Interview on Miss. Sara Rosen's blog

Sara and i met via a cold call for the asmpny folio review, she  came, she reviewed, she conquered, we stayed in touch for the past few and  she was kind enough recently to request an interview with me- Here it is!

“My Heart Starts Racing When I Think About Bulldozers”

June 15, 2010

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

I first met Stephen Mallon when he was organizing a portfolio review last year. It was quite a spectacular, as I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Stephen, as well as Sarah Small and Landon Nordeman in my sessions. And I don’t know if you’ve ever sat through reviews before, but meeting one—let alone—three dynamic and fantastic photographers (as well as people) is a rare treat.
The world, being the insanely small place that it is, reconnected me to Stephen, not once but twice in the past month. First I noticed he was organizing the Heart for Haiti photography auction benefiting Doctors Without Borders. Then I discovered a portfolio of his “American Reclamation” series on aCurator. They say three is the magic number, so I contacted Stephen directly this time, asking to chat about his work as an industrial photographer. Suffice to say, the work blows me away.

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

Please talk about your formative years in North Carolina, when you used to visit airports, rail yards, and construction sites. What was the allure of these places?
The expansion of one of the local roads in Chapel Hill was a huge construction project and I would go and sit on the hill to photograph the machines rolling by. I need to find that film! These were the images I would make at the end of the day after Junior High School. I was drawn to the machine moving the earth after years of pretending to do this with Tonka, seeing a machine in operation doing this was (and still is!) a treat for me. It’s hard to describe but my heart starts racing when I think about bulldozers!
At what point did you decide you wanted to become an industrial photographer, and how did you get into the game?
It was always in my heart to be photographing the sandbox, I just got off track chasing ideas, fashion, and lifestyle shoots for fifteen years or so.  It came back to me when we were in the south of France and I was staring at the radio antennas to the disapproval of my companion at the time…

Please talk about your project, “The Salvage of Flight 1549.” What was it like to have exclusive access to this process?
INSANE. Every once in a while I would talk to one of the guys standing next to me on the pier: “There’s a plane in the water right there.” When NTSB granted me access to go inside the airplane I almost asked, “Are you sure its ok?” but decided not to double check! I am still grateful for all of the support that NTSB, Weeks Marine, ASMP, and the entire photo community had for me during the process of having the images up and down, up and down, and up again!
How did working on this shoot affect you as both a photographer and New Yorker?
I am really proud that I have these two bodies of work that is connected to the history of New York. I get introduced to people a lot as “that’s the guy that shot the plane in the water.” It’s a treat to have a body of work that was so widely seen.

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

I love your “American Reclamation” project. It is so beautiful, and so disturbing to see the way we dispose of our industrial waste. How did you get involved with this project?
A conversation with Jayne Rockmill during a portfolio review that ASMPNY hosts. She was interested in publishing a book of my work and I felt I needed a project that is more interesting then  the random collection of images I had. I started brainstorming with my wife to have a theme that was current and had not been tackled yet.  The idea came up to focus on the recycling industry in America, which has ranged from the artificial reef program to the cement factory in California to the Fresh Kills landfill, slated to become a park!
What are your thoughts on dumping waste into the ocean?
The only project that I am in support of are the artificial reef programs, some of which started hundreds of years ago. The next solo show, opening Sept 10th at Front Room Gallery in Williamsburg,  is titled “Next Stop, Atlantic.”  This body of work are images of the MTA retiring over one thousand subway cars in the Atlantic Ocean to build reefs along the east coast.

Photograph © Stephen Mallon

I particularly love your portrait work, as there is an ease and a comfort between you and your subjects that does not always exist in documentary work. What are your on-site relationships like?
Thank you!  I get comfortable with the workers by hanging around a LOT! We talk, I introduce myself, tell them what i am working on, ask if itis ok to take some photos, I usually ask what their favorite food or drink is and then we start talking about that. People love to think about their favorite dish or drink so its a good common ground to  cover.

www.stephenmallon.com

$26,874

That's how much we were able to raise during our HeART HAITI auction.  Doctors without Borders    lists a statistic that for every $5500  has enough funds for an emergency health kit to care for 10,000 displaced people for three months.  That means that we raised enough money for 50,000 emergency medical kits- INCREDIBLE!  Thank you to everyone who helped with this fundraiser,  to the  artists who donated such amazing work, the collectors who came and purchased, to our star  curators HeART ART  ladies Celeste Holt Walters  and Audrie Lawrence.  Thank you to Agatha Maciejewski of AGMAC and Sally Berman of Run Red Creative - we never would have been able to do this without you!  Thank you to Jim from Benefit Events for all of the work and support with the auction site to make this possible.  To Everyone at APERTURE for your help and support.  To Josephine for being so patient with us while we were packing all of the artwork.  To my wife Sascha for coming up with the idea. To David Hutchinson for writing the rolling projection  script.  Thanks to ARC rentals for supplying the laptops.  To Mandy at Mirrorball for getting us sponsored by Perrier, to WAGMAG for the Pernod And to all of the volunteers that spent so many hours  helping  with this!

