A new book of photographs, to be launched on Thursday at the Portland Museum of Art, encourages viewers to see the big picture. The Portland Museum of Art will host award-winning Maine photographer Brian Vanden Brink to celebrate the launch of his new book, "Iconic: Perspectives on the Man-Made World," published by Down East Books.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
In the age of struggling print media, "Iconic" is an audaciously large book with a grand vision. Taken as side shots while Vanden Brink was on assignment for architectural photography, the pictures grapple with archetypal themes like abandonment and loss, as well as hope and redemption.
"Iconic" follows on the heels of "Ruin," Vanden Brink's award-winning collection of photographs that solidified his reputation as master of the architectural image.
"It ('Ruin') was a very important book in that it was more expensive, a real departure for Down East," Vanden Brink said. "It was a real gamble for them, but the book has done well. In its third printing, it's generally in Amazon's top 50 in architectural photography, criticism and essays and travel. It's a philosophical but tangible book about abandoned architecture across the United States." That book won two major awards. It was named Book of the Year in 2009 by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, and Photo District News, a photography journal out of New York, voted it one of the best 20 books throughout the world. Iconic is the logical follow-up to "Ruin," Vanden Brink said.
"It's the same type of book, the same dimensions, although thicker at 175 pages. It has my response to the photographs with captions that offer personal experiences while shooting," he said. Down East had published expensive books before, but the subject matter was a bit of a risk.
"Vanden Brink offers a stunning perspective on the built landscape and is keenly aware of how cultural changes bear out in the structures that we build," according to the PMA. "The theme of iconography runs throughout the book, as each structure presented is iconic either for its unique contribution to the field of architecture or for its cultural significance."
"For a while, he was the architectural photographer in Maine," said Edgar Allen Beem, noted art critic and local writer. "A few others have arrived, but he's still the king. He could photograph a double-wide trailer and make it look like it belonged in Architectural Digest. He has a knack for photographing buildings and their interiors so they look as good as they are ever going to look. Every once in a while, I thought about having him photograph me."
Beem said about 75 percent of what makes Vanden Brink so good is that he's careful in terms of lighting and getting things at the right time.
"Only once I went with him and watched him work. I would have gone click, click, click over here; click, click, click over there and been done. He spent longer getting the pictures than I would have doing the story," said Beem, who expects a positive response to the book launch. "It's the ironic element. Here's a guy who photographs expensive new homes, and he comes out with a book of abandoned buildings. This book runs the gamut from designer homes to abandoned places, including public buildings, all kind of iconic in their own way."
Despite his commercial and critical success after nearly four decades in the business, Vanden Brink did not always have such a clear focus.
"Out of high school, I knew I did not want to go right to college," he said, and joined the reserves during Vietnam. After that he went to the university, and "kept looking for things that excited me," he said. "I was very influenced by Thoreau's writing, and did not want to be one of those men who live their lives in quiet desperation. I thought 'why not find what you love to do, and find a way to have people pay you to do it?'"
One day, he came across his father's camera and went out to experiment. Pretty soon, he realized a natural proclivity to frame a perspective.
"It seemed logical to me, something I could do," he said. "As I shot more, people began to respond to my pictures. I made a lot of mistakes, but I always learned from them."
His love for photography now in full bloom, Vanden Brink said the format he would gravitate to became apparent as well.
"A Crown Graphic was my first 4x5 view camera," he said. "It's the perfect camera for the way I see. A slower, more deliberate pace, required a tripod. It forced a more diligent method of working, and you needed to shoot things that didn't move. It was like finding the right tool for the job."
He grew up in Omaha, Neb., and began to shoot buildings like grain elevators that were accessible. In 1978 he came to Maine with his wife, Kathleen. "She always encouraged me to pursue my dreams," he said. They discovered Rockport and Camden, where they wanted to settle down, had a daughter, went into business, started reaching out to local architects.
"At the time there were no architectural photographers in Maine, and only a few in Boston," he said. "I had no idea there would be a career in architectural photography."
He began to learn from clients at the same time they were paying him to take pictures for them.
During his 35-year career, Vanden Brink has traveled the country widely, and photographed in places from Coney Island to Cairo, Illinois, and Las Vegas to Limestone, Maine, according to the PMA. His subjects range from prison cells and churches to hot-dog shacks and the ubiquitous empty stretch of road vanishing over the horizon. In the book, his photographs are paired with short captions explaining both the architectural importance and the personal meaning to Vanden Brink.
