Identities Now: Contemporary Portrait Photography
An update on the book
When we first embarked on this project, I thought it would be a fairly contained book, its parameters defined by the fact that we weren’t taking the measure of everything going on in contemporary photography but rather were limiting ourselves to a particular focus – portrait photography. Initially, I thought that each artist would get a single page, with some basic information in a defined format.
But then we got a ton of submissions. Thousands! So many of the photographs were terrific; it became clear it was going to be difficult to determine where to draw the line. Ultimately we decided to go big. Our team of first-rate editors, comprised of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, David Harris, Laurie Kratochvil, David Schonauer, Sam Shahid, and me, really dove into the project. We ended up selecting 366 photographs by 166 photographers from 30 countries. What started out as a modestly-conceived book has become a much larger project.
The scope of the book also seemed to call for something more ambitious in terms of layout and design. I was discussing the project with the other editors when one of them said “This book should be the best photography book it can be,” and it really clicked with me. Abandoning our initial formulaic, catalogue-like approach to the book, we decided to publish something more dynamic. While we’ve got extensive experience designing and publishing catalogues, it was clear that this was an opportunity to bring in some new talent to help take this book to another level.
We interviewed a diverse range of designers here in the U.S. and in Europe before choosing Mark Rangel to design the book. Mark is the Design Director for Point C Studios, a boutique branding and advertising agency in New York City. Originally from Singapore, Mark has over 12 years of experience in the publishing industry as the Art Director for many national publications focusing on fashion, entertainment, the arts and business. That experience led to his appointment as Creative Director for a new men’s magazine titled 'NewMan' in 2001. He moved to New York City in 2003 and since then has been involved in branding for companies as well as national campaigns for Aerie by American Eagle, Plugg Jeans Co. and more. His strong graphic style has pushed this project to a point that we couldn’t be more excited about.
We are also pleased to announce that writer Tim Blanks, Editor at Style.com, will be contributing text for the book. Starting out at Fashion File, a highly syndicated fashion television show, Tim has since written for GQ, Vogue, Interview, Flare, V, The New York Times and The Financial Times and many other international publications. Prolific, canny and always right on the mark, Blanks is one of the top journalists working in fashion today. Tim is also a serious photography collector, with a wide-ranging and well-informed eye. He’s right at the nexus where fashion and fine art photography meet. It is a great honour to have him on board.
All of these enhancements to the project have impacted our timetable for publishing the book. We have finished the sequencing of the photographs, and will soon be completing the design phase. We’re now in discussions with printers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, India, and China. The book will be self-marketed and distributed at independent bookstores and museum shops in the US, Canada and Europe as well as on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s websites. We are currently working on getting distribution in Japan. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for independent bookstores in your area that would be ideal for this book, please get in touch with their information.
Driven by the quality of the photography, this book is going to be bigger, bolder, and more dynamic. With an eye towards now being available in Autumn 2012, we are hoping to launch the release with an event in New York City. Pre-publication discounts will be available to every artist included in the book. We will keep you up to date with all of the developments along the way. This has become our most ambitious publishing project ever, and I’m very excited with the way everything has come together. I can’t wait to show you all the book!
- Peter Hay Halpert
| Some more teaser shots from the book | ||||
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| Samburu Rights of Passage by Toni Greaves | Ai by Rania Matar | Sam Space by Andrew Fladeboe | ||
The following is a list of the accepted artists along with their website, where applicable. If you're an artist on this list and notice an error or would like to update your site info, please send an email to portraits@phhfineart.com, with the subject line "Accepted List Change - Identities Now."
*Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Marina Bakalinskaya • Susan Bank • Susan Barnett • Tulu Bayar • Lea Bennett • Larry Bercow • Carl Berg • Niki Berg • Rita Bernstein • Brett Beyer • Jls Birdy • Meg Birnbaum • Sean Black • Gay Block • Sarah Buckius • Dawndra Budd • Thomas Bugarin • Mark C • Mike Callaghan • Emily Carris • Andrea Castro • Brian Chan • Lucas Cheja • Sandra Chen Weinstein • Shelby Dawn Cleary • Craig Cobb • Stewart Cohen • Barbara Cole • Judy Cooper • Margarida Correia • Kirk Crippens • Tammy Cromper-Campbell • Simone Darcy • Gilles de Beauchene • Susan de Witt • Donato Del Giudice • Sally Dennison • Diego Diaz • Beth Dixson • Alinka Echeverria • Angeline Eckbert • Zoe Jet Ellis & Kevin McGuiness • Tealia Ellis Ritter • Michael Elsden • Christian Erroi • Walker Esner • Jeremy Everett • Hugo Fernandes • Marc Fiaux • Alisha Fisher • Andrew Fladeboe • Martha Fleming-Ives • Ranee Palone Flynn • Jona Frank • Greg Friedler • Shauna Frischkorn • D. Keith Furon • Alan Gastelum • Dima Gavrysh • Judy Gelles • Klaus Enrique