Sarah & Arnold, 2006 by Michael Bodiam

Since announcing Michael Bodiam as a 2010 Hot Shot, his work has been included in a group exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery and he has released two editions on 20x200 from his winning series Dickins & Jones. Last time we caught up with the talented photographer, we learned a little about what inspires him and his photography background. With the competition closing in just five (!) days, Hey, Hot Shot! reached out to Bodiam to learn more about his winning series and what he's been up to since, as well as to get some words of advice for prospective Hot Shots.

Congrats again on being a 2010 Hot Shot! I'd love to know more about your winning submission, Dickins & Jones, and the origin of that series. What inspired it? Do you still occasionally shoot for that series?
The main inspiration behind the Dickins & Jones project was a solitary view through one of the only doors that wasn't boarded up in the store. I was sufficiently intrigued and inspired by what I could see inside to warrant nearly a month of phone calls and emails trying to gain access to the building. Eventually, the powers that be buckled, and they just gave me access to the building whenever I wanted. I had free access to seven floors of what looked like a vision of a post-apocalyptic department store.

Throughout the time I was shooting the project, the building was in a constant state of flux. Now it has been fully converted into several new shops, so the project can no longer be added to even if I wanted to: I don't have any interest in the space as it is now. The project was a focus on a space in transition, and for the time being it has a new fixed appearance. Give it 20 years, though, and I might just end up back there again.

Could you tell us a little about what you've been working on since then?
I've worked on many projects since this one, as I shot this in 2004, but last year I had a brief stint shooting for a project called Residential & Industrial Landscapes from East London. I accumulated the locations over the period of a year or so and then spent a couple of days at the end of last summer shooting them back-to-back. I'm now searching out more locations and will shoot them when the summer ends and the classic milky grey skies of England return.

I also spent six weeks in Chile and Argentina at the end of last year, so I have a mass of material to work on from that. I'm looking to produce a book eventually, but it's going to take a while to edit it down.

Do you approach your projects differently, from Anonymous Places to Dickins & Jones, and from Hangars to East London? In your opinion, is there an overarching viewpoint/theme present throughout?
Whatever I am photographing, I approach the subject matter with the same eye. Although the themes of what the image is about can vary, the viewpoint is a crucial factor for me that ties all the images together. Over time, I want to create a body of work that sits together comfortably, whether it has been shot during night or day, inside or outside, large-scale or small.

Any advice for prospective Hot Shots?
Be honest with yourself, be brutal with your edits and don't try to second-guess what judges might want to see—it will only dilute what you are about.

What do you shoot with?
Mamiya 7ii / Wista 5x4 Field Camera / Canon 5Dii & a Hasselblad 503CXi with a P45+ Phase One digital back.

What are you currently reading?
Words: Dispatches by Michael Herr

Pictures: Andreas Gursky: Works 80-08

Any other news you'd like to share with us?
I'm currently at the very early stages of putting together a group exhibition—I'm thinking it will be for one night only, but with a printed publication as a more permanent reminder of what it was. Watch this space.

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009 by Chikara Umihara

We are thrilled to announce photographer Chikara Umihara as the newest Ne Plus Ultra! Selected from 2010's five incredibly talented Hot Shots, Chikara not only earns representation from Jen Bekman Gallery and a solo exhibition, but he also wins a $10,000 honorarium to put towards a personal project. Awarding this honorarium to just one photographer was no easy feat, given the pool of diverse and exceptional submissions. Congratulations to Chikara Umihara!

Chikara now joins the other JBG-represented artists—including 2009 Ultras Mike Sinclair and Kurt Tong— and we're very excited to continue collaborating with Chikara at the gallery and on 20x200.

Of course, we'd also like to recognize all of the 2010 Hot Shots for their talent and dedication. These photographers participated in a group exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery, and most have limited-edition prints featured on 20x200: Laura Bell, Michael Bodiam, Amy Stevens, Zhijie Sui and Chikara Umihara.

The Hot Shots were chosen from an extremely competitive group of photographers who thoroughly impressed our esteemed panel: Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Todd Hido, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Tod Lippy, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Kent Rogowski and Jeffrey Teuton. Many thanks to every member of the 2010 panel for their time and enduring commitment to Hey, Hot Shot!

