2011 is going to be an exciting year for APAG, as we continue to grow as an organization. We had over 30 people at our last meeting at ICP, and hope to find a slightly larger space for the next one. We now have almost 70 members, with most people in the NY Tri-state area, however, there is a small group on the West Coast.

We are planning a meeting in late February, and also two workshops and more archive tours. They were a big success last year, when most of us had the opportunity to tour ICP's archive courtesy of Chris George.

I read about a great organization that I thought people should know about called Camera for Kids Foundation. It makes a lot of sense as photography is something I've always thought everyone should be able to do. Everyone should have access to a camera, since the results are so quick and satisfying, especially now with digital cameras.

I also wanted to mention an upcoming show titled, Esther Bubley: Selected Photographs that will be at the National Arts Club at 15 Gramercy Park. Jean Bubley who is Esther's neice, has done an amazing job archiving and promoting Esther's work, and has also been an invaluable member of APAG. So if you have a chance to go the opening, it will be on Thursday, February 24, from 6 - 8 pm, and stays up until March 9.

Thats all for now.

Mary

I was glad to see so many members represented and selling in today's photographs sale at Christie's. Hopefully, the prices realized were satisfactory to everyone. The auction included:
Tseng Kwong Chi, Ruth Orkin, Arthur Rothstein, George Tice and Wynn Bullock.

I just read about the the new Ansel Adams app for the iPad, which sounds interesting, and plan on checking it out shortly. Still getting used to everything the iPad can do, but it is already exciting! The maps especially are amazing, reading books is great and easy, and of course seeing and working with photos is terrific!

Regards,
Mary

Sam Shaw Book Signing

APAG members are invited to a book signing with author Lorie Karnath and photo editors Sam Shaw Family Archives for Sam Shaw: A Personal Point of View, which was published this year.

Date: Friday, January 7, 2011

Time: 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Place: Rizzoli Bookstore, 31 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019

We hope to see you there!

I had a lovely lunch today with Julie Grahame at Danal talking about the future of APAG. We discussed the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation that have committed to help sponsor APAG and the various projects we are planning in the coming years. It is a terrific opportunity for us, and I'm thrilled since the timing couldn't be better to help APAG grow and realize the goals the group has had since its inception in 2003. One is a group exhibition and book, (that was spearheaded by Grayson Dantzic) that we will hopefully get off the ground soon!

I went to the Annual Aperture Auction Benefit and Dinner at Chelsea Piers a few weeks ago, which is a great event. There were many people from the photo industry there including; Howard Greenberg and his wife Ellen, Nancy Lieberman, Bruce and Emily Davidson, Bruce Silverstein, Joel Meyerowitz and many others. I sat with photographer Lindsay McCrum and the collector Henry Buhl. Also, at the table were photographers Lynn Saville and Ellen Wallenstein, who both had photos in the auction.

Later in the week, I attended the Women in Arts Luncheon at the Brooklyn Museum. It featured a conversation with Catherine Morris, the curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and the artist Kara Walker. It was a wonderful exchange, and the luncheon afterwards was full of energy and excitement. I had the pleasure of sitting at Dr. Elizabeth Sackler's table, next to Audrey Flack, and also with Linda Stein. I am donating several photographs to the Sackler Center, which is exciting as I hope they are able to show them at some point in the near future, and because I have now been a Brooklynite for 10 years!

On a different note, I read a very provocative article in this month's Vanity Fair about the artist Larry Rivers, and the controversy with his daughters and some videos he made of them in the 70's. It is a very complicated subject. However, as the daughter of two photographers, I have firsthand knowledge as to what it's like to be photographed my whole life, but never exploited, and have strong feelings about the subject which is too lengthy to write about here.

Regards,
Mary Engel

APAG email list updated

I just updated the email list for our blog. I'm sending this post as a test. Mary posted a real message yesterday, so check the blog even if you didn't get the email notification. -Jean Bubley

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind for me. We had a record price of Ruth Orkin's photograph (an oversized version) American Girl in Italy at Sotheby's, and I did a one hour radio interview yesterday on http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/ for a show called A Women's Perspective hosted by Virginia Reed. It is archived, so if you missed it, you can still listen to it. The most important news I want to share however is that the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation will be helping to support APAG's efforts, and some of the archives are in the group in the near future. They will be attending our upcoming meeting, so if you are a member, please come and meet them!

I don't think I've previously mentioned, but if you don't already know about it, The Photograph Collector is an excellent source of information for the photography industry, and worth a subsciption. You can go to the website for more info at http://www.photoreview.org/.

Photo Plus Expo is at the end of this month held at the Javits Center from 10/28-10/30. It will have all the latest information on the technical aspects of the industry. Always an interesting event to see what's going on, and what's new, and some good seminars too.

Regards,
Mary

Its been too long since my last post, and in the future I will try for at least once a month. I've been reading many blogs, and one of my favorites is by the fashion designer Paul Smith, and he writes at least once a week. He is also a big photography fan as you can see if you take a look at some of his old posts.

The photo world will be gearing up again in the Fall, however, the last few weeks, the news has been covering the glass negatives that were found and claimed to be by Ansel Adams. However, most recently, there have been articles stating that not only are the negatives not necessarily by Adams, but that the dealer representing the whole thing has lets say, a very shady past. Today, I just read that the Ansel Adams Trust is suing the man who found the negatives, who seems to reproducing prints from them. There is definately more to come on this.

There have been some great shows this past summer that several of our members were able to attend, and there is more information in detail on the website news section. Ida Wyman travelled from Wisconsin to Connecticut to attend a one woman show at Joie De Livres. Irene Halsman went to Atlanta to attend the opening of the Dali show at the High Museum, and Victoria Haas said she had a wonderful time in Arles, France for 10 days for the solo show by her father, Ernst Haas. There are many more solo and group shows coming up this Fall that include our members. I'm excited by the upcoming show that Ruth Orkin, Ernst Haas and Inge Morath will be in at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery called BEYOND COLOR that opens on September 16.

I'm also thrilled that APAG continues to grow, and we now have over 50 members including 35 archives, 15 photographers, several foundations, and our newest category, archivists who have been very helpful for the group.

Enjoy the end of the summer!

Best,
Mary Engel