We had plenty of time to work on our projects as well as share meals, swim, listen to structured lectures about Homer & Odysseus, and show our work to several distinguished curators. Everything flowed seamlessly, and I made new friends and made work that I am proud of.

I arrived in Ithaca on a ferry on a sunny afternoon, a perfect way to see the island from afar until it’s suddenly right in front of you and everyone disembarks. I came with plans for at least two photo projects while (hopefully) keeping an open mind for any other photographic excursions. My first project involved locating historic photographs of the island and rephotographing them, in a process that follows previous projects of mine, namely Middle Eastern Promises and the Erie Canal - Then and Now. Through an introduction to Stavros, a local on the island who had amassed some amazing historical negatives and had a good knowledge of the original locations, I was able to make several such photos. The second project I had in mind involved my long exposure trichromatic image making, something I started doing in full earnest earlier that year after my Tusen Takk residency. I was curious about doing new work in a new place but also knew from past experiences that I shouldn’t rush it and let my body and mind explore the area, soak in the new sights and let it all come together. So without further ado, here are some photos from Ithaca, Greece.

Ok, now to some of my rephotography works from the island. Combining historical photographs by Swiss photographer Frédéric Boissonnas (1858–1946) with mine.

And finally, as I was working on these photos back home in the Hudson Valley, I played around with a combination of some of the photographs from the Rephotography project with my trichromatic work - a hybrid project that allows me to be a bit more loose with interpreting my time and my emotional connection with this magnificent island.

Thanks for looking. Are you going to see Nolan’s “The Odyssey” this weekend? Write and let me know what you thought of the movie – and if any of my photographs moved you to comment, share or like them, that would be greatly appreciated!

Alon

On the morning of Saturday April 25 I headed to NYC (via Amtrak from Hudson) to visit the annual AiPAD photography exhibition taking place at the Armory. It was a rainy day but I was excited to see some art.

First, I headed down to Tribeca to Grimm Gallery where my friend Letha Wilson is exhibiting her latest works. The work fits really well in that space and Letha, who happened to be there, gave me a wonderful tour. I am increasingly interested in making photographic work that fills the physical space in a more substantial way, vs. being framed on the wall and Letha’s work is an excellent example of that direction.

Both Letha and I were artists in residence (at separate times) at the wonderful Tussen Takk in Michigan and we haven’t seen each other in a while so it was nice to chat about our experience there and how things are going back in the valley.

After a quick lunch nearby (a disappointing falafel) I headed up to the Armory which is hosting AiPAD this year. On my way to the Subway I happened to walk by the newish Anish Kapoor sculpture in Tribeca, while it creates an interesting tension with the building above it I personally prefer his darker, light swallowing, pigment painted sculptures to the shiny and very instagrammable reflecting ones.

From past experience visiting the fair I know that it’s important to show up with enough energy to stroll through, otherwise it can be overwhelming. A big part of the experience, besides seeing a lot photographs, is meeting fellow artists and photographers, some that I’ve known for a while and some new. This happened this time as well, which was wonderful.

My first real “find” was at Michael Shapiro Photographs booth. A rare piece by Man Ray “L’Orator” from 1935 was hanging casually among other pieces. The placard noted “A unique work by Man Ray. It is very likely that this is a maquette for the large-scale constructions completed by Man Ray in 1935, that measure 40 x 60 inches (edition of 4). The most reproduced of these is Der Redner in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg. Price: $160,000.”

Regardless of the eye popping price(!) I thought the piece was incredible. This simple collage was just what I wished to see that day. Again, coming to the fair with my mind open and eyes looking for any work that expands from the typical image framed flat on the wall, this Man Ray piece was right up my alley. Now I want to make something similar…

Another beautiful photograph at the same booth was by Frederick Fritz Kapp, circa 1900.

The information notes “Frederick Kapp was one of several European photographers who established studios in colonial India during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He opened his first photography studios in Calcutta and Darjeeling in 1888 and later traveled widely across eastern India and the Dhaka region of present-day Bangladesh, where he opened a studio in 1903. This photograph was most likely taken around Dhaka. Twisted Tracks is a dramatic view of earthquake damage along a stretch or rail-way track. It is rendered with a clarity and composition that feels strikingly modern for the time. A second, vertical view of the identical scene is mounted on the reverse. Price: $4,500”

On an adjacent wall I saw this piece with a very whimsical frame by Jefferson Hayman, apparently the artist makes his frame from found objects and furniture pieces.