Meet our newest Ultra:

Chikara Umihara was born in, and now resides in, Japan. He came to New York to pursue his interest in photography in 2006. Formerly, he was a practitioner and professional fighter of martial arts for 15 years. Recently, he was selected for the Present Tense competition exhibition at Photo Center NW in Seattle. He also attended Review Santa Fe in New Mexico in 2010. His print, Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, is available on 20x200.com.

Hey, Hot Shot! 2011 Competition:

We will be making an announcement in the very near future regarding the next round of competitions for Hey, Hot Shot!, so be sure to check back often.

Swimming Team from Chu Zhang's family album, Anonymous (June)

Hot Shots Yijun (Pixy) Liao and Zhijie Sui have launched a couple of 2011 calendars based on one of the most popular concepts in China's online lexicon. Deemed Harmonic and Harmonious Society, both calendars take different approaches to mirroring China's desire to build a peaceful societal image in the future.

Zhijie Sui, who goes by the online moniker Taca Sui, curated the images in Harmonic with his typical mastery of tonal scale. The calendar leads viewers on a month by month journey through the urban and rural environments of China, creating a quiet sort of commentary on the theme of hopeful harmony through existing infrastructures and dramatic texture.

Harmonious Society, curated by Liao, conveys a similar idea, but instead of picturing emotive environments and buildings in varying states of disrepair, this calendar reflects what co-collaborator Lan Xu calls a "Chinese-style harmony [that unveils a] wild, unique optimism."

A cat atop an indoor pile of rocks (March) reveals a kind of quirky sense of achievement, while people riding on a bus (May) creates an uncanny sense of order and symmetry. All of the photos from Harmonious Society were either taken by or from people in the Chinese Youth Camera Club (CYCC), an informal but constantly growing New York City group of Chinese photographers under the age of 60 from around the world.

You can purchase both Harmonic and Harmonious Society now for a special holiday price of $14.20. All proceeds from the sales of both calendars go to The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Treatment Support Project (PATS) for Aids Orphans in Fuyang, China.

Confections (couture) #2 by Amy Stevens

2010 Hot Shot Amy Stevens was featured this week on Flavorpill's flavorwire for her Confections series, where writer Judy Berman says, "We can't vouch for how they taste, but these gorgeous and funny cake wrecks, photographed in front of complementary backgrounds, are certainly a feast for the eyes."

To get a taste of Amy's work in person, stop by her show at Carmelita Couture in Philly tonight, Friday, December 3, from 6-8 p.m. The show is part of the 1st Friday ArtWalk event and is guaranteed to be a lot of fun. For full details, check Amy's blog here.

Carmelita Couture
17 North 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Opening: First Friday, December 3, 6-8 p.m.
On view: December 3, 2010- Jan 6, 2011

When learning to paint, artists often create tonal scales, mastering the infinite shades of gray that exist between black and white. In photography, mastering these tonal scales requires a similarly deft hand and deep understanding of how light permeates the camera and the film. We find contrast in juxtaposed brightnesses of light, but how does one crate gray tones that still contain detail and great definition? Hot Shot Zhijie Sui explores the great range of gray tones in his quiet but moving series, ODE. Inspired by The Book of Odes, China's oldest collection of poetry, Sui seeks out the textures, geographies and cultural identity expressed in the poems. They serve as a geographic guide for his own image-making, bringing him to the mountains, to the sea, up high and face to face with the range of natural textures that surround him. Abiding by strict lines and creating almost architectural landscapes, Sui's precise works are sparse but layered with a stony overtone that is concentrated and feels impenetrable. You can see additional images from Zhijie's series ODE on his portfolio.

Untitled from the series ODE by Zhijie Sui

Untitled from the series ODE by Zhijie Sui

Untitled from the series ODE by Zhijie Sui

Living in: New York & Beijing

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: I studied at the China Central Academy of Art from 2003 to 2005 and did film studio studies there, majoring in Experimental media. Then, I came to the US and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for Photography from 2007 to 2008.

How you pay the bills: I get support from my family, and also by selling my photography prints and paintings.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Uh...maybe none...

