The Earth Institute at Columbia University invites you to a lecture and slide presentation by SUBHANKAR BANERJEE “Alaska: Barren Wasteland or Safe Haven of Biodiversity?”

Introduced by Professor Don Melnick, director of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation Wednesday, October 6, 2004, 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Rotunda of Low Library

Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway

The event is free of charge and open to the public. There will be a reception in the Faculty Room of Low Library from 6:00-7:00 pm, with Subhankar Banerjee, where his book will be available from the Columbia University Bookstore. On October 6, photographer and

conservationist Subhankar Banerjee will present findings and photographs from his two year, 4,000 mile journey through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska.

Banerjee's research resulted in a collaborative book of his photographs and essays by some of the world's leading conservationists and environmental thinkers, including Peter Matthiessen, Fran Mauer, William H. Meadows, George B. Schaller, David Allen Sibley, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Published in 2003 by Mountaineers Books, ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: SEASONS OF LIFE AND LAND became influential in the national debate over energy resources and proposals to drill for oil within the refuge–at one point flourished on the floor of the US Congress by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Solo exhibits of Banerjee's photographs have been on display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, American Museum of Natural History in New York, and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. In New York, Banerjee's photographs are now at the Gerald Peters Gallery, 24 East 78th Street, through October 15, 2004. Banerjee is the first recipient of the Lannan Foundation's Cultural Freedom Fellowship, as well as a recipient of the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation, a Special Achievement Award from the Sierra Club, and the Daniel Housberg Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation. For more information on Subhankar Banerjee, ANWR, and related artistic and conservation projects, please visit the WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS website

For more information on the Earth Institute at Columbia, please visit here.

For more information on the event, please call 212-854-3142.

The book Avedon at Work will soon arrive in my mailbox. Meanwhile, I have been watching the QuickTime clips on Digital Journalist. Might be worth your while, too.

Jim Richardson finally has a spot on NikonNet. He is a terrific photographer and joins an august group of legends in the field.

According to The New York Times, auction houses in the US are preparing for major sales this November. Painting and photography will go on the block. Who is selling and who is buying? But, more importantly, how are these auction houses offering sellers such high guarantees? It's a world I know nothing about.

“Baroness Marion Lambert, wife of Baron Philippe Lambert, a member of a Belgian banking family, is parting with her entire collection of contemporary photographs at a smaller auction house, Phillips de Pury & Company, in collaboration with Philippe Segalot, a Manhattan dealer.”

She hopes to fetch $10 million dollars for about 300 photographs. If you have friends who are photographers, it might make sense for you to support their work by buying their prints. Just an idea.

And speaking of auctions, I am sending two of my earliest black & white prints to Delhi for an auction to benefit an eye institution called Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai. I'll post more details about that here in a couple of days.

Via Rashed Zaman

The Satyajit Ray web site. Good to see it all pulled together under one roof.

I must be experiencing some form of grief.

Less than 24-hours since Richard Avedon died, I bought a book about the way he worked. His image of the fashion model Dovima standing perilously close to two towering elephants is my favorite. In the documentary by PBS, Avedon says he sees this image as a failure because the model's sash lay limp in the final image. I think he wanted it flying off to the model's right so that it would help lead the viewer's eye into the model and presumably her clothes to complete the picture. It's still an amazing image. Coming a close second is the image of a bee keeper from The American West series.

In addition to the book, I simply had to get a poster print of Avedon's as well. And to my utter amazement, I was able to get both of my favorite Avedon images on one print!

Here it is and this is where you can get it:

Next on the list is the PBS documentary about Avedon's life on DVD. Perhaps for Xmas.

Via New York Times

“I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.” – Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon died yesterday in San Antonio. He had suffered a stroke several days before when he was on assignment for The New Yorker.

The image you see below is an example of his exquisite portraiture work for the book project “The American West.” Today, I finally bought Laura Wilson's book, Avedon At Work, that describes this controversial project.

Be sure click on MULTIMEDIA on the right-hand side of the NYT page for links to Avedon's work and a review of Avedon's show by Michael Kimmelman.

Here is the Associated Press story about Richard Avedon's death.

Mark your calendars for October 12, 2004. Suketu Mehta whose most recent book about Bombay called Maximum City and Ram Rahman a visual artist based both in Delhi and New York will discuss their new work and remember Raghubir Singh at the Rubin Museum of Art.

Located at 150 W. 17th Street, the this presentation by Sepia International/The Alkazi Collection and co-sponsored by the South Asian Journalists Association begins at 7pm. Cost: $15

Critically acclaimed writer Suketu Mehta reads from his newly released book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (Knopf, 2004) in a presentation illustrated with images by the photographer Raghubir Singh (1942-1999); then, noted photographer Ram Rahman will present Singh's work in the context of international contemporary photography. Mehta and Rahman will also engage in a discussion focusing on Singh‚s life and accomplishments, as well as how the late photographer‚s innovative vision of India has helped shape the world's understanding of the South Asian nation and its complex culture.

I missed the opening reception of the Raghubir Singh Retrospective last night at Sepia International. But the show will go on through December 30. I'll be in NYC on October 15 conducting a one or two-day photography workshop for beginners and we may just amble over to the exhibit to soak up some inspiration. If you are interested in knowing more about this workshop, this is your chance to email me at: tiffinbox[at]pipalproductions[dot]com.

Here is what the press release says about the Raghubir Singh exhibit:

Sepia International is pleased to present a retrospective of 45 works by the late Raghubir Singh (1942-1999), a pioneer in color photography who helped to revive and redefine the medium in the 1970s. Singh, who was born in India and lived and worked in London, Paris, and New York, is known for dramatic – yet never sentimental – images of his homeland. His work transcends the label of “documentary photography” and features sweeping scenes and iconic symbols that offer viewers complex portraits of India that straddle the ancient and the modern, the intimate and the chaotic. The prints on view at Sepia from September 30-December 30, 2004 represent Singh‚s signature approach of dividing and organizing pictorial space, his subtle balance of muted tones and occasional bursts of vibrant hues, as well as his command of light. As the artist John Baldessari wrote of Singh, “He uses light in a way that appears holy. His employment of color should make some painters envious and his shifts in space call to mind Velazquez.”

I am drooling like Pavlov's dog.

Documentary photographers, get your applications in for the annual FiftyCrows International Fund for Documentary Photographers. The deadline is October 15, 2004.

InterFoto is the largest festival of professional photography in Russia, the Baltic States and CIS countries. In October 2004 it will celebrate its Tenth Anniversary by staging more then a dozen exhibitions and events in Moscow's Central House of Artists. We are expecting almost 18,000 participants to take part in an ambitious six-day program of exhibitions, master classes by world-famous photographers, portfolio reviews, panel discussions and presentations of the latest photography equipment.

The festival will be held at the famous Central House for Artists in Moscow and will run from October 13 through the 17th this year.