From the series Three Star by James Deavin

Here it is. The second segment of my interview with James Deavin. Enjoy!

Alice: Visually your show is not that different from your earlier work, other than it is shot in another world... It is an impressive body of work. Were you working on the SL shots before NYC, HHS!, and your Ultra status?

James: No I started 3 months before the show opened. In the meantime I made work in the UK, in Bourneouth, a series called 3 Star...And some other stuff in NYC... I was introduced to Second Life and logged in w/ the sole intention of making pictures. I wandered around for 3 months without interacting really with anyone working out what it was all about

A: Did you figure it out?

J: it's a shame the 3 star stuff has been TOTALLY overlooked because of the SL stuff...Figure what out?

A: What it's all about? This Second Life... I'm joking, you don't need to go there. I'm still somewhat in awe over it, that's all.

J: WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT????? SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE. Well I know I have different opinions on what its all about to everyone at Linden Labs. I am writing an essay at the mo, on photography and SL, that makes it all clear.

A: I anxiously await.

J: It just fascinates me how it is possible to approach an entire world through the medium of perspective.

William Henry Jackson and his glass plates and camera gear

A: I can't help but imagine you virtually lugging your view camera around that treacherous landscape... That's still how it is in my mind.

J: Heh...Well that's the funny thing about it. That camera in SL was made for me! I mean its really mad in fact - there is NO way that camera system has been used by anyone to its full potential until I came along... it is a view camera.

A: A pioneer... THE pioneer.

J: How would non view camera users know that, or want to know that, its bizarre in fact... I asked Philip Rosedale about it at the opening. he said: "We made it for you."

A: sweet!

J: ...and 77mb file sizes! who would use that?? Except someone who wanted to make 40/50 prints??

A: It is a bit crazy.

Photographs from the New World by James Deavin

J: The funny thing is... I thought the SL images were a massive step backwards at first. They reminded me of the stuff I was doing in the RW at age 25 or something. You know just wandering around, taking pictures, whistling, taking pictures, all very innocent... Stuff like Three Star seemed to have much more depth to it. It was only as i started reading about and looking at still life painting that the penny dropped, and i saw how the SL stuff could develop.

A: Some of the SL shots would have gone over very very well in my beginning Large Format class...

J: right. its all straight verticals and so on. is that what you mean?

A: Basically.

J: And sharp back to front! Without focusing! Joy!

A: It amazes me how much talk the work generates.

J: I always forget to focus my view camera. it can be really annoying (when i get the film back) I am an expert "sharpener' in Photoshop...

A: How's the SL lens...?

J: what talk, Alice?

A: I got into a 30 min chat with someone in the gallery the other day about the work and SL

J: Wide angle.

A: Some people just won't stop...

J: Which is ok, although use normal to long in RL.

A: Maybe they'll make options...

J: do you get the feeling that people are thinking about authorship???

A: No, I don't...I think it's more the "mind trip" it takes them on...

J: OK...but wouldn't they get that trip through the computer screen too?

A: It seems we're all so caught up in the idea of a photographer documenting another world in the same way that he would document this one.

J: Right.

A: I thought it was a show of novelty at first, I will admit... However, no longer the case.

J: lol

A: It's good stuff. Anyways... Do you have any advice for aspiring Hot Shots and/or the new round of winners?

J: OK. My advice is that you could have a great opportunity on your hands. There can be no better way to get a show up quickly in NYC, with great people. That and remember to focus and stop trying to be William Eggleston...I mean, really!

From William Eggleston's Guide

A: Remembering to focus, not always an easy task. But Eggleston, he might be even harder to let go of...

J: and STAY OUT of SL!! Incidentally, where do you study?

A: Chicago

J: SL is my turf!

A: Oh we're all moving in, and never sleeping again.

J: Do you take pictures? Do you have an avatar? Questions questions! Role reversal!

A: Yes. And in fact I am still taking pictures.

J: What's your avatar's name? (Send them to me.)

A: Alie Wheels

J: Oh yeah? Brill.

A: flickr.com/photos/akwells

J: Do you think Flickr is a good medium for a portfolio?... Alie wheels -that makes me laugh!

A: It's not necessarily bad. But, my website is still a work in progress, stay tuned...

J: So do you need to know anything else, alie wheels?

A: I think that'll do. You're too kind to offer your time...

J: Well get back in touch if you need anything else, pleasure. Nighty night.

A: Will do. Sleep well.

Installation view of Photographs from the New World by James Deavin

This Wednesday from 6-8 pm jen bekman will be hosting what promises to be a rather intriguing artist talk. Marisa Olson of Rhizome will moderate a discussion between James Deavin and Eva + Franco Mattes about their respective projects documenting Second Life:Photographs from the New World and 13 Most Beautiful Avatars. Still somewhat mystified by this virtual world, I am anxious to hear what the artists have to say. Find out more about the event here.

To wet your whistle, last week I interviewed James about Hey, Hot Shot!, the show, and Second Life. Today I give you the first half of our little chat. Check back tomorrow for Part 2 and on Wednesday come hear him speak live in the gallery.

And we're off!

Alice: I'm new to this IM thing, at least it's been a while. I just got AIM and I downloaded Adium.

James: ok. well this works. i just like Skype cos they have the best emoticons, they rock

A: Well, I'll have to look into it then...

