“There’s a constant tension between the two,” says photographer Frances F Denny of being both an artist and a mother. “I think the only way to let the tension release a little bit is to try and make work about it.”

Inspired by motherhood, the occult, and photography itself, the images in Denny’s new photo series, Spellwork, pair flowers with artefacts from daily life to otherworldly effect. The photographs, on view 9 November through 23 December at Clamp Gallery in Chelsea, are still lifes, but there is nothing still about them – much like life with a young child.

Denny’s last photo series was Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America, an exhibition and accompanying book that inspired her to consider what magic means to different people. “It’s this overused, empty word that seems kind of hocus-pocus-y or Harry Potter-y,” she says over the phone from her home in Pound Ridge, New York. It wasn’t until Denny shot a witch named Starhawk that she realised photography is, in itself, a form of magic. “It’s this alchemy of light and vision and glass,” she says. “Making these images was ritualistic, and to me they feel like incantations or magic spells.” Their titles were drawn from Starhawk’s 1979 book The Spiral Dance, which encouraged Denny to think about magic as “the art of changing consciousness at will”.

“An indrawn breath (Chocolate Cosmos)” from Spellwork (2023)

Copyright Frances F Denny courtesy of the artist and CLAMP (New York, NY)

“To bend or shape (Joe Pye Weed, Tulip)” from Spellwork (2023)

Copyright Frances F Denny courtesy of the artist and CLAMP (New York, NY)

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to add relics of daily life, like beaded bracelets, dice, and Goldfish crackers, to the compositions. “The night before the first of the shoots, I had this craving to include things that would refract light in interesting ways,” says Denny, explaining how she ended up ransacking her five-year-old daughter Virginia’s playroom for “sparkly stuff”. The resulting compositions play off each other chromatically and spatially: a Slinky mimics the curving neck of a stalk of wild garlic, while a fringed purple tulip’s peeling petals evoke the undone wrapper of a grape lollipop. Even combinations that seem perfectly coordinated – a purple bearded iris against Virginia’s purple-markered colouring sheet – were spontaneous pairings. While Denny is quick to concede that flowers are “one of the most ubiquitous subjects in our history, maybe aside from the female nude”, a tea rose framed by, say, a suite of Haribo gummy bears lined up at attention manages to feel like something new. (Her blooms came from Dutch Flower Line in Chelsea’s flower district or, in the case of the Cafe au Lait dahlias, her own Westchester backyard. She photographed them in her studio, a converted barn on her family’s property.)

“The circle is open, but unbroken (Wild Garlic)” from Spellwork (2023)

Copyright Frances F Denny courtesy of the artist and CLAMP (New York, NY)

“Magic is hungry work (Ranunculus)” from Spellwork (2023)

Copyright Frances F Denny courtesy of the artist and CLAMP (New York, NY)

“I do feel like I made these pictures very guided by intuition and gut, which is not typically how I am as a person,” admits Denny, “and it required a degree of letting go to let things get weird on set.”

The combinations highlight how beauty interacts with the detritus of having children and being a parent, the duality of mothers and artists, and the “triumphant, deathly dance of those two roles merging into one”, as she puts it. “It feels like being an artist and a mother are, on some level, impossible to incorporate with each other, in the sense that it’s hard to be fully both at the same time,” Denny says, with pregnant pauses. “[You] kind of bump back and forth between them.

“I think on some level what the picture’s trying to do is have these two sides of a personality coexist in harmony,” she continues. “Right?”

Or, at the very least, cast a spell.

They will house around 500 works, showcasing some of the IWM’s vast film and photography collections, which include over 23,000 hours of footage and more than 12 million photographs, alongside works by artists including Henry Moore, Paul Nash and Anna Airy, Olive Mudie-Cooke, Eric Ravilious, Norah Neilson-Gray and Stanley Spencer, alongside the photography of Cecil Beaton, Olive Edis and Bill Brandt.

Thematically organised with sections on propaganda, witness and evidence, mind and body, anticipation and anxiety and more, it interrogates the image as a reminder, a warning, an illumination, a protest against or a weapon of war. 

In the world of fashion photography, few names evoke as much mystery and allure as Deborah Turbeville (1932-2013). It’s arguable that more than anyone, she transformed the discipline from being purely commercial and functional to becoming an art form in its own right. And the mesmerising tapestry of haunting, dreamlike imagery she created along the way has left an indelible mark on both fashion and the creative world in general.

With a career spanning several decades, Deborah’s unique approach to photography challenged conventions and redefined the very essence of beauty and style. But don’t feel ashamed if you’re not familiar with her work. She’s one of the largely unsung heroes in a male-dominated history of photography and one whose work has only recently started to receive the respect it deserves.

