Real Photo Show with Michael Chovan-Dalton

**Lecturer and Photographer, Tom Leininger and I talk about his shift from the world of photojournalism to the world of art education which has been a mix of full time and part time work, including being one of many voices in a large program at the University of North Texas to becoming the primary voice in a small program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. We also talk about the challenges to finding time to photograph and stay engaged in the art world, especially with a full time job or over-booked adjunct work. ** https://tomleininger.net/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCnx3yB9XXVCeCdHZXE4LSg/featured This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com Tom Leininger is a photographer and educator based in Appleton, Wisconsin and teaching in the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. ** ** ** He was born in California, raised in upstate New York, and educated in the Midwest.  The bulk of his professional newspaper career was spent grinding it out every day at Indiana newspapers. His current photographic interests lie within contemporary suburban life and the abstract idea of home.   **

Julianna Foster is an artist and assistant professor and interim Program Director of Photography at the University of the Arts. We have a fantastic conversation about teaching and her latest work, Geographical Lore which looks at the changing environment through sculptural images. Geographical Lore was just included in Four Degrees: Eco-Anxiety and Climate Change Presented by Strange Fire Collective & Humble Arts Foundation. Julianna was also a guest on the JKC Gallery's Third Thursdays talks. There's a link below if you want to hear more about her work.   https://juliannafoster.com/home.html http://www.strangefirecollective.com/four-degrees-exhibition Third Thursdays with guests Cengiz Yar & Julianna Foster   This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com   Julianna Foster is currently an assistant professor in the Photography program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She received a BFA in Design from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2001) and an MFA in Book Arts + Printmaking from the University of the Arts (2006).   Foster has been an artist in residence at the Philadelphia Photo Art Center, finalist at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia, selected as a Community Supported Artist, a project organized by Grizzly Grizzly Gallery and self-published the book, lone hunter. Her work and two interviews with photographers was featured in the publication Constructed: The Contemporary History of the Constructed Image in Photography since 1990 published by Routledge. Other selected exhibitions include, The Truth in Disguise Geste Paris, France during Paris Photo, group exhibitions at Filter Photo in Chicago and Medium Photo in San Diego (2019/2020), 2020 COCA (Center of Contemporary Artist) finalist and 2020 San Francisco Bay International Photography Awards Silver Award Winner for her project, Geographical Lore.   Other projects/publications include work in magazines Conveyor, Proof, Cleaver, Good Game, and Shots Journal for Black and White Photography. She has exhibited work nationally and internationally, in private collections across the country and Foster has collaborated with various artists on projects that include creating artist multiples, artist books and series of photographs and video.

Brendan Bannon is a photographer and teacher based between New York and Nairobi, Kenya. We talk about the work his students are showing at the JKC Gallery as part of The Mark and the Memory show curated by Ryann Casey. The work comes from a workshop taught by Brendan and Julian Chinana called Odyssey that is offered to combat veterans to help them process their experiences through the use of the camera. We talk about how Brendan suffered from depression while taking care of his mother who was suffering from MS and how photography helped him to stop time when he needed it to and also allowed him to re-engage with the world. We also talk about Brendan's many other projects working with refugee children, children with AIDS, and the many NGO's that he has worked with over the years.   https://www.mostimportantpicture.org https://www.ginnyrosestewart.com https://jkcgallery.online   This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com     Brendan Bannon is a photographer and teacher based between New York and Nairobi, Kenya.   Bannon's work has appeared in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Telegraph, the Independent, the Guardian, Monocle Magazine, KWANI?,  and other international publications. His projects have been exhibited internationally at UN headquarters in New York, at Chautauqua Institution's VACI galleries, The Burchfield Penney Museum and the Quick Center for the Arts.    His educational projects include Daily Dispatches an innovative daily journalism and public art project made collaboratively with colleges in the USA. Dispatches featured a story a day from Nairobi beamed across the world, printed and shared in public space on American college campuses.    Another  project, Do You See What I See? is an arts education initiative conducted through UNHCR for children in refugee camps, giving them voice and an opportunity to share stories through their own photography and writing.    Brendan Bannon's interest in photography was sparked by his mother, an amateur photographer with a darkroom in the bathroom, and his father, who placed him at age 10 in front of drawers of antique photographs and asked him to select the interesting ones for an exhibition on the history of photography.   During his 20's Bannon ran a house painting business and took care of his mother who had multiple sclerosis, an experience he credits with informing his approach to photography. "I don't shy away from difficult stories. The experience of taking care of my mother showed me clearly that behind every moment of perceived suffering there is a profound victory over circumstances. I look at people's lives as being full of meaningful relationships, striving against the odds and achieving small victories."   Bannon also works regularly for International NGOs including Medecins Sans Frontieres, UNHCR, UNICEF and CARE International.

