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From Native American surf rock to the Rolling Stones: How ‘Reservation Dogs’ got its DIY sound

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Native

Tiffany Anders began picking songs for movies at age 15, when she advised her mom, filmmaker Allison Anders, to use a track by indie rockers Dinosaur Jr. on her 1992 breakout feature, “Gas Food Lodging.” Young Anders then pursued a career as a singer-songwriter, and after releasing an album produced by British provocateur PJ Harvey, she officially segued into music supervision for TV and film. More recently, she has emerged as a go-to song picker for edgy TV comedies, including “PEN15,” “You’re the Worst” and “Beef.” But until a couple years ago, Anders had never curated needle drops for a Native American story.

Then came “Reservation Dogs.”

The critically acclaimed FX on Hulu dramedy follows four teenage misfits in rural Oklahoma as they struggle, often hilariously, to reckon with the untimely death of their friend, their heritage and navigate uncertain futures. Co-creator and showrunner Sterlin Harjo enlisted Anders shortly after seeing her post about the Native American documentary “Rumble” on Instagram. “He messaged me, and we started talking,” she recalls. “Sterlin said, ‘I’ve got this show coming up, and I’d love you to be a part of it.’ So that’s where it started.”

The first season of “Reservation Dogs” kicked off in 2021 with a teen heist underscored by the Stooges’ raucous punk anthem “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” followed in later episodes with numbers by hip-hop grand masters Wu-Tang Clan, country singer Sturgill Simpson and everything in between. The common thread? “Sterlin’s first point of direction to me was, ‘Everything has got to sound DIY,’” says Anders. “I immediately knew what he meant: The music had to have heart and soul, it had to be honest, it had to be full of integrity. It can be huge, it can be old, it can be new, as long as it carried that kind of feel.”

For the third and final season of “Reservation Dogs” (it concludes Sept. 27), Anders licensed music from gifted but often obscure artists whose songs sound as if they were purpose-built for the scene at hand. Speaking from her Altadena home, Anders de-constructed Season 3’s music cues, reflecting her fondness for “loner folk dudes,” Native American surf rock and hippie-era psychedelia. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

This show’s packed with songs that most people probably haven’t heard before. In Episode 2 [of Season 3], for example, Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) wanders the barren Oklahoma plains, where he meets a reclusive old man named Maximus. At the end of his journey, Bear’s all alone, staring into space as this melancholy ballad plays. What’s the tune?

That’s “Early Blue” by F.J. McMahon. In my 20s, I lived in New York and got kind of obsessed with confessional, introspective records made by what I call loner folk dudes. This used record store loaned me a bootleg copy of his album “Spirit of the Lonely Juice,” which had “Early Blue” on it. I just thought the song fit the DIY vibe, for one. And two, it has this isolated, self-reflective quality that fits Bear’s moment of being on his own. He’s the lost loner guy there.

A woman in denim top and long brown hair sits in a booth with a slice of pie in front of her and looks to her right.

Episode 3 centers on Deer Lady [Kaniehtiio Horn], and it flashes back to her days at the type of nightmarish boarding school that most Native American kids were forced to attend. You feature three pieces of moody music by Mali Obomsawin to express Deer Lady’s inner world. How did you learn about this artist?

Sterlin told me about Mali before they started shooting this season, and I was blown away. Her music is experimental, and it’s got these jazzy elements but it’s also heartfelt. Not to sound all witchy lady, but I feel like Mali’s music and [composer] Mato’s [Wayuhi] score were made to be together, but it just happened by chance.

Mali’s a Native American, right?

Yes. Sterlin went into this season very keen on using a lot of current Native American musicians.

Which brings us to a soulful track in Episode 4 by the late Native American musician Jesse Ed Davis. He was known for his guitar playing with artists like Bob Dylan and John Lennon, but here he’s singing, “I was born on the banks of the Washita River.”

One of the bonding moments for me and Sterlin is that we both love Jesse Ed Davis. We had to use him, and “Washita Love Child” was perfect for this scene. Our editor Varun Viswanath kept asking for old rock songs to kind of emulate these four characters being “the reservoir dogs,” and I was like, “Jesse Davis is our dog.” The song’s sweet, it has a groove and I really like that Jesse’s telling a story about his culture.

