VII Photo Agency, founded by seven photo-journalists in 2002, has added four new photographers to their prestigious roster. Lynsey Addario, Ziyah Gafić, and Seamus Murphy will join the VII network and Adam Ferguson will join the Mentor Program under the guidance of Christopher Morris.

Conceived of in 2001, the photographers of VII are bonded by their mission to document they document social, political, and environmental conflict -- both in war-torn areas and in zones of peace. They document the individuals and places affected by major and minor conflicts all over the world.

Addario, Gafić, Murphy, and Ferguson are all courageous photographers who have traveled the world on a mission of capturing instances of devastation and places and people of transition for many years. Instanbul-based Addario is a self-taught photographer who has spent the last 10 years in Afghanistan, Darfur, and exploring horrific, but necessary stories like the images of her series, Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sarajevo-born Gafić has also focused on places of transition, including war-torn Bosnia, Rwanda, and Chechnya. Murphy's images -- many in a deeply emotive grainy black and white -- focus on Somalia, Nigeria, and war-torn Afghanistan, offering a scarily intimate perspective of violence, poverty, and a crumbled environment. Lastly, Ferguson has visited the depths of Mumbai slums and the valleys of Afghanistan where US forces have been training for the last several years. All of these photographers have risked their lives for the edification of viewers all over the world.

We congratulate Addario, Gafić, Murphy and Ferguson their addition to VII and look forward to the amazing photo-documentation we are sure they will continue to produce.

Daisy Angy Kekae, collage portrait by Ian van Coller
Fall 2007 Hot Shot, Ian van Coller is showing his series of collage portraits of South African female domestic and farm workers at Philadelphia's Sol Mednick Gallery now through the end of August. The exhibition, Looking Forward: Portraits of South African Women, also features portraits from Coller's series Domestic Relations which pictures women wearing their favorite clothing posed inside the homes that they are employed to clean. Both series seek to engage a conversation about post-Colonial identities in a post-Apartheid South Africa.

From Ian's statement on his collage portraits:

My portrait collage series combines several influences that have personally been relevant to my art-making process. The work grew out of my experimentation with the use of quilting techniques based on traditions from Africa and Gees Bend, Alabama as a way to tell stories and record oral histories. The manner in which individuals in these portrait collages are presented, was heavily influenced by posters from the period of resistance against apartheid in South Africa (particularly 1980s and early 1990s). The union posters are now iconic examples of the strong printmaking tradition that grew out of resistance and artistic movements that began in the townships, and which often created "heroic" figures out of ordinary people.

Looking Forward: Portraits of South African Women
Sol Mednick Gallery
211 S Broad St, Fl 15th
Philadelphia, PA

Ian is also showing work at Chicago's Schneider Gallery in group show, A Glance at Photography, now through August 22.

A Glance at Photography
Schneider Gallery
230 West Superior St.
Chicago, IL

Jacob Pritchard photographs girls in bed. That is: girls with cats, girls with ipods, girls with their boyfriends, girls asleep and girls with books. In this new project, Pictures in Bed, he shoots aerial portraits of twenty-somethings snuggling, making out, drinking tea, reading, and twisted between their sheets and blankets. The lighting is bright and even and the frame extends so that the bed's surroundings form an even frame around the mattress.

Like a honed-in version of The Selby, where photographer Todd Selby photographs the creative and fashionable in their homes, Pritchard's project attempts to create an image of their person with this slice of their personal space. The images form a set of snapshots that suggest our beds, their order and disorder, and how we occupy them are another form of self-portrait. In Pritchard's project, we would love him branch out to a far more diverse demographic whose bodies are less posed in the motions of sleep. Theories on sleep -- the meaning of postures, how many hours we need, what it means to dream -- are abound, but what does it mean to be in bed and not be asleep? We're curious to see where Pritchard goes with this project, and who and how he finds people in bed.

London-based photography and fine art printer, theprintspace, is running a monthly photography competition judged by photographers Julia Fullerton-Batten, Harry Borden, Rob Jarvis, and Editor & director of 1000 Words Photography Magazine, Tim Clark.

Each month brings a new theme and a new round of the competition; photographers can submit up to 5 images each month. All images selected for monthly competitions will also be included in theprintspace's two-week long grand bi-annual group show at their gallery in East London, opening at a TBD date. Winners of the monthly competitions will also receive a mounted 20x24-inch print of their choice from theprintspace studio, an entry on the 1000 Words photography blog and continued exposure from theprintspace.

This month's theme is Portraiture and the deadline for entries is tomorrow, June 30th. Applicants must join theprintspace's Facebook group for further details about entry terms and conditions. Winners will be announced on July 13th and notified via Facebook. Good luck to all applicants!

Two Cowboys, 2006 by Juliana Beasley

Fall 2006 Hot Shot Juliana Beasley was recently awarded a NJ Arts Council Grant, and since then has been steadily showing work and receiving accolades from NYMPHOTO, as well as a feature on Lens Culture.

Images from Juliana's poignant series of Mennonites living in the Southern Yucatan are currently on view at Daniel Cooney Fine Art's Summer Salon of Emerging Photographers. The exhibition will run through July 31.

Summer Salon of Emerging Photographers: Juliana Beasley, Felix Cid, Bradley Peters and Rebecca Schrock
DCFA 511 West 25th Street, #506 | New York

If you're a photographer and you want a book, and what photographer doesn't want a book (?), Blurb's Photography.Book.Now competition is for you. The grand prize is worth $25,000. The competition kicked off last year and was won by Jen Bekman Gallery's very own Beth Dow*.

Photography.Book.Now juror (and HHS! panelist), Darius Himes, helpfully outlined the ins and outs of the competition's new categories on his blog. This year's contest is all about showcasing a really brilliant book concept, so pay attention to these hints!

You can read more from Darius in this Q&A over on the Dodge & Burn blog.

And as Darius notes at the end of his post, to learn even more about photography + art book publishing, pick up The Photobook: A History, Volumes 1 & 2 by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger (Phaidon) or a copy of the newly released WordsWithoutPictures.org, conceived and edited by Charlotte Cotton at LACMA, to which he contributed an essay, about, you guessed it, photo books. Darius, a perennial fountain of knowledge for photographers has also managed to co-author a book with Mary Virginia Swanson, to be published in 2010.

The Photography.Book.Now. deadline is July 16th @ 12 p.m. PDT so you've got some time to read and review all of this essential info, get your photos together and enter!

* Beth Dow's photograph featured here is from her series, In the Garden, and can be found at 20x200.

20x200 edition-maker and Fall 2007 Hot Shot Colin Blakely, sent us word of a new series, The Histories Beneath, which captures quiet moments inside his family's life and home. The textures and physical layers of walls and windows are humble narration to a family story, told from a distance. His young child is caught--naked--with a popsicle streak running down the toddler's chest, a family photo falls crooked within a frame, and electrical wires hang loose in an unfinished bathroom.

