yasuaki onishi’s installation wraps sculptures in inflating and deflating sheet bags in japan
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New exhibit at State Historical Society documents 75 years of Missouri Photo Workshop
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Willie Christie book casts style and celebrity in a cinematic light
From Vogue’s cover of green jelly, to Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut album – with a host of celebrities including Grace Jones, Cary Grant, David Bowie, and Jerry Hall in between – photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie has captured it all. Now, his eclectic body of work has been gathered together for the first time, with the publication of new photography book Willie Christie: a very distinctive style: Then & Now by ACC Art Books, making for a vibrant retrospective.
Jerry Hall in Vogue, 1977
(Image credit: Courtesy of Willie Christie)
‘I had wanted to do a book for some years,’ Christie tells us. ‘I scanned down all my images about 15 years ago and only then did I see a theme running through. A look where, although there were other influences, it was my work. I saw that all my images had their own individuality. I was asked initially whether I wanted to do a book “for Christmas” or to make some bigger statement. I had begun to think by then, that my work was of some interest within the world of fashion. And perhaps even outside of it. Time is a great observer. A friend mentioned that my work then, was relevant now. And that my work now (limited though it was) was also relevant now. So, the title was born. And so was the book.’
Willie Christie book: ‘Every image has its own life’
Pierre Laroche’s Breakfast Party, May 18th 1974
(Image credit: Courtesy of Willie Christie)
Images from the mid-1970s join more recent work in the tome. ‘Although there is a style, every image is lit, composed, and according to how I saw it at that time,’ Christie adds. ‘Not because “that is what I did”. A while ago I looked through a photographer’s book and every picture was the same. The same technique. In a house on location, in the same house and in a different room, then another room all around the house. Yet everything looked the same. No early morning. Later afternoon or at night. Page after page of the same light. The same tricks. I realised that was not the way to go. Or at least not the way I wanted to go. Every image has its own life. Its own secrets.’
Grace Coddington on honeymoon
(Image credit: Courtesy of Willie Christie)
Christie’s images spotlight a particular moment of time, eschewing sentimentality for a cinematic portrayal of the 1970s and early 1980s. ‘I hope readers discover the feel, look, clothes and style of [the era]. The celebrities of then. I hope they will perhaps find images that they know and like, which they didn’t realise I had taken. I hope that they will find images they have never seen before that will evoke a distant memory particular to them. That they will find something in the “personality” of a subject, an empathy with a landscape. That they will feel something. But in the end, I just hope that they like my work and that they like the book. That the few stories from behind the shoots will be interesting and offer a glimpse into life as it was then.’
Marcie Hunt for British Vogue
(Image credit: Courtesy of Willie Christie)
Area ‘Wheaties’ showcase craftsmanship, photography, commitment to quality at Kansas State Fair
By JULIA DEBES
Kansas Wheat
HUTCHINSON — From beautiful hand-crafted wheat weaving to stunning captured moments of the growing season to hefty jars and bags filled with wheat kernels, Kansas Wheaties brought their best entries to the Kansas State Fair. With ribbons awarded and entries taken home, Kansas Wheat recognizes the winners of annually sponsored contests at the statewide event, including the Market Wheat Show, Open-Class Division — “It’s All About Bread,” Kansas Wheat Photography contest and Wheat Weaving.
“A little friendly competition can be fun, and the Kansas State Fair is the perfect statewide showcase,” said Cindy Falk, Kansas Wheat nutrition educator. “Kansas Wheat sponsors a wide variety of contests, so there’s something for everyone in the family to participate in and enjoy.”
Meeting the needs of customers is important to any business, and wheat farming is no exception. The Kansas Market Wheat Show exists to educate Kansas wheat producers of all ages on the factors that they can control, to some extent, to grow high-quality wheat.
Entries into the Market Wheat Show include five pounds of wheat grown by the exhibitor in the current year. Entries are then judged on protein, test weight, dockage, shrunken and broken kernels and milling and baking scores. Kansas Wheat also sponsors Division 121 – Wheat, which ups the sample size to 20 pounds of wheat in any container, all of which must be the same variety.