Next, at Daniel / Oliver Gallery booth this diptych by Ryan McIntosh caught my eye. The images are made with found photographs and the presentation of the two photographs together like this was very fitting. It probably caught my eye because in a previous projects of mine I photographed a scene, then turned around and photograph the back scene, which I later combined to a diptych. I call that series 180 Degrees.

The information for this reads:
Photographs from the series Anon., 1900-1960
Flush-mounted silver prints with clipped corners. Various sizes.
Each with McIntosh’s signature, title, date, hand stamp and edition number verso.
$1,500.00 Ea. Unframed $1,800.00 Ea. Framed
Utilizing found negatives from anonymous photographers made between 1900-1960, artist Ryan McIntosh attempts to excavate an archival absence within the incomplete history of photography. Reevaluated, these images become like boomerangs, thrown out and returning again, representing an endless loop of creation, destruction, and rebirth. Underlying threads of tension and ambiguity run through the images, often as the physical world starts to creep into the edges of photos, revealing the backyards, interiors, and unintentional margins of the frame.

As an artistic conceptual gesture, reexamining these photographs highlights a shift from an artist who creates to an artists who recognizes and reflects. This process reasserts authorship through the act of identifying, collecting and curating.

Well, I don’t know if it’s because I took the train down to NYC or because I make photos of trains myself, but so far I shared two train derailment photos…

Moving on, I found a piece by German photographer Christiane Feser at at Gitterman Gallery, an artist whose work I was first introduced to at last year’s AiPAD, so it was very nice to see more of her work in person.

And here is another layered image, this time a Camera Obscura projection that is photographed (with another framed photo on the wall) by Abelardo Morell. The effect of seeing this as a large size print was quite striking.

Another interesting piece was by Wang Ningde, an image made by small pieces of film that project light below them, to make a new whole image, in a way creating an image by using Camera Obscura as well, yet quite different from how Morell is making his images.

Closing down my image list, I saw some beautiful small prints that have a unique look to them by the Spanish duo Anna Cabrera & Ángel Albarrán, known as Albarrán Cabrera.

And finally, in my opinion, one of the best booths in the fair was by Large Glass Gallery. A truly beautiful, museum-like display of works by Guido Guidi, Mario Cresci, John Gossage, Gerry Johansson and Francesco Neri. I don’t have an overall photo of the booth but here is a piece by Mario Cresci from their booth and you can see install photographs on Large Glass’ website.

That’s it for a mini-tour of this fair. I hope you enjoyed my sharing of some AiPAD highlights. There is so much to see I only shared some of what caught my eye and interest.

Have you visited AiPAD this year or in the past? Have you seen anything interesting there (or elsewhere lately)? If you have anything to add or discuss I’d appreciate your comments and feedback.

Cheers,

Alon

Back in September, when I returned from my artist residency in Greece I was brimming with ideas and wanted to write all about it. But writing about “everything” was just too much so instead I jotted notes in my personal journal. I realized that it won’t make sense to write in detail about my time there - firstly the details won’t be of interest to most people and secondly it will take way too much time - so I thought of writing just a couple of nuggets about it, just the main takeaway points. Well, I didn’t do either. Being away for a couple of weeks and then returning home threw me right back to life and work. Catching up with everything in the present made writing about past experiences, as exciting as they were, quite difficult.

So here we are at the end of December 2025. Knowing that I wanted to write something before the year ends and having a bit more time, I began reflecting on the year in general, not just about my two artist in residence experiences (March at Tusen Takk, September at R2I) but about the experience as a whole.

What kept coming back to my mind was not just the photographs I made this year but the friendships. Friendships sustained and strengthened over the last couple of years as well as new ones fostered over the shared love of photography.

I’ve been very fortunate to live in the Hudson Valley when such great energy for photography is bubbling up. It’s partly due to the emergence of CPW in Kingston as a creative hub for photographers and partly due to other photo communities making an effort to meet, discuss works together, listen to each other and share a meal. This started happening locally a couple of years ago. Over time those larger meetings allowed me to create a unique bond with some people whom I now consider to be friends. In Greece, spending concentrated time with other photographers and curators opened up new experiences as well as fostered new friendships, some of which I am certain will last a lifetime.