Blakely writes,

This series externalizes a tumultuous year in the life of my family. Our lives are surrounded with facades we put in place for the benefit of others. Yet these shells we create are ultimately fragile, and in time reveal their cracks. In these cracks we see that there are always histories beneath.

See additional images from The Histories Beneath on Colin's site and buy his work on 20x200 (edition of 2 remaining for $2000):

Recollection of the Battles Fought Maintaining the Home Front
The Seeming Impenetrability of the Space Between

Ka-Man Tse was crowned a Hot Shot in Winter 2007, and has since been completing her MFA in photography at Yale. Ka-Man is currently in a group exhibition, We Belong Together, up now at Capricious Space, which celebrates the young star graduates who we'll surely be seeing much more of in the coming years. Ka-Man is joined by Elaine Stocki, David LaSpina, Colin Smith, Catharine Maloney, Justin Leonard, and Dru Donovan.

The show runs through July 5th.

We Belong Together
Capricious Space | 103 Broadway | Brooklyn, NY

Hahnemühle, purveyors of fine art papers that have filled many-a-portfolio book over the years, is celebrating their 425th Anniversary (yes, you read that right) with a photo competition that will award winners €36,000 in non-cash prizes (vouchers for products, gift certificates, etc). Submissions of four photographs printed on Hahnemühle FineArt DIN A4 paper paper along with an entry form must be sent in by mail by next Tuesday, June 30th. Prizes will be awarded in the categories of: People & Portrait, Landscape & Nature, Architecture & Still Life, and Student Awards and the winning images will also be shown in a touring exhibition in London, Berlin, Paris, New York and Tokyo among other cities.

For additional information and an entry form, see the Hahnemühle website.

Untitled by Shawn Rocco

The NYTimes' photojournalism blog, Lens, posted an album of images this morning captured by professional photographer, Shawn Rocco, on his Motorola E815 camera phone. Several years back, he was given one of the cameras by the newsroom he works for at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, which he soon discovered were simple tools for creating serendipitous images. He started the blog, Cellular Obscura, which has since solidified him in the ranks as a cell-phone-photo guru.

The blog writes,

"Serendipity is a very powerful thing," Mr. Rocco said in a telephone interview this week. "I'm not a voyeur, but I like catching people in their own little world, without interrupting them."

...

He discerns parallels between cellphone and Polaroid photography. "With Polaroid, it wasn't a crapshoot," Mr. Rocco said, "but you left a lot of things in the hands of the chemistry."

The idea of serendipity of photography is hardly a new one -- the William Eggleston or Garry Winogrand moments of the beauty in the mundane have been prominent since the 40s and 50s -- perhaps earlier, with Walker Evans. But, Rocco's images call to mind other photographers who use intentionally "lo-fi" cameras, like Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson, who took only a Holga with him traveling for 8 months, which led to his book Nonfiction. Both mediums shy away from what Rocco calls the "megapixelmania" of digital photography, some respite, perhaps, from Rocco's day-to-day shooting at the paper. This consciousness delineates the two groups, as the unknown chemistry of the tool is part of the thrill for Rocco and Anderson.

To see more of Shawn Rocco's cell phone images, visit his blog, Cellular Obscura.

En Foco, a non-profit organization supporting documentary photographers of Latino, Native, African and Asian heritage primarily living in the United States will kick off their 35th Anniversary Benefit with a cocktail party tomorrow evening, June 24th from 6-9 p.m. at HP Gallery at Calumet Photo. Tickets for the evening, $35 (or $45 at the door), are available here; cocktails and snacks will be provided.

New Works #12, curated by Deborah Willis, Chair of the Photo & Imaging Department at NYU/Tisch, will be on view, featuring images by Morgan M. Ford, Karen Garrett de Luna, Isabelle Lutterodt, Wendy Phillips, Cybèle Clark-Mendes, Archy LaSalle and Viviane Moos. The exhibit will come down Thursday, June 25th, so don't miss the opportunity to see it and learn more about En Foco.

One of the crazy/great things about HHS! is seeing all of the things that these photographers have been up to in addition to some pretty amazing artistic projects. First Edition 2009 Hot Shot Kurt Tong is no exception. He came to photography via a career as a health visitor and founded a charitable home for disabled and disadvantaged children in Chennai, South India. His NGO work led him to start shooting and eventually he was working full-time as a photographer. His projects have since ranged from the documentary to the very personal. Most recently, he's been working on a series that explores his daughter's memories as they are growing up — as visions and experiences are witnessed and archived. There is a sneak preview on his blog that's definitely worth checking out. His as-of-late interest in abstract landscape painters is clearly evident. See more of his work on his website.

From:
I was born in Hong Kong but have lived in London, UK for the last 20 years.

Formal and/or informal education and training:
I was actually trained as a health visitor at The University of Liverpool when I went to college. I got into photography when I was working for various NGOs in India. I was getting enough work so I gave it a shot and became a full time photographer. After a few years, I found myself almost on autopilot when I was shooting and I wanted to expand my knowledge of photography beyond what I was familiar with. So I did an MA in documentary photography at the London College of Communications in 2006. I also did a week-long workshop with Peter Bialobrzeski in 2007, right before I set off on my first trip to shoot People's Park. It definitely influenced how I approached the project.

How you pay the bills:
When I was shooting editorial and working for NGOs, I was having a great time but was barely paying the bills. I now shoot reportage weddings for 6 months a year, which pays my mortgage, my 2 kids, my personal projects (which I shoot in the 6 months I am not shooting weddings) and have enough to spare for the occasional hot dinner.

I still do the occasional NGOs job if it's interesting and I have been selling quite a few prints lately.

Best advice received (as a photographer and/or human):
I am still waiting for it.

Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Clint Eastwood, Joel Sternfeld and Hayao Miyazaki

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
Guernica by Picasso, for all its hidden images and symbolism.

Photographers/artists you are looking at right now:
I have been looking at a lot of abstract landscape painters and photographers at the moment for my current project:
Michael Porter
Susan Derges
A bit less abstract but still good:
Peter Bialobrzeski

Reading now:
I have a 2 year-old and a 3 month-old, so I don't really get much time to read, but I am reading Toddler Taming at the moment.

Top 3 photo blogs/websites:
Flak Photo
Lens Culture
Foto8

Top 3 non-photo blogs/websites:
Teamtalk
It's a bit obvious but I couldn't live without Google and Wikipedia.

The last remaining photo processing lab that handles Kodak's legendary Kodachrome film will develop it's last roll of that variety at the end of 2010. Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, has for some time been the sole photo lab that handles the world's first commercially successful color film, created by Kodak in 1935. But, as sales of film have dwindled and processing centers have disappeared alongside, Kodak has decided to retire Kodachrome once and for all.

Kodachrome film stock is projected to last through the early fall of this year. If you're a lucky photographer with rolls in stock, make sure you shoot 'em and send them to Parsons, Kansas before the end of 2010.