J: this one doesn't have ANY and that's bad

A: It does the trick... So your show is bringing them in in droves.

J: i see a world in the future when we all communicate solely by emoticons...Oh really? Droves?

A: And they're all asking for you.

J: Alice. I know Jen is putting you up to this.

A: No, I too think it's a bit silly to be so far when there is so much good going on here

J: Well no one has actually told me what i would physically do if i were in NYC...

A: Well, just being here would be enough.

J: erm

A: In the air... Anyways. How about this "interview"?

J: ok

A:You're the first Hot Shot to have a show at jb...That's pretty exciting AND it's a great one at that...Can you sum up in maybe a few sentences how HHS! has changed your life? To really lay it on you...

So that was a big question... Let me start over. Not too long ago you were a Hot Shot, then an Ultra, and now have a solo show that is starting quite a buzz. That's a lot for such a small amount of time.

J: So... HHS! well i just moved to NYC and was looking to meet people you know...

A: Did you enter before you headed this way?

J: No, and to be honest I cannot remember how I found out about the competition either. I thought it was unusual for a gallery to be doing something like this and I wasn't sure how it would develop. I was entering competitions generally, like Art & Commerce Emerging Photographers for instance... anyhow, for me, it got good when i started talking to Jen.

A: How so?

J: Well I like Jen and she is v. helpful in dealing with getting everything happening. Basically I liked working with her... I didn't even know there was an "ultra" part to the competition or the possibility of representation I was just entering competitions to get known.

A Summer 2005 Hot Shot winning image by Deavin

A: HHS! is a thing all it's own--there really is nothing like it, it's true. Did you win any of the other competitions?

J: I got stuff shown at Art & Commerce and quite a lot of stuff back in the UK. That's the thing about HHS!, though, it turns out there is much more of a future to it - the other comps just give you one chance to show in a large group show (like i thought HHS! was too), but it turns out HHS! has a future. . . . It's funny though, the fact that it's not "traditional" is very off-putting to many artists. The art world is so conservative.

A: So true. But because of this a lot of great work gets out there that otherwise perhaps would not get the chance, at least so early on. Do you think HHS! jump started some things for you here in NYC? Or set you on a different track as a photographer?

J: Well sure HHS! got me going gallery-wise in NYC. It's a tough nut to crack and it has given me amazing exposure that I am extremely grateful for...I'm not really on a different track though, I am still doing pretty much my own work and I do not think I have become more "art" orientated than anything else. I still hope my practice is not defined by where it is seen entirely...and I love the idea of growing with a gallery.

A: Photographs from the New World is a pretty, I hate to use the word, provocative show, one that might not have been as easy to sell to just any gallery.

Visit jen bekman on Second Life. Coordinates: Hooper (128, 28, 46)

J: It's perfect for jbg if that is what you mean. I don't know how hard it would have been to "sell" it to other galleries as I never tried... provocative, maybe but its hard to get an appointment at them!

A: It's perfect for jb. We practically live on the web over here...

J: I mean for an emerging photographer you have to show at group shows and befriend people in the industry, you know, pay your dues. HHS! is a different version of this...

A: So true. Trying to focus, sorry. thoughts everywhere.

J: The difficulty, and I know this isn't the point of the interview, is getting everyone else to believe this!

To be continued...

Black Friday Frenzy at Macy's in Herald Square from Hot Shot! Casey Kelbaugh

Our very own Spring 2006 Hot Shot, Casey Kelbaugh, has a terrific, yet frightening photograph on the front page of today's New York Times. I don't know about you, but I've been trying my very, very best to stop being the good little consumer that I am and participate in Adbusters' Buy Nothing Day. This has proven far more difficult than I had hoped; I have a million and one excuses up my sleeves and 12 hours still remain. Luckily, I wasn't one of the thousands waiting in line outside of a department store at 4 a.m. on a freezing November morning; that takes some serious goals. Full of admiration, we are proud of our brave Hot Shot, shooting at risk of shoppers' stampede.

See the featured photograph and read the article here. Or even better be a rebellious rebel and get yourself a good ol' hard copy.

Untitled by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Mette Maersk

Take a look at the Fall 2006 Hot Shots' work. We've got 30 excellent images in our HHS! Winners set, up now on Flickr! Check it out here.

And get ready: you can see all this work live at the Hot Shot! Showcase December 13, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. Be there!

Untitled (Three) by Fall Hot Shot Patrick Smith

It keeps getting harder and harder, but somehow we have managed to narrow it down to a final ten! Drum roll please...The winners for the Fall 2006 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! are:

Juliana Beasley
Joe Fornabaio
Hans Gindlesberger
Joseph O. Holmes
Mette Maersk
Chad Muthard
Victoria Rich
Sasha Rudensky
Patrick Smith
Shen Wei

Write it in—the Showcase Soiree in honor of our new Hot Shots is Wednesday, December 13 from 6 - 8pm. The show will be up from December 14 - 17, 2006 and what a show it promises to be! And Fall Hot Shots are also going to be included in the first of its kind HHS! Yearbook, out this December!

Special thanks to our fantastic group of panelists, to Jeff Kirsch and Jesse Chan-Norris for all their hard work and commitment to the jb, and, of course, a big thank you out to all of the participants!

