A Peek at The LOOK3 Photo Festival 2009

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009

Charlottesville begins and ends with The University of Virginia. Conceived by Thomas Jefferson in 1800, UVA is the only university in the USA to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Charlottesville also happened to be home to two other former presidents, James Madison and James Monroe, as well as Jefferson's Palladian-style estate, Monticello. To this day it maintains an air of Southern gentility-- a place where one might encounter students and locals who not only wear Polo, but play it.

Alys Kenny and I arrived in Virginia a few days prior, and had shoots in Norfolk and Richmond. We got to C-Ville the day before the launch of SLIDELUCK POTSHOW Charlottesville, which coincided with the first day of The LOOK3 Festival of The Photograph.

My cousin Emma Nolan-Abrahamian, who has helped us produce Slidelucks in Ann Arbor, Detroit and DC, arrived by train and we got right to work on production. Our local producer, Lena Zentgraf, found us accommodations with her friend Sandra Motley, who owns a local catering company and is a third-generation photographer (her daughter is actually studying photo at Bard.) Needless to say, her house on Jefferson Park Circle was a lovely staging ground for our team and the farm-fresh eggs, strawberries and beef tenderloin were unforgettable. Most of the slideshows were built on the porch to the left.

THURSDAY, JUNE 11TH, 2009

Most of Thursday was spent preparing for Slideluck and chasing down product from our sponsors, Joby and LowePro. I was able to break away long enough to catch the end of the World Press Photo '09 opening for some human suffering and red wine. In all seriousness, Walter Astrada's (Below-Left) coverage of ethic fighting in Kenya and Brenda Ann Kenneally's story about a single mother raising 7 children (Top-Right) were both fantastic. The strongest work, however, was perhaps in the Sports Action section, including Vincent Laforet and Julian Abram Wainwright's divergent perspectives of Olympic Divers in Beijing.

Sylvia Plachy packed the house at The Paramount Theater for her quirky, whimsical Insight Conversation with Aperture's Melissa Harris.

Slideluck Potshow launched in Charlottesville at Rapture, a club/restaurant on the mall. It was a full house and a list of contributing artists can be found here.

On the left, Dave Lykes Keenan, who runs the Austin Center for Photography checks in, Canadian photographers Rita Leistner and Katja Heinemann wait for the show, and some opening remarks.

DC-based photojournalist, Brendan Hoffman at Left and NYC-based photographer Christina Clusiau speaks with BAGnewsNotes publisher, Michael Shaw.

We opened up the second half of the show with a raffle for a variety of LowePro camera bags and Joby Gorillapods. On the right is Pete Eversoll, who helped us launch SLPS in Mexico City, but has since relocated to Raleigh, NC. He brought a group of his photo students to LOOK, one of which walked away with a raffle prize.

If there was one person that would have the audacity to throw a party at the same time as Slideluck Potshow, it would have to be David Alan Harvey. Ultimately, it worked out perfectly and dovetailed nicely with our afterparty. On the right, Larry Fink and William Albert Allard. More images from Slideluck and DAH's party can be found here.

On Left, Mustafah Abdulaziz has some second thoughts about ascending the spiral staircase, Center, DAH's parties always engender a healthy buzz, and at Right, Swedish photojournalist Chris Maluszynski makes the scene.

A group examination of Andrew Brinkhorst's festival badge and National Geographic photo editor Sadie Quarrier enjoys a laugh with some friends.

The lovely ladies of LOOK: Miki Johnson, editor of LiveBooks' awesome blog, Resolve; Tricia Joseph, a web designer and Michelle Smith, who owns a yoga studio and produces photo shoots in Nag's Head, NC; Alys Kenny of Slideluck Potshow and Jessica Miller who presented work at SLPS C-Ville.

Photographer Blake Gordon, who was involved in bringing Slideluck to Austin, and a healthy pour of Tequila at 3:30am.

Jason P. Howe and DAH try to pull themselves together long enough to sign one another's books-- both of which happen to be favorites in my collection.

FRIDAY, JUNE 12TH, 2009

Did I neglect to mention where we were staying? A far cry from The Red Roof Inn, we slept in a small cabin behind Sandy's house. It had electricity, but no running water, and lent itself towards extremely deep and restful slumber.

Many of Lena and Sandy's friends and family had lived in this little cabin for a period. It became known among them as the "Transtion Trailer" for those who needed some time to get their shit together. I couldn't imagine a better place to do so.

After an important visit to Little John's New York Deli near campus for the Five Easy Pieces sandwich, I checked out some of the exhibits. On the mall, I met Kristi Norgaard, of Yolanda Cuomo Design and her lovely daughter.

