Welcome to Samy's newsletter. My name is Anthony Friedkin and I will be hosting this special venture.
Los Angeles is one of the most important and vibrant centers for photography in the world. We have enormous resources here, great institutions dedicated to exhibiting fine art photography, such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Huntington Library, the new Annenberg Space for Photography and the Museum of Contemporary Art located in downtown Los Angeles. Together, with their holdings, they represent a world-class collection of extraordinary photographs. We also have several noteworthy private galleries that are dedicated to showing contemporary photography as well. LA is home to numerous and highly respected educational facilities, which offer significant courses in photography and film production. We Angelenos are known to live in one of the eminent creative capitals of the world and it is my intention the newly designed newsletter will celebrate this with exciting articles of interest.
Los Angeles is a media giant when it comes to commercial photography as well. Many of the finest photographers working in the country today live and are based out of LA. Whether they work in fashion, glamour, film publicity, architecture, editorial portraiture, photo journalism, still life, gourmet food cuisine, sports, etc. The birth of Hollywood and the motion picture industry reside here, with all the major studios based in LA. Many devoted filmmakers of all disciplines live and work out of LA including the news media.
In Samy's newsletter I will be bringing you penetrating interviews with highly accomplished photographers, working in both the Fine Art and Commercial worlds. I will be reviewing photographic exhibitions around Los Angeles that I feel are worthy of your attention. We also will provide listings of the more important current events dealing with photography in and around LA.
It is the mission of Samy's camera to provide you with the best possible service and knowledge when it comes to all your photographic and filmmaking needs, to help you accomplish all your goals, whatever they may encompass. Part of that commitment is to be an active part of the Los Angeles community by providing you with interesting and inspiring articles and listings of events you can count on in Samy's Newsletter. We invite you to check in with us and experience this first hand.
About Anthony Friedkin: His photographs have been recognized internationally. His work is included in the permanent collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the George Eastman House in Rochester. His photographs have been published in Japan, Russia, Europe and many Fine Art magazines in America. He received a National Endowment of the Arts grant in 1977 and was given a special commendation by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for his contribution to Fine Art Photography in 1980. He was sponsored by the Parson’s foundation in 1996 to create an extraordinary set of photographs about Los Angeles.
A native of Los Angeles, Anthony Friedkin has been documenting the social landscape with his in-depth Photo Essays that cover a diverse range of subjects and lifestyles. By using his camera as a means of personal discovery, his full frame black & white photographs explore the many layers of reality.
Friedkin has also taught photography at both U.C.L.A and the California Institute of the Arts. He has guest lectured at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the downtown Los Angeles Public Library and many other diverse educational institutions. His exhibition photographs, which he creates in his own darkroom, are included in numerous corporate and private collections.
“TIMEKEEPER”, a beautiful monograph and collectors item contains many of his most compelling photographs. It was published in 2003 and has an introduction written by Julian Cox, then an associate curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Friedkin began working professionally almost from the moment he left High School. He started his career as a photojournalist stringer for the highly respected photographic cooperative, Magnum Photos. His work has appeared in Rolling stone, Newsweek, French Zoom, Malibu magazine and numerous book publications including Tashen’s comprehensive volume on Los Angeles and the Huntington library’s “This Side of Paradise”. He later became a unit still photographer working on Motion Pictures, Television shows and documentaries providing the entertainment industry with valuable stills used for the publicity and marketing by the studios.
Along with his contributions to Samy’s website, he is currently pursuing a life long passion for photographing Los Angeles, including his “Ocean Wave Series” which represents some of his most personal work. The de Young Museum in San Francisco is planning a major exhibition of his photographs in 2014.
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