The “Dazed and Confused” homage in Episode 6 happens back in 1976 when the rez dog elders were just teenagers acting wild on the last day of school. It’s packed with rock tracks from that period, which must have been fun to organize.

For me, the sweet spot for rock is the ’70s, and when you dig into obscure stuff, it gets even funner and cooler. I’m one of those who can go down the [rabbit] hole forever.

From that rabbit hole, you pulled a trippy song by the short-lived Texas hippie band 13th Floor Elevators called “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” which plays while the teenagers feel LSD kicking in.

I mentioned “You’re Gonna Miss Me” for opening Season 2. We went with [Native American band] Black Belt Eagle Scout instead but we kept the song in our back pocket. Texas is close enough to Oklahoma [laughing], and the track has this Southern psychedelic rock thing — it just made sense.

Young Maximus later encounters a UFO to the tune of a spooky instrumental [“Yeti Talk to Yogi”] by 70s-era avant-garde German band Amon Düül. Why that group?

That moment had to feel other-worldly. When I first went through the script and saw the scene where he sees the UFO, I thought this would be the perfect place to get in some spacey Krautrock, so I immediately went to Amon Düül.

In Episode 6, resident nerd Cheese [Lane Factor] goes fishing in the woods with his uncles. When things get emotional, we hear this oddly uplifting song by a guy named Larry Norman. How did you find “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”?

That track came from Sterlin’s daughter, Portlyn. While we were spotting the episode, going through each scene and talking about what music we wanted, Sterlin showed us a video from a Christian movie of these women singing that song. He’s like, “My daughter turned me onto this weird Christian rock guy from the ’70s,” and I went, “Oh, my God. Let’s fit this into the Cheese episode.” It was perfect because in a way the song sounds very “after-school special.”

A man in a white shirt and overalls stands next to a boy in a Rage Against the Machine T-shirt holding a fishing pole.

In music supervising “Reservation Dogs,” you evaluate each song’s emotional impact, but at the same time, you’re getting editor feedback, you might have licensing issues, you need to make sure the cue supports the scene. It’s a lot.

It is a lot. You’re constantly balancing the budget without wanting to lose the integrity of what the show’s trying to do. [You ask yourself,] “Will this song work instead? It’s cheaper.” If we could use a gazillion Johnny Cash songs or whatever, we’d do that, but I don’t think it would be as interesting.

They say constraints inspire creativity.

Exactly, and I think it’s wonderful because then you can expose viewers to new things and spotlight all these Native American artists too, so that people go, “What is that song?”

Looking back over the first two seasons of “Rez Dogs,” what musical moments stand out for you?

One of my favorites happened in Season 1, where we use a Lee Hazlewood song [1971’s “If It’s Monday Morning”] when Cheese makes the connection with “Grandma,” who’s not really his grandma. They’re sitting out there, and she can’t see, and, you know, she continues to be his grandma through the seasons. I loved that. And I also think of “Come and Get Your Love” at the end of Season 1, with the footage of Redbone playing over the credits.

What can you tell us about music for the show’s final episodes?

For [Episode] 309, we used a Native artist, Ken Pomeroy, who’s a Sterlin find. In 308, we have an amazing experimental Native American artist, Raven Chacon. He made this kind of surf record and sent a song to me. We put it at the end of Episode 8, and then I called Raven and said, “Do you have any more of that surf stuff, because it’s working really well in this episode.”

You’ve also included the Rolling Stones new single “Angry,” which is a huge get, in Episode 8. How did that happen?

Dasmarie Alvino at Universal Music Group mentioned that they had a new Rolling Stones album coming out. I thanked her and said I was very excited to hear the album as I am a lifelong fan. She then sent me a link. I listened to it day in and out when I was in London over the summer. I let Dasmarie know how into the album I was. She got back to me a few days later and said that the Rolling Stones would love to be considered for “Reservation Dogs,” citing the cultural impact and relevance the show has, which blew my mind and Sterlin’s as well! I remember texting him, and I believe his text response was “WHAAAAAA?”

Unlike most of the artists featured in this series, the Rolling Stones are pretty well known, to put it mildly.