It’s known that as we age it’s harder to make new friends. Seems unfortunate but true. I am quite happy to buck that trend, make new friends and do my best to keep old ones strong. Photography is often a solitary act but we all need a community to share ideas with, get and give constructive feedback and learn from each other’s experiences. Together we all strengthen one another and work on building a better society, with photography as the core element but not the only part that matters.

I think that especially in this time of fake news, politicians who lie to our face, environmental degradation of our planet and what seems to be endless wars in the world (and in the Middle East in particular), banding together to share opinions and reflect on visual imagery is so important. I feel quite tired after such meetings but it’s “good tired”, the kind of exhaustion that comes from really listening to what people have to say to me and to one another.

On the photography front I am excited to be working on some new projects, veering a bit from flat photography into what I call 2 ½ dimensionality. I’ve long been percolating ideas about how to let a photograph protrude or live outside of the flat frame for a while now. This new direction also connects with my desire to explore printed work that is more tactile, allowing the viewer to touch and play with art and making it overall less precious. I enjoy looking back at some work that exists either on my computer screen or in just a few prints and realizing its moment has come and it can now be resurfaced as a new series with modified way of presentation.

The irony of course is that this new work needs to be mounted and photographed to really show it, so I’ll be using some of my skills in documenting artwork for clients but now on my own work. More on that in a next update! Meanwhile you can see some of those experiments and latest work on my Instagram feed.

So with that I wish you all a very creative and peaceful New Year. Hug your loved ones and make an effort to spend time with your friends. Present your work and be truly open to feedback. We can all learn from one another. The feedback you receive today might seem odd or out of place but might prove to be valid in a year or two. Oh, and keep a personal journal so you can remember it!

To greet the new year, here is a little poem about time, photography and friendship that I came up while writing this post:

No time to write just photograph
No time to write just
No time to write
No time to
No time
No
Yes
Yes to
Yes to everlasting
Yes to everlasting friendships
Yes to everlasting friendships through
Yes to everlasting friendships through photography

All the best from Catskill, New York.

Would love to hear from you via Substack comment or personal email.
Cheers,

Alon

Is it better to just write something short here instead of not posting anything at all? To be frank, since I paused (my own) rule of sharing a monthly post I’ve lost a bit of the incentive to communicate here. Writing is a muscle and exercising it every month was a good thing for me but it also took a lot of time and energy that I just didn’t have in the last couple of months.

Besides being busy with my work/life I also haven’t had much time to read and look at so many wonderful Substack newsletters that I am subscribed to. I’ve unsubscribed from most of the political stuff (it’s either repetitive, self-congratulatory or just not interesting to me) and kept up with the personal, artistic endeavor ones. Yet, even with those I find it hard to read everything that comes my way. Is it just summer-time malaise? If we are all so busy creating who has time to look at each other’s work?

So in an effort to say hello again, I am going to keep this one short(er).

This weekend is a bustling artistic one for those of us in the Hudson Valley. Upstate Art Weekend starts today, July 17th and goes through Monday July 21st. Work from my long exposure Shipping Lane series is part of an exhibition at the beautiful, historic Beattie-Powers Place in Catskill, a short walk up the hill for me. On display are large framed prints, medium size framed prints and even some small unframed ones, priced accordingly. Also on display are two photogravures that I made while in artist-residency at the Tusen Takk Foundation earlier this year. I was curious to see how the photographic prints will look next to a photogravure of the same photo and I am happy with the visual dialog it creates and people’s reaction to it thus far.

A percentage of sales income goes to support Beattie-Powers artistic programming. I’ll also donate a percentage from each sale to Standing Together, an organization that fosters a dialog and honest communication between Israelis and Palestinians for a better life, together.

I am very excited to show my work there and share the house with four more artists from Catskill. For this special weekend Beattie-Powers Place will be open from 1pm to 5pm.

I’ll be there on Saturday, the 19th, from 1pm to 5pm to chat about the work and meet people. The address is 10 Powers Place, Catskill, NY, 12414. Come and say hello! The views from the property feature an incredible vista of the Hudson River, they are similar to the ones in my photographs since I made the work nearby, about five minutes away.

