© Christopher Thomas/Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Between his commercial assignments, Munich-based Christopher Thomas has photographed deserted landscapes around the normally bustling landmarks of Munich, New York, and most recently, Venice. Thomas works with a large format camera and long exposures during the off season (winter, mostly) and quietest hours. That enables him to capture scenes that are devoid of people, but rich in both detail and serene, eerie mood. The Steven Kasher Gallery in New York will soon exhibit the Venice work to accompany the publication of Christopher Thomas: Venice in Solitude (Prestel, 2012). “We experience the city as an ingenious and luminous oasis of majesty and calm,” the gallery says of the work, and “almost feel the ghosts” of Titian, Vivaldi, Henry James and Thomas Mann along the canals and streets. The exhibit opens October 4 and runs through November 3.

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“Jimmy Lannon, Manual, San Francisco, California,” 2011. © Allen Ying

Allen Ying is a Brooklyn, New York-based skateboard photographer as well as the founder and editor of 43 magazine. For him, skateboard photography is about more than just taking photos of skaters doing tricks. His goal is to show the “authenticity and artistry of skateboarding” in his images, while also reflecting the culture of the sport. On Friday, September 28, Kinfolk Studios in Brooklyn, New York, will open “Allen Ying: Select Photographs 2002-2012.” Some prints exhibited will also be available to purchase for $50.

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©  Atelieri O. Haapala
Panopticon Gallery owner Jason Landry met Saara Salmi and Marco Melander this year at FotoFest in Houston, TX. He was surprised and excited to see this husband and wife duo using a 19th century photographic style to display their unique portraits. The look and feel of their contemporary cabinet cards was mesmerizing. From burlesque performers, to sideshow stars, tattooed men and women to the reinterpreted boudoir cards of the past…He was hooked!

-courtesy Panopticon Gallery

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Untitled, from the series Stucco, 1973-76
Gelatin silver print
5 x 7 inches (12.7 x 17.8 cm)
Edition 3/6, 2 AP

This selection of Los Angeles-based Judy Fiskin‘s gelatin silver prints captures varied landscapes and vernacular architecture highlighting planned and unplanned symmetries, natural forms mirroring man-made, and anthropomorphic structures in several site-specific series. Informed by her study of art history, Fiskin’s attraction to her signature small-scale photography arose from looking and discovering works of art through reproductions. Humor permeates these series where certain information, emotions and ideas of beauty are shown through visual means. Fiskin edits her surroundings, underlining certain repeated visual choices made by the public at large, and presents variations on a theme.

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“Condos, Chicago, 2008.” © Will Steacy. Courtesy of the artist, Michael Mazzeo Projects, New York, and Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich.

Will Steacy‘s photography deals with political, social and economical issues: the desertion of American cities, the decline of the newspaper business, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He documents places, people and objects with a large-format camera, often making images that encapsulate an idea or comment on an issue. In his new exhibition “No Job No Home No Peace No Rest,” he “chronicles and critiques” the American Dream, from the 1800s to present day. Currently on display at Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, the exhibition includes photos from his series “Down These Mean Streets,” “All My Life I Have Had The Same Dream” and “We Are All In This Together.” It also includes a 170-foot collage created by Steacy using newspaper clippings, his own images and writings, and found objects. Dubbed by Steacy “The Beast,” this unique installation shows how passionate and concerned the photographer is about the future of the United States of America and its citizens. The exhibition runs through December 15, 2012.

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