critical mass book winner!

I am honored to be one of two winners of the 2009 book award given by photolucida.

the black snapper

the black snapper

eugenio espino barros

one of my mayor photographic influences, eugenio espino barros, was a prolific professional photographer that invented his own camera and camera brand: the Nova. here are some of the images that made me think of the mexican landscape in a completely different way. also, a statement made by espino barros for the prologue of the book Mexico en 1910.

cartagena in suburbia mexicana

after 3 years of taking pictures in the suburbs of monterrey`s metro area, finally someone noticed my work and decided to name a street after me... just kidding! this is a suburb where all streets have names of Spanish cities. it felt good to find this though!!

all I wanted was a pepsi

nice!

foundviarichardrinaldiblog

student work: luis alvarez from guatemala

luis was a student at a workshop in guatemala for la fototeca. his blog

weekend favorite: beth dow

i have been a fan of beth´s work since i saw it through critical mass some years back. her images are intense, beautiful and subtle. her combination of composition and theme go hand in hand creating an aesthetic commentary on built "nature". i especially like the garden and field work series. she also has blog called inderect objects.

23 sandy down+out

on bill owens suburbia

If Suburbia renders the suburbs as cultural vacuums, contemporary investigations depict them as far more sinister. What used to be called suburban is today increasingly and pejoratively termed "sprawl." Indeed, the opening chapter of Suburban Nation: The rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream details the history and primary components of sprawl. Seen as unchecked growth and development and understood in opposition to the traditional neighborhood, sprawl is characterized by authors Andres Duany, Elizabeth Platter-Zyberk and Jeff Speck as a conglomeration of single-family housing gated subdivisions segregated by gradations of housing price; shopping centers, office and business parks, and civic centers that are surrounded by large parking lots and inaccessible to pedestrians; and roadways that serve to increase traffic load... complete article here via amercan suburb x

serkan taycan

some very nice images in serkan taycan homeland project. via photolucida critical mass top 50

aperture prize finalist

The photographs in Lost Rivers by Alejandro Cartagena (b. 1977), which are part of a larger body of work entitled Suburbia Mexicana: Cause and Effect, interrogate the interdependence of humans and landscape in the face of urban expansion. Although artists and activists alike have placed intense focus on the negative impact of urban sprawl since the 1960s, Cartagena’s work is unique in its preoccupation with the subtler effects of suburban expansion, largely overlooked but indicative of significant, irrevocable change within a local ecosystem... JB (cont. reading at aperture)