“Okawa Village, Tosa County, Kochi Prefecture,” 2007, © Toshio Shibata

One of Japan’s leading landscape photographers, Toshio Shibata, is being introduced to new American audiences at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The exhibition, “Constructed Landscapes,” opens April 2o, and runs through October 6, 2013. The exhibition features 28 of Shibata’s large-scale works that consider the relationship between human infrastructure and nature through images of major engineering projects, like bridges and dams. This is the first time his color photographs are showing the in United States. “As stunning as Toshio Shibata’s photographs are, they are infused with deep awareness of humanity’s place in nature,” PEM curator of photography Phillip Prodger said in a statement announcing the show. “As with all the best landscape photographers, his works cause us to reflect on what it means to live in this world.” (more…)

Dreamland Stage. © Jeff Liao

Jeff Liao moved to New York City in 1999 and has created meditations on the city he now calls home since 2004, when he started photographing the neighborhoods along the 7 subway line, from Times Square in midtown Manhattan to Flushing, Queens. Three years ago he focused his viewfinder on Coney Island, Brooklyn. The historic amusement park and boardwalk, located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, has gone through numerous changes since its opening in the early twentieth century; the last major revitalization occurred in 2010. This is about the time when Liao setup his camera and tripod to photograph the excitement and bustle of summertime in Coney Island. His panoramics are detail filled, and capture the essence of the many places that make Coney Island so unique–from the back-in-time feeling of the boardwalk and the thrill of the historic Cyclone roller coaster to the iconic hot dog stand Nathan’s Famous and the newly opened Luna Park. We see history meeting the present in these images, which already feel reminiscent of the past given the damage the area sustained after 2012′s Hurricane Sandy. But Coney Island goes on, as it ever has, and you can be sure Nathan’s will be hosting its annual hot-dog-eating contest on July 4, an event that marks the start of summer for many of the city’s residents. (Visit ConeyIsland.com to learn more about recovery efforts as well as when Coney Island is set to open for the summer 2013 season.)

Nazaraeli Press has recently published this collection of work by Liao in a new book, called Coney Island (Nazaraeli Press), which includes an introduction by curator Sean Corcoran. The images are also currently on view at the Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr subway station in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the MTA’s Arts for Transit and Urban Design program.

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“Underwater Cathedral,” 2012 © Didier Massard, Courtesy Julie Saul Gallery, New York

Didier Massard is a magician of invention within the genre of fabricated photographs. Massard works slowly, completing only two or three images a year. Following his first series, he created “Artificial Paradise” between 1999 and 2003, and since then, he has been involved in the evolution of “Territories” which includes images of animals and mysterious landscapes. His second monograph entitled “Artifices” was published in 2007.

Julie Saul Gallery is one of 75 galleries showcasing photography during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York City from April 4 – April 7.

Nicholas Alan Cope’s photographs evoke a unique vision of Los Angeles and its contrasts as seen exclusively through its everyday architecture. Searching for the sublime core of the city’s true nature, Cope strips away the extraneous, and focuses on the sheer beauty and simplicity of the cityscape.

Cope’s new book, “Whitewash,” is published by powerHouse Books and available here. The accompanying exhibition is currently on view through April 13th at Mondo Cane in New York City.

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All images ©Ellen Fisch

Ellen Fisch studied photography and architectural drawing in college, and went on to lead two separate artistic lives: one as a photographer, the other as a painter. “I never combined the two,” she says. For the past 12 years she has focused on photography and says “I did OK as an architectural photographer,” but she adds, “I missed drawing and painting.” So she started drawing on her photographs with pencil, pastel, charcoal, and gold leaf. The results surprised and intrigued her. “I noticed that when used as accents and in small amounts, other art materials add depth and subtle nuances to photography.” She describes her technique as “enhanced photography.” She shoots digitally, desaturates the images before printing them on a fiber-based paper, and then draws on them. “I like the blacks,” she says. “I have the ability to [draw in] the real darks, and highlight the foliage so it appears to be capturing the light on the surface.” The images shown here are from Fisch’s “Park Slope/Prospect Park” series, which is currently on view at Jadite Galleries, 413 W 50th Street in New York, through February 26. Fisch will be at the gallery on Saturday, February 23 from 1-6 p.m. (more…)