For his series Homies, Contender Adam Amengual spent time at LA's Homeboy Industries, a non-profit organization that provides counseling, job training and other free services to former gang members (and the formerly incarcerated) looking to re-enter and contribute to society.

Daniel Castillo, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Amengual says of the organization, "It is a place that takes people in and sees the potential in them when others do not." Of the series, he explains:

In shooting this project I hope that people can see the subjects for what they are, humans trying to better themselves. The style in which these people have been photographed begs the comparison to a mug shot. Almost all of these people have been arrested and have had a mug shot taken of them. I feel like I have... made a more beautiful version of an ugly picture from their past—just like what the subjects themselves are doing with their own lives.

Cindy Hernandez, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Carlos Nieto, 2011 from the series Homies by Adam Amengual

Adam Amengual was born in Queens, New York, and was raised on the North Shore of Massachusetts. After studying the basics of photography in high school, he continued his photographic education at both Massachusetts College of Art and Parsons School of Design, in New York. After art school, Adam moved to Brooklyn, NY, and began assisting photographers in advertising, fashion, celebrity and music. Over the past six years he has assisted many well-established photographers. He has worked with Ruven Afanador, Don Flood, Danielle Levitt, Norman Jean Roy, Art Streiber and Ben Watts, to name just a few. Adam is currently located in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Kate, and dog, Shug. His recently completed project, entitled Homies, has been featured on several blogs, including TIME LightBox, Prison Photography, this is the what, Conscientious and We Can Shoot Too, and it is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Balloon, 2008 by Evan Lane

Contender Evan Lane is a working photographer and director based out of LA. Already having directed music videos for bands like M83 and Filter, Lane's cinematic eye is evident in this submission, which is evocative of a summer road trip. Of the series, Lane alludes to an effortless approach by writing only, "Keep it simple, silly." You can view more works from the series here. Be sure to check out his blog for more, or follow his tweets.

Untitled, by Evan Lane

After graduating Santa Monica High School in 2003, Evan Lane made the move from Los Angeles to Boston. He studied film-making and photography at Emerson College. After graduating in 2007 with a degree in film and photography, Evan lived in India for three months. When Evan got back to the States, he started working as a creative assistant to various photographers and directors in order to kick start his career. Photography has been Evan's driving force in life and he loves nothing more than being on set, traveling and consistently pushing himself creatively.

Wild Cotton, 2011 by Evan Lane

A Different Viewpoint, Golan Heights, Israel 2010, by Beth A. Gilbert

Contender Beth A. Gilbert spent six months in Israel in 2010 as part of her artist in residency in Jerusalem. During that time, she turned her large-format camera on the war-ravaged lands and ruins. The resulting images in Scarred Land "deal with war, the damage it inflicts upon the terrain and the natural recovery over time," Gilbert explains. She adds, "The battle sites and military training zones depicted have not been memorialized or preserved by human beings, and are now naturally recovering, as well as being reclaimed by the earth."

Debris, IDF Firing Zone, Gamla, Israel 2010, by Beth A. Gilbert

Beth Gilbert lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. When not photographing, she also works as a digital technician specializing in portfolio and exhibition print production. Her work has been shown at the Boston University Photographic Resource Center, the Danforth Museum of Art and the Hadassah Gallery in Jerusalem, Israel.

Blue Motel, by Matteo Musci

Kicking off our Contender posts for the First Edition 2012 is Matteo Musci, an Italian photographer turned American road tripper. With their washed out colors, his quiet photographs on the road are reminiscent of film stills from yesteryear. Already making the blog rounds, the work was first exhibited in San Francisco's The Garage Sale Project. In introducing the work in Walkin' Solo, Garage Sale's Jack Halloway wrote:

Mostly void of lifeforms, Musci's images allow us a moment alone to gaze in repose amid the often overlooked beauty of an empty truck stop or musty roadside motel suite.

