Whether you are aspiring to become a professional photographer or just addicted to Instagram, we highly recommend you make the trek out to Brooklyn Bridge Park this next week to check out the second annual Photoville. Pier 5 at Brooklyn Bridge Park will be temporarily turned into a little village of shipping containers, each converted into a makeshift gallery space. There will be over fifty exhibitions and another fifty workshops and talks between Thursday September 19th and Sunday September 29th. The exhibitions are a mix of both well-known and up-and-coming artists, and the workshops and talks will cover everything from what you need to know to navigate the world of professional photography to how to take better portraits of your friends. Best of all Photoville is completely free and open to the public!
Here is our guide to what to not to miss at Photoville 2013!
Exhibitions
There will be over forty different exhibitions. Sam Barzilay, an organizer of the event and part of curatorial collective United Photo Industries, said each exhibition was chosen because it was “surprising.” The setting– identical white shipping containers, regardless of the stature of the photographer– is set up so that the festival can be “all about the work.” Here’s some of the exhibtions that will be on view:
#1 Nick Zinner “501 Photographs”
This collection is a compilations of photographs by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner that were often taken between shows while touring the world with the band. “Everywhere I am I see tiny moments of a time and a place that will never be repeated,” he says in a statement. “I take photos of everything because I don’t want to miss anything.” The photographs, some a juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern, some just beautifully unsettling, are a must-see.
#2 Jerry Vezzuso “Model Release”
If you’re feeling nostalgic for the 1980’s, check out Jerry Vezzuso’s deadpan portraits of hair models from 1985. The photographs were originally taken to document that the hair models– who had just gotten their hair cut at Astor Place Barber Shop, in the East Village for a book called New American Haircuts, had signed a release. Now they document, hilariously, a sense of style that is emblematic of an era.
#3 Tyler Hicks “One Year”
For terrifying, yet gorgeous, photographs of war and conflict zones, see New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks’ work in “One Year.” Hicks has spent years in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere documenting America’s wars abroad, civil conflict in Africa, and the Arab Spring. Though they are, of course, static images, Hicks’ photographs contain narratives in which individual struggle is bound up with global conflict. “My job is to document in the most simple way possible and the most straightforward way possible the news that’s happening in front of me,” he says of his work.
#4 Bushwick, Represent
Two Bushwick-based institutions– Slideluck and Bushwick Community Dark Room– will be involved in Photoville this year.
Slideluck (SAT, Sept 28, Potluck @ 6PM, Projections @ 7PM)
Slideluck will be doing their signature combination of a potluck dinner and a multimedia slide show. Bring a dish to share (or you can buy food from the on-site food carts) and stay for the slideshow curated by TIME Magazine’s Director of Photography, Kira Pollack.
Bushwick Community Darkroom (SAT-SUN, Gum printing demonstration)
Bushwick Community Darkroom will be doing a demonstration of Gum Printing (or Gum Bichromate), a 19th century photo-printing technique which can be done on location and without a darkroom. They will also have an informational booth about the darkroom up during the festival.
Talks & Workshops
Throughout the festival there will be many talks, workshops, and panels on professional development and on photography as an art form. Here are some recommendations.
#1 Panel: Collecting Color Photography (FRI, Sept 20, 5:50PM)
“From the perspective of collectors, dealers and curators, this panel examines the market for collecting color photography– discussing what is being collected, who is collecting, where collectors find new work and how color photography is valued.”
#2 Workshop: DIY Guide to Rock Photography (SAT, Sept 21, 6:45-8PM)
“Explore iconic rock photographs, learn the fundamentals of concert photography and then make compelling pictures of a live band.” Taught by Justina Villanueva.
#3 A Photographer’s Guide to Navigating the Art World (THU Sept 26, 3PM)
“These days anyone with an Internet connection can start emailing galleries in batch and see what sticks. But cultivating the lasting relationships necessary to survive the art world is a whole different animal. So how do you outshine the thousands of photographers and build a core base of collectors?”
#4 iPhoneography– Making Money With Your Phone (FRI Sept 27, 4:30PM)
“More and more professional photographers are using their phones to shoot– and being paid to do it.”
#5 Talk: Photo 2.0– Online Photographic Thinking (SAT Sept 28, 1:40PM)
“Andy Adams, creator of FlakPhoto.com discusses our rapidly evolving internet photo culture.”
#6 Artist Talk: Free Advice (SUN Sept 29, 2:50PM)
“Expressing or selling ideas through images, requires the ability to produce effective visuals fluently and effortlessly as a way of life. This kind of ability agility comes from honing hard earned skills into a dependable process and that process to an instinct. Viktor Koen presents advice given to him through the years which apply well in the creative process.”
#7 Workshop: Lighting for Fashion (SUN Sept 29, 4:45PM)
“Students will be led through different lighting systems to produce images for both commercial and editorial use. Explore lighting, posing, and styling techniques for catalog and artistic fashion imagery.”
Extras
There will also be a walk-in camera obscura projecting the Manhattan skyline, a beer garden, book tent, DJ Party, photography peer review session, and nighttime projections.
Photoville runs from Thursday Sept. 19th through Sunday, Sept. 29th at Pier 5 of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
