Leon & Lazlo and Lady Birds were looking good last summer at Coney Island.

*photographs by Joe Martinez

I always try to get my friend to bring me back beets from Bosnia, this is where they always end up.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room John F. Kennedy International Airport Queens, New York

African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.  All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.  © Taryn Simon

Have you seen the new Tim Hetherington book, Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold? Check it out, and come to the official launch June 4, 6-8pm at Umbrage.

© Naho Kubota, tube #1, 2006

© Yisook Sohn, Wine and Sup, 2007

For my friends in Chicago.

* video by lady birds, panda

*photograph by Joss Mckinley, 6 Rue De Vaux, 2007

*photograph by Eirik Johnson, Roger Mosley counting Coho spawn nests along the Upper Sol Duc River, Washington

old loves

*book spread by Bute & Singley, Portrait of an Artist, pp. 2 & 3

* photograph by Lise Sarfati

*photograph by Richard Renaldi, Ashlee and Ashley, from Fall River Boys

Lens, the New York Time photo blog launched last week. Good Stuff.

I bought this book years ago in ZA. Re-reading it again after taking a deeper interest in contemporary African Photographers. I highly recommend this read to anyone interested in the development and the importance of the photograph in places like Kenya, Nigeria, Japan, Australia, and India. This book gravitates away from the traditional Euro-American writers and ideas and offers an interesting insight into a history often neglected by western culture.

On my way to back to Chicago. Chocolate bridges, MOCP, Harry Potter and hugs, here I come.

*photograph by Brian Guido, from the series, Various Postcards

So that's what he looks like.

*photograph by Harvey Stein, Keith Haring, 1982

*photograph by Corey Arnold

*photograph by Chiara Goia, from the series, Sculptures Village

*photograph by Toni Graves from the series, Radical Love

I have been collection things that remind me of my friend Gaby, and I came across this quote. It was one of her favorites. I thought I would share.

"We will gradually become indifferent to what goes on in the minds of other people when we acquire a knowledge of the superficial nature of their thoughts , the narrowness of their views and of the number of their errors. Whoever attaches a lot of value to the opinions of others pays them too much honor."
— Arthur Schopenhauer (The Philosophy of Schopenhauer)

Alpha Sessions~Adebisi & The Fresh Cut Collective from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

*master film maker, Darren Cole

This weekend Tim Hetherington will be holding a lecture at Umbrage Gallery. He will show a short 10 minute movie and talk about the work after. Please join us.
Saturday May 16, 2009 3pm

*photograph by Tim Hetherington, LURD fighter. Tubmanberg, Bomi County. 2003.

Gaby had good taste. I remember her love for these specific photographs.

*photograph by Gilles Peress, Bloody Sunday, One Minute before British Paratroop Fires, 1972

*photograph by Loretta Lux, Girl with Marbles

*photography by Allesandra Sanguinett1,  From the series The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams 

Gabriela Duffy was a talented and beautiful friend. Those who knew her will never forget her.
Lady G, we will meet again. Friendships like ours don't end that quickly.

*All photographs by Gabriela Duffy from the series, Neither Here Nor There, 2007

Umbrage launched its new website

check it out

Sunshine and heat, you have finally arrived.

*photograph by Melanie Schiff, Spit, 2006

I just found this photograph of an old professor of mine. He was one of the biggest inspirations to me in College. In the famous words of John H. White,
"Keep in Flight"

The best morning of my life

*Photograph by Jason Lazarus "The entire three minute duration of the 'America's Answer' fireworks package, $99.95, Independence Day 2007" 59x74" archival inkjet 2007

mad delicious

*photograph by Jen Davis, Mike. New Orleans. 2007 , from the series, I Ask In Exchange