Raising Frogs for $$$

Jason Fulford
The Ice Plant 2006
There is something magical about Jason Fulford’s books. It’s not the stuff of highly produced illusions but a quiet alchemy of momentsbrimming with wonder and
anticipation. The contents of Raising Frogs for $$$ are divided into 8 chapters reading much like a collection of short stories. They chart a journey’s destination that appears to be nowhere and whose origins seem comprised of everything.

The book opens with an image from Paris; a cluster of black holes drilled into the wall of a sidewalk. The book closes with an image of a battered four-door sedan riddled with bullet holes; mimicking the shapes of the first image. The transformation of the idea between these two, serve as a wonderful metaphor for the contents of the entire book.

Most of the 63 images are quiet moments of observation. The human form appears
occasionally as a marching band, in statures, wall paintings, and photographs of
photographs. The lion’s share of pictures throughout the book contain a less tangible sensation. They include but are not limited to a California beach, hotel curtains, and a tent in a forest clearing. Curiously enough, there is a hushed current that pulses through every image, magnetizing them with a polyphonic charge. All of the pictures are odd and a bit quirky, but they make a strange sense, together. The real strength of Raising Frogs for $$$ is in the handling of each sequence of images. Within each chapter there are similarities that bind each image to those before and after it. This generates a synchronicity that unites otherwise divergent photographs.

Fulford reveals quiet moments of beauty, humor, heartbreak and quirk that saturate the everyday. He has assembled these thoughts very nicely into a book that is well produced and happily rewarding after multiple experiences.

-Christopher Gianunzio

Required Reading:

http://www.jasonfulford.com

http://www.blindspot.com/store/page2.html?mag_id=35

http://www.theiceplant.cc

http://www.jandlbooks.org

Higley

Andrew Phelps
Kehrer 2007
A restaging of the New Topographics exhibition is now making its way around Europe
for the first time ever. Over three decades have past since the original showing at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography in Rochester, NY. The
exhibit was a landmark for photography within the contemporary art world. The New
Topographics brought together works of 10 photographers, each with their own take on the evolving landscape. P.O.C. member Andrew Phelps has a selection of his work
from “Higley” (2007) in a parallel exhibition to the current show. The inclusion of Phelps emphasizes the long lasting impact of the 1975 exhibit and the relevance of this particular subject within the contemporary art world.
Neither sentimental nor brooding, Andrew Phelps seems clear-eyed and inquisitive in his approach to photographing the changing landscape. The land itself seems to be a starting point for the photographer throughout most of his work. It is used as a backdrop for a deeper and more expansive personal musing on man’s place within nature. In publications such as “Not Niigata”(2008) and “Nature Deluxe”(2004), Phelps examines the relationship cultures have with both the natural and constructed environments.

In “Higley” (2007) Phelps photographs the transformation of the town of Higley, a
suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. Taken over a period of three years, Phelps uses Higley and the surrounding towns to examine globalization on a micro-level. Through photographs of immigrant construction workers, interiors of middle class houses with picturesque landscape paintings, young Caucasian families and senior citizens; Phelps wants his project to “bear witness to this brief three year period… when the American dream either collapses or blooms”. It’s hard, however, to tell exactly what the “American Dream” is supposed to look like or who it belongs to. Between the construction of new housing developments and the demolition of the old, the landscape takes on the appearance of a war zone. Phelps captures a town caught in transition. What is lost along the way may be the things that make this place unique. Whether Progress leads to the loss of a personal connection to the land for its citizens, a loss of communal history or to a rebirth is yet to be seen. Phelps succeeds in showing “Higley” with both the sober clarity of a social document and the kind of familiarity found in the snapshots of a family photo album.

“Higley” is produced as a hardcover, 11.3 x 9.8in. with 81 color photographs, and an essay by Tamarra Kaida. A short note on vellum written by photographer Alec Soth
wraps the back cover acting as a lovely after thought to the book. Higley is published by Kehrer Verlag of Heidleberg, Germany. Working collaboratively with international artists and designers Kehrer is dedicated to producing finely crafted art and photography books with emphasis on the design of its publications supporting the intentions its content.

Required Reading:

http://www.andrew-phelps.com/

http://www.pocproject.com/

http://www.kehrerverlag.com/html/de/aktueller_verlagstip.html

Raimond Wouda

School
Nazraeli Press 2010
Access has a great deal to do with how pictures are created and received by an audience. While this idea is not new, it seems that there has been a renewed interest in the notion of access as photographic truth recedes within our image-saturated culture. Context of any kind gives the photograph’s audience crucial information regarding the who, what, where, how, and sometimes when. In some cases the lack of context provides a body of work with an underlining tone of

mystery that further strengthens its individual images.

I can honestly say I have never seen pictures like the ones contained in Raimond Wouda’s recent book, School. They depict institutions in the Netherlands that appear to be very hip; places where kids might want to hang out. Using a 4×5 view camera and what must be an incredibly complex lighting setup, Wouda’s probing eye catches extremely claustrophobic situations where the young congregate at places of education.

Wouda manages to compress multiple narratives into this series giving the viewer no choice but to dive in head first to unpack all the information. The structure of the book itself is sequenced like a day at school; everyone gathers in the morning, goes to class after class, then a lunch break or recess. Then in the final chapter there is a dance party or some kind of informal school event.

The metaphorical architecture of the institution is by no means a new topic within photography’s parameters. Dawoud Bey’s Class Pictures and Joseph Szabo’s Teenage offer us other perspectives of the K-12 experience, albeit in the United States, and not Europe. But where I feel Bey and Szabo’s interests lie in the relationship of the individual or individuals, Wouda concerns himself with that of the architectural space and its effect on the group.

The forward to School is authored by none other than Martin Parr. This is the 4th book in the Parr/ Nazraeli series of 10. The design of this book is very clean and allows for maximum viewing potential; each image is printed the same size and allows for the closest possible inspection of the nuanced details of each image. This is what great photo books are built to do, and this one in particular is extremely powerful. With little context its contents thrust the viewer into a visual world that provides us with a complete experience; sometimes asking more questions than it answers.

Required Reading:

http://www.raimondwouda.com/

http://www.nazraeli.com/