It indeed was a difficult round for decision making and with so much great stuff to see, some Honorable Mentions are in order:

Joslin Van Arsdale, Alain Astruc, Meg Birnbaum, Karin Bubas, Alana Celii, Larissa Cleveland, Cary Conover, Rachel Herman, Alexandra Huddleston, Siri Kaur, Drew Kelly, Orrie King, Daniel Kopton, Suzette Lee, Nick Meyer, Stephen Miller, Graeme Mitchell, Mark Rubenstein, Lissa Rivera, Angie Smith, Sam Sweezy, Grant Willing, Christopher Young

There's some good work in those links...spend some time, take a look. And stay tuned for more excitement in the week to come!

Paddy's Mother's Wig by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Juliana Beasley

Juliana Beasley
Currently residing in: Jersey City, NJ

Website: http://www.julianabeasley.com/

Work Statement:
The people in these photographs are largely disregarded: the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill, alcoholics, or drug addicts. They live in a close- knit community along the boardwalk of the Rockaways. I became accepted with my camera in hand.

I feel compelled to photograph the people I've met in the Rockaways with the same honor and clarity I would bestow upon my own parents. I document an illness we share in common; reflecting upon a chaotic childhood soaked in the misery of alcoholism and two parents dead of a fatal disease. Despite our worldly exteriors, our humanity connects us.

This project confronts various levels of marginalization. There is a geographic marginalization insofar as all of this takes place on a peninsula at the far-flung edge of the city where the fog rolls over the beaches. Secondly, there is the social marginalization, the fact that the subjects are poor, physically or mentally challenged, and otherwise living far outside the mainstream, virtually invisible. Finally, and most importantly perhaps, there is the interior marginalization, a loneliness that I attempted to capture in the portraits, a sense of personal isolation that is often exacerbated by or results in alcoholism or drug addiction.

Bio:
Juliana Beasley was born in Philadelphia, PA, USA, on August 16, 1967. After graduating from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in New York in 1990, she began working as a freelance photographer, covering the city's nightlife for the Village Voice. In 2003, she published Lapdancer (powerHouse Books 2003), an intimate photographic and text account of the world of strip clubs. In 2004, she photographed the rehabilitation of landmine victims in Cambodia. Her newest book project concerns substance abuse and mental illness in a boardwalk community in Queens, New York.

Her work has appeared in many major publications, including American Photo and The New Yorker in the US, and Max in Germany. Her work is represented Contact Press Images and the pH on-line gallery, both in New York. Ms. Beasley has participated in group shows and in 2006, had her first one-woman show in Stockholm at the Kontrast Galleri. Most recently she showed her work at the Camera Club of NYC Competition, juried by Antonin Kratochvil. She will lecture about her book and have a signing at the Camera Club in November 2006.

When not working she is dancing with her dog, Moishe in Jersey City.

Cakestare by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Joe Fornabaio

Joe Fornabaio
Currently residing in: Staten Island, NY

Website: http://www.joefornabaio.com

Work Statement:
My current focus is on my family but not just my parents, brothers and sister but also aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. I grew up literally and emotionally very close to them so they're more than just an extended family. I enjoy the holidays and personal occasions that allow me to just be with them, and the pictures from these occasions are really an extension of the happiness of their gathering. On any occasion I'm there in celebration with them but they've become comfortable with my camera by my side so I get to shoot the things that I find interesting about them without drawing a glance. And what do I find interesting about them? Everything. I know, I know...cliche, but it's true. The kids are an endless source of entertainment and the adults make for and endless display of manners. There's no deep meaning to my work, I just enjoy the time I spend with them and I'm drawn to their little habits and quirks that make them beautiful. And as a result, I've started to explore this with other projects.

Bio:
Born and raised in Brooklyn,NY. Was introduced to photography by my high school arts teacher which led me to a BFA in Photography at The School of Visual Arts. Assisted editorial and commercial/advertising photographers for a bunch of years and now I'm pursuing my own career in editorial and commercial/advertising photography.

Untitled (theatre) by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Hans Gindlesberger

Hans Gindlesberger
Currently residing in: Buffalo, NY

Website: http://www.gindlesberger.com/

Work Statement:
As a result of neglect or inability to modernize, the American small town has fallen victim to economic decline and is forced to consider its relevance in contemporary society. As a remedy, there is a rush to embrace a nostalgic image of an idealized past. However, by adopting this mythical image, the small town becomes a simulated space. This work explores the strained relationship of an anachronistic simulation with the present reality and the residual effect on individual identity.

Probing the psychology of a transient character inserted within a variety of constructed environments calls to attention how the individual is affected by his environment. This staging references the form of theater along with silent film and pushes otherwise realistic images toward the threshold of a dreamlike space. These photographic scenes suspend a transitory moment in which the protagonist is presented with an opportunity to make a decision. In his aimlessness, the character is a product of the changing relationship of the small town to mass society. The repeated emphasis on the will of the character and the absence of decisive action renders these situations absurd and interrogates contemporary concerns about identity, authenticity, and the loss of belonging.

Bio:
The experience of growing up in the small town Midwest is the root of my work. I stayed in Ohio through the completion of my BFA at Bowling Green State University before moving to Buffalo, NY to pursue an MFA. Photography appealed to me first as a common interest with my father and then as a way to engage in a different way of looking at my environment. Currently, I hold positions as an adjunct instructor at several schools in Western New York. Aside from making work, I have enjoyed traveling extensively for the past several years, both throughout the US and abroad.

