aipad, hc-b

went to the 25th AIPAD photo show in midtown yesterday. there was a panel discussion titled “farewell henri cartier-bresson” consisting of noted street photographers bruce davidson, joel meyerowitz, and susan meiselas. it was fascinating to listen to joel mention how when he started in the 1970s he went to parades to build the courage to be able to take people pictures on the street. how he met hc-b at a st. patrick’s day parade. how he was struck by how hc-b was in constant motion, taking images. was also interesting to hear a key point being made that to be able to make it in photography one needs to keep living expenses down. how joel quit his job just to shoot even though he did not make much (any?) money from his photography that first year.

the photo show was underwhelming not so much in its scale (that is the largest collection of photographs i have ever seen). i think i had a vague disappointment that there were only two images that i was aware of from african photographers (2 images from malick sidibe). could it be the market for africa-related imagery is not strong at the high-end, or is there a lack of interest in the subject matter at that level? is it a case of lack of exposure, or neglect? also the images were somewhat backward looking, there were very few contemporary images (2 from bruce davidson’s “subway” work are all i remember). what i consider images of everyday life today. maybe we are so close to life today that we don’t have the psychic distance from it and its imagery to want to collect and display it. but i bet the photographers whose work commands such big $$ were in a similar predicament when they took their images. it is only now that the images have value, now that they point to a time that doesn’t exist anymore. hmmm interesting thought.