In the Market Wheat Show, the division champion went to Jay Derley from Lewis with his entry of HRW wheat, with Greg Turek from Caldwell receiving reserve champion. Derley also won the Market Wheat Sweepstakes for Western Kansas and Turek won the sweepstakes award for Eastern Kansas. In Division 121, Cameron Peirce from Hutchinson won the division champion award.
Market Wheat Show Results
Champion – Jay Derley, Lewis
Reserve Champion – Greg Turek, Caldwell
Market Wheat Sweepstakes
- Eastern Kansas – Greg Turek, Caldwell
- Western Kansas – Jay Derley, Lewis
Class 1 – All Hard White Wheat
- Brad Whitman, Leoti
Class 2 – All HRW Blends
- LaVern Potuzak, Agenda
- Royden Derstein, Ford
- Mat Mai, Russell
- Larry Stude, Larned
- Gerald Mai
Class 3 – All Other Private HRS
- Brandon Riffey, Sawyer
- Jaxten Fimple, Ness City
- Emily George, Albert
- Clark Greene, Larned
- Ruben Blatz, Montezuma
Class 4 – All WestBred/Monsanto
- Lyle Katz, Kinsley
- Mark Baus, La Crosse
- Gary Graff, Marienthal
- Rick Sherer, Mullinville
- Piper Brown, Russell
Class 5 – KSU HRW Varieties
- Dan Wimmer, Bushton
- Jaiden Pfannenstiel, Hays
- Greg Turek, Caldwell
- Colten Katz, Lewis
- Waymaster Farms, Bunker Hill
Class 6 – All Other Public HRW
- Jay Derley, Lewis
- Jason Hildenbrand, Stafford
- Fred Newby, Pratt
- Jason Howell, Preston
- Allen and Beth Vogel, Wright
Division 121 – Wheat Results
Division Champion – Cameron Peirce, Hutchinson
All Agri-Pro/Syngenta HRW Varieties
- Joshua Patterson, Whitewater
- Nolen Hyde, Minneapolis
All Hard White Wheat Variety
- Sterling Nichepor, Ness City
- Cameron Peirce, Hutchinson
All Other Varieties or Hybrids
- Joshua Patterson, Whitewater
- Doug Patterson, Valley Center
All WestBred HRW Varieties
- Reed Nichepor, Ness City
KSU HRW Varieties
- Cameron Peirce, Hutchinson
Other Public HRW Varieties
- Steven Yust, Sylvia
For those with a keen eye, the Kansas Wheat Photography Contest is a perfect fit. The contest is open to both amateur and professional photographers, who are challenged to capture the story of Kansas wheat across all aspects of the industry from seeding to storage to wheat fields, harvest, grain trade, milling, baking and anything else that captures the photographer’s imagination. This year’s contest winner was Loribeth Reynolds from Hutchison.
Kansas Wheat Photography Contest Results
- Loribeth Reynolds, Hutchinson
- Kimberly Coffey, Wichita
- Ellie Just, Marion
Wheat weavers combine nimble fingers with pure artistry to make intricate creations from amber waves of grain. Divisions include everything from holiday designs to jewelry as these artists utilize traditional patterns and draw upon their creative talents to come up with new and contemporary designs. This year’s division champion was Angela Harlan from Viola, and the reserve champion was Donna Morgenstern from Salina.
Wheat Weaving Contest Results
Plaited
- Marian Vavra, Norwich
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
- Mary Thrower, Minneapolis
Marquetry
- Marian Vavra, Norwich
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
Dimensional
- Angela Harlan, Viola
- Rita Peterman, McPherson
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
Jewelry/Pin/Corsage
- Marian Vavra, Norwich
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
Swiss Work
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
Straw Pulp
- Donna Morgenstern, Salina
Holiday Design
- Mary Thrower, Minneapolis
- Marian Vavra, Norwich
- Rita Peterman, McPherson
And no state fair is complete without food. In the “It’s All About Bread” category, bakers exhibit their best recipes from sourdough bread, holiday bread and whole wheat quick bread. This year’s winners combined tasty ingredients with perfect technique to make winning entries of Rosemary Parmesan Sourdough Bread (Sourdough Division), Whole Wheat Honey Applesauce Pecan Quick Bread (Whole Wheat Quick Bread Division) and a Holiday Kolache Bouquet (Holiday Bread Division).
