Joni Sternbach

Joni Sternbach (born 1953) is an American photographer whose large-format camera images employ early photographic processes, including tintype and collodion. Using an 8×10 Deardorff large format camera, Sternbach focuses on in situ portraits of surfers. Sternbach's photographs are particularly notable for highlighting women surfers and surf culture,[1][2] and for her ethnographic rather than action approach.[3]

Early life

Sternbach was born in the Bronx, New York in 1953. She received her M.A. in photography from the International Center for Photography at NYU in 1987.[4][5] She has also taught photography at New York University and the International Center of Photography and Cooper Union.

Work

In a National Geographic profile, Sternbach describes her relation to using early photographic processes as deploying a medium in need of an appropriate subject matter, one that she gradually found surfers to fulfill quite by accident:[6] "Once I understood the limitations of the process, I realized that it was more of a question of finding a subject matter to suit the medium, not the other way around."[7][8] Indeed, Sternbach is regarded as a master and pioneer of the 20th-21st-century revival of early analog processes.[9][10]

Photographs in Sternbach's 2009 book Surfland are described by The New York Times as "a kind of ethnographic study in stillness, silvery portraits of a tribe united by a sense of adventure, the love of a sport and a connection to the ocean."[11] Sternbach's "16.02.20 #1 Thea+Maxwell" from the series Surfland was awarded second place in the 2016 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. Sternbach has been recognized for her work as a female surf photographer.[6]

Collections

Books

  • Surfland (2009), Photolucida[16]
  • Surf Site Tin Type (2014), Damiani Editore[17]
  • Surfboard (2020), self published
  • Kissing a Stranger (2021), Dürer Editions

References

  1. ^ Comer, Krista (2010). Surfer Girls in the New World Order. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4805-4.
  2. ^ Olive, Rebecca; Roy, Georgina; Wheaton, Belinda (2018-04-27). Stories of surfing Surfing, space and subjectivity/intersectionality, in Surfing, Sex, Genders and Sexualities, ed. Lisa Hunter. London, UK: Routledge. pp. chapter 8. doi:10.4324/9781315201238. ISBN 978-1-315-20123-8.
  3. ^ Cardwell, Diane (July 20, 2015). "Capturing the Stillness of Surfers in Portraits". New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  4. ^ "Photographer in Focus: Joni Sternbach - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  5. ^ LensCulture, Joni Sternbach |. "Joni Sternbach". LensCulture. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  6. ^ a b "12 Female Surf Photographers You Should Be Following Right Now". Surfer. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  7. ^ Dotschkal, Janna (7 June 2016). "Old-Fashioned Photos Reveal the Passion and Grit of Surfers". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Joni Sternbach - Primordial Portraits". Huck Magazine. 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  9. ^ Bendandi, Luca (2015). Experimental Photography A Handbook of Techniques. London: Thames & Hudson.
  10. ^ Photographs not taken. Steacy, Will, 1980-, Rexer, Lyle. [New York]. 2012. ISBN 978-0-9832316-1-5. OCLC 772499880.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Cardwell, Diane (2015-07-20). "Capturing the Stillness of Surfers in Portraits". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  12. ^ "Gwynedd Haslock - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  13. ^ "04.05.21 #4 (Prince's Harbor, Staten Island) | All Works | the MFAH Collections".
  14. ^ "The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City". Nelson Atkins. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  15. ^ "Joni Sternbach". Annenberg Space for Photography. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  16. ^ "Larissa Leclair - Surfland". Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  17. ^ "Surf Site Tin Type Joni Sternbach - 9788862083805". www.damianieditore.com. Retrieved 2020-02-08.