3 Artists Who Inspire You: Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Ni Zan (a Chinese painter during the Yuan Dynasty)

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever: The Mirror, Nostahlgia and The Sacrifice—films by Andrei Tarkovsky. And, Peter Henry Emerson's photography

Untitled by Peter Henry Emerson

Reading now: Superfluous Things. (The book examines the history of material culture in early modern China—the paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics, carved jade, and other objects owned by the elites of Ming China—and describes contemporary attitudes towards them.)

Top 3 photo-related websites/blogs:
eyecurious
Conscientious
Buffet

Top 3 non-photo websites/blogs:
Nostahlgia
Ubu
Chinese Etymology

Current projects: ODE: The project is searching for the broad mountains, flowing rivers, ruined walls and ancient paths of the Book of Odes.(Odes is the earliest existing collection of Chinese poems and songs. It comprises 305 poems and songs, some possibly from as early as 1000BC.)

Untitled from the series ODE by Zhijie Sui

Untitled from the series ODE by Zhijie Sui

When one first glances at Laura Bell's works, there is a moment of wondering whether he or she is looking at photographs or paintings. A vase of flowers is lush with the textured quality of brushstrokes, and the moon seems too sharply painted in above crags to have been captured by a lens. Taking cues from the traditions of old master painters, Laura creates still-lifes, landscapes and portraits that are hushed yet luscious. The images range in size, some just a few inches around, and others several feet tall and wide. Playing with the traditional formats of photography—squares and rectangles, she crops many of her images into ovals, circles and elipses and then shrinks or enlarges them in relation to one another.

The Alba Series, from which all three photographs below, are a reflection of her "experiences and psychological reactions" to her two year stay in Edinburgh, Scotland. Now living in the woods of Pennsylvania, Bell continues to absorb the natural elements around her, and crafting images from the impact these environs have. See more work from The Alba Series, and others, on Laura's website.

First Growth by Laura Bell

Floral and Insects by Laura Bell

Moth Specimens by Laura Bell

Living in: Pennsylvania

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: In 2008, I graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in photography. I've also participated in several internship programs, relating to both commercial and fine art photographic disciplines. Most recently, I interned at a fine art photography center in Scotland called Stills.

How you pay the bills: Currently, I retouch photos for school year books, which basically means that I Photoshop acne all day. It's a funny day-job, but it's nice to think that I might be helping young people feel better about themselves during those awkward teenage years.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: I think the best advice I've ever received as an artist, (be it in photography or any other medium) is to be honest with your self. If you make honest work, you'll most likely make good work.

3 Artists Who Inspire You: Nadav Kander's landscape work, Alessandra Sanguinetti and Joanna Newsom

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever: When I was about 15, I saw a photograph by Sally Mann of a large tree with a deep scar through its center. This was the first image that really made me want to pursue fine art photography. I still think about this photograph all the time.

Reading now: I just started In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Top 3 photo-related websites/blogs:
Women in Photography (the Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips project)
Ahorn Magazine
1000 Words Photography

Top non-photo website/blog:
To be honest, I don't venture very far off the beaten path in terms of the Internet, but I do really enjoy NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Next project: I just moved to an area of Pennsylvania known as the "snow belt", and, as the name suggests, this region accumulates a tremendous amount of snow. I'm planning on shooting a series of landscapes depicting the winter here, but, of course, I'm waiting for the snow to come first.

At our party at Blurb just over a week ago, we were thrilled to see Chikara Umihara's face among the attendees. He'd just gotten off a plane from Japan—yes, Japan!—to come celebrate being a Hot Shot! Chikara's work spans the gamut from documentary to more formal portraiture; our panel was taken by his series Aggressive Girls, which looks at the empowerment of lesbians in Brooklyn through male-dominant Hip Hop culture. Chikara finds his way into the intimate spaces where this subculture convenes and makes images suggesting that sometimes he and his camera are fully bared, with flash out, whereas in other scenarios he is merely a wallflower, quietly observing the colorful world as it moves around him while maintaining a calculated distance.

The macro and micro lenses of Chikara's world are a notable characteristic of each of his series: Aggressive Girls, Playland, Silent Water and Humilade. You can see all of these works on his website and learn a little more about Chikara below.