Gerdes • John Gettings • Stanislav Ginzburg • Joy Goldkind • Sari Goodfriend • Toni Greaves • Michael Grecco • Tim Gruber • Natalie Gruppuso • Phillip Gutman • Victoria Hall • Leonora Hamill • Daniel Handal • Jamil Hellu • Brandon Herman • Rick Herron • Joseph O. Holmes • Kathryn Allen Hurni • Yo Imae • Nefertiti Ingalls • Pedro Isztin • Hugh Jones • Todd Jordan • Ethel Kambourian • Takahiro Kaneyama • Daniel Karlsson • Amiko Kavtaradze • Chris Keenan • Mikael Kennedy • Yong Hee Kim • Carey Kirkella • Greg Krauss • John LaPorte • Kris Lattimore • C. Owen Lavoie • Margaret LeJeune • Ana Leshchinsky • Chris Leung • Elizabeth Clark Libert • Alexander Lozza • Brigitte Lustenberger • Lisea Lyons • Mark Mahaney • Jorge Manzano • Isa Marcelli • Rani Matar • Thomas McGovern • Monika Merva • Debbie Miracolo • James Morton • Nina Mouritzen • Shea Naer • Tania Nasser • David Needleman • Iki Norihito • Hunter Olds • Louie Palu • Lydia Panas • Anna Patin • Wendy Paton • Kris Pito • Caitlin Price • Hollis Rafkin-Sax • Benyamin Reich • Gabrielle Revere • Eric Rhein • Valentina Riccardi • Patricia Richards • Sonja Rieger • Guillermo Riveros • Jon Rou • Haley Jane Samuelson • Michelle Sank • Sam Scott Schiavo • Larysa Sendich • Izdeyar Setna • Carolyn Sherer • Robert Siegelman • Elizabeth Siegfried • Mark Sink • Rafael Soldi • Harvey Stein • Lars Stephan • Andrea Stern • Jeffrey Stockbridge • Felix Streuli • Patricia Sweeney • Felix Swensson • Eniko Szucs • Geof Teague • Sherwin Tibayan • Hugo Tillman • Amy Touchette • Lorenzo Triburgo • Gregory Vaughan • Conrad Ventur • Justin Violini • Theresa Vitucci-Diamond • Mirjana Vrbaski • Sophia Wallace • Ellen Wallenstein • Amy Ward • Wouter de Wit • Cathy West Mullins
| Selection Committee: |
| David Harris, Design Director, Vanity Fair Magazine |
 David Harris has been Design Director of Vanity Fair magazine since 1995. During this time he has had the privilege of working with many of the leading photographers of the past two decades, including Harry Benson, Brigitte Lacombe, Annie Leibovitz, James Nachtwey, Helmut Newton, Nick Knight, Mary Ellen Mark, Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Snowdon, Bruce Weber, and many others. Prior to Vanity Fair Harris was Art Director of D magazine in Dallas, Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and his work has been recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Society of Publication Design, the Society of Illustrators, American Photography, American Illustration, Print Magazine and Graphis. |
| Laurie Kratochvil, Photography Editor/Director |
 Laurie Kratochvil is a legendary photo editor. She began her career at the LA Times and went on to join Rolling Stone in 1982. In 1994, Kratochvil became the founding photo editor for In Style Magazine and worked there until 2005, before starting her own visual consulting business, working with magazines such as Self, Men’s Health and Essence. Her book projects include Africa by Herb Ritts, and Cyclops by Albert Watson, as well as Watson's two-volume book on Las Vegas to be published this fall. Kratochvil is a board member of The Society of Publication Design, a jury member of World Press, and on faculty at The International Center for Photography. |
| Sam Shahid, President and Creative Director, Shahid & Company |
 Sam Shahid worked with Calvin Klein in the 1980's, and since he has been constructing images for top fashion designers in the world. In 1993 he founded Shahid & Company, his own creative design firm and advertising agency. He has helped reform the images of national retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic, while creating original and starkly contrasting images for designers ranging from Versace to Valentino, Gucci to Perry Ellis. He has also designed numerous fine art and photography books for the likes of Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, Kelly Klein, Ellen Von Un Werth, and many others. |
| Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Photographer/Director |
 Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ portraits are in the collections of numerous museums. In 2004, seven hundred of his art world portraits were accepted into the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He is a contributing photographer at Vanity Fair, and has published several books, including: The Black List (2008), Movie Stars (2007), and Face to Face (2006). He also produces and directs films: Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart premiered at Sundance and won a Grammy, Thinking XXX aired on HBO in 2004, and The Black List: Volumes 1-3, which also aired on HBO. |
| David Schonauer, former Editor in Chief, American Photo Magazine |
 David Schonauer was editor-in-chief of American Photo Magazine for twenty years. He has worked with and published many of the world's most famous photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, James Nachtwey, Annie Leibovitz, Mary Ellen Mark, Herb Ritts, Ansel Adams, and Harry Benson. David has written for publications as diverse as Atlantic Monthly, Outside, Worth, and The New York Times. He is currently working on a book project about the history of sports photography and writes a weekly blog called "I Like to Watch". |
| Peter Hay Halpert, Principal, Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art |
 Peter Hay Halpert is an art dealer, professor, author, lecturer, curator and collector. He has authored numerous books, including several monographs on Hiroshi Sugimoto, as well as over 600 articles on photography. He has been a Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper, Photograph Magazine and American Photo. Peter has taught at colleges and universities throughout the world. He served on the Guggenheim Museum Photography Committee when it was first started, and work from his collection has been exhibited at numerous institutions in the U.S. |