Noview Ave. by aspiring Hot Shot Aubrey Hays

The Fall 2007 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is open and we're about to send your heads swirling with Hot Shot spotlights, news, and otherwise. And you better brace yourself, this round there may just be many of us Hottie Shot bloggers perusing the entries and offering up our two cents for your entertainment.

For our first fall entry, an all time favorite -- ladies in the landscape. Portland residing, London bound Aubrey Hays submitted work from a series produced amidst an Alaskan adventure with her sister. Simply put, her work focuses on the figure's interaction with the environment surrounding it, and Aubrey has amassed many such an image for your viewing pleasure on her Flickr site.

I am quite fond of her image Noview Ave. for its quirky quality that stands in stark contrast to the seriousness seeping from her words. It also makes me think of this classic by non-Hot Shot, but fantastic photographer despite, Melanie Schiff.

Today I will not wax poetic on the work and instead will let Aubrey do so herself. On photography she says, "I have found a means of connecting, both metaphorically and literally, between you, me, and what we must go through together." She goes on:

“Mono no Aware�, is a phrase from a Japanese linguistics scholar implying a sensitivity to things. It is a beauty tinged with sadness, and sadness tinged with beauty. The portraits I take are a rendering of this sorrow we hold onto. I am loyal to my sorrows, but I am also loyal to my happiness. My work is a cathartic representation of life’s transitions we continuously go through, past and present.

Aubrey is gearing up for a big year and heading to the London College of Art for her MFA in January. Keep it up Aubrey! Everyone else, enter today.