Enlightenment by Alex Leme

We all love books over here at JBP. Really, we seriously LOVE books. Have you noticed? In case you missed it, the JB Gallery's summer show is full of novel works, perfect for Summer Reading. So, call him smart, call him strategic, but Alex Leme submitted work from his series Literary Ghosts, that would surely catch our attention over here.

In his statement, Alex writes:

I have always found libraries to be accommodating, peaceful and welcoming spaces brimming with fascinating people, mysterious aisles and compelling stories. Literary Ghosts is a photo essay that intends to depict the elusive, poetic and haunting qualities of those places. This is much more a character study than a mere portrayal of their content, and physical characteristics. I want to dig deeper and explore the ghosts, mysteries, secrets, victories and tragedies surrounding libraries.

The mood, lighting, angles and compositions that Alex utilizes in his photographs of libraries are similar to those in Eric Percher's Work, which could also be described as an investigation into "ghosts, mysteries, secrets, victories and tragedies." Percher's images focus instead on office spaces and high-stress work environments, but likewise, elevate the drama of untold stories that might otherwise be considered mundane.

Leme's photos are also related, somewhat, to that of Winter '07 Hot Shot Mickey Smith. In her series Volume, Smith photographs stacks of books in libraries, as she finds them, relying on the books themselves to relay both the stories of library-goers and librarians and the role that books and magazines play as valuable objects in our lives.

See more of Leme's libraries on his website.

In-between Double #1, 2009 by Hye-Ryoung Min

HHS! Contender Hye-Ryoung Min's photographs are dreamy, to say the least. Her series of merged images, In-between, reminds me of when I forget to advance my Yashica and end up with a double exposure that is never as perfect or poetic as what Hye-Ryoung Min offers.

Like our previous contender, Annick Rosenfield, Hye-Ryoung Min is also a graduate of SVA. In her statement about her work, Min reveals her approach:

My process begins by capturing a first image of the main character, and then finding and layering a secondary image that provides emotional texture. Beyond that, I rely on the geometries of the urban landscape to convey the essential solitude of city life. I also work with elements that contrast stillness and motion, and round shapes that imply circularity and evoke the cycle of life. Finally, the process of photographing, finding, connecting, eliminating, and blending is completed by the addition of a unifying color layer that integrates all other layers into a single narrative thread. I assemble these images to make visible what is hidden, ultimately revealing a third language which breaches the gap between world and artist. It is in fact a world of images where subjects are dreaming my own language.

See more of Hye-Ryoung Min's work on her site.

See that tiny sliver in the pie chart above? That figure is 4%, a number that according to an article in ARTINFO, represents the percentage of works by women on the 4th and 5th floors of MoMA's permanent collections. I was pretty stunned to read that out of the 383 works on display, just 19 are by female artists.

However, all hope is not lost. New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz has been actively stoking the fires of the art world gender debate. And as the article mentioned above reports, the Institute of Contemporary Photography Triennial, to take place later this year in New York, features predominantly female artists, "of the 34 artists from 11 countries to be included in the global survey, 24 -- or 70 percent -- are women."

This important debate reminded me of 2008 Second Edition Hot Shot Cara Phillips' ongoing Women in Photography project in which small grants are awarded to female photographers in New York. Keep up the good work Cara!

Don't miss the full article on ARTINFO and be sure to check out the ICP website for more information about the Triennial Exhibition.

Untitled by Winter 2007 Hot Shot Kirby Pilcher

Have you checked off any books on your Summer Reading list yet? If not, I have an easy solution--swing by the gallery and see (and read) our summer group show Summer Reading! Hold on to your excuses, because the show will remain securely on our walls through August 22nd. We'd love to see you soon!

Summer Reading
Group Exhibition
July 15th - August 22nd, 2009
6 Spring Street
New York City

If you're not in our neck of the woods, you can view the entire show here.

Walter, 2008 by Annick Rosenfield

HHS! contender Annick Rosenfield's steely-eyed subject Walter looks askance while reaching into his pocket. His look is timeless, his posture stiff and formal, and his face bathed in a cool, natural sunlight that could be nearly any time of day.

A 2009 graduate of SVA's MFA program, Rosenfield's work has been published in Photo District News and The New York Times Magazine along with numerous New York City galleries. Of her work, she writes,

These images are from a series I made of minimalist portraits. I wanted to see how little information I could give the viewer and still make an interesting photograph. With this series I was particularly interested in the use of gesture, facial expression, and negative space.

You can see additional work and portraits by Rosenfield on her website.

