I just saw Synecdoche, New York. Or, as I've started referring to it since, "Synecdoche, My Life." Okay, it's not exactly my life, but it sort of is everyone's life. I loved it. Much like the last movie that Charlie Kaufman wrote that I loved (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), this one has wonderfully crafted sentences but it also looks, visually, SO good.

If I may project, Fred Muram's work seems a bit of a kindered spirit. I mean, part of his statement reads sort of like a textbook report on either of the films above. Muram writes,

"I want my audience to experience images and video that can be understood within the context of similar experiences that might have occurred within their own lives. As individuals we share so much in common with other people, but we are isolated within our own minds. There is a disconnectedness created between every individual and their surrounding universe that is fundamentally integrated through that personʼs ability to accept sensory information and respond with language."

First of all, as a theme, "kissing the ceiling" is great. It's silly and sweet, and just absurd enough, but not too absurd. In the photo above, the girl, clutching at the top of the door and the delicate balance of her shoe on the knob are great details. In the tiny thumbnails I saw of thw work at first, I figured she was "floating" up to kiss the ceiling/sky. I was relieved to see the full image, for it goes far beyond what could have been trite, a trope.

I also tend to fall for repitition. Muram's series is filled with many perfectly quirky moments. Also enjoyable, some of his other work: The Rug Series and I'm Going Baldessari. There is more Kissing the Ceiling too.

Untitled from the Traveling Dream series by Angela B. Kidwell

I do love, love black and white photography. I was that student in grad school who insisted on working in the darkroom; scanning and editing on a monitor just didn't (and still doesn't) amount to the same experience for me, (plus the mural room was slightly larger than my apartment). So, I get really excited when I see silvery HHS submissions; there are too few of them!

Angela's images resonate with the work of black and white mastersSally Mann, Roger Ballen, and Duane Michals. They are dreamy and mysterious and packed with stories that come from the subconscious. As she explains: "...random moments combine to form sleep stories that are rich narratives, ripe with symbolism. With that as my model, I construct sets, use props and invite myself and models to perform in a natural, intuitive way."

I checked out Angela's website which is chock-full of photographic fiction, perfect for Friday morning fantasizing and daydreaming, and wasn't disappointed.... until, I found out that her prints are Epson inkjets. Doesn't anyone else miss the smell of fix?
I'll forgive Angela for now; I'm sure her prints are as luminous and lush as they appear on screen.

Will we have the opportunity to see Angela's inkjets here in NYC? That's for time to tell; we're all picking favorites and holding our breath until the panelists step in and determine the fate of all the fine photographers who have submitted their work here at HHS. Just having your work in front of the eyes of these peeps is a pretty good fate if you ask me, so don't miss your chance! Competition closes one week from Tuesday!

HHS Second Edition 2008 entrant Manuel Vasquez's work looks like a cross between those framed office-worthy Successories posters and the magic-eye posters that all of my friends had on their walls in elementary school (described recently by one as "One of those 3-D posters that were all the rage in the 90s where you have to let your eyes go out of focus to see the hidden picture within." That applies to my first thoughts of Vasquez. Exactly.) This sounds, clearly, like a recipe for something awful, and yet, I spent a good long time staring at his work.

Much like the magic eye posters, I don't think I really get it at all. I was never once ever able to see the fighter jet or panda bear or rocket ship or soaring eagle dolphin that supposedly was hidden there. And here, in this work, I think I see something, but I'm not sure quite what. Like the oddball decorations, though, I am positive that other might see something.

Documentary photographer Nina Berman (and former Hot Shot! and Ultra) has work up in the gallery as we speak. Nina was generous enough to answer a few questions for the 20x200 blog.

Here's a sneak preview:

How has participating in Hey, Hot Shot! furthered your art career? I had shown my Purple Hearts and Marine Wedding pictures at many venues in the U.S. and Europe, but hadn't had the opportunity to show in a gallery space in New York. Hey, Hot Shot! allowed me to do that very quickly.

Read the full interview here.

I might also add that since becoming a Hot Shot, Miss Berman has received domestic as well as international accolades for her Purple Hearts series.

Driver's Seat by Alan George

HHS contender Alan George's name was slightly familiar as I was scanning the entries yesterday afternoon. Familiar, I realized, because I had recently seen it on a list of photographer's selected to participate in The Exposure Project's Graphic Intersections. Graphic Intersections is loosely based on the Surrealist drawing game, the Exquisite Corpse. The first photographer is given a word or concept to work from; s/he shoots, selects an image and sends it to the next photographer, who makes an image based purely on a philosophical, visual, emotional, or intellectual response to the photograph received, and then sends her/his selected image to the next photographer who repeats the process. Sounds like fun, huh?

