Horizontal Portrait Photography

Brunch at Brennan's, 1960 - Brunch Under Palm Trees at Indoor Garden Restaurant 16" x 16" print on 16" x 20" paper. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Lat...

Memory Gaps (The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence) - 2013 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory #13359. Not mounted. Offered is a piece from the movie: The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence. Written and directed by Stefanie Schneider A tale told with blemished and expired Polaroid film about the hopes and dreams of a newly orphaned girl after losing her parents who lived in the Californian desert in an old travel trailer. -filmed with Polaroid film stock and Super-8 footage, overlaid with poetic voice-over monologue - this feature film creates a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick, Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl's journal. (Palms Springs life magazine / Caroline Ryder) Stefanie Schneider By Caroline Ryder Travel up a bumpy dirt road in Morongo Valley, the trail strewn with rocks, and you’ll come upon a gigantic 1950s trailer in pristine condition, ringed by a white picket fence, with cottontail rabbits hopping among neat little rose bushes that bloom in spite of the broiling desert heat. Inside the trailer are period accents—a vintage radio, vintage fridge, little crocheted doilies, and dusty gilt-framed photographs. It’s a surreal home-sweet-home, an Americana fantasy as imagined by German artist and experimental filmmaker Stefanie Schneider whose work is so inspired by the desert landscape, she made it her home in 2005. “There’s a completely different light here than in Germany, a beautiful light,” says Schneider, whose property in Morongo is dotted with vintage trailers. They surround her midcentury home and serve as sets for her photoshoots or as guest lodgings for her friends from Hollywood and Berlin. “But what I really love about the desert is the desolation,” she continues. “The sense of hope for something that might or might not come. It’s easy to see our dreams projected in the desert.” Famed for shooting trailer park chic fine art photographs exclusively on vintage Polaroid film, Schneider recently completed her most ambitious project to date—a feature film made entirely of Polaroid stills (4000 images in total), the story set around her magnificent 1950s trailer. The film, called “The Girl Behind The White Picket Fence” tells the story of a broken-hearted girl who lives in the trailer. Her name is Heather, and she is played by model Heather Megan Christie, girlfriend of actor Joaquin Phoenix, and former partner of Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, with whom she has a son. Heather stars opposite Kyle Larson (who plays ‘Hank’), a real-life gypsy fisherman who catches crab in Alaska when he’s not surfing in Southern California. Neither of the two had ever acted before, and never in the history of movie-making has a director shot a film entirely on Polaroid film. “There was great difficulty shooting a film this way,” says Schneider, who, with her long straight hair, wide innocent eyes, and thick-framed glasses, conjures an art-house Gretel. “If I had used a regular camera I would have had 36 exposures per minute, much faster and easier than using the old Polaroid camera which takes a long time to shoot one frame. Also, sometimes it doesn’t shoot at the exact moment you think it’s going to—but that’s really great because then you miss the perfect moment…and often those are the best shots.” Individually, the Polaroid photographs that comprise 29 PALMS, CA stand alone, but together and in sequence, filmed with super 8 and 16mm film stock and overlaid with poetic voice-over monologues, they create a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick. Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl’s journal. The idea to shoot a movie in this way came about in 2004 when Schneider was working with leading German director Mark Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace) on his film Stay. She had met Forster at director Wim Wender’s birthday party in Hollywood. A few years later, Forster asked Schneider to shoot Polaroids of scenes from Stay as he filmed; he used those photographs for dream and memory sequences in the movie. For the first time, Schneider saw her Polaroids strung together in sequence, moving with rhythm like a flipbook, in the context of a story. When Forster urged her to consider making a feature film using that technique, the seed of 29 PALMS, CA was sown. She mentioned the idea to her good friend German actor Udo Kier, who also gave the idea a big thumbs up, and agreed to play the part of a mysterious shaman in the film. Thanks to her strong reputation in the art world and her Hollywood connections, getting talented people on board was the easy part (for a while, Charlotte Gainsbourg was pegged to play the starring role, although she pulled out two weeks before shooting commenced because she was pregnant and not fit to travel to the desert.) The hard part was finding the perfect trailer—and bringing it to the desert. “This trailer almost killed us,” says Schneider’s partner Lance Waterman, who lives and works with Schneider in Morongo Valley. After finding it on eBay, the couple drove to Utah to pick it up, the plan being to tow it all the way back to the high desert themselves. Bad idea. “We were driving down a hill with this enormous trailer behind us when we realized that if we wanted to stop, there would be no way to do so without the trailer crushing us,” says Waterman. Adds Schneider: “Lance was even giving me instructions on how to jump out of the truck if we needed to.” Thankfully the road leveled and as soon as they were able to slow down and pull over, they called a professional towing company, which transported the trailer the remaining distance to Morongo Valley. Filming took place in Spring 2011 and 2012. Schneider recently submitted the film to major film festivals in Europe and the US, and it will be broadcast in 2013 by leading German television channel, Arte. While Schneider may come from a long tradition of photographers-turned-filmmakers—Stanley Kubrick started out as a photographer, as did Ken Russell (Tommy, Women in Love) and Larry Clark, who was a controversial fine art photographer before directing smash hit Kids—she does not see her future in Hollywood, directing blockbusters. Not necessarily. “I don’t think I want to make more films,” she says. “The actors were saying they would love to work with me again, and were asking if I would like to make other movies. But being on movie sets is far too stressful, and at least with this, I was in complete power of what was going on creatively. That said, if this gets a lot of acclaims…we can always think again. One should never say never.” Film features original soundtrack with songs by Adam Weiss, Daisy McCrackin, Billy Harvey, Sophie Huber, Zoe Bicat, Max Sharam, Cheyenne Randall...

