On a day when computers seem determined to frustrate humans (you know what I mean), I was happy to be able to absorb myself in Richard Renaldi’s pdf books, from a nice gallery of nearly a dozen on his web site. Richard, who will be doing a lecture and workshop here at the PRC in September, clearly has a lot of images flowing into and through his system; these PDFs form a useful way to organize and present them without having to commit enormous amounts of time or money. Some may end up as real books (I think there’s some promise in the Easter Parade, for one), but I suspect that these are more for fun and quick takes than for long-term. I hesitate to say it, but these are photo books that might actually work on electronic readers, in much the same way that a family snapshot album might travel with you.

This fall, close to 150 vintage and contemporary photographs go up for auction to benefit the PRC and its programming. Above is one of the amazing images on which you can bid.

In this new feature on the PRC blog, we will be featuring two generous donations from the 2009 PRC Benefit Auction-on Mondays and Thursdays-each week through the summer and fall. Tickets will be available in August and a catalogue will be posted online in September.

Click here or on the above image for more information and keep checking back!

Richard Renaldi, Jerome and Rahsaan, from the series “The Plains,” 2005, C-Print, 16 x 20 inches, Edition 1/10, Signed verso, Courtesy of Artist.