Among the photographers participating are Alan, of course, and Winter 2007 Hot Shot, Scott Eiden. The work of both Scott and Alan make me particularly nostalgic for the West, even more so than I usually am. Sure, there's something slightly foreboding about the barbed-wire bound, chain-linked fence in the background and the doberman behind the wheel of this RV that's certainly seen better days, but, the big sky behind it implies big dreams. This thing might have been parked for weeks, or months but there's nothing stopping it from arrowing down south, Baja-bound, with the pup at the helm.

While I'm a sucker for the dreamy, creamy gray and blue palate of this photograph, Alan's other photos of homes on wheels are worth checking out along with the rest of his portfolio on his website.

Dear fellow HHS blogger Sara,

I disagree. This photo is easy for me to write about because it is, is, by far, one of my favorite images entered this round. (Not that we vote, but still.) Look at that girl's face! Her head tilted next to the rabbit's droping, lolling head. Look at her grin! The rabbit looks far more demure than she does. The girl's excitement and intrigue are tangible. In this shot, Donald Weber has created/captured an amazing character. That + the hilarious mimicry of the composition = why it's an easy one for me to write.

Love,
Jen Snow

Korean Notebook #25, 2008 by HHS entrant Ellie Brown

Hey, Hot Shot! Second Edition 2008 contender Ellie Brown explores personal typologies via photographs of handwritten notebooks. She found and kept these notebooks during an extended stay in Korea and although, in her statement, she seems conflicted about something related to the trip, her images are head on. Her re-chronicling by photographing feels like an attempt to figure something out. This makes sense. And as such it's a successful series. The images show diaries that are cut up, collaged, and water-stained/streaked. The words (Korean? English?) are obscured. The viewer is made to search too.

I looked a bit more, at some of Brown's other work. Some of the work on her site seems like she's studied a bit of Lauren Greenfield. Greenfield is great, so learning from her is never a bad thing.

Wecome to Alton, Illinois, from the series DOG TOWN, winter 2008 by Jo Ann Walters

It's hard to write about photographs, (really, it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it!).

It's especially hard to write about your own photographs. So when you read an artist's statement that's fluid and powerful, it kind of knocks the wind out of you.
This was the case when I read HHS contender Jo Ann Walters' statement about her series DOG TOWN. Since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to say it any better, here's what she wrote:

Though I have employed the well-worn mannerisms of photographic documentation the work is not only a record, per se. It is also an elegiac work of remembrance. The images are mined from my earliest recollections, and are made up of tired light, dog days and falling, rending time through the luminous reflections of winter light. Together they comprise a quiet + stoic meditation on the mineral wastes and dregs of an unsparing economy, as well as, a song of MOURNING + MEDIATION for my father and men at work in a different time and place.

She's right, isn't she? That's what these photos are (sorry, I know you only get to see one here, you'll have to take my word for it on the others). If you don't believe me or her, yet, (and I have faith that you will) you can see a little more (but not enough) of her work on her temporary website.

Since it is clearly always all about me, I'll admit, it is 2:45 a.m., as you probably already saw in the time stamp, and I am awake. And working. And chatting intermittently on instant messenger with, among others, fellow non-sleeper Jen Bekman.

Look at entrant Sarah Fuller's work. Fuller submitted three photographs from a series titled Dream Lab,which is a collaboration between her and the Dream and Nightmare Lab at The Sacred Heart Hospital in Montreal. She creates portraits in an attempt to "produce new knowledge about the hypnagogic stage of the sleep cycle."

What is fascinating, though, is a mix of the experiment and her imaging technique. Fuller captures her subjects, including herself, at the super vulnerable moment of literally falling asleep. Before "falling," actually, as she notes that the camera's shutter is tripped even before the customary head nod at the start of sleep.

Looking at her portraits, the moment of falling seems both magical and so normal, so recognizable. Her photos are so honest and so silly and so special at the same time.

Fuller writes:

"Artists like Salvador Dali used this stage of sleep to harness creative imagery and problem solve. Dali also employed the 'upright napping' technique which involves falling asleep upright and seated in a chair. I have used this technique in my series. Typically in the lab, sounds are used to awaken the participants but the study I am currently working uses a flash (visual stimuli) and the sound of the camera (audio stimuli) to waken the person from an upright nap. Participants sit quietly in a darkened room lit only by a single black light and try to fall asleep. When the researcher observes the EEG indicating a shift to sleep, the camera and flash are triggered, thereby illuminating the room. In essence, what results is a photograph of the exact moment the person is falling asleep, just before the customary head nod. Conceptually I am intrigued by the fact that as this photograph is taken, each person is literally in another state of consciousness."

