Cornell Capa, Magnum member and pioneering founder of the International Center of Photography, died May 23, 2008 at the age of 90 at his home in New York City. Read the New York Times article here and see a slideshow of his work here. Cornell, the younger brother of photojournalist Robert Capa, was known as a dedicated humanitarian and photographer.

Aperture Foundation presented Capa with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Photography in 1999.

During the inaugural New York Photo Festival in DUMBO, New York, Edgar Martins was awarded a New York Photo Award for Personal/Fine Art Series. Click here to see a list of the other winners.

Aperture asked Martins to reflect on his recent win and to discuss the winning images from the series, The Accidental Theorist, which are featured in his new monograph and Aperture magazine, issue 184. Select limited-editions from the series are also available here and here. Martins discusses life and photography below:

Untitled, from the series The Accidental Theorist, 2005

I have always found photography to be a highly inadequate medium for communicating ideas, a subject and object of lack, if you like. However, it is this anxiety with the medium that spurs me on to find a new visual language to work with and, I suppose, a new vocabulary from which to derive my glossary of life. ‘The Accidental Theorist’, the series which was recently awarded the inaugural New York Photo Award (Personal/Fine Art Series) deals with many of these issues. I am extremely honored to have received this award, not only because it is one of the most sought awards in the industry but also because it is a recognition of all the hard work, which I and those around me (such as Aperture, which I have a lot to thank for) have invested into my practice over the last few years.

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Robert Adams/Fraenkel Gallery
Colorado Springs.

Originally published in 1974, Robert Adams’s The New West signaled a significant shift in photographic representation of the American landscape. Aperture has just reissued and released this classic and revered publication alongside Steidl’s reissue of The Americans. Both highly anticipated releases have been reviewed by TIME Magazine’s Richard Lacayo in an article titled, Two Reissued Photography Books Reconsidered in the May 26th issue. Check out Lacayo’s blog, Looking Around, where he write about books, art and architecture for TIME.

JUAN GARCÍA DE OTEYZA APPOINTED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF APERTURE FOUNDATION

The Board of Trustees of Aperture Foundation announced at Wednesday’s Board meeting that Juan García de Oteyza, a veteran in the world of art book publishing, museum exhibitions, diplomacy, and arts administration, has been appointed Executive Director of the foundation.

Click here for full press release.

Aperture Foundation is pleased to announce the Aperture Portfolio Prize, an international photography competition, is now accepting entries.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, July 11.

The purpose of the Portfolio Prize is to identify trends in contemporary photography and specific artists whom we can help by bringing their work to a wider audience. In choosing the first-prize winner and runners-up, we are looking for work that is fresh and that hasn’t been widely seen in major publications or exhibition venues.

First prize is $2,500. The first-prize winner and runners-up are featured on Aperture’s website for approximately one year. Winners are also announced in the foundation’s e-newsletter, which reaches thousands of subscribers in the photography community. To see the work of the winner and runners-up for the 2007 prize, please

Architecture of Authority, Photographs by Richard Ross
Opening Reception:
Thursday, May 22, 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Exhibition on View:
Friday, May 23, 2008–Thursday, July 31, 2008

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
(between 10th and 11th Avenue)
New York, NY
(212) 505-5555

Free and open to the public.

With seemingly limitless access—American photographer Richard Ross has been making unsettling and thought-provoking pictures of architectural spaces that exert power over the individuals within them. These compelling, sometimes disturbing, images are brought together here, on view through July 31st

Toddler classroom, Montessori Center School, Goleta, California

Seventieth Precinct house, New York Police Department, Brooklyn

Booking bench, Los Angeles Police Department, Fifth and Wall Street station

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At the New York Photo Festival, the Aperture Presents lecture In Conversation: Martin Parr and Erik Kessels was quite hilarious and intriguing.

Parr and Kessels took turns discussing the different bodies of work that explore their personal taste and ways of looking at photography, and what image research is like today using a range of sources from flea markets, to Flickr, to eBay.

Parr also spoke of his upcoming book release Parr World: Objects and Postcards (Aperture and Chris Boot Ltd.) due out August 2008. He claimed, “I wish my life was sponsored by eBay,” while discussing how he acquires eccentric ephemera such as Saddam Hussein watches and Spice Girl candy bars.

Erik Kessels describes how he uses vernacular imagery in advertising campaigns.

Parr discusses his series of self portraits that are taken all over the world. You can see more of these at the Magnum website.

Kessels revealed the story behind one of the books included in Aperture’s limited-edition boxed set, In Almost Every Picture. In the series above, a taxi travels throughout Europe with a nameless passenger. Kessels tracked down the driver in the Netherlands and discovered that the passenger, who was unable to walk, would hire the driver to take her to various countries and photograph her on their sojourns.

Parr self portrait

Kessels shares the tale of Oolong the talented rabbit and its blog. Kessels exhibited these images in a series titled Loving Your Pictures.

Read Telegraph article here.

Aperture booth in powerHouse arena with Aperture editorial work scholar Christy Wiles and Kellie McLaughlin, Manager of Limited-Edition Prints

Aperture magazine managing editor Michael Famighetti and New York Photo Festival Nominee photographer Matthew Monteith

Dutch Art Director Erik Kessels at opening night party, Wednesday, May 14

New York Photo Awards after party Friday, May 16

The Ubiquitous Image: Before and After

Before…

Christy Wiles installing Suns from Flickr

Artist and Chair of Bard MFA Photo Penelope Umbrico installing Tvs

Artist Curtis Mann installing his Modification Series

Fellow New York Photo Festival Curator Tim Barber

Views from the Internet, Penelope Umbrico

Artist Harrell Fletcher

Tvs, Penelople Umbrico

Aperture is pleased to participate in the first international level festival of photography to be based in New York, NYPH08, a joint initiative of powerHouse books and Vll Photo Agency.

Highlights include The Ubiquitous Image an exhibition curated by Lesley A. Martin (Publisher, Aperture Books) and Aperture Presents, a daily panel series with artists and curators.

Visit the Aperture booth in the powerHouse Arena!

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