At the Diner, by Matteo Musci

Matteo Musci was born and raised in Milan, Italy. After a couple of years in the late '90s working as an art director in a big ad agency, he began shooting as a professional photographer and founded Zona13 Studio. As a photographer for Zona13, he worked all over Europe for a notable amount of ad agencies. In 2010, he started a new photographic cycle, leaving his ad portfolio behind and focusing on a more personal kind of photography, where neat composition and washy color are the main themes. Now he lives between San Francisco and Milan.

Photographers, hot on the heels of announcing our Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots, we're now accepting submissions for Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2012. Here's your shot at unparalleled recognition and support and cash prizes. Submit your photos now—the $60 fee will increase incrementally throughout the competition; the earlier you submit, the more you save. All entries must be received by March 14th, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
+ One grand prize winning photographer from 2012 will be awarded $10,000, a solo show at (and gallery representation from) Jen Bekman Gallery in New York City.

+ The five Hot Shots selected from the First Edition 2012 round will each win $500, will participate in a group show—the First Edition 2012 Showcase—at the gallery and will be in the running to win the grand prize.

+ Additionally, all entrants are reviewed for participation on 20x200. HHS! is the only way for photographers to submit work for the limited-edition print site that introduces new art to tens of thousands of collectors around the world.

+ All entrants are also considered for Contender posts, which are shared with our broad photography community via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.

+ All entries are reviewed by our stellar panel of photography professionals, including Aperture Foundation publisher Lesley A. Martin and Chronicle Books chairman and CEO Nion McEvoy, as well as Assistant Director of Fraenkel Gallery (San Francisco), and co-founder of Radius Books, Darius Himes.

+ Now in its eighth year, Hey, Hot Shot! has helped launch the careers of hundreds of photographers, including 2010 Whitney Biennal artists Curtis Mann and Nina Berman.

Submit your work now for your chance at our hallmark awards and unprecedented support.

After much careful deliberation, we're thrilled to announce the five winning photographers from the last round of competition in 2011. Please join us in heartily congratulating the Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots:

Meike Nixdorf
Michael Cappabianca
Phil Jung
Cristina De Middel
Brendan George Ko

Each of the photographers has won a $500 honorarium, participation in a Hey, Hot Shot! group show at Jen Bekman Gallery (later this year) and are now in the running to win the Grand Prize:

+ A $10,000 honorarium
+ A solo show at Jen Bekman Gallery
+ Two years of gallery representation from Jen Bekman Gallery

We'd like to also congratulate five photographers who have been selected to win $200 in credits from Blurb, the self-publishing service, to put towards creating their own photo books.The Blurb-prize winners are:

Gregg Segal
Megan Carney
Dave Wyatt
Brianna Treleven
I-Hsuen Chen

Congratulations are also in order for the Honorable Mentions for having submitted exceptional work and raising the bar, making it challenging (but oh, so worth it) to select the last round of Hot Shots for 2011.

The Honorable Mentions are:

Eran Gilat
Daan Brand
Judith Stennekken
Paccarik Orue
Gregg Segal
Megan Carney
Dave Wyatt
Brianna Treleven
I-Hsuen Chen
Zhang Kechun

Many thanks to our panel of exceptionally talented professionals who dedicated their time, energy and critical eyes in helping our curatorial team select the final Hot Shots of 2011.

The next round of competition will be opening soon! Stay tuned to find out when you can submit your entry.

Special thanks to our friends at Blurb.