It’s All About Bread Results
Sourdough
- Jayne Notin, Rosemary Parmesan Sourdough
- Wilma Olds, Sourdough Bread
Holiday Bread
- Wilma Olds, Holiday Kolache Bouquet
- Betty Hawthorne, Snow Flake Pull Apart Monkey Bread
Whole Wheat Quick Bread
- Betty Hawthorne, Whole Wheat Honey Applesauce Pecan Quick Bread
- Wilma Olds, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
While the contests and categories for the 2024 Kansas State Fair won’t be open for entry until next summer, there’s no need to wait to try out a new recipe, break out the camera to capture wheat planting in action or try your hand at a new craft. Check out eatwheat.org for ideas and inspiration.
These haunting underwater photos portray climate change in a new way
Akessa stares straight ahead with a look of fierce indignation.
The 15-year-old is sitting in a rickety chair. Her hands are clasped in her lap. Her white skirt is billowing ever so slightly in what, at first glance, you might assume is the wind.
The scene seems nearly normal until more details come into focus: The background is an eerie shade of blue you wouldn’t see on land. Thousands of broken shards of coral cover the ground. And a reef looms behind her.
There is no breeze blowing here.
This girl and her searing gaze are underwater.
The stunning portrait is one in a series of images in “SINK / RISE,” the latest project from fine art photographer Nick Brandt. The photos feature South Pacific islanders representing people who are on the brink of losing their homes, lands and livelihoods due to climate change. And despite the difficulty of photographing them on the ocean floor, Brandt knew that’s what he had to do.
The dramatic and devastating impact sea level rise will have on the lives of millions of people can be difficult to see and grasp in real time, he says. So Brandt came up with a way to show it symbolically.
“Somebody said it was quite post-apocalyptic. And I said, ‘No, it’s pre-apocalyptic.’ Because it hasn’t actually happened to these people yet,” Brandt says.
And that, he says, is part of the point.
Akessa and the other coastal residents of Fiji he photographed for this project haven’t seen the world they know sink underwater — yet. But many of them will, he says, if climate change continues at its staggering pace and water levels keep rising.
Pacific islands like these contribute only .03% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Brandt says, but they’re facing the alarming prospect of losing everything to climate change anyway.
“They’re the most vulnerable to the consequences of the industrial world’s ways,” Brandt says.
The photographer is wary of ascribing a message to his creative work. He knows viewers will have their own interpretations.
But he hopes these photos, portraying what he fears will happen in the future, help others see the devastating impact of their actions in the present.
The younger people he photographed — like Akessa and Maria, shown here — were often the most relaxed, Brandt says.
Brandt says the bubbles appearing in some images, like this close-up of Akessa, are among many serendipitous moments that occurred during the photo shoot.
Joe and Wane are shown side by side. Brandt had a narrow window to photograph his subjects while they held their breath.
Focusing largely on young people — like Paul, pictured here — wasn’t his original plan. But it made sense, Brandt says, since “they are the future.”
The complicated photo shoot took weeks
Before embarking on this project, Brandt says the only underwater photos he’d taken were vacation shots of tropical fish that caught his attention.
Photographing people underwater — and helping them feel at ease and look natural despite the strange circumstances — is a far more difficult undertaking. But Brandt knew that if he succeeded and was able to create the concept he’d envisioned, the images would be unlike anything he’d seen before.
He auditioned about 200 people for about 20 spots in the cast. He enlisted divemasters to ensure safety and help with scuba training. He stood by for days, waiting, when muddy runoff from torrential rains made the water off the coast of Fiji so murky that taking photos was impossible.
Whenever the water cleared, Brandt says he had a narrow window of time to stage and shoot a scene while whoever he was photographing got into position, removed the regulator supplying them with oxygen and held their breath.
In the early days of the six-week shoot, Brandt says most of the models could only manage to hold their breath for about 15 seconds before they needed to reconnect to the underwater oxygen supply, and it would take almost 30 minutes to set up each shot. By the end, some were able to hold their breath for well over a minute, and setting up shots took only a minute or two.
“Getting to that point was very, very complicated,” Brandt says.