When asked how much of his photography takes place before the shutter opens and closes, and how much happens after (in the dark room of the past, or photoshop now), Vanden Brink said he never spent much time in the darkroom. "I've always tried to make the shot with the camera at the moment of shooting," he said. "You develop an awareness of when the right time to shoot is, a very important part of any photographer's job. One of the ramifications of the digital age is you look at pictures and don't know if they're fake or not."
He no longer works with a view camera, he said, but changed to digital in 2010, after realizing that simply getting film anymore was problematic. He is passionately interested in American history and Americana and, while several photographs were taken in other countries, the main thrust of the book is America. And he keeps coming back to Maine.
"I shoot primarily houses, and have for the past 15 years, so spend a lot of time in fine, residential settings," he said. "A lot of my work is in Maine, so I keep coming back. It's a good template, a good place to study architecture. There's a strong historical foundation for it, and fine buildings in Maine."
Some of the most powerful images in the book are found in unusual places, including a series on the prison in Thomaston that closed, and the prison in Warren that replaced it.
"I was assigned to photograph both of these. I thought they were important because they had something to say about us, our human condition."
Vanden Brink was already familiar with these prisons because of his involvement with Yolkfellows, a ministry group that works with inmates. "The idea is that you help bear each others burdens and so fulfill the laws of Christ," he said. For many years, he has visited prison on Wednesday and Thursday nights. "We get together with these guys. It's not like Bible study, but it's a critical component. We're not condemnatory or judgmental. Ultimately my purpose for going there is not only to identify with the men but to point them to Christ, who I believe is truly able to save our souls and change our lives."
Vanden Brink said he learned so much from this experience that he approached the prison pictures from a different perspective. And as always, "you have to know how to work the light, that's your primary medium."
Vanden Brink said he and his wife are celebrating 37 years of marriage at the end of the month.
"She has always been an important person in my life, in terms of directly impacting me being able to pursue photography. I've had a successful career, and these books are a personal way to reacting to photographs."
Thursday's event, which is free to the public, begins at 6 p.m. with a slide show. There will be a brief presentation in the PMA's Bernard Osher Foundation Auditorium with a reception to follow. This 176-page book is available for purchase in the PMA Store for $65.
Clik here to view.
In the age of struggling print media, "Iconic" is an audaciously large book with a grand vision. Taken as side shots while Vanden Brink was on assignment for architectural photography, the pictures grapple with archetypal themes like abandonment and loss, as well as hope and redemption.
"Iconic" follows on the heels of "Ruin," Vanden Brink's award-winning collection of photographs that solidified his reputation as master of the architectural image.
"It ('Ruin') was a very important book in that it was more expensive, a real departure for Down East," Vanden Brink said. "It was a real gamble for them, but the book has done well. In its third printing, it's generally in Amazon's top 50 in architectural photography, criticism and essays and travel. It's a philosophical but tangible book about abandoned architecture across the United States." That book won two major awards. It was named Book of the Year in 2009 by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, and Photo District News, a photography journal out of New York, voted it one of the best 20 books throughout the world. Iconic is the logical follow-up to "Ruin," Vanden Brink said.
"It's the same type of book, the same dimensions, although thicker at 175 pages. It has my response to the photographs with captions that offer personal experiences while shooting," he said. Down East had published expensive books before, but the subject matter was a bit of a risk.
"Vanden Brink offers a stunning perspective on the built landscape and is keenly aware of how cultural changes bear out in the structures that we build," according to the PMA. "The theme of iconography runs throughout the book, as each structure presented is iconic either for its unique contribution to the field of architecture or for its cultural significance."
"For a while, he was the architectural photographer in Maine," said Edgar Allen Beem, noted art critic and local writer. "A few others have arrived, but he's still the king. He could photograph a double-wide trailer and make it look like it belonged in Architectural Digest. He has a knack for photographing buildings and their interiors so they look as good as they are ever going to look. Every once in a while, I thought about having him photograph me."
Beem said about 75 percent of what makes Vanden Brink so good is that he's careful in terms of lighting and getting things at the right time.