Martin Parr's Insight Conversation with John Gossage was the much-anticipated main event of the day. It was a very polished, if not packaged, presentation that not only revealed the breadth and scope of this artist's inner workings and the magnificent array of projects he has undertaken, but it also helped us to understand his evolution from A (Left) to B (Right.)

Photojournalist James Nachtwey, who was a member of Magnum during the time the Parr joined the agency (causing a great schism among its members at the time) looks on with amusement.

One of the weekend's biggest surprises was running into an old friend from Seattle, Shane Carpenter, who has long since relocated to Baltimore. Here is a shot of us looking like goobers, which, while unavoidable for me, I think for Shane is kind of intentional. Incidentally, he is the one who asked Martin Parr how he gets around the "consent" issue with his subjects. Parr's response: "I just don't make eye contact with them after I take the picture." This is in sharp contrast to something I heard Peter Turnley say many years ago: "If you aren't able to look your subject in the eye right after you've taken their picture, then you don't deserve to be taking that picture."

It felt like all of Charlottesville turned out for "Shots," the Friday night projection at the Pavilion at the end of Main St. The work was varied and ranging, featuring projects such as: Ernesto Bazan's BazanCuba, Paolo Pellegrin's Oscar Nominees, Joshua Lutz's Meadowlands, Jason Eskenazi's Wonderland, Michael Wolf's Transparent City and Michael Rubenstein's Mumbai Sperm Banks.

An image from perhaps the evening's most divergent piece, Alex Prager's The Big Valley.

Mr. Toledano joined us at an afterparty in the spacious apartment of Mustafah and friends. I'm really bummed to have missed his Masters Talk (not too mention Eugene Richards and George Steinmetz.) Following his presentation, many told him he should drop photography and go into stand-up comedy.

What was awesome about this apartment was the decor-- like this festive wreath, for example. Perhaps even more awesome was the frat boys on the balcony below doing vapor hits.

I took a ton of crappy pictures that night, though I will spare both the blogosphere and my subjects. Instead, we will bid Friday night adieu with a 4am elevator shot of Alys Kenny, Kirsten Luce, Tamika Moore, Kelly Lynn James, and Holly Williams.

SATURDAY, JUNE 13TH, 2009

Ran into Jason P. Howe on Saturday morning. He was looking a lot better than when I last saw him in Perpignan.

I was bummed to miss David Alan Harvey's Burn Magazine and Emerging Photographer Grant presentation. I was fortunate enough to catch the last few moments of Simon Bruty's presentation, and I actually got something valuable out of it: your luck and "happy accidents" will go a lot farther if you are well-prepared. Yolanda Cuomo Studio's presentation completely caught me by surprise. It was fresh and interesting and gave a great deal of insight into the art of bookmaking and the collaborative process of production.

The last Master Talk of 2009 was Callie Shell, who spoke of her historic journey and coverage of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On the Left is Nick Nichols, who started LOOK3 by throwing backyard slideshow bbqs with his colleagues 25 years ago-- much like the way Slideluck Potshow began in my backyard nine years ago. In the same way I've gained inspiration from Jean-François Leroy's stubbornness and clarity of vision for Perpignan, I feel a certain kinship with Nichols' ability to use photography as a means building and empowering community. Over the course a few short days, a utopic culture emerges-- one in which the masters, the students, the educators, and the clients are all treated with honor and respect-- and in turn, each learns from the other. In the Middle is Shell, and on the Right is her husband, Vincent Musi. It was great to see their son up on stage as well, running around and capturing the moment from his unique and ever-shifting perspective.

Though she caught some criticism for blurring the boundaries between journalist/representative of TIME Magazine and blushing adoration, hearing her recount some of the experiences she shared with the President, could bring a little mist to even the most unflinching cynic's eyes.

Jean-François Leroy, Paul Fusco, Sylvia Plachy, Marcel Saba and Jay Colton milling around after the presentations.

A cheeseburger, coleslaw, french fries, and political conversation with Reza quickly became listening absently from a soft patch of grass.

For a festival that puts "Love" and "Peace" before "Photography," this poor fella sure had a tough time scoring a hug. One has to wonder if the free-flowing wellspring of Love and Peace is only for those who purchase festival tickets? Regardless, I even found myself succumbing to the old bystander effect. I had half a mind to drop my cheeseburger and to go rock him back and forth like Sweet Baby Jesus, but my feet were encased in concrete.

Two of the outdoor exhibits I stumbled upon and quite enjoyed: Paolo Pellegrin's As I Was Dying along with the Free Speech Wall and the work of Michael JN Bowles.