Villa Vera Racquet Club Pool, 1968 - Mexico Holiday Acapulco Sports Club by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 15...

Dahlia 5, 2013 - Pale Blue Semi Cactus Laciniated Dahlia Photograph by Philip Gatward Dahlia 5 is a rich and luxurious Archival Inkjet Print by contemporary photographer Philip Gatw...

Road to Gunsight, part of Richard Heeps 'Dream in Colour' Series, this is the classic American open road photograph, which is a metaphor of a journey throughout Richard's work. The e...

Side Effects (The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence) - 2013 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory #13303. Not mounted. Offered is a piece from the movie: The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence. Written and directed by Stefanie Schneider A tale told with blemished and expired Polaroid film about the hopes and dreams of a newly orphaned girl after losing her parents who lived in the Californian desert in an old travel trailer. -filmed with Polaroid film stock and Super-8 footage, overlaid with poetic voice-over monologue - this feature film creates a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick, Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl's journal. (Palms Springs life magazine / Caroline Ryder) Stefanie Schneider By Caroline Ryder Inside the trailer are period accents—a vintage radio, vintage fridge, little crocheted doilies, and dusty gilt-framed photographs. It’s a surreal home-sweet-home, an Americana fantasy as imagined by German artist and experimental filmmaker Stefanie Schneider whose work is so inspired by the desert landscape, she made it her home in 2005. “There’s a completely different light here than in Germany, a beautiful light,” says Schneider, whose property in Morongo is dotted with vintage trailers. They surround her midcentury home and serve as sets for her photoshoots or as guest lodgings for her friends from Hollywood and Berlin. “But what I really love about the desert is the desolation,” she continues. “The sense of hope for something that might or might not come. It’s easy to see our dreams projected in the desert.” Famed for shooting trailer park chic fine art photographs exclusively on vintage Polaroid film, Schneider recently completed her most ambitious project to date—a feature film made entirely of Polaroid stills (4000 images in total), the story set around her magnificent 1950s trailer. The film, called “The Girl Behind The White Picket Fence” tells the story of a broken-hearted girl who lives in the trailer. Her name is Heather, and she is played by model Heather Megan Christie, girlfriend of actor Joaquin Phoenix, and former partner of Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, with whom she has a son. Heather stars opposite Kyle Larson (who plays ‘Hank’), a real-life gypsy fisherman who catches crab in Alaska when he’s not surfing in Southern California. Neither of the two had ever acted before, and never in the history of movie-making has a director shot a film entirely on Polaroid film. “There was great difficulty shooting a film this way,” says Schneider, who, with her long straight hair, wide innocent eyes, and thick-framed glasses, conjures an art-house Gretel. “If I had used a regular camera I would have had 36 exposures per minute, much faster and easier than using the old Polaroid camera which takes a long time to shoot one frame. Also, sometimes it doesn’t shoot at the exact moment you think it’s going to—but that’s really great because then you miss the perfect moment…and often those are the best shots.” Individually, the Polaroid photographs that comprise 29 PALMS, CA stand alone, but together and in sequence, filmed with super 8 and 16mm film stock and overlaid with poetic voice-over monologues, they create a dynamic kaleidoscope of words and pictures, a dreamy tale that channels Terrence Malick. Gus Van Sant, and pages torn from a lonely girl’s journal. The idea to shoot a movie in this way came about in 2004 when Schneider was working with leading German director Mark Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace) on his film Stay. She had met Forster at director Wim Wender’s birthday party in Hollywood. A few years later, Forster asked Schneider to shoot