Outside of the Brazilian grocery store "Banana Boat", Nishikoizumi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, 2010 by Chikara Umihara

Downtown, Brooklyn, 2009 by Chikara Umihara

Living in: Tokyo, Japan

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: I attended a one Year Certificate Program in General Studies at the International Center of Photography, New York in 2007 and interned at Magnum Photos in 2008.

How you pay the bills: Freelancing as a photographer and retoucher.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Photography makes me feel alive.

3 Artists Who Inspire You: Diane Arbus, John Cassavetes and Gerhard Richter

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

Reading now: La Casa Verde by Mario Vargas Llosa

Top 3 photo-related websites/blogs:
Hey, Hot Shot! (why thank you!)
MoMA
Dashwood Books

Next project: Thailand

Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, 2008 by Chikara Umihara

Barbershop, Lower East Side, NYC, 2008 by Chikara Umihara

Our second Q&A this week brings us to Hot Shot Amy Stevens, whose colorful confections are both beautiful to look at—and "really edible," informs Amy. Each of her cakes are made from ingredients that—despite their sometimes-psychedelic colors—are safe to consume. She crafts every morsel of the cakes herself: baking, frosting, shaping and styling them from flour and sugar into what you see before you.

On her website, Amy writes of this project:

The Confections series started as a response to turning 30. It was a celebration of birthdays, cake, color, pattern and obsessive absurdity...I ordered a cake decorating kit from Marthastewart.com and watched the included instructional video. When I quickly discovered my cakes were never going to look like the ones in the video and recipe booklet, I was free to make them as grotesque and amazing as possible--my little rebellion.

After four years, Amy continues to craft and fashion her cakes, ever more absurd and extravagant. They are intoxicating to look at, spectacles craving saccharine attention. Head to Amy's portfolio to see her full display case of confections, and to see what she's plating up next.

Confections (adorned) #17 by Amy Stevens

Confections (adorned) #18 by Amy Stevens

Living in: Philadelphia, PA

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: Formally, I received my BFA and MFA in Photography from Arizona State University and Tyler School of Art. Informally, I have dabbled in many aspects of photography and learned a ton from all of the combined experiences. In Phoenix, I worked as a photographer's assistant printing large scale sepia toned prints of nudes, florals and landscapes for an art production company. I lived in Seattle for 4 years where I sold my mixed media photography in Pioneer Square on First Thursdays, worked as a Project Manager for a photo lab and volunteered as a mentor for Youth in Focus, a photography non-profit for teenagers. Just before moving to Philadelphia for grad school, I helped organize the visual arts portion of Ladyfest Seattle and curated an exhibition for the festival. After grad school I learned the most from teaching photography-- and am still learning.

How you pay the bills: I work as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Temple University teaching both digital and traditional photography and also teach a foundations digital imaging class at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, PA.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Technically, I read this, but it's a great quote: "There is no win and no fail, only make." —John Cage

3 Artists Who Inspire You: Robert Rauschenberg, Jessica Stockholder and Lee Friedlander

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever: El Morocco 1955 (woman with bongo drums) by Garry Winogrand. Although, this past week I've been thinking about Alex Prager's video Despair at MoMA and can't shake it.

El Morocco, 1955 by Garry Winogrand

Reading now: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (pure escapism), Art/Work by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber (thank you Hey, Hot Shot!) and Digital Art Revolution by Scott Ligon (for my foundations class.)

Top 3 photo-related websites/blogs:
Oitzarisme (A Romanian photo blog featuring International work)
Feature Shoot blog
Amy Stein's blog

Top 3 non-photo websites/blogs:
Martha Stewart for my cooking and craft obsessions: Whole Living and The Crafts Dept.
Regretsy
Cute Overload

Current projects: Right now I'm working on a few new pieces for a fashion designer who has a boutique in Philadelphia. She has been supplying me with fabrics from her dresses and I am responding with some new Confections. Nothing says couture like a cake with 5 pounds of butter cream.

I'm seeking funding and co-curating (with an Irish artist) a photography and video exhibition of 40 artists from Philadelphia and Ireland for 2 shows, one in Philly (Fall 2012) and one in Ireland for the Galway Arts Festival (Summer 2012.)

I'm also taking a beginning quilting class at a fabric store here in Philadelphia.