Upstate Art Weekend is growing every year and the map is getting busier. Beattie-Powers is number 29 on the map but check out the many other venues that are open. I’ll be heading out to the smaller and more specific shows that only happen over the weekend and skip the larger exhibitions that are open for a longer duration.

Here are a few other recommendations, especially for photographers: My friend Colin Beattie is curating an exhibition at ADS Warehouse in Newburgh (#6 on the map) called LIFE, STILL which I am going to see on Sunday. In Kingston, there are incredible exhibitions currently installed at CPW (#2 on the map). For those venturing further north west my friends at OSMOS Station always put up intriguing shows in their Stamford, NY location (#19 on the map). Check them all out!

I said I’ll keep it short so I’ll finish by sharing a couple of photos from a recent trip to Frederick, Maryland. I found this fantastic location not far called Point of Rocks with a historical train station, where I made the photo below:

And while in Frederick I was also able to visit a location with an incredible water tower (or is it space ship?) that I first photographed in 2021.

And photographed it again just two days ago:

For the equipment-curious (got to be a few here, right)? The 2021 photo was made with a Canon R5 and a 24-105mm lens with the resulting image perspective corrected and cropped later in Adobe Lightroom Classic, which is not my usual workflow, I just didn’t bring any tilt-shift lens with me then. The 2025 photo was made with a Fuji GFX100s, a Pentax 45mm lens (35mm equivalent on a full-frame sensor) and a Kipon shift-adapter so perspective correction was mostly handled in camera with minor adjustments in Lightroom afterwards.

Thanks for looking and reading, it feels good to be back here with some updates and a bit of new work to share. I hope to see some of you on Saturday afternoon at Beattie-Powers Place in Catskill.

Please share the post with others who might be interested and comment if you like.

Cheers,

Alon

PS. This newsletter was 100% human-written with no AI involved.

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It’s been just over three five weeks since I returned from an artist residency on the shore of Lake Michigan. I was at the Tusen Takk Foundation near Leland for about a month.

When I came back home I realized just how tired I was, something I didn’t really think about (or feel) while I was there, since everything was so exciting and raw. I felt exhausted in a good way from being totally immersed in making new photos, exploring a new landscape, doing my best to not freeze my fingers on some very cold days (especially while making photos that took up to an hour).

All this while also continuously thinking, hopefully in a critical way, about the work I am making and using my time there to experiment with new ideas and techniques. I was also perusing artist books, reviewing and editing my photos and printing them on a daily basis. While at Tusen Takk I also explored new processes (to me) such as creating photogravure plates and spending time in the printing studio to ink, press and make such prints. It was a lot to take in and when I was there I just savored it all while being as aware as possible of the light and the changing scenery.

I’ve never had the opportunity to make personal work in such a focused way - without thinking or worrying about making commercial work, which is part of my daily life back home. I am hoping to retain some of the habits I formed there as I gradually resume a more regular life schedule. One such habit is to give myself enough time on a daily basis to think about art - or look at art - either in a book form, online or even just a relevant podcast while working. Essentially I’d like to train myself to use my time to not just create work but also to think about concepts, ideas and future projects. Look, think, rinse, repeat.

While I was in residency, Andy Adams from Flak Photo reached out to me and asked if I can send him some of the new “Lake Horizon” photos that I was making to possibly feature them in his photo-centric newsletter. I did that and when Andy published his newsletter about my work titled “Slow Looking and Photographic Patience” I received several wonderful comments about it. I was especially touched to hear that people found the work to be calming, meditative and even inspired some to go out and make long exposures photos on their own.

FlakPhoto Digest

Slow Looking and Photographic Patience

When it rains, it pours. Two weeks ago, I caught the norovirus bug, which took me down for five days. Then, I got a reprieve until I got a cold last Monday, which knocked me out for the rest of the week. My point is, I’m sick of being sick. Still, there are benefits to disrupting our ordinary routines. And it’s always a good reminder that the…

Read more

a year ago · 110 likes · 40 comments · Andy Adams

It was really nice to receive such feedback while still in residency and it encouraged me to continue and develop the project. The landscape I photographed continued to evolve and change on a daily basis. Tall ice banks that took over a third of the image when I arrived are part of my first photo (see below), melted away and made way to a clear shore line. Keeping my tripod and camera at the same spot, several times a day - every day, the photographs show the same point of view yet the landscape keeps changing, transforming so much in a span of two weeks (see second photo below).