See Kodak's tribute gallery to Kodachrome and see the Kodachrome pool on flickr.

Hey photographers! Need a new camera? DAY 19, the moniker for Southern-California based husband-wife photographic duo, Jeremy and Claire Weiss, has announced a new photography contest with the grand prize of a Canon 5D + one of their prints. The Weiss', recent winners in the 2009 PDN Annual for the Advertising Category, have made a mark as the West Coast's ultimate lifestyle-documentarians, taking their visions of beach days, afternoons at the skateboarding park and pool parties, to brands like Converse, Nokia and X-Box.

Join the DAY 19 Facebook group to get contest details. Jeremy and Claire will pick their favorite photos at an as-of-yet-undetermined date, due by July 15th, and trade the winner a Canon 5D and a print of theirs for a print by the winner.

Also see Jeremy and Claire's excellent Polaroid Project and blog.

Update!: Read about contest details HERE.

For as long as I can remember, I've been following Michelle's stream of photos on flickr, in awe and envy of the simultaneous intimacy and intricacy of moments that seem to fill her life. Whether capturing a portrait, a rumpled bed, or the crooked wall of photos inside a home, Michelle's images are nuanced studies rife in texture and pattern that embrace light and layers. She takes cues from her Costa Rican heritage, but also appears to venture out into nature to capture its tiniest vignettes.

We are honored to include Michelle amongst our most recent Hot Shots and look forward to seeing her images on the gallery walls. Keep reading for a short Q&A with Hot Shot Michelle Arcila and look forward for more news and info about the HHS! show and Michelle's work to come:

From:
Long Island, NY. However, I was always back and forth between NY and Costa Rica with my mom.

Formal and/or informal education and training:
I started to get really obsessed with photography so I decided to take a photo class when I was 14 in high school. Thankfully I went to a high school that offered photography for the entire four years I was there. I then attended the School of Visual Arts where I graduated with a B.F.A in photography.

How you pay the bills:
I work full time as a personal assistant. And I try and get freelance photo jobs here and there on nights and weekends.

Best advice received (as a photographer and/or human):
To never underestimate the power of wishful thinking.

Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Frida Kahlo, Vermeer, William Eggleston

Photograph that you can't get out of your head, ever:
I am so sorry that I can not pick just one because I have to say that the William Eggleston exhibition Democratic Camera in its entirety is something I can not get out of my mind. I am not kidding when I say that I cried walking through it. I just thought it was such a pure sincere form of art that is rarely seen in the art world.

I also have to add that there is one more photograph I can't get out of my head and it's Andreas Gursky's Schiphol. I think that if I ever came into lots and lots of money that would be the first thing I would buy. I have Andreas Gursky's book and I try to keep it always open to page 99. Schiphol's page.

Photographers/artists you are looking at right now:
Roni Horn is literally making my mind expand so much. I love how she can bring personal experience to any object and she does it in this way that is both warm and cold at once.

I've also gone back to looking at Paula Rego's work, the narratives that she creates in her paintings are truly remarkable to me.

Reading now:
Report on Myself by Grégoire Bouillier

Top 3 photo blogs/websites:
I really like looking at Dazed Digital. Good bits on music, art, fashion and photography. hei Astrid is really lovely. Lastly Young Photographers United is great and I am lucky to be a part of that site.

Top 3 non-photo blogs/websites:
1. Boomkat -- I can spend hours on their website discovering new music.
2. YouTube for obvious reasons.
3. I enjoy NY Mag throughout my days.

Hosang Park, recently selected as one of two HHS! 2008 Ne Plus Ultras to receive representation by Jen Bekman Gallery, has also been honored as a winner in the PDN Photo Annual 2009. His image Howon-dong has been selected in the Personal Work category alongside photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Christoph Gielen and Lauren Greenfield, among others. We enthusiastically congratulate Hosang for this honor!

If you would like to get your hands on one of Hosang's prints, Howon-dong and Uman-dong, both from his series A Square, are for sale exclusively through 20x200.

Over the last few days, you might have noticed a new blogger on these very fine pages, our amazing intern Kika Gilbert is now contributing regular posts. With her help, we'll be able to provide more frequent updates on Hot Shots, more info on other opportunities for photographers and noteworthy exhibitions. We're very excited to have her here and hope that you are too!

Kika's proven herself to be invaluable to the JBP team, in our NYC office + at the JB gallery, also popping up to help out at the 20x200 Collector's Confab we hosted in San Francisco. Who does that? Kika! She's super smart, funny and has been incredibly dedicated and reliable. We're very grateful to have an excellent team of interns. Thank you!

When reviewing Daniel Cheek's HHS! entry, panelists had to take a closer look. It was one of only a handful black and white entries, so it stood out. But the images are subtle, taking their cues from the likes of Robert Adams and before that, Timothy O'Sullivan. On the periphery of the vast American West, Cheek documents our small attempts to stake boundaries and order on the wilderness. Figures and other signs of human intervention are often miniscule, barely visible and almost trite in the face of forests, oceans and mountains.

After studying his work, it came as no surprise to learn that Cheek works at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco and spends his days, at work and at home, surrounded by photographs from Adams, Misrach, Nixon, Evans, Frank and Friedlander. Fraenkel's recent book Edward Hopper & Company: Hopper's Influence on Photography is also an apt reference. Hopper's vision is evident in the works of many of these photographers, Cheek no exception. The first image in Where We Go on Cheek's website is of 8 straight-backed rocking chairs facing out floor-to-ceiling windows — a cross of People in the Sun and many EH interiors. It's just the intro to many nice works, see for yourself, then move on to a few words from Daniel himself, below.

From:
I like to say I'm from Detroit, but honestly my parents moved us away when I was in kindergarten, so my real claim has to be Grand Rapids, Michigan, which just isn't as tough. I was born in the same hospital as Jackie Wilson, Sam Raimi and Jack White, though. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 10 years, which similarly to saying I'm from Detroit, I claim Oakland pride, but live in Alameda...

Formal and/or informal education and training:
I started photography in high school, which had a great darkroom and enthusiastic art teacher. She even got me out of phys ed to help teach the new art teacher how to develop film. I attended the Community College in Grand Rapids which luckily has a phenomenal photography program thanks to a true master, Jonathan Russell. I think we were the only students coming out of a community college all shooting large format, processing with pyro, and printing with platinum. I went on to get my BFA at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, which is more of an applied arts school, but did me well in furthering my technical prowess. After all that, I do think my biggest education in photography has come from my time at Fraenkel Gallery. There's no substitute for having casual conversations with the greatest photographers of the last 40 years.

How you pay the bills:
I handle the rights and reproductions at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco. Weekly conversations with Robert Adams, Nick Nixon, Richard Misrach, and Lee Friedlander isn't a bad way to wile away the days.

Best advice received (as a photographer and/or human):
Richard Misrach told me I had to stop shooting with that dinky 4x5 and move to a real camera. (I am, of course, paraphrasing, Richard is much more eloquent than I.)

Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Robert Adams sets the standard for elegance, beauty, and thoughtfulness in his photography, writings and way he lives his life.

Nicholas Nixon does things with a camera that are completely unbelievable, I dream of one day being that comfortable and one with my tools.

Garry Winogrand is just plain rad. Some people can only see the funniness, or meanness, or cleverness, but many of his pictures are also very tender and thoughtful.

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
Jeez, just one is practically impossible, so, here are several that I have based most of my own pictures off of... I keep these in a catalog in the back of my head and feel lucky when I can come close to making my own. I am also lucky enough to live with prints of each of these in my home.

Photographers/artists you are looking at right now:
Unfortunately, I don't get out to look at art beyond at work. As my first year as a father, time devoted to finding new art has been devoted to crawling on my belly and making a fool of myself for my son's enjoyment.

With that said, I did get Mark Ruwedel's new book, Westward the Course of Empire, which is full of pictures I wish I would have made and a project I wish I would have thought of.

Also, at the gallery we received a batch of vintage not well known Nicholas Nixon pictures which are astounding.

Reading now:
I finally got around to reading The Grapes of Wrath. My wife is from Oklahoma and her grandmother was one of the brave who did not try to move. We go to visit her farm a few times a year where she's lived since the 1930s, she's got truly amazing stories of the dust bowl.

They just don't write books like that anymore, I can honestly say I had to stop reading a few times to stop sobbing.

Top 3 photo blogs/websites:
Like everyone else in this biz, I love James Danziger's blog, although his music picks are generally terrible. He should just stick to photos...

I am a fan of the one and only Hey, Hot Shot! judge Darius Himes' blog, although he needs to start posting more.

I love reading the posts on photo.net. Now, there is a bunch of guys truly devoted to the craft of photography! I'll never have that much energy just in the technical side of it, but it's interesting to read the passionate posts on the virtues of Azo or what-have-you.

Top 3 non-photo blogs/websites:
I am an avid fan of music blogs. So much useless music trivia about totally obscure bands to waste your days. My favorites are:
It's Great Shakes
El Diablo Tun Tun — more vintage obscure country and blues than you'll ever have time for.
Uncle Gil's Rockin' Archives
I used to love Chocoreve but no posts since November, I do hope they come back.
I also check this site more times than is probably safe for my mental state: Recent Earthquakes in California and Nevada
And I have to throw a shout-out to my niece's incredible flickr site, her creativity, imagination and energy puts most of us to shame: Jessika Rosalind

Singing, 2009 by Maureen Drennan,

Its that time of year again-the time for MFA graduates to release to the world the bodies of work they've been pouring their energy, blood, sweat and tears into for the past two (or more) years to turn into perfection. The School of Visual Arts is no exception and the 2009 MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Thesis exhibition is currently on view through next Thursday, June 27th. This year the exhibition is curated by faculty member Bonnie Yochelson and features the work of the 21 graduating students, including our own 20x200 artist and Winter 2006 Hot Shot Jessica Bruah as well as Hey, Hot Shot! contender Maureen Drennan.

One of the great things about the work that I see just from browsing it online, is the diversity in each students interests as well as their approach to the medium. There is passionate photojournalism by Scott Houston, personal narrative poured out in book form by Johanna Heldebro and even voyeurism presented as small intimate shrines by Yiftach Belsky. Can't wait to go see the show in person!

The exhibition is displayed at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th Floor from June 15th-June 29th. It's open Monday through Friday from 10-5pm, so catch it while you can.

For all of you past, present, and future Hot Shots and contenders, here's another great photo competition for you to apply to: The Ian Parry Scholarship. First a little bit about the scholarship, The Ian Parry Scholarship was created to honor Ian Parry, who died at the age of 24 while on assignment for the The Sunday Times during the Romanian revolution in 1989. The prize aims to support the career and art work of photography students and young artists alike.

Contenders should submit a portfolio of their work and a brief synopsis of the project they would like to undertake upon receiving the scholarship. The winner will recieve a prize of £2,500 towards his or her proposed project. The scholarship is sponsored by The Sunday Times, Getty Images, Canon, The Getty Images Gallery, The British Journal of Photography, and The Frontline Club. Needless to say, there will be some great people checking out the applicants.

If you'd like to apply, act fast! The deadline for this commendable award is June 24th, 2009 (less than a week away). For more information about the award and submission guidelines, make sure you check out The Ian Parry Scholarship website.

Arild Slicing Meat, 2009 by Erika Larsen

The 2009 Women in Photography grants have been announced and we are ever so excited that Erika Larsen has been named the recipient for a $3000 WIP-Lightside Individual Project Grant for her series Sami, The People. In this series she will be exploring the hunter-gatherer culture in a small village of indigenous inhabitants located in Northern Scandinavia. In her own words she describes her intent with the work as, "I have come on a search to understand the primal drive of the modern hunter by taking an inclusive look at an original hunter-gatherer society. I have come to see if when the land speaks there are those that can interpret its language. I have come in search of silence so that I could begin to hear again."

This isn't the first time that Erika has created a body of work exploring hunting culture and modern society's connection to it. Head on over to her website to look at two of her previous series The Hunt and Young Blood -- work that has won her a 2008 World Press Award, a 2008 Jersey State Arts Council Grant, and an accolade from Review Santa Fe; In addition to being featured in American Photography, Communication Arts Photography Annual, and Photo District News.

Erika's solo show is launching on wipnyc.org today, though its only just the beginning; Make sure you follow Erika's progress on her website.

The grant was awarded by Women in Photography, an organization co-founded/curated by Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips (who you will recognize as a second edition 2008 Hot Shot!). The site features women from all experiences and ranks, so it is very exciting for Erika to be joining the club of very talented previous winners.The bimonthly shows on wipnyc.org are surely not to be missed and of course you can subscribe to their mailing list as well.

To be considered for a Women in Photography grant next year, you can submit up to five images and follow the guidelines detailed on the site.

Since we announced our 2009 First Edition Hot Shots a week and a half ago, we've been busy getting to know the photographers behind the images that will grace the gallery walls at a yet-to-be-determined date. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be bringing you interviews to introduce you to this season's Hot Shots.

Today we start with Mike Sinclair, a Midwestern photographer we've had our eye on for a long while. He takes large ephemeral portraits of crowds at sun-soaked fairgrounds, beaches, and baseball games capturing a sense of nostalgic Americana that many of us get lost in, but hardly look at with any distance. Crowds gather around the rodeo and the smoke of fireworks stirs up a halcyon haze over a grassy field -- all eyes are fixed in a stare at the spectacle before them, while Sinclair is focused on the people doing the staring. Sinclair composes his photographs as a quiet observer who has snuck his way into the hullabaloo of American celebrations and rituals: a street parade, day at the beach, a backyard barbecue. We invite you to peak at more of Mike's work, read the interview below, and stay tuned for more Hot Shot news.