Barking Wall, 2011 by Brendan George Ko

Aquarius, 2011 by Brendan George Ko

Ablution, 2010 by Brendan George Ko

Tomb, 2011 by Brendan George Ko

Doreen's Bible, 2010 by Brendan George Ko

Brendan George Ko

Website: http://www.brendangeorgeko.com

Bio:
Brendan George Ko has lived amongst the yuccas and coyotes of New Mexico. He's also surfed with the craziest sons of guns he ever met during his time in Texas. Brendan grew up on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario, and lived half his life moving throughout America, with endless road trips, and faces of so many, dear human beings. He sees every photograph he takes as a document; a document of a memory, a document of a person; a time and place, a feeling and a trace (of something that once was, something worth remembering). He is creating and recreating a history of all that he is, with words, and images, so that he can remember beyond his memory, for a record of being. Formally, Brendan went to school at The Ontario College of Art & Design, where he received his BFA in photography. Currently he shows with Angell Gallery, where his new work can been seen. Occasionally he also curates shows throughout the land, and does editorial here and there.

Statement:
I remember as a kid I used to cover my face with my hands and peek at the world through my fingers. I could see the world, but the world couldn't see me. Nowadays, I find myself assimilating with the hybrid, a creature I share a betwixt nature with, for we are both between two worlds, having multiple origins, and demand our own realm, such as a gothic castle, a tomb, or limbo to serve as a haven. I seek to create a peace with a conflict of belonging. The Barking Wall serves as a vault; a collection of visual memories that cross-pollinate with lived experience, and extended history (of past generations, oral tradition and cinema), and spawn new hybrid moments. Applied layer after layer, these confused memories let go of specific places and time, and drift like phantoms, roaming free through the fields of imagination, meeting the visitor half-way, and letting one create their own narrative.

Untitled, from the series The Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Untitled, from the series The Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Untitled, from the series The Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Untitled, from the series The Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Untitled, from the series The Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Cristina De Middel

Website: http://www.lademiddel.com

Bio:
Cristina De Middel (Spain, 1975) is a freelance photographer based in London. De Middel's personal and professional work for newspapers and NGOs has been recognized by the National Photojournalism Prize Juan Cancelo (2009), Fnac Photographic Talent (2009) and the Humble Arts Women in Photography Project Grant (2011). She has an MA in fine arts from University of Valencia, Spain (2001), an MA in photography from University of Oklahoma (2000) and a postgraduate degree in photojournalism from Universitat Politécnica de Barcelona, Spain (2002).

Statement:
In 1964, still [living] the dream of their recently gained independence, Zambia started a space program that would put the first African on the moon, catching up to the USA and the Soviet Union in the space race. Only a few optimists supported the project by Edward Makuka, the school teacher in charge of presenting the ambitious program and getting its necessary funding. But the financial aid never came, as the United Nations declined their support, and one of the astronauts, a 16-year-old girl, got pregnant and had to quit. That is how an heroic initiative turned into an exotic episode of African history, surrounded by wars, violence, droughts and hunger. As a photojournalist, I have always been attracted to the eccentric lines of story-telling, avoiding the same old subjects told in the same old ways. Now, with my personal projects, I respect the basis of the truth, but allow myself to break the rules of veracity, trying to push the audience into analyzing the patterns of the stories we consume as real. Afronauts is based on the documentation of an impossible dream that only lives in the pictures. I started from a real fact that took place 50 years ago and rebuilt the documents, adapting them to my personal imagery.

Giant Print, 2008 by Phil Jung

Pile of Clothes, 2009 by Phil Jung

Visor Mirror, 2008 by Phil Jung

Sleeping Mask, 2010 by Phil Jung

588-Verbenas on the Desert, 2008 by Phil Jung

Phil Jung

Website: http://www.jungphil.com

Bio:
Born in New York, Phil Jung has lived and studied photography on both coasts. He is currently living in the Boston area and teaching photography classes to undergraduates at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), in Boston, and at Rockland Community College in New York. He is deeply committed to the field of photography and photographic education.