Hot and Cold Salad bar by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Joseph Holmes

Joseph Holmes
Currently residing in: Brooklyn, NY

Website: http://joesnyc.streetnine.com/

Work Statement:
Taking pictures is extremely gratifying. There are mornings when I'm wandering through Soho or Tribeca or Chinatown, when the sunlight is fine and diffuse and the air takes on an unfamiliar tint, when the hydrants and street debris seem a little too purposely arranged, maybe a little coy or ironic, and it's at those times that I'm seized by the feeling that the whole city is a film set. I imagine a crew of little film-set elves passing through during the night, sprinkling film-set dust everywhere and preparing the street for the arrival of camera operators, focus pullers, and little elf teamsters in their little denim jackets and white Adidas. On those days, we all live in a film set and I'm the set photographer.

Bio
I was born in 1954 and raised in a tiny factory town in rural Pennsylvania where my father taught me how to take pictures and use the darkroom; I spent many years shooting nothing but black and white film. I lived in various towns and cities in the Midwest and East before settling in Brooklyn in 1984 where I now live with my wife and two children. I teach photography at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Untitled (paintjob) by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Mette Maersk

Mette Maersk
Currently residing in: Copenhagen, Denmark

Website: http://www.mettemaersk.dk/

Work Statement:
The present text delineates my practice in words, differentiating from the visually explored territories, where I usually try to sense before reflecting. I often use small work titles, though. Short Maxims, simultaneously condensing and generating the core of matter(s) to be explored. They introduce gaming dialectics, and are the touchstones I work with.

Conditions of exile and identity have become my grounding as photographic story-teller. On most projects, the steppingstone is my physical displacement into a carefully chosen field, combining a geographical drift with an emotional one. Thus creating a polyphonic whirl, including exact phenomena and randomness. The work can best be described as embedment of matter density.

The visual matter develops and frames. In those visions, various architectural spaces are investigated as metaphysical conglomerates or invasive motives, initializing oblique stances on place and gender.

The fieldwork is thus double tracked. One exiled path in alien territory, and the other, its opposite: whereabouts in the familiar provincial, the grounding of identity, where personal matter can be handled exotically.

One can newer fully grasp the implications of what we observe, but we can gradually approach a totality, subsequently. In the mean time, signatures have to be recorded and contours framed, as handles to grasp.

Bio:
female > born 1970 > 182 cm tall > nearsighted > long dark hair > grew up in the countryside north of Copenhagen in a big house with 3 fireplaces > got my first camera at christmas 1985 > studied at the Danish Design School > post grad studies at the Danish film school > exhibitions in Denmark, Italie and Finland <

Untitled #1 by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Chad Muthard

Chad Muthard
Currently residing in: Philadelphia, PA

Website: http://www.chadmuthard.com/

Work Statement:
The work I construct is an attempt to resolve issues or conflicts in the mind. Most of the work is derived from events or moments in life, that I struggle to understand the affect of and/or outcome of the situation. These ideas are then taken and projected into narrative form in images, which tend to become elaborately fictional versions of the event. There is definitely a play between both reality and fiction in the pieces yet, I feel as though the work is still very much about documentation in how each body of work and/or series encapsulates a period of time.

Bio:
I grew up in the small town of Catasauqua, PA. A small town that was known for having a bar or church on every corner. When I was 16 my mother found an old Nikon that she had bought when I was born and gave it to me. I started shooting and then ended up at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA where I received my BFA in Photography.

Since graduating from Tyler, I have worked both solely and collaboratively, and have had a solo exhibition with the collaborative series that I worked on with Nils Orth at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Untitled (Bethlehem) by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Victoria Rich

Victoria Rich
Currently residing in: Brooklyn, NY

Website: http://www.victoriarich.com/

Work Statement:
I started taking pictures in college after planning on being a graphic designer. Up to that point, the (non-graphic design) work I was making was incredibly detailed drawings of interior spaces and objects. I eventually realized my drawings were more like photographs I wanted to make and learned photography. My design skills are intact but my drawing skills have devolved greatly.

My current photographic work explores un-peopled landscapes and interiors, using history and remnants as a way to convey a present reality. The subjects I am interested in, ranging from highly personal landmarks to culturally significant landscapes, are treated with the same approach. Some of the images demonstrate a kind of unconscious registering and recording of the irrelevant or overlooked details that can often portray more about a space than a direct representation. For example, when at a location like Niagara Falls, I am more drawn to a little shed at the water's edge than the spectacle of the view.

Influences: Eggleston, Robert Polidori, Paul Seawright. Vija Celmins. Painters such as Vuillard, Bonnard.

Bio:
Born in Lackawanna, NY, outside of Buffalo.

BFA SUNY Purchase, 1993. University of Ulster in Belfast Northern Ireland, 1996-7. MFA Hunter College, 2001.

Recently began teaching at ICP. Published in American Photography Annuals (2001, 2002, 2005, 2006)

A few recent shows from this year include: Far From Home, Brooklyn Artists Gym, ICP Faculty Exhibition, International Center of Photography, The Spaces In Between, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.

