The War on Poverty

Steve Liss: Photojournalist and Humanitarian

Steve Liss is a highly accomplished photojournalist, with an impressive 43 Time Magazine cover photos to his credit.

However, it is not just his professional success that Liss takes the most pride in. Steve Liss is a humanitarian who uses photo essays to shed light on tough topics. His subjects have included poverty in the Mississippi Delta, runaway youth living on the streets of Hollywood, and studies of the Nuns of Mankato and Alzheimer's disease. He has been honored with the Soros Justice Media Fellowship for his work on juvenile justice and the Alicia Patterson Fellowship for his work on domestic poverty.

We are thrilled and honored to be invited to participate in his latest project, titled In Our Own Backyard: U.S. Poverty in the 21st Century. This unique poverty awareness initiative is being undertaken by more than 15 preeminent American photojournalists. The project's goal is to utilize the visual power of large-format documentary photography to elevate the discussion of making the fight against poverty a national priority.

This project is in partnership with Catholic Charities and their campaign to cut poverty in half by 2020. Starting in the fall of 2009, nine major photographic and multimedia exhibits, each featuring 50 emotionally moving large-format photographs, will tour throughout the United States.

The project will kick off at a leadership summit on April 20, 2009, at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN. For more information, you can register here and view the invitation postcard here.

Poverty has many faces, and it is impossible to ignore when seen up close and personal. It is projects like this that make our work feel less like work and more like purpose.

This building has historical bones

A Journey Through Time: The History of The Lidberg Studio

1894 - Andrew Lidberg, an immigrant from Jarpen, Sweden, builds and opens The Lidberg Studio at 443 W. 3rd Street, Downtown Red Wing, Minnesota (the corner of W. 3rd Street and East Avenue), right next to Charlie Wah's Chinese Laundry. The Daily Republican on April 9, 1894, writes, "Mr. Lidberg opened his gallery today, and it is a fine one. He will employ only competent workers and work at the lowest living prices."

1899 - Upon graduating from Red Wing High School, Andrew's son Edward joins the studio full-time. The Lidbergs begin producing the first series of colored souvenir postcards of Red Wing and the surrounding area. The photos are exposed on glass plates and developed at the studio. Negatives are then sent to Germany to be lithographed into color postcards. These postcards are now collector's items with a passionate following.

1902 - Local businessman T.B. Sheldon donates money to the City of Red Wing to build the country's first city-owned theater. To make room for the Sheldon Theatre, The Lidberg Studio is moved across the park mall to 312 West Avenue, where the building is located today. A glass wall is oriented to the east to provide natural light for portrait photography.

1910? - Andrew Lidberg retires. Frank Booth, a graduate of Effingham School of Photography in Illinois, joins the studio.

1915 - Due to the war in Europe, it becomes increasingly difficult to receive color lithographs from Germany. Senator Knute Nelson intervenes to get a production run of postcards released. Production is moved to Chicago (Acmegraph Company) and Milwaukee (E.C. Kropp Company).

1915 - Edward Lidberg begins his real estate career, and the photography business winds down. By 1920, the building becomes a full-time real estate office.

1920-1953 - Very few building details are available. It is believed that from approximately 1920 to 1936, it was a real estate office, and from about 1937 until 1953, it housed various photography studios.

1953 - The Chalet Studio opens. This portrait studio is owned and operated by Ms. Louella Champs.

1972 - Edward Lidberg passes away.

1978 - The Chalet Studio closes, leaving the building in very rough shape with the roof in danger of collapsing.

1979 - The building is repaired and restored by Dick Tittle, becoming home to InComm Realty and Maas Realty.

2008 - The building becomes home to Red Wing Framing Gallery and Red Wing Portrait Studio.

What goes around, comes around—even if it takes 114 years.

Red Wing from Barn Bluff

Barn Bluff: A Sentinel Over Downtown Red Wing

Barn Bluff vigilantly watches over Downtown Red Wing from the east, casting its shadow every morning and bidding farewell to the sun every evening. The bluff is a long and narrow rock formation, stretching east to west for about a mile. It's an easy hike along the south side to the lookout over Downtown Red Wing. The top of the bluff rises about 400 feet above the Mississippi River, which lies immediately to the right in the photo.

An unusual thaw this February provided the opportunity to capture this photo. Once the tree buds start popping out, many details become hidden. If you look closely, our shop is the small triangle of lights in the upper left corner.