Statement:
I see this group of images as a contemporary look at our social landscape through the windshields, or windscreens, of parked cars. I am fascinated by how these unique personal spaces can be rendered in a photographic image. A car's interior defines the line between public and private space. While peering into these spaces, I wonder if the interior, often littered with personal articles, can describe the way language, religion, economy, government and other cultural phenomena play a role in the owner's life. The largest challenge of the project is taking something as iconic as the automobile and adding something new to a conversation that has been going on since its inception. The gasoline-powered vehicles that were introduced in 1896 represented freedom, hope, exploration and independence—quintessentially American ideals. By 1947, when the photographer Wright Morris made his image of an aging Model T, those early ideals had already begun to deteriorate. Like Morris's pictures, Windscreen is about a culture that is disappearing. When combing through neighborhoods for cars, I look first for the way light enters a car and renders color. If I find nothing inside its cabin that tells something about its owner, I move on. Above all, the car needs to be drivable or just recently taken off the road. If a car sits for too long uninhabited, it loses something. The composite of this space reflects who we are, where we come from and possibly where we are going.

Photographe de Paris, 2009 by Michael Cappabianca

The Forgotten Girl, 2010 by Michael Cappabianca

Golden Hands, 2011 by Michael Cappabianca

Athens, 2010 by Michael Cappabianca

The Limits of Interpretation, 2010 by Michael Cappabianca

Michael Cappabianca

Website: http://www.michaelcappabianca.com

Bio:
Michael Cappabianca lives and works in Cambridge, MA. He has exhibited nationally with solo shows in Los Angeles; Portland, OR; and Lebanon, NH. He was included in American Photography 26. He can usually be found in a bookstore somewhere in the Boston area.

Statement:
The Material is a series about the interaction with the physical world of books. It takes no feat of the imagination to speculate on the role of the printed book in the future. I found it an important time to investigate the physicality of the boards and bindings of the insignificant as well as the culturally relevant. The arrangements reflect an organization, a mode of ordering within the structure of the interior space. How we think about the material world of books relates to the ways we read them. As we forge ahead into the virtual, how will our necessary conditions for understanding change with how we acquire information?

El Teide, view #02, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

El Teide, view #01, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

El Teide, view #06, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

El Teide, view #03, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

El Teide, view #08, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

Meike Nixdorf

Website: http://www.meikenixdorf.com

Bio:
Meike Nixdorf (born 1976 in Mainz, Germany) is a Berlin-based photographer and artist. She has a background in science, and she was educated in photography and video at the International Center of Photography during her three-year stay in New York (2005-2008). She is an award winning photographer whose work has been exhibited internationally. She was featured in a juried group exhibition at the Darmstadt Photography Festival, Germany, 2010; and she took part in the FotoFest Houston Reviews 2010, where her work was acquired for the Joaquim Paiva Collection, Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In early 2011, her work was on view at the International Center of Photography, New York, in a group exhibition curated by Amy Arbus, Moment of Recognition. Her work was also shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, as part of the exhibition Photographs — The Joaquim Paiva Collection, a selection of 69 international artists, including photographers like Diane Arbus, Ansel Adams, Edward Ruscha, Grete Stern and Martin Chambi.

Statement:
In the Orbit of El Teide, 2010-2011, is a visual and psychological approach to the notion of the perspective. Since my 2009 project, The Point of View, I have been looking at various aspects of the viewing process and, consequently, decision making in photography, in terms of the perspective and, even more so, the framing. I've also been examining the consequences these processes have on the way we perceive specific places by showing them each in multiple, but very similar views. In the Orbit of El Teide now focuses on the question of what can be seen, or how much information can be gathered, from only one single point of view, versus the information, visual or abstract, one could gather by orbiting an object, question or focus point. In this way, two different points of views of the same subject matter could differ in their look or feel tremendously and might not even be recognized as the same subject matter anymore. Like pieces in a puzzle, every image from In the Orbit of El Teide holds different visual aspects of the same subject, in this case the mountain El Teide. But other than a piece in a puzzle, each image appears to strongly stand on its own. And it is only through looking at these images one-by-one that one realizes how much more information, visual aspects, perspectives or stories-to-be-told there are to just one single mountain—or to any subject matter, basically.