Once again, The Paramount filled up for the final Insight Conversation with the famed Magnum photographer, Gilles Peress. He was introduced by Vince Musi, who I might add, brought with him an remarkably solid, palpable command of the photographic language and did a fantastic job setting the tone for the entire weekend.

This was perhaps the watershed moment of the festival. Vince asked Nick Nichols to stand up. Then he asked Jessica Nagle. Then Andrew Owen, Gina Martin, Lisa Draine, Jenna Pirog. And then he began to invite the various artists and contributors to stand for a round of applause. The applause became a roar as he went down the list of those who were part of the evening projections, the workshop, the Emerging Photographers contest, Slideluck Potshow, on and on, until just about everyone in the theater was on their feet. This is exactly what makes an event like this special: the feeling that everyone there is a part of it, helping to create it, contributing to its success, and that we are all connected. I couldn't help but think about how divergent this feeling was from the much-maligned New York Photo Festival. Not that the NYPF is all bad, there are many great things within it. Besides, it's nearly impossible to pull that kind of thing off-- especially with today's economic climate and the financial constraints of New York City. I guess you might say that I speak from experience. But while the NYPF excluded and alienated much of the local photography community, LOOK3 seemed to do the opposite. Even Perpignan has a certain detached elitism that these guys cut right through with a knife made of butter.

Gilles Peress. What is there to say? He didn't answer a single question, told one joke, and then asked to be excused halfway through. I sort of get it. I don't always have the words and sometimes I don't feel it worthwhile to use the words, and there was something refreshing about his obstinance. But if this is how you feel: Why gather a thousand people together to talk about your work? I guess what's more confounding is that he speaks and writes quite eloquently and extensively about his photography-- when he's in the mood. In any case, his dear friend and TIME's former Director of Photography, MaryAnne Golon, did a spectacular job of rolling with it. I watched her take a deep breath when he deflected her second question as one does when they sit down to a first date and quickly realize that there is no way out.

The final projection, Works, showcased a cross-section of current photography projects from Ragnar Axelsson, Stephen Alvarez, Jessica Dimmock, Susana Raab, Brian Skerry, Mitch Epstein, John Trotter and others. What stole the show for me, as it did in the NYPF, was Tim Hetherington's Sleeping Soldiers piece. Tim, if you happen to be reading this, I just want to reitirate: we would really like to present this piece at Slideluck Potshow XIII in New York. Another notable piece was Nick Nichols' Big Green Taxi, which was a collaborative composite image of a 300-foot tall, 2000-year old Redwood tree. National Geographic Director of Photography David Griffin described to me how it was done. Without going into to too much detail, they essentially created a cable scaffolding opposite the tree and mounted three wide-angle X-pan cameras side by side, making interval exposures as they climbed the length of the tree. As you may imagine, they encountered all sorts of snares along the way, but perhaps what made me feel a little less small was that the team did an entire sequence before they realized the cameras were all set on JPEG!

The last official event of the festival was a Finale Party, that spilled out of two restaurants onto the mall. The party didn't really seem to get going until this rag-tag group of folk and bluegrass musicians threw down and got some boots stomping.

Gilles Peress and Reza share a laugh and on the Right, Mike Courvoisier and friends cue up for the bathroom at Zocalo.

A few drinks in and we're all smiles. Perhaps the biggest smile of all was on Kevin Burtnett's face after he wrapped up the final projection of the festival.

After bartime, a couple of kegs magically made their way back to Harvey's pad and the fiesta continued. Blake Gordon talks to Brandon Thibodeux and Tim Hussin, meanwhile Hillary Atiyeh shares a drink with a friend.

On the left, Todd Williams assaults Grant Ernhart, Joel Fischer kicks back and a toast is raised with Lauren Jones and her boyfriend.

By this point in the night, people were beginning to get feisty.

SLPS Austin director Lance Rosenfield speaks with NY-based photographer, Nicole Tung.

After a certain point in the night, it just seemed like everyone's mouths were hanging open . . . Perhaps we had reached the end of the road?

Ok so it's 4am in Charlottesville, Virginia: who you gonna call? The Whahooptie, that's who!

Sure beats driving while drinking.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14TH, 2009

Nick Nichols had a party at nearby swimming hole that afternoon and then a BBQ on his farm. I really wanted to take it full circle and get back to the farm where LOOK3 was cultivated. Try as I did, we had a plane to catch out of Richmond and we were only able to make it to the banks of the Rivanna River. I guess that will just have to be something to LOOK forward to in 2011.

Thanks for your time,
Casey