And remember: we'll be blogging about contenders from this round of competition here on the blog right up until the Hot Shots are announced. The contenders' photos are also featured on flickr, and on the Hey, Hot Shot! facebook page. If you're on facebook, we hope you'll become one of our fans! Apply today!

remember to thank all the books you haven't read over the past three years by ailatan

Less than ten years ago, the entire book publishing industry could be summed up in one famous quotation by journalist A.J. Liebling, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." However, in the last several years, digital print-on-demand self-publishing has grown from an obscure, expensive and low-quality hassle into an accessible, beautiful and worthy pursuit for anybody with a creative edge.

With the rise of digital printing, thousands upon thousands of new print-on-demand books have popped up for sale all over the internet. Maybe it shows just how young I am, but I was shocked to read in an essay by HHS! panelist Darius Himes that, "up until the early 1990s it was easy to purchase every photography book because there were only a handful that were published in any given year." Browsing the thousands of titles in the online bookstore at Blurb.com is a sign of the times that this is certainly not the case today.

Within this absolute saturation of photography books are many worth a look and certainly some worth having on your shelf. In the next few weeks, we'll be publishing a few posts featuring interviews and advice from some of our favorite self-publishing Hot Shots, artists and bookmakers. Stay tuned!

If you've got stories, links or advice about self-publishing that you want to share, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send a reply to @heyhotshot on Twitter.

Untitled, 2007 by Carrie Chalmers

Ithaca-based photographer Carrie Chalmers' series In November is awash with the even, gray light of an early winter's day. Snow dusts signs, yards, and rooftops and landscapes are dominated by hues of white and gray. This work was created on Thanksgiving Day 2007, when Chalmers traveled from Ithaca to Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side), and found herself intrigued by the semi-urban landscapes several blocks away from the main tourist strip. It is left to question whether these spaces are void of people because it is a holiday, or, as the language on signs and visions of vacant lots suggest, that this is a community in greater decline. Either way, a lingering sadness hangs heavy in the images' color palette and one can imagine Chalmers with her camera as the lone soul who was walking around on this day.

She writes,

The gaudy strip along Victoria Avenue and Clifton Hill seemed dull in the grey light despite the flashing signs of nearly empty attractions. But a few blocks away in the residential and commercial districts I found the sublime and paradoxical in structures and landscapes. The photographs express a struggle between expectations and disappointment, the present and absent, the possible and impossible, the familiar and foreign, loneliness and connection.

Chalmers' series brings to mind several of the images in Alec Soth's well-known project, Niagara, like Balloon (above), which also captures the feeling of abandon and an affronting loneliness in this supposed tourists' paradise. Large, blank building and motel facades at night create a discomforting portrait of a place when juxtaposed with hopeful newlyweds and out-of-towners. Combined, the images make up a uniquely American and unusually uncertain destination.

Visit Carrie's website to see additional projects and more work from In November.

New York City-based jeweler, Nicole Gagne, was critically injured by a staircase that collapsed outside her Long Island City studio in April 2009. A postcard benefit event featuring dozens of work donated by artists will be held this Thursday, July 30th, at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art. Postcards will be sold for $40 apiece and all proceeds will go to Nicole to help cover the cost of medical care and aid in her recovery.

Priska C. Juschka Fine Art
547 W. 27th St (between 10th & 11th Aves.), 2nd Floor
5:30 - 9:30 p.m.
New York, NY

Visit the benefit website for more information about Nicole, the postcard show, and the list of participating artists and sponsors. We encourage you to stop by Thursday night and offer support for Nicole, and hopefully pick up a beautiful artist-design postcard.

Issue 8 of Fraction Magazine, the just-over-a-year-old Albuquerque-based online photography magazine, features work by HHS! contender Katrina D'Autremont and 20x200 edition-maker Kevin J. Miyazaki. D'Autremont's series, Si Dios Quiere, of which a selection was submitted to the last round of the HHS! competition, concentrates on her Argentinian extended family, exploring the intimacy and distance of relatives who live in a faraway place.

Miyazaki's ongoing body of work, Within Reach takes a look at the everyday objects of the home: a bar of soap, a quarter of a sandwich, a roll of toilet paper, and examines them with a close and re-contextualized eye.

A recent Fraction Magazine special feature, The Un-Natural Nature of Food, an online gallery curated by Melanie McWhorter, recently caught our eyes on the HHS! blog as well. The collection hones in on the strange, routine, and fascinating world of what we eat, how we eat, and who we eat with, and makes one think twice about just what it is we are putting in our bodies. Kevin's work is also featured here alongside images by Colleen Plumb, Brian Ulrich, and many others.

Take a peek at the magazine's current issue which also features great work by five additional photographers.

Amy and Miles by Katie Shapiro

Our very first contenders post of the season! We opened the 2009 Second Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! yesterday and already the entries are coming in. We're excited.

