An affinity and a curiosity to those who are closest to us is an undeniable feeling that everyone fathoms. We want to get to know and understand others - and as photographers, we often wish to document and investigate their hopes, dreams, and fears. We look for an insider’s view of friends, family, lovers, and confidants - and in the process, begin to discover more about ourselves. The full range of human emotions are found within the parameters of these studies, and the bravery of those we hold up to scrutiny is a path to humanity itself.

Analog Forever Magazine is pleased to showcase 32 images in this month’s online exhibition entitled Private Document. Curated by Ann Jastrab, these honest and unique photographs offer a glimpse into our private lives that leave an impression on the viewer. They are vignettes of those around us that peak our interest and brazen self-portraits that expose and reveal our true nature.

Ann Jastrab writes:There are many personal moments in this selection of images: a blood stained mattress, a sleeping mother, a showering parent and child, a stand-off, a break up, a wrestling match, a run away…these are the moments observed. There is an underlying voyeurism to these images. The camera raised surreptitiously. The title of the call for entries summoning just this: a private document.

There are other images in this collection of photographs where the camera is raised boldly, the subject looking back intensely at the photographer, the expressions varying from love to disbelief to complicity. This includes the fierce (and fearless) self-portraits. I feel the intimacy of the moment, the engagement of the people involved, yet am not sure if I’m supposed to witness it. I like that I have been invited into the room. These are the moments lived. Interspersed in this selection are scenes that have been vacated, tire marks on the pavement, empty chairs, someone’s wallet full of black and white memories, pictures taped to the wall, photographs peeking out of envelopes, these are the moments left behind.

It was difficult to select one image as best of show in this compilation of analog pictures, and I do think analog and the grain of the film and the imperfections in the emulsions and the hand of the artist lends itself particularly well to the idea of a private document. The image I kept circling back to was perhaps the most vulnerable: Dana Stirling’s Mother, London, 2013. The sleeping mother, unaware of the photographer, exhausted enough to slumber in what looks like a booth with the lights ablaze. She stirs my curiosity, swells my heart for my own mother who is perhaps only vulnerable when she sleeps, and I appreciate the photographer for letting me view this private moment.

-Ann Jastrab

The Prize - A Set of Analogbook Notebooks

Sponsored By:

Congratulations to Dana Stirling for winning this month’s exhibition! You will be receiving a set of film format notebooks (two notebooks) and of one darkroom book courtesy of Analogbook!

Analogbook is the premier field notebook for analog photographers around the globe! Each sustainabley produced waterproof notebook contains 64 numbered pages that allow you to record 15 rolls of exposures in your format of choice. Each notebook is ready for your next adventure with it’s integrated gray card, interior cover with valuable photographic tips, charts, and tables, and several extra blank pages for your musings while shooting. At 3.8 in x 5.5 in and just 1.5oz, this notebook belongs in your back pocket whenever you are out shooting! Make sure you visit Analogbook’s website to learn all about their analog photography notebooks!

Gallery 

About the Curator

Ann M. Jastrab is an independent curator, editor, and writer. She writes extensively about photographers and photography for the acclaimed website All-About-Photo where she is the Editor-in-Chief. She is currently the gallery manager at Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco where she incorporates contemporary artists in with the living legends of photography. She worked as the gallery director at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco for 10 years until their closure in 2017. Ann has curated many shows in the Bay Area while simultaneously jurying, curating, and organizing numerous exhibitions for other national and international venues outside of San Francisco. She has reviewed portfolios for a multitude of organizations including the Seoul International Photography Festival in Korea, Fotofest, Photolucida, GuatePhoto, PhotoNola, Review Santa Fe, Medium, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Filter, PhotoAlliance, and Lishui International Photography Festival in China as well as being a juror for Critical Mass. While being a champion of artists, she created a thriving artist-in-residence program at RayKo where recent residents Meghann Riepenhoff, Carlos Javier Ortiz, and McNair Evans all received Guggenheim Fellowships. Besides being a curator, Ann Jastrab, MFA, is a fine art photographer, master darkroom printer, and teacher as well.