It’s a tradition at Tusen Takk that on the resident’s last week they are interviewed by Geoffrey Peckham, the residency Director. I prepared several prints to share and discuss, just like any studio visit but in a more condensed fashion. I am grateful to Geoffrey for the thoughtful questions and to Maggie Pavao, the Assistant Director, who patiently took notes and condensed what was a fairly long conversation into a succinctly written article. Please follow this link or click below to read the conversation as it shows additional work and expands on everything I wrote above.

‘Surveying Time’ with Alon Koppel

This newsletter would not be complete without mentioning that this new work from Lake Michigan has piqued the interest of several people, among them a wonderful gallery owner from California. As a result of that I am happy to share that I am now being represented by Susan Spiritus Gallery! Susan is a long-time supporter of photographers and their art. I am looking forward to sharing my work with her and a new audience of potential collectors.

Susan’s website currently showcases both my Lake Horizon series and my even newer Pacific Horizons series, of which I am sharing one image below.

Susan Spiritus Gallery

Thank you as always for looking and reading. I believe that when artists and photographers connect personally we learn from one another and expand each other’s knowledge. None of what I described above would have happened without making personal connections with fellow artists, so feel free to reach out to me with comments, questions or feedback. I am available here, on Instagram or via email on my website.

Alon

Why was I so busy in January and February? Besides photographing architecture and homes to make a living I was wrapping up printing and framing work that needed to be delivered to the Everson Museum in Syracuse, where my Canal rephotography project as well as projects by two other fellow Erie Canal artists-in-residents, Judit German-Heins and Clara Riedlinger, is now on view.

Here is a photo I made on January 6th in Syracuse after dropping off the framed prints at the museum. I commented on Instagram when posting it that to see this graffiti on the building was quite good timing since Trump said that January 6th, 2021 was a day of love…

The light was perfect on this structure in the afternoon. It was freezing cold and I made two photos. This image on Instagram got a huge response (at least for me, compared to other posts) and I even sold a print to another photographer/collector so clearly it touched an open wound for many of us.

And here is the second photo I made in this location: an oddly surrealistic hole in the pavement that revealed bricks from a previous, much older pathway. And it glowed in the afternoon light, just like the abandoned building did.

The Everson exhibition titled “At Water’s Edge: Reflections on 200 Years of the Erie Canal” opened officially on February 15th with a lovely gathering of art and Canal enthusiasts. Each one of us artists gave a short presentation and mingled with guests afterwards. I received lovely feedback on this series and inquires about how I am going to develop it next, which remains to be seen. I am very thankful to the Erie Canal Museum, the Canal Corporation and the NY Power Authority as well as several peopled involved in this for providing me with this residency opportunity. I stayed at the Everson a bit longer to see the rest of the exhibitions (great stuff!) and got caught in a snow storm on the way back home. With patience and careful driving I made it back ok. Here are some photos of the exhibition, which is open until April 27th, 2025.

On the table in the middle of the exhibition I am presenting visitors with two puzzles, historical photo in one and contemporary, mine, in the other. I ask people to build new puzzles, mixing and matching pieces from either photo and creating a new blended version that could be similar to the one on the wall or make a version that is completely different. When planning for the exhibition I wanted to have a tactile component to it, not just present my framed photos on the wall as a finished object. The puzzles seems to be a hit and I produced several more puzzles (an arduous process since I personally built and then mixed each of them) that are now for sale at the museum store!

And here is one photo that I especially like from this project, a blended historical and contemporary photo of the village of Canastota, once a busy celery producing region. More images from this series can be found on my website.

Then, less than two weeks after the Everson opening I was off to another residency, the one I am writing from now. This is a fully immersive, almost a month-long stay in a beautiful setting near Lake Michigan in Leland, MI. While plans for this residency were confirmed in mid 2024 there was a lot to prepare and get ready for throughout the end of last year and beginning of this year.

Residency at Tusen Takk Foundation

The artist residency here at Tusen Takk offers people complete privacy and freedom to be creative, access to Lake Michigan and several nature trails, two large-format ink jet printers (one with color inks and another with specially formulated B&W inks), as well as an engraving studio, painting studios, woodworking shop and a full library of art books, several on photography. Last but not least a resident also has access to a car and receives a stipend for the length of their stay. This is the first time I am receiving and doing such a comprehensive art residency in a different locale. The Erie Canal residency was a year-long project that required me to do trips up and down canal towns in search of the same location as the historical photos that I was rephotographing but at the end of the day or the weekend I always came back home.

