Cont., Hudson River by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Continued,

THE HUDSON RIVER AND THE HIGHLANDS 

by Robert Glenn Ketchum

This is the story of my first major commission and book, THE HUDSON RIVER AND THE HIGHLANDS (Aperture, 1985). In 1984, #StephenShore, #WilliamClift, and I received a 2-year commission from the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund to photograph the #HudsonRiverValley. This blog tells the tale of the book, with many photos not seen before. Enjoy!

*******

Due to the size and quality of the photos included in this blog, and as too many photos tend to slow a blog down, we have opted to host these previous entries on a separate post in order to best optimize your reading experience. Enjoy!
*******

Monday, July 6, 2015

THE HUDSON RIVER AND THE HIGHLANDS #144:

HUDSON RIVER #144:   #Harriman State Park, in particular, is a spectacle of Eastern, deciduous woodlands. Challenging topography, swamps, bogs, lakes everywhere, and dense forests make Harriman a wonderful place to wander, but as with the not-too-well marked dirt roads, one can easily get lost walking. Even in the winter when most of the trees are leafless, line-of-sight in any direction may only be a few hundred feet. When the trees leaf-out even the sky disappears. As a photographer, I loved this environment but it gave me a whole new respect for navigation with a compass. I suppose if I were on this #HudsonRiver commission today, I would be using the GPS on my #iPhone6+. Hell, I would be using the iPhone6+camera as well! Toss the medium format, the tripod, and those rolls of film that often had to be changed in the pouring rain.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2015, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd @Wallacefdn @Aperturefnd @PentaxOnline

Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism Online:

WEBSITE: http://www.robertglennketchum.com/

TWITTER:  http://www.twitter.com/RbtGlennKetchum

LINKEDIN:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/rbtglennketchum

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/RobertGlennKetchum

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/littlebearprod/photography-conservation-the-hudson-river-the-high/

SOCIAL MEDIA by #LittleBearProd: http://www.LittleBearProd.com

____________________________________________________

Cont., China by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Continued,

Traveling in CHINA Since 1985 by Robert Glenn Ketchum

During the reign of Mao (1949-1976), China was a closed country. China in the 1980’s was 80% rural, with no outside visitors, particularly from the West. When China opened to travelers, the Chinese government placed severe limitations on who was allowed to enter the country. Earthwatch was one organization that allowed foreigners to visit China without going through too much red-tape. These photographs are a first glimpse into China in the mid-1980’s by world-renowned Conservation Photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum. 

*******

Due to the size and quality of the photos included in this blog, and as too many photos tend to slow a blog down, we have opted to host these previous entries on a separate post in order to best optimize your reading experience. Enjoy! *******

Friday, May 29, 2015

Traveling in China Since 1985, #133

CHINA #133:   I've used the term “compound” to describe the #ZhuangyanMansion because it WAS a complex house of interconnected rooms, staircases, terraces surrounded by gardens, and a considerable outer wall. Because it was designed to protect the wealth, and family, of the owner -- besides the hidden room for valued objects and the escape passage to the lake -- the house itself was like a maze, and intentionally confusing to navigate. This #architecture was NOT random. Every twist-and-turn had some purpose, and best of all, every terrace had a view, and a breeze. One could watch for approaching enemies, while cooling off, and having tea!

Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism & Art Online:

WEBSITE: http://www.robertglennketchum.com/

TWITTER:  http://www.twitter.com/RbtGlennKetchum

LINKEDIN:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/rbtglennketchum

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/RobertGlennKetchum

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/littlebearprod/photography-conservation-china-by-conservation-pho/

SOCIAL MEDIA by #LittleBearProd: http://www.LittleBearProd.com 

___________________________________________________

Cont., Shanghai by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Continued,

SHANGHAI, OZ of the Orient by Robert Glenn Ketchum

During the reign of Mao (1949-1976), China was a closed country. China in the 1980’s was 80% rural, with no outside visitors, particularly from the West. When China opened to travelers, the Chinese government placed severe limitations on who was allowed to enter the country. These photographs are a continuation of other ongoing blog threads of the first glimpses into China in the mid-1980’s by world-renowned Conservation Photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum.

*******

Due to the size and quality of the photos included in this blog, and as too many photos tend to slow a blog down, we have opted to host these previous entries on a separate post in order to best optimize your reading experience. Enjoy!
*******

Friday, May 29, 2015

SHANGHAI, OZ of the Orient, #66

SHANGHAI, OZ of the Orient #66 - 1985 to the Present:  In post #19, I photographed school children in bright uniforms walking down a city street in #Shanghai, circa 1986. As I have said before, as much as things change, some things remain the same. Here in 2002, under the shadow of the #PearlTower, are hordes of school children in bright uniforms.  They are enjoying the sun and river views from the new #Pudong shoreline esplanade, while eating their lunch in this pleasant river park. In case you are curious, different colors in the same school define classes/ages. Different -- more colorful -- combinations in the uniform indicate completely different schools. Apparently it's helpful when there are as many as one hundred VERY energetic children you are trying to organize!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2015, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd #China #Shanghai

Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism & Art Online:

WEBSITE: http://www.robertglennketchum.com/

TWITTER:  http://www.twitter.com/RbtGlennKetchum

LINKEDIN:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/rbtglennketchum

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/RobertGlennKetchum

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/littlebearprod/photography-conservation-china-by-conservation-pho/

VISIT OUR STORE:  http://shop.littlebearprod.com/Embroideries-by-Robert-Glenn-Ketchum_c59.htm
SOCIAL MEDIA by #LittleBearProd: http://www.LittleBearProd.com 

____________________________________________________

Cont., Suzhou by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Welcome to Suzhou, 1985 - to the present by Robert Glenn Ketchum

During the reign of Mao (1949-1976), China was a closed country. China in the 1980’s was 80% rural, with no outside visitors, particularly from the West. When China opened to travelers, the Chinese government placed severe limitations on who was allowed to enter the country. These photographs are a continuation of other ongoing blog threads of the first glimpses into China in the mid-1980’s by world-renowned Conservation Photographer 
Robert Glenn Ketchum.

*******

Due to the size and quality of the photos included in this blog, and as too many photos tend to slow a blog down, we have opted to host these previous entries on a separate post in order to best optimize your reading experience. Enjoy! *******

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Welcome to Suzhou, 1985 - to the present, #67

Suzhou #67:   In the emergence of the New #China, the government was very careful to “manage” the national image; BOTH as seen from outside, AND as seen by the #Chinese themselves. Given the exhibit's expansive view of recent Chinese history, pictures that were politically objectionable to the new Chinese government were inevitable. There were numerous “historical” photos of #Mao, some of them very casual, such as him swimming with a group of friends, that drew no attention at all. However, other images, like this one from Robert Capa in 1938 were seen as moments and relationships the government preferred NOT to acknowledge in such a public exhibition.

ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2015, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd #China #Suzhou

Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism & Art Online:

WEBSITE: http://www.robertglennketchum.com/

TWITTER:  http://www.twitter.com/RbtGlennKetchum

LINKEDIN:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/rbtglennketchum

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/RobertGlennKetchum

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/littlebearprod/photography-conservation-china-by-conservation-pho/

VISIT OUR STORE:  http://shop.littlebearprod.com/Embroideries-by-Robert-Glenn-Ketchum_c59.htm

SOCIAL MEDIA by #LittleBearProd: http://www.LittleBearProd.com 

____________________________________________________

Cont., SILK ROAD Embroideries (#1-123) of Robert Glenn Ketchum

Continued... Embroideries #1-123

Silk Road - Embroideries of Robert Glenn Ketchum

The city of Suzhou, China, produced China's most beautiful silk and silk embroidery practiced by generational families for 3,000 years. My purpose in going to China starting in the mid-1980's was to turn my photographs into textiles, and this is my story. 
~Robert Glenn Ketchum

*******
Due to the size and quality of the photos included in this blog, and as too many photos tend to slow a blog down, we have opted to host these previous entries on a separate post in order to best optimize your reading experience. Enjoy!

*******

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Silk Road - Embroideries #123

SILK ROAD #123:   So, here are 2-of-the-4 panels of “Emperor Kangxi’s Inspection Tour of Southern China.” What you are looking at is about 10-1/2-feet long, and 2-feet tall; all stitched with human hair! What you saw in previous posts were details from these two panels. Post #120 (of the bridge) can be located in the middle, right of the right-hand panel. Post #122 is in the lower-right of the left-hand panel. As you can see, the detail sections I presented are barely 20% of their overall panel. Now extrapolate those minutiae of stitches across this entire piece: OMG!!! EVEN MORE AMAZINGLY, this “aerial” view is architecturally accurate. In 1986, I could still recognize bridges, historic gates, and walls, and the layout of certain neighborhoods! More than likely, the artist commissioned by the court to create this work in 1689 was in a pagoda tower, or on a hill above the city in order to correctly represent this POV.

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2015, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd #Embroidery @WesCFA @RSSDesigns

_________________________________________________

TELL THE PEBBLE PARTNERSHIP TO CALL IT QUITS

The fight to stop the Pebble Mine goes on -- but the battlefront has moved from the U.S. EPA to the courtroom and beyond as we escalate massive nationwide pressure on Northern Dynasty Minerals, the last company standing behind the disastrous venture, to call it quits.

Over the last two weeks, NRDC ran a series of hard-hitting, full-page print ads in Washington urging the Pebble Partnership -- Northern Dynasty's legal entity -- to walk away from Pebble Mine. The EPA has confirmed that this gargantuan open-pit, gold and copper operation -- along with its estimated 10 billion tons of toxic mining waste -- carries catastrophic risk for Bristol Bay, its world-class salmon fishery, its pristine environment and its people.

