anhm #30 by Hot Shot and Ultra Joseph O. Holmes

Without fail, each batch of Hey, Hot Shot! entries includes work made inside the American Museum of Natural History. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. We love the museum too. Just a fun fact. And maybe something to keep in mind when shooting. Those scenes have probably been shot before. If you must shoot there, make it work in your own way. (Another day we will discuss shopping carts, for you seem to also really love shopping carts.)

My favorite example of AMNH work is from Fall '05 Hot Shot and Fall '06 Ultra Joeseph O. Holmes. His diorama series is splendid, and can be found on 20x200 as well. (There is only one print of this edition left!)

The Museum itself recently launched an online portal into its own archives of photographs, "Picturing the Museum: Education and Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History." It is worth a look.

Shoot The Blog reprints a great Sugimoto quote about the dioramas:

"Upon first arriving in New York in 1974, I did the tourist thing. Eventually I visited the Natural History Museum, where I made a curious discovery: the stuffed animals positioned before painted backdrops looked utterly fake, yet by taking a quick peek with one eye closed, all perspective vanished, and suddenly they looked very real. I'd found a way to see the world as a camera does. However fake the subject, once photographed, it's as good as real." - Hiroshi Sugimoto

Brian Clamp of Clamp Art by Ryan Pfluger

Ryan Pfluger is not a Hot Shot, but he is a great young photographer who is working a lot in the editorial and art worlds.

July 20th's New York Times Magazine featured Ryan's portraits of writer David Carr (inside and on the cover) and Shoot The Blog's Rachel Hulin recently interviewed Ryan about his work. It is a good read. (Also, for the record, the David Carr book, The Night of the Gun, is a good read too.) Rachel's interview touches on a new project of Ryan's too:

"As for personal work, I started a project about two months back entitled "Edited". I'm photographing all the photo editors/curators/dealers in New York that I can. It's all about turning the lens on the people who are currently making decisions about photography. Most photographers don't even know what half these people look like. They are all environmental portraits in their homes, studios or galleries. I've already photographed people like Kathy Ryan, Brian Clamp, and Brooke Nipar. George Pitts, Leslie Martin and Tim Barber are also some of the people that are future subjects."

That's Hey, Hot Shot! panelist Lesley A. Martin, in fact. I look forward to seeing more of this work. What a great resource it will be: a guide to those who are looking at your photographic work. A very smart idea.

In New York City, it is hot. In Ultra Ian Baguskas's Kamping Kabins it looks nice and cold. You don't have an air conditioner, eh? Buy a print from 20x200 and dream. There are still some prints, in all three sizes, left of this great work.

Baguskas writes:

Kamping Kabins is from my project, Search For The American Landscape, which looks at the relationship humans have with nature; specifically, the conflict between our inherent love of nature and our desire to alter it and need to take from it.

These images were inspired by photographic surveyors such as Timothy O'Sullivan and Carlton Watkins who explored and documented the land and settlements in the old West by photographing landscapes not only for their beauty but also as a record of places that few people had seen before. My photographs, however, are of landscapes that have experienced human exploration and the subsequent impact from the growing demand for convenience and natural resources.

Remember that talk about websites? I still don't have all the answers. But I have a good example. James Deavin, a Summer '05 Hot Shot, has a great website and a great blog. James's last post, by chance, is about website redesign. He writes, in general, with a candid honesty that is refreshing. It is nice to see his daily snaps so close to his carefully edited portfolio projects.

And there are gems like this, ". . .using a camera/phone hybrid. These devices mean you can more easily ask your friends for advice on composition-related dilemmas." I never thought of the cameraphone that way before. Brilliant.

Jen Bekman and Crown Point Press are throwing a party tonight. Are you in the Bay Area? Then go!

Who: Jen Bekman, 20x200 collectors, friends + fans

What: A 20x200 Party!

When: Wednesday July 23rd | 6pm-8pm

Where: Crown Point Press | 20 Hawthorne St. SF, CA

Why: Because art's for everyone.

RSVP: Upcoming.org

Colleen Plumb may be one of the newest Hot Shots, but she's already running with a crowd of past winners and others who have shown at Jen Bekman gallery. Colleen's photo, above, is currently featured on Flak Photo, in a section devoted to this year's Review Santa Fe, an annual juried portfolio review for photographers who have created a significant project or series and are seeking wider recognition.

Later this summer, Jen Bekman will be at Sante Fe, to jury the Center's Singular Image Prize for color photography.