L.A.-based photographer Katie Shapiro had the right idea and submitted her work right away while our eyes are fresh and hungry. I recognized Katie's work immediately; she's a previous HHS! entrant and more recently, I saw this image on fellow L.A. photographer Aline Smithson's blog, Lenscratch. As Aline wrote, "the old adage is good things come in pairs" and that's just what Katie's after showing. She photographs couples, examining relationships, physically and visually linking her subjects. In this sweet, sunny image, Amy and Miles are joined by Amy's braid which curves up and echoes the arc in the window coverings, creating more than one visual relationship, that between Amy and Miles and that between the couple and their surroundings.

To see and study more duos, visit Katie's blog Only Diptychs. To see more work from this round's contenders, stay tuned here. And don't forget to enter Hey, Hot Shot! early and often! Kidding, just send us your work soon, we can't wait to see it.

Pickled Ramps, 2008 by Rachel Hulin

Not so long ago, I mentioned a blog written by Spring 2005 Hot Shot, Rachel Hulin. Her blog, A Photography Blog, continues to delight with its inspired musings on all things photographic. Today, Rachel wrote about a film, Herb & Dorothy, that tells the story of a postal clerk and a librarian who love to collect art, and do so on modest means. This immediately reminded me of 20x200, and its humble mission--to make art affordable and enjoyable for all. Speaking of 20x200, keep your eyes peeled on the blog for a chance to purchase an edition print from Rachel. I have it on good authority that one is on the way.

Jen Bekman Projects is happy to announce the opening of the 2009 Second Edition Hey, Hot Shot! competition.

Entries will be accepted now through Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

The premier international photography competition, Hey, Hot Shot! offers photographers at all stages of their careers unrivaled opportunities for exposure and advancement.

All entrants have their work reviewed by top-shelf panelists and enjoy the potential to be promoted online (more than sixty were featured here on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog last season alone!), selected for 20x200 and exhibited in our New York gallery. Now in its fifth year, the competition has been acclaimed by curators, critics, educators and journalists alike.

A panel of seasoned photography professionals—including founder Jen Bekman, photography book evangelist and publisher Darius Himes, Aperture Foundation publisher Lesley A. Martin, former Creative Director of Colors magazine and photographer Stefan Ruiz and Chronicle Books chairman and CEO Nion McEvoy—review all the photographs that are entered.

The guidelines are simple: contenders submit three photographs from a single body of work, using an online upload tool, with an entry fee of $60. The 2009 Second Edition will add new features and more benefits for all entrants—among the many reasons why Hey, Hot Shot! remains one of the most desirable photography competitions around. Stay tuned for details!

So what are you waiting for? Get your work out there: Apply Now!
We only accept submissions online.

The deadline for entries is Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 8pm EDT.

Hot Shots will be announced on Monday, November 30, 2009.

There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.
Submissions are open to everyone, from anywhere in the world!
The competition is now open.

Questions?

Check out our informative and frequently updated FAQ, follow us on Twitter or find us on Facebook.

Light Work, the Syracuse-based artist-in-residence program, gallery, workspace, publication house, and store, has just released their Light Work Annual 2009, featuring images from Amy Stein's series Stranded alongside an essay by an artist very familiar to all of us here at JBP: Alec Soth. The annual features work by emerging and mid-career artists who have participated in the artist-in-residence program or have been supported by a Light Work Grant.

The current issue features work by the following artists: Scott Conarroe, Kelli Connell, Lola Flash, Cristina Fraire, Admas Habteslasie, Deana Lawson, Paula Luttringer, John Clark Mayden, Christine Osinski, Oscar Palacio, Xaviera Simmons, Amy Stein, Krista Steinke, and Garie Waltzer. Also included are the Light Work Grant recipients Kathy Morris, Paul Pearce, and Nancy Keefe Rhodes. Essayists include Dawoud Bey, Julie Bolcer, Josh Brilliant, Leslie Rose Close, Mary Goodwin, Jessica Heckman, Mary Lee Hodgens, Jeffrey Hoone, Karen Irvine, David L. Jacobs, Allison N. Kemmerer, Stuart Krimko, Peter MacGill, Maria Moreno, John Wesley Mannion, Alison Devine Nordström, Franklin Sirmans, Alec Soth, and Spring Ulmer.

The catalog is available online for just $27.00, and you can even preview it small-scale online.

If you are interested in Light Work's Artist in Residence programs, grants and resources, there's lots of information available on their website. For those of you in the Syracuse area, stop by the gallery, store, and community darkrooms. There's lots abuzz from near or far.

Few are the moments when nearly everyone in the world can remember en masse exactly what they were doing when a historical event transpired. September 11th is one of these moments, and the "what I was doing" stories and images are varied and innumerable. JFK and John Lennon's assassinations may weigh in with the same gravity, depending on who you are and where you were; July 20th, 2969 -- 40 years ago today -- when man first walked on the moon, is another one of these collective memories .