Without further ado, a Q&A with Mike Sinclair:

From:
Kansas City, Missouri

Formal and/or informal education and training:
In High School I worked with my father selling men's clothing. Learning to sell clothes was a great experience for a shy teenager. On his business card was written "See Sinclair for style". I've always wanted to put that on mine.

I got my undergraduate degree at Southern Illinois University. I was lucky enough to study with Chuck Swedlund, a teacher and photographer whose passion for photography is a big reason why I'm a photographer today.

I also spent one Year in the MFA program at University of Illinois.

How you pay the bills:
Primarily Architectural photography but I also do editorial work and teach occasionally.

Best advice received (as a photographer and/or human):
From my wife: "You don't know what you don't know."

From Ezra Stoller, the foremost photographer of modern architecture, when asked at a workshop I attended what was his most important piece of equipment, his answer: "a good pair of shoes."

Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Louis Armstrong, Fairfield Porter and Walker Evans

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:

Family, Times Square by Louis Faurer, 1948

Photographers/artists you are looking at right now:
Rackstraw Downes
Art Sinsabaugh
David Goldblatt

Reading now:
Under the Gowanus and Razor-Wire Journal: The making of two paintings by Rackstraw Downes. This is Downes' almost-daily journal describing the process and problems of working on location from inaccurate weather forecasts, cars parked in front of your subject, to finding a public restroom and kids throwing rocks at you.

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan. This is a sensitive and at-times comic novella about the last 12 hours at a failing Red Lobster. It changed how I experience eating in a chain restaurant.

Top 3 photo blogs/websites:
1. T.A., Timothy Archibald's blog—It's interesting following someone whose work, both commercial and personal, is so different than mine.
2. The Year in Pictures
3. 5b4—I don't know how he finds the time to look at and post about so many books.

Top 3 non-photo blogs/websites:
1.Reference Library
2. Design Observer
3. Bitten Blog

Not to miss in NYC tonight: Lyle Rexer's talk and book signing for The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography at Aperture, 547 W 27th Street, 4th Floor, at 6:30 p.m . If you caught his panel at NYPH'09, you know he's enthusiastic about his subject and ridiculously thorough.

Since getting a sneak peek of the book back in February, we've been super excited about Aperture's summer schedule of events in celebration of the tome and corresponding exhibition. And we were happy to pair up with Aperture to launch a benefit edition with Penelope Umbrico. Umbrico created two new works exclusively for 20x200, 87 Suns From Flickr - 29 Visible (above) and 79 Moons From Flickr - 51 Visible. Proceeds from the sale of Moons directly benefit Aperture.

If you hurry home after the event, you'll still have time to collect a couple of Penelope's works at 20% off with the discount code RIDONK. The 20x200 20% more ridiculous sale ends tonight at midnight. It's an easy way to support Aperture and the excellent programming they have lined up all summer long!

Field of mirrors, harvesting the power of the sun by Shuli Hallak

A new project from a summer 2007 Hot Shot that is sure to inspire minds is Shuli Hallak's new ongoing series Green Energy. Starting in Kentucky Coal mine examining energy use and necessities, Shuli recently spent time in the Southern Californian desert photographing a Solar Energy testing site. Sites like the one photographed can generate enough energy to light 300,000 homes! The future certainly looks very bright. From here Shuli will be examining various sources of energy while documenting her quest.

Says Shuli of the project: "We are at the beginnings of a new era, out of necessity. The geopolitical, cultural, and financial climate of our time is revolutionizing the way we think about and use energy. In much the same way that the PC revolutionized information, this new era will change the way we make and consume energy: from a centralized to a decentralized, vast network of systems. We are on the cusp of greatness, and I'm excited to bear witness to it."

First Step: become a Hot Shot. Next Step: Change the World!

To view more images from the series, check out Shuli's Website and also, a reminder that her two prints Cotton Field, Mississippi and Hay Harvest, New Jersey are still available on 20x200! With the sale going on, you should snap them up quickly!

The winner of this year's Emerging Photographer Grant is Alejandro Chaskielberg, whose essay The High Tide explores fictional scenarios staged by real people in the Parana River Delta. Shot in the glowing light of a full moon, the images are a far cry from "traditional" documentary images, where capturing fact is often the declared motive.

Chaskielberg writes,

My photographs set out to document the life and work of the islanders of the Delta. Using long-time exposures with full moon, they have allowed me to light part of the landscape artificially and also give the islanders a strange timelessness: an unknown source of light floods the scene with unreality and mysterious....

I am interested in the poetical and visual power of the water, and the relationship of the people and the environment. I think that the health of this resource is a worldwide problematic issue today.

My intention is to work with photography in the border between reality and fiction.

The grant is funded by The Magnum Foundation and $10,000 goes to Chaskielberg for continued work on personal projects.

See additional work on his website.

Magnum Photographer David Alan Harvey initiated the Emerging Photographer Grant last year along with other members of Magnum Photos Inc. The winning photographer will be selected this weekend at the currently on-going LOOK3 Festival in Charlottesville, NC for a $10,000 one-time grant. Last year, the Emerging Photographer Fund grant was awarded to Sean Gallagher for his essay on the environmental "desertification" of China. Moving photo essays ranging from an essay about poverty in rural Kentucky to another about the water reserves or the Parana Delta in South America were submitted by this year's talented finalists. These two essays, and the 8 others that make up the ten finalists are available at burn magazine, Harvey's journal for emerging photographers. See their essays here:

In the Mood for Love by Cristina Faramo
The White Family by Carl Kiilsgaard
Nordeste by Marco Improta
American Dreams by Victor Cobo
Thirst For Grit by Lance Rosenfield
Missing Link by Tatiana Grigorenko
Lords of the Ring by Eric Espinosa
Sakhalin by Michael Christopher Brown
Aftermath by Simona Ghizzom
Trapped by Jenn Ackerman
The High Tide by Alejandro Chaskielberg

For information on this year's winning photographer and next year's Emerging Photography Grant, stay tuned to burn magazine.

Hello, hello and happy Friday! If you're whiling away the hours, waiting for the weekend, I have good news for you — head on over to 20x200 to browse some art and you'll see that we are offering 20% off every print, now through Saturday at 11:59 p.m.! Enter the code RIDONK at checkout.

$20 prints are now $16
$50 prints are now $40
$200 prints are now $160
$500 prints are now $400
$2,000 prints are now $1,600

As we mentioned here last week, there's a lot of really great photography from Hot Shots available. But some of those editions, won't be around for long.

There are just 17 of Justin James Reed's Idaho Springs, Colorado $20 $16 prints remaining, and only 17 and 14, respectively remaining, from Joseph O. Holmes's amnh #10 and amnh #62. Brad Moore, Birthe Piontek, Colleen Plumb and Youngna Park all have editions that are about to disappear as well!

