Winter Flowers for Steichen

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Edward Steichen- huzzah! 

From the Wiki: 

Edward Steichen photographed by Francis Holland Day

Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface to the magazine. In partnership with Stieglitz, Steichen opened the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession", which was eventually known as 291, after its address. This gallery presented among the first American exhibitions of (among others) Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, and Constantin Brâncuşi. Steichen's photos of gowns designed by couturier Paul Poiret in the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 are regarded as the first modern fashion photographs ever published. Serving in the US Army in World War I (and the US Navy in the Second World War), he commanded significant units contributing to military photography. He was a photographer for the Condé Nast magazinesVogue and Vanity Fair from 1923–1938, and concurrently worked for many advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson. During these years Steichen was regarded as the best known and highest paid photographer in the world. Steichen directed the war documentary The Fighting Lady, which won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary. After World War II he was Director of the Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art until 1962. While at MoMA, in 1955 he curated and assembled the exhibit The Family of Man. The exhibit eventually traveled to sixty-nine countries, was seen by nine million people, and sold two and a half million copies of a companion book. In 1962, Steichen hired John Szarkowski to be his successor at the Museum of Modern Art.

"Landscape with the avenue of trees". painting. 1902

Portrait of Rodin. 1902

Self portrait.

J.P. Morgan. 1903.

The Flatiron building. 1904. (seriously this in my opinion is the ultimate image of the Flatiron)

And there is "The Pond Moonlight" which is one of my mostest favoritest of old time evocative landscapes: 

"In February 2006, a print of Steichen's early pictorialist photograph, The Pond—Moonlight (1904), sold for what was then the highest price ever paid for a photograph at auction, U.S. $2.9 million.

Steichen took the photograph in Mamaroneck, New York near the home of his friend, art critic Charles Caffin. The photo features a wooded area and pond, with moonlight appearing between the trees and reflecting on the pond. While the print appears to be a color photograph, the first true color photographic process, the autochrome process, was not available until 1907. Steichen created the impression of color by manually applying layers of light-sensitive gums to the paper. Only three known versions of the Pond—Moonlight are still in existence and, as a result of the hand-layering of the gums, each is unique. In addition to the auctioned print, the other two versions are held in museum collections. The extraordinary sale price of the print is, in part, attributable to its one-of-a-kind character and to its rarity.

Here's to you Ed!

Clown smile Rock at Bodice Cove, Maine. From yesterdays bug-out to Corea Maine.

So check this out: this morning I couldn't sleep so decided to get out of bed at 03:30 and checked the sat maps and the sky was clear and boring, so instead of photoing did a bunch of spring cleaning of the hard drives and deleted a thousand images that were really unnecessary and or lame. In the process of said spring cleaning: checked the old emailerino and in the headings there was a rare potential customer, probably another "I saw your photos and loved the one of "blah blah blah" and how much for a print, wherein I reply with my modest rates and a quick explanation of the process quality and attention to detail and expensive museum quality materials etc and I never hear from them again. But surprisingly this one was more complicated, and not just a "will you make a donation of a print to...", this one was from our most favorite of computer companies in the world and they were inquiring about an image to license for a future project and here's where it get's really challenging. They expressed the desire to license a pretty good photograph of mine (reads: one that I like A-ok and isn't just a "go there and get it kind of thing") Here's an excerpt:

 "We are interested in speaking with you about possibly licensing the image attached.  At this point, we are in the early stages of our research, but would like to include this image with our next presentation.  The rights for usage we would require are:  Worldwide, unlimited, non-exclusive, used as a desktop or screensaver option.  Image or images will be imbedded in our products and sold pre-installed in the software. Duration of license is 5 years. (timeframe is negotiable)" 

After another email it was plainly put that I could still use it personally however I may desire (my main considerations are to print them for local galleries, etc, you know to have it as my art or whatever) but herein it became complicated and therein is todays lesson of the day: trust. I didn't know what all to tell the fellow regarding the perceived value of said image in this capacity. I could have asked some acquaintances for their opinions but in the end I remembered somewhere that if it's a seemingly reputable organization honesty may prove the most valuable format. There are softwares like Fotoquote etc that will theoretically come up with values and other methods to determine the potential value of commercially used artwork but after an hour or two of thinking on it subconciously I decided to write this: 

Great [persons name]- I'm definitely interested in licensing a photograph to (greatest computer company in the world). That would be Great-Skates! See here though- that is one of my more fond images and I would only be interested in collaborating if I was properly reimbursed- I'm certainly not very familiar with appropriate licensing values but I do have a particular taste for this one that I would like to achieve at least three figures. Could you advise me honestly as to the value you perceive the image at? 

Three Boats. Corea Maine.

As I was taught growing up in a nautically oriented seagoing family, the difference between a boat and a ship is: you can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat. 

Made this yesterday on a bug-out from the island to go somewhere else to make photos for a while. Sometimes you just have to change your surroundings to see in order to want to make new photographs (read that as 'sometimes I have to'). Don't get me wrong, there is so much to photograph on here on MDI (Mount Desert Island) that you could fill many lifetimes with varied projects. It becomes a creative block sometimes though if you keep thinking things like "there's more out there that I'm not standing in front of". So I took a quick trip up to one of my favorite little fishing villages downeast called Corea and put myself in front of something different. Not that this particular scene is any different than what I would see around here, it's just that being in an unfamiliar place opened my eyes to seeing it more interesting then. So here's a one: while I was making these exposures and waiting for the dock to settle these three lobstermen pulled in to their mooring (it was the end of the day for them which is usually about 2:30- 3:00), and then rowed in to this dock that I was photoing. So I moved my tripod and such to not block the ladder and after I said a hearty 'hey now' to the guys the older fellow say's to me "so how's the picture takin' business these days?" in nothing more than a something to say kind of way, so I give him a "not making a million that's for sure" or something like that and he laughs a "well lobsterun sure isn't either with the prices we're gettin' these days". I don't know what the point is other then it's nice to say hi and share a how do you do with people, especially when you're camping out on their dock all tripodded up and all. Have a good one!