Saturday, July 26, 2008

Joni Sternbach


Joni teaching an NYU class at her studio ©N.Buesing

Joni Sternbach's (who taught me at NYU) self-published book on Surfers titled "Ditch Plains" is a favorite of the staff at Blurb and Mrs. Deane likes it too. As do we here at Nymphoto.
Take a look at Joni Sternbach's work via her website: www.jonisternbach.com

2 comments:

Joerg said...

Would we really care that much about the work if it wasn't done with some wet-plate process? I have strong doubts about that.

nina corvallo said...

I think this is an important comment and I like the post you (Joerg) wrote recently about how the process is overvalued and becomes the message. Does everyone have to use a large format camera to be taken seriously? Come on.
And I thought about this issue prior to posting about this series. I actually wondered if the work might have a stronger appeal if it was shot in color. Surfing is so contemporary sport that wet plate seemed an unusual choice.
But I do think that there are some beautiful portraits in this series. I like the range of surfers and I do appreciate greatly the portraits of also older women -- and I do think the process helped to bring to the foreground some real beauty.
But I am very much a photographer, more so than an artist, so in that sense my answer is predictable.
I love the American West series that Avedon did too ;)
Oh and I am partial to Joni of course because she taught me. I admit that freely :)