Untitled, from the series Party Alone, 2010 by Laurie Kang

Hello, photographers! It's your last week to view work by the five First Edition 2011 Hot Shots: Laura Plageman, Kevin Kunishi, Laurie Kang, Robert Grimm and Uygur Yilmaz. The Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery closes this Sunday, January 22nd.

Recently mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, the Showcase features Robert Grimm's images of male strippers taken from live video streams; Laurie Kang's serene still lifes and sculptural photographs; Uygur Yilmaz's photographs of an abandoned beach setting along the Turkish coastline during off-season; Kevin Kunishi's intimate look at pro- and anti-Sandinista guerrillas in war-torn Nicaragua, and the environments and objects that surround them; and Laura Plageman's luscious, but torn, bent and crumpled landscapes.

Get to know the artists: Check out their recent interviews on the blog.

Kurt Tong Goes Solo at Jen Bekman Gallery

On Friday, January 27th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., there will be an opening reception at the gallery for 2009 Ultra Kurt Tong's debut solo show, In Case it Rains in Heaven. Featuring images of traditional Chinese paper offerings to honor the dead, the work will be on view January 28th through March 4th, 2012.

As Kurt Tong says in his artist statement for the show, "in Chinese culture many believe that the dead are unable to carry their possessions with them. It is therefore up to their ancestors and loved ones to properly equip them for the afterlife. The practice has evolved from simple 'spirit money' offerings to modern-day items ranging from bizarre to pragmatic, and each painstakingly made of paper." Tong photographed numerous offerings for the series, and then burnt them to honor his ancestors.

Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2012

The first round of competition for 2012 will be kicking off very, very soon. Keep an eye on your inbox and start editing your portfolios.

Response to Print of Kudzu, Texas, 2010 by Laura Plageman

Our final Q&A with the First Edition 2011 Hot Shots is with Laura Plageman. The images she submitted from her Response series were not only visually arresting, they also warranted closer examination. To create the striking landscapes, which featured buckling, torn and surreal land and skies, the photographer responded to her original prints by manipulating and interacting with them—tearing at and crumpling the paper, and experimenting with lighting—then re-photographing them with a large-format camera. First selected to be a Contender, Laura's images landed her a Hot Shot win, which led to being in the Hot Shot group showcase currently on view at Jen Bekman Gallery through January 22nd. Laura is now also a 20x200 artist.

You can own your own print of Response to Print of Kudzu, Texas (above) by clicking here.

Living in: Oakland, CA (SF Bay Area)

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography:
MFA from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA; BA from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

How you pay the bills:
Photography, teaching photography

Best advice you ever received as a photographer:
Don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes. (John Cage: Some Rules for Students and Teachers, Rule #8)

Three artists who inspire you:
James Welling
Gerhard Richter
Lee Friedlander

Reading now:
Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography, by Errol Morris

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work:
The Response series images are more true for me than some of their first generation counterparts. What I remember of a place I photograph is what draws me to it—the feeling of plants interacting or taking over a space, for example. So altering the image and rephotographing it helps me to get closer to its true nature, as I experience it.

Next project(s): I'm developing a few new projects, but I'm still focused on the Response series.

Candy #2, 2010 by Robert Grimm

Tonight is the night! The Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase opens tonight, Friday, January 6th, at Jen Bekman Gallery, located at 6 Spring St, in New York City. The opening reception is from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Come join us in celebrating the work of these very talented photographers—meet and mingle with some of the First Edition 2011 Hot Shots: Robert Grimm, Kevin Kunishi, Uygur Yilmaz, Laurie Kang and Laura Plageman. See you there! If you can't make it to the opening, the show will be on view January 7th through January 22nd.

Hot Shot Laurie Kang is an artist who combines photography, collage, sculpture and installation to create her work, often creating new abstractions or "surrealities." Of her winning submission, Party Alone, Laurie says:

This series is the result of creating images that consist of both 2D and 3D collages, sculptures and installations. It's an exploration of abstraction, and a conceptual exploration of the medium of photography; the images express a 3-dimensionality but are rendered 2-dimensional through the final product of a flat print.

