Newer trends in photography may have more sex appeal, but the five photographers showcased in The Necessary Document at School 33 Art Center prove that traditional procedures can still yield traditional pleasures. Curated by Charles Camp and Michela Caudill, this exhibit reminds us that a straight-on depiction of the real world hasn't lost its value. The land is barren, and many of the houses have been abandoned. What makes the pictures so spooky is that you never see any flames, just smoke rising up from the ground as if this were volcanic terrain. The photographer focuses on the landscape and the derelict houses in a near-ghost town.
People figure more directly in some of the other photographers' series.
He wanted to learn more about his dad's life, according to an artist statement, so this objectively presented series had a very personal motive. Elberfeld isn't the only photographer getting up close and personal to witness something as intimate as childbirth. Just as his relationship to his subject presumably made gaining such access easier, Pat Sullivan, a psychiatric nurse manager at Johns Hopkins Hospital, had the connections to get just inches away from her subject. Seeing the tiny infant hooked up to all manner of monitoring devices makes you care about the life of young Riley. Who Work in Predominantly Male Professions.