The Stones, while massive, still fit the salt of the earth sound of the show, and this album reflects a lot of that mid- to late ’70s gritty rock sound they created. We luckily had this one episode left to complete where we knew the song would work. And it did. We both are still sort of in disbelief that we got a Stones song in the show.

“Reservation Dogs” has attracted a lot of fans for the way it portrays Native American life today. Any final thoughts as the series winds down?

I’m extremely heartbroken that the show’s gonna be over. I’ve learned so many things about modern-day Native American culture and music and everything else. I mean, I would have loved to keep going, because it’s been a dream job.

Schiele Artworks to Be Returned to Heirs of Owner Killed by Nazis

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

The Manhattan district attorney’s office arranged for the return of seven works to a family that has been seeking them for more than a quarter of a century.

Seven works by the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele will be handed over on Wednesday to the heirs of the Viennese cabaret artist who had owned them before he was murdered by the Nazis, according to Manhattan prosecutors, marking a major turning point in one of the art world’s longest-running Holocaust restitution cases.

The ceremony to return the artworks to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, who was killed in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941, was scheduled to be held at the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, which investigated the case.

“This is of huge importance in our world,” said one of the Grünbaum heirs, Timothy Reif, referring to the descendants of Holocaust victims seeking the return of looted property nearly 80 years after the end of World War II. “It sets the tone and the agenda for all future cases.”

For more than a quarter of a century the Grünbaum heirs have sought the return of a number of different Schieles; their claims, which prompted civil suits in state and federal courtrooms, have been closely watched in the art world.

The battle over the collection set off an international incident in 1998, after a Schiele that Grünbaum had owned was lent by an Austrian museum to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Robert M. Morgenthau, who was then the Manhattan district attorney, issued a subpoena to try, unsuccessfully, to prevent its return, and that of another disputed Schiele, to Austria.

Grünbaum, a celebrated Jewish cabaret performer and art patron known for his barbs against Nazism, was arrested in 1938 and sent to the Dachau death camp in Germany.Imagno/Getty Images

The Manhattan district attorney’s office became involved in the case again in December, after a 2018 New York civil court ruling that said Mr. Grünbaum had never sold or surrendered any of his works before his death, making his heirs their true owners. Prosecutors found evidence that the seven works had passed through the hands of a Manhattan dealer, which they said gave them jurisdiction. That made things different this time: Approached by prosecutors, several museums and collectors agreed to hand the Schieles over to the heirs after his office told them they possessed stolen property.

“Fritz Grünbaum was a man of incredible depth and spirit, and his memory lives on through the artworks that are finally being returned to his relatives,” Mr. Bragg said in a statement. “I hope this moment can serve as a reminder that despite the horrific death and destruction caused by the Nazis, it is never too late to recover some of what was lost.”

The seven works being returned voluntarily were in the hands of three museums — the Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan Library & Museum, both in New York, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California — and two collectors, Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress and a longtime advocate of Holocaust restitution, and the estate of Serge Sabarsky, a well-known art collector. (Separately, an eighth work held by the Sabarsky estate was previously returned to the heirs.)

Mr. Grünbaum, a celebrated Jewish cabaret performer and art patron known for his barbs against Nazism, was arrested in 1938 and sent to the Dachau death camp in Germany.

While imprisoned, prosecutors said, he was forced to execute a power of attorney in favor of his wife, Elisabeth, who was later compelled to hand over his art collection — which included 81 Schieles — to Nazi officials. The prosecutors said that the collection was inventoried and then impounded in a Nazi-controlled warehouse in 1938, and that the works by Schiele, who had been declared a degenerate artist, were auctioned or sold abroad to finance the Nazi Party.

Mr. Grünbaum was killed in 1941 and his wife, who was also sent to a death camp, in 1942.

via the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

In the 1950s, many Schieles and other works from his collection surfaced on the art market in the possession of a Swiss dealer, Eberhard Kornfeld. They were later sold to an American dealer, Otto Kallir, who had a gallery in New York, before being sold on to a variety of buyers and widely dispersed.

