LH “Jug” Lowell, Buffalo Bills Birthday Party, Lookout Mountain, Colorado by Alec Soth, from the forthcoming Colorado, part of the Little Brown Mushroom Dispatches project.

From Brutal, the recently published third book by Michal Luczak. More to follow.

Karin Apollonia Müller, from Angels in Fall.

Mark Steinmetz, from Greater Atlanta. I don’t know that it gets much better than this work… 

From “South Philadelphia” by Justin James Reed, (2005 - 2007).

“The problem is the medium’s literalness, so the photographer is not only trying to go beyond subject matter and find subject, she has to take her audience with her. Most people, and this can include people quite sophisticated and well versed in other arts, assume that if the photograph is of a white horse, the photographer is talking about white horses rather than loneliness or loss, or any number of apparently unlikely subjects, as well as the more obvious metaphors like strength or grace. Of course, the ultimate task for any photographer is to talk about the most unlikely things and the white horse, in short, to tell the subject’s tale as well as her own.”

— Gerry Badger, writing in his essay “Far from New York City: The Grapevine Work of Susan Lipper”, in The Pleasures of Good Photographs

Photograph from This Russia, (2008) by Irina Rozovsky.

Mark Steinmetz, Greater Atlanta.

“While it’s certainly true that photographing unknown subjects is a privilege, I don’t claim deep intimacy or insight into the lives of those I photograph. That being said, I am committed to treating my subjects seriously. My interest is in understanding people as individuals, not the fallout of a social problem. I approach people because I’m simply curious about them. I hope the pictures of people convey some semblance of dignity, because they are precisely the type of individuals who are often wrongly perceived of as disadvantaged or outsiders. For me the picture making process has always served to prompt contact, and remove some of the indifference we have for each other — it supplies a reason for human exchange when I wouldn’t have one otherwise.”

— from Something more felt than known: a conversation with Curran Hatleberg, up at thegreatleapsideways.com

(Source: thegreatleapsideways.com)