"Only once I went with him and watched him work. I would have gone click, click, click over here; click, click, click over there and been done. He spent longer getting the pictures than I would have doing the story," said Beem, who expects a positive response to the book launch. "It's the ironic element. Here's a guy who photographs expensive new homes, and he comes out with a book of abandoned buildings. This book runs the gamut from designer homes to abandoned places, including public buildings, all kind of iconic in their own way."
Despite his commercial and critical success after nearly four decades in the business, Vanden Brink did not always have such a clear focus.
"Out of high school, I knew I did not want to go right to college," he said, and joined the reserves during Vietnam. After that he went to the university, and "kept looking for things that excited me," he said. "I was very influenced by Thoreau's writing, and did not want to be one of those men who live their lives in quiet desperation. I thought 'why not find what you love to do, and find a way to have people pay you to do it?'"
One day, he came across his father's camera and went out to experiment. Pretty soon, he realized a natural proclivity to frame a perspective.
"It seemed logical to me, something I could do," he said. "As I shot more, people began to respond to my pictures. I made a lot of mistakes, but I always learned from them."
His love for photography now in full bloom, Vanden Brink said the format he would gravitate to became apparent as well.
"A Crown Graphic was my first 4x5 view camera," he said. "It's the perfect camera for the way I see. A slower, more deliberate pace, required a tripod. It forced a more diligent method of working, and you needed to shoot things that didn't move. It was like finding the right tool for the job."
He grew up in Omaha, Neb., and began to shoot buildings like grain elevators that were accessible. In 1978 he came to Maine with his wife, Kathleen. "She always encouraged me to pursue my dreams," he said. They discovered Rockport and Camden, where they wanted to settle down, had a daughter, went into business, started reaching out to local architects.
"At the time there were no architectural photographers in Maine, and only a few in Boston," he said. "I had no idea there would be a career in architectural photography."
He began to learn from clients at the same time they were paying him to take pictures for them.
During his 35-year career, Vanden Brink has traveled the country widely, and photographed in places from Coney Island to Cairo, Illinois, and Las Vegas to Limestone, Maine, according to the PMA. His subjects range from prison cells and churches to hot-dog shacks and the ubiquitous empty stretch of road vanishing over the horizon. In the book, his photographs are paired with short captions explaining both the architectural importance and the personal meaning to Vanden Brink.
When asked how much of his photography takes place before the shutter opens and closes, and how much happens after (in the dark room of the past, or photoshop now), Vanden Brink said he never spent much time in the darkroom. "I've always tried to make the shot with the camera at the moment of shooting," he said. "You develop an awareness of when the right time to shoot is, a very important part of any photographer's job. One of the ramifications of the digital age is you look at pictures and don't know if they're fake or not."
He no longer works with a view camera, he said, but changed to digital in 2010, after realizing that simply getting film anymore was problematic. He is passionately interested in American history and Americana and, while several photographs were taken in other countries, the main thrust of the book is America. And he keeps coming back to Maine.
"I shoot primarily houses, and have for the past 15 years, so spend a lot of time in fine, residential settings," he said. "A lot of my work is in Maine, so I keep coming back. It's a good template, a good place to study architecture. There's a strong historical foundation for it, and fine buildings in Maine."
Some of the most powerful images in the book are found in unusual places, including a series on the prison in Thomaston that closed, and the prison in Warren that replaced it.
"I was assigned to photograph both of these. I thought they were important because they had something to say about us, our human condition."
Vanden Brink was already familiar with these prisons because of his involvement with Yolkfellows, a ministry group that works with inmates. "The idea is that you help bear each others burdens and so fulfill the laws of Christ," he said. For many years, he has visited prison on Wednesday and Thursday nights. "We get together with these guys. It's not like Bible study, but it's a critical component. We're not condemnatory or judgmental. Ultimately my purpose for going there is not only to identify with the men but to point them to Christ, who I believe is truly able to save our souls and change our lives."
Vanden Brink said he learned so much from this experience that he approached the prison pictures from a different perspective. And as always, "you have to know how to work the light, that's your primary medium."
Vanden Brink said he and his wife are celebrating 37 years of marriage at the end of the month.
"She has always been an important person in my life, in terms of directly impacting me being able to pursue photography. I've had a successful career, and these books are a personal way to reacting to photographs."
Thursday's event, which is free to the public, begins at 6 p.m. with a slide show. There will be a brief presentation in the PMA's Bernard Osher Foundation Auditorium with a reception to follow. This 176-page book is available for purchase in the PMA Store for $65.