Untitled, from the series Fairgrounds by Mike Sinclair

Happy hot and steamy July! And welcome back to our regularly-scheduled Week In Review, a short-and-sweet round-up of the week's best photo links and stories. We can hardly believe we're in month four of competition, which means you've got just a little time left—till July 29th—to submit your entry and be considered for our 4th Curator's Choice Award! Tod Lippy, editor-in-chief of the fabulous Esopus, will review all entries that come in by the 29th, and one photographer will receive a lifetime subscription to the magazine! Make sure to take a peek at their archives to see the tremendous range of essays, artifacts, portfolios and artist projects they've featured over the years.

Recent Contenders

Left to right: Kate Stone, Sarah Szwajkos, Kathleen R. Robbins, Mary Kathleen Shafer, Selena Salfen .

We're featuring one contender daily on our blog; read about the work of some of our entrants from the 2010 competition and apply today, for a chance to be featured.

Photography News

+ Jen Bekman has joined the Advisory Board for 25 for 25, AOL's new grant program, which will award $25,000 to 25 of "tomorrow's ground breakers and visionaries." Entries will be accepted from July 27th - September 1, 2010, and you can submit your information here to request application materials.

+ Speaking of great opportunities, the Aperture Portfolio Prize deadline is only a day away, on July 14th! They are looking specifically for work that hasn't been widely seen or published elsewhere, and for images that have been made within the last five years. The winner will receive a $5,000 prize and an exhibition in Aperture's gallery.

+ Interesting reading material: Now on Imprint: Why the photography book is thriving, in defiance of all available conventional wisdom.

+ Over on the 20x200 blog this week, we wrote about photographer Zoe Strauss's new project On the Beach, a documentary concerning the fallout of the BP Gulf oil disaster in affected coastal states. Take a look at her project and consider making a donation so that she can extend her time in the Gulf.

+ We recently released a beautiful, haunting edition on 20x200 by photographer Roger Ballen, to much enthusiasm and excitement. Collectors have begun to receive their editions, and photographer Matt Neibur had a moment of aesthetic communion with his postman (also a 20x200 fan) when he was delivered the print. We love these kinds of moments of synchronicity!

+ Congratulations to Mickey Smith, whose multi-paneled Collocation (Nature), a permanent glass installation she created for the University of Florida, was selected as one of the 40 best public artworks of 2009. An edition of two of the panels of the work (available as partner prints) is also available on 20x200.