Confections (abroad) #7 by Amy Stevens

Hot Shot Michael Bodiam finds his home in London, where he photographs a wide range of subjects, from the images of abandoned buildings he submitted as part of the series Dickens & Jones to nightscapes and cinematic landscapes. Whatever he is photographer, there is a mixed sense of caution and foreboding. When people appear, faces are often shrouded or hidden and more often than not, we observe the rich textures of intersecting walls and building material. Cement meets the polish of a wood's veneer, wallpaper finds plaster and paint greets carpet drawing the eyes to focus on the intersections of these calculated but often ignored spaces.

Stock Room #2 from the series Dickens & Jones by Michael Bodiam

Kew #2 from the series Kew by Michael Bodiam

Blue Lockers from the series Anonymous Places by Michael Bodiam

We touched base with Michael last week to learn a little more about what inspires him, his photography background and what he's working on. You can see many more image by Michael on his portfolio site.

Living in: London, UK

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: After years of following my Dad around taking pictures I decided to study photography at school, followed by a Art Foundation course (specialising in photography) and then finally received a BA (honors) in Fine Art Photography at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, UK.

How you pay the bills: A combination of assisting, post production and printing for fine art and commercial photographers as well as shooting my own editorial work and occasional small advertising jobs.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Make the work that you want to make, not what you think other will want you to make. If you fall into that trap the meaning of the work gets diluted and it loses it's impact.

3 Artists Who Inspire You: Thomas Struth, Joël Tettamanti, Ed Ruscha

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

Cellar by Gregory Schneider

Reading now: Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane

Top 3 photo-related websites/blogs:
Conscientious
aCurator
Powerbastard

Top 3 non-photo websites/blogs:
BUTDOESITFLOAT
ffffound
Yimmys Yayo

(although these all include photography as well!)

Current projects: I've just started shooting a project called Residential & Industrial Landscapes from East London—it's pretty obvious what that one's about!

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009 by Chikara Umihara

After great deliberation and the careful consideration of our panelists, we're happy to announce the five photographers selected as 2010 Hot Shots:

Laura Bell
Michael Bodiam
Amy Stevens
Zhijie Sui
Chikara Umihara

These five outstanding photographers will each be awarded a $500 honorarium, participate in a group show at Jen Bekman Gallery in January 2011, receive a $1,000 credit to make a book at Blurb and have the opportunity to release an edition on 20x200. You can read more about each of the 2010 Hot Shots and see their submissions on the blog.

Laura, Michael, Amy, Zhijie and Chikara are now under consideration for our Grand Prize—a $10,000 honorarium, solo exhibition and representation from Jen Bekman Gallery—which will be announced in the spring of 2011. The chosen photographer will join ranks with other JBG-represented artists, including 2009 Ultras Mike Sinclair and Kurt Tong. We're looking forward to many collaborations with all of these photographers at the gallery and on 20x200.

Selecting just five artists from this year's pool of contenders couldn't have been done without Jen Bekman and the dedication of our brilliant panelists: Christine Collins, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Todd Hido, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Tod Lippy, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Kent Rogowski and Jeffrey Teuton, so we thank them for their time, energy and the ever-critical eye each of them lends to the competition.

We also want to extend enormous thanks to Blurb, who hosted a party for us last Friday at their NYC Pop-Up. Jen Bekman announced the five Hot Shots at the party and we were able to mingle and celebrate with so many of you: contenders, Hot Shots, panelists and supporters of the competition. Thanks to all who came out to say hello and for those who didn't make it, you can see photos of the party on Flickr.

Last but not least, we'd like to congratulate all of our Semi-Finalists once more. All of these photographers are creating exceptional work and we're delighted they entered Hey, Hot Shot!

The 2010 Hey, Hot Shot! Semi-Finalists
Noah L. Addis
Philip Cheung
Christopher Churchill
Sam Comen
Glen Erler
Taylor Glenn
Melissa Rene Kaseman
Mark Lyon
Nik Mirus
Erin O'Keefe
Teo Ormond-Skeaping
Mark Peckmezian
Jill Peters
Meghan Rennie
Julian Roeder
Bryan Schutmaat
Judith Stenneken
Jordan Tate
Michael ten Pas
Nathanael Turner
Eric T. White
Simon Willms
Susan Virginia Worsham
Renhui Zhao

While only the five Hot Shots will exhibit at the gallery, look for work from our Semi-Finalists and contenders on 20x200 and be sure to read about the 100+ photographers featured on our blog this year.