Elinor Carucci and I talk about her book Midlife, an autobiographical exploration of life, ageing, mortality, and the challenges women face as they get older to not become invisible. We talk about the hard work and stresses involved with making personal and commercial work, raising children, and teaching. Elinor talks about her mentors, and the ways in which she has changed as an educator and how she learns from her students.   http://www.elinorcarucci.com   Born 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel, Elinor Carucci graduated in 1995 from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design with a degree in photography, and moved to New York that same year. In a relatively short amount of time, her work has been included in an impressive amount of solo and group exhibitions worldwide, solo shows include Edwynn Houk gallery, Fifty One Fine Art Gallery, James Hyman and Gagosian Gallery, London among others and group show include The Museum of Modern Art New York and The Photographers' Gallery, London.   Her photographs are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, among others and her work appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Details, New York Magazine, W, Aperture, ARTnews and many more publications.   She was awarded the International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Young Photographer in 2001, The Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and NYFA in 2010. Carucci has published two monographs to date, Closer, Chronicle Books 2002 and Diary of a dancer, SteidlMack 2005 and MOTHER, Prestel 2013. In fall of 2019 Monacelli Press published her fourth monograph, Midlife.   Carucci teaches at the graduate program of Photography and Related Media at School of Visual Arts and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery.

Cary and I reminisce a bit about our different experiences in the textbook world and the changes that occurred in the publishing and stock photography world that came about almost simultaneously with the introduction of digital photography in the classroom. We talk about Cary's own photography, his desire to promote work from those underrepresented in the photo world, and we talk about the kind of work we might be seeing in the coming years that is a result of the psychological and emotional toll the pandemic has taken from us.   https://carybenbow.com   This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club https://charcoalbookclub.com   Cary Benbow is a writer, editor, and photographer based in Greenfield, Indiana. After graduating with a BFA in photography from Ball State University, he worked in higher-education publishing for a dozen years before changing careers. He and his wife Jodi run the family business – an independent movie theater, and are the proud parents of five wonderful young adults.   His articles, interviews, and book reviews have been published in a number of online and print magazines, and his photography has been widely exhibited. Cary is a staff writer for F-Stop Magazine, a contributor to YIELD Magazine, and his writing has been featured in LensCulture, Vantage, Fujifeed, Photomachina, and ArtNarratives. He is the publisher and editor of Wobneb Magazine.   To view published written work, visit https://carybenbow.medium.com/   To sign up for his newsletter, visit https://carybenbow.substack.com/

Heather Palecek is an artist who uses historical photographic processes in experimental ways to explore our relationship with nature. She is also a high school photo teacher. We talk about her last show at the JKC Gallery and I ask her about teaching at the high school level and the importance of mentors. https://heatherpalecek.squarespace.com   This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com From Heather's Bio: I took a darkroom photography class in high school and my life changed forever. I can’t remember a time in which I didn’t have a camera in hand. Nowadays my cameras are a little unconventional though, as I’m obsessed with pinhole photography. I create artwork collaboratively with Mother Nature. My concepts revolve around relationships; those between humans and nature, humans amongst themselves, and our relationship with ourselves. My favorite mediums and processes are light and chemistry based - pinhole photography, cyanotypes, alternative processes, mixed media. Currently, I’m exploring ways in which I can create artwork with Mother Nature and not just about her. When not creating the artwork you see on this webpage you’ll probably find me: Hiking (as much and as often as I can), going to concerts, spending time with friends, laying in my hammock (I always have one in my car in case the occasion arises), checking out art exhibits, reading non-fiction adventure books, antique shopping, hanging out with my cat, spending every free weekend at my off-the-grid cabin in the Adirondacks, Oh! and I have two jobs: 1. teaching analog and digital photography to high schoolers 2. Taking family portraits of adventurous people at local parks in NJ.

This episode is the first in a series dedicated to talking about teaching art while still having some personal success as an artist. Everyone in this series will be asked Who were your teachers or mentors How do you balance teaching and making Who do you see getting hired today as teachers Where does art rank in importance in your school Who are the students that you serve What’s your favorite teaching assignment Give us a pro-tip for teaching or photographing Endia Beal is a North Carolina based artist, curator, and author. Beal’s work merges fine arts with social justice. She uses photography and video to reveal the often overlooked and unappreciated experiences unique to people of color. Specifically, Beal’s first monograph, Performance Review, brings together work over a 10-year period that highlights the realities and challenges for women of color in the corporate workplace. She lectures about these experiences, which also addresses bias in corporate hiring practices. https://endiabeal.com This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club - https://charcoalbookclub.com Beal is featured in several online editorials including The New York Times, NBC, BET, Huffington Post, and National Geographic; she also appeared in TIME Magazine, VICE Magazine, Essence, Marie Claire and Newsweek. Her work has been exhibited in several institutions including the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, NC; The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI, and Aperture Foundation in New York, NY. Beal’s photographs are in private and public collections, such as The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York, NY, Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago, IL, and Portland State University in Portland, OR. She is a fellow of the Center for Curatorial Leadership and completed residencies at Harvard Art Museums, the Center for Photography at Woodstock and McColl Center for Art + Innovation. Beal received grants from the Magnum Foundation and the Open Society Foundation, among others. Endia holds a dual BFA-AH in art history and studio art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MFA from Yale University; she has also completed the certification from the Executive Education in Fostering Inclusion and Diversity Program at Yale School of Management.

