Kip Praslowicz » About Other Artists

Eric Ruby

K. Praslowicz — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:48:38 +0000

Here is a portrait I took of my friend Eric.

He is also really good at being on the other side of the lens as well. I suggest you go look at his work.

Here are a few samples.

Why are you still here? Get over to his site now!

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If you've enjoyed this, or any other post from my website, why not help me out? The next time you shop at Amazon or B&H Photo Video, come back here and click on this link to Amazon, or this link to B&H first. You'll receive whatever fun new toy you buy for yourself, and I'll receive a fraction of the sale price to help keep this site running. We both win!

Eric Ruby is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Weegee The Photographer As A Baby

K. Praslowicz — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:46:23 +0000

Earlier this week I was flipping through this site's analytics to see what search terms people had used to find it. One in peculiar that stood out to me was the term "Weegee The Photographer As A Baby."

After some careful deliberation on what Weegee as a baby would actually look like, I believe that the following depiction would be the most factually correct way to interpret the phrase.

Weegee Books

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Weegee The Photographer As A Baby is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Rephotography in Duluth: Stephen Shore

K. Praslowicz — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:56:44 +0000

In mid-December I received a copy of Stephen Shore's photography book Uncommon Places. I took immediate note that the second and third photographs in the book were both taken on July 9th, 1973 in Ashland Wisconsin and Ironwood Michigan.

For those of you who don't have a keen understanding of Great Lakes geography, Ironwood is roughly 100 miles away from Duluth, and Ashland is about midway between the two. I made a remark inside my brain that the only reason he would be in both those towns on the the same day was because he was either driving to or from Duluth. I continued flipping through the book until I hit page thirty-five.

J. J. Summers Agency, First Street, Duluth, Minnesota, July 11, 1973

Two days later he was in the Zenith City. That rascal Shore was on his way!

Thanks to Stephen Shore using the very verbose Stephen Shore method of titling images, I immediately knew this photograph would be a candidate for rephotography with minimal effort.

First Street

The most obvious clue for finding the location of Shore's photograph was the part of the title that says First Street. I work on first street. I photograph on first street almost daily. Shore was in my turf. Now to find his tripod holes.

The first thing I did was to cruise all the store fronts on first street via Google street view to make a list of locations to go visually inspect. There were several candidates which still had similar glass windows leading up to the entryway, but none had the fat pillar as seen near the edge of the Shore photograph.

I really hadn't expected the store front to not have been remodeled since 1973, so I wasn't very confident with what I was finding on street view.

Finding J.J. Summers Agency

I then made a deeper attempt to locate where J.J. Summers Agency was to get a better idea of where to look. A quick post about the location on our local community blog started turning up some leads.

"I think it was on the upper side of first street between 3rd and 4th avenue west, just west of the the old Pioneer Bowling Lanes (?)"

After that comment I quickly went to that block in street view and a building with modern looking frontage and some strikingly familiar columns.

The next day a commenter with a 1965 city directory unloaded the exact address which was exactly where my street view screen shot was taken from.

"Summers J J Agency Paul J Lyons Mgr Business Machs 333 W. 1st St."

The Rephotographed Photo

I took a stroll to the location the next day. Much like in my Tom Arndt rephotographing experience, it seems that Shore was again using a much wider lens that I had with me. I made the exposure anyways and reflected on just how awesome the Internet is for information gathering. What might have taken me days of detective work twenty years ago, I managed to figure out with a blog post while never leaving my desk.

Romanticizing

The first commenter at Perfect Duluth Day about the location of the J.J. Summers Agency also included the following bit of information.

"I think there was a camera store next door."

Now this I really like. I like to imagine that Shore had gone to the camera store to drop off his film from Ironwood & Ashland for processing, and the shop next door caught his eye. No need to go hunting for an elaborate location—it just happened to be right there in front of him as he went to run an errand.

Back To Ashland?

Towards the end of Uncommon Places there is a copy of Shore's exposure log for July 9th, 1973—the day he passed through Ashland a mere sixty-eight miles from where I sit. There are notes for nine exposures being made. I believe I've seen at least four or five of the images he made in Ashland out on the web. Seven of those nine exposures were made along 2nd Street. Now I can't help but think...Stephen Shore rephotography day trip?

More Shore

On the steps of Stephen Shore - Rephotography of Stephen Shore by French photographer Valéry Denis. Looks like he hasn't followed the midwest route yet.
Rephotographing Shore - Blog post by Blake Andrews
Stephen Shore: American Beauty - Short video about Shore.

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Rephotography in Duluth: Stephen Shore is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Rephotography in Duluth: Tom Arndt

K. Praslowicz — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:54:58 +0000

I always get a little warmth inside me when I buy a new photography book and flip the page that has a photograph taken at location I recognize. It first happened when I bought Chris Faust's Nocturnes, and more recently when I got Stephen Shore's Uncommon Places.

One of the other books I've purchased recently that I found a familiar place in was Tom Arndt's Home. While turning the pages of the Home I found myself face to face with a photo titled Looking for tall ships, Duluth, 1976.

I knew those stairs. I walk past them all the time while out executing my own street photography. I put the book into my bag, grabbed my camera and went out to rephotograph Tom Arndt.

I got the the location and positioned myself in front of the stairs. Before making an exposure I pulled the book out of my bag to check my footing against the original image. Something was amiss.

In the Arndt photo there is a certain registration between the smokestack of the Duluth Steam plant and the First United Methodist Church .

When I stood at the base of the stairs I believed to be depicted in the photo, the gap between the smokestack and church was far too different to make me think I was in the same spot. I looked to my right and saw that a lamp post which looked identical to the one in the Tom Arndt photo was still standing. I went to inspect it.