Winter '06 Hot Shot Rebecca Smeyne can be found frequently in the music pages of The Village Voice. See an array of concert photos she shot here, including a just-posted look at Santogold, Diplo, and A-Track in Central Park.

Summer '06 Hot Shot Kate Bingaman-Burt has work in a silent auction fundraiser hosted by Los Angeles based creative business Poketo, to benefit the independently produced documentary Handmade Nation (currently in post-production), in their downtown headquarters on Saturday, July 19, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Poketo is located at 510 S Hewitt #506 Los Angeles, CA. The silent auction will include the work of 30 emerging and established artists.

Visit the auction's Flickr site to see the lots. The Los Angeles Times recently profiled the documentary, its maker, and the auction.

Bingaman-Burt also designed the event's invitation and adorable logo, above.

You've done the hard part: you make great photographs, you have folders full of images on your hard drive, piles of prints. Now it's time to share your work with the world. The number one tip I have for Hey, Hot Shot! entrants is: have a website. "Have a great website" is what I actually mean, but "have a website," any website, is a really good first step.

If you are entering a competition with an online-only application, then we already know that you have internet access. And, really, that is all you need to start a website to promote/present your work. One really simple way of putting your work online is Flickr. Flickr is a tool for sharing photos. You can sign up for an account, use their easy Uploader, and then organize your photos. You can present different projects in different sets and collections of sets. You can title your photos and provide descriptions. You can even choose privacy levels to protect who sees and doesn't see your work.

Another well-designed and incredibly easy-to-navigate site for making sites is Tumblr. Sign up for a free Tumblr account and then post your all your photos. The templates are clean and the dashboard is so easy to use. For a blogging site, it is definitely photographer-friendly. I have a regular website and I also have a Tumblr; it's that good.

Ready for something with a few more steps? Register a domain and program a website. Guides to web design are infinite, templates exist, and you could always either barter for design work or hire a great designer who gets what you're going for. This option is not as scary as it sounds.

Buying a domain and programming it yourself leads to my second tip. I look through applications, I sat in the room as our fabulous panel screened submissions, I've talked to a million people who look at photographers' websites, all of whom agree: do not use Adobe Flash. Flash has its uses, but your portfolio should not be one of them. To oversimplify: it is very, very annoying. Your photographs should be strong enough that I never need them to fly across the screen, or pop up, or dance.

My last tip is applicable to every website option above. Edit your work. Regardless of the platform you choose, the actual photographs and sequence of photographs is, by far, the most important thing. In a Hey, Hot Shot! application you choose three photos in a feat of editing that is difficult at best. On your website, show your stuff, but figure out how much to show. Try different numbers and arrangements. Think about the structure of work in terms of telling a story to your viewer. How much should you tell? Don't give away too much, but be sure to tell the whole story. How many stories do you need to tell, or how many bodies of work do you want to showcase? What caption information is necessary? It's important to think about the constraints of internet viewing as well. How many pages will someone scroll through, or how many thumbnails will someone open? Subtract a few from whatever number you first guess. Ask your friends where they really stopped clicking. Check your site stats to see what pages people look at, and spend the most time on. In an ideal world, you would edit your work in a way that promotes finishing it all.

There is more to website design, and to photographer's websites, of course. I'm certainly not the authority. But some other quick tips: make your name and contact information clear, consider a bio, a c.v., a statement. Edit everything for grammar. Keep it simple. No flash!

Now that the Hey, Hot Shot! winners have been announced, I hope we can use the Hey, Hot Shot! Blog to demystify the competition process. Check back in the next few days and weeks for chats with the panelists, information about the judging process, words from the winners, insight into the honorable mentions, and tips and tricks for future applicants and emerging photographers in general. Please write in with your questions too: jensnow AT heyhotshot DOT com

We are excited to announce the five photographers selected for the first edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008:

Juliane Eirich
Derek Henderson
Roc Herms Pont
Kate Orne
Colleen Plumb

Please join us for the opening reception for their exhibition on Friday, August 8. The show will be on view at Jen Bekman Gallery (6 Spring Street) through August 23.

We are enormously grateful to our fabulous and hard-working panelists -- Michael Bierut, Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, and Kent Rogowski -- and to all of the Hey, Hot Shot! entrants.