The New York Times has extensive coverage of the 1969 voyage to the moon including an interactive feature of major political, cultural, and social events of the year, a feature of the moon mission itself, and a gallery of images taken by the astronauts who were on Apollo 11. They also feature Readers' Moon Memories, images submitted by Times readers 'round the world, of what they were doing in 1969 in those days surrounding Apollo 11.

Readers submitted images of babies born on and around that fateful day, families gathered by the TV, themselves or their siblings engaging in amateur astronomy, and signs on billboards and in storefront celebrating our men on the moon. The images are both mundane and quietly celebratory, another view of this historic day that affected kids, adults, men, women, and grandparents alike. Do you have a memory of this moment, or do you have a memory of it's legacy?

We're curious what moments-to-come will mark instances of future collective memory, and hope that those that do are bathed in the glow of accomplishment rather than that of tragedy. Are there moments shared in your memory that are part of a collective experience? If so, can these moments be marked by specific images -- photographs or pictures in your head? We'd love to know what these are.

If you're situated somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, this is your reminder to swing through Seattle this evening and check out Jen's talk on collecting contemporary photography at the Seattle Art Museum, Plestcheeff Auditorium, 1300 First Avenue, at 7:00 p.m. ($6 or $4 for PCNW & SAM members & students).

The awards reception for Photo-Op, curated by Ms. Bekman, will follow the talk at the Photographic Center Northwest. Youngna gave the run-down on the show last week but it's shaping up to be a great one with lots of work from photographers around the world, including Kevin Miyazaki, featured above.

If you're nowhere near the Northwest, you'll have plenty of time to submit your entries to SLIDELUCK POTSHOW XIII. The deadline has been extended to Tuesday, July 21st.

We'll be re-opening our own HHS! competition for submissions soon, very soon, so stay tuned and ready your portfolios!

Have a great weekend!

A few weeks ago we mentioned the photographic duo, Day 19, was having a contest to win their (Jeremy & Claire Weiss') Canon 5D + one of their prints in exchange for a print of the winner's. Well, the talented final 10 have been selected and you have until next Friday, July 24th to vote! Click on over to the Day 19 blog to see all the finalists and cast your vote.

Lens, the photojournalism blog of The New York Times, has some interesting background today on super-large-format photographer Shaun Irving. You may have heard of his Camera Truck, which took its first exposure in 2003. The converted former postal truck, which cost Irving his life savings of $3,000, was cobbled together with parts from eBay and a military surplus store. The lens is salvaged from an old submarine periscope and the shutter is a cardboard box.

Windmills, Mota Del Cuervo, Spain by Shaun Irving

Nevertheless, Irving has produced landscapes of Virginia and Spain that are as gigantic as they are beautiful. The Camera Truck's prints can run up to 8 x 4 ft and many have a beautiful painterly quality from where Irving has sponged on the chemicals.

However, not too many galleries have the space for Irving's huge prints, so to make ends meet he has had to sell the original van (while fortunately keeping the lenses). By day Irving is working in advertising, but he leaves off by saying that he's clearing out the squirrels living in a new van and getting it ready for action. Head over to Lens to read the full story, and then don't miss the Camera Truck gallery online.

If you're not ready to take the plunge into making your own Camera Truck, but want to ride the wave of Irving's DIY spirit, consider a trial run with one of these print-cut-and-fold-it-yourself paper pinhole cameras from ReadyMech and Corbis, which you can download on their site.

Another one of my favorite oversized photographic pursuits is the Camera Obscura series by photographer Abelardo Morell. Morell covered the windows in rooms adjacent to interesting landcapes then poked a pinhole in the covering. This turned the room into an instant camera obscura. The next step was to take a long exposure of the darkened room from inside the room itself. The juxtaposition of interior and exterior is strange and extremely captivating.

Times Square in Hotel Room, 1997, Abelardo Morell

If you want to experience a camera obscura for yourself, head up to Connecticut's Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, where their only permanent feature is a walk-in camera obscura on the second floor. Just make sure it's a sunny day and give your eyes plenty of time to adjust.

Lastly, if you've got a party or event coming up and want the thrill of a camera obscura, but prefer not the sit in a darkened room waiting for your eyes to adjust, don't miss ShootBooth. Among other photography-related party tricks, this Brooklyn-based company rents out a photobooth cleverly disguised as an old bellows camera. It's the perfect mix of old school photographic fun and instant pleasure.

Hope you enjoyed this round-up of larger than life photography. I've heard stories of pinhole cameras made out of everything from soup cans to shipping containers so if we missed something awesome, please let us know!

