Summer greetings, my photo-loving friends! It's me, Jen! I haven't been around these parts for a while, busy as I am penning 20x200 newsletters and such, but who needs me? The blog's been percolating along quite nicely, thanks to the efforts of the many wonderful, amazing people working at Jen Bekman Projects HQ. I'm dropping by today with news of another exciting addition to that already brilliant mix, Mr. Alan E. Rapp.

Alan recently joined the JBP team as the Associate Director of Hey, Hot Shot!. As our intrepid panelist Nion McEvoy can attest, we're awfully lucky to have him! Alan arrived here in NYC about a year ago, leaving behind SF and his plum role as Senior Editor of art, design & photography titles at Chronicle Books. Nion—Chronicle's Chairman and CEO —was recently telling me how hard it's been to fill Alan's shoes, giving me the opportunity to proudly announce our good fortune. (There might've been a little bit of "Nyah! Nyah!" in there, not that I'm competitive or anything.)

I'm including Alan's bio below, but once I'm done introducing him today, he'll be speaking up for himself. And he's got plenty to talk about; he's cooking up all kinds of big plans for Hey, Hot Shot! and I can't hardly wait for them to be unveiled. I've long thought that, great as it is, HHS! could be so much more. Alan's got the experience, creativity and enthusiasm to take things to the next level, so I'm really thrilled that he'll be taking the lead here.

Alan won't be a one man show, of course. HHS! has been thriving for years now and has improved exponentially as the JBP team has grown. Sara Distin is now spending most of her time on curatorial development for 20x200, and Youngna Park is plenty busy working on all of our websites, but both of these talented women will continue to be contributors to the HHS! effort. Jeffrey Teuton is overseeing the gallery itself, where our last round of winning Hot Shots will make their Jen Bekman Gallery debut on September 9th. And as always, Raul Gutierrez and our tech crew will keep the site humming. Rounding out the team are intrepid blogger Kara Canal and JBP's latest addition, our new administrative assistant — former intern and lifelong photographer — Ms. Kika Gilbert. Casey Gollan's been contributing some excellent new content here and a crop of fresh-faced interns should be arriving soon too—even with such a great team, there's still plenty to keep them busy.

Alan E. Rapp
Alan E. Rapp is former senior editor of art, design, and photography at Chronicle Books. With more than fifteen years publishing experience, he now works on independent book projects while simultaneously pursuing an advanced degree in Design Criticism. He has collaborated with dozens of artists in bringing their work to publication, including Jim Marshall, Elinor Carucci, Justin Guariglia, Misty Keasler, David Maisel, and Linda Connor. He is a writer who has contributed to Design Observer, San Francisco Magazine, Dwell, Photo District News, and Photo-eye Booklist, among other publications. He's also the editor of Critical Terrain, where "the images, objects, concepts, and disciplines that shape the designed environment are explored and interpreted."