Ryan McGinley writes about Sandy Kim on the occasion of Dear Dave Magazine’s 25th issue and Tenth Anniversary

Dear Dave Magazine, a tri-annual publication of photography and writing. celebrates its 25th issue and Tenth Anniversary with Spring Issue and asked for the occasion 25 contributors to write a short piece about a significant photographer to them.

Participating contributors include critics, artists, and writers, from diverse sensibilities and references :
Max Blagg, Susan Bright, Derek Blasberg, Ross Bleckner, Christopher Bollen, Joan Juliet Buck, Tim Davis, Jean Dykstra, Liz Goldwyn, Steven Heller, Jim Lewis, Michael Mack, Roxana Marcoci, Steven Henry Madoff, Ryan McGinley, Glenn O’Brien, Kunbi Oni, George Pitts, Sarah Nicole Prickett, Stephen Shore, Laurie Simmons, David Levi Strauss, Lynne Tillman, and Jody Quon.

Ryan McGinley selects Californian photographer Sandy Kim, here his words :

“Around 2009, I really fell in love with the music from a band called ‘Girls’ who were from San Francisco. I met the photographer Sandy Kim back then, she was living there and was the group’s documentarian. She photographed them from their early days of obscurity, through their rise to international success, to their eventual split. Sandy captured them better than anyone, somehow this picture sums it all up for me.

Having been shot by her myself, she’s lightning fast with her point and shoot film camera. She’s so damn quick and stealth but always seems to get the shot in the good light and capture the mood. Since social media is so standard nowadays, Sandy will often have an iPhone in one hand and a Olympus point and shoot in the other and cover the person both ways. She loves analog so much she just can’t part without getting the shot on film.

I love that Sandy is small, Asian, and overshares. Her raw images of her love life and long relationship with her boyfriend Colby are some of my favorites. The vulnerable images of her having sex, her period, or even period-sex, shot from the female perspective seem very empowering. I proudly own one from this series and it disturbs visitors as much today as it did when I hung it in 2010.

Sandy works between New York and LA nowadays, spending time shooting the singer Sky Ferreira, photographing LA sunsets, and of course her ongoing love affair with her boyfriend Colby. She just did a cool show at Little Big Man Gallery where she made her computer completely available to the viewer with all of her data and imagery publicly accessible, now that’s what I call disclosure, I love her.” — Ryan McGinley

Dear Dave comes out on June 15th, click here for more info.

Photo San Francisco band "Girls" shot by Sandy Kim

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