Polaroids of scenes from Stay as he filmed; he used those photographs for dream and memory sequences in the movie. For the first time, Schneider saw her Polaroids strung together in sequence, moving with rhythm like a flipbook, in the context of a story. When Forster urged her to consider making a feature film using that technique, the seed of 29 PALMS, CA was sown. She mentioned the idea to her good friend German actor Udo Kier, who also gave the idea a big thumbs up, and agreed to play the part of a mysterious shaman in the film. Thanks to her strong reputation in the art world and her Hollywood connections, getting talented people on board was the easy part (for a while, Charlotte Gainsbourg was pegged to play the starring role, although she pulled out two weeks before shooting commenced because she was pregnant and not fit to travel to the desert.) The hard part was finding the perfect trailer—and bringing it to the desert. “This trailer almost killed us,” says Schneider’s partner Lance Waterman, who lives and works with Schneider in Morongo Valley. After finding it on eBay, the couple drove to Utah to pick it up, the plan being to tow it all the way back to the high desert themselves. Bad idea. “We were driving down a hill with this enormous trailer behind us when we realized that if we wanted to stop, there would be no way to do so without the trailer crushing us,” says Waterman. Adds Schneider: “Lance was even giving me instructions on how to jump out of the truck if we needed to.” Thankfully the road leveled and as soon as they were able to slow down and pull over, they called a professional towing company, which transported the trailer the remaining distance to Morongo Valley. Filming took place in Spring 2011 and 2012. Schneider recently submitted the film to major film festivals in Europe and the US, and it will be broadcast in 2013 by leading German television channel, Arte. While Schneider may come from a long tradition of photographers-turned-filmmakers—Stanley Kubrick started out as a photographer, as did Ken Russell (Tommy, Women in Love) and Larry Clark, who was a controversial fine art photographer before directing smash hit Kids—she does not see her future in Hollywood, directing blockbusters. Not necessarily. “I don’t think I want to make more films,” she says. “The actors were saying they would love to work with me again, and were asking if I would like to make other movies. But being on movie sets is far too stressful, and at least with this, I was in complete power of what was going on creatively. That said, if this gets a lot of acclaims…we can always think again. One should never say never.” Film features original soundtrack with songs by Adam Weiss, Daisy McCrackin, Billy Harvey, Sophie Huber, Zoe Bicat, Max Sharam, Cheyenne Randall...

Sugarbush Skiing, 1960 - Skiers on Snowy Sugarbush Mountain in Vermont Winter by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. 'S...

Waiting (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate, Artist inventory number: 99...

David Pugh Feeling Blue (Genuine, Expressions, Color, Emotion) Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta, 100% Cotton Fibre, 315 gsm, Acid and Lignin free, ISO 9706 confo...

Woman on Bus, from the March on Washington, 1963 (printed later) by Leonard Freed, is a 11" x 14" gelatin silver print, signed and stamped on verso (back of photo) by the estate, Brigitte Freed (wife of the photographer). The photo is from Leonard Freed's series This Is the Day: The March on Washington and is on p. 81 of the book (Getty Museum, 2013). American photographer Leonard Freed enjoyed documentary storytelling and was a "concerned photographer" whose work demonstrated humanitarian concerns. Provenance: Freed archive. *** Artist’s Bio: Leonard Freed (1929-2006) was an American photographer from Brooklyn, New York. His "Black in White America" series made him known as a documentarian, a social documentary photographer. Freed worked as a freelance photographer from 1961 onwards and as a Magnum photographer Freed traveled widely abroad and, in the US, photographing African Americans (1964-65), events in Israel (1967-68, 1973), and the New York City police department (1972-79). Freed's coverage of the American civil rights...

