Underwood has degrees in both theater and photography, and it shows. These are called “scenes”, and they are spectacular.

magic magic magic. woo.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cities lately- about why some people find them lonely, and feel anonymous in them, while others thrive.  I’ve also been meaning to update my photo book collection, so I think Michael Wolf’s The Transparent City is next in line.

I’ve been stalking this book for ages– Wolf captures amazing moments in the Chicago skyline. It’s almost as if the Sims have come to noir-ish, photographic life.

Here’s more information about the project from Aperture’s press release:

Chicago, like many urban centers throughout the world, has recently undergone a surge in new construction, grafting a new layer of architectural experimentation onto those of past eras. In early 2007, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago, in collaboration with the U.S. Equities Realty artist-in-residence program, invited Michael Wolf to photograph the Chicago cityscape. Bringing his unique perspective on changing urban environments to a city renowned for its architectural legacy, Wolf chose to photograph the central downtown area, focusing specifically on issues of voyeurism and the contemporary urban landscape in flux.

This is Wolf’s first body of work to address an American city. Whereas prior series have juxtaposed humanizing details within the surrounding geometry of the urban landscape, in The Transparent City, his details are fragments of life—digitally distorted and hyper-enlarged—snatched surreptitiously via telephoto lenses: Edward Hopper meets Blade Runner. The material resonates with all the formalism of the constructed, architectonic work for which Wolf is well-known, but also emphasizes the conceptual underpinnings of his ongoing engagement with the idea of how modern life unfolds within the framework of the ever-growing contemporary city.

A selection of images:

See more of Michael Wolf’s work, here. Or buy the book.

I’ve long been obsessed with National Geographic photographer David Doubilet’s images of nudibranches (see, that’s one above!)… so I was very pleased to run across a piece of his in Malibu Magazine.  There are even some pics of him on the job. Here are some shots, below, as well as quotes from the man himself.

I began making pictures underwater in the green waters of the Atlantic
off the New Jersey coast when I was 12. I made a makeshift underwater
camera by putting a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera into an
anesthesiologist bag attached to a facemask. My first work was abstract
to say the least: A fish almost looked like a fish. It was however, the
beginning of a career in underwater photography for National
Geographic. Even now, after thousands and thousands of hours in the
sea, my partner, Jennifer Hayes, and I enter the sea with a sense of
respectful trespass and great anticipation.

For me, underwater photography is the best profession in the world. It
is also the only job I could imagine doing since grade school. I would
have been a disastrous pilot, accountant, lawyer, doctor or baker.
Working in the sea is a visual gift that I never take for granted. We
have seen great whites materialize out of the blue, squadrons of manta
rays feeding at night, and mating congregations of a hundred thousand
green sea turtles. We have followed the path of the war in the Pacific,
photographing the wreckage and silent memories.

Every day is not just another assignment; it is a small, but contained
voyage of discovery. But for all the joy there is a sense of
ever-present doom. Humans have approached the ocean as conquistadors,
and what we have discovered we have destroyed through over-fishing and
destruction of habitat. The only difference is that we have not tried
to convert the fish to Catholicism. And of course climate change and
global warming is all about water.

Check out more Doubilet imagery at his new agency, WILD photography.

I’m pretty excited to share with you my recent conversation with brilliant documentary photographer James Pomerantz.

I asked Pomerantz (that’s him, above) a load of questions about his work, his background, and his future– and he told me stories about his fiancée and a teacher who once told him he took pictures like a dentist.

Read the Qs and the As below.

First off, tell me about your Agua Sagrada work. What is going on here? I find these stunningly beautiful, sort of like the dark flip side of  Misrach’s On the Beach work. How did this work come about?

The photographs were made during a trip to Mexico earlier this year. The main purpose of the vacation was to relax and propose to my girlfriend, but money is too tight to travel for a week and not shoot anything. I did some research ahead of time into the area where we were going to be and became fascinated by these geological features they have there called cenotes.

