I mentioned that August Sander is my favorite photographer in the slide lecture I gave today, and one of the students asked me why. I tried to explain how incredible it is to have a comprehensive record of the different kinds of people living in Germany right before Hitler came into power and turned the whole world upside down, how beautiful the faces are, how much Sander’s work moves me every time I look at it (to tears, actually, but I didn’t say that part), how my People of the 20th Century boxset is one of the first things I’d save if my house were on fire (preceded only by husband, cat and dog, laptop, and external hard drive), but I don’t know if I made myself clear. Sander is the coolest. THE COOLEST.

I mentioned that August Sander is my favorite photographer in the slide lecture I gave today, and one of the students asked me why. I tried to explain how incredible it is to have a comprehensive record of the different kinds of people living in Germany right before Hitler came into power and turned the whole world upside down, how beautiful the faces are, how much Sander’s work moves me every time I look at it (to tears, actually, but I didn’t say that part), how my People of the 20th Century boxset is one of the first things I’d save if my house were on fire (preceded only by husband, cat and dog, laptop, and external hard drive), but I don’t know if I made myself clear. Sander is the coolest. THE COOLEST.

1/25/2012 @ 18:28  #art #photography #august sander #my life #grad school #art school #ucla #mfa  7 notes
Busy busy busy, trying to take pictures, being a TA, going to meetings and events for the student committee I’m part of, doing the occasional private tutoring gig, and making excellent use of the Los Angeles public transportation system. Last night I actually dreamed about the slide lecture I’m working on. Photo history and making slides are definitely my kind of geeky fun, but I wish I could turn my brain off for a few minutes. Here is a slide from August Sander’s Landschaften, pre-cropping, of course, although I do think it would be hilarious to leave my fingers and the edges of the pages in every frame.

Busy busy busy, trying to take pictures, being a TA, going to meetings and events for the student committee I’m part of, doing the occasional private tutoring gig, and making excellent use of the Los Angeles public transportation system.

Last night I actually dreamed about the slide lecture I’m working on. Photo history and making slides are definitely my kind of geeky fun, but I wish I could turn my brain off for a few minutes. Here is a slide from August Sander’s Landschaften, pre-cropping, of course, although I do think it would be hilarious to leave my fingers and the edges of the pages in every frame.

1/24/2012 @ 9:47  #art school #august sander #grad school #mfa #my life #photography #ucla #dreams  4 notes

My birthday present from Joe came early this year.

I’ve loved the seven-volume August Sander: People of the 20th Century box set from afar for the last five or six years, since the day it appeared on the shelves of NYU’s Photo Department library. I could only gather the courage to look through the set once—it seemed so beautiful and perfect a thing that even the weight of my gaze might destroy it. Lord knows I never thought I’d own it.

Yet here it is, at my house, in my bookcase. The photographs in these books are so gorgeous that I cried on three separate occasions while looking through them last night. I wept, dear reader! Actual tears fell from my eyes. I will assume you know all about August Sander and Weimar Germany and spare you the art history/history lesson I had prepared so I can get to my point: buy this (or talk someone who loves you into buying it for you) before it goes out of print.

8/18/2010 @ 18:44  #art #photography #August Sander