With so many of you making standout work, it was hard to narrow down the selection to just five talented photographers. The competition was tough, so we'd like to recognize several artists with well-deserved Honorable Mentions:

Ben Alper, Zack Bent, Kotama Bouabane, Aurelien Chhauvaud, Richard Colburn, Ingvar Kenne, Virgílio Ferreira, Pao Her, Martina Geccelli, Erik Hagen, Nicole Hatanaka, Myriam Lutz, Alia Malley, Stefanie Pluta, Travis Roozee, Andy Sewell, Yisook Sohn, Debora Mittelstaedt, Corinne Vionnet, Sarah Wilmer, and Geordie Wood .

Keep reading the Hey, Hot Shot! blog for more info about the competition, the winners, the panelists, and tips for future entries.

Colleen Plumb
Currently residing in Chicago, Illinois

Website: www.colleenplumb.com

Work statement
My photographs examine the increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. My work explores simulation, consumption, destruction, and reconstruction. It addresses the essence of our connection, as well as our fragmentation from the natural. The series looks at points of intersection with wild in the human-made world -- our coexistence -- and explores notions of endurance and the reality of loss.

For over ten years my work has examined how and where the natural world -- in real or artificial form -- appears in an urban environment. Growing up in Chicago gave me an urban childhood: running through gangways and exploring alleys with my friends. Something more and more kids today don't experience. Early on, seeds for my interest in nature were planted through lots of outside play, camping trips, and odd pets (our duck named Sir Francis Drake, for example). I am sure these beginnings influence and inspire my work.

I began this project looking at 'fake nature', wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live/real animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness. With this series I hope to incite contemplation about the lives of animals and and generate a dialog about resource usage.

Bio
Born in 1970, Colleen Plumb grew up on the north side of Chicago and went to school at the University of Illinois in Urbana; graduating in 1992 with a BFA from Northern Illinois University in Visual Communication. In 1999 Plumb received an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago where she is currently an adjunct faculty member. Before earning her MFA, Plumb had a job at a design firm and one day, while driving home, she saw some amazing light on the side of a brick building in Chicago and decided to follow her heart and start making pictures. Plumb lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters and, of course, Jack the dog, and exhibits her photographs nationally.

Porsche by HHS! winner Juliane Eirich

Juliane Eirich
Currently residing in Munich, Germany and Seoul, South Korea

Website: www.julianeeirich.com

Work Statement
When I was 14 my father gave me his old video camera. I made dozens of films with friends, mostly shooting at an abandoned airport in my hometown. It was a great time and I think that's where my love for places evolves from. It might sound trivial, but when this camera broke I switched to photography.

The main subjects of my work are physical places. I am interested in the relation between man-made environment and nature. This relation can be of very different types within the topics I choose: harmonic, complex, funny, surprising, or shy.

Most of my work is photographed at night. Night photography is slow and calm, but at the same time the very precise process that suits me and my way of working. I like the way I can focus at night, since there is less distraction -- both visually and acoustically -- than during the day. The artificial, rendering-like aesthetic, the light and color atmosphere that can be found during night, appeals to me and matches my understanding of beauty.

The series "Snow Night" is a personal project that emerged from the half happy, half sentimental feeling of being home after a long stay abroad. While away I missed my homeland. I was looking forward to re-exploring it, since before I left I never realized how much I actually appreciated it.

Through photography I feel I have the "license to be curious." There is always a reason to wander around and look for new places and topics. This curiosity is what inspires me and makes me enthusiastic about photography.

Bio
I was born in Munich, Germany in 1979. After finishing high school in 1999 I got an offer to do an internship at a fashion photographer in Miami. At the end of the internship I knew I didn't want to be a fashion photographer but I was sure I wanted to become a photographer. I successfully applied at the Academy of Photographic Design in Munich and graduated in 2003.

Like many young photographers I went to New York City right after graduation to work and pursue my own projects. Also, like many young photographers, I did not have an easy time there and after about one year I decided to leave New York, since I felt I was not moving forward.

I started working at a vacation rental in Hawaii. I was working during the day and taking photographs at night. Later on, I received a scholarship to show my work at the reviews of Fotofest 2006 in Houston.

Since then, my work has been exhibited in the USA, Canada, Syria, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and was featured in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Stern Magazine, and European Photography. My work has been awarded in several competitions like the Flash Forward 2007 & 2008 and the Voiglaender New Talent Award 2007.

In 2007, I received a scholarship of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) to live and work in Seoul, South Korea for one year. This is where I am now, working on a project about a German village in South Korea.

