Photography

I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia

November 11, 2014 | by Michael Bixler

 

Living in the city is like trying to navigate a dream sometimes–a beautiful, terrifying, hilarious, heartbreaking, endearing dream. This delirious life of ours is perfectly encapsulated by the annual Philly Photo Day exhibition, opening this Thursday at Crane Arts. As is now tradition, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center kindly allowed us to drop in and take a sneak peek at all 1,903 submissions they received this past October. It was a wild, hallucinatory experience and we highly recommend it. Here is a small, but potent preview of what to expect.

Photo: John Hansen-Flaschen

Photo: Natalie Chicco

Photo: Rob Lybeck

Photo: Rob Lybeck

Photo: Rich Dunoff

Photo: Dyan Titchnell

Photo: Julia McCorry

Photo: Julia McCorry

Photo: Nam Susan

Photo: Kenneth Deprez

Photo: Ashleigh Rockey

Photo: Cj Recchia

Photo: Kimberly Paynter

Photo: Valerie Keller

Photo: Valerie Keller

Photo: Giovanni Baez

Photo: Giovanni Baez

Photo: Robert Cocozza

Photo: Robert Cocozza

Photo: Greg Cohen

Photo: Laurence Salzmann

Photo: Holly Keefe

Photo: Alex Djordjevic

Photo: Alex Djordjevic

Photo: Daniel Wilkinson

Photo: Daniel Wilkinson

Photo: Bruce Kravetz

Photo: Bruce Kravetz

 

Photo: Art Braitman

Photo: Art Braitman

Photo: Aaron Barnes

Photo: Aaron Barnes

Photo: Ron Tarver

Photo: Ron Tarver

Photo: Charlotte Toumanoff

Photo: Charlotte Toumanoff

Photo: Victoria Skowronski

Photo: Victoria Skowronski

Photo: Ron Leik

Photo: Jill Sherman

Photo: Jill Sherman

Photo: Jessica Gamble

Photo: Otis J Smith

Photo: Otis J Smith

Photo: Bruce Szewczyk

Photo: Bruce Szewczyk

Photo: Janice Watson

Photo: Janice Watson

* * *

The 5th annual Philly Photo Day exhibition opens this Thursday at 6PM at Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, 1400 N. American Street. The exhibition will run from November 13 to December 28.

Billboards showcasing 40 individual submissions—and a second outdoor exhibition to be held at Dilworth Park—will go up in early summer of 2015.

For more information about programming, classes, and Philly Photo Day, see the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center website HERE.

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About the Author

Michael Bixler is a writer, editor, and photographer engaged in dialogue and documentation of the built environment and how it relates to history, culture, and the urban experience. He is the editorial director and chief photographer of Hidden City Philadelphia.

5 Comments:

  1. fred phien says:

    So would I, too bad our city government sucks the life out of us via confiscatory tax rates and a bloated payroll dedicated to patronage and nepotism. The fundamentals haven’t been there in Philadelphia since the Home Rule Charter. It’s a disgusting perversion of the birthplace of our nation. We should be free, not beholden to a one party system and city government that wants to have a hand in everything.

    1. Palestra Jon says:

      You are 100% correct, Fred. The charter, which puts power in the hands of the Bosses by scheduling elections for odd years (keeping turnout as low as possible), having unnecessary At Large Councilpersons (2 for each party–why?)elected on plurality vote (impossible for insurgent to beat machine candidate in race with 4 or more candidates) and having the most important city official–the Council President, not subject to City Wide vote. As the Nutter election showed, you can elect an insurgent reformist on a City Wide vote, but he is powerless without Council, which is controlled by the machine. The PGW debacle shows everything that is wrong with this government—it works for City Workers and those who exchange votes for free gas or immunity from failure to pay taxes. With the young professionals moving to this City, we need good elementary schools and subways circling the downtown (25th Street, Delaware Ave and the City Branch) giving everyone a 10 minute ride almost anywhere without a car. But to pay for this, we need to collect taxes, and increase the tax base. The behavior of Marion Tasco and Darrelle Clarke is an insult to everyone who wants the City to advance.

  2. joseph ott, a.s,b.a.,m.a.,c.c.h. says:

    great pictures great artistic photos of philadelphia

  3. Mod Betty / RetroRoadmap.com says:

    Thanks for sharing these photos – I LOVE the idea, and the diversity of images and points of view. There’s so much beauty out there – it’s great to see everyone’s idea of what deserves to be captured on film.

    I also appreciate the info about the exhbit- I’ll have to check it out tomorrow!

  4. Betsy says:

    Whoa – great thing to do in Philly! Thanks for the tip.

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