For the Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase, which is on view through January 22nd at Jen Bekman Gallery, the artist will present her work in its original 3D form.

And check out this great video interview of the artist explaining her work and her competitive nature.

Untitled, from the series Party Alone, 2010 by Laurie Kang

Living in: Toronto, Ontario

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: BFA in photography from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec

How you pay the bills: I work part time at The Power Plant. It's a contemporary art gallery in Toronto with great programming. I also do some freelance work, whether it's photography, collage or album artwork and design for bands. Sometimes I'll sell work. It's always changing; the unreliability of it all keeps me on my toes.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Work that is made with passion will find its place.

Three artists who inspire you:
General Idea
Thomas Demand
Paul Butler

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

Reading now: I just finished Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace last night. I'm now onto the F.R. David series, The Artist's Joke, and Murakami's 1Q84.

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
I Heart Photograph
JSBJ
Blind Mist

Top non-photo website/blog:
Currently into Super/Collider

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work: Party Alone is a project where I made installations and sculptures within my living space. I used objects that I'd collected, then abstracted and re-contextualized them. They're meant to be ironic and humorous, with darker undertones of isolation and the strange. The work also addresses photography's inherent tensions concerning dimensionality. The photograph turns these 3-dimensional situations into 2-dimensional prints. For the Jen Bekman show, the images will be re-established as 3-dimensional objects through their final renderings.

Next project(s): I'm working with pairing landscape (the organic) with non-organic textures and surfaces. It centers around the idea of psychogeography and creating a psychic experience through the landscape. I'm reconfiguring images of abstract textures and idyllic landscapes that I shot, combining them to make collages, sculptures and photographs of sculptures. Again, underlying this work is playing with the dialogue concerning photography's nature.

Our third Hot Shot Q&A is with Robert Grimm, whose webcam-based portraits of online, amateur male strippers capture the moments of "focus, melancholy and exhaustion, when the performance falls apart and sex objects become human again." (His series of female online strippers, Bust, can be viewed here.) Though the strippers he photographed—believed to be located in Latin America or Eastern Europe—were advertised as amateurs, Grimm points out in his artist statement that "repeated visits to the websites show the same strippers appearing in different rooms and different strippers appearing in the same rooms. This suggests a degree of organization inconsistent with strippers being amateurs." You can view more work from this series at the Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery, on view from January 7th through January 22nd.

Candy #3, 2010 by Robert Grimm

Living in: Brooklyn, NY

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: I am largely self-taught as a photographer. I started exploring photography in high school and have, with some interruptions, continued since then, working with 35mm, medium format and digital cameras.

How you pay the bills: As a professor of computer science.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: To tell a compelling story.

Three artists who inspire you:
Olafur Eliasson
Pierre et Gilles
Wolfgang Tillmans

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

Untitled (Falling Buffalo), by David Wojnarowicz

Reading now:
Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work: In observing strippers on the internet, I was fascinated by the contrast between the carefully staged backgrounds and the moments of focus, melancholy and exhaustion, when the performance falls apart and sex objects become human again. Combined with the ever present theme of watching, they make for poignant photographs.

Next project(s): I am working on a series called Homeward, featuring portraits of my ancestors. They include literal ancestors, women in my family, and figurative ancestors, gay artists, all of whom fundamentally changed how I think, listen and see.

Our second installment of Q&As with First Edition 2011 Hot Shots is with Uygur Yilmaz, who first caught our attention in 2010 with his photographs of a beach at night. His winning submission for the First Edition 2011 round again found the photographer (and poet) oceanside, capturing a desolate beach during off season.