Dirt Cheap, Mississippi, 2006 by Kate Bingaman-Burt

Summer 2006 saw Kate Bingaman-Burt crowned a Hot Shot, and gain representation through Jen Bekman by winning a place in the Ne Plus Ultras circle. Kate has had her work grace the walls of the gallery on more than a couple of occasions. In fact, Kate has work up rightthissecond at Jen Bekman Gallery's Summer Reading show.

Kate's work focuses on consumerism, and its this passion for plastic that landed her work, along with Banksy and The Wooster Collective, in an Australian website article entitled, Incredible Credit Card Art. View the piece here.

See more of Kate's work on 20x200, Jen Bekman Gallery, and on her site.

With tonight's show just a few hours away from opening, all of us over at Jen Bekman Projects HQ are nervous and (very) excited about seeing the text-filled bounty of Summer Reading up on the gallery walls. Yesterday evening, Raul and I stopped by at the gallery during installation and had the chance to see the works as they were making their way into place, and one in particular caught my eye.

This is an image I've seen many times on the web, but never in person, and seeing it framed and ready for the show was a real treat. The image I'm talking about is Brian Ulrich's Powerhouse Gym, also the opening image on his website, which is one of many images that are part of projects confronting American consumerism and retail. His projects Thrift, Retail, and Backrooms all look at stores, malls, and shoppers from the inside out, and his latest series, Stores That Are No More, shot for Time is well within this theme, capturing big box stores that are now empty as a product of the current recession.

Images of the recession were a common motif among Hey, Hot Shot! contenders this year, and we suspect we'll see more along these lines during the next (and soon upcoming) round of competition. Nobody has captured these times of economic hardship quite like Ulrich though, and much attention has been called to this series on the web. Recently, Todd Walker of Gallery Hopper wrote about Ulrich in a blog post:

If there is a single photographer who has summed up the current Great Recession and its causes, it's Brian Ulrich. Some photographers are gifted with a fortuitous choice of subject matter and great timing. Brian's work on "Copia", meditations on consumerism and its consequences is great work on its own, but its wider exhibition benefits from being in a particular time and place. "Dark Stores" documents the leave-behinds of failed big box retailers. "Thrift" the lifecycle of discarded clothes and other goods that end up in thrift store economy.

The falsely positive message of "Yes" that clings to the dark and empty workout center in the image Powerhouse Gym is another instance of Ulrich finding the perfect intersection in choice of subject matter and timing. It screams bloody red encouragement on one hand, in one of the most basic and first-spoken words anyone says in the English language, but in it's lonely position in front of an empty gym also reflects that anything, may not in fact, be possible.

For now, however, we depart the world of empty storefronts to see the fiery red "Yes" of Ulrich's Powerhouse Gym in another context -- surrounded by the company of text-inspired art that is motivating, hilarious, welcoming and romantic -- at the gallery tonight from 6-8 p.m.

Neon by Kent Rogowski

Be sure to swing by Jen Bekman Gallery to see our summer group show, Summer Reading. You'll see paintings, drawings and photographs from a brilliant bunch, some of whom you might already know from their Hey, Hot Shot! or 20x200 fame.

Artists in the exhibition:

Thomas Allen, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Kotama Bouabane, Lizzie Buckmaster-Dove, Christine Callahan, Jorge Colombo, William Crump, Lauren DiCioccio, Nina Katchadourian, Gregory Krum, Steve Lambert, Michael Mandiberg, Carrie Marill, Mike Monteiro, Jane Mount, Kirby Pilcher, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski, Ed Ruscha, Kelly Shimoda, Victor Schrager, Mickey Smith, Alec Soth, Zoe Strauss, Shaun Sundholm, Brian Ulrich, and Tim Walker.

The show opens tonight, Wednesday July 15th from 6-8pm.

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
New York, New York 10012

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Saturday | Noon - 6pm
Opening Reception: July 15th, 6pm - 8pm
On View: July 15th - August 22nd, 2009

Two days ago Youngna directed us to My Best Shot, an interview series in The Guardian in which photographers are asked to recall their most truly memorable images. Youngna then put forth the idea that all photographers must have these eureka moments and invited you all to send us a link via twitter of your very own best shots.

Cue Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot while I share with you a few of the "best shots" we've received so far.

@pleyades was the first to respond with her eerie night image titled Loiterers, seen below:

Loiterers by @pleyades

Not long after, @GarciaLachner sent a link to his website with some knockout photos taken in Costa Rica.

Untitled by Andres Garcia Lauchner

We then received replies from @marcievargas, @revbean, and @getthebubbles, all directing us to favorite images of theirs -- a clandestine subway portrait, an emotional woman and a foggy sunset over a bay.

