One Family’s Uncanny Portrait of Lockdown Life in Connecticut

By in Photography

One Family’s Uncanny Portrait of Lockdown Life in Connecticut

A new photo book co-created by Lisa Kereszi, Benjamin Donaldson and their young daughter Ottilie Leete captures an extraordinary and unprecedented year in the pandemic

May 14, 2024

IN, the new photo book by parents Lisa Kereszi, Benjamin Donaldson and their daughter Ottilie Leete, begins and ends with a child’s drawings of a family home. These illustrations (by Ottilie) are rich with domestic detail – flowers in a vase, clothes hanging in a closet, lamps, beds, framed pictures on the walls, and stick figures smiling and holding hands. Bookending the monograph as they do, the drawings suggest a parenthesis and, in a way, the photographs document a kind of parenthetical time too – an unusual interlude in normal life.

Parents Kereszi and Donaldson (both photographers and alumni and faculty of Yale School of Art) and their daughter Ottilie (now in fourth grade) made IN during the pandemic. As a family, they each took photographs documenting lockdown life in their clapboard house in small-town Connecticut from March 2020 to spring 2021. The book blends their pictures together, creating what writer Cindy House describes in the afterword “a view in triplicate, like a novel with three main characters”.

From snow angels in winter to budding flowers in spring, the book captures the passing of time, encompassing this extraordinary and unprecedented year in a montage of tiny details; a pair of pyjama bottoms are suspended in mid-air as they’re flung across a hallway, a pumpkin rots on a porch step, various screens display homeschooling resources and cartoons, a loaf of bread is sliced, a doll lays prone in an armchair, a pair of small feet in stripy tights descend a staircase.

18IN by Benjamin Donaldson, Ottilie Leete, and Lisa Kereszi

“As photographers, we take pictures all the time anyway; it’s just our way of making sense of the world, of coping, of protecting ourselves, of collecting, of creating memories and preserving something – and creating beauty,” says Kereszi. “I think it helped us all weather the storm by having something else to do.”

Despite being confined in their “bubble” there’s a real sense of wonder and discovery throughout the book. The enforced isolation initiated a new way of exploring their near-surroundings and, as such, IN feels like a journey through a small planet. “It was a closer look at everything our feet and eyes could reach,” recalls Donaldson. For Ottilie, even the word ‘lockdown’ sounds incongruous with her memories of those times. “Lockdown? Were we really locked in, though?” says Ottilie. “I remember driving through lights – Christmas lights. And I think we found a dinosaur on the beach.” For clarification, Ottilie’s father recalls instead: “it was a dinosaur toy.”

“It was sort of a callback, for me, to the couple years right after I had Ottilie, when I worked on a project that helped pull me out of post-partum depression,” Kereszi recalls. “I would take pictures on walks with her, trying to see and navigate the outside world in a new way as a mother and caretaker, tethered to this new person. I had not thought before of these works  being connected in that way – of a coming out and rediscovery during a period of transition and darkness.”

While photography was a way of mediating and understanding their experiences, it also acted as a way of enshrining these moments. “When I worked for Nan Goldin years ago, that idea that she obsessively used her photographs and diaries to have a record to refer to in order to create that memory and hold onto it – and onto someone – always influenced my idea of what photography might be really good at,” Kereszi explains.

Yet, like memory, photography is highly subjective. “I think about my memories of that time, versus what the photographs depict,“ says Donaldson. “The world of the book has now re-shaped some of that experience and focused it around those particular moments. It is a completely recognisable record, but the more mundane parts of the memories of actual experience are now wearing away.”

For Kereszi, “I think that time was harder for me than what the pictures show. That is not to say that it is not accurate but sharing the authorship allows me to let go of my own individual and internalised trauma, and accept that as we made our way together, we were also seeing the same things in our own separate ways. And that is exciting, to see how another creative mind perceives a situation differently than how I might have remembered it, and how those images might interact with my own images.”

Our lives are made legible to us by stories: how we frame our experiences and how we choose to narrate them to ourselves and others. As a body of work, IN forms part of the fabric of this particular family’s ongoing process of storytelling, enquiry and self-mythologising, a constellation of fragments and details which, for them, shapes and provokes endless speculative configurations of meaning and recollection. As visitors invited into their home via the pages of this book, we bring our own stories to bear on their archive, relating the specifics of their world to our own and tracing the gaps and overlaps in between.

“Photography seems to me to be an excellent vehicle for making something within a frame be both specific to individual experience, yet easily translated by people not at the site of the moment of image creation. This translation is immediate, and takes into account both the similarities and differences,” says Donaldson. 

“While this particular house and what fills it and our points of view are very specific and idiosyncratic, it does speak to that Diane Arbus quote that I sort of live by, at least artistically,” says Kereszi. “The more specific you are, the more general it’ll be.” 

IN by Benjamin Donaldson, Ottilie Leete, and Lisa Kereszi is published by Roman Nvmerals, and is out now. 