In the 2018 case the heirs went to a court in New York State and won back two Schieles — “Woman in a Black Pinafore” (1911) and “Woman Hiding Her Face” (1912) — from a collector, Richard Nagy, who had planned to sell them. The ruling found that Mr. Grünbaum had owned the works before the war, and could not have voluntarily signed away the title to them while at Dachau, with Judge Charles V. Ramos writing that “a signature at gunpoint cannot lead to a valid conveyance” of someone’s property.

Bolstered by that ruling, the heirs approached the Manhattan district attorney’s office in December and asked it to investigate whether Schieles once owned by Mr. Grünbaum that were in New York or had passed through the hands of Mr. Kallir could constitute stolen property under New York law, Mr. Reif and investigators said.

Matthew Bogdanos, the assistant district attorney who directs the city’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, said that he was persuaded by the heirs to investigate the case as a criminal matter, and that doing so turned up new evidence tracking the paintings through New York.

Schiele’s “Self-Portrait” was returned from the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.via the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

The museums and collectors that agreed to hand over the Schieles all signed agreements with the district attorney stating that “pursuant to a criminal investigation” into “Nazi looted art,” they gave up all claims to the works.

Mr. Lauder declined to be interviewed but in a statement said, “I am pleased and honored to be able to help Fritz Grünbaum’s heirs continue their laudable efforts to recover his legacy.”

The Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan declined to comment in advance of the ceremony.

At least six of the returned Schieles are to be put up for auction at Christie’s in New York this year. Marc Porter, Christie’s head of restitution, said the sales would involve a commemoration of Mr. Grünbaum’s life. The proceeds, Mr. Reif said, would fund the newly formed Grünbaum Fischer Foundation to establish a scholarship program in Fritz Grünbaum’s name for young musicians. So far, he said, the charity has been funded by the $2.5 million sale in November of the two works they had won back in the 2018 state case.

In addition to Mr. Reif, 64, a judge on the United States Court of International Trade, the heirs include David Fraenkel, a co-trustee of Mr. Grünbaum’s estate, and Milos Vavra. Mr. Reif said Mr. Grünbaum was his paternal grandfather’s first cousin.

The seven artworks being returned on Wednesday had also been the subject of civil suits filed in 2022 in New York Supreme Court. Those cases have been dismissed, according to Raymond Dowd, the lawyer for the heirs. But referring to other works owned by Mr. Grünbaum that are either in New York or may have passed through the city, Mr. Dowd said, “We have asked the D.A. to investigate all artworks sold through New York and we believe that many more will emerge.”

“Seated Woman.”via the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

“Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith.”via the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

The works being returned have been valued at between $780,000 and $2.75 million apiece. Two were surrendered by the Museum of Modern Art: “Prostitute” (1912), a watercolor and pencil on paper, and “Girl Putting on Shoe” (1910), a watercolor and charcoal on paper. “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith” (1915), a pencil on paper, was surrendered by the Santa Barbara museum, and “Self-Portrait” (1910), black chalk and watercolor on brown paper, by the Morgan.

Mr. Lauder surrendered “I Love Antithesis” (1912), a watercolor and pencil on paper. The Sabarsky estate gave back “Portrait of a Boy (Herbert Reiner)” (1910), a gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper, and “Seated Woman” (1911), a gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper valued at $1,250,000.

Manhattan prosecutors have said that in total they are conducting an investigation into at least a dozen Schiele works they say were looted by the Nazis and trafficked at some point through New York.

Last week, investigators seized three other Schieles from three out-of-state museums, saying those works had also been stolen and lawfully belonged to Mr. Grünbaum’s heirs.

Those three institutions — the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio — face lawsuits from the heirs in federal court, and have indicated that they believe they have good title to their works. Those works have yet to be transported to New York.

Mr. Reif said the prospect of getting back the art filled him with gratitude.

“Each one is exquisite to me,” he said. “I love these works because recovering them allows me to honor the memory of this man.”

Upgrade Your Outdoor Water Tap With Weltevree’s Waterworks

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Design

Organize the space around your outdoor water tap with Weltrevee’s Waterworks outdoor sink and water station. Rinse off dirty boots, wash freshly picked fruits and vegetables, and more. Waterworks can really be used however you see fit – whether that’s as a spot to organize your gardening essentials or as the perfect mini bar and ice bucket. It exists to work in the way you need it to at any given moment.