Keep an eye on us on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter for news about the 2010 Hot Shot exhibition and our next round of competition!

ODE_1, 2010

ODE_2, 2010

ODE_3, 2010

ODE_4, 2010

ODE_5, 2010

Zhijie Sui

Website: http://www.tacasui.com

Bio:
Taca Sui was born in Qingdao, China and currently resides New York City and Beijing. Past exhibitions include: Another Landscape at the INTER Art Center, Beijing, China (2010); Parallel Translation, Chengdu, Sichuan, China (2009); Black White Grey at ASL Gallery, New York (2009); 2009 Years Show at ASL Gallery, New York (2009); Intimate Distance at Qart Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2007).

Artist Statement:
The Book of Odes, China's earliest collection of poems, both marks the beginning of Chinese civilization and delineates certain core elements of Asian culture.

My search for the broad mountains, flowing rivers, ruined walls and ancient paths of The Book of Odes felt much like a mysterious engagement with an absent partner. During the shoot, it was almost as if my emotions and artistic direction were under the influence of some unknown force.

When I think back to before I started this project, after several months of textual and geographical research, I was alarmed to find myself falling into the vast artificial construct of annotations and commentaries built by generations of Confucian scholars. With the shadow of such cluttered and factitious interpretations still hanging over the Odes, the meaning of the original text has been misconstrued and concealed, and a distorted, so-called truth has been created.

I believe that changing reality and the text, including historical annotations, continually influence each other. I ask, therefore, in this never-ending process of mutual transformation, what are the principal divergences from the original text, and what layers of meaning have been lost? In terms of my own personal experience, as the original text has long been separated from its concrete context, what is the necessity and basis for so-called poetic sentiments?

I hope to build a stable artistic structure that corresponds on some level to the composition of The Book of Odes, but at the same time pushes the Ode's literary significance into a distant and unfamiliar world, bringing the work's amorphous and mystical concepts into reality, and by doing so, facilitates analysis of the Odes, which truly is an artistic model with limitless possibility.

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009

Untitled from the series Aggressive Girls, 2009

Chikara Umihara

Website: http://www.chikaraphotography.com

Bio:
Chikara Umihara was born in, and now resides in, Japan. He came to New York to pursue his interest in photography in 2006. Formerly, he was a practitioner and professional fighter of martial arts for 15 years. In 2010, he was selected for the Present Tense competition exhibition at Photo Center NW in Seattle, and he attended Review Santa Fe in New Mexico. Chikara was named the 2010 Hey, Hot Shot! Ne Plus Ultra.

Artist Statement:
Within the social infrastructure of the black community in Brooklyn, lesbian women have found their role of empowerment through employing the male-dominant Hip Hop culture. From this male-dominant culture has emerged a new breed of female-dominant culture, in which lesbian women define themselves as "Aggressive Girls."

My photography comes from my own journey: the journey to investigate the place; to understand the culture; to explore the world I was fascinated by; and the journey to find my deep personal reflection. My great interest in photography is to express the light and darkness in color. The process of photographing is about finding the emotion, fear and enlightenment, both my own and the subject's. In my work, I am trying to tell the emotion and feeling through my pictures. To me, in order to tell about the place and people, the rhythm, intonation and lyrical expression are more important than merely recording the facts and knowledge. To do that, I am always aiming at capturing the air within the place and people. It can convey the temperature, humidity, feelings, emotions and atmosphere. The air can be described in light. The grain and color expose the psyche. After the first frame, my project begins. Each next frame is the key to keep going closer and deeper. And the project starts dictating its own direction.

Clearance, 2006

Ladder, 2006

Sarah & Arnold, 2006

Changing Room #1, 2006

Changing Room #2, 2006

Michael Bodiam

Website: http://www.michaelbodiam.com

Bio:
Michael Bodiam is a graduate in BA (hons) Fine Art Photography from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. He works on both commissioned and self-commissioned photographic projects. Michael's personal work has featured in publications such as Dazed & Confused, Marmalade and DayFour. He has exhibited with The Photodebut Group, at The Royal Academy (London), The Royal West of England Academy, HOST Gallery, The AMV Building and the Brick House at The Truman Brewery. In 2009 he achieved two merit awards & one distinction (2nd place overall) for the Fuji-Film Distinctions Awards as well as being long-listed for the last 60 of Hyères 2009. In 2004 he was a finalist in the Next Level Audi Vorsprung durch Technik Photography Competition.

