© Carli Davidson

A portrait of Mane, a Dogue de Bordeaux. The disproportionately large head of this breed makes it an ideal candidate for Carli Davidson‘s series “Shake,” an exploration of the unique shapes and textures created when dogs shake their heads. More images from Davidson’s series can be seen in the PDN Faces 2011 online gallery.

© Tom Chambers

“Afternoon With Octavio” (2010) is part of Tom Chambers’s “Dreaming in Reverse” series which is currently on view at Photo-Eye Gallery in Santa Fe. Chambers created this photomontage after visiting an authentic Mexican hacienda, where the unspoiled beauty seemed in juxtaposition to the ongoing political and economic strife. Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, wrote with great passion about the search for Mexican identity. Within the genre of magic realism Chambers shares his concerns about cultural loss and identity in this image.

All images © Copyright 2011, courtesy Birthe Piontek and Charles Guice Contemporary. Above: Doyard.

The idealization of the North has been nourished by the stories of Jack London, the films about the area’s pristine tapestry, and by the Northern Lights, which to this day have lost none of their spiritual fascination or magical appeal. In 2008, Birthe Piontek drove from her home in Vancouver, Canada, more than 1,900 miles to Dawson City, Yukon Territory. Intrigued by the setting, the people, and the light, Piontek enjoyed the idea of the quiet, peaceful town “where everybody knows each other but there are so many underlying secrets and dark stories to discover.”

In an introduction for the artist’s new monograph, The Idea of North, Karen Irvine, curator for the Museum of Contemporary Photography, writes, “like David Lynch, Birthe Piontek demonstrates an aesthetic preference for portraying people in dramatic light and endowing each composition with a sense of eerie foreboding.” Piontek’s work has been exhibited internationally, and has been featured in publications including Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Stern, Wired and Die Zeit. She is represented by Charles Guice Contemporary.

- courtesy Charles Guice Contemporary.

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© Colleen Plumb

Colleen Plumb’s new book, Animals Are Outside Today, explores the contradictory relationship between humans and other animal species. Photographs from the series are currently on view at Jen Bekman Gallery, New York. For well over a decade, the Chicago based photographer has been investigating the myriad ways that we’ve integrated animals into our lives. Her book was recently published by Radius Books. To see more of Plumb’s work click here.

© Isa Leshko. Embden Goose, Age 28.

Photographer Isa Leshko is traveling to sanctuaries across the country to photograph animals that are elderly or at the end stage of their lives. “I began the series as a means of exploring my feelings about my mother’s decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease,” she says. “As I’ve worked on this project, though, I’ve come to realize that these images are a testament to survival and endurance. And they raise questions about what it means to be elderly.”
Currently based in Houston, TX, Leshko is relocating to Philadelphia, PA in May 2011. Her work is represented by the Corden|Potts Gallery in San Francisco, CA, the John Cleary Gallery in Houston, TX and the Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, NM.
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