“Waterworks is about reconnecting with water, because water connects us all,” said designer Floris Schoonderbeek.

The setup includes a worktop and a perforated wall that will fit any standard outdoor faucet. The worktop features a recess where the included bucket perfectly sits, and you can hang tools and more on the three provided S-hooks. Simply connect the tap point with a standard hose and your existing outdoor faucet has been upgraded! Whether it’s in your garden or on your balcony, Waterworks provides a water station and outdoor sink all-in-one.

Waterworks is weatherproof thanks to its powder coating, and available in RAL 7033.

To learn more about Weltevree’s Waterworks outdoor sink and water station, visit weltevree.eu.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she’s likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.

Lisetta Carmi: Identities review – radical photography reveals Italy’s outsiders

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

She was an accomplished concert pianist who later became a devoted yogi, but Lisetta Carmi is best known for the 18 years she spent taking photographs. Her carefully observed, quietly sensational pictures had a subtle power to them: they reckoned with Italy’s traditional, patriarchal society.

Carmi’s piercing humanism is the focus of this concise, lucid exhibition at the Estorick Collection. Neatly organised into two rooms are images from Carmi’s two most important bodies of work. The first draws together a selection of black and white images from three series, taken between 1962 and 1976, of workers at the Italsider steel mill in Genoa, the cork factory at Calangianus, Sardinia, and of stevedores working on the shipyards at Genoa’s port – an area of the city usually closed off to women (Carmi pretended to be a relative of a docker to gain entry).

The resulting images situate Carmi within the left-leaning social documentary genre of the time, but also as one of very few women to photograph such scenes. Her intersectional concerns with labour, class and gender punctuate the pictures – at Calangianus, Carmi captured the first women to be employed in the factory. These images and the Italsider pictures convey a more distant, documentarian vision of the life of labourers, unfolding a silent, distant drama.

Carmi was born in 1924 in Genoa, the coastal capital of Liguria and a constant subject in her work. In 1938 the family fled Italy so that Carmi could continue her education – prohibited for Jewish people under Mussolini’s racial laws. When the family returned from exile in 1943, Carmi toured Italy and abroad as a pianist. But in 1960, after taking part in anti-fascist protests in Genoa, Carmi felt compelled to turn her hands to a new, more directly political pursuit – photography.

Carmi’s first job as a photographer was at Genoa’s theatres, and these pictures play with the magnificent scale of industry and the geometry of its machinery, with the smoke and sparks serving to micrify the human figures. They are not astonishing as works of art – Carmi only picked up the camera a few years before taking them – but they lay the groundwork for understanding Carmi’s determination to show the unseen, and to humanise the marginalised.

Humanising the marginalised … Genoa, Port, 1964.

Here there are also the beginnings of introspection; as a Jewish woman in a Catholic, male-dominated society, Carmi’s own struggles with her identity seem to come to the fore at times. In one image, the camera looks down voyeuristically at a solitary male figure, who stands in a pit of toxic phosphate, shirtless, holding a spade in a meditative pose. He is covered in the powder, which hangs in a filmy layer between Carmi and her subject. While it exposes the dangers of the worker’s conditions, it is not without desire – sexual, perhaps, or seeking a sense of freedom, embodied in men.

From the brutality of the human battle with machines, the second room of the exhibition looks inside, into the homes and lives of another closed-off community in Genoa, in Carmi’s most famous series I Trasvestiti. Black and white and colour images – only discovered and printed in 2017 – are presented as an evolution of the social and political interests expressed in Carmi’s industrial images.

I Trasvestiti began in 1965 after Carmi went to a new year party hosted by a member of the LGBTQ community. Carmi became a friend and confidant to many, including some who were sex workers (then referred to as “trasvestiti”), and continued to photograph them for the next six years. She visited their homes in the historic centre of Genoa, a secluded network of narrow alleyways and tall buildings and once its Jewish ghetto, where many of the pictures were taken. This was a subversion of their visible, public life on the streets, where they were sought out as the subjects of secret desires.