Please note: On display at the S. Wilson and Grace M. Pollock Education Center Gallery at the Susquehanna Art Museum (1401 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA 17102) from August 12 through November 30, 2025. Sold artwork will be shipped to collectors following the close of the exhibition in January 2026.  This piece is an original artwork by Jason Chen titled "Coming To An End". It is made of archival pigment prints from the artist's photography that he then cuts into strips and weaves together by hand. The piece measures 28”h x 38”w and ships framed in the pictured 31”h x 41”w frame. In 2012, Jason Chen shifted his long-running focus on dry plate tintypes to a new process: photo weaving. Chen began using two separate images of the same person, then wove them together in a process exploring time, movement, process, and mutation. He has exhibited works in the series one by one over the years, but in Fragments, his 2015 solo exhibition at Paradigm Gallery, a full collection of these works were on display together for the first time. Bio // Jason Chen is originally from Guangzhou, China. He received his BFA in Animation from the University of Arts in 2008. Jason is a Philadelphia-based photographer specializing in Fashion, Editorial, and Alternative Process Photography...

Little Darlings (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005 Including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024...

New in Town (Oxana's 30th Birthday) - 2007, from the 29 Palms, CA project - 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signa...

Sunset (Oxana’s 30th Birthday) - 2007 featuring Radha Mitchell including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 196 pages, hardcover, published by Snap ...

Edition of 20 A black and white portrait of a female model sitting in South of France. Fashion and fine art embrace each other in the photography of Jacques Olivar (b. 1941), where...

A Vision you can't Capture (29 Palms, CA) - 2008 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 196 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 20...

Edition 10 more sizes on request This image shows the Orphaned elephant Baby named "Sabachi" in the Orphanage of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. Born in Germany in 195...

Portrait of Miranda Martino  is a vintage black and white photograph realized in the 1970s. Good conditions.

Vintage black and white photograph depicting Diego Armando Maradona wearing the Napoli shirt. Very good condition.

Into the Sky 6 is a C-Type print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, available in this size in an edition of 15. The 19th July 2022 was the UK's hottest recorded day. When most were ab...

'Brandon' (California Blue Screen) Edition 3/5, 44x59 cm, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on a Polaroid, Certificate and Signature la...

Hitachi TV, photograph by Richard Heeps captured at the top of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. A sense of nostalgia with seventies inspired mustard wallpaper as a retro kitsch backdrop for a black and white vintage Hitachi TV. This artwork is a limited edition of 25 gloss photographic print, dry-mounted to aluminium, presented in a museum board white window mount and a choice of black or white box frame fitted with anti-reflective UV70% glass, signed and numbered on reverse accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Handmade to order. This artwork is available in other sizes and pairs well with Richard's other artworks so be sure to look at our 1stdibs store to see more of his work. “Richard Heeps' seductive, highly-saturated colours and sophisticated pictorial structures demonstrate a true love and empathy for this subject matter – be it cool, descriptive interiors, still life or landscape.” His distinctive style pushes the limits of photography. The collectable and affordable, hand-printed colour photographs combine the best in traditional processing with the latest archival products – from photographic paper to mounting with a 100% cotton museum board. His artwork has been bought by many international collectors. Exhibitions Include: Royal Academy of Arts London, Photoville Brooklyn, The Photographers Gallery London, The Spitz Gallery London, Kettle's Yard Cambridge, Norwich Arts Centre. The Civic Centre Thurrock, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre Scunthorpe, Rochester Art Gallery, Preston Hall...

Society Artist, 1960 - Portrait of American Socialite Tish Massie in her Studio 16" x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. 'Society Artis...

Decked in Finery - Diamond Parure Jewellery New Year's Party Romanoff Photograph by Slim Aarons 16" x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later....

Richard Heeps photographed the Rockabilly scene in England, Europe and America over seven years culminating in his book, 'Man's Ruin'. 'Vintage Poolside...

