News

lens_blue_sherpa_web

My recent work 'The Laundry Sherpas of Brooklyn' was featured on New York Times' Lens blog on 11/4/13. Read the interview and see the feature

************************ 

Please check it out - I am the guest curator for On Photography: Online Film Festival, Week of Photography in Holland, 9/26 - 29, 2013. 

************************ 

Please stop by PHOTOVILLE 2013 - I have prints and books in the following exhibit September 19-29, 2013: The Indie Photobook Library’s seminal traveling exhibition, curated by Larissa Leclair and Darius Himes, arrives in New York. “A Survey of Documentary Styles in early 21st century Photobooks” draws from the iPL collection and features 70 photobooks, along with a selection of photographs from the books. The exhibition looks at the “documentary tradition” through the lens of a 21st century, global photographic community in which the lines between journalism, art and the long-term documentary project have blurred, morphed and continue to feed off of each other. 

***************** 

György László interviewed me for l1ghtb1tes; if you aren't familiar with his site you may want to check it out, he has some lovely interviews up with Mimi Mollica, Anders Petersen, Jeff Jacobson, William Coupon and others.  

***************** 

Very pleased to have work in the Alice Austen House Museum's THE NEW STREET TYPES OF NEW YORK: July 20th - September 29th, 2013, curated by Paul Moakley and Anthony LaSala. The museum will host an opening reception on the beachfront estate on July 20 from 2-6 PM.  

Alice Austen’s groundbreaking portfolio “Street Types of New York” from 1894, marks her as one of the earliest female street photographers who captured the changing face of the city’s working class just before the turn of the century. Today a new generation of photographers continues her legacy of documenting the ever-changing city. This exhibition includes work by: Alice Austen, Chris Arnade, Alice Attie, Dmitry Gudkov, Peter Funch, Andy Jones, Wayne Lawrence, Erica McDonald, Greg Miller, Christina Paige, Susannah Ray, Richard Renaldi, Ruddy Roye, Geordie Wood, and AnRong Xu. 

************************ 

Just a note that I'll be acting as a juror for the 2013 LUCEO Images Student Project Award, a grant made by LUCEO Images in support of a significant and developing body of work. This year's prize package is worth more than $5,000. LOOK3 will be offering student passes for all of the finalists and an Education Week Pass to the recipient for the 2013 LOOK3 Festival June 13-15 in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Submission closes on May 15.  

************************ 

Along with a bunch of terrific writers and photographers Aga Luczakowska, Irina de Vlaam-Popova, Stephanie Schuster, Britney Anne Majure, Dawn E. O’Day, Johanna Heldebro and Nancy Fouts I have work in Open Field Issue Two: "Thirty amazing women from across the globe share creative work on the theme of Place." Proceeds from sales go to the charity CARE. 

************************** 

I've been asked to teach at ICP! My class The Documentary Photo Essay: Access, Boundaries, and Ethics: April 18 - June 20 is open to the public and I'd be grateful if you'd pass the word if you know if someone who might be interested. 

************************** 

The Documentary Journey > photography workshop with Erica McDonald & Maggie Steber in NYC from July 1 to July 7 2013, presented by Spazio Labo' Fotografia. Hope you join us! 

************************* 

*Many thanks to Rixon Reed who has been developing the Art Photo Index project for the last four years. Launched yesterday, it is a terrific resource, a "visual index of important art and documentary photographers, their images and their websites from throughout the world." So nice to be included.  

************************* 

"The Street Photography Show" at The Museum of the City of New York is now open. Curated by Sean Corcoran, the exhibit has over 100 photographs of contemporary street photography taken over the last 10 years in New York City. Thanks so much to David Carol, who also has work in the show, for mentioning me on PDN as an exhibiting photographer. And The New Yorker picked it up as well! 

************************** 

As part of the Main Exhibition Program at the 2012 Athens Photo Festival, a multimedia event was presented, featuring visual narratives, multimedia & video projects of artists from around the world, with important global social and political issues. The “Technopolis” event included the following works: Erica McDonald - The Dark Light of this Nothing, Donald Weber – Life after Zero Hour, Olga Kravets, Maria Morina, Oksana Yushko Grozny – Nine Cities, Stefano De Luigi – Blanco: The movie, Robin Hammond- Rape a weapon of war, Peter Di Campo - Life without Lights, Yiannis Biliris - Split Normality, Guillaume Herbaut - The Zone Tchernobyl. 

********************************** 

Stefano De LUigi, Juliana Beasley, Erica McDonald, Gaia Light and Alessandro, Cosmelli, Tano D’Amico, Veronica Daltri, Alessandro Gandolfi, Nadia Shira Cohen and Paulo Siqueira, Pietro Masturzo, Fausto Giaccone, Giorgio Palmera and Franco Carlisi are exhibiting works thru 12/2/12 as part of Foianofotografia's ReLOVEution in Italy.  

Curated by Tiziana Faraoni, Maurizio Garofalo, Giammaria De Gasperis, Daria Battilana, Laura De Marco and Erica McDonald. Organized by Chiara Oggioi Tiepolo and Eva Zamboni. 

************************** 

Thanks Feature Shoot! Top 10 Things to Do and See at the FotoDC Festival includes a visit to A Survey of Documentary Styles in early 21st century Photobooks. 

Curated by Darius Himes and Larissa Leclair, the exhibition draws from the Indie Photobook Library’s collection and features 70 photobooks along with a selection of photographs from the books (Eliot Dudik, Matt Eich, McNair Evans, Erica McDonald, Michael Jang, and Lacey Terrell) selected by Gwen Lafage (Founder, Gallery Carte Blanche). The exhibition looks at the “documentary tradition” through the lens of a 21st century, global photographic community in which the lines between journalism, art and the long-term documentary project have blurred, morphed and continue to feed off of each other. 

********* 

Q&A about my work and DEVELOP in the lovely photo magazine Timemachine. Their emphasis is on showing new work and longer term projects; and bringing the concerns of photographers and our colleagues to wider attention. 

********* 

Lots going on during FotoWeek DC 2012 and am happy to report that my work will be shown in prints and books at the exhibit 'Survey of Documentary Styles in early 21st c. Photobooks, Curated by Darius Himes and Larissa Leclair.  

The Indie Photobook Library's 3rd feature-length exhibition will travel from San Francisco to DC. The exhibition draws from the iPL's collection and features 70 photobooks along with a selection of photographs by Eliot Dudik, Matt Eich, McNair Evans, Erica McDonald, Michael Jang, and Lacey Terrell from the books, selected by Gwen Lafage (Founder, Gallery Carte Blanche).  

The exhibition looks at the "documentary tradition" through the lens of a 21st century, global photographic community in which the lines between journalism, art and the long-term documentary project have blurred, morphed and continue to feed off of each other. There are books that speak a more traditional documentary language, those that explicitly critique that very same tradition; diaristic books and titles that overlay a typological structure; others that rely primarily on found and vernacular imagery; and many books that borrow heavily from an art-photography storehouse. 

*************** 

The book The Americans List. By the Glow of the Juke Box was conceived and compiled by Jason Eskenazi. While working as a guard at the MET museum in New York, Eskenazi began to ask photographers - 276 of them - visiting the Looking In exhibition about Robert Franks The Americans, their favorite image and why. I'm pleased to report I was able to help Jason a bit with the research for the book, and am included as one of the photographers who answered the question. The book is available now through photo-eye.  

********************* 

Along with Matt Eich, Eliott Dudik, McNair Evans, Michael Hang and Lacey Terrell, I am showing photos in the exhibit 'A Survey of Documentary Styles in early 21st century Photobooks' at Gallery Carte Blanche in San Francisco. The exhibit opens 9/14/2012. Concurrently, I have 2 books in the 3rd Indie Photobook Library feature-length exhibition curated by Darius Himes and Larissa Leclair. Hope you can make it! 

********************* 

Popular Photography Magazine featured my work along with that of Dina Kantor, Michael Massiaia, Christaan Felber, Richard Rothman. Film Lives: The Enduring Allure of Analog Photography - written by Debbie Grossman. There is a version of the article online too.  

********************* 

Added to the Indie Photobook Library: “Uncommon Intimacy” is a limited edition (50 copies) catalog that accompany the exhibit “Uncommon Intimacy: four women photographers and the New York school: Juliana Beasley, Erica McDonald, Amy Stein, Amy Touchette” hosted at Spazio Labo’- Center of Photography’s gallery, Bologna, Italy from January 25 to March 15 2012. The catalog is made of 5 small booklets, one for texts and one for each photographers, and it is part of the independent editorial project called Edizioni Labo’. 

********** 

Some of my work is at the Head on Photo Festival in Sydney, Australia as part of the Burn in Print exhibit- thanks to Ross Nolly for taking the photo! 

Burn on Print is a group exhibition curated by David Alan Harvey and Diego Orlando and "features the work of international, highly acclaimed photographers" including James Nachtwey, Paolo Pellegrin, Bruce Gilden, Michelle Frankfurter, Irina Werning, Giovanni Cocco, Eva Leitolf, Alisa Resnik, Danny Wilcox Frazier, Michael Loyd Young, Karen Mirzoyan, Stefanie Mueller, Erica McDonald, Ross Nolly and others. 

************************************************ 

We have a couple of spots open still for our upcoming workshop - please join if you can!  

Jason Eskenazi and Erica McDonald partner to teach The Documentary Essay photography workshop in NYC from June 18 to June 24. Students can be of any age and any nationality...let me know if you have any questions. 

*********************************** 

My OWS series "Under the Blue Tarp" is featured on Occupy.com; it's part of the launch of a new media channel that will amplify the voices of the Occupy movement. 

**************************************** 

Wonderful! Feature on TIME LightBox about my new endeavor: DEVELOP Tube: A Photographic Resource Grows 

***************************************** 

Excitng: the dark light of this nothing is on the New York Times Lens blog

***************************************** 

I am a contributing photographer to fovea's upcoming Occupy presentation with Occupy Wall Street work by Noah Addis, Nina Berman/Noor, Todd Bigelow, David Butow/Redux, Alan Chin, Stephanie Keith, Yunghi Kim, Yuri Kozyrev/Noor, Andy Kropa, Jon Lowenstein/Noor, Erica McDonald, Mark Ovaska, John Trotter. 

Opening reception: Saturday February 11th, from 5pm to 9pm. Slideshow presentation in a continuous loop till March 4th. Curated by Nina Berman.  

************************************ 

Very proud to report that I co-curated the exhibit Uncommon Intimacy: Juliana Beasley, Erica McDonald, Amy Stein, Amy Touchette at Spazio Labo' for Arte Fiera in Bologna, Italy. 

In collaboration with Slideluck Potshow, Daylight Magazine, FlakPhoto.com, Prospekt, we also organized a Women in Multimedia night with an amazing line-up of multimedia pieces. I've posted a slideshow of a group of women photographers on DEVELOP Tube. Soon I'll post a selection of solo pieces that were featured. 

****************************************************************** 

Two of my photos are in the Occupy Wall Street exhibit at the South Street Seaport Museum in NYC. 

****************************************************************** 

?Nina Berman has curated a slideshow of work about the Occupy Wall Street movement with images from photographers Jon Lowenstein, Nina Berman, Yuri Kozyrev, Alan Chin, Noah Addis, David Butow, Mark Ovaska, John Trotter, Erica McDonald, Todd Bigelow, Yunghi Kim and Andy Kropa. 

January 18, 6 – 9pm in Dumbo - Hope to see you there

****************************************************************** 

I am looking forward to this workshop - please join if you can!  

Jason Eskenazi and Erica McDonald partner to teach The Documentary Essay photography workshop in NYC from June 18 to June 24. Students can be of any age and any nationality, a scholarship will be awarded...let me know if you have any questions. 

The other 2012 Spazio Labo’ | Center of Photography NYC workshops will be taught by Amy Stein, and by Stefano De Luigi.  

***************************************************************** 

Gomma magazine interviewed me <3 

***************************************************************** 

Neat: the new downtown Brooklyn boutique hotel, Hotel 718, has aquired its art from NYC artists, including a piece by me. 

***************************************************************** 

So happy to have been able to photograph the Nobel Peace Prize recipient Tawakul Karman for a feature in FT Weekend Magazine. Amazing woman! 

***************************************************************** 

Kate Osba interviewed me for her fantastic blog This Is The What

**************************************************************** 

Thank you so much Lung Liu for this photo of the projection of my series 'the dark light of this nothing' at Angkor Photo Festival in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Wish I could have been there! 

**************************************************************** 

My thoughts on teaching an intensive weeklong workshop thru Roberto Alfano and Laura De Marco's Spazio Labo' Fotografia are over on their blog. If you don't have time to read the piece, the short answer is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Can't wait for next year's workshop. Also - it's not just for Italians anymore. Would love to see you in class, no matter where you are from. 

**************************************************************** 

It's 10/28 and I'm still shooting Occupy Wall Street, and I have found a nice project to focus on within the larger story. But I am also photographing the general goings-on and will post some of these images soon. If you are an editor and want an a sneak peek - just drop me a line. 

**************************************************************** 

I've been down at Zuccotti Park as much as time has allowed photographing the Occupy Wall Street protests, and hope to continue as long as they hold out. I'm working toward a narrative photo essay, but here is one image that ran online in the Wall Street Journal of Mayor Bloomberg's suprise visit on Wednesday October 12, 2011. 

********************************************************************* 

On the NYT Lens blog: Announcing the Bursa Photofest in Turkey - with Turkish photography and international works by Maggie Steber, Carolyn Drake, Rena Effendi, Kate Brooks, Ken Schles, Xenia Nikolskaya, Ken Light, Vivian Maier, Randa Mirza & Kai Wiedenhoefer; international works curated by Jason Eskenazi.  

I'm very happy to say that a new multimedia version of my project 'the dark light of this nothing' will be shown at the festival. I'll add it to my NNwebsite and put it on DEVELOP Tube after it is shown at the festival. 

************************************************************ 

It was with a great sadness that I learned of Wangari Maathai's passing. You can learn more about her life and the Green Belt Movement here. This photo is an outake from the time I spent with Wangari Maathai, photographing her for the Financial Times Weekend Magazine. I chose the above image because I think it reflects her beautiful purity of spirit.  

************************************************************* 

Jonathan Cherry chats with "innovative contemporary photographers from around the world" for his ever interesting Mull It Over series of web based interviews. This time he asked me what I had for breakfast :) 

************************************************************** 

On Sunday July 24, 2011, same sex marriage became legal in New York, and I had the good fortune to be at the Manhattan City Clerk's Office to photograph the day. I'm building a gallery of images available for publication, but if you are an editor please contact me if you'd like to see images for a sneak peek. 

************************************************************* 

In case you haven't seen it yet - I've also created a DEVELOP Tube for Vimeo - please check it out - it has very different content from the DEVELOP Tube on YouTube.  

*************************************************************** 

The dark light of this nothing featured on Get Addicted To...Daily Mix of Creative Culture and an interview with me about photography and DEVELOP by Peter Nitsch: Perception of Photography 

*************************************************************** 

My photo of the beautiful singer-songwriter Paula Cole is on her website's homepage

*************************************************************** 

I've just finished teaching a week long intensive DEVELOP 'bootcamp' style workshop through Spazio labo'. All the students came from Italy to NYC for the week and they were truly wonderful. I'll miss them all. I photographed everyone on the last day before the celebration slideshow.  

************************************************************** 

Just launched! The DEVELOP Photo YouTube Channel is an educational resource which features interviews, profiles, lectures and films about photojournalism, fine art and documentary photography and photographers. I'll also be showingcasing projects from Emphas.is and select Kickstarter campaigns.The DEVELOP Photo YouTube Channel is a facet of DEVELOP Photo. (Coming soon!) 

Follow DEVELOP Photo @DEVELOPphoto on Twitter. 

************************************************************************* 

As part of An Evening to Support Human-Rights Journalism May 12, 25CPW Gallery, 6pm in NYC, I have donated a print from the dark light of this nothing that will be up for auction. The night is organized by the Dart Society and will be hosted Gloria Steinem. If you can't come in person, you can also bid by proxy.  

A lot of great work will be auctioned, and some of the other photgraphers are Nina Berman, Robin Bowman, Samantha Box, David Burnett, Debbie Fleming Caffery, James Whitlow Delano, Jason Eskenazi, Donna Ferrato, Stanley Greenberg, Lori Grinker, David Alan Harvey, Ron Haviv, Todd Heisler, Ed Kashi, Andrew Lichtenstein, Jon Lowenstein, Erica McDonald, Susan Meiselas, John Moore, Kathryn Obermaier, Mark Peterson, Ken Schles, Amy Stein, John Trotter & Phil Toledano. 

**************************************** 

May 22 - 28 I'll be teaching a NYC based week-long shooting and editing intensive workshop with Andrew Sullivan, through Spazio Labo' - this is the 2nd edition, and last year was great. It looks as if guest speakers will include Amy Stein and Juliana Beasley and possibly Amy Touchette and Spencer Platt. This year we will welcome students from the US and all countries, not just Italy. 

***************************************** 

I had such a fun time photographing Marilyn Church and her art for the Financial Times Weekend Magazine 2/2011. She's a courtroom sketch artist - The Library of Congress is acquiring virtually her entire collection of more than 3,500 sketches. Marilyn has captured some of the most infamous trials in the past quarter-century, drawing portraits of Robert E. Chambers (the Preppy Killer), David Mark Chapman (John Lennon's killer), John Gotti, Bernard Goetz, Jacqueline Onassis, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, Tupac Shakur, David Berkowitz, Martha Stewart, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and Bernie Madoff. And I had the chance to see them firsthand! 

****************************************** 

Come this May, I will be teaching a NYC based Workshop again with Andrew Sullivan through Spazio Labo' - Centro di Fotografia. Also teaching workshops are Donna Ferrato, Davide Monteleone and Maurizio Garofalo. I am so pleased to be teaching again this year - we had such wonderful class last year!  

****************************************** 

Bingo In the Blood, My first story for The New York Times is online now, with terrific writing by N.R. Sonny Kleinfield. Click on the Multimedia link to see more photos. Should be in the printed paper tomorrow, on Sunday November 28 in the Metropoloitan section. Exciting! 

*********************************************** 

Magnum Photos is carrying burn.01 in their online bookstore...wonderful and humbling! 

************************************************ 

Burn.01 featured on the New York Times Lens Blog: "(David Alan Harvey) has taken 25 photo essays that he had posted on the Web and created “Burn.01,” a beautifully printed 300-page book." I am grateful that my project the dark light of this nothing is included in the book, and on the NYT site - thanks David and Jim! 

************************************************ 

I'll be reviewing portfolios October 30th for the Palm Springs Photo Festival at PDN's PhotoPlus in NYC at the Javits Center. You can still sign up and pick your reviewers (wink, wink) - hope to see you there! 

************************************************ 

The Photography and Publishing exhibit at the FotoGrafia Festival in Rome runs through October 24, 2010 and features photographers across the globe including John Vink, Marcus Bleasdale, Wei Ying Ang, James Chance, Anton Kusters, Gareth Phillips and Erica McDonald :) If anyone reading this attends, I would love to hear a first hand account. 

************************************************ 

i <3 dvafoto - images from the dark light of this nothing are up on their site, on this fine September day. 

************************************************ 

Marc Prust has selected my book dummy of the dark light of this nothing for an exhibit of Photography and Publishing at the FotoGrafia Festival in Rome ! Here is a sneak peek of some of the spreads in the layout.  

************************************************ 

dvafoto has a great section called The Talent where they list photographers, agencies, collectives, and magazines whose work they follow - and ericamcdonaldphoto.com has been added to their list. thanks guys :) 

************************************************ 

British Journal of Photography has done a great redesign of their online site, with new additions making it a place you'll want to check in most days, and this week there is a photo from the dark light of this nothing on the homepage..nice! 