This Michigan residency is on a whole other level of concentration and focus. I’ll be here for almost a month, and just about finished my first week here.

To say that I am at awe of what I am being offered will not be an exaggeration. When I was accepted to the residency I was thinking that I’ll spend my days mostly outdoors photographing when the weather is right and then in the evening, or when it’s rainy, work on printing photographs and further develop my concepts. This is pretty much how it’s going so far but I wasn’t really prepared for the level of care and craftsmanship in the place I am staying in and the love the founder has to the arts in general and photography in particular. This is evident in everything from the construction and build of the place down to the working studio and the equipment I have access to.

Upon arrival and after learning about the equipment I now have unfettered access to I set out to begin making a series of images that I can continue to create on a daily basis so it captures the landscape and changing conditions over the length of my whole stay.

In my mind I envisioned either finding a tree that I’ll bond with and rephotograph through my stay or find some angle of the Lake that can be repeatedly photographed.

I was a bit concerned that the ice and snow on Lake Michigan will “disturb” the visual, that the images will not look clean, whatever that means. However upon making the first few long exposures photographs I feel very lucky of my winter time here. The ice and snow formulations keep changing in front of me, while the horizon line stay the same. It’s actually incredible to see and each day the resulting photo looks different yet connected to a previous one. Here are some examples of what I made during the first week.

During these long exposure (fifteen minutes if it’s not windy, four minutes if it is, the winds here can be fierce!) I usually either stand or sit next to the camera and observe the landscape. I think it’s one advantage of having the camera on a tripod that is not often discussed. The photographer is not tethered to a device on their neck or in their hands and can look around, explore and think about the landscape, listen to the sounds nature makes and plan ahead for the next exposure. It is sort of a meditation on our surroundings that I like to do while the camera is busy capturing the light.

And here is me holding my first photogravure print, one of the techniques I was definitely interested learning and trying while I am here, and one that I’ll continue to explore.

As I make new work I think about what brought me here. The time that I gave myself to produce other images in the past had ultimately allowed me to submit works that were cohesive in their approach and helped me secure this residency. As artists we need to build upon what we know and create. I believe we need to keep learning and evolve as we do so. And now that I am here, continue and build on some of my approaches and methodologies. See what works, explore what is perhaps a touch too pretty or sublime and develop those ideas further. I am already thinking of how Lake Horizon might work as a series of small folded prints in an accordion style, for example. Or how my modern Shipping Lane series can be transformed as a photogravure. I could think about it in the past but here I can actually head to the studio and make the prints to support those ideas and see if it all works. I am very grateful for being given the time and space to explore in such a unique environment.

Thanks for looking and reading. As always I am happy to read your comments and thoughts. Please stay in touch.

To my new subscribers, welcome to the Not Like Here newsletter! Here’s a short intro to what I attempt to do here: I started this newsletter at the end of 2022, sharing some of my visual work combined with thoughts about photography and my process.

In 2023 I didn’t write very often, life got busy. In 2024 I decided to post a monthly visual summary to help me acknowledge the passage of time and remember what each month was like. Most of the photos were made with my iPhone but not all so it was a mix of casual and more serious projects getting equal viewing time. Sometimes I shared a photo from a location (behind the scenes) and then the more “final” photo below it. You can find all the previous posts on my Substack page.

This format worked alright for the most part but I think I’ll change it up a bit in the new year and be less beholden to the monthly schedule, so this post for December might be the last in this monthly stream-of-photos format. In 2025 I’ll aim to post more casually, sometimes in a longer format about a specific topic and sometimes in a shorter format with mini announcements, observations and the like. In any case, before I move forward with that, let’s conclude the year with photos from December as a final chapter.

With all the photos framed and ready, I drove to Syracuse in early January to deliver them to the museum. At Water’s Edge: Reflections on 200 Years of the Erie Canal shows work by myself, Judit German-Heins, and Clara Riedlinger, all of us selected for artist residency in 2024. The exhibition opens at the Everson Museum on January 18th. I will be there in person on February 14th for a grand celebration and on the 15th for an artist talk. It’s been wonderful to spend time researching, photographing and cruising the canal last year and I am hoping to do more work on the canal this year.