They’re natural sinkholes that connect to subterranean bodies of water. For the Mayans, the cenotes were sources of water and were considered portals to the afterlife. They played an important role in Mayan religion and were often the location of sacrifices and offerings. Today they are frequented by tourists and locals who bathe in the cool water. We drove to several cenotes as each one has a pretty unique character. Some have collapsed ceilings and are totally exposed, others are totally enclosed and lit by artificial lights. The cenote where these photos were made had a single hole in the cave roof.

After hanging out for a little while, I noticed how people were drawn to the light and how they would interact with it. Some were clearly anxious about swimming in the dark water and looking for the security of the sun. Others seemed to seek out its warmth. Some would stare up into the light. Others would float face down, peering into water.

I love Misrach’s On The Beach. I read Nevil Shute’s book when I was about twelve and I remember how much it scared me and made me feel queasy. I feel that same terror and churning in my stomach when I look at Misrach’s photos. Whereas his expanses of sea and sand are overwhelming, I find security in the single shaft of light in my cenote. Misrach’s photos are more like my nightmares, mine are more like my dreams.

So, I went to Mexico with a camera and my girlfriend and came back with some interesting photographs and a fiancée!

You’re one of the few documentary photographers I can name who really successfully shoots square (another is Joseph Sywenkyj)… how do you choose your format, and what do you love about a square frame?

Thanks! I love squares (and short, squat rectangles). Squares keep me in line and don’t let me tilt the frame as much when I’m frustrated that the world isn’t organized how I want it to be. Shooting square is kind of like catching butterflies in a net, I just swing the camera around at what I see and push the button. It’s much more reactionary for me than shooting other formats.

I like how your bio says you just fell into photography. Can you elaborate on that? Were you always an adventurous soul, and the camera became a necessity, or do you seek out story once you had the photo bug (chicken/egg scenario)…

I took a photo class in high school. I still have photos I took with titles like “My Left Foot” and “Hand Shadow”. I really liked solarization and reticulation. My grandmother loved the photos.

Years later, after going to culinary school and working as a chef, I found myself at Columbia University as a math and philosophy major. I took a photo class as an elective and fell in love with it. The teacher was incredibly passionate and outspoken. He told me I photographed like a 68 year old dentist from Long Island and I was determined to prove him wrong.

I began looking at photographs more and more. I looked at Arbus and Winogrand a lot. I began to see that photography was a great tool for making visual Post Its. Philosophy was filling my head with a whole new language to question the world around me and photography gave me a way to record my interactions with the world as I searched for answers.

One of the first places I ever went to take photographs was Haiti. So yes, I think I have an adventurous soul. But, I spent most of my time in Haiti at the hotel because guns and crowds and loud noises freak me out. So I’m part adventurous soul and part neurotic New Yorker. Everywhere I’ve gone, however, has made me learn about myself and helped me grow as a photographer and person.

Your subject matter is quite varied; how do you choose your projects, and what’s coming up in the future?

I like to think that I have an active relationship or dialogue with photography. Some days it’s cerebral and logical, other days it’s emotional and passionate and sometimes it’s lighthearted and funny. Every day, however, it takes effort and honesty.

Are you affiliated with an agency? I’m curious if you rep yourself, why you choose to do so, and what the benefits are.

No agency at the moment. I am interested in finding representation, but as in any relationship it has to be beneficial for all parties involved. I would rather stay single until I find the right fit. I know a lot of photographers who are all about finding an agency right away, but if you aren’t really ready there’s not much an agency can do for you. I know I keep talking about relationships, but I just got engaged and have been reading a lot of wedding magazines, so cut me some slack.

It’s a shame that the controversy is obscuring some of these simple, beautiful new images. Take a look.

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 11, 2007/200

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 17, 2007/2008

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 25, 2007/2008

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 35, 2007/2008

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 31, 2007/2008

Bill Henson, Untitled No. 37, 2007/2008

See more of Henson’s work and other great fine art photography from down under at Roslyn Oxley Gallery.