I still dream of unfolding my old 4x5 field camera, of throwing a black cloth over my head, cocking the shutter, and then waiting... and waiting. Landscape photography is about patience and time. It's about breathless observation -- inhale and stand stock still. Tack sharpness cuts both ways. I cannot count how many nights I stood guard beside an open shutter, straining to see what my camera would see. There are many gods in my pantheon of the vast view: Edward Weston, Richard Misrach, Edward Burtynsky, Andreas Gursky, and then there is Dan Holdsworth.

dan holdsworth

Holdsworth's works traverse the earth's edges, from Icelandic vistas to American roadways. Like Timothy O'Sullivan over a century before him, he is master of the sublime, charter of both romance and terror.

Using no tricks, no manipulations -- only film and the cool remove of omniscient observation -- he shows us the beauty and horror of an alien world that pulses before our very eyes.

And yet it's the same world we all live in. If you look very carefully you will see it here, there, and everywhere.

Art is an undervalued endeavor -- it does not create algorithms to invest money, invent pharmaceuticals, or generally further business interests in any way. And so, when the young and ambitious set their sights on the humanities, parents get nervous and friends shake their heads, and the young and ambitious learn to eat ramen and wear black. Street cred is a necessity, but so are clothes that hold up to paint, chemicals, and infrequent laundering. It's pretty glamorous, the life of an artist is.

Photograph by Tracey Moffatt, via Emmas Designblogg

I have spent 15+ years slaving over a hot darkroom sink, many more poring over art books, and several years teaching, but I still can't get enough of the photographs that set me on the path to poverty in the first place. Once afflicted, there is no cure for what ails you, save to embrace the disease.

Photograph by Andres Serrano, via NYT

And as much as I enjoy just browsing images on the net, it warms my cold, dirty black heart even more to see some of my favorite artists in the homes of the rich and famous. Thank jeebus somebody can make a living off their work, because who else could inspire the young and ambitious to sacrifice wealth, hygiene, and nutrition, in the name of art?

Vik Muniz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and Christopher Bucklow, via David Netto

Photos by Mark Shaw via Nate Berkus

Images by Rineke Dijkstra via Fox Mahem

Work by Adam Fuss via David Duncan Livingston

Image by Candida Hofer via Richard Powers

Image by William Eggleston in the home of Krysten Ritter

Photos by Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky via Michael Richman

Photo by Thomas Struth (on the right) via Met Home

Photo by Gilbert and George via OWI

Works by John Coplans (left bottom) and Loretta Lux in the home of Vicente Wolf

Photos by Steven Klein in the home of Nacho Figueras

I got a little obsessed while doing, ahem, "research" for this post, so I hope you won't be terribly disappointed if I hit you with a two-fer. Back on Monday with another roundup of not quite so epic proportions. In the meantime, I'm entertaining out of town guests, but Karly will be here to regale you with her always acerbic wit.

Have a great week!