The great thing about having the New York Photo Festival in Dumbo is that is a small neighborhood, and you just sort of wander up and down a few streets and take it all in. You can do it all in one day, that is apart from the lectures that take place continuously for the four days it is running.
I wandered in haphazardly to a good lecture by Jan Banning, photographer from Holland that has photographed a project on bureaucrats around the world.
The festival, which has a definite emphasis on fine arts photography (the future of photography we are told), felt very small, and you kind of wanted more, but I realize it is the first year. It will grow. But all in all, very cool. Some people grumbled about the ticket price, but I think a 45 dollar ticket that gets you everything (except a catalog), including the parties is cheap.
I sat at the corner of Washington and Water Street for a while and took it all in. One fashion team was shooting teens in hoodies, one video team was reporting in back to Brazil and one team from France hung back and waited for the street to clear. The reason? The backdrop of the Manhattan bridge, iconic New York image number 5.
Seeing some of the “natives” like Puerto Rican mothers pushing strollers or some of the Hasidic business men from the small manufacturing businesses in the hood wandering among the photo crowd was funny. You could just see how they all thought “What the hell…?”
“Chisel”, curated by Kathy Ryan, is a really strong show. Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk showed images from his book “Vinter” and Stephen Gill has an amazing series of pictures of betting stubs that became my favorite. I also liked “New Typologies” curated by Martin Parr, the most developed and diverse.
I recommend pending a long time in the powerHouse bookstore if you visit.
I peaked into the Getty party and met some old and new friends before I left. Christina Cahill, who co-curated the Getty portrait show, looked stunning. Bumped into a little gaggle of Swedes, Lars Tunbjörk, Pelle Kronestedt and Peter Norrman, the latter a Brooklynite for many years. Had tea with Thomas Nilsson (my friend and blog coach!) who was in New York after traveling the country on the election circuit for a while.
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