those groups balance their traditions with the modern world. In their respective projects, which I recently selected for Silver Eye Center for Photography's annual Fellowship grant and exhibition in Pittsburgh, PA, Blum and Tse break from a straightforward, documentary format. They photograph their subjects with a rich narrative creating a deepened, yet open ended understanding from within, rather than a purely descriptive documentary processes. Tse's series Narrow Distances, includes portraits and chaotic landscapes that offer a queer lens into LGBTQ culture and identity in contemporary Hong Kong, while Blum's A Field Guide to Folk Taxonomy, combines landscapes and quiet ephemera to portray unexpected intergenerational symbols and mythologies from Appalachia. Each shoots with a large format view camera, which helps them meditate on their communities, through a slow, layered, and poetic voice.

PostedMarch 17, 2016

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Portfolio

TagsKa-Man Tse, Aaron Blum, Hong Kong Photography, LGBT, Appalachia, Silver Eye Center For Photography, Large Format Photography, New Photographic Portraiture

Curling - Delivering. Photographer: Paul Thompson

What do a cat shopping for Christmas presents, a snow buried car and some shivering NYC pigeons have in common? Not much aside from their obvious "winter" theme, but they are all part of the fascinating digital archive put online earlier this year by the New York Public Library. While curating our latest group show, Winter Pictures over the past few weeks, one favorite distraction was rabbit-holing it down this maze of historical photographic tangents, so we thought it would be fitting to cull a collection of our favorite cold, discordant gems - a series "b-sides" to the exhibition. Enjoy.

PostedFebruary 25, 2016

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesGalleries

TagsArchival photography, winter pictures, winter photography, vernacular photography, new york public library digital collection, NYPL Digital Archive

Coorain Devin, host of the new video art talk-show web-series, Coloring Coorain, is a renaissance-hatted conceptual artist, TV star and cultural wonder producer who uses campy humor to address complex themes ranging from feminism and queer identity, to poetry, vernacular photography, and even personal health issues. Their playful, and often heartwarming approach, which credits influences spanning Candy Darling, Oscar Wilde, Dave Eggers, and John Waters, help to make these issues more accessible to a range of audiences without dilution or sacrifice of content. Corain recently collaborated with 15 photographers to produce a calendar picturing the artist as a means to to explore some of these same issues "at a time when queerness is frequently appropriated, repackaged and deployed as entertainment." Coorain's work gives agency and visibility to them, and their influence on contemporary pop culture. We interviewed Coorain to learn more.

PostedFebruary 18, 2016

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists

TagsCoorain, Coorain Devin, performance art, video art, new photography, artist collaborations

Like pretty much every content marketer..er..photography organization, we've been hosting some of our favorite photographers for weekly Instagram residencies, and it's been lots of inspiring fun. But with only one "resident" per week, we've limited the number of photographers we can share with our world.

So starting this coming weekend we bring you: #HUMBLEWEEKENDZ. In addition to our weekly Instagram residencies, we'll be sharing some of our favorite photographer submissions throughout each weekend, and the process is damn easy. To submit, simply add "#humbleweekendz @humbleartsfoundation" on Instagram in the comments of any of your favorite photos, and if we absolutely love them, we'll share it from Humble's Instagram feed with proper attribution and a link back to your feed when the time is right. We've helped grow the followings of many photographers already so you've got nothing to lose.

XOXO in advance,
Jon and Amani

PostedJanuary 22, 2016

AuthorEditors

Tagsopen call, photographer opportunities, instagram takeovers, photographer residencies, new photography

12 Click-tacular Buzzwords Photography Writers Need To Stop Using (part 2)

Two Photographers Confront Tradition and Representation in Hong Kong and Appalachia

Down The Rabbit Hole: Old Winter Photographs from the NYPL Digital Archive

(You Should Know) Who the F is Coorain Devin?

Another Open Call? Humble Wants to Share Your Photos on Instagram