The first one talks about Jennifer Schwartz, who owns a gallery in the westside of  Atlanta. She has started a crusade to encourage her generation to collect art, and especially photographic work. “Collecting art, Schwartz observes, is not in young people’s mind. ‘They care about the image they put together and they care about the cutting edge of hot new things, being original, but nobody is telling them that there is a better way…[My question was] how to make collecting cool.’”

The other article covers the recent work of photographer Forest McMullin on sexual fantasies and BDSM lifestyles. Not exactly what you see in your everyday’s life but quite interesting. “The result is a series that does not leave indifferent. ‘I had a broad range of reactions, when I was showing my work,’ explains McMullin. ‘Some people were very uncomfortable, and some were fascinated. No one expressed to me outrage or repulsion. Discomfort, definitively; fascination, definitively.’ But, he said, in any case, it always started a conversation.” Find out for yourself.

Big Country, © Barry Goldwater

In the American political landscape, the name of Barry Goldwater stands apart . “Mr. Conservative”, as he was known, drove black sportscars and made international list of best-dressed man. He was known to believe in UFO’s, a free thinker, a conservative Republican whose views on certain subjects would be considered more Liberal or Libertarian than Republican in today’s standards, an avid radio operator, and, interestingly, a passionate photographer.

If Goldwater’s skills remains unknown from the general public, his talents have been recognized in his lifetime by his peers. He belonged to and was recognized by the Royal Photographic Society of London and the Photographic Society of America. Ansel Adams was one of his mentors, and they developed a long and solid friendship. In his introduction to one of Goldwater’s photography’s book, Adams wrote about his friend: “We must always make a clear distinction between the professional and the amateur. Barry Goldwater is, in my opinion, a fine and eager amateur. Some of the best photographers in the history of art have been amateurs, in the sense that they did not live by their avocation. Yet they worked as hard as any competitive photographer in the professional field.”

He had an impeccable eye to portray his beloved state, Arizona, and particularly the Grand Canyon, which he called his “mistress”. He also recorded with his camera the happenings of the political scene. According to his daughter Joanne and granddaughter Allison, whom I met for an interview, there are still piles of unpublished work by the late senator that would be worth seeing.

For more on Goldwater and photography, read my article published today in “La Lettre de la Photographie”

www.virginiekippelen.photoshelter.com

Chapel, on the road to Cassel

There is not much to distract the eyes along the roads of my natal Flanders, on the northern tip of France. The land is flat (s0me areas are even under sea level) with the exception of a few mounts, that you could as well treat as prominent hills. Parcels of wheat and flax fields provide beautiful hues in the summer light. I don’t miss much from my time growing up in north of France, certainly do not miss the rainy and cold weather and the sadness of the economically distressed cities. No. But whenever I go back, I am always in awe with the beauty of the landscape, the small paved roads, the patchwork formed by uneven fields, the immensity of the flat land reinforced by big skies, “the line of the horizon and the beauty of an atmosphere that endlessly changes, like in some paintings of the 17th century that have marvelously rendered that particular beauty of the North” (from Marguerite Yourcenar).

A large display of shoal spider lillies in the banks of the Flint River, one of the last remaining free-flowing river in Georgia. This image was taken during a recent workshop I took with the Serenbe Photography Center, under the direction of Peter Essick.

Back in the 70′s, this river was the subject of a controversy between environmentalists, who fought to keep this river in its natural state and proponents of the idea of building a dam. Former President and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was instrumental in vetoing the dam proposal. As of today, the river is still freely flowing, but it has also earned the sad label of being “number 2 in the top ten most endangered rivers in the United States.” Other interesting fact: it originates, humbly, just under the Atlanta airport…

The white shoal spider lilly is itself listed as an endangered specie in the state of Georgia. Blooming from mid-May to early June, it emits a pleasant flagrance throughout the night. It has also the particularity to generate pecan-sized seeds that sink in the river’s water, rather than float. This allows the seed to penetrate crevices deep in the bottom of the rocky river and to germinate in the shoals rather than in the deep water where they will not survive. Little detail but so revealing of the wonders of nature.

A little gem of the South. For more information on the river and why it needs to be protected, take a look at the work of the FlintRiverKeeper.  

She is fun and silly. This is Pia, a little girl who lives in the trees, surrendered by beautiful handcrafted objects. Her mom makes them and she is about to launch her website, thus the photo session I had with them recently. More on the website later. The more candies you give to Pia, the bigger she smiles. If life could be that straightforward:)

If you are in Atlanta this weekend, I invite you to stop by at the Atlanta’s Druid Hills Artist Market where I will be exhibiting a new series on chickens. This series has been inspired by the growing interest in chickens I have obversed in Atlanta and other urban areas. Many of my friends have built coops in their own backyard and have enjoyed the unbeatable taste of daily fresh eggs. Meanwhile, farmers’ markets around town have become a steady venue for a growing number of people interested in going back to the source when it comes to food.

This work, however, is not only meant to document a new trend. It has also been motivated by the stricking beauty of these birds. Those portrayed here are not your traditional red hens. They are neither the ones that Georgia is known for. Most of them are exotic breeds of birds, each one exuberating character and panache, most notably the Belgium Barbue D’Uccle (see above)  and the aristocratic silver Sebright.

This is an ongoing project and I would love to extend the number of specimens to my collection. If you have yourself a flock of birds with unusual traits, please let me know. I would like to pay you a visit.

I would like to thank Stacy Byrd, from the Fernbank Science Center, Daniel Ballard, from the Oakhurst Community Garden, Marie-Laure Coste Dujols, from Le Jardin Francais and Angela Lewis for sharing with me their beautiful birds.