Simon Norfolk Blasts off with the Times Magazine

Space travel and the cosmos in photography are everywhere. The Times Magazine has a story about the use of satellites in this new age of the American space program, which is less and less likely to send Americans into space in shuttles. Photographer Simon Norfolk illustrated this piece, and it’s dramatic; I like the vertical landscapes showing satellite launches and missile streams best, but there are also some beautiful spaceyard detritus shots reminiscent of Jonas Bendiksen’s work on Soviet space station crash zones. About Norfolk’s work:

“The photographer Simon Norfolk has documented a series of military and
commercial launchings, as well as the respective launching sites. He
observes that rockets are “built on earth and live in the heavens” and
in both stages exist largely out of sight (and out of mind). But for 90
seconds, when it is “launched in fire between two worlds,” he says, a
rocket becomes a quintessentially observable object, a leaping,
shrieking arc of beauty and unnerving fascination — “an explosion,” as
he describes it, “that goes in one direction, rather than all
directions.” An exhibition of Norfolk’s photos, which have appeared
often in these pages in recent years, will take place at the New York
Photo Festival, May 14-18.”

Yup- this week is the start of the New York Photo Festival, and Simon Norfolk will be a part of Kathy’s Ryan’s curatorial effort down in DUMBO. This is a nice plug in the Times Mag. Be sure to check it out.

Simon Norfolk/NB Pictures, for The New York Times

An Atlas V rocket, carrying a commercial payload
for ICO Satellite Management, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, in Florida. April 14, 2008.

Simon Norfolk/NB Pictures, for The New York Times

A Delta II rocket, carrying a payload for the Air Force, launched from Cape Canaveral, March 15, 2008.

Simon Norfolk/NB Pictures, for The New York Times

Test flight of a nuclear missile (unarmed), Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, April 2, 2008.