There's never been a better time to start collecting the work of some of today's most promising photographers. All of these Hot Shots have work available on the site, and it's all 20% off through tomorrow at midnight: Dorthe Alstrup, Ian Baguskas, Nina Berman, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Colin Blakely, Dan Boardman, Jessica Bruah, James Deavin, Scott Eiden, Juliane Eirich, Todd R. Forsgren, Alison Grippo, Shuli Hallak, Brandon Herman, Joseph O. Holmes, Karolina Karlic, Robert Knight, Jeffrey Krolick, Gregory Krum, Pixy Liao, Brad Moore, Chad Muthard, Bob O'Connor, Hosang Park, Youngna Park, Kirby Pilcher, Birthe Piontek, Colleen Plumb, James Rajotte, Justin James Reed, Kelly Shimoda, Mickey Smith, Rachel Sussman, Matthew Tischler, Carlo Van de Roer, Donald Weber and Shen Wei.

Want to be among the first to hear about future 20x200 events and editions? Sign up for the 20x200 Mailing List and get Jen's twice-weekly edition announcements. She'll have new editions from the latest crop of Hot Shots very soon!

Every round of the Hey, Hot Shot! competition makes us aware of new photographic memes, but it is often surprising how different competitors choose to articulate and interpret a specific topic. This round, we saw a handful of entries where photographers set out to capture the current state of the economy, putting a visual on the nebulous effects of a crashing housing market, rising unemployment, failing banks, and suffering businesses. Contender Christopher Frot captures deadpan storefronts in France in his project Proximity Closure, Eve Morgenstern focuses on portraits of foreclosed houses in Detroit and Oakland in her project Foreclosure and Abandonment that are reminiscent of Becher-style uniformity, and Jenny Pfeiffer captures a more distant view of sparsely occupied neighborhoods in her series Tract Homes taken in Tracy, CA.

The series submitted this round are void of the people who created these spaces, now derelict, and this vacancy is present in other artistic series' made in recent periods like in Brian Ulrich's Stores That Are No More and Todd Hido's images of foreclosed homes' interiors. Each of these works captures a solemness in what's left, tracing a narrative along the lines of a house or the division between a clapboard and a storefront edge.

Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden has taken his journalistic eye into Detroit as well, capturing a more personal state of poverty with faces and names attached to the city's downfall. He shoots in black and white, going into run-down homes, shelters, and following the city's poor down the street with his camera. In his essays Detroit: The Troubled City and Foreclosures, he has created a throw-back collection of images that seem taken in another era.

He writes,

There is homelessness, job loss, economic difficulties, etc, etc, etc. In Detroit the problem is not only a subprime problem it's a problem of people who lost their jobs. And this has been going on for many years. So it's a much more serious situation. When I went to Detroit - even though I had known that the city was pretty desolate - I was amazed that a major city in America in 2009 can look like this.

Certain areas look like Berlin after World War II or like Beirut. Something is wrong here. Recently I have read books and articles and watched television shows on the foreclosure problem. How can you have a trillion dollar industry that's not regulated?

Blogs and news media have made their own efforts in aggregating a view of the economy: The New York Times recently launched a reader-submitted online album feature called Picturing the Economy that shows a collection of snapshots, like baby chickens reflecting one family's attempts to grow their own food, images of homes for sale, empty storefronts, penny-saving jars, and empty basketball courts. Individually, the photographs are unremarkable, but collectively, the interpretation of what is recessionary to the everyman strikes a louder cord about how no man is immune. Picture essays in the Boston Globe reflect another news angle, showing that no matter how global, the economy is a conceptually impossible topic to sum up in a handful of photos.

Whether approaching the visual side of the recession as a photojournalist, an artist, or a person with a camera-phone, the documentation and images are compelling of a period where a problem has become so visible, it is impossible to ignore. It prompts us to wonder what these areas -- Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland -- will look like in 5 years or 10 years or 50 years, and whether these areas and communities will be able to find a revival, or if these photographs are capturing the last remnants of these cities as we once knew them.

We are pleased to report that Juliane Eirich, a 2008 first edition Hot Shot and 20x200 superstar, will be part of SCOPE Basel 2009. On view from June 8th through June 14th, you can see Juliane's solo show Korean Diary as part of Berlin based Galerie Schuster. This series developed out of a 2007 fellowship in Seoul, Korea in which the artist took one photo everyday, creating a visual diary of her stay. Also, this is the first year that the Gallery has represented just one person at Scope Basel, so many congratulations are in order for Juliane!

Luckily for you, two of Juliane's images from this series, Balloons and Fishline are still available on 20x200, get them while they last!

The bi-ennial Review Santa Fe juried by LACMA Department of Photography curator Charlotte Cotton recently wrapped up, and we've been excitedly glimpsing through the portfolios of The Review Santa Fe 100, which names the top hundred nominees of the review. Many of the names are familiar to us, with Hot Shot! and JBP artist Brad Moore and Hot Shot! John Mann making the list, as well as contenders Katrina d'Autremont, Susan Worsham and Lacey Terrell featuring accolade-worthy work.

The 2009 Santa Fe Prize of $5,000, an online exhibition, and participation in the Review went to Hiroyo Kaneko for her series Sentimental Education, a collection of intimate images of her multi-generational family bathing together.

She writes,

Bathing in hot tubs is one of the most ordinary daily rituals in Japan. Because our modern society is highly competitive and reserved, we tend to be uptight. However, once soaked in hot water, we emerge relaxed, revitalized, and unspoken emotions with others and nature.

We bathe with family, friends, strangers and sometimes with the opposite sex showing subtle impressions which waver between vulnerability and flexibility, openness and hesitancy, and intimacy and loneliness. I focus on these impressions as I believe that they represent a fundamental form of humanity.

Kaneko's work offers a consistent quietude in the rituals of daily life in Japan. The baths portrayed are sensual and private, revealing without being invasive. In another series, Picnics which also made The Review Santa Fe 100, Kaneko offers a similarly calming portrayal of controlled community as friends and families gather under blossoming cherry trees in the park. Both series offer an unobtrusive glance into the private moments of families and friends, inviting the viewer in with an uncommon openness.

See additional work by Hiroyo Kaneko on her website and read about one photographer's experience at Review Santa Fe on Emily Shur's blog.

Douglas Stockdale has been writing photo book reviews at his blog The Photo Book since last September, but it was brought to our attention again today via Rob Haggart, and we returned to the site to re-discover Stockdale's fantastic insight into a long list of photo books, both new and old. I was psyched to see interior shots of the retrospective of William Henry Fox Talbot edited by Geoffrey Batchen and Stockdale's discussion of the book's printed page. He also offers a great list of links and resources to photo book publishers, gallery bookstores, university presses, and other related resources. If you are either book or photographer-lover, or like us, both, then Stockdale's blog is a daily must-read.

The Center for Photography at Woodstock's Photography Now 2009, an annual exhibit curated this year by Charlotte Cotton, head of the photography department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will open June 13th featuring the work of eight selected photographers.

