"Girl reading comic book in newsstand" by Teenie Harris (c. 1940-1945) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

For over 40 years Charles “Teenie” Harris documented life in and around Pittsburgh’s Hill District for the influential black newspaper the Pittsburgh Courier. Affectionately called “One Shot” due to the brisk manner in which he photographed his subjects, Harris spent as much time shooting the everyday people of the neighborhood as he did the famous people who visited it. With close to 80,000 negatives in his archive, he is said to have best captured the urban African-American experience during the 20th century.

The Carnegie Museum of Art acquired Harris’s archive in 2001 and set out preserving, cataloguing and digitizing the images. The museum is currently exhibiting the first major retrospective of his work, “Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story.” The exhibit includes a life-size projection of close to 1,000 of Harris’s images set to an original jazz score; a chronological display featuring small prints of those same images; and a mini-exhibit of 12 16 x 20-inch prints selected by various experts. The exhibit will stay in Pittsburgh through April 7 and then move on to the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library.

"Duke Ellington at piano, with dancer Honey Coles and Billy Strayhorn looking on, in the Stanley Theatre" by Teenie Harris (c. 1942-1943) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Woman outside Kay’s Valet Shoppe" by Teenie Harris (c. 1938–1945) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Soldiers from the 372nd Infantry marching in parade, Fifth Avenue, Downtown" by Teenie Harris (c. July 1942) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Three men and a woman at a restaurant counter" by Teenie Harris (c. 1948–1960) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Protesters with UNPC signs outside United Mine Safety Appliance Company, Braddock Avenue, Homewood" by Teenie Harris (c. October 1963) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Lena Horne reflected in mirror in dressing room at Stanley Theatre" by Teenie Harris (c. 1944) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

"Roland M. Sawyer and Aileen Eckstein Sawyer posed on their wedding day on steps of The Thimble Shop, 5913 Bryant Street, Highland Park" by Teenie Harris (c. August 1938) © 2006 Carnegie Museum of Art

From the 1930s, when he helped revolutionize fashion journalism, through the 1960s, when he launched headlong into the Pop art era, London-based photographer Cecil Beaton brought to New York City his own perspective—aristocratic, sexually ambiguous, and theatrical. At the same time, New York offered Beaton innumerable opportunities to reinvent himself and his career. Cecil Beaton: The New York Years, published by Skira Rizzoli,  features sketches, costumes, set designs, previously unpublished letters, and over 200 photographs and drawings, many in color and never seen before. The book documents Beaton’s most influential relationships with quintessential figures of the New York art scene, including Greta Garbo, his female confidant and muse, and Andy Warhol, who passed the torch of documenting the New York art scene.  Cecil Beaton: The New York Years is also currently on view in an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York until February 20, 2012.

Audrey Hepburn in a costume for the film version of My Fair Lady, 1963 © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

Greta Garbo, 1946. © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

Marilyn Monroe, 1956. © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

Andy Warhol and Candy Darling, New York City, 1969. © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Self-Portrait on the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, ca. 1929. © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

Legendary fashion and celebrity photographer Roxanne Lowit photographed Pamela Anderson and David LaChapelle on their way to the Academy Awards. As she was photographing them, Roxanne said to Pamela, “Your panties are showing.” Pamela gave Roxanne a look as if to say, “Yea…so what?…”. The photograph ended up on the cover of Lowit’s 2001 book, People (Assouline).

Roxanne will speak about her 30-year career and the photographs that have made her a legend in the field this afternoon at PDN Photo Plus Expo in New York City. For more information visit: PPE seminar.

Chris Buck made news this summer with his Michele Bachmann Newsweek cover but he’s been kicking around celebrities and other dogs for over twenty years. We’re excited that he’ll be speaking at PDN’s Photo Plus Expo on Friday October 28th at 1:30 PM, BUCK NAKED: The Secrets Behind Master Photographer Chris Buck.

Mr. Buck begin his photography career 23 years ago, but you probably didn’t notice him until fairly recently, which, he believes, is one of the central keys to his success. In this entertaining session he’ll take us back to those crucial early years, where his unorthodox decisions led him to the success and creative freedom he enjoys today. Buck keeps no professional secrets as he takes you through his colorful career.

And, even though he swears that he rarely bad-mouths clients on his new blog, he is proud of it nevertheless.

Renowned for his work in photojournalism, celebrity portraiture and film photography, Douglas Kirkland’s retrospective is a compelling look into a career in photography spanning over five decades. With just under 200 images, this exhibition features portraits of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, ‘Coco’ Chanel, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and other icons, alongside iconic stills taken on the sets of acclaimed films such as The Sound of Music (1965), Out of Africa (1985), Titanic (1997) and Australia (2008).

“I had imagined my life and then I had lived it. My images tell the story of a dreamer with a camera in his hands. I have always seized the day. For me, photography has always meant to imagine and interpret persons, sites and events. I understand the world better with a camera.” —Douglas Kirkland
[Interview by Moria De Zen, Bassano Fotografia, 2011]. Kirkland’s retrospective at the Southeast Museum of Photography will run from October 21, 2011 – February 19, 2012. On Thursday, Oct 27 Douglas Kirkland will present a special keynote seminar at PDN’s Photo Plus Expo.

“Firooz Zahedi: Elizabeth Taylor in Iran”, on view through October 29, 2011, at Leila Heller Gallery in New York, presents an insider‘s look at Zahedi’s experience of traveling with the screen legend to his home country Iran in 1976. The series includes sumptuous photographs of Elizabeth Taylor posing in odalisque costumes and fashionable chadors. The series was recently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and has been loaned by LACMA to Leila Heller Gallery for this exhibition. Before her death last March, Elizabeth Taylor said to her close friend Firooz, “Seeing these photographs brings back fond memories of my visit to Iran, a country blessed with a rich and colorful culture that dates back many centuries.” Zahedi, who now lives in Los Angeles, started his career in New York during the mid-1970s working with Andy Warhol and Interview. He is known for his portrait work for publications including Vanity Fair, Town & Country, Esquire, InStyle, and Time.

Above: Elizabeth Taylor Wearing a Chador at the Shah Cheragh Shrine, Shiraz , 1976

© Firooz Zahedi/courtesy Leila Heller Gallery, New York. Above: Elizabeth Taylor Dressed as an Odalisque I, 1976.

According to David McClister the best part of photographing musicians, other than getting to meet so many of his heroes (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Sam Shepherd, etc), is, he says, the fact that “they’ll often break into song without any prompting.” McClister says that in the beginning, he would find himself letting his camera fall to his side as he just watched. “I learned pretty quickly to quietly move and watch at the same time, waiting for that special moment to capture.” he says. “The other great part is just getting to hang out and chat with them, even if it’s just for a small amount of time on an editorial shoot. I’ve never asked for an autograph or for a photo with them. . .what I take away from these sessions is more than I could have ever hoped for as a young music fan— interesting stories and hopefully a nice portrait as well.”

A book on McClister’s documentary series on small town wresting in the South (Rastlin: A Southern Survey) will be published by Stephen F. Austin University Press in December of this year.

Mandy Barnett as Patsy Cline

Emmylou Harris

Willie Nelson

Brad Paisley

The Avett Brothers

Miranda Lambert

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Johnny Cash

Randy Travis

© JT Blatty

Flames ignite the night air as patrons revel. JT Blatty’s image is one of the entrants in PDN’s inaugural nightlife and event contest, The Scene. It is currently open for entries until August 30, but enter today to avoid late fees. A Fan’s Favorite winner will also be selected.