Among those spearheading this reappraisal has been Nathalie Herschdorfer. An author and curator specialising in photography, Nathalie is the director of Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, one of the most important museums dedicated to photography, and a curator with FEP (Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography). And she’s recently been working on Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage, a book that casts fresh light on her work and career.

We chatted with Nathalie to discover what’s different about this new book, the thinking behind the design and image choices, and why Deborah Turbeville remains a shining beacon for photographers in the world of 2023.

Who was Deborah Turbeville?

First, though, for the uninitiated: Who was Deborah Turbeville? In short, she was a renowned American fashion photographer known for her distinctive and avant-garde approach to photography.

Born in 1932 in Boston, USA, Deborah initially pursued a career in modelling. These experiences in the fashion industry provided her with a unique perspective when she later transitioned to photography. Her photography career took off in the 1970s when she began working for fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

She quickly gained recognition for her unconventional and moody style, like nothing the industry had previously seen. Her images often featured models in surreal, dreamlike and atmospheric settings, and she was known for using soft focus and muted colours, creating a sense of mystery and ambiguity.

In other words, while fashion photographers at the time typically focused on showcasing clothing and accessories, Deborah’s images instead emphasised mood, emotion and storytelling. She also used unconventional locations and posed her models in ways that challenged traditional beauty standards.

This revolutionary approach influenced countless others and ultimately changed fashion photography forever. And yet, her name remains relatively unknown, something this new book will hopefully help to change.

The book’s creative journey

The journey towards Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage began a decade ago when Nathalie Herschdorfer embarked on a project focused on the history of fashion photography. Her objective was to explore the intersection of fashion photography and the art world, a theme that had been gaining significance but was still relatively underexplored.

This endeavour led her to the archives of Condé Nast, where she gained a deeper understanding of Turbeville’s work. Then, a few years ago, Nathalie was approached by the MUUS Collection, who invited her to look at their archives. “In terms of Deborah Turbeville’s work, they had everything,” she recalls. “It’s not like they had a few prints or a few series; they had the entire studio negatives, contact sheets, everything like that. So that was really interesting to me.”

And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. “I’d been thinking that we curators should be paying more attention to female artists,” Nathalie explains. “And from what I could see, Deborah had been working away but not making a lot of noise, just doing what she had to do. So it was important to me, as a historian, a curator and a museum director, that we pay her a bit more attention.”

In that light, Nathalie was keen to move beyond the photographer’s best-known work and find the unseen gems in the collection. “So my initial approach was to work with the people in the archives and ask them specifically: What is unseen? What is unknown. What is not iconic? Even unpublished images: what else do you have?”

Unseen work

For Nathalie, one of the most striking revelations during the project was the discovery of Turbeville’s photo collages. These unusual works were created with scissors, pins, glue and other physical tools, leaving behind marks and traces of the artist’s process. And it was this very physicality and hands-on approach that most intrigued Nathalie.

“I was excited because we live in this digital world where everything is neat and clean but kind of flat and bright,” she explains. “And these collages I discovered, they were very physical objects. Sometimes, you see that she decided to glue and then changed her mind; she had another idea. But you can still see the mark where she put the glue, where it slightly damaged the paper.

“So I found it really interesting, in a world where everything’s so clean and pixel-perfect,” she adds. “And I realised these collages were a natural way for me to go back and reintroduce her legacy in a new light.”

Inspiring a new generation

As well as Deborah’s work itself, Nathalie also feels we can be inspired by her life and character. “She didn’t try to be fashionable,” she explains. “She didn’t try to copy what others did to be successful. She didn’t compromise too much. So I think she was quite a strong character. I interviewed some people who were around in the art world at the time, and they all remember she had her own style, a signature style.”

All of this was pretty rare in the early 1970s, especially for a woman. “It was a world that was quite tough,” explains Nathalie. “It was about big names and big guys. And so for me, knowing that she was a woman and had to struggle in that world to be recognised makes me even more inspired by her.”

Strangely contemporary

Perhaps most striking about the book is that the selection of Deborah’s work, despite being half a century old, actually feels remarkably contemporary. That’s surely a testament to how influential she’s been and how her refusal to conform to popular trends has left an enduring impact on the world of photography.

Creating a book that does justice to this legacy, in itself, is no small feat. Nathalie worked closely with the MUUS collection and the archives to uncover the hidden gems within Turbeville’s body of work. The book’s design and layout have been meticulously crafted to evoke the materiality and physicality of Turbeville’s collages, ensuring that readers can appreciate the unique qualities of her art.