Today's guest is Gulnara Samoilova and we talk about her book, Women Street Photographers published by Prestel Publishing. An amazing collection of work that showcases 100 contemporary women street photographers working around the world. We also talk about how the aftermath of photographing 9/11and editing work for the Associated Press after 9/11 caused Gulnara to think about what she wanted or needed to photograph to bring some joy back into photography for her.    Gulnara Samoilova, who hails from the republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, faced blatant sexism in the photo industry before arriving in the United States in 1992, where she worked at the Associated Press before launching her own commercial photo studio. As an Associated Press photojournalist, she received national and international awards for her photographs from 9/11, including first prize in the World Press Photo competition. After the 2016 presidential election triggered flashbacks to her formative years, Samoilova recognized the importance of creating a platform and community to support women. She launched Women Street Photographers to provide opportunities to showcase the work of established and emerging artists through exhibitions, residencies, online features, and now — the book.    Women Street Photographers edited by Gulnara Samoilova © Prestel Verlag, Munich · London · New York, 2020. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667163/women-street-photographers-by-gulnara-samoilova-melissa-breyer/   https://www.womenstreetphotographers.com   https://www.gulnara.com   https://www.instagram.com/womenstreetphotographers/    This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com

"I wish I had more time for my child, I wish I had more time for my work, I wish I had more time for the Humid…" Irina Rozovsky and I talk about her work being included in MOMA's New Photography 2020, her new book, In Plain Air, running workshops at The Humid, and just life in general during Covid. Irina Rozovsky (born in Moscow, raised in the US), makes photographs of people and places, transforming external landscapes into interior states. She has published three monographs (One to Nothing 2011, Island in my Mind 2015, and In Plain Air 2021). Her work is exhibited internationally and is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Harpers, and Vice. Irina lives and works in Athens, Georgia where she and her husband Mark Steinmetz run the photography project space The Humid. Irina is represented by Claxton Projects. https://www.irinar.com This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com

"Forget about stunts, owning my story was the bravest thing I ever did." Hannah Kozak is a photographer and a Hollywood stuntwoman. When Hannah was 9 her mother left the family for a man who turned out to be abusive towards her mother. Hannah witnessed this abuse and it eventually lead to Hannah's mother being hospitalized with permanent brain damage. Hannah's book, He Threw the Last Punch Too Hard, is a story about Hannah and her mother and her journey of forgiveness and dealing with domestic abuse. Hannah and I have an amazing conversation about her life, this book, and her belief in the power of photography to heal. http://hannahkozak.com https://www.instagram.com/hannahkozak/ https://twitter.com/hannahkozak This episode is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club, a monthly subscription service for photobook enthusiasts. Working with the most respected names in contemporary photography, Charcoal selects and delivers essential photobooks to a worldwide community of collectors. Each month, members receive a signed, first-edition monograph and an exclusive print to add to their collections. www.charcoalbookclub.com Hannah Kozak was born to a Polish father and a Guatemalan mother in Los Angeles, California. At the age of ten, she was given a Kodak Brownie camera by her father, Sol, a survivor of eight Nazi forced labor camps and began instinctively capturing images of dogs, flowers, family and friends that felt honest and real. As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, Hannah would sneak onto movie lots and snap photos on the sets of Charlie’s Angels, Starsky and Hutch and Family, selling star images to movie magazines and discovering a world that was far from reality. While working in a camera store at the age of twenty, Hannah’s life changed when she met a successful stuntwoman who became her mentor and helped her start a career in stunts. For over twenty-five years, Hannah’s work provided the opportunity to work with notable directors such as Michael Cimino, David Lynch, Mike Nichols, Tim Burton and Michael Bay. She worked as a stunt double for celebrated stars like Cher, Angelina Jolie, Lara Flynn Boyle and Isabella Rossellini. On every set, Hannah took her camera to work, capturing candid, behind-the-scene pictures that penetrated the illusion of Hollywood magic. Her wanderlust and career in the film business afforded Hannah the opportunity to travel from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Guatemala and Peru to Egypt, Italy, Israel and India, capturing images of far away lands and exploring the innocence and truth found in the faces of children from around the world. Hannah has turned the camera on herself, her life and her world. She continues to look for those things that feel honest and real, using her camera as a means of exploring feelings and emotions. After decades of standing in for someone else, she now is in control of her destiny and vision. Hannah is an autobiographical photographer. Her subjects are the people and places that touch her emotionally. She has been photographing people and places for four decades. Photography has the power to heal and to help us through difficult periods, something Hannah Kozak knows first hand from personal experience.