Photographer John Cranford, also known as @withfilm submitted this summer portrait of a young man splattered in mud by the side of a lake, seen below.

Untitled by John Cranford

@Ishootsrockstars, @zaidasofia and @_frommetoyou all cued in soon afterwords; click on their usernames above to see their own best shots.

To all who replied, thanks so much for sending us your images! Keep them coming, too; just reply to us including @heyhotshot and send us a link to your favorite image.

A couple weeks ago, we quietly released four print editions on 20x200 by Spring 2006 Hot Shot Raul Gutierrez. Okay, maybe not so quietly, I might have been shouting the news to just about anyone who would listen.

And, it turns out, we're not the only fans of his work. Xeni from Boing Boing posted a lovely note about his work. If you're not familiar with Boing Boing, you should be, it's the best directory of wonderful things there is.

In the wee hours of mornings, Raul's been putting the polish on his new portfolio site. It's also a pretty wonderful thing for browsing. See for yourself.

Our own Ms. Jen Bekman had the honor of being the juror for this year's Photo-Op, the 14th Annual Photographic Competition run by Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW). Located in downtown Seattle, PCNW serves as both art education center, gallery, and photographic facility for working artists.

This year's Photo-Op exhibit, which opens next Monday, July 13th and remains on view through September 4, 2009, features many artists familiar to JBP. Of the twenty-two artists featured in the show, HHS! contenders Mary Ellen Bartley, Magda Biernat, Lacey Terrell and Ian Whitmore each have pieces included, as well as 20x200 artists Katie Baum and Kevin Miyazaki, 20x200 artists and Hot Shots! Colin Blakely and Colleen Plumb, and Hot Shot! Shawn Records.

Also featured are: Jowhara Alsaud, Andrea Bakacs, Tim Carpenter, Onejoon Che, Thomas Holton, Stephanie Kirk, Brian Knappenberger, Alex Leme, James Luckett, Liz Obert, Tom Reese, Andy Reynolds and Rebecca Sittler.

We congratulate all photographers who were selected from a very competitive field of over 2500 submitted images.

In addition to the exhibition, Jen will be in Seattle, in person, for a lecture, reception and awards ceremony on July 17th. Come see Jen speak on the topic of Curating & Collecting Contemporary Photography at 7 p.m. next Friday evening at the Seattle Art Museum ($6, $4 PCNW & SAM members & students). The lecture will be followed by a reception at PCNW from 8:30 - 10 p.m. and is free and open to the public. More details about the artists, exhibit, lecture and reception are available on PCNW's website and if you are in Seattle next week, we hope you'll stop by to see this sure-to-be-great show.

Submissions are due next Thursday, July 16th for the prestigious Aperture Portfolio Prize, so head on over and check out the guidelines because the deadline is fast approaching! The judges (including Lesley A. Martin who is one of our very own Hey, Hot Shot! panelists) are looking for an innovative photography portfolio of up to 15 images created in the last five years. One caveat: you have to be an Aperture subscriber to enter.

Here's what's at stake:

First prize is $2,500. The first-prize winner and runners-up are featured in Aperture's website for approximately one year. Winners are also announced in the foundation's e-newsletter, which reaches thousands of subscribers in the photography community.

Be sure to check out last year's winners, which includes Runner-up Colin Blakely, a Winter 2007 Hot Shot and two-time 20x200 edition-maker. In fact, Colin won for the very same portfolio that was the source of his two wildly popular prints on 20x200!

P.S. Both of Colin's prize-winning 20x200 prints (below) have sold out in the smaller sizes. But don't worry, they're both still available in our 30"x40" size for $2000!

Recollection of the Battles Fought Maintaining the Home Front by Colin Blakely

The Seeming Impenetrability of the Space Between by Colin Blakely

Richard Avedon has been famously quoted for telling his sometimes-collaborator Truman Capote that he immediately knew when he had got the image he really wanted. He would often walk into a portrait session with an image already in mind; the sitting was just to actualize his vision. While Avedon's skill for pre-meditating his masterpieces is rare, most photographers can pinpoint the moment they captured a shot they knew would truly be memorable. The UK Guardian has an inspiring series titled My Best Shot, called to our attention by Gallery Hopper, which interviews photographers about the image they consider their finest work.

Pittsburgh (Man cutting grass), 2004, from the series A Shimmer of Possibility by Paul Graham

Favorites include Paul Graham's Pittsburgh (Man cutting grass), in which he describes the moment as the following:

In one image from this sequence, he is to the left, then he's to the right, then he's wiping his face with a cloth. Then this beautiful moment happened: the sun burst through and the rain came down, and all the raindrops were illuminated in the shaft of light. It was quite extraordinary.

