The first time I looked at an Avedon portrait, I was uneasy. Those were the photographs that Avedon shot of his father who was dying of cancer. It was only recently, that I went back to Avedon. To me, they are still not easy portraits to look at. But his vision and his humanity is more understandable now.

The most eloquent introduction to his work is his essay included in Richard Avedon Portraits. I strongly recommend that you read it if you get a chance.

There is a Thomas Struth exhibition going on in the Met that is worth checking out. I could only spend a little time there and would like to go back again later.

For some reason, I always heard Struth's name uttered alongwith that of Andres Gursky.I saw the Gursky exhibition in MOMA in 2001, but was not really moved by it. So, I did not really go out of my way to check out Struth photographs. But Struth is different. He is not hard like Gursky. May be I am reading it wrong. But I thought there is something cold about Gursky. Struth is more poignant, poetic at times.

Let me also add that EVERYONE seems to think very highly of Gursky, so I guess could be just that I did not get it. (Incidentally, there is another Gursky exhibition going on in SFMOMA).

Once by Wim Wenders is a wonderful photo journal of his wanderings around the world. Incidentally, Donata Wenders is also a cool photographer. She shot Buena Vista Social Club. Her website is here.

Update: Tyler Green blogged about the Struth exhibition earlier. He did not much like the streetscapes. But I completely agree with his opinion about Met's crowd control.