Le Hermitage Painting by HHS! winner Roc Herms Pont

Roc Herms Pont
Currently residing in Barcelona, Spain

Work Statement
Close to photojournalism, with a strong graphic design background, I started using photography to capture and remember what I found interesting though my eyes. People, places, details ... I use photography to share my view of the world, to express myself.

Bio
Roc Herms Pont sounds German, but it is Catalan. 3 monosyllables and three vowels is all he need for presentation.

Born of the hands of the Spanish constitution (1978), he later discover the world of photography, when this became, thanks to digital cameras, the most mainstream form of artistic expression. He left his job as an art director at an advertising agency and embarked on advertising photography, personal projects, and something close to photojournalism.

He currently works as a freelancer within the world of design, advertising photography, and photojournalism.

Reids Farm by HHS! winner Derek Henderson

Derek Henderson
Currently residing in Auckland, New Zealand

Website: www.derekhenderson.net

Work Statement
My photography is about what people don't see even when it's right in front of them. Making the mundane sublime. Having empathy with others and the environment. I am fascinated by thepursuit of happiness and how people live their lives. I believe happiness in life is about balance, moderation, and living in harmony with the environment.

Bio
I was born in a rural town called Napier, in New Zealand. Where I'm from you couldn't really study photography at the time. So I became an assistant for an advertising photographer in Auckland, New Zealand. I then worked in London for magazines like ID, Arena Homme Plus, The Observer Magazine, Exit, and a few more. I wanted to work on more personal projects so I moved back to New Zealand and I'm currently working on my second book which will be published by www.michaellett.comm in November.

Sex Worker Entwined With Client by HHS! winner Kate Orne

Kate Orne
Currently residing in New York, New York

Website: www.kateorne.com

Work Statement
Since '00 I have worked among the neediest people in Afghanistan and Pakistan and using photography as a tool to fight against indentured slavery and for the wellbeing of women, children, and animals. My commitment to social causes has become the defining part of my life as an artist. I have worked on several essays in South East Asia where the poor are sentenced to lives of disease and want. Throughout, I have been documenting their struggles in photos -- using art as a connection to wider awareness in the outside world.

Since '05 I have worked among the sex-workers and their families in Pakistan -- being the first photographer to document this shunned community. This body of work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels. Repressive fundamentalist Muslim laws not only shun these women's existence but in some areas make their actions punishable by death. However, in their brothels the women are the breadwinners. This underlying dualism surfaces in portraits of the women sitting proudly on the same beds where they not only service their customers but share with their husbands and children.

I use this project to raise awareness about this little known community, and to raise funds for the two little schools, the first ones ever to offer education to the children of the sex-workers with the mission to break the cycle of children being born into prostitution, sex abuse, drug addiction and crime. There are currently 80 students enrolled.

Bio
Born in Stockholm, Sweden. Based in New York City.

'99 - present
Artist focused largely on women and children issues in developing countries.

'94 - present
Commercial photographer focused on portraiture and fashion.

'02 - Present Established myfarawayfamily.com, an organization providing Afghan refugee children with education and their widowed mothers with micro loans and guidance to start their own businesses. Provided food distributions in Kabul and Peshawar among refugees.

'92 -'94 Editor at Interview magazine.

'88-'91 Producer of still shoots for art and commercial photography.

Publications
The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Interview, Artnet.com, Arena, Vibe, Spin, Marie Claire, Dansk, Harpers Bazaar, Glamour, Tokion, +81, Dune among others.

Exhibitions / Selected Awards
2008
Show&Sell Chelsea Art Museum NYC
Sideluck Potshow.
Selected participant, Review Santa Fe.
American Photography 24 Best Photography of 2007

2007
Act of Faith Nordlicht Photofestival, Netherlands 2007. Curated by Wim Melis
Up& Now! Photographic Center Northwest Judged by Charlotte Cotton, curator of LACM
Spectra '07 Silvermine Guild Arts Center Curated by Peter McGill, Pace/McGill Gallery NY

Forces of Nature by HHS entrant Zack Bent

I fell in love with Zack's work when I saw it in other contexts — highlighted at various times by the Asthmatic Kitty record label and website — so I was thrilled to see this entry.

Bent's images are familial and familiar. He captures moments that manage to be both joyous and mysterious. I find myself looking at his photos and really wondering what his characters are actually up to.

Peony Bay, by HHS entrant Myriam Lutz.

Myriam Lutz combines found photographs with self portraits. I like that in this one, Peony Bay, she is not dressed up as a character from the photograph's time. I like that it's her, in today's clothes, and that she's placed herself, sort of awkwardly, posing in the past.