What if Your Family History Was Erased? (NSFW)

By in Photography

What if Your Family History Was Erased? (NSFW)
Spread the love

Would you believe me if I told you that slavery was present throughout more of American History than when it wasn’t? Slavery effectively ended in 1865, but the deep, multi-generational scars and trauma persist. It’s barely been 160 years, and both therapy and wellness have only become more socially accepted since the pandemic of 2020. Lots of people would turn to their families for help, but for slaves, that was mostly erased. This won’t be apparent to most people when viewing Nona Faustine: White Shoes at the Brooklyn Museum. And despite this exhibit being the closest thing to a photographer’s dream in a big institution like this, it’s a series you must ruminate on.

Nona Faustine: White Shoes can be seen at the Brooklyn Museum until July 7th. There is an ASL tour on June 8th for anyone who wants to experience it.

Though I can’t relate to African slavery in America, my family still has deep generational scars that we aren’t even aware of. I’m a Guyanese American man born in Queens, NY — that means I’m from Guyana in South America and not Ghana in Africa. You might know Guyana right now for either our food or the fact that we’re about to become one of the richest countries in the world due to oil discoveries. Venezuela states that the oil is actually there, and NATO has actually become involved in the issue. However, it’s not talked about in mainstream American media.

What you probably don’t realize is that a massive portion of the population is from India. My ancestors were tricked into what some call indentured servitude — but it’s actually more real slavery because little evidence is shown of tactile compensation. That’s been the case since 1838, and my family still doesn’t have a lot of our connections to our Indian ancestors. And when I say Indian here, I mean people from India, not indigenous people of South America.

In those two paragraphs alone, I’ve unpacked quite a lot for many people to perhaps close this article and move on. But that won’t help the problem.

Nona Faustine: White Shoes addresses a much bigger problem here. We’ve erased the history of African slavery, which is good in some ways for society as it’s indeed Northern tradition to burn down the Confederacy. But it doesn’t provide reparations to all the people who descend from slaves. In fact, New York was one of the last states in the North to get rid of slavery.

Where the work lacks technical excellence, it succeeds with originality, evolutionary storytelling, and rawness. The images look like they could’ve been shot with a phone, but that isn’t what matters here. What matters more is the hero of the story. Nona is at the center of various self-portraits. She is nude in many of them, and as the story progresses, she gains more and more clothing. Towards the end, the clothing goes from a glamorous gown to Sunday-best attire. The photographs don’t stand out on their own individually but work cohesively together to form the entire project.

I questioned why Nona was nude — as the Editor in Chief of one of the last standing photo-specialty publications in America, I often see it overused without real purpose to the story. The Brooklyn Museum’s Allison Day, Senior Manager of Family and Community programs, presented the idea of vulnerability to me. While that makes sense, I wonder then about the attire choices in the story’s progression.

Nona’s images are shot in various places throughout NYC, where slavery was a big part of its history. There are photographs shot in every borough of NYC and a map that corresponds well to each location. But as you look at the images, you wouldn’t necessarily think about the traditional way that we see slavery. In the most abstract terms, we’d see a nude woman in public places. Without the context, I’d think that it was a story about a woman trying to find herself and then finally becoming more complete in the end.

Someone is then bound to wonder why these images would make it into a museum. That’s where the originality comes in. There’s nothing really like this out there. Much of what people who identify as photographers make these days is targeted at following trends in social media. It leaves their portfolios looking very dated. But Nona’s work is timeless in that it transcends the current times and expands upon over two centuries of issues.

Right by the exhibit is a forum room with the photobook of Nona’s project that contains even more photographs. Believe it or not, I find this book to be more effective than the exhibit. There’s truly something about being up close and holding the book to then page through it and see the images in a different way. Here, there are minimal reflections, and you have a more intimate experience. I wish they had put several copies of the book out for viewing within the exhibit instead.

The unfortunate thing about this is that many people who come to the museum might not have an arts background, and so they’d just glance over the book without realizing that this is the penultimate experience that the photographer was heavily involved in.

The images by Nona Faustine exhibited are, at times, too high up and cause reflections that don’t give us the best viewing angle of the otherwise phenomenal prints. I don’t use that word lightly — the print quality is so pristine that you could sit there and be bedazzled by it for an entire afternoon. You can see in my images how people would need to really look up to see the photographs and their average viewing distance. At these angles, you’re bound to get reflections that make it very difficult to take in the work.

Coupled with the beautiful terra cotta wall color, I’d never want to leave. And quite frankly, I don’t think people should leave this room so quickly. They should do multiple tours of the photos. Additionally, you have to shoot a photo of the captions located on the side of the walls and then correspond them to each print. It would’ve been much easier if the captions were located by each print instead.

Despite these complaints, I have to be frank and say that the Brooklyn Museum is succeeding much better at inclusivity in arts than many other institutions are. Here, it doesn’t feel like it’s a corporate adherence to something for marketing reasons. It instead feels incredibly authentic. And most importantly, I truly feel like they do photography justice as an art form. You can see this in the Paul McCartney exhibit and exhibit next to it. In the month of February, Jamel Shabazz was invited to do portraits of people at a party. While they’re not doing what Fotografiska does, they do a much better job than ICP. In a world where photography is struggling to be recognized as an art form, that’s most important.