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage not only pays homage to a pioneering artist but also sheds light on the underappreciated aspects of her work. Nathalie’s passion for uncovering hidden treasures within the archives has resulted in a book that is not just a by-numbers retrospective but a vivid and engaging celebration of an enduring influence and artistic integrity.

As we navigate a world of new technologies, it’s a breath of fresh air to discover (or rediscover) Deborah Turbeville’s work. This superbly edited and produced book offers a great deal to a new generation of artists and photographers.

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage by Nathalie Herschdorfer is published by Thames & Hudson. Photo Elysée presents the exhibition Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage between now and 25 February 2024. All information: Deborah Turbeville – Photo Elysée at elysee.ch.

In the latest horror film produced by Owensboro’s PJ Starks and filmed in Kentucky, country music legend Bobby Sweet has been the world-renowned face of “Sweet Meats” since establishing his first restaurant with his wife in 1978. But how has his restaurant taken off so quickly and what makes the meat sweet?

A release from Starks about the film says “Sometimes a ‘secret ingredient’ should stay that way. They always say, ‘you’d be disgusted if you knew what you were really eating!’ They might be right…”

The film is produced by Starks (“New Fears Eve”), Chris Morris (“All Your Friends Are Dead”), and Mike Flinchum (“Hell’s Gate”).

The horror-comedy musical is being produced in association with TROMA. The film is being shot in Kentucky and Ohio — mostly at Bobby Mackey’s, which is the haunted bar that’s been featured on Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures.” The writer and director, Ricky Glore, is a Kentucky filmmaker. 

“We’ve completed principal photography … The additional funds acquired through our Indiegogo will go towards post-production and will help tremendously,” Glore said. “We’re excited to be featuring the heavy metal rock band DEMONSCAR in the film, who will also be getting an epic death, as well as a collaborative song between the band and myself, entitled ‘Eat the People,’ which was filmed at Pennsylvania’s infamous haunt attraction Jason’s Woods in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”

The “Sweet Meats” cast features Timmy Barron (“Chicago Fire”), Eileen Earnest (“All Your Friends Are Dead”), Andrew Gordon (“The Forest Hills” and “Amityville Karen”), Amanda Chilelli (“Playboy Playmate”) and Ricky Glore (“All Your Friends Are Dead” and “Dry Bar Comedy”).

For more information about the film and a teaser, click here.

In their newly opened Paris Ridge Photography studio, Krissy Walker and Samantha Blackmore are at the end of a two-hour long session with a ten-day old infant. As his mom, big brother and big sister look on, Walker and Blackmore reposition the softly fussing newborn for the camera. A recording of a gentle, quiet voice plays in the background. ”Shhh…shhh…shhh…”

Newborns are not known for being easy subjects to photograph. Blackmore said tiring babies out is ideal; they photograph better if they are asleep. Their vision is not fully developed at birth, and their eyes tend to cross, which explains all the idyllic pictures of sweetly sleeping babes.

Walker specializes in newborn photography, but for her, the relationship between family and photographer often begins before a baby’s birth, with a maternity photo session. As the baby grows, there will be a session at six months — at the height of baby cuteness — and a first birthday session.

Blackmore referred to the first birthday session as a “Smash and Splash.” Babies are photographed doing a cake smash and then photographed in a bathtub.

Paris Ridge Photography came about when Walker, of “Kaptured by Krissy,” partnered with longtime friend Blackmore to open a studio in Williamstown. Walker, who had her own photography business in Georgetown for 12 years, outgrew the space and decided to open a larger studio in northern Kentucky. Williamstown’s location between Lexington and Cincinnati made it an ideal choice.

Blackmore, who owns Jane’s Saddlebag in Union, brings to the venture years of marketing and event planning experience, as well as her own interest in photography.

Their storefront at 104 Paris Street has been completely renovated by owner Hans Philippo, but they still have a few finishing touches to add, such as curtains to cover the front windows, which will allow them to control the light coming into the space.

In addition to maternity and baby sessions, Walker and Blackmore will do graduation photos, couples photos, family portraits, headshots, maternity photos, senior portraits, sports photography, and any other special occasions. Not tied to the studio, they will also do outdoor and in-home sessions.

The creative business partners have fun plans for the upcoming holidays as well, with Christmas sessions both elegant and whimsical. Crittenden’s popular Santa will be on hand for three days of photo sessions. The Grinch will also be lurking about.

“One of our husbands doesn’t know it, but he’s going to be the Grinch,” Blackmore grinned.

Paris Ridge Photography will be hosting a grand opening on Friday, Nov.10 from 5-6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to stop by, see the studio, and have a photo taken in Whoville or with one of their other Christmas backdrops for $20. For more information about the studio and upcoming holiday sessions, visit their Facebook page at Paris Ridge Photography.