… on to Feedbin…

… Jonathan Blaustein wrote about his trip to Chicago this morning… i learn about Weedmaps.com, for the weed dispensary near you… i look up what might be near me and find that it’s all medical marijuana in NY… weed was recently legalized for recreational use too, but i imagine the state is still working out the regulations and how to enforce them…

… overall, JB reported on numerous pizza restaurants which seemed to be the only food they ate while in Chicago… i mean, who eats pizza all weekend long and doesn’t gain a few pounds doing it?… not me… not at this point in my life… i try to eat healthier than that…

… i review the work of Leonardo Magrelli, published on Aint-Bad, and think, ok, but not compelling… all black and white, city environment…

… i look over, read, Proud, Provocative Portraits That Celebrate Feminine Authenticity… a woman photographer and stylist pursuing a project called Girls… an area of interest as anyone reading this blog will know… yes, interested because of primal programming, but also interested in the subject of how women are presented in photoland… i am especially interested in cases where women photograph women in ways that will, whether intended or not, provoke the male gaze… this set of photographs provokes the male gaze and seems intended to…

Albertine Photography Guen Fiore, styling Rubina Vita Marchiori

_ A new series by photographer Guen Fiore and stylist Rubina Vita Marchiori celebrates the fearless authenticity of Gen-Z women_¹

… the article tells us the women are photographed in their own homes (a safe environment)… the broad message, i will present myself as sexy if i want to, i am in control of that… a legitimate question to ask, does this promote women as much beyond being sex objects?… my answer, i am not sure… apparently there are photo sessions with each woman, that, presumably, lead to multiple images… are they all laced with sensuality?, showing the women in states of partial undress?… are they presented in any other way?… the artist’s instagram account suggests otherwise…

… i look at some of the comments on one post… that the women are “hot” is appreciated… the photographer has 34.5k followers… did they build that following with these images?… yes, almost all the images are attractive young women displaying their bodies in sensual, sexual ways… the following has been built on the fact that “sex sells,”…

… it think what bothers me is not that the women are presenting themselves sensually, sexually, but that it is a celebration of “fearless authenticity of Gen-Z women… only if women are to be defined by their sexuality… so the project tries to be high minded, but isn’t at all…

… one of my favorite photography review writers… he rants about life and politics then reviews photography books and portfolios… he shares some of his own photography too…

… this week there is no review… just the sharing of a crazy experience when he trespassed on property and wound up with a loaded gun in his face…

… trespassing is something i rarely do… i don’t care if the photograph will be magical… mostly it is because i am a live within the boundaries sort of guy… if it is someone else’s private property, i don’t cross the line unless invited to do so… it makes me nervous even to point a camera across the line, but i often do…

… i am the same way about photographing strangers on the street… i am anger and rejection averse…

… at any rate… glad you survived JB… may you keep posting for years to come…

… which, unfortunately, has just closed but you can savor it to some degree in his review which ends on this note…

_ Art is, and has always been, a huge part of humanity’s salvation._

Art is an act of creation, and represents the best of us, as a species.

So let’s not forget that, in 2021, when so much bad-behavior gets us down.¹

… JB is one of my favorite reviewers of (mostly) photography… his anecdotal style and deep knowledge of what is going on in the world of photography combine to make just about every review he does amazing… always worth the read…

Bruce Haley, Home Fires. Vol.I: The Past

… reviewed by Jonathan Blaustein… based on the review, i would buy the book if i had much disposable cash… it’s about ecological disaster… maybe i need something more uplifting…

Holy

By Donna Ferrato, reviewed by Jonathan Blaustein…

… for the most part, i agree with Jonathan Blaustein, that Holy is a powerful book, though my personal reaction to it is that it starts to fall apart a bit in narrative intent at the end, in the “Other” section… i proudly own a copy though… it’s overall, fabulous… i commented on the post, expressing these sentiments…

This Week in Photography, Jonathan Blaustein

… one of my favorite photography reviewers is Jonathan Blaustein… in this review of portfolios from LACP he presents a stellar and wide ranging group of photographers that are well worth looking at…

… a long post by JB on going home… lots of pics, lots of quick stories, family, friends, food, a travelog… riffing with pictures, none of it trying to be too, or even at all, profound, just normal shit that people do when they visit home in NJ… his low craft post made me think a little about this blog… what am i doing with it?… why am i doing it at all?… it feels right, i like doing it, but there is very little notice paid… JB has a group of fans like me that will look at what he writes every week… i keep trying to not want fans, but don’t succeed… we all want fans, don’t we?… even when we pretend we don’t… anyone so secure in their skin that they can say they don’t need or want fans probably has lots of them…