As with most mid-winter thaws, it toyed with our emotions, giving us a taste of nicer weather only to follow up with a cold front and a fresh dump of snow.

Back to mukluks and stocking caps.

What the *#@!...Red Wing Digital Studio?!?

Introducing Red Wing Digital Studio

Astute observers will have noticed a new link in the banner image. Red Wing Digital Studio (RWDS) made a quiet introduction earlier this year. RWDS is a bit more nebulous (and fun) than either Red Wing Framing Gallery or Red Wing Portrait Studio, but here are a few clues:

We've found ourselves involved in digital projects that don't neatly fit within the domains of framing, printing, or photography. These projects always involve a digital file of some kind of visual, but the end result can vary from print to projection. The file sizes are enormous, creating unique complications and opportunities. Hence, a new business.

Over time, it will make more sense. The first priority is finding a location to set up this business. If only Red Wing had an "Innovation Incubator" or some kind of "College of Interesting Knowledge," then my prayers would be answered. :)

Max Becherer update

I was delighted to get a note from Max Becherer this morning. I have planted the seed of thought with Max to begin to prepare a five year retrospective photojournalism exhibit for next year. Max has been in Iraq since the initial days of "Shock and Awe" and has made a career of globetrotting to the hot spots on the planet. But let Max speak for himself:

"Hi John!

So good to hear from you. I hope you are having a great New Year! I am in Cairo, Egypt at the moment but should be heading to Iraq for the Provincial Elections later this month. I also think it will be a good place to be when Obama takes office. I was up at the Egyptian Border with Gaza last week and watched as Israeli bombs blow up the tunnels and as the Palestinian wounded came over on their way to Egyptian hospitals. It was a difficult scene. I was waiting for a chance to enter Gaza but they are keeping a tight lid on things there.

So, your idea sounds great. I would love to do a five year retrospective. There are so many ways we could go with it for sure. I have a portfolio book of images I collected from the last five years.

Last year I started covering the elections in Pakistan. It was interesting and I was even able to head up to Peshawar where the North West Territory begins. What a wild place. In any case, I was in Iraq at the last part of this year for the New York Times and then did an assignment about Samarra for the Smithsonian Magazine which is on newsstands now. This week I head to Baghdad for a month and then in April I will be in Afghanistan where things are expected to be difficult this year. That is all for now.Thanks for checking in with me. I hope we get to see each other soon. Say hello to the crew for me!
Best, Max"

Full moon over Barn Bluff

The Largest and Brightest Full Moon of 2009: The Wolf Moon

Last night (Saturday, January 10, 2009), we witnessed the largest and brightest full moon of the year. This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon in Native American folklore. January's full moon is also called the Old Moon and the Snow Moon.

A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. This occurs because the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth during a full moon, allowing sunlight to hit the full face of the moon and reflect back to our eyes.

At moonrise, the moon appears even larger than it does later in the night when it's higher in the sky. Scientists can't fully explain this illusion, but some believe it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon versus overhead.

This photo was taken at 5:06 pm with the following settings: f/3.2, 1/320 sec, ISO 1250, -1.67 EV, 70 mm focal length, handheld. I used levels to bring some details back into the image without destroying the polarized sky and applied a very modest amount of unsharp mask.

Old is the new new

Red Wing Holiday Stroll: A Nostalgic Family Event

Last night was the 7th annual Red Wing Holiday Stroll. This event, hosted by the Downtown Red Wing Mainstreet organization, serves as an alternative to the enclosed mall exodus that typically occurs the day after Thanksgiving.

Anyone downtown can define whatever activity they want to do during the stroll, and many merchants provide discounts and free snacks. We opted to work with The Sheldon Theatre to create a fun family event that is both corny and nostalgic.

We decided to re-create an Eisenhower-era tradition: the family Christmas photo.

We set up a faux outdoor-looking Christmas photo set, obviously taken indoors, reminiscent of a Macy’s Department Store in 1955. This allowed us to use period overcoats, hats, and fake snow to re-create the era and move clients in and out of the set quickly. Fifteen minutes later, they would stop by our shop to pick up a keepsake 5”x7” photo, printed in period fashion and in a stylish envelope. Most clients ‘got it’ and really embraced the spirit of the event.

All for $5, with all proceeds going to the Friends of The Sheldon, the fundraising arm of The Sheldon.

A small army of volunteers was recruited, and it was a mostly smooth workflow of production. There were a lot of laughs, and there are too many people to thank here who made this work. Ideas are already brewing for next year.

Good times.