Saying Goodbye to Bobby Andrew, Defender of Bristol Bay by Joel Reynolds

Saying Goodbye to Bobby Andrew, Defender of Bristol

Bay
by Joel Reynolds, Western Director and Senior attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles

I didn't expect the Pebble Mine would outlast Bobby Andrew. He was a fighter who never seemed to get tired. Over 70 years old, and he was always willing to make the trip - whatever the trip, wherever it took him -- to talk, to testify, to tell the terrible story of the uniquely reckless scheme by international mining giants to poison the communities and wild salmon fisheries of Alaska's Bristol Bay with a gigantic copper and gold mine.

photograph © copyright, Natural Resources Defense Council 2015 @NRDC @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd 

At the age of 72, Bobby died last month, and the traditional Russian Orthodox 40th Day service occurs this week, when his soul is released from the Earth. When he talked, people listened, because there was no denying his personal stake, his authenticity, his legitimacy in representing the people of Bristol Bay. He was a Yupik elder and a member of the Ekwok Tribe, longtime spokesperson for Nunamta Aulukestai, a life-time subsistence and commercial fisherman, born in Alegnagik, near Dillingham -- and he looked the part. The determined and immovable opposition of Alaska Natives to the Pebble Mine was reflected in his face -- serious, resolute, even angry - and he was repeatedly featured in full page ads around the world as the face of the regional coalition against the Pebble Mine.

Robert Glenn Ketchum introduces 'Mandalac Gardens' Series at Venice Art Walk

from the series:  MANDALAC GARDENS "Tequila Sunrise"   2015

Earth Month Los Angeles 2015 featuring Conservationist Robert Glenn Ketchum

April 2, 2015 – April 26, 2015

Earth Month Los Angeles 2015 featuring LittleBearProd Client, Conservationist Robert Glenn Ketchum 

April 2, 2015 – April 26, 2015

About Earth Month Los Angeles 2015 

National Wilderness Conference

The other recent event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Wilderness Act I participated in was National Wilderness Conference in Albuquerque, NM. Organized by all of the collective federal agencies that manage wilderness lands, this was a multi-day event featuring numerous presentations and distinguished speakers such as Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, author Terry Tempest Williams, and Senator Tom Udall. I was asked to be an "inspirational" closing keynote speaker, along with my old friend, Dave Foreman, author of Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching, and co-founder of Earth First!, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and  most recently, the Rewilding Institute.  Dave Foreman, Environmentalist, and Robert Glenn Ketchum, Conservation Photographer, 2014

50th Anniversary of The Wilderness Act

As I mentioned previously, 2014-2015 is the 50th Anniversary of The Wilderness Act. There were many celebrations of this, and I took part in two of them which have some interesting links I have provided here for you to enjoy.  The Crary Gallery in Philadelphia is in Warren County, near to Tionesta township and the Allegheny River. Tionesta was the home of Howard Zahniser who wrote the original Wilderness Act, so the Crary Gallery honored him by having a large exhibit of photographers whose work would show the breadth of wilderness in North America. Among them, I am the only photographer whose work has ever actually helped to create wilderness, so the curator honored the special nature of those images and included brief text / stories with the display.

Happy 2015 from Robert Glenn Ketchum!

I want to wish everyone Health, Happiness, and Prosperity for the New Year.  2015 is the Chinese year of The Sheep!   My Xmas / New Year's present came early and in a big package - PRESIDENT OBAMA PROTECTED BRISTOL BAY FROM ALL OIL AND GAS LEASING. I hope to ultimately see Bristol Bay have status as a protected commercial fishing reserve, yet this is a GREAT first step! GRAND AS THIS IS, HOWEVER, IT DOES NOT END THE PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUGE OPEN PIT MINE IN THE BRISTOL BAY HEADWATERS, SO PLEASE CONTINUE TO BE VOCAL AND SAY "NO" TO THE PEBBLE MINE.

Pebble Mine 2014 Year in Review: "And Then There Were Lawyers . . . ."

Pebble Mine 2014 Year in Review: "And Then There Were Lawyers . . . ."
by Joel Reynolds
Western Director and Senior attorney, NRDC, Los Angeles
published in Huffington Post, Posted: 01/05/2015 1:58 pm EST

When someday the story of the Pebble Mine is told, 2014 may be best remembered as the year when all that remained of the once formidable Pebble Partnership was a bunch of lawyers for hire. By the end of 2014, all of the mining giants and their funding - Mitsubishi, Anglo American, and Rio Tinto - were gone, leaving only Northern Dynasty Minerals to keep the reckless vision of the Pebble Mine alive. The Partnership's new CEO is a lawyer from the Washington, D.C. law firm of Steptoe and Johnson, and mining activities have ground to a halt.

1968 Self Portraits of Robert Glenn Ketchum

Self-portrait in 4-F Camouflage, 1968
photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2014, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

These images were created as part of a class assignment while studying with Robert Heinecken (#RobertHeinecken) at #UCLA in 1968. These are black and white (b/w) photographs that have been highly manipulated in the darkroom, and then painted upon with oils of different transparency value. Heinecken was a very non-traditional photographer who encouraged experimental work.  He furthered my approach and thinking about the process of making pictures begun in my first #photography classes at UCLA, taught by Edmund Teske (#EdmundTeske), also a very non-traditional photographer. I know my work was also influenced by contemporary graphics as well as many of the rock star personalities I was photographing at the time.