Photographers on exhibit include:
Alex Aristei, Spring 2007 Hot Shot Clint Baclawski, Shane Lavalette, 2008 2nd Edition Hot Shot Yijun Liao, Betsy Seder, Lacey Terrell, Stacey Tyrell, and Toshihiro Yashiro.

Congratulations to all! Their will be an opening reception at CPW on Saturday June 13 from 5 - 7pm to celebrate the opening of the exhibit, which will remain on view through July 26th.

Center for Photography at Woodstock
59 Tinker Street Woodstock, New York 12498
June 13th, 2009, 5-7 p.m.

This has been a huge week at JBP HQ for Hey, Hot Shot! We announced the 2008 Ne Plus Ultras on Monday (congratulations again to Hosang + Colleen!) and the 2009 First Edition Hot Shots today.

Through it all, we've been looking at a lot of amazing work, from photographers we consider friends and family as well as from many we hadn't yet had the pleasure of knowing via their entries and websites. It was overwhelming; I can only imagine the burden felt by Ms. Jen Bee and her slew of stellar panelists to make the final calls.

The only thing possibly as exciting and rewarding as working alongside this crew as they culled the best of the best? Looking back on *all* of the Hot Shots named over the last few years and working with many of them to create some pretty excellent 20x200 editions — and knowing that there's more to come!

In celebration of this week's announcements, we pulled together all of the 20x200 editions produced by Hot Shots. Thanks to all-star intern, Kika Gilbert, you can see them right here:

Dorthe Alstrup
Ian Baguskas
Nina Berman
Kate Bingaman-Burt
Colin Blakely
Dan Boardman
Jessica Bruah
James Deavin
Scott Eiden
Juliane Eirich
Todd R. Forsgren
Alison Grippo
Shuli Hallak
Brandon Herman
Joseph O. Holmes
Karolina Karlic
Robert Knight
Jeffrey Krolick
Gregory Krum
Pixy Liao
Brad Moore
Chad Muthard
Bob O'Connor
Hosang Park
Youngna Park
Kirby Pilcher
Birthe Piontek
Colleen Plumb
James Rajotte
Justin James Reed
Kelly Shimoda
Mickey Smith
Rachel Sussman
Matthew Tischler
Carlo Van de Roer
Donald Weber
Shen Wei

I am happy to report that I have more than a few works by these photographers in my collection. Now's the time to pick up prints of your own (if you haven't already or even if you have). It's a great (um, read: affordable) way to have a little art in your home and support fellow artists. Enjoy!

Jen Bekman Projects congratulates the 2009 First Edition Hot Shots!

After much deliberation and careful consideration, we are pleased to announce the five Hot Shots selected from the 2009 First Edition competition:

Michelle Arcila
Daniel Cheek
Mike Sinclair
Parsley Steinweiss
Kurt Tong

These five outstanding photographers will each be awarded a $500 honorarium and participate in a group show at Jen Bekman Gallery. The 2009 First Edition Hey, Hot Shot! opening reception and exhibition dates are to be announced.

The show marks just the beginning of new opportunities for these photographers. They will automatically be considered for Ne Plus Ultra status, along with the next five Hot Shots in the 2009 Second Edition, to possibly join ranks with recently announced Ultras, Hosang Park and Colleen Plumb, as JBG represented artists. We're looking forward to many collaborations and projects with these photographers at the gallery and 20x200.

We've said it once, but we'll say it again: this edition's contenders were all so strong that choosing only five photographers was an incredibly daunting task. It couldn't have been done without the dedication of our brilliant panelists: Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Kent Rogowski, Stefan Ruiz and Jeffrey Teuton.

We'd also like to note some honorable mentions; all of these photographers are creating exceptional work and we're honored they entered Hey, Hot Shot!

Noah Addis
Mary Ellen Bartley
Marion Belanger
Joerg Brueggemann
Nelson Chan
Philip Cheung
Victor Cobo
Maury Gortemiller
Nicholas Johnson
Liz Kuball
Shane Lavalette
Jonathan Levitt
Patrick Lyn
Areca S. Roe
Bryan Schutmaat
Anne Schwalbe
Kimberly Sikora
Corinne Silva
Ryan Steele
Chris Taylor
Lacey Terrell

While only the five Hot Shots will exhibit at the gallery, look for work from these photographers and several other contenders in upcoming 20x200 editions. We'll also post about a few more photographers that we didn't have a chance to write about in the last few weeks right here. Keep an eye on us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter for more great work, notes and news about the next round of competition!

Mike Sinclair

Website: mikesinclair.com

Artist Statement:
The subject of the pictures is Kansas City's park and boulevard system. Begun in the 1890's, it was an attempt to bind together geographically and communally a city overcrowded with "immorality and vice."

Bio:
I am an architectural and fine art photographer living in Kansas City Missouri. My photographs are frequently published in the architectural press and elsewhere, including the New York Times, Metropolis, Architectural Record and Interior Design. My fine art photographs are in several public and private collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, also in Kansas City.

Artforum by Parsley Steinweiss

Parsley Steinweiss

Website: www.parsleysteinweiss.com

Artist Statement:
I have always found it natural to look at things from a close perspective. Some of my earliest memories are of watching the dust in the light and wondering what it was made of and where it came from. In high school I discovered the macro lens and the ability to study subjects that I could not see with my eyes alone. I realized that by cropping my subjects closely I was not only becoming initimate with them, I was also abstracting them. By this treatment, familiar subjects became unrecognizable and required new investigation. The shape-shifting ambiguity made possible by the photographic lens resonated with my general sense of a world unseen by the naked eye, a world of possibilities. As a general theme I am interested in patterns of growth. Recently, I have been especially interested in artists that deal with ideas reagrding repetition and organic forms such as sculptors Tara Donovan and Phoebe Washburn. I am also influenced by photographers such as Thomas Demand and Jeff Wall, artists who create elaborate illusions for the camera. Over the past couple of months I have been stacking things and taking photographs of the various accumulations. The photographs catalog documents that surround me: books, papers, magazines, journals, sketchpads and photographs. In Contact Sheets I have stacked hundreds of photographic contact sheets that I have created over the past ten years. The result is a series of lines, each representing a print that I have made, a sedimentary record of creative growth.

Bio:
I was born in New York City in 1979, and have spent all the years from then until now in various neighborhoods of the city. I received my B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in photography, where I studied with Joel Sternfeld and where I beagn my development as a serious artist. After Sarah Lawrence I continued my education at SUNY Purchase where I recieved my MFA and was honored with the Dean's Recognition Award. I have appeared in a number of exhibitions in New York and L.A., including shows at Supreme Trading in Brooklyn, New York, Robert Berman Gallery in Los Angeles, California and most recently the Hartford Art Space in Connecticut. I am also featured in the exciting new publication by Humble Arts Foundation, The Collectors Guide to Emerging Art Photography. I currently live and work in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, Berkeley, California by Daniel Cheek

Daniel Cheek

Website: www.danielwcheek.com

Artist Statement:
My photography explores the relationship between people and their relationship with the land. I believe that very few people in the modern age have experienced unadulterated nature. I know I have not. The places we go to experience nature are built-on in order for us to experience it as safely and conveniently as possible. True nature would be too frightening or difficult to access for the majority of us.