I must admit, a few days ago I fell asleep while getting my hair cut. Not during the quiet part where my hairdresser (Keith at Devachan) cut each curl individually, methodically. No, I fell asleep while my head was inside of one of those huge hair dryers attached to the wall. Also, the hairdresser was pointing a second hairdryer into my hair drying helmet in order to do some sort of special, extra (and extra loud) drying to my hair. And I fell asleep. One of those falling asleep sitting up things where your head actually falls forward. My head fell forward and hit the inside of the hair dryer. I wish I could make this stuff up. I also wish that Fuller had been there to capture it on film.

Haymaking, Valeni, Maramures, Romania July 2003 by Davin Ellicson

It's difficult to place HHS contender Davin Ellicson's photographs in 2003, the year they were taken in the Maramures region of Romania. It is even harder to suspend disbelief when you realize that this is the same country that delivered the stunning (and very contemporary) film 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days just last year. The traditions and way of life he is documenting in the village of Valeni have long disappeared in the West and are slowly disappearing in Romania too as the country embraces the shift from Communism to Capitalism.

I've been fascinated by these transitions since studying in Prague as an undergrad in 2001 and recently, for reasons that don't need to be explained here, found myself delving into post-Ceausescu Romania and was shocked to read that it's possible still to see women sweeping stoops with brooms made of sticks and men steering carriages drawn by horses. But now, seeing Ellicson's photographs, and seeing more of them on his website, and reading about them on his blog, I know that it's true. It's true in spite of the fact that this is also the country that was dazzled by the soap opera Dallas and is home to a sprawling replica of the set.

The remarkable thing about Ellicson's photos is that they do not show any malignant signs of Capitalism, especially not the particularly offensive American brand that seems to have manifested elsewhere in the country. In fact, he shows no evidence of this change at all, effectively creating nostalgia for a time and place that, in most places of the western world, have ceased to exist, and making a solid case for preservation.

I can't help but think of the brilliant body of work, Czech Eden, by Matthew Monteith. Monteith's photographs feel like modern day myths among the everyday. Ellicson's works seem mythological for plainly showing what is "everyday" in this part of Eastern Europe. He does for us viewers what he sets out to do for himself: "I want to personally savor this magical, peaceful place before it vanishes forever..."

Summer '05 Hot Shot Florian de Lassee had a fantastic photo printed in The New York Times Magazine, alongside The Way We Love Now piece, "The Price of Optimism."

And, on 20x200, Kara reports on friend of HHS Jason Polan, who is selling a shirt on McSweeney's

Next, the one and only Jason Polan is selling a t-shirt on McSweeney's. He promises that when you wear the shirt, "You win the lottery and make all the right decisions with the money". Who could refuse this offer?

Image from Luke Cassady-Dorion's series on Ramkamheang University in Bangkok

Did you, dear readers, ever see the UK television The Prisoner? If you have, I bet you'll agree with me that the image above looks very much like a secret room in Number Two's residence in The Village. If you haven't see the series, you needn't rush out to rent it, unless you are a serious sci-fi fan. Suffice to say that the image above captures something familiar and completely uncomfortable, much the same way The Prisoner made me feel. Nothing was quite right, although it seemed like things could be okay...if only...if only.

See more images from Ramkamheang University on Luke's site.

You only have 18 days left to enter the last round of competition in 2008!

Yes, that's a little more than two weeks but, really, I am STRONGLY advising you: don't put it off. Now (!) is the time to apply. Here's why:

* We have three lovely ladies lined up to post about your work on this very fine blog. Between the three of us, we'll be posting approximately twice per day, Monday through Friday, which means +/- 10 photographers per week will be featured here and getting publicity via lots of traffic on their portfolio sites and/or blogs (just one of the perks of entering, mind you!).
* AND, because we tend to get a LOT of entries attheverylastminute, now that we're all writing regularly, the odds are pretty good that you'll be posted about if you apply soon; at least the odds are better than they will be as we get closer and closer to the deadline.

Really, I just don't want to you to have to add "enter Hey, Hot Shot!" to your list of New Year's resolutions again, right before "floss regularly" and "eat more fruits and vegetables." While you're at it, you'd also have to add, "STOP procrastinating!"

So, cross it off your list. You'll sleep better. I promise.

Motel (#1) 2005 by Bethany M. Souza

In her bio, Bethany Souza writes that she's delighted she no longer has to shovel snow in the winter. A recent relocation from Chicago to southeastern Louisiana has her exploring areas of central Florida she grew up in. She continues in her statement:

Was I still a Floridian or if I had become a tourist again; or did the truth lay somewhere between these two extremes?... My intent is that these images work together to represent the unique dichotomy, between home and away, that exists not only in me personally, but in the everyday lives of most Floridians.

I definitely feel like "the other", not because I am actually sitting at a desk but because of the way Bethany has composed her image, her subjects are protected by that lurking yellow building (which is appropriately ambiguous, a hotel or an apartment complex? and also, btw, reminds me of these buildings shot by fellow sunny clime photographer and recent Hot Shot Brad Moore), and there is also a great distance between her and her subjects.

Thankfully, for me, and Bethany too, we are encroaching on an actual weekend, even for us northerners and non-Floridians, so it's ciao for now. For more weekend/weekday photo goodness, check out Bethany's site.

Wow. I just really like this photo by Chris Bentley, current entrant to Hey, Hot Shot! 2008 Second Edition. I can picture it in a gallery and on someone's wall in someone's home.

I sort of want to lie down in front of a large print of this photo. I don't want to watch a movie on it. Just to look at it. I'm afraid I won't find a drive in anywhere near my home in Brooklyn anytime soon. I"m afraid that this was all, somehow, too much information from me.

Unsurprisingly, Bentley is also a filmmaker. And, according to his submission, this isn't his first time. He entered Hey, Hot Shot! last year too. Which I think is a good thing. Admirable persistance. How American.

Read a bit of Bentley's statement after the jump.

Scathing and confrontational, Spring 2007 Hot Shot Nina Berman's exhibit, Homeland, opens at Jen Bekman Gallery this Friday, October 24th, and consists of images culled as she photographed across the United States during the last seven years of the Bush Administration.

The image above, 9-11-02, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 2002, is one of my favorites from the show. It was released as a 20x200 edition in March earlier this year, so I've had plenty of time to look at it and have yet to grow tired of it, in fact, I return to it as a breath of fresh air when news and coverage of the Iraq War, the elections, Israel and Palestine, natural disasters (this list could go on for awhile) become overwhelming. When all of this clatter is incessant, images like this photograph keep me from becoming apathetic. That little hand and that little flag flapping under the nose of that ominous camera are so hopeful and optimistic against that gray sky.

9-11-02, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 2002, also provides a counterpoint for Nina's other photographs, like the above, Little Patriots, Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, 2003. This boy on his bike is almost as frightening, (possibly more) than the camera hovering in the sky because he gives you NO room to breathe.

Tyler Green on Modern Art Notes is collecting images of flags from curators, editors, and bloggers over the next week or so. Nina's 9-11-02, Shanksville, Pennsylvania has been featured via Cigarettes and Purity. See the rest of the round-up on MAN this week and see the rest of Nina's show at the JB Gallery, opening tomorrow, Friday, October 24 from 6-8 p.m @ 6 Spring Street, NYC.

Forest. Exclusion Zone, Chernobyl, February, 2006 by Donald Weber

This photograph from Donald Weber is not my favorite photograph of all the images he submitted. This one is. But this photograph of an orange car as seen from the woods around Chernobyl is much easier to write about than the photograph of a young girl grinning at a rabbit skin while a man behind her dresses the flesh of the animal for dinner, which is part of Weber's point. He writes:

What's important about this work, in my view, is that it reveals the fateful intersection of history and the human soul. The West has its own versions of materialism; we may pretend that these people and their sad condition have nothing to do with us. But something in their eyes tells us more than we want to know. We are being tested, all of us. These photos confront us with the inescapable truth: life is a journey through a dark wood. We must take it one step at a time.

Holly Andres

Winter '07 Hot Shot Holly Andres has her first solo show in New York, Sparrow Lane, opening tonight, Thursday, October 23, 2008 at Robert Mann Gallery:

Holly Andres's first solo exhibition in New York will feature photographs from the series Sparrow Lane, including the debut of new works in the series. Displaying a rich understanding of color and composition, Andres's tableaux depict young women on the threshold of adulthood, propelled by their curiosity and sense of discovery. Sparrow Lane is a strange yet familiar world filled with floral wallpapers, satin dresses, vanity mirrors, and family photos in gilded frames -- the trappings of adolescence in a bygone age.