Catskill winter solstice celebration. I love these performers!

One of the photos above will be on display at CPW’s “Free, For All” exhibition celebrating the opening of the new building. I’ll be there on Saturday January 18th, opening is from 5pm to 8pm.

Thank you for looking and reading. I always appreciate any feedback or comments, don’t be shy! Wishing you a safe and creative new year. See you in the next newsletter or in person soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4th, 1995 as he was leaving a pro peace rally in Tel Aviv. Hard to believe this happened twenty-nine years ago. I remember that day vividly. I was working as a security guard in Jerusalem that night and just felt sick to my stomach. I knew the country will change significantly after he was murdered, perhaps I didn’t realize how much it will change. In 2015 I wrote a longer essay about that day and about meeting Rabin and shaking his hand two years before he was killed, I encourage you to read it and reflect on whom and what we lost that day.

Instead of writing about the election results, I decided to share a couple of photos from my project titled “The Artist as Trump Supporter”.

This photo series was created during a mini-residency at Basilica Hudson after the 2016 election was called for Trump. Déjà vu anyone?

A framed print is heading down to a new collector in NYC. More framed prints are still available in my Framed Print Sale! My sincere thanks to those who reached out to me and purchased one. Please reach out to me if you are interested and I’ll share my very discounted pricing for the rest of 2024.

It’s getting dark before 5pm these days. I realized that I can make photos of ships and tugboats on the Hudson River before they reach a port later in the night.

Thank you for looking and reading. How was your November? I’d love to hear from you. If you like this newsletter please forward it to a friend or two, or three.

This time of the year my workload slows down and with less commercial photoshoots happening, I have more time to look around and reflect on what’s happening. Looking at my studio space I feel the need to put some work for sale and clear up some room, hence this special subscriber’s email.

So, I have a total of seven photographs that I’d love to find a new home for. Four photos from my Shipping Lane series available at 30" x 45" and three photos from my Locomotion series available at 23" x 60". All seven images are shown below so please pick one!

These are chromogenic (digital c-print) printed on lustre paper framed in white wood with a one inch white border around the image (similar to what’s shown in this mockup) without glazing. Glass or plexiglass can be added for an additional fee with my framer in Catskill before I make a delivery or they can be hung as-is if your budget is limited. Glazing will help keep dust away and will also protect the colors in the print if it’s hung in a sunny location but it’s your choice.

These photos were shown at various exhibitions this year, mentioned in my CPW Kingston Meet the Artist Talk and my Erie Canal Museum Artist in Residency talk.

Some images from this series sold at Klompching Gallery in Brooklyn last year and are now back in my studio. I want to make more room and they are priced to go.

Please reach out to me via email me for details and I'll be happy to make one of these yours! Come for a studio visit to see them in person, or let me deliver one to your home. A percentage of each sale will be donated to Doctors without Borders in support of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Since those are framed already (and large) I can only offer local delivery within a reasonable driving distance or can arrange a pickup from my studio in Catskill.

For longer distance purchase I offer other options such as shipping a photo to you rolled in a tube, and I’ve various print sizes/options available. Feel free to email me about that as well but my priority for this holiday is to sell these seven framed prints at a much reduced price. I’d love to see them at a new collector’s home!

Many thanks for all those who supported me in the past! Room furniture and accessories not included in this purchase…

Thank you for looking at the seven available photographs.

Lastly, Substack has been hounding me to activate my subscriber’s chat so I am giving it a try: Not Like Here subscriber chat.

This is a conversation space exclusively for subscribers—kind of like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll post questions and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.

Join chat

How to get started

1. Get the Substack app by clicking this link or the button below. New chat threads won’t be sent sent via email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens. You can also access chat on the web.

Get app

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thank you all for your continued support and interest in my work. I hope that you find something interesting to do and read over the holiday season and the end of the year. Perhaps you will even have a large, new photograph in your home to look at and contemplate with.

Cheers,

Alon

On October 5th I gave an artist talk at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. The talk went well and marked a milestone in my Erie Canal Artist Residency for the year. If you feel like learning more about the project the video is embedded below.

And here are the photos from the month of October.

Thank you for looking.
Give someone a hug.
See you next month.