Bio:
I was born in Detroit Michigan in 1978. My family moved to Grand Rapids Michigan when I was 6 years old. I moved to San Francisco, California when I was 21. I am 31 years old. I photograph with an 8x10 camera and black and white film. I have worked at Fraenkel Gallery as Rights and Reproductions manager for six years. I am married and have a son.

Untitled by Michelle Arcila

Michelle Arcila

Websites: www.michellearcila.net and www.flickr.com/photos/notheories

Artist Statement:
My work lives in an illusive world. It's a world where questions are never fully answered and ghosts wander each room only offering us a glimpse into what their lives may have been. So much of my photography is an homage to the history and stories of my family in Costa Rica. I have collected so many experiences from them that I find myself approaching my camera and subjects, no matter where I may be, with the same hint of mystery and magic I grew up surrounded with. Magical realism is often used to describe Latin American fiction, I use it to describe what it felt like to grow up in a family where the dead were just as present as the living.

Bio:
Michelle Arcila was born in New York in 1980. Graduated SVA in 2002 with a B.F.A in photography. She is currently living and working in NYC.

Guangzhou Zoo II by Kurt Tong

Kurt Tong

Website:www.kurttong.co.uk

Artist Statement:
People's Park
Looking through my family photographs, apart from the customary family portraits in front of the same Christmas trees and behind birthday cakes, most of the photos taken of my brother, sisters and I were during our daytrips out at various parks.

I have just a few memories of these pictures being taken. However, I still have such vivid memories of all the parks we used to go to. The penguin bins, the bumper cars, the trains and the ice cream stalls are all so clear in my mind, little snippets of memories that make up my childhood. Inspired by these family snapshots, these images are taken from a project that explores recreational spaces found in China.

In 1958, at the beginning of The Great Leap Forward, when private ownership was banned, many existing parks were renovated and new parks were built all across China for the people, many were renamed People's Parks. Over the years, they became main focal points of the cities, where families have their outings and couples meet. China is changing at a staggering pace, the economic miracle means that the Chinese are enjoying a much more affluent lifestyle. Shopping and Internet have replaced bumper cars and Ferris wheels. Many of these parks have fallen to disarray. Millions of older Chinese would have grown up with these parks and have memories of time spent in them. Just like the parks, their memories are slowly fading away with time.

Bio:
I was born in Hong Kong in 1977 and have lived in the UK since 1990. I was originally trained as a health visitor at the University of Liverpool and have worked and traveled extensively across Europe, America and Asia. In 1999, I co-founded Prema Vasam, a charitable home for disabled and disadvantaged children in Chennai, South India.

20x200 edition-maker Kevin J. Miyazaki curates and compiles the tinytinygroup show, a mini "electroexhibit" of images centered around a unifying theme. This month's work brings nocturnally-inspired images together on your screen, and features the work of Hot Shots Juliane Eirich and Noah Kalina alongside 18 other photographers.

See the current exhibit here (click twice to make it big) and see past exhibits here!

Colleen Plumb is a 2008 HHS! Ne Plus Ultra. Selected from all of 2008's Hot Shots, she's one of the newest photographers to be added to Jen Bekman Gallery's roster of represented artists.

Colleen was awarded her first solo-exhibition at City Gallery soon after participating in Hey, Hot Shot!. She is currently showing work from her series Animals Are Outside Today at van Straaten Gallery in Denver. Her photography is featured in the upcoming issue of Hotshoe and on The Rumpus. Hey, Hot Shot!'s founder, Jen Bekman notes, "I've seen many a series exploring our relations with the animal kingdom, but few have resonated for me in the way that Colleen's project does."

Plumb's prints are available on 20x200:
Field Museum Sue
Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green
Amish Horses

Congratulations Colleen!

Hosang Park is a 2008 HHS! Ne Plus Ultra, selected from all of 2008's Hot Shots he's one of the newest photographers to join Jen Bekman Gallery's roster of represented artists.

Hosang has earned international recognition for his series of aerial photographs of urban spaces in Korea. Since becoming a Hot Shot, his work has been shown at NEXT Art Fair, PULSE NY and was published in Landscape Architecture Magazine. Of Park's parks, Nicola Twilley wrote for BLDGBLOG:

[The] cornucopia of amenities - climbing frames, fountains, seesaws and swing sets, pagodas, grass, ornamental rocks, meandering paths, trees and flower beds, benches, ponds, basketball courts... even public art - are crammed together as visual shorthand for endless leisure. They are landscape as signage, a placeholder for the possibilities of a park.

Park's prints are available on 20x200:
Howon-dong
Uman-dong

Congratulations Hosang!

Hosang Park + Colleen Plumb are 2008's HHS! Ne Plus Ultras!

Selected from 2008's ten talented Hot Shots, Hosang Park and Colleen Plumb will be represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for solo exhibitions, presented for book publishing projects and exhibited at art fairs in the coming year. Previous Hot Shot group exhibitions and solo shows have garnered attention from the New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, PDN, STEP Magazine, and The Village Voice.

Congratulations to Colleen + Hosang + all of 2008's Hot Shots!

It was nearly impossible to choose this year's Ultras, but after careful consideration, Colleen and Hosang emerged as the best fits for the gallery's roster. They were selected from an extremely competitive group of photographers — everyone thoroughly impressed our esteemed panel which includes: Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Kent Rogowski and Stefan Ruiz. We owe much gratitude to every member of the panel for their time and commitment to Hey, Hot Shot!

We would also like to recognize every one of the 2008 Hot Shots for their talent and dedication. All of the year's Hot Shots participated in group exhibitions, Hey, Hot Shot! Volume IV Edition I and Edition II, at Jen Bekman Gallery and many have print editions featured on 20x200. You can expect to see lots more from all of them soon!

2008 First Edition Hot Shots:
Juliane Eirich
Kate Orne
Derek Henderson
Colleen Plumb
Roc Herms Pont

2008 Second Edition Hot Shots:
Yijun Liao
Hosang Park
John Mann
Donald Weber
Cara Phillips

Untitled by Craig Reynolds

Once again, we come to images of man's imprint on nature, where the men themselves are devoid from the frame of the image. The imprint here is less about environmental commentary, like that by work of contender William Goldkind, and more about how we forge relationships with nature, and clear spaces in it, to become our own. When did we develop the idea--or is it intrinsic to our adaptive paths--that we could draw lines in the grass for our recreation, or occupy a space in the woods, with a mattress and tarp? What paths that we tread accept the environment as it is, and when and where to we find the need and permission to change it? Reynolds explores his surroundings with open eyes to these intersections of human and natural circumstance, working to discern the fine line between accepting nature and adapting it.