Drawing equally upon Hitchcockian cinematic tropes and Nancy Drew dust jackets, Andres's stunning photographs plumb psychological depths that are as quixotic as they are visually seductive. Her protagonists seem caught in states of hyper-self-consciousness: suspicious of watching eyes out of frame, their stiff gestures betray their vulnerability. On the brink of discovery -- at that awkward age when one is no longer a child, but not yet fully an adult -- these heroines appear as much posed as poised. Their snooping is comprised of small transgressions borne of a strong dose of curiosity, incidents along the way to some personal revelation.

Watch Holly on TV: Outlook Portland too.

Read a Hey, Hot Shot blog interview with Holly.

The Center for Photography at Woodstock is a great place. If you haven't visited yet, you should. (Winter '07 Hot Shot Mickey Smith has a show, COLLOCATIONS, there now.) And if you're into photography competitions, then you should take advantage of the Center's extended deadline for Photography Now. And you should take note of the fact that Ms. Jen Bekman is this year's juror.

The deadline, even extended, is soon: this Friday, October 24, 2008. See details after the jump and at the Center's website. Winners will have their work published in the Center's publication, Photography Quarterly.

"Surreal and wacky ... Holmes' images grant an intimate understanding of homo sapiens' curiosity."

"When we were small, my younger sister, Cheryl, played with a set of dolls she called the 'McCann Family.' They were a thinly disguised version of our family. Cheryl decided she was 'Tom McCann,' the spunky boy doll. I was, 'MaryAnn,' the girl doll. Cheryl often had Mother McCann say to Tom, 'Mary Ann is wonderful.'(If I wrote the script, Mother would say, 'Tom is so gifted' and 'Mary Ann is average.') At first Tom could stand on his own. Later he always lost his balance. Cheryl diagnosed Tom with Polio. She fitted him with crutches and braces just like hers. (Cheryl was born with spina bifida.) Tom thought Mother disliked having a disabled child. He felt bad about that. One day Father's leg fell off. Cheryl taped it back on as a prosthesis. After he became an amputee, Father was a lot more understanding about his son."

KC: Do you collect art?

MS: Yes, primarily through trade and auction. I have two sizeable Urban Beasts and a few of Robert Marbury's prints. An enormous Ghost Walrus presides over our living room. The passion for his work likely stems from a treasured stuffed animal collection my dad threw out when I was ten. They're coming back - with a vengeance.

My passion is for collecting is for contemporary jewelry by living artists. The most fashionable people I know who wear junk - when small sculptural, original wonders are available - consistently astound me. In the past, I have invited jewelers like Karen Gilbert and Heinz Brummel to show in my studio.

Smith's work can currently be seen in these shows:

Collocations
The Center for Photography at Woodstock
Woodstock, NY
August 30 - October 26, 2008

Volume
Contemporary Art in Traditional Museums Festival
Pushkin Dom
PRO ARTE Institute
St. Petersburg, Russia
September 27 - October 19, 2008

Soon, you can see Smith's work in these shows:

Pharmakon Library
Created + Curated by Christina McPhee
New York Art Book Fair
New York, NY
October 24 - 26, 2008

Volume
Alvar Alto Library
Vyborg, Russia
October 23 - November 11, 2008

YOU PEOPLE
Invisible-Exports
New York, NY
November 14 - December 21, 2008
Reception: Friday, November 14

SCOPE Miami
Invisible-Exports
Miami, FL
Decemeber 3 - 7, 2008

I've always liked Hasted Hunt. They often have great shows and now they have a great, politically-supportive project.

Contact the gallery at 212.627.0006 or info@hastedhunt.com to purchase a limited edition print of Martin Schoeller's portrait of Obama taken in 2004.

The print is an 11" by 14" archival pigment print, an edition of 500, each signed and numbered by Schoeller. The prints are $250 plus shipping and handling. All of the proceeds go directly to the Obama campaign.

Alec Soth Advantage Inn, from the series "Niagara," 8"x10" C-Print on 11"x14" paper, Photo taken 2005, Printed 2007, Artist's Proof 1/5, Value: $1,200.00, Starting Bid: $700.00

Art for Obama writes, in response to posts here and on 20x200:

"We've been working w/a legal team for weeks, and in order to abide by FEC regulations, we will not be donating our proceeds directly to Obama or the DNC . Instead, the proceeds will go to MoveOn.org; one of the most effective advocacy groups for the Obama campaign, who is also involved in respectful, and progressive issues that concern us all as Americans. In addition, the auction will now run from October 3, 5pm EST through October 10th, 5pm EST."