And that’s it for September. Hope you enjoyed looking and see you next month!

In this project I am rephotographing (more on Rephotography) historical photos of the canal and try to find the exact same location to be captured again. In my work I am curious about how time changes place(s) and this project is a perfect example of such changes can be visualized with the help of historic photos, combined with current ones.

The scope of this project veers from locations that still have the sections of the Erie Canal in them (or remnants of the canal) to locations where one has to imagine a canal once flowed nearby. For this monthly installment I am sharing some of my experiences and photos below.

Then and now near the canal, Canastota

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The next day, in Syracuse, I concentrated on capturing some historical photos of the last remaining weigh station on the Erie Canal (there were five once upon a time). The building now houses the Erie Canal Museum, a fascinating place to visit and learn more about how important the canal was to NY state and beyond.

At a later date I’ll share more completed photos from this project. I am exploring showing them side by side as a diptych like the one above, overlaid over one another (new over the old) or some other options. Stay tuned for that and if you have any suggestions on how you would like to see them displayed, please share below!

Another location in Syracuse that I was able to match quite well with a beautiful historical photo.

I love the photo below very much and it was a highlight of my capture time in Syracuse, with the barge now being replaced by a road and cars one has to wonder about what we lost when the canal was filled in there.

Back in Canastota later in the day I was able to meet up with the local historian (thank you, Joe!) that gracefully showed me around the village and confirmed a couple of shoot locations that I thought would match some historical views but weren’t sure about, it was great to hear from a seasoned local about what was there and how things changed. Part of the magic of working on this Erie Canal Residency is the ability to connect with people who know, live and breathe canal history and are so supportive to new comers.

Then, about a week later I headed up to Albany to try and rephotograph some historical Erie Canal locations that have been completely lost to time – and capitalism.

Later in August I headed up to the villages of Ilion and Frankfort. I found some good historical photographs of the Remington Gun factory in Ilion that I wanted to try and capture there and in Frankfort I thought I located a street scene that would approximate where the canal once flowed.

In Any case, here is the factory in all its glory but the wrong angle for me to match with the historical postcard. I need to head over to the other side of the building.

After close to two hundred years in operation the Remington Gun factory closed earlier this year. The factory opened in 1828 right next to the newly opened Erie Canal at the time. The canal passed right next to this long building, now a parking lot. You can read more on firearms factory closure here.

Some curious passersby asked me what I am doing and I explained the project and my process. One person in a truck claimed he bought the whole factory and when I asked him what is in its future he said it will be demolished. Later, some teenagers confirmed that’s also what they heard.

It will be sad to see this piece of history of Ilion completely erased from earth. What will they do with huge area and gaping hole in the middle of the village? I hope they somehow keep the enormous amount of bricks for reuse. I guess it would be on me to return to Ilion in the future and document the changing landscape, with the Remington factory gone and see whatever happens there next.

Thanks for looking and reading this Erie Canal Rephotography Edition!

Thanks for reading and looking!

The event was streamed live and the video is now available to watch. My thanks to CPW for hosting me and to all who came to see my talk on a very hot day!

Now let’s roll back the photo clock to earlier in June…

Thanks for looking, reading and perhaps even watching my talk video. As always I appreciate any comments or feedback. Feel free to reach out to me directly or comment below.

And, in less than two weeks, on June 20th, I’ll be speaking in person at CPW in Kingston as part of their lovely “Meet the Artist” series. For those not around the area, the event will be streamed on their YouTube channel, where millions of people can watch me talk about photography, how I mostly stopped making photos for twenty years and what got me going again. More information about CPW and the talk.

Ok, let’s see what happened in May:

Thanks for looking!

If you can’t make the opening there will be a conversation between the artists, moderated by Matt Moment on May 26th.

A photograph from my series Shipping Lane made the cover of Chronogram magazine! Here is the photo and a short article about my work.

Thanks for following and supporting. Be kind, be attentive, be present.

Thanks for looking.

Above are three resulting photos from my experimentation with trichromatic exposure. Each single photo is made of three B&W exposures, with a red, green and blue filter. Processed, scanned and then combined in Photoshop to create a final color image. I am interested in the mishmash of colors resulting from motion in the frame.

And that’s it for March. How was your month?

That’s it for February. How was your month?

So, here is my January: