Here is a fun little piece brewed up by Bunny Yeager.

Happy Halloween!

In the spirit of Halloween ...

I'm posting a photograph of bats. Leave it to National Geographic to provide shivers with their requisite strong photography.

These baby bats were rescued by the Australian Bat Clinic after a violent storm threw hundreds of them to the ground.

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Photo: Newspix/Rex USA

the power of a photograph

Immediately after Meghan McCain (daughter of Presidential hopeful, John McCain) posted a self portrait on Twitter, the nation went abuzz and a brouhaha ensued. I have to admit, the scandal (although I can't tell you exactly what the scandal is) prompted me to Google her and then immediately look up The Daily Beast where she is a columnist. The Daily Beast is now bookmarked on my computer.

depth & dimension

© Henri Cartier-Bresson

Link to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation

autumn indulgence

For fall enthusiasts and Ansel Adams aficionados, you can pick this up at Christie's auction house for somewhere between $9,000 and $12,000. A steal compared to the $1,609,000 for an Edward Weston 1925 nude from Sotheby's in 2008.

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Leaves, Alaska, 1948

© Ansel Adams

The Masters

These are but three of the masters. Helmut Newton (with Alice Springs, his wife, to the right), Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon (with Sophia Loren).

Since I am a fiend for self portraits, I will continue to post them and if you'd like to share your finds or your own, please email me.

What better day than today to launch my new site?

I'm big on omens and since the Yankees just made it into the World Series, what better time to go live?! (www.kritinaknief.com)

Here is a poignant and beautiful photograph of Babe Ruth with a fan.

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1929 / The New York Times
Photographer Unknown.

"Here's lookin' at ya ..."

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1) Marlon Brando & Katy Jurado, 1955
2) Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, & Marilyn Monroe, 1953
3) Sophia Loren & Jane Mansfield, 1957

google it or ogle it I'm not sure what

new GOOGLE logo compliments of manolith.com

classic and classy

Mainbocher Corset, Paris, 1939
© Horst

Irving Penn passed away today at age 92. : (

New York Times Article

© Irving Penn

too close to it

Part of me wanted to include this shot on my current website but then the other part of me said:

• --You're only as good as your most current work.
• --Maybe it's dated.
• --The dresses should be tighter.
• --But wait -- I styled the whole thing!
• --I directed the make-up!
• --This was one of my first tests! And I put this together on the cheap. Models, hair & make-up, accessories, returnable wardrobe from Bloomies -- everything -- FREE!

Yeah, but so what? Since when did sentimentality become a component of a sound photograph?

I asked my web designer for his input -- gave him the disclaimer that I knew it didn't really fit with the other work and he came back to say, "as far as the 80s shot ...". Right then and there I knew I was TOO CLOSE TO IT. "The 80s shot."

Lesson Learned: Sometimes a photographer is too close to their work to be a good editor.

Julius Shulman

Starting with art and then setting out to document it would seem like an advantage of sorts, even cheating, but then again, if you do the art justice, THAT takes talent, finesse and empathy. Julius Shulman was just that sort of photographer -- he possessed a knowingness and appreciation for the nuances of great architecture.

Julius Shulman 1910 - 2009