************************************************ 

I have some work from dark light featured in the 2010 summer issue of 100eyes Magazine. Thank you to Andy Levin who runs the magazine, for giving me the cover! The issue is "devoted to the idea of home. Home is a place, home is a community, home is a state of mind." And sweet little Leaf Love girl is on their facebook page too...  

************************************************* 

The NYC Workshop went really well and some fantastic creative leaps were made over the week. I took some quick portraits of our students...here are their lovely faces. I feel so thankful to have been able to work with all of them. Andrew and I are in there too; he took the shot of me, or tried too :) 

************************************************** 

Andrew Sullivan and I will be teaching The Intuitive Document, a Workshop in NYC through the Italian photography center Spazio Labo', May 23 - 29, 2010. Also teaching another NYC workshop through the school is Massimo Sciacca. Ciao! 

*************************************************** 

The Bitish Journal of Photography piece about the dark light of this nothing is now online in a shortened version, read it here

A longer piece with photos is spotlighted in the March 2010 issue in print. Very exciting! 

*************************************************** 

Mother Jones published my Surf Manor Adult Home photos in the March 2010 issue - adult homes are institutions where the mentally ill are warehoused by NY state. You can see the images and read the article written by the wonderful Jennifer Gonnerman online.  

The adult home residents had a victory on March 1, 2010. After seven years of legal action, a federal judge issued a decision ordering New York State to create 4,500 units of supportive housing for people currently living in adult homes.  

And the Epoch Times ran a piece too, March 3, 2010, in print and online.  

*************************************************** 

Fun! A link to my Grateful Dead photos at a VW site.  

*************************************************** 

Rebecca and Alex Webb have a great blog 

and they recently asked photographers to write about an image that has influenced them - my account of seeing the ever amazing Walker Evans photo for the first time is here

*************************************************** 

I had a small hand in this as one of the editors: The Photojournale Connections Across A Human Planet. In her forward to the book, Ami Vitale writes "Photojournale has collected work from residents of each country. These images give us a glimpse into lives we might not otherwise see and emphasize not how different we are but rather our similarities...Perhaps now, more than ever, we need to get beyond the stereotypes and dramatic images and instead allow people to tell their own stories in a humanistic way." 

So there it is. And here it is. 

*************************************************** 

At long last, you can see a multimedia presentation of my new work 'the dark light of this nothing'. The piece is up at Burn Magazine . Soon I'll put up a still gallery here with a different edit. David Alan Harvey is helping me get this ready to show to publishers - if you are an editor and publisher and want to see the full body of work, please email me directly.  

*************************************************** 

Some news...I have work up at Foto Week D.C. in a show for Burn Magazine

Magnum Photographer and Burn Magazine curator David Alan Harvey presents a show featuring the work of some of the freshest new talent on the photography scene, featuring Chris Bickford's "After the Storm", Michael Loyd Young's "Blues, Booze, and BBQ" and A. J. Wilhelm's "Kabul Opium." Also shown is the best of this year's Burn Magazine photography essays and singles, including photographs by Patricia Lay-Dorsey, Erica McDonald, Anton Kusters, James Delano, Bob and Marina Black, Panos Skoulidas, Medford Taylor, Michael Courvoisier, Angela Bacon-Kidwell, Kyunghee Lee, Yalda, Andrew Sullivan, Lassal, Victor Ben Tzvi, Marcin Luczkowski. 

Fight Club 

Washington, DC 20001 

******************************************** 

Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey and Burn Magazine present a "unique showing of prints by Elliot Erwitt, Bruce Davidson, Gilles Peress, Susan Meiselas, Alex & Rebecca Webb and Chris Anderson, featuring an exquisite selection of prints by Burn emerging photographers" including yours truly. You can see my print on the wall at the opening on 10/9/2009 in the photo to the left (taken by Loft Workshop student Dominik Dunsch). 

This just in - Burn Magazine won Photography Magazine of the Year 2009 from The Lucie Awards