Untitled #1 by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Sasha Rudensky

Sasha Rudensky
Currently residing in: Brooklyn, NY

Website: http://www.sasharudensky.com/

Work Statement:
I started taking pictures in high school, when I became jealous of all the time my boyfriend was spending in the darkroom. As soon as I got going, I was in the darkroom every free minute. Didn't expect to continue doing it in college as well, but ended up majoring in photography. I began as a black and white 35mm documentary photographer, and have recently moved to medium format color. Most of the work that I've done has been shot in the former Soviet Union, and is indirectly political, but also very personal. The last series I completed "Remains" is an examination of the transformation of the Soviet block in the aftermath of the collapse of communism.

I'm very formal in my work, driven by color. I've loved the work of Mitch Epstein, Joel Sternfeld, the older work of Alec Soth.

Bio:
Born in Moscow in 1979 and immigrated to the States when I was 11. I went to high school in Seattle, which is where I began photographing. Moved to the east coast for college and went to Wesleyan University, where I was a studio art major and did a thesis. I've been living in Brooklyn since graduating five years ago. I've been mostly teaching photography at Wesleyan as an adjunct. In 2004-5 I was away for a year on a grant shooting the series Remains. I started the Yale MFA program this fall.

Untitled (One) by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith
Currently residing in: Paris, France

Website: http://www.patricksmith.fr/

Work Statement:
To me, the camera has always been a tool of discovery and knowledge. If I am at first attracted by light and space, I then use the camera to discover and understand the world around me. By showing my works to others, it is this experience, both human and aesthetic, that I wish to share, bringing enlightenment and enrichment to the beholder and myself.

Bio:
I was born In France, educated in England, then came back to France to join a photography school in 1988. I got my first jobs shooting architecture. This led me to travel photography (people, hotels, landscape). Thinking about the rapid transformation of the travel industry (15% yearly increase) made me start this ongoing project, The Leisure Territories, which I am submitting here. I look at how our leisure activities interact with the environment, and the place of man in nature today.

Jamie, Mason, TX., 2006 by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Shen Wei

Shen Wei
Currently residing in: New York, NY

Website: http://www.shenphoto.com/

Work Statement:
I started photography when I first moved to US from China. I took a Photo One class, and I decided I am going to become a photographer, before that I have never touched an SLR camera. My primarily interest is people, the portraits by Caravaggio, Diane Arbus, Peter Hujar and Lucien Freud are my influences. I have an MFA and BFA in Photography and a BA in Decorative Arts & Design. My submitting photos are from my recent series Almost Naked, which is a long-term portrait project that exploring identity and sexuality in America, motivated by my desire to understand the complexity of emotional and physical nakedness.

Bio:
I am a fine art photographer currently lives and works in New York City. I was born in 1977 in Shanghai, China and moved to US in 2000. I have received an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from School of Visual Arts (NYC), a BFA in Photography from Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a BA in Decorative Arts & Design from Shanghai Light Industry College. I went to MCAD initially for an MFA in Design, but I just fall in love with photography after my first photo class. I have passion on photography more than anything else, that's what got me into photography.

Here at jen bekman we are feverishly reviewing your submissions. And what submissions they are! Decision making is never fun and never easy. While we feast our eyes on your work, take a look at the beyond excellent work in our Hot Shot database. Remember the winners of this edition are up against all of 2006 for a spot in the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual. Oh the excitement that awaits just around the corner. Stay tuned—we announce the winners on Monday!

June 2004 by Krystal McKay

Aspiring Hot Shot Krystal McKay has a very alluring stance on photography, one that I find myself every once and while coveting. While inspiration comes from the work of Alec Soth, Uta Barth, Esko Manniko, and, naturally, Eggleston—she gets the most from daily interactions with her friends and companions. Krystal regimentally likes to intuitively photograph every day. Such contradictions usually make for the best. In her words:

Photography, for me, is a way to record my memories. I am attracted to moments that would have quickly been forgotten had I not photographed them. I strive for simplicity and beauty in my photographs so these things follow in my life. I photograph very ritually. I carry my camera with me everywhere I go and seek out those fleeting moments that make me instantly smile and make my day more valuable. I hope that in translating my memories into images, they can stand as reminders to recognize the simple, beautiful moments that happen everyday in everyone's lives.

Amanda by Anders Bergstrom

Most of the work chosen for the blog has been to some extent a reflection of my own personal tastes and, often, mood—each image has in some fashion caught my eye. I try to offer a summary of the variety of styles, subjects, and quality of work that you show us. Over the duration of the competition, what I have found rather surprising is the amount of black and white that is not submitted—I know that not all of us have abandoned the grayscale for the full-fledged range. Here at jen bekman we like color, we like b+w, we like portraits, landscapes, and everything in between. There are so many possibilities for the make-up of an impeccable image. And that's exactly what we love—impeccable image-makers.

Aspiring Hot Shot Anders Bergstrom is in deep with the Holga. For Anders, the spontaneity and chance of toy cameras can be gritty like no other medium can be. A painter, printmaker, and photographer, this Hot Shot hopeful refers to the present tool of choice as the "wildcard camera"—I like that.

My recent approach embraces the characteristics and even limitations of the Holga camera. I shoot pictures of people I know, from good friends at birthday parties to acquaintances I meet on the subway or in bars. The shots are unscripted and awkward and low-tech much like my own approach to making paintings or prints. I shoot without an idea of beauty or composition but the camera, itself, allows those things to come through. The banality of everyday life can so often be an inspiration.