Photographing her subjects at home lends the pictures a haptic intimacy and, unlike the dour conditions of the labourer, the interiors would have been familiar to any middle-class Italian of the time – reproductions of Bronzino paintings and religious iconography, elaborate Venetian-style furnishings and ornate wallpaper.

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A sense of joy and complicity … I Travestiti, Genoa, 1965-70.

Some of the pictures are defiantly dignified. Resembling fashion editorials, they celebrate a quintessential Italian style – on bodies that would not have been celebrated in any mass media. There is a sense of plangent joy and complicity in the pictures – remarkable given that cross-dressing and gender reassignment were then illegal in Italy.

Lisetta Carmi: Identities is the first institutional exploration in the UK of the late Italian artist’s work – Carmi had been working on the exhibition until two weeks before her death last year, at the age of 98. Interest in her work has been slow burning. Indeed, in 1978, Carmi gave up photography completely to devote herself to yoga, setting up an ashram in a traditional trullo in Cisternino, Puglia, following the teachings of Haidakhan Babaji.

It’s not difficult to see why interest in her work has grown, however. Although the styles have dated, Carmi’s images feel bold and ahead of their time – including depictions of nude transexual bodies that are still seldom seen in major institutions.

Outside the confines of patriarchy, Carmi saw the possibility of alternative identities, of an alternative society. Photography was a conduit for Carmi, but the pictures provided a step towards understanding and embracing the world and her place in it. As she said of her involvement with the LGBTQ+ community: “It helped me accept myself for who I really am – a person who lives without a role.”

Lisetta Carmi: Identities is at the Estorick Collection, London, from 20 September to 17 December

Grand reopening of Gorman Museum on Friday and Saturday

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Native

The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at UC Davis will reopen with a celebratory weekend on Friday, Sept. 22, and Saturday, Sept. 23, coinciding with the museum’s 50th anniversary. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, a public blessing, and campus officials will speak starting at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by the museum opening at 2 p.m.

On Saturday, the museum will open from noon to 5 p.m. and include a day full of music, dance and cultural demonstrations.

UK to install first-of-its-kind sculpture honouring the ‘Strength of Hijab’

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

The United Kingdom is set to unveil a new sculpture that, as per reports, will be the first of its kind. The sculpture is designed to celebrate women who wear hijabs and is called “Strength of the Hijab” and is designed by Luke Perry, an English artist known for his monumental sculptures.

Perry is known for his sculptures that celebrate under-represented peoples and their heritage.

Atiba Jefferson shares his skills and experience with photography students during visit to RIT

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

A group of RIT photography students dropped in at Roc City Skatepark last Friday with photographer Atiba Jefferson to practice their photo skills and learn from an industry expert.

Evie Linantud, a fourth-year photojournalism student from Houston, said that participating in the skatepark workshop helped her learn new techniques that will be useful as she begins her own photography career.

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Kayla Bartkowski

Local skateboarder Brantley Debose was contacted by Atiba Jefferson to model for the workshops. This photo was taken by fourth-year Kayla Bartkowski during the workshop. See more of her work on Instagram @kayla.bartkowski.

“During the workshop we only had two shots at taking a photo, so we had to be really serious about it. It made me think more about what I was doing in the moment rather than just relying on the fact that I could just do it again. Because, really, I couldn’t,” said Linantud.

Jefferson, photographer at Thrasher magazine, is also a member of Canon’s Explorers of Light program. Through the program, he was able to visit RIT for three days, from Sept. 13 to 15, to share his industry knowledge with students.

In addition to hosting two photography workshops at Roc City Skatepark, Jefferson visited several photography classes, gave a lecture about his path to photography, and hosted drop-in sessions where students could come and discuss their work.

“I had a really great time with the students and it’s been an amazing opportunity to be here,” said Jefferson. “I make time to do these workshops and lectures because I was the same as these students at one point in my life. There were a lot of things I didn’t know and people close to me took the time to teach me to be the photographer I am today. I hope that I was able to inspire and help the students this week.”

