Megan Charland | blog

For two weeks, from April 15th-29th, MAGNUM photographers Jim Goldberg, Susan Meiselas, Paolo Pellegrin, Alec Soth, Bruce Gilden, Martin Parr, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Larry Towell, Alex Webb, Donovan Wylie, and Chien-Chi Chang were here in Rochester, NY to photograph and exhibit new work in the hometown of Kodak for their project House of Pictures.

Above are photos from House of Pictures which was installed in the auditorium at Visual Studies Workshop which also served as the home base for the project. It’s been really quiet the last few days now that they’re gone!

Over the two weeks they were here it was interesting to watch the materials accumulate in the auditorium. For me, I kept watching and waiting for the team of photographers to show the beauty of Rochester, NY. Generally, they all tended to focus on the dark side. Now, I know coming in they had their own agenda and their own photographic interests. I know for a fact certain photographers had tunnel vision and wouldn’t take a single photograph unless it was something they were specifically looking for. How do you accurately portray a city if you don’t allow yourself to truly experience it? I realize this is a very generalized statement. There were, of course, some very lovely photographs taken here in the city. LOTS of portraits!

An interesting aspect of the display of House of Pictures were the tables spread out covered in brown paper. They wanted to know what the audience thought of the project and invited a written response. They also asked, “What did we miss??” and “What do you want from a picture?” – both questions receiving a range of responses.

It most certainly was an experience having them here!

–
read more of my posts about Magnum’s House of Pictures project here, here, here, here, and here!