Indeed, there is nothing like the banality of life to keep us at it... For everyone who didn't get their stuff to us, you're on for 2007! In the meantime, live the banality to its fullest.

Place Setting by Sara Code-Kroll

Now that you've all gotten your work in and anxiously await the results, I'll continue to humor your curious sides. Keep in mind this is only a selection of spotlights chosen by yours truly, one that I hope offers some insight into your competition.

I recently attempted a similar project as that of aspiring Hot Shot Sara Code-Kroll. There really is nothing like the feeling of returning to a place where one once lived—the excitement of bathing in such nostalgia is really up there on my list of life's greatest little pleasures. My attempt, however, was thwarted by the frenzy that results from such pure pleasure. Forty sheets of film later and not a single success, my photographic adventure came to its overdue end. Sara seems to be a bit more in control.

The submitted images were taken in North Dakota. I spent the first eighteen years of my life there-- a state most people have never been to. After moving away for college, I was resentful of this strange place that I called home. I viewed being from North Dakota as a setback, something that made me feel sheltered and naive. Since then, I have spent the past ten years living in places very different from my home state. Now when I go home, I am taken aback by the strangely beautiful place that used to be so familiar, yet now feels so foreign. These pictures are a result of a visual exploration of my home state, one which led to my gradual realization that where I come from has been significant in determining who I have become.

The anticipation is killing me. With so much great work, who will the talented 10 be? Stay tuned.

You have until 6PM today to get your entries in for the final edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2006. Not only will you have an amazing panel looking at your work, the opportunity of showing with some equally Hot Photographers, and a chance at Ultra status, but you will also be included in the first of its kind—Hey, Hot Shot! Yearbook. Get it in and get it out there.

Enter now!

Untitled by Dai Oinuma

As we enter the final 24 hours, take a peak at Hot Shot hopeful Dai Oinuma. Dai's aspirations reach far higher than just making it as a Hot Shot, he dreams of heading an artist commune where everyone and everything is beautiful and famous, a place where time and age are nonexistent. Eternal fame and youth—good luck Dai, I'm all for it. His thoughts on photography:

Photography has the power to alter the colors and perception of reality. Through my images, I try to displace the perception of reality into a perception of an invented world. As this perception of an invented world is absorbed into our everyday worlds, we are able to break free from our prison of reality.

Unfortunately, this is not Dai's never-neverland, time is as real as can be and oh how it flies. Get it in before it's too late. The deadline is on us, enter now!

Che is Watching by Christina Creutz

There are oh so many ways for us to produce photographs these days. There's film and digital. There's the digital darkroom and the traditional darkroom. An array of options for our processes: cameras, lenses, films, memory cards, hard drives, computers, monitors, enlargers, scanners, printers, papers, tripods, lights, labs, meters. I won't go on, but we all know the list is endless. It's an exciting time to be a photographer, especially one who has an ongoing romance with the equipment. Everyday there are new technologies and gadgets for our consumption, things to feed our photo fetishes.

We get a little of everything with Hey, Hot Shot!, it's a nice little slice through the medium. I cannot offer you a website for aspiring Hot Shot Christina Creutz, but I can tell you that she uses a Mac, a Hasselblad, and still works in a traditional darkroom. As she describes her work:

My photographs tend to be described as chronicles of the decay of decadence. I shoot in places that once were splendid, but through neglect, are in disrepair. While my images generally do not have people in them, I dont find them to be lonely. To the contrary, I think that the people who have existed in these spaces are felt quite strongly in the images.

Less than 48 hours now remain to get your entries in! Whether you use an Arca Swiss or a Kodak EasyShare, the clock ticks just the same.

Deadline: Tuesday November 14, 2006 @ 6pm
Enter Today!

Austin by Justin Schmitz

Sometimes it can be difficult to build up one's own momentum, much less maintain some sort of consistency with it and communal energy is vital sustenance for artists. From a community I am rather familiar with, I offer you aspiring Hot Shot Justin Schmitz.

Justin hails from Chicago's Columbia College is a hot bed for real photographers in every sense of the word and a grounding pad for Chicago's blossoming and booming photography community. If you're looking for a good time this weekend, visit Justin's website, take a look at his links, and get caught up in the tightly-knit but expansive network of Chicago and beyond artists—hours of fun, I promise.

Not in acquaintance with him, but an off-and-on resident of the Windy City, I've seen Justin's stuff before. A couple of years back I bargained with him over a piece hanging in a very "Chicago" space and a fantastic one at that, Heaven Gallery. While the collector inside me is a flaky one, or at least a poor one, I have followed his work ever since.

When it comes to communal energy, Justin is well-fed. Exploring many a niche within youth culture, here is what he has to say:

My work stems from a desire to describe how young suburbia defines itself. The subjects I choose subjects, like all adolescent, are constantly striving to define their own identity. My photographs document a time transition, a time of confusion, and a time of questioning. The pictures I make describe how these kids present themselves to the world and how they deal with their own ideas of their still forming identity.

Here at jen bekman we have our own booming community. Check out the roster of past Hot Shots, all continuing to impress. Join in on the fun!

making way for new construction #1 by Craig Wactor

Having spent a few years of my life in the Grand Canyon State, aspiring Hot Shot Craig Wactor's project slightly tugged on a heartstring. When some of the most enticing landscape this country has to offer is being bulldozed away for the sake of the never-ending strip mall and rattlesnakes and javalenas are being forced onto our front porches, it's rather refreshing to see something other than Arizona's lightning storms, rainbow sunsets, and fluffy little clouds. From Craig's statement:

Photography stands apart from other media in its ability to preserve permanently a single moment in time. This allows me to record the character of the city in the midst of change. In this way, I see urban spaces as living entities. Currently, I have been photographing the removal of old buildings and structures from Phoenix, Arizona to make way for new construction. The intent is to continue visiting sites as they change, producing a chronicle of the city as it evolves. Phoenix is one of the fastest growing metropolises in the United States, and the nature of this city has changed very rapidly. I feel it is important to record this transformation for the sake of history, but also to preserve the congruence of our own identity as a community.

Now that the weekend is here, utilize your time. Enter before it is too late!

Sucker by Parsley Steinweiss

These days websites, business cards, bios, and books often receive more dedicated time than the actual production of new work. Not necessarily a bad thing, such activities tend to take time. Today I am thinking about names. How much time is wasted tossing our own around, ways we could shift them to make them really pop?

Even in my most self-conscious of moments, my name is the one thing I would never change, I am rather fond of it. In the early stages of my romance with photography, I was sifting through the shelves of a used bookstore and ran across this. Not only did she have my name, her photos looked oddly similar to my own, and, on top of everything, she used my typeface of choice. Since then, my font preferences have changed and so has my work, but to my name I still stand true. But it's always entertaining to think of the possibilities, just like the hours spent practicing our autographs as kids—self-branding can be fun!

Aspiring Hot Shot Parsley Steinweiss does not have a website, instead, a really great name. From Parsley's statement:

I am interested in the microscopic, in what the human eye cannot see on its own, in how organisms behave - how they feed, produce, protect, communicate, decay. In our domestic spaces we deny these organisms and interactions from existing in our minds. We think of ourselves as clean and hygienic. However, our personal spaces are inundated with living organisms - mold, dust mites, sprouting potatoes. I like to imagine the lives of these organisms.

Keep the work up Parsley Steinweiss. As for everyone else, another day has passed. Enter now!

By Your Side (Distance) by Chad Muthard

Fresh from the entry pool, I give you Chad Muthard. Take it away, Chad...

The work I construct is an attempt to resolve issues or conflicts in the mind. Most of the work is derived from events or moments in life, that I struggle to understand the effect of and/or outcome of the situation. These ideas are then taken and projected into narrative form in images, which tend to become elaborately fictional versions of the event.

Behind the door, I keep the universe by Rachel Herman

Rachel Herman grew up a child to Midwestern art dealers. It took her years to see the possibility of crossing the line into creativity and calling herself an artist—something that often requires a good deal of confidence and guts. These days, Rachel is interested in the way that places are witness to so many of the trials and tribulations, loves and romances, and all-around living that is contained within them. In her words...

I get in and out of places surreptitiously, like a good voyeur. I work episodically, like a diligent short story writer. I return to themes over time, specifically those that have to do with couples and family and the spaces in which these relationships unfold. I use the camera to nestle in and ask questions about how and where we live with the people we love.

Sometimes, I think the most powerful portrait can be unpeopled. The images I'm submitting here show a very special place that, in turn, reveals the magical, romantic and complicated couple who lives there.

If you keep them coming, then so will I. One entire week, just for you! Enter before it is too late. But since the pressure has ebbed, I offer a bit of uplifting worldly wisdom from Rachel: "Sometimes all it takes is one person to believe in what you're doing. Then everything looks different, better." I like the way Rachel thinks.

For all of you that should be kicking yourselves in the pants, some relief... Due to popular demand, we here at jen bekman have decided to extend the Fall 2006 Edition of the Hey, Hot Shot! competition for one additional week. That's 7 more days to get your act together and get it in.

New Deadline: Tuesday, November 14 @ 6pm
Winners announced: Monday, November 20 @12pm
Fall Edition Showcase Soiree: Wednesday, December 13 6-8pm
Fall Showcase Dates: Thursday - Sunday, December 14 - 17, 2006

You all remember that almost unbearable excitement as the final days of school rolled around and the day would soon arrive when you could flip through the pages of the yearbook giggling over goofy pictures, staying secretly thrilled that your face was gracing the pages of a serial book. Well, here at jen bekman we're dealing with that same sort of excitement.

More than a yearbook, this is the one and only Hey, Hot Shot! Yearbook. It will include some of the best work being produced by todayss emerging photographers: Winter, Spring, Summer, and the yet to be determined Fall 2006 Hot Shots!. All 40 artists in one full color, hardbound, slip-covered, beautiful book—this is going to be a book to brag about.

And whom do we have to thank? wWll, the geniuses behind Blurb of course. Blurb makes it possible to publish professional quality books without the intricate and often exclusive processes associated with publishing. Why shouldn't we all have the reward of holding our very own book? If you haven't explored the possibilities offered by Blurb, then discover the dream right now.

Stay tuned for more information on reserving your very own yearbook. And, of course, Hot Shots will get a complimentary copy. Excitement, pure excitement. Will you sign mine?

