We are looking forward this weekend to our second annual Help-Portrait event. Last year a grassroots group of St. Louis commercial artists participated in the international movement to share our work/skills with families in need. Over the course of a single day in the studio, we treated over 50 families to the same treatment that only large companies can typically afford. Check out the video and contact the studio if you want to get involved….. enjoy.
The Humane Society of Missouri is part of a joint effort to create the country’s first dog-fighting database. I volunteered to take some photographs for them, and in June the New York Times picked up the story. According to the Times, the Combined DNA Index System is similar to the FBI’s digital archive containing the DNA profiles of criminal offenders. Scientists say that by swabbing the inner cheek of a dog, they will be able to determine whether the animal comes from one of several known dog-fighting bloodlines.
© Mark Katzman
'Target Practice' © An-My Lê
I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the St. Louis Art Museum Collectors’ Circle art-buying event recently. A group of St. Louis photography collectors came together to pick an image to contribute to the museum’s permanent photography collection. Eric Lutz, the museum’s curator of prints, drawings and photographs, did a great sales job on all the pieces and the group narrowed it down to a vintage de Meyer (the first real fashion photographer) and a super cool An-My Lê piece.
The large scale An-My Lê took the final vote. The group found the juxtaposition of the surface of the aircraft carrier and the ocean’s horizon effective as well as the brilliant graphic-matching between the human figure and the targets they just filled with holes. All together this is an amazing moment that speaks volumes about our relationship with war, humanity and the environment.
I am grateful to have it in our community’s permanent collection.
© A nice German tourist
What a pleasure it was to finally meet Mike of bigflannel, and Julie Grahame. Afterward, we went to AIPAD, the big international photography dealers’ show, and were like kids in a candy store. I had no idea how immersed in the international fine art photography scene they were. Hardly left time for for the pub, which we look forward to on the next rendezvous. (By the way, we had to look all over midtown to find a diner with a swan we could perch on Mike’s head.)
Photo District News editor-in-chief Holly Hughes interviewed us for an article in the current issue of PDN entitled “The Studio Issue: How To Afford a Studio Today“. Take a studio tour here.
© Mark Katzman
This image is part of a recent print and POS campaign with Rhea + Kaiser for Bayer CropScience. The shoot, executed in one day, used amateur talent, and a dog named Frank.
Thanks Phil, Eric, Gina, Christen, John, Howard, Jason and the rest of the crew for all the hard work.
More in the Mark Katzman portfolio.
© Mark Katzman
On the road, I always try to find unique places to eat. This weekend in Connecticut for AT&T, the search turned up O’Rourke’s, recently featured on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives“. Only a ten minute detour the crew went for it, and were not disappointed.
© Mark Katzman
I knew Morocco was a photographer’s playground. What I didn’t expect, however, was how challenging it would be to capture the full spirit of the place and its people in a still image. It became clear immediately that the presence of my camera sapped most scenes of their genuine character, exacerbating the challenge of capturing the real feel of the place. This image was made early one morning as the city of Marakesch was coming to life.
FK had several images featured in the Communication Arts Photo Annual in 2007. The images from a personal project “Tucker and Convention” were made using the historical wet-plate collodion process. The portraits evoke a sense of the socio-economic foundations of the St Louis everyman and the subjects are all passers-by photographed on the street in the vicinity of FK’s former studio on North Tucker Blvd.
SHARE