A lot of it came down to practice. Good communication also helped, Brandt says. In order to provide guidance to models while he was photographing them, Brandt and his assistants used hard-wired communication to relay information up to the boat. From there, someone would repeat it into a speaker that broadcast underwater.
Through the entire shoot, Brandt says, his models and support crew brought enthusiasm and dedication to the project that made everything come together even on the most difficult days.
“They were amazing. The cast was so engaged, so much part of it, that even when we’d finished photographing them, and they could just chill out and be back on the boat and chatting, they would just basically dive back in the water to help,” he says.
These weren’t deep-sea dives. Brandt says most of the photos were taken 2-4 meters (about 7-13 feet) below the water’s surface. But still, there was a very real risk lurking behind the natural appearance of those everyday scenes they created together.
“If you shoot up to the surface from even as little as 8 feet (below), having held your breath, having taken in a breath at 8 feet, you can still damage your lungs,” Brandt says.
This divemaster kept everyone safe
Volitiviti Niutabua knew well how dangerous the circumstances of a photo shoot like this could be. He also knew how important Brandt’s project was.
The 53-year-old divemaster, who goes by Viti, is a lifelong resident of Fiji, an archipelago that is home to almost 1 million people.
Niutabua is a dedicated conservationist. For years, he says he’s been struggling to get others inside and outside his country to listen when he warns of the dangers of climate change and the harms to wildlife he’s already seeing.
Meeting Brandt, he says, was like a gift from God.
“He gives his heart and tries to show the world…people are suffering,” Niutabua says. “He’s doing this on behalf of the Pacific Islanders, and not just Pacific Islanders, all the low islanders on the planet. This is our story.”
A behind-the-scenes video of “SINK / RISE” shows Niutabua preparing a weighted belt to be placed around Akessa’s waist, then guiding her down from the boat into the chair.
“Don’t worry,” Niutabua recalls telling the teenager and others who were photographed in the shoot. “You’re safe in my hands. I’m going to make sure you’ll come back to the boat.”
Niutabua wasn’t only working behind the scenes. He also posed in front of the camera with his 25-year-old son, Ben.
For Niutabua, the reality that Brandt’s surreal photos are exposing is all too clear. The divemaster lives steps from an idyllic beach along the coast but, like many in Fiji, he’s building a house further inland that he hopes has a better shot at withstanding the impacts of intensifying storms.
“We didn’t cause this. The Pacific Islanders, we are the victims,” Niutabua says. But still, he says everyone on earth, including residents of Fiji, needs to do whatever they can to reverse course and mitigate the impacts of climate change, before it’s too late.
The undersea images convey everything from lost childhoods to hope for the future
While “SINK / RISE” centers around the human impact of climate change, Brandt says he learned more about the environmental impact, too, when they began shooting in a location about a kilometer from shore off the Fijian island of Vanua Levu. Broken pieces of coral covered the ocean floor.
“That’s all happened from climate change-intensified tropical cyclones. … We see the damage done by a tropical cyclone as it sweeps through land and just tears apart buildings and rips out trees. But what I didn’t understand was what happens underwater with that,” Brandt says. “Coral reefs are just annihilated, broken into a million pieces.”
Serafina holds her brother Keanan.
Onnie sits on a bench looking up toward the water’s surface.
Niu sits in front of a reef. Brandt says weights were used to keep people and furniture on the ocean floor during the photo shoot.
Ben stands behind his father, Viti, a longtime conservationist who also worked as a divemaster helping keep everyone safe.
To create the haunting images of people standing amid the broken coral, Brandt used everyday furniture typically seen inside homes and around schools.
“It’s meant to feel very matter-of-fact. They’re just sitting there with the barest essentials for living. A table and chair, a bed,” Brandt says. “And then occasionally I go into something like the seesaw, which is this sense of…a kind of lost childhood.”
Sometimes, Brandt says, what isn’t in the images can be just as striking. One photo, titled “Serafina At Table,” shows a girl sitting at a table across from an empty chair.
“For me that photograph works not just because of her and her expression, but because of that empty chair and what it implies,” he says.
While he hopes viewers will focus on the images he created, the concept behind them and the emotions they evoke, Brandt says he made sure plenty of behind-the-scenes photos were taken, too. At a time when AI-generated images are becoming increasingly common, Brandt says the artistic importance and emotional significance of real photographs showing real people cannot be overstated.