Untitled, from the series Missing Parts, 2008 by Uygur Yilmaz

Untitled, from the series Missing Parts, 2008 by Uygur Yilmaz

Living in: Istanbul

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: Took just a few classes here and there, but I can say I'm not educated [in photography]. I was experimenting to see what can be done with minimum knowledge. I still don't know much technically. But I was very lucky to meet Leyla Gediz. I learned a lot from discussing my work with a painter like her.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Don't try to be a photographer. Don't produce much. Learn how to give up and extract. Learn how to bring together and make sense.

Three artists who inspire you: I'm not really inspired by other artists, at least not nowadays... I dont know in general where the inspiration comes from. Sometimes I think [it's fortunate] we cannot find its source. If we could, I'm afraid, it would already be patented and marketed by Unilever or Microsoft.

But talking about influences, Richard Wentworth's and David Hockney's approaches to photography both had a very refreshing effect on me. William Eggleston used to be like a god to me. I also love him for saying in an interview that he doesn't look at other people's work.

Apart from that, talking about personal likes, I was very happily surprised when I came upon the works of Luigi Ghirri. The same goes for Götz Diergarten. Also, I love the earlier work of David Armstrong. And there are so many painters and poets, besides photographers, I couldn't mention all of them here.

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work: Well, basically, I thought you might like them and share with more people. I would be happy if they added something to your life, your experience.

Next project(s): I'm working on my new poems. It's a new body of work and I think it will take some more time, reduction and editing. In the coming months I'm also planing to produce some objects that've been on my mind for a while—a few sculptural works exploring matters of memory and transition.

Reading now: Beni Deliler Anlar, by Sevim Burak

On Friday, January 6th, the five winning Hot Shots from the First Edition 2011 round of the competition kicked off a group showcase, exhibiting works from the series they each submitted, at Jen Bekman Gallery. Ahead of the opening reception, we introduced each Hot Shot via an interview. Get to know our Hot Shots: their backgrounds, inspirations and future endeavors. The first is Kevin Kunishi, who shot portraits of Sandinistas and their opposing Contra veterans, and photographed artifacts, in war-torn Nicaragua over the course of two years.

Of the war, Kunishi wrote:

In 1979, after over a decade of struggle, the socialist Sandinista movement in Nicaragua overthrew the dictator, Anastasio Somoza. The Sandinistas quickly began the work of applying their social and ideological values in the hopes of creating a better Nicaragua. Unfortunately, the United States government had other plans. In the Cold War environment of the 1980s, the prospect of a socialist/communist government gaining a foothold in Central America was deemed unacceptable. The CIA began financing, arming and training a clandestine rebel insurgency to destabilize the government. These anti-Sandinista guerrillas became known as Contras. Between 1980 and 1990, Nicaragua became the battleground of conflicting political ideologies; the promise of a bright future was lost as the nation descended into civil war. Although these two sides held polarized political philosophies, their survivors are united by the burden of a war-torn history. As political ideology evolves, dilutes or disappears, the horrors of war endure.

Nelita, 2010 by Kevin Kunishi

From: Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently surrounded by eucalyptus and redwood trees in the hills of Oakland, California.

Formal and/or informal education and training in photography: I received my BA in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara and my MFA in photography from the Academy of Art University. Outside of my formal education, I have been extremely lucky to have been mentored by various photographers over the years, who have shared their time and knowledge with me.

How you pay the bills: I assist various editorial, commercial and corporate photographers to eat, pay rent and fund my own projects.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: "What must you photograph now?" —Robert Adams

"Each photographer's struggle is accompanied by a question: Are the new pictures I have made true? If that cannot be answered affirmatively, there is no peace to be found in the profession." —Robert Adams

Three (or four) artists who inspire you:
Terrence Malick
Robert Adams
Jim Goldberg
Timothy O'Sullivan

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

A Room Maid in the Urashima Hotel, Katsuura, Kii, Japan, by Leo Rubinfien

Reading now:
Hawaii Pono, by Lewis Fuchs
Of Walking in Ice, by Werner Herzog
Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes, by William D. Westervelt

Top Three photo-related websites/blogs:
American Suburb X
Fraction
Daylight

Top non-photo website/blog:
TED
The Black Harbor

Quilali, 2010 by Kevin Kunishi

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work: Most of my work comes from my own deep rooted questions. I usually start with a basic premise or subject. From there the work expands or contracts. In the broadest sense, I am drawn to the aftermath of events and the variations within human nature.

