2008’s amazing presidential race: One battleground state’s view

Barack Obama made 50 campaign appearances in Indiana this election year. Indianapolis photographer Robin Jerstad trailed the presidential candidates this spring and fall as first the primaries and then the general election campaigns touched down in the Hoosier State. From campaign offices to polling places, from the Democrats’ Jefferson–Jackson Day event in May to John McCain’s airport tarmac rally the day before Election Day, Jerstad offers a battleground state’s perspective on this year’s history-making campaigns. Re-live the race by viewing his two-part photo story, “2008’s Indy Races”. This is Proof’s first photo-report to debut on the web.

December 2008
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‘Made in New York’—and republished (under license) in Denmark!

Proof’s photo-report on New York City immigration (“Made in New York” from issue 5) has been translated into Danish and published in the Copenhagen-based magazine Social Kritik (October 2008 issue). Four of Danny Goldfield’s photos appear on the cover (left) and another 13 images appear inside, including all 11 that ran in Proof’s story. Social Kritik’s editor, Benny Lihme, introduced the eight-page package with a forward entitled “Al verdens børn i én by!” (“All the world’s children in one city!”). David Dyssegaard Kallick’s text was translated by Joachim Wrang. To view thumbnail images of the Social Kritik story, click the cover image at left. (Or click here for a PDF version.)

November 2008
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“Three Days of Peace, Love and Photography”

Proof was proud to be one of nearly 20 media partners of this year’s LOOK3, the annual “Festival of the Photograph” held in June in Charlottesville, Virginia. In its second year the gathering drew some 1,200 fans, practitioners and connoisseurs of photography, including Jean-François Leroy (who sets the world standard for these events with his annual Visa pour l’image festival in Perpignan, France) and Proof editor Stephen Davis (availing himself of a pass graciously provided by LOOK3 to its media partners).

Thanks and kudos to LOOK3 founders Michael Nichols and Jessica Nagel, and to operations manager Andrew Owen and festival manager Lisa Draine, who among their many other duties helped us arrange for complimentary copies of issue 5 to be available to festival-goers in the registration area. We’re already planning a return next year, and can recommend this fun and inspiring event to photo lovers everywhere. (For more on LOOK3, click the image at left.)

June 2008
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We had a ball!

Drag divas Sherry Vine and Gusty Winds performed at our “Sequins and the City”–themed gala ball, the issue 5 release party held in photographer John Bentham’s lower Manhattan studio on May 22. Bentham had gotten to know Gusty and Sherry while photographing them for the issue’s cover story, which was written by Robin Noble.

Thanks to all who attended and to John for transforming his studio into a nightclub for the event, complete with raised stage and spotlights. Thanks also to our “event staff”, bartender Doug Christian and doormen Gil Perez and Jeff Linson; and to advertiser CurrantC for providing a few cases of their black currant nectar, a health drink that performed ably (we’re told) alongside vodka in a pseudo-Cosmopolitan concoction that the company calls a “CurrantCini”. (For the recipe click here.) And thanks to the evening’s true stars, Sherry and Gusty!

May 2008
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‘Real-life Rocky’ regales café crowd with stories of Ali fight

Chuck Wepner, the boxer who inspired Sylvester Stallone’s original Rocky film, was the honored guest at an evening of readings and presentations from Proof’s sports issue in NYC’s Cornelia Street Café July 24th.

Wepner, subject of a photo-profile by award-winning historian James T. Campbell and photographer Douglas Holt, shared thoughts on his career—and a few choice anecdotes about his famous 1975 bout with Muhammad Ali—during the Q-and-A session that capped a memorable evening. (For an evocative account of the evening, read boxing writer Robert Mladinich’s article “Boxing Sometimes Allows For Happy Endings” at www.thesweetscience.com.)

Thanks to Chuck and his wife, Linda, and to our featured readers and presenters: Michele Herman, Bruce J. Schulman, Peter Wood and Gil Perez; photo operetta collaborators John Verity (editor-director), Thomas Boyd (photographer), Michael Harlan Turkell (photographer) and Nick Moore (musical composer).

Special thanks to Angelo Verga, Nichola Weir, Steve and the rest of the staff at Cornelia Street Café (29 Cornelia St., between 6th Ave. and Bleecker St.; 212-989-9319); to event production consultants number nine for continuing support; and to the New York Post for giving us a little ink on Page Six! (Click the image at left to read the Post’s July 22nd item.) Click here to view a commemorative program or here for a PDF version.

July 2007
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“Kitchen Duty” photo story featured on chow.com

Shot on a Proof assignment Michael Harlan Turkell’s photos depicting a day in a New York restaurant’s kitchen were featured as the top story on foodie website chow.com in January 2007.

The photo gallery also made use of captions written by Robin Noble and edited by Melissa Wohlgemuth for a six-page photo story (“Kitchen Duty”) that appeared in Proof’s food issue. The kitchen depicted is that of PUBLIC, the New York City eatery run by chef Brad Farmerie.

To view chow.com’s photo gallery, click the image at left or use this link: “Behind the Swinging Doors”. The story is the result of Proof’s first-ever relicensing deal.

Jan. 2007
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Thanks to all who attended our Dec. 7th reading and photo presentation!

Proof’s “live” presentation of issue 3 (see handbill, left) drew a crowd to Grounded café in New York’s Greenwich Village Dec. 7th.

Thanks to readers and presenters Alexandra Shelley, Jane Palmer and Tom LeCompte; photo show producers John Verity and Cassandra Cook, musical composer Nick Moore; contributors Benjamin Rusnak, Michael Harlan Turkell, Robin Noble, Linda Zacks and Chris Werner; technical support engineers Aaron Mason and Brendan Gray of number nine; our doorman Gil Perez; and to Jen Greenberg and her staff at Grounded (28 Jane St., New York City; 212-647-0943) for making the evening a success!

Dec. 2006
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Mission statement

Proof magazine celebrates photojournalism’s greatest era—the present—because even in the age of 24-hour cable and internet news, still pictures still matter. And because a single picture rarely captures the whole story, Proof specializes in the multipage photo story, which places pictures in an editorial context in order to meet the aims and needs of both passionate photographers and visually literate readers at once. Just as essential to Proof are words, in the form of opinionated essays, subjective news reports and fiction. It’s this combination of “pictures + arguments” that makes Proof a singular forum for photojournalism today.

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Launch issue editorial

Editor’s Note: What’s the point of PROOF?
Pictures + Arguments

Proof was supposed to debut last fall. Unfortunately, September 11th intervened . . . (more)

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Press releases

• June 2007: POW! July 24th café event to mark PROOF’s newest issue, on sports. For a PDF version, click here.

• March 2003: Proof debuts in bookstore chains.

• March 2002: Proof magazine launched. (Version française.)

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