Nona Faustine: White Shoes is on exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, and we encourage you to go take a look. The museum also offers online tours, which is a great way to check it out if you’re not in NYC.

Digital Aerial Photography System Market Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Growth And Forecast To 2031 | Phase One , Leica-Geosystems , IGI , Intergraph

By in Photography

Digital Aerial Photography System Market Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Growth And Forecast To 2031 | Phase One , Leica-Geosystems , IGI , Intergraph

Digital Aerial Photography System Market

The Digital Aerial Photography System Market research report represents major insights on the current growth dynamics as well as the primary revenue generation elements that are available in the Digital Aerial Photography System industry along with various other factors over the predicted period 2024-2031. The overall business goal can be accomplished through this Digital Aerial Photography System Market study report as it consists of all the current scenarios and major innovations of the marketplace.

The study is based on a valuable resource, companies, stakeholders, and other industry players in the Digital Aerial Photography System market will be able to acquire the upper hand. Also, the segments is categorized by Size, Sales, and Revenue with forecasts during the years 2024-2031. The Digital Aerial Photography System Market research segments is based on Players, types, applications, and regional levels.

List of the Top Key Players of the Digital Aerial Photography System Market:

✦ Phase One
✦ Leica-Geosystems
✦ IGI
✦ Intergraph
✦ Teledyne Optech
✦ Trimble (Applanix)
✦ Visual Intelligence
✦ Vexcel Imaging
✦ Jena-Optronik
✦ RolleiMetric
✦ Microsoft/Vexcel
✦ Steven Swenson
✦ James Summerville
✦ DIMAC Systems
✦ Nikon
✦ Sony
✦ Airborne Technical Systems
✦ MosaicMill
✦ IMPERX

Segmentation by type:

✦ Aerial Camera
✦ Drone
✦ Others

Segmentation by Application:

✦ Government
✦ Commercial Enterprises
✦ Civil Engineering Industry
✦ Military
✦ Forestry and Agriculture
✦ Energy Sector
✦ Insurance

Request a Sample Copy of this Report at: https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/814677

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, Digital Aerial Photography System Market share, growth rate, etc. of the following regions:

» North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico)
» Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy)
» Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia)
» South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)
» Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa)

Market Scope:

This report segments the Digital Aerial Photography System market comprehensively. Regional market sizes, concerning products by Type, by Application, and by players, are also provided. For a more in-depth understanding of the market, the report provides profiles of the competitive landscape, key competitors, and their respective market ranks. The report also discusses technological trends and new product developments.

Digital Aerial Photography System Market Dynamics:

Digital Aerial Photography System Market reports examine current and historical data to analyze market trends. It offers information on the factors that will influence the market’s growth between 2024 and 2031, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study paper discusses the market capacity and consumption potential of significant firms.

An extensive examination of the market’s size, share, growth, opportunity, competitive environment, manufacturers, players, and vendors, as well as its segments and sub-segments, is provided by this intelligence research. The market drivers, difficulties (past and present), revenue growth, roadmap for the future, standards, deployment models, and forecast analysis are all highlighted in the report.

Competitive Analysis:

The research enables marketers to be abreast of emerging consumer trends and market segments in which they may experience a sharp decline in market share. Learn about your true competitors in the market, as well as the market position, market share percentage, and segmented revenue of the keyword market.

Digital Aerial Photography System Market 2024-2031: Main Highlights:

✔ Detailed information on the factors that will contribute to the growth of the Digital Aerial Photography System Market in the next few years.

✔ Forecast of upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior Digital Aerial Photography System Market growth

✔ The compound annual growth rate of the market during the forecast period 2024-2031

✔ Analyze the market competition landscape and provide detailed information about suppliers

✔ Insightful research reports on the Digital Aerial Photography System Market include Pestle analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis, and SWOT analysis to understand the factors that affect consumer and supplier behaviour

Reasons to Purchase this Report:

☛ Reports describe the opportunities and risks that manufacturers of Digital Aerial Photography System face globally.
☛ The study finds the areas and sectors with the most possibility for expansion.
☛ A market that is competitive and features significant firm market rankings, new product introductions, joint ventures, corporate growth, and acquisitions.
☛ Each significant market player is covered in-depth in the research, with company overviews, corporate insights, product benchmarking, and SWOT analysis included.
☛ This analysis provides an industry market overview for the present and the future, taking into account recent advancements, potential for growth, motivating factors, challenges, and two geographical limits that are present in developed regions.

Special Discount offer on Immediate Purchase (At US$ 999): https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/special-offer-buynow/814677

✦ Contact Us:

Worldwide Market Reports
📞 U.S.A: +1 415 871 0703
📞 UK: +44-203-289-4040
📞 JAPAN: +81-50-5539-1737
📞 India: +91-848-285-0837
✉ Email: sales@worldwidemarketreports.com
🌐 Website: https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com

About us:

Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provides our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision-making insights to plan and align their strategies in line with current trends

This release was published on openPR.

«< 89 90 91 92 93 >»