After the Sandstorm by Nicholas Cope

My oh my how time does fly, only one day remains to get your entries in for the Fall 2006 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! And your last chance to be considered for one of the three spots in the HHS! Annual ne plus ultra exhibition in January 2007. The clock is ticking—it's time to show us what you've got.

Take a look at Hot Shot hopeful Nicholas Cope. Nick calls himself "an intuitive photographer who shoots from the hip, but often ironically produces work that appears calculated and detached."

What kind of photographer are you? Enter Today!

Untitled (One) by Patrick Smith

French photographer Patrick Smith has produced some pretty immaculate images for his series The Leisure Territories. He is intrigued by contemporary man's place in nature and how our interaction with the environment plays into our, well, leisure activities.

To me, the camera has always been a tool of discovery and knowledge. If I am at first attracted by light and space, I then use the camera to discover and understand the world around me. By showing my works to others, it is this experience, both human and aesthetic, that I wish to share, bringing enlightenment and enrichment to the beholder and myself.

The time is now. Enter today!

Not only are we on the heels of the deadline, but also Election Day. Haven't we all been looking for a way to do more than simply battle the ballot? Well, here's the opportunity. The Polling Place Photo Project is asking you to do what you do best—observe, document, and share. An experiment in citizen journalism, the project is encouraging all to document their polling locations in hopes of a clearer understanding of the American voting experience.

You've got a camera, you're going to vote, snap some shots for a good cause. Let's put our cameras to use and engage in understanding the world's oldest democracy. Any and everyone is encouraged to participate—no polling place, big or small should be left out.

Find out more, see some photos, and read the fine print here.

Service Entry by Fall 2005 Hot Shot, Joseph Holmes

amnh 1 by Joseph Holmes

I am envious of Joseph Holmes' ability to produce such a large quantity of excellent images. All one need do is visit his photoblog to see that he is one of those photographers who generates quantity and quality—a rare breed. Hot Shot Joe was a winner in our Fall 2005 Edition and showed off his amazing amnh series taken inside the American Museum of Natural History. "These images strip the components of traditional street photo down to the barest cues: silhouettes gazing out over vast, artificial veldts and jungles."

Since the showcase he has exhibited around the country, been published frequently, was included in this year's photography now: one hundred portfolios, and manages to maintain a site with 916 photographs. Impressive? Our Hot Shots usually are. Joe is going in for round two, this time with a new body of work taken on the streets of fabulous Manhattan. Oh and how he has a way for words...

There are mornings when I'm wandering through Soho or Tribeca or Chinatown, when the sunlight is fine and diffuse and the air takes on an unfamiliar tint, when the hydrants and street debris seem a little too purposely arranged, maybe a little coy or ironic, and it's at those times that I'm seized by the feeling that the whole city is a film set. I imagine a crew of little film-set elves passing through during the night, sprinkling film-set dust everywhere and preparing the street for the arrival of camera operators, focus pullers, and little elf teamsters in their little denim jackets and white Adidas. On those days, we all live in a film set and I'm the set photographer.

Find inspiration in your competition. Enter today!

Hemingway's Tower Room (Old Man and the Sea), Finca Vigia, San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, January 2006 by Shelley Zatsky

Since it's Friday and the deadline is oh so close, I thought I'd throw another entry your way. Shelley Zatsky, a photographer since her high school years, began shooting her skateboarding, rock 'n rolling friends. These days she's more interested in things like impermanence and evolution. Her submission is from a body of work documenting the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered list. As she so poetically says...

These places exist simultaneously in the present and in history; they lure me in with the promise of revealing something beyond the peeling paint. They arrive on this list with the threat of obsolescence, embodying an existence between survival and loss, caught in a struggle to remember why they stand. I aim to capture that struggle, the in-between state, and in some cases, the inevitable end.

Self-Portrait by Michael Damanti

Michael Damanti's images are as peculiar as his photography habits. For a bit of creative luck, he likes to clip his fingernails before each roll. To stay on top of his game, he sleeps every three hours and changes his socks 8 times per day. Maybe we can all learn a thing or two from Michael.

My inspirations were always the shots at the end of a roll which came out blurry or off-colour. I have always loved those abstract "mess-ups", even as a kid. I am self-taught from photography books as well as trial and error. Most of my shots are taken from hitchhiking in Europe and South America.

The deadline approaches. Enter Today.

As if the panel wasn't amazing enough already—Eileen Gittins, Founder, President, and CEO of Blurb has joined the ranks! Eileen, an internet legend, a photographer, and a dedicated librophile, has revolutionized self-publishing. Her brainchild Blurb has made it possible, and more importantly financially feasible, for each and everyone of us to have our very own book. Eileen and her team think we should all have the reward of flipping though our own pages—does it get any better?

Eileen says this is the most fun company she's ever run, which is saying a fair amount as she has lived and worked all over the world with Kodak and as VP at Wall Data before and after the IPO, CEO of Personify (behavioral segmentation and analytics) and Verb (context search), and outside Board Director at Qbiquity and Popular Demand.

Eileen never stopped photographing since her days studying photography, and that's how Blurb got started. She wanted to create a beautifully designed and produced photo essay book—something that looked like a book you'd buy at the bookstore—but she only needed 40 copies. This turned out to be remarkably painful, expensive, and time-consuming—and she thought that was just wrong. So, she founded Blurb.

Eileen's favorite quote: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." (Gandhi)