This body of work was created between 2009 and 2011, over the course of several extended periods in the highlands of northern Nicaragua. I have always been interested in the events surrounding the Nicaraguan civil war that occurred in the 1980s. I wanted to move beyond the broad recital of policy and ideology within the textbooks I read during my undergraduate studies and explore the personal experiences of individuals directly affected by those policies.

For me, this work is many things: It is a journal of sorts, a dialogue and exploration, but most importantly, it is evidence. I hope these images function as a catalyst for engagement and discussion.

Next project(s): I'm working on three projects right now. All are rooted in aftermath and identity. Currently my work in Hawaii, entitled Okaga Sama De, occupies my mind the most. I am in the process of ingesting large amounts of information to consider as I continue to move forward.

I am also in the process of editing and sequencing my work in Nicaragua for publication. It will be released in the fall of 2012 by Daylight Publishing.

Wailea Road, from the series Okaga Sama De, by Kevin Kunishi

Procession of the King, from the series Okaga Sama De, by Kevin Kunishi

Response to Print of Green Hill, Washington, 2010 by Laura Plageman

Hi, photographers. We've been (quietly) working towards a big month, and now we're kicking off the new year with big Hey, Hot Shot! news. The Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase opens THIS Friday, January 6th, with a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Come join us in celebrating the work of these very talented photographers—meet and mingle with some of the First Edition 2011 Hot Shots: Robert Grimm, Kevin Kunishi, Uygur Yilmaz, Laurie Kang and Laura Plageman.

The Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2011 Showcase presents a diverse selection of contemporary photography from around the globe. Robert Grimm gleans images of male strippers from live video streams, exposing a complex portrait of the young men who strip online and the yearnings of those who pay to watch them. Laurie Kang's serene still lifes and sculptural photographs reveal a world of loneliness and boredom where we least expect it. Uygur Yilmaz finds rhymes and cadence among the abandoned beach setting of a Turkish coastline during off-season. Traveling through war-torn Nicaragua, Kevin Kunishi takes an intimate look at pro- and anti-Sandinista guerrillas and the environments and objects that surround them. Laura Plageman pushes photography to its limits as she tears, bends and crumples up her luscious, green landscapes.

Our distinguished panel of arts professionals, together with the Jen Bekman Projects curatorial team, chose these five artists for their unique contributions to contemporary photography. Since its inception in 2005, Hey, Hot Shot! has awarded more than one hundred and forty photographers—including 2010 Whitney Biennial artists Nina Berman and Curtis Mann—with unparalleled opportunities for support and exposure.

Robert, Kevin, Uygur, Laurie and Laura are now under consideration for our Grand Prize—a $10,000 honorarium, solo exhibition and representation from Jen Bekman Gallery. The grand prize-winning Ultra will be announced in the coming weeks. The chosen photographer will join ranks with other JBG-represented artists, including 2010 Ultra Chikara Umihara and 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.

The exhibition will be on view January 7th through January 22nd, 2012.
The opening reception will be Friday, January 6th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
New York, NY 10012
e: info@jenbekman.com | w: www.jenbekman.com | p: +1.212.219.0166

The gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday from noon – 6:00 p.m., or by private appointment.

More Hey, Hot Shot! news to be announced. Stay tuned!

+ In just a matter of weeks, you'll find out who the Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots are, and the Second Edition 2011 showcase will be announced.

+ Hey, Hot Shot! 2012 will be opening its first round of competition soon!

+ Keep an eye out for more limited-edition photographs on 20x200 by Hey, Hot Shot! photographers.