Jefferson is best known for his 25 years of skateboarding photography. In addition to working for all of the major skateboard publications, he also has a deep history in basketball. He assisted the staff photographer for the LA Lakers during the Shaq and Kobe years, and shot more SLAM magazine covers than any other photographer. He has also shot for commercial clients such as Supreme, Adidas, Nike, Converse, Reebok, ESPN, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Oakley, Pepsi, Canon, and Netflix.

Clay Patrick McBride, senior lecturer in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, helped facilitate Jefferson’s visit to Rochester. According to McBride, getting students out of the classroom for hands-on experiences like the skatepark workshops is invaluable when it comes to honing their photography skills.

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Evie Linantud

This photo of Debose was taken by fourth-year Evie Linantud during the workshop. See more of her work on Instagram @linantudphoto.

“A situation like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our students. This is like if Obi Wan Kenobi taught you how to use the lightsaber, or if Michael Jordan taught you how to do a jump shot,” said McBride. “This is a master at his craft teaching a younger generation how to do it, and this is a real golden moment that RIT will remember for a long time. We’re grateful to the people at Canon for making it possible.”

Canon’s Explorers of Light group is comprised of dozens of the most influential photographers in the world, each a master of their creative specialty. These photographers aim to share their photographic passions and technical expertise with eager audiences across the nation, including students.

Fourth-year student Kayla Bartkowski, a Rochester local, shared that her excitement for working with an industry professional like Jefferson was only rivaled by the awe she had for the number of ollies local skateboarder and model Brantley Debose did during the workshop. She said the experience at the skatepark helped her learn more about lighting and location-based photography—both skills that are crucial for a photojournalism major like herself.

“As a photojournalist, we have to be able to work in very high energy and intense environments with a lot going on, so I think this was a really great way to practice being aware of your surroundings as well as focusing on the subject and taking the photo,” said Bartkowski.

Go to the Canon website to learn more about the Explorers of Light program. See samples of Jefferson’s photography on his Instagram, @atibaphoto.

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Erin Bonitz

During the workshop, Bontiz also took photos with a Pentacon Six TL camera, which was manufactured in the late 1960s. Her camera and film malfunctioned during the shoot, but it resulted in the unique panoramic image above.

Polaroid Photographer Reveals How She Made Over $1,000 at Carnival

Sep 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

A polaroid photographer armed with an Intax Mini 11 made $1,111 at Notting Hill Carnival in London by selling her prints.

Amma Antwi, known as DSG, brought in her best friend who was wearing a top with the prices listed: £5 ($6.18) for one or £10 ($12.37) for three.

@itsthatdarkskingirl I felt like I was on the apprentice 😂 #nottinghillcarnival #onthisday #instaxmini11 #fujifilm #selfportraitideas #shakeitlikeapolaroidpicture ♬ Bad Gyalz – Nia Archives

Antwi had a megaphone as she took an old-fashioned approach to selling services in a gambit that ultimately proved extremely popular.

Carnival

Notting Hill Carnival takes place each August in West London, attracting some two million people it is one of the largest street festivals in the world.

Antwi tells the Daily Mail that she sold 200 polaroids at the event, netting $1,113 (£900) which left her a profit of $708 (£573) after accounting for the start-up costs (camera, film, and card reader).

“I love Notting Hill Carnival and as I have recently started doing photography I wanted a way to strengthen these skills but also network and speak to people I may not get to speak to every day,” says Antwi.

“As much as I wanted to use my digital camera, I thought using my Polaroid would be the golden touch…I had to go up to people and sell and with this, I had to handle a lot of rejection too,” she continues.

“I knew I was going to get rejected. It was understandable. But I was ready for it. The first person I asked I got rejected by but this gave me that rush to sell and get a yes. I thought if I got nos it wasn’t a bad thing, I saw it as redirection.”

Antwi was accepting both card and cash payments during the two-day festival and after this year’s success, she’s planning to do it again at next year’s carnival, and might even take her business stateside for the Labor Day celebrations in New York.

“I’d love to get a partnership with Polaroid or Instax and take the business global,” she says. “We could then take the business to places like Brazil. There are so many carnivals in the world. They haven’t got back to me yet [these companies] but we’re pushing for it and I’m ambitious.”

More of Antwi’s work can be found on her TikTok and Instagram.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

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