I'd seen this particular image in person recently at MoMA and left with many questions about the interaction between Graham and his subject. His description illuminates the scenario, and one learns that in photographing this laboring, sweaty man in the fading sun Graham was neither being voyeuristic or watch-dog-like, but instead observing a moment he recognized as mundane and truly beautiful.

Capturing a ritual by Tod Papageorge

Tod Papageorge's Capturing a ritual is another favorite, in which he observes a moment where an older man combs a younger boy's hair. He says:

There was a kind of poetic connection, I thought, between the ritualistic little circle and the ritual of the father combing his son's hair. It seemed to me something that a photograph could put together. But I realised as I went to make it that only if we saw the comb against the boy's head - not lost in the father's hand, or above him - would the picture have the clarity that it should, in order to have any meaning at all.

That photographers ingrain precise moments in their minds of often mundane activities like lawn-mowing and combing hair suggests that memories are not always the instances we suspect will have the longest lasting legacy. Memories, and the photographs that capture moments past, are generated by forming an attachment to the myriad qualities of a specific time and place -- whether that is a serendipitous or produced scenario. It's well worth the time to look through the archives of My Best Shot and we're curious to know what you think of as yours.

Image by Hot Shot and 20x200 favorite, Carlo Van de Roer

Holy cannoli!
You definitely want to secure a space on the Critical Mass Top 50 list, trust me. Have a glance at the index of past winners and you'll see many familiar stars from HHS, 20x200 or JBG fame. Wondering what exactly Critical Mass and Photolucida are all about? Well, in their own words:

The aim of Critical Mass, and all Photolucida programming, is to provide participants with career-building opportunities and to promote the best emerging and mid-career artists working today. Critical Mass is a program about exposure and community.

The Critical Mass competition is juried by the best of the best in the photography universe (Jen is one of them, of course), so you should buckle down and register your best efforts here. The deadline for entries is around the corner on July 22nd! Hop to it and buona fortuna!

More information on photolucida.com.

Last but not least in our Q&As with the latest round of Hot Shots is NYC native, Parsley Steinweiss. Parsley is no stranger to HHS! We first saw her work way back in 2006 and even though the subject matter in her entries was entirely different, the revelation was in the details.

Parsely pays close attention to whatever it is that she's photographing, insects, layers of organic matter or stacks of magazines and contact sheets. Her work simply and elegantly reveals patterns in the world we inhabit, which makes sense: once steeped in the chaos of the city, the thing to do seems to be to seek order. And Steinweiss makes order look pretty good. See more of her work on her website.

From:
Born and raised in New York City.

Formal and/or informal education and training:
I received my B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in photography and painting. After Sarah Lawrence, I got a job at Exhibition Prints, a fine art printing lab in New York City. It was there that I learned everything about printing professionally. After a few years, I decided to go back to school and get my MFA from SUNY Purchase.

How you pay the bills:
I work as a photographer/creative director for a fine jewelry company. I also do freelance photography and teaching.

Best advice received (as a photographer and/or human):
One of my teachers in grad school gave this letter from Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse to the class when we were all stressing out about our thesis work. I read it whenever I think I've reached my brink:

You seem the same as always, and being you hate every minute of it. Don't! Learn to say "F**k You" to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, gasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, rumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting, nit-picking, piss-tricking, nose-sticking, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding grinding grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO... Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world... You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO! I have much confidence in YOU and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try to do some BAD work. The worst you think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell.

Top 3 Favorite Artists:
These are 3 in a rotating top 20: Vik Muniz, Bernd and Hilla Becher and Ernst Haeckel.

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

Photographers/artists you are looking at right now:
Nicki Stager
Talia Chetrit
John Chiara
Sharon Core
Nina Katchadourian

Reading now:
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Top 3 photo blogs/websites:
I Heart Photograph
Flak Photo
Humble Arts Foundation

Top 3 non-photo blogs/websites:
Tasting Table
Bibliodyssey
Topographic Maps — so cool, you can get topographic maps for anywhere in the US. A great resource.

The curated multimedia slideshow and potluck dinner known as Slideluck Potshow is back in New York for its thirteenth event at Canoe Studios at 7 p.m. on August 6th. Organized by Spring 2006 Hot Shot Casey Kelbaugh, the brand new Canoe Studios is located on the 14th floor of the historic Starrett-Lehigh building at 601 West 26th St., Suite 1462. Previous events have been held at renowned photo studios and events spaces all over New York, and all over the world.

Those selected present a maximum of 5 minutes with 15-40 images and an accompanying sound piece. All submissions are required to have accompanying sound, whether it be music, spoken word, or another form of noise. Submissions to Slideluck Potshow XIII will be accepted through next Monday, July 13th Tuesday, July 21st; there is a $15 handling fee for all entries.

