Recapping LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, “3 days of Peace, Love and Photography”, in Charlottesville, Virginia, June 11-13, 2009…

I’ll put it simply: LOOK3 is a great festival. It’s a chance to put aside the issues in the photography business and celebrate great photography and photographers in a beautiful setting (note: yes, as a Virginia native and an ex-Charlottesville resident I’m biased, but it’s hard not to love a small, beautiful university town in the rolling Virginia hills).

I enjoyed the festival last year, and given that the festival will be taking a break in 2010, I went this year to see many great photographers show and discuss their work and to recapture a bit of my joy for photography. Between the gallery exhibits, INSight conversations and Masters Talks and the nightly Shots and Works projections, and it’s pretty easy to bounce between events and immerse yourself in great photography for three days.

Paolo Pellegrin, LOOK3, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

Paolo Pellegrin’s As I Was Dying was exhibited on the Downtown pedestrian mall, an inspired, highly visible location for thought-provoking work about life, suffering and death.

World Press Photo 2009 Exhibit, LOOK3, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

World Press Photo brought their globe-trotting traveling exhibit of the winners of 2009’s World Press Photo Contest, showcasing quality, creative, important photojournalism from 2009.

LOOK3, Paramount Theater, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

Inside the historic Paramount Theater on the downtown pedestrian mall, the scene for the INSight Conversations and the Masters Talks (also: Paramount Theater from the outside).

Welcome to a Southern Spring, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

For everyone unaccustomed to a traditional Virginia spring, the variable, wet, humid, hot weather can be a pain; but for me, it feels like home…

INSight Conversation: Sylvia Plachy
Sylvia Pachy discussed a life and career spent with photography, using her festival show “Waiting” to showcase the beauty in her “awkward intimacy”, juxtaposing images of unrelated subjects to create layers of insights.

In an interview with C-Ville, Plachy explained a bit behind her “creative process”:

I don’t know the difference between making and taking a picture. I think you have to take it, and then you have to make it, and then you have to do other things with it, and then you create a picture out of the experience, then, that you’re in. But to be a photographer, it means to be able to be rude, to impose on people, and kind of stick your nose into other people’s business, and to do that, you have to be in a good position mentally. To go out there and allow yourself to be part of the world. But it’s a wonderful experience, because it means to step inside the circle of another.

I am in favor of accidents when you take pictures, and I put myself in a position to have accidents happen. I think it’s always a surprise when it’s a great picture—when it’s a picture that you would want to keep forever.

Phillip Toledano, LOOK3 Festival, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

Masters Talks: Phillip Toledano
Phillip Toledano ran through selections from his recent work “Phonesex”, “Bankruptcy” and images, highlighting his engaging personality and eye for “economic archeology”. While Toledano has done many eye-catching personal projects, his “Days with my Father” remains one of my favorites.

Eugene Richards, LOOK3, Charlotteville, Virginia, 2009

Masters Talks: Eugene Richards
Eugene Richards highlighted two if his recent books of social documentary photography, “Blue Room” and “A Procession of Them”; Eugene’s passion for speaking out (“Being quiet reduces you.”) is impressive and admirable, a guiding light for listening to and pursuing one’s creative urge, passion and voice.

Masters Talks: George Steinmetz
George Steinmetz highlighted his project “African Air”, a compilation of images from 12 years of flying over more than 15 countries in Africa. Aerial photography is fantastic for helping expose people to another view of their environment, but as Steinmetz grew frustrated with the speed and height of traditional aerial photography he began to use a motorized paraglider to access the landscape and culture in a way never before possible. Definitely worth a long look from anyone interested in aerial and landscape photography.

Martin Parr, LOOK3, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

INSight Conversation: Martin Parr
Marin Parr, one of Britains’s foremost contemporary documentary photographers, discussed a number of projects, including his recent project “Luxury” (exhibited at LOOK3).

Martin’s talk was fascinating, engaging and thought-provoking; Martin uses humour throughout his photography as a “delivery mechanism for something else”, to explore the “-isms” in culture and comment on modern culture and social life. Cartier-Bresson once remarked that Parr was “from a completely different planet than me”; while that might indeed be true, it need not be a rebuke of Parr’s work. Parr’s method may indeed be from another planet, but his commentary reflects a clear view of our very real, non-idealized world.

Masters Talks: David Allen Harvey
David Allen Harvey showcased Burn Magazine and highlighted the finalists for the which was granted to Alejandro Chaskielberg for his project “The High Tide”.

Masters Talks: Simon Bruty
Simon Bruty, a professional sports photographer, used images and stories from his work to talk about “Luck, Preparation or Both” and the failure, success and fortuitous accidents that make sports photography such a competitive profession.

Masters Talks: Yolanda Cuomo & Kristi Norgaard
Yolanda Cuomo and Kristi Norgaard are Yolanda Cumo Design, a creative shop that designs for a wide range of media, but their love for designing photo books was definitely well-received by an audience of photography book lovers.

Parr talked in depth about photography books in his earlier conversation; paired with Yolanda and Kristi’s comments, it gives me hope about the for the medium in the future; remember to ask me more about this later if I forget.

Callie Shell, LOOK3, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

Masters Talks: Callie Shell
Callie Shell showed work titled “The Longest Campaign”, highlighting the journey of Barack Obama from senator to President, in a very frank, open, and political talk. You have probably already seen her images, but it was interesting to hear her personal tales from traveling with and photographing Obama for many years.

Gilles Peress, LOOK3, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2009

INSight Conversation: Gilles Peress
Gilles Peress showcased his recent work “Natures Mortes” and his “habit” of photography in one of the most difficult, confounding, opaque, yet fascinating conversations imaginable. Gilles is not a person to belabor his point or to tell you what you should think; he uses photography as a tool to understand the world, not to express himself. His inside-out “habit” of photography does not create easy answers for people, forcing people to think and interpret his work.

Gilles processes his relationship with the world through his photography, and even though he admits that “thinking is painful”, his work shows a true depth of thought; but instead of giving us simple answer, through his images and explanations he shows us that he wants us to create our own processes for understanding our worlds instead of merely accepting his results as our answers.

Something for all of us to consider.

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More coverage:

• Preview by Jim Merithew in Wired, Photo Celebs Mingle With the Masses at Look 3
• Detailed Festival preview by Cville, Planning your Festival of the Photograph itinerary? Allow us to focus your lenses
• Interview with Syliva Plachy, Sylvia Plachy describes the photographer’s art of imposing on her subjects
• Recapping LOOK3, Allen Murabayashi on Photoshelter blog, Look3 Festival of the Photograph Recap
• Explaining LOOK3’s pause in 2010, PDN Online, LOOK3 Festival To Go Dark Next Year