Since he first shared the photos publicly on his website recently, Brandt says he’s been struck by how viewers are responding.
“What I love is that people have said they go back to the photographs, and each time they go back, they see a different emotion in somebody’s face,” Brandt says. “They can see everything from hope to resilience…to resignation.”
How can the same image be both bleak and hopeful? Brandt points to a phrase popularized by Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci: “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”
“Intellectually, you look at what is happening to the planet, at this rollercoaster ride towards apocalypse, towards environmental destruction. And all the indications are humanity is not going to…act with sufficient urgency to correct course,” he says. “The optimism of the will is that, there is, with determination, the possibility of mitigating the damage. … But it requires all of us to become better ancestors.”
“SINK / RISE” is the third chapter in a larger project Brandt has been working on for years. The first two chapters showed people and animals impacted by climate change in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Bolivia. Like the earlier chapters, “SINK / RISE” will be made into a book and displayed in art gallery shows.
Brandt says the duality people are seeing in these latest images resonates with a theme that ties all the photos together.
The larger effort’s title, “The Day May Break,” refers to a sort of fork in the road that society is currently facing.
“The day may break and the earth may shatter, or the day may break and the dawn will come,” Brandt says.
As Brandt sees it, what happens next is humanity’s choice.
This story is part of CNN’s coverage of climate change”>CNN’s coverage of climate change ahead of the COP28 summit — covering how the crisis affects our lives as well as the global politics and the potential solutions.
Dorchester Abbey displays keyboard keys sculpture of The Last Supper
The sculpture will be on display during daylight hours at Dorchester Abbey for the next six months.
Sculpture installed, WWII Memorial dedication set for Thursday
WWII Memorial dedication set for Thursday at Warbird Park featuring sculpture of Thunderbolt and veterans
Thurston Wolfe Winery holding event featuring master photographer
PROSSER, Wash. – Thurston Wolfe Winery is hosting an event featuring master photographer John Clement and his interpretive photography on November 18 in Prosser.
The event takes place at the winery from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person and $15 for wine club members.
All attendees are given a glass of Rose or JTW’s Blend and charcuterie appetizer by Graze Craze in Zillah. Rose can also be purchased for $10 per bottle.
Clement began his career in photography as a portrait photographer in 1970 before becoming a commercial industrial photographer for Battelle NW from 1976 to 1980.
He received a Master of Photography from the Professional Photographers of America in 1986 and has been devoted to landscape photography since 1980.
Clement has received several awards, provided 17 murals of Eastern Washington for the Seattle Seahawks along with images for the Pasco Airport and worked on several books and calendars.
“The challenge of being a photographer is capturing the images that I have created in my minds eye – capturing an emotion that connects someone with that image and draws them into it,” says Clement.
UNews Fall Photography Contest
We are so excited to announce the winners of our fall photography contest! Our first winner is Nadia Abusoud. Below is her submission.
“This is a photo of a beautiful woman who put on her own makeup for a fun photoshoot we did in Forest Park. She created the headpiece herself! This was taken around the time of day of the dead.” -Nadia Abusoud
Our second winner is Lowella Elliott. Below is her submission.
“Miniature horse laying in hay at the St. Louis Renaissance Festival.”
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Stay tuned for our next photo contest for a chance for your photography to be highlighted!
The Indigenous Artist of the Upper Midwest Exhibition opens in Madison
MADISON (WKOW) – On Friday, Madison residents got their first chance to celebrate artwork from Indigenous artists from around the Midwest.
The Indigenous Artist of the Upper Midwest Exhibition opened at the Marzen Gallery on Atwood Avenue.
The exhibit features artists from a number of communities including the Ho-Chunk, Menominee and Ojibwe. The exhibition includes contemporary artworks by Rabbett Strickland, Tom Jones, John Hitchcock, Leah Yellowbird, Melanie Sainz, Chris Sweet, and others.
One artist for the exhibit says it means a lot to have his work represented in Madison.
“I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and I’ve spent a lot of time in this area and it’s just really great to be, you know, be a part of this,” said Christopher Sweet, Ho-Chunk artist.
You can check out the exhibition until December 15.