This is # 2/7 Fine Art Print Limited Edition 42cm x 60 cm VADOR THE SPACE SHOW is the first exhibition of photographs by Stefan Darte which is currently being held in Brussels in the coworking area named The Spaces (Gare Maritime - Tour & Taxis) from december 15th up to march 31st Thirty prints are housed in high quality black anodized metal American boxes and all prints are supplied on heavyweight fine art paper printed with museum pigment inks. All photographs are exclusively offered in limited editions in 4 different formats : 42cm x60cm (7+2AP) 60cm x80cm (7+2+AP) 70cm-100cm (5+2AP) 100cmx150cm (3+2AP) Stefan Darte is a fighter pilot in the Belgian Air Force...

Oldsmobile and Sinful Barbie's, from Richard Heeps' 'Man's Ruin' Series. This artwork is part of a sequence capturing Wendy at the Rockabilly Weekender, Viva Las Vegas, these Barbie'...

Archival pigment print Signed and numbered, recto 20 x 24 inches, sheet (Edition of 7) 11 x 14 inches, sheet (Edition of 20) This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. About the artist: Rick Day is an American photographer based in New York City, who names Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and Victor Skrebneski as influences. His work concentrates on fashion advertising photography and video—his fashion spreads and images have been published in numerous publications across the world including “ELLE,” “Details,” “Vogue Italia,” “Männer,” “DNA,” and “GQ.” Day has produced four photography books since 2008, with BelAmi being the most recent (all published through Bruno Gmünder...

Nick Vedros Men! Archival Pigment Print on Epson Legacy Platine 100% Cotton Fibre, 314 gsm, Acid and Lignin free Year: 2000s Size: 8x12in Edition: 15 Signed, dated and numbered by h...

The Cow Edition of 25 signed and numbered by the artist A cow on the top of the hills in the Bavarian Alps. Every year the cows are taken to the pastures on the mountain pastures w...

Red Roses (Oxana's 30th Birthday) - 2007 from the 29 Palms, CA project 24x29cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label with ...

Sonhos silenciosas 2023 Silent dreams. A young performer during the Night of the Silent Drums. The Carnaval of Olinda, on the north east coast of Brazil, is a week of high energy and exuberance. Dancers and musicians perform in Blocos that progress slowly through the streets of the beautiful colonial era town. Olinda Pernambuco Brazil James Sparshatt‘s black and white portraits are a search for a connection with a world of emotions. His photographs from the streets of Havana, the milongas of Buenos Aires, the jazz clubs of New Orleans and bars of Andalucia capture the spirit of music in populations wher it is the very lifeblood and expression of life. Matt print direct on to aluminium Edition of 12 Dark wood tray...

Delilah Right Red Hand III, photograph from Richard Heeps Burlesque series. This is part of a sequence capturing Delilah in a Whoopee Club photo shoot. Richard Heeps became well-know...

This artwork was created by the artistic duo Hunter & Gatti (2010–2023). These works are part of the archive managed and exhibited by Cristian Hunter. The artist's technique consists...

Catherine D'Lish, Tease-o-Rama, photograph capturing her champagne coupe Burlesque performance in Hollywood. Richard Heeps became well-known for his Burlesque photography as he captu...

Forrest Gump Edition of 25 signed and numbered by the artist A tourist at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa takes a photo and wears a T-shirt with the slogan from Forrest Gump. ...

'There is no Forever' (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 40x48cm, Edition of 10. Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. ...

The Old Days  Photo - Horse is a black and white vintage photo, realized in the early 20th century.  It belongs to historical album including historical moment, royal families, and ...

Donna Fabrizia Lanza, 1984 - Villa Tasca Sicily Portrait Photograph by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. 'Donna Fabri...

The World Famous Bob, photograph capturing their Burlesque performance in Hollywood, LA. Richard Heeps became well-known for his Burlesque photography as he captured performances in ...

Blockhead Edition of 25 signed and numbered by the artist A man at the market sells carved wooden heads and looks like one of the wooden heads himself. JJK is a pseudonym for one o...

Deborah Harris is photographed on location in Malaysia wearing a custom-designed mermaid’s tail by Bob Mackie for Town & Country in February of 1990. This story was photographer Norm...

Skiing in Vail, 1964 - Colorado Ski Resort Destination Winter Sports Photograph by Slim Aarons 16" x 16" print on 16" x 20" paper. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 1...