HeART HAITI at APERTURE reception June 16th

Over $10,000 already raised!  Please download the new press release here-

Here are  here are a few that i love.

Phil Toledano's  3..2..1..

Ben Baker's Obama

Bryce Duffy's   Hollywood

Darren Rees's  wood cutter

Hans Nelman's  Skull seperation

James day's  vintage dresses

Warwick Saint's  bengal tiger

and Kevin Cooley's  wind river canyon

I also like mine!

see you wed!

HeART Haiti Auction until June 17th

I am  very proud to share our HeART HAITI auction.  I have been working on this with Sascha, Heart ART productions, AGMAC, Benefit Events, David Hutchinson, and Run Red Creative.  The auction has raised almost $8000 already and we are  hoping for much more!  Please join us at APERTURE on June 16th to see the work in person!

Links to some of the existing press -

Details magazine

sharpen

a photo editor

a curator

paper magazine

Find us on facebook here

Full press release is below- happy bidding!  100% of the auction goes to doctors without borders as a relief fund in HAITI.





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Agatha Maciejewski agmac23@gmail.com 646-315-4096 HeArt for Haiti Launches Art Auction To Benefit Haiti Relief Art Donated By World Renowned Artists To Benefit Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières May 17, 2010. New York, NY. A team of humanitarians and art lovers have gathered together to create HeArt for Haiti, an impressive bevy of artwork to be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to Doctors without Borders/Medicines Sans for Haiti Earthquake relief. World renowned photographers and artists including Ture Lillegraven, Danny Clinch, Stephen Wilkes, Peter Hapak, Martin Schoeller, Phil Toledano and Pamela Hanson, to name a few, have donated signed prints to the cause. The campaign is a collaboration of four organizations dedicated to healing the world through art: Heart Art, Sascha and Stephen Mallon, Red Run creative and agmac. The auction, generously hosted by BenefitEvents.com, will take place online at http://benefitevents.com/auctions/heartforhaiti starting May 19th at 9:00 AM, and will be active until June 17th at 11:59 PM. There will be a one-night gallery opening on Wednesday, June 16th at Aperture Gallery, where potential buyers will be taken through how to register for the site and will have the opportunity to view the work they want to bid on in person. Four months after the earthquake, the devastation in Haiti is still apparent to all who live there. There are still more than 1 million displaced, homeless people. While many governments are promising aid, there is still a lot that can be done with personal contributions.

Flight 1549 exhibition opens at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia

Stephen Mallon Photo Exhibition Documents Flight 1549's Recovery from the Hudson River print version 'Brace For Impact: The Aftermath of Flight 1549' runs through August at the University of the Arts

May 21, 2010

On January 15, 2009, the world became fascinated with the story of a U. S. Airways jet that splashed down into the Hudson River in New York City and then floated along calmly as passengers crowded its wings for rescue. Soon afterward, a salvage team used the East Coast's largest floating crane to extricate Flight 1549's fuselage and engine from the nearly frozen water.

Industrial photographer Stephen Mallon documented this process and reveals it to the world in the exhibition "Brace for Impact: The Aftermath of Flight 1549" at the Sol Mednick Gallery at the University of the Arts May 28 through August 7. Mallon's large-scale photographs impart a physicality and scale to these incomprehensible occurrences. The images present the viewer with the aftermath of this disaster, reminding them how it was averted despite nearly unbeatable odds through the mastery and bravery of the pilot and crew.

Mallon found his calling in industrial photography. He has been fascinated by industry since his teenage years and his photographs convey his sense of wonder at the engineering of concrete and steel.. His commercial clients have included Publicis and Sudler & Hennessey. Mallon, whose photos have been honored by Communication Arts, the New York Photo Festival and the Lucie Awards, is also a leader in the photo community. Since 2002, he has been a board member of the New York chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and served as president from 2006 to 2009. He lives in New York with his wife and their daughter.

This exhibition is concurrent with Barbara Yoshida's "Megaliths/Night/Sky" in Gallery 1401 (the Sol Mednick Gallery’s sister space).

The Sol Mednick Gallery, located on the 15th floor of Terra Hall (211 S. Broad St.) in the Media Arts department, offers a regular schedule of exhibitions of contemporary photography. The only endowed gallery in Philadelphia dedicated solely to the exhibition of photography, the gallery earned the Photo Review Award for service to photography and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2009. Associate Professor of Media Arts Harris Fogel has been the director of both galleries since 1997. Summer gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a. m. – 5 p. m.; weekend hours by appointment. Call 215-717-6300 for further information.