A row of trees now obscure the view of the hillside, but I was still able to catch glimpses of the smokestack and church through the branches. I move to my right until I found a spot where the lamp post was up against the edge of the church. At that location the perspective between the smokestack and church was spot on with the Arndt photo. I would not be surprised to have found out that the lamp post may have moved in the past 34 years, but I had serious doubts that the smoke stack and church could have as well. It seemed to me that the only thing that had moved since 1974 was the location of the stairs.

*click*

It was also apparent that Tom was using a much wider angle lens than I had with me. Maybe I'll go back rephotograph the rephotographed photograph again someday to better match the perspective in the original image.

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Rephotography in Duluth: Tom Arndt is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

64 Examples of Stunning, Breathtaking or Amazing Photography Lists

K. Praslowicz — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:33:06 +0000

List posts are all the rage lately in the world of blogging. Not wanting to be one to miss the bus, I've assembled a list post of my own. So here you go—a list post with links to 64 other photography list posts.

Crack open a beer and get comfy as you now have 2884+ images to browse though.

Update: I've just realized one of these is not Stunning, Breathtaking or Amazing. It is only merely Brilliant. I still like the images though, so it gets to stay.

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64 Examples of Stunning, Breathtaking or Amazing Photography Lists is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Happy Birthday...

K. Praslowicz — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:36:54 +0000

... Geraldo! Crap! I meant to say America. I fail at this July 4th thing.

However, someone who didn't fail at the July 4th thing is Aline Smithson. Go check out the First Annual Lenscratch 4th of July Exhibition that she put together on the Lenscratch blog.

It is a very strong and diverse collection of photographs from around the country. Some of my personal favorites are the entries by Christy Karpinski, Siri Kaur, Ray Carofano, Mike Peters, Carmen Luceno and Jackie Alpers.

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Happy Birthday... is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

My Favorite Ansel Adams Photograph

K. Praslowicz — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:03:02 +0000

What is your favorite Ansel Adams photograph? Moon and Half Dome? Moonrise, Hernandez? Clearing Winter Storm?

Myself? My favorite Ansel Adams Photograph isn't one that Ansel took himself, but rather a photograph of Ansel Adams taken by Jacques Henri Lartigue in the early 1970's. The photograph which is depicted in Lartigue: Album of a Century is simply labeled "De Dos" just shows Adams's butt as he leans over an equipment case. I love it!

I have a feeling I would have gotten along with Lartigue. To be in front of a photography giant like Ansel Adams, and make the photo of his backside the one that makes it into the album is very much something I think I'd do.

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My Favorite Ansel Adams Photograph is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

The Vivian Maier Cache

K. Praslowicz — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:07:08 +0000

There has been some buzz on the Internet recently with the discovery of Vivian Maier. Vivian died earlier this year, and recently her work of about 40,000 negatives were purchased at auction by John Maloof who has been posting them at vivianmaier.com

The images that I've browsed though so far have been excellent, and I can’t wait for more to get posted. I highly recommend going to the blog to see photos.

With the discovery of these negatives fresh in my mind, I can't help but relate back to a few ideas I wrote about earlier in the year.

The first was Philosophy from a tea bag where I took to heart a fortune from a fortune cookie that said The purpose of life is to do something that will live forever. With the discovery of Vivian's negatives, and the images from them being viewed by a wide audience, I can't help but believe that she has successfully achieved this purpose of life. I'm already convinced that if I never get famous doing photography during my lifetime, that I'd be cool knowing that someone else discovered all my work postmortem and got it into the eyes of many.

The second was my plea to future proof your photography. I can't imagine that if the cache was in the form punch cards, or 8” floppies, that they would be as accessible as they are. I stick with film for its ease of archivability. The Maier negatives, along with the tale of Robert Capa's missing briefcase only helps to confirm in my mind that I'll be more likely to achieve the goal of doing something that will live forever by sticking with film.

External References

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The Vivian Maier Cache is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Whitney Saurer

K. Praslowicz — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:14:29 +0000

It's time for a new artist for The Sack of Love! This time around I'm tossing in the upcoming painter/illustrator Whitney Saurer. Don't hate me for not using a photographer.

Get yourself over to her site and enjoy what feels like the mixture between your favorite childhood memory, and your weirdest dream ever.

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Whitney Saurer is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Joshua Hoffine

K. Praslowicz — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:08:17 +0000

I figure I can use an occasional post on this site to spread some love for other photographers that I stumble across on these great wide Internets. Thus, I created the category "The Sack Of Love" where I can toss mini-reviews for artist's who's work I genuinely enjoy.

First person to get tossed into the sack is Joshua Hoffine. He does some excellent work constructing elaborate scenes that illustrate the worst nightmares of children. He probably puts more effort in lighting and arranging each one of his photos then I'll ever do in my entire career. Definitely worth checking out his site for a while if you're like me and have grown tired of sunset & kitten photos.

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Joshua Hoffine is a post from: K. Praslowicz, Photographer

Kip Praslowicz » About Other Artists

Eric Ruby

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Weegee The Photographer As A Baby

Weegee Books

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Rephotography in Duluth: Stephen Shore

First Street

Finding J.J. Summers Agency

The Rephotographed Photo

Romanticizing

Back To Ashland?

More Shore

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Rephotography in Duluth: Tom Arndt

Related External Links

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64 Examples of Stunning, Breathtaking or Amazing Photography Lists

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Happy Birthday...

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My Favorite Ansel Adams Photograph

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The Vivian Maier Cache

External References

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Whitney Saurer

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Joshua Hoffine

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