Artist Statement:
Dickens & Jones: This work explores a building at the end of era. The series is a visual investigation of a space as it hangs tentatively in the balance between its functions old and new. Whilst the space may remain recognisable as a site of commerce, the building stripped to its barest bones, clings on to the last moments of its previous function. Despite the overwhelming emptiness of the building, the images are far from being a blank canvas. In fact, it is this distinct and unnerving absence of people and the products associated with the space that brings a new heightened relevance to the things that would have previously gone unnoticed. Our eye is instead drawn towards the subtle accumulative layering of traces left behind by many decades of human presence within the building's interior. Dirty silhouettes of clothing, products, fixings and furnishings become ghostly reminders of what used to be.

Crags and a Crescent Moon, 2008

Gust of Wind, 2009

Rachel, 2010

Blackford Forest, 2009

Tea Pot and Red Currants, 2010

Laura Bell

Website: http://www.lbellphoto.com

Bio:
Laura Bell received a BFA in photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2008. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States and Internationally. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Agnes Gund Traveling Scholarship, which helped fund her most recent photographic project in Scotland.

Artist Statement:
The five photographs submitted here are from a series of 23 photographs titled The Alba Series. This body of work was created between the years 2008 and 2010, during a prolonged stay in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. In December 2008 I moved from the United States to Edinburgh, Scotland to accompany my husband while he worked towards his MFA. This was the first time I had ever left the USA. The work I produced during this two-year stay is a reflection of my experiences and psychological reactions to this new environment. Combining portraiture, still life and landscape works, this series is heavily influenced by the incredibly rich historical presence in Scotland. Taking cues from the traditions of old master paintings; I photographed the people, places and objects of daily life in a way that both reflected my personal day-to-day experience of living in Edinburgh, and my fascination with the differences I found in Scottish culture to my American culture.

Confections #65, 2009

Confections (adorned) #1, 2008

Confections (adorned) #8, 2009

Confections (adorned) #10, 2010

Confections #37, 2007

Amy Stevens

Website: http://www.amystevensart.com

Bio:
Amy Stevens grew up in the American Southwest. She earned a BFA in Photography and a certificate in Women's Studies from Arizona State University and a MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Stevens has participated in group and solo shows in Seattle, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Montreal. In 2007 she completed a two-year career development fellowship with The Center for Emerging Visual Artists and was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Independence Foundation. Stevens has notably shown in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Photo LA, Photographic Center Northwest, Philadelphia International Airport and Maryland Art Place. In 2009 Amy was announced a U.S. winner in Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward Emerging Photographer's competition which included a published book and a traveling group exhibition at Lennox Contemporary in Toronto, FotoWeek DC and the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. She was recently awarded a Fleisher Wind Challenge exhibition and honorarium for a three- person show to be held in 2010/2011.

Artist Statement:
The Confections series began as a response to turning 30. It was a celebration of birthdays, color, pattern and obsessive absurdity. My original idea was to bake 30 birthday cakes for myself and photograph them. I didn't quite make it to 30 cakes in time for my thesis show, but I sure got a lot of ideas from those first cakes. I ordered a kit from Martha Stewart.com and watched an instructional video on decorating cakes. When I quickly discovered my cakes were never going to look like the ones in the video and the pamphlet, I decided they were better off in their exuberantly imperfect states. With over 70 cakes constructions to date, I'm often asked, "Why still with the cakes?" Cakes are the centerpieces of celebrations and symbolic trophies evoking nostalgia and awe. Historically, cake has played a significant role in womens' lives. Women have used cake as both an outlet of creativity and a symbol of female power politics. In my constructions of these photographs, I am commentating on not only cake itself as a rich cultural symbol, but of the domestic fantasy world of contemporary home decorating and cooking magazines and television shows. It's a fantasy world where entertaining, cooking and decorating unite. It's a place where one needs to have a beautiful home, decorated seasonally, in order to entertain friends with gourmet meals and elaborately concocted desserts.