Visit the website for more details regarding entry format and the schedule and organization of the night itself. The potluck dinner starts at 7 p.m. and is followed by the slideshow that starts at 9 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there!

Update!: The submission period has been extended to next Tuesday, July 21st.

In case you missed it, we released this gorgeous edition by 2009 First Edition Hot Shot Mike Sinclair on 20x200 earlier this week. It is the first edition from this season's Hot Shots and there's more to come—keep your eyes out! If you'd like to be automatically emailed whenever we release a new edition, sign up for Jen's newsletter.

Mike's statement is a genial narrative of the summer holiday in the heart of the midwest.

This Fourth of July celebration took place on the lawn of the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri.

July nights are slow to get dark enough to set off fireworks and I remember this evening included some speeches, introductions of prominent citizens and a band concert that included a few numbers with a children's choir. I think the Declaration of Independence was read aloud. The lawn was full of people--some picnicking, some just there for the fireworks. A group of Civil War enactors had set up camp at the far edge of the lawn.

Towards dusk, a few vendors started moving through the crowd selling multi-colored plastic circles, like mini hula-hoops, that when activated, glowed in the dark. They were irresistible to kids bored with waiting so long for the main event and each vendor had a trail of children following him. Soon the lawn was spotted with the glowing necklaces.

At dark, the fireworks began. The haze in the picture is a combination of Missouri's humid summer weather, fireworks, and smoke from Civil War-era cannons fired while Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture played.

BBQ-ing, camping, watching the fireworks, listening to music + dancing, whatever you're doing, have a great weekend!

Untitled by Colleen Plumb

Well, aside from gaining the attention of Miss Jen Bekman, the trio are all participants in an online group exhibition entitled, The Un-Natural Nature of Food. The show was curated by Melanie McWhorter from the photography zine, Fraction. Scroll through the show here, but be forewarned, some images are, as the title might suggest, distressing.

From the curator's statement:

This exhibition is an extension of a personal exploration of my own relationship with food and, intentionally or not, is a political statement about the current relationship our society has to food -- where it is produced, how it is produced, who produces it and with what. I have grouped these images to create an aesthetic flow leading from comfortable to uncomfortable, practical to ridiculous, natural to artificial, knowledge to ignorance. It is in contrast to many of the aspects of pre-production and post-production. Here I am interested in food as an aesthetic, a commodity.

All of the photographers also have limited prints available on 20x200. Colleen's prints Amish Horses, Field Museum Sue, and Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green, are dwindling as we speak, as are Kevin's prints, Jones Boulevard Location, #1 and Highway 94 Location, #1. Brian's edition print, Untitled, Thrift 2006 (0635), is now sold out.

Brea & Barbara, 2009 by Brad Moore a recent winner as well as Winter 2007 Hot Shot!

The Center for Fine Art Photography is accepting submissions for their 2009 Portrait Prize.

Open to all levels of photographers, the jury is looking to see both traditional and experimental uses of the medium. Since a the definition of portrait is up for your interpretation (the likeness of a person, animal, place or thing), I suggest you start snapping!

The all chosen exhibitors will have their work displayed on the online gallery, a great opportunity to have your viewed by collectors and enthusiasts around the world. There are of course monetary prizes as well, check out the details here.

So get cracking, the deadline for these submissions is August 18th, 2009 with the winners being announced ten days later on August 28th. The entry fee is $35 for non members or why not consider becoming a member? Members get a discount on application fees for competitions (of which there are many) as well as a bevy of artist's services. Pay attention to how many images you submit though, submitting more than three will cost you an extra $10 per photograph.

To see more details of the competition head over to their website or start submitting your work right away

Those who have attended the prestigious annual portfolio review, Review Santa Fe, know that the support for photographers in this part of the Southwest rivals that of any other town. We received word via email yesterday of the Santa Fe Workshops schedule for the remainder of the year and wanted to pass along note of the opportunities they offer for photographers of all levels. The courses range in time and price, from 3-day long weekend intensive to week-long sessions, and range in subject matter from commercial lighting techniques to photographic book-making.

Some of the classes that especially caught my eye are: Visual Storytelling with Audio, Lighting the Editorial Portrait (taught by the renowned Andrew Eccles), and Blurb Intensive: Publishing Your Photographic Book, which focuses on guiding you towards editing and creating your own photo publication using Blurb's software. Classes can be great incentive to motivate past projects that may have plateaued at some point, or a good place to finally work on a project idea that you've been thinking about for ages.

If you do venture out to Santa Fe for a workshop, make sure to also stop by at photo-eye bookstore and gallery to browse amongst their expertly selected collection of photo books.

See here for the workshop schedule in Santa Fe, San Miguel de Allende, and around the world.