Louvre moments Edition of 25 signed and numbered by the artist A tour group during a visit to the Louvre Museum. The guide is explaining a large mural and the people look exhausted....

Louvre moments Edition of 25 signed and numbered by the artist A tour group during a visit to the Louvre Museum. The guide is explaining a large mural and the people look exhausted....

Battlefield (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 44x59cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Invent...

Toast is Ready (Cyndi Lauper) from the 'Bring Ya to the Brink' record Album) 2009 - 40x48cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the original Polaroid....

Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1982 - Shopping in Winter in Italian Mountain Landscape by Slim Aarons 16" x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. 'Cor...

The Preparation (Heather's Dream) - 2013 part of "The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence" starring Udo Kier 38x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based ...

Portrait photograph From Richard Heeps 'Man's Ruin' Series. It is part of a sequence of artworks 'Wendy Flaming Eyeball', 'Wendy Resting' & 'Oldsmobile and Sinful Barbie's' taken at ...

A widow bird sate mourning for her love (Heather's Dream) - 2013 part of "The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence" featuring Udo Kier and Heather Megan Christie 38x48cm, Edition of ...

“Stones Into Camera” by Michael Joesph from the famous photo shoot of The Rolling Stones for their Beggars Banquet album at Sarum Chase mansion, Hampstead, London, 1968. Featuring Mi...

Jean Shrimpton and Terence Stamp photo by Terry O’Neill 1963 A close cropped portrait of British actor Terence Stamp and model Jean ‘The Shrimp’ Shrimpt...

A contemporary color photograph by Roberta Fineberg, the image is an homage to great Italian cinema of the 1960s, capturing French actor Alain Delon and Italian actress Claudia Cardi...

Blown Away (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventor...

"Fleeting Time" This photograph features the boats Courageous, American Eagle, Victory ’83 and Intrepid in the Atlantic Ocean off of Newport, Rhode Island. The nautical print ser...

Wonder Valley (Sidewinder) - 2005 20x57cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print based on the Super-8 footage. Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventory No ...

Deserted (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventory ...

