Apologies for the absence of POD during the latter part of last week. Normal service will now be resumed…

My selection today is a slideshow, presented by Foto 8, from Eugene Richards introducing his latest book, ‘The Blue Room’.

‘The Blue Room’ is a study of the abandoned and forgotten houses of rural America.

The photo above of the marks left by framed photos long since removed, was one I found particularly poignant and seemed to epitomise the essence of the project - the sense of loss and transient nature of life and memory.

I’m not in a position to comment on the book as a body of work as I’m yet to get a copy. However with Christmas coming up it’s on my list…

Eugene Richards.

The Blue Room.

Post communist Russia is a land of extremes: geographical, political and economic. Not surprisingly this has attracted a number of photographers interested in documenting the country.

Rafal Milach’s ‘7 rooms’ - a photographic essay composed from 2004 to 2009 is particularly striking.

Krasnoyarsk

Sasha and Nastya in Their New Flat

Vasya at the Backstage of the Nightclub

All photos © Rafal Milach

More here.

Something a little different today. A selection of images from the The 2009 LCC MA Photography Final Show & Catalogue.

Untitled 1 from the series ‘A Modern Bohemian’ by Kate Elliott

Re: Hay Wood [2] by Karen Grainger

Look Left Look Right by Hester Jones

Bathroom by Pablo Baqué de Puig

The exhibition runs from 24th November to 3rd December at The Gallery, London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle, London, SE1 6SB. The private view is tonight.

Our second exhibition of the day was a joint effort: Selected Photographs 2006-2009 by Jim Green and Akemi’s Place - Paintings and Prints by Natalie Abadzis.

Half of the space is occupied by Natalie’s delicate, intriguing vignettes which are beautifully displayed and contrast with Jim’s robust, graphical and luminous imagery which occupies the rest of the space.

The exhibition is at Nolias Gallery, 60 Great Suffolk Street, London, SE1 0BL and only runs until 3PM on the 24th November - so hurry!

10% of all artwork sold goes to Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Andy and I took a trip last week to see a couple of exhibitions.

First up was David Solomons’ ‘Happenstance’ - a retrospective of black and white ‘public’ photography by London-based David Solomons.

There are some forty images in the exhibition. Although most of the images on display were taken in London, there are a number of images from other locations. The quality of the imagery is high with few weak links. The images range from the quirky to the poignant, but all show Solomons’ eye for the decisive moment.

The exhibition is at Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 6HG. It runs until 27th November.

There’s also a book.

Our first selection this week is a stunning series from Marianne Mueller:

© Marianne Mueller

From the artist: “The Flock is based on the long-time observation of a precisely delimited situation—John Mandato and his birds on a rooftop in Brooklyn. John introduced me to the breeding and flying of birds, to the history of his neighborhood, its crimes and murders, and his life as a WWII veteran. I gained his trust, and he allowed me to do my work while he did his: observing and chasing birds. The project consists of photographs, videos, sound recordings, and an interview.”

Lots more here: The Flock.

Our final selection this week is a striking photo from Caroline De Vries.

© Caroline De Vries

From her Iceland series. More here.

It was inevitable that sooner or later I would succumb and select a Parr shot for POD.

© Martin Parr

This image is from arguably his strongest piece of work, ‘The Last Resort’.

More here.

Today a portrait from the series ‘Swimmers’ from Kalpesh Lathigra:

© Kalpesh Lathigra

More here.

Our selection today is a varied series from Aurelien Chauvaud.

All photos © Aurelien Chauvaud

The full series here.