Flying (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 part of the 29 Palms, CA project. 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #7870. Not mounted. LIFE’S A DREAM (The Personal World of Stefanie Schneider) Projection is a form of apparition that is characteristic of our human nature, for what we imagine almost invariably transcends the reality of what we live. And, an apparition, as the word suggests, is quite literally ‘an appearing’, for what we appear to imagine is largely shaped by the imagination of its appearance. If this sounds tautological then so be it. But the work of Stefanie Schneider is almost invariably about chance and apparition. And, it is through the means of photography, the most apparitional of image-based media, that her pictorial narratives or photo-novels are generated. Indeed, traditional photography (as distinct from new digital technology) is literally an ‘awaiting’ for an appearance to take place, in line with the imagined image as executed in the camera and later developed in the dark room. The fact that Schneider uses out-of-date Polaroid film stock to take her pictures only intensifies the sense of their apparitional contents when they are realised. The stability comes only at such time when the images are re-shot and developed in the studio, and thereby fixed or arrested temporarily in space and time. The unpredictable and at times unstable film she adopts for her works also creates a sense of chance within the outcome that can be imagined or potentially envisaged by the artist Schneider. But this chance manifestation is a loosely controlled, or, better called existential sense of chance, which becomes pre-disposed by the immediate circumstances of her life and the project she is undertaking at the time. Hence the choices she makes are largely open-ended choices, driven by a personal nature and disposition allowing for a second appearing of things whose eventual outcome remains undefined. And, it is the alliance of the chance-directed material apparition of Polaroid film, in turn explicitly allied to the experiences of her personal life circumstances, that provokes the potential to create Stefanie Schneider’s open-ended narratives. Therefore they are stories based on a degenerate set of conditions that are both material and human, with an inherent pessimism and a feeling for the sense of sublime ridicule being seemingly exposed. This in turn echoes and doubles the meaning of the verb ‘to expose’. To expose being embedded in the technical photographic process, just as much as it is in the narrative contents of Schneider’s photo-novel exposés. The former being the unstable point of departure, and the latter being the uncertain ends or meanings that are generated through the photographs doubled exposure. The large number of speculative theories of apparition, literally read as that which appears, and/or creative visions in filmmaking and photography are self-evident, and need not detain us here. But from the earliest inception of photography artists have been concerned with manipulated and/or chance effects, be they directed towards deceiving the viewer, or the alchemical investigations pursued by someone like Sigmar Polke. None of these are the real concern of the artist-photographer Stefanie Schneider, however, but rather she is more interested with what the chance-directed appearances in her photographs portend. For Schneider’s works are concerned with the opaque and porous contents of human relations and events, the material means are largely the mechanism to achieving and exposing the ‘ridiculous sublime’ that has come increasingly to dominate the contemporary affect(s) of our world. The uncertain conditions of today’s struggles as people attempt to relate to each other - and to themselves - are made manifest throughout her work. And, that she does this against the backdrop of the so-called ‘American Dream’, of a purportedly advanced culture that is Modern America, makes them all the more incisive and critical as acts of photographic exposure. From her earliest works of the late nineties one might be inclined to see her photographs as if they were a concerted attempt at an investigative or analytic serialisation, or, better still, a psychoanalytic dissection of the different and particular genres of American subculture. But this is to miss the point for the series though they have dates and subsequent publications remain in a certain sense unfinished. Schneider’s work has little or nothing to do with reportage as such, but with recording human culture in a state of fragmentation and slippage. And, if a photographer like Diane Arbus dealt specifically with the anomalous and peculiar that made up American suburban life, the work of Schneider touches upon the alienation of the commonplace. That is to say how the banal stereotypes of Western Americana have been emptied out, and claims as to any inherent meaning they formerly possessed has become strangely displaced. Her photographs constantly fathom the familiar, often closely connected to traditional American film genre, and make it completely unfamiliar. Of course Freud would have called this simply the unheimlich or uncanny. But here again Schneider almost never plays the role of the psychologist, or, for that matter, seeks to impart any specific meanings to the photographic contents of her images. The works possess an edited behavioural narrative (she has made choices), but there is never a sense of there being a clearly defined story. Indeed, the uncertainty of my reading here presented, acts as a caveat to the very condition that Schneider’s photographs provoke. Invariably the settings of her pictorial narratives are the South West of the United States, most often the desert and its periphery in Southern California. The desert is a not easily identifiable space, with the suburban boundaries where habitation meets the desert even more so. There are certain sub-themes common to Schneider’s work, not least that of journeying, on the road, a feeling of wandering and itinerancy, or simply aimlessness. Alongside this subsidiary structural characters continually appear, the gas station, the automobile, the motel, the highway, the revolver, logos and signage, the wasteland, the isolated train track and the trailer. If these form a loosely defined structure into which human characters and events are cast, then Schneider always remains the fulcrum and mechanism of their exposure. Sometimes using actresses, friends, her sister, colleagues or lovers, Schneider stands by to watch the chance events as they unfold. And, this is even the case when she is a participant in front of camera of her photo-novels. It is the ability to wait and throw things open to chance and to unpredictable circumstances, that marks the development of her work over the last eight years. It is the means by which random occurrences take on such a telling sense of pregnancy in her work. However, in terms of analogy the closest proximity to Schneider’s photographic work is that of film. For many of her titles derive directly from film, in photographic series like OK Corral (1999), Vegas (1999), Westworld (1999), Memorial Day (2001), Primary Colours (2001), Suburbia (2004), The Last Picture Show (2005), and in other examples. Her works also include particular images that are titled Zabriskie Point, a photograph of her sister in an orange wig. Indeed the tentative title for the present publication Stranger Than Paradise is taken from Jim Jarmusch’s film of the same title in 1984. Yet it would be dangerous to take this comparison too far, since her series 29 Palms (1999) presages the later title of a film that appeared only in 2002. What I am trying to say here is that film forms the nexus of American culture, and it is not so much that Schneider’s photographs make specific references to these films (though in some instances they do), but that in referencing them she accesses the same American culture that is being emptied out and scrutinised by her photo-novels. In short her pictorial narratives might be said to strip films of the stereotypical Hollywood tropes that many of them possess. Indeed, the films that have most inspired her are those that similarly deconstruct the same sentimental and increasingly tawdry ‘American Dream’ peddled by Hollywood. These include films like David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990) The Lost Highway...

You're not taking care of me! (Till Death do us Part) - 2008 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signa...