Hey, Hot Shot! Entries for Announcements

Hey, Hot Shot! contenders, I couldn't wait two more hours to remind you (again) that you only have 24 hours to start and/or complete your entry. So now you get a head's up and 26 hours instead of 24 to enter. I'm good to you, huh.

What are you waiting for? Apply.

The deadline is TOMORROW, Tuesday, November 11th at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Are you planning to head to SXSW? Are you not going but simply super interested in all the awesome talk that will go on there? Then vote, now, for Jen Bekman's SXSW panel proposal:

Curating the Crowd-Sourced World Level: Beginner Type: Panel Category: Content Presenter: Jen Bekman, 20x200 | Jen Bekman Projects, Inc. Description: With all the stuff we weed through online, good filters are crucial. Who's best-suited to determine what's best – curators or the crowd? People have their religion about one or the other, however this panel will focus on the overlap, the grey areas and how curating and crowd-sourcing enrich each other.

With the curatorially-mediated online phenom of 20x200, Jen's a pretty good fit to head up this panel which is sure to be filled with other talents — who can speak as both curators and "crowd" — that she'll announce in the coming weeks.

Installation view, literally, of the HHS show that opens tomorrow at Jen Bekman Gallery. Also, the first photo I've ever shot with a camera phone.

Opening Tomorrow: Hey, Hot Shot! (volume IV, edition I)

Friday, August 8, 2008

Hey, Hot Shot! (volume IV, edition I) | five photographers to watch

Our first Hey, Hot Shot! showcase for 2008 opens tomorrow (Friday) at Jen Bekman Gallery on Friday August 8th.

The exhibition features photographs from:

Juliane Eirich | Derek Henderson | Kate Orne | Roc Herms Pont | Colleen Plumb

Please join us for the opening reception.

Opening Reception: Friday August 8th | 6pm-8pm
On view through Saturday, August 23rd.

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

Fairgoose by HHS! winner Colleen Plumb

We are excited to announce the five photographers selected for the first edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008:

Juliane Eirich
Derek Henderson
Roc Herms Pont
Kate Orne
Colleen Plumb

Please join us for the opening reception for their exhibition on Friday, August 8. The show will be on view at Jen Bekman Gallery (6 Spring Street) through August 23.

We are enormously grateful to our fabulous and hard-working panelists — Michael Bierut, Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, and Kent Rogowski — and to all of the Hey, Hot Shot! entrants.

With so many of you making standout work, it was hard to narrow down the selection to just five talented photographers. The competition was tough, so we'd like to recognize several artists with well-deserved Honorable Mentions:

Ben Alper, Zack Bent, Kotama Bouabane, Aurelien Chhauvaud, Richard Colburn, Ingvar Kenne, Virgílio Ferreira, Pao Her, Martina Geccelli, Erik Hagen, Nicole Hatanaka, Myriam Lutz, Alia Malley, Stefanie Pluta, Travis Roozee, Andy Sewell, Yisook Sohn, Debora Mittelstaedt, Corinne Vionnet, Sarah Wilmer, and Geordie Wood .

Keep reading the Hey, Hot Shot! blog for more info about the competition, the winners, the panelists, and tips for future entries.

Mouse With Fly by HHS! winner Colleen Plumb

Colleen Plumb
Currently residing in Chicago, Illinois

Website: www.colleenplumb.com

Work statement
My photographs examine the increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. My work explores simulation, consumption, destruction, and reconstruction. It addresses the essence of our connection, as well as our fragmentation from the natural. The series looks at points of intersection with wild in the human-made world — our coexistence — and explores notions of endurance and the reality of loss.

For over ten years my work has examined how and where the natural world — in real or artificial form — appears in an urban environment. Growing up in Chicago gave me an urban childhood: running through gangways and exploring alleys with my friends. Something more and more kids today don’t experience. Early on, seeds for my interest in nature were planted through lots of outside play, camping trips, and odd pets (our duck named Sir Francis Drake, for example). I am sure these beginnings influence and inspire my work.

I began this project looking at ‘fake nature’, wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live/real animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness. With this series I hope to incite contemplation about the lives of animals and and generate a dialog about resource usage.

Bio
Born in 1970, Colleen Plumb grew up on the north side of Chicago and went to school at the University of Illinois in Urbana; graduating in 1992 with a BFA from Northern Illinois University in Visual Communication. In 1999 Plumb received an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago where she is currently an adjunct faculty member. Before earning her MFA, Plumb had a job at a design firm and one day, while driving home, she saw some amazing light on the side of a brick building in Chicago and decided to follow her heart and start making pictures. Plumb lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters and, of course, Jack the dog, and exhibits her photographs nationally.

Porsche by HHS! winner Juliane Eirich

Juliane Eirich
Currently residing in Munich, Germany and Seoul, South Korea

Website: www.julianeeirich.com

Work Statement
When I was 14 my father gave me his old video camera. I made dozens of films with friends, mostly shooting at an abandoned airport in my hometown. It was a great time and I think that’s where my love for places evolves from. It might sound trivial, but when this camera broke I switched to photography.

The main subjects of my work are physical places. I am interested in the relation between man-made environment and nature. This relation can be of very different types within the topics I choose: harmonic, complex, funny, surprising, or shy.

Most of my work is photographed at night. Night photography is slow and calm, but at the same time the very precise process that suits me and my way of working. I like the way I can focus at night, since there is less distraction — both visually and acoustically — than during the day. The artificial, rendering-like aesthetic, the light and color atmosphere that can be found during night, appeals to me and matches my understanding of beauty.

The series "Snow Night" is a personal project that emerged from the half happy, half sentimental feeling of being home after a long stay abroad. While away I missed my homeland. I was looking forward to re-exploring it, since before I left I never realized how much I actually appreciated it.

Through photography I feel I have the "license to be curious." There is always a reason to wander around and look for new places and topics. This curiosity is what inspires me and makes me enthusiastic about photography.

Bio
I was born in Munich, Germany in 1979. After finishing high school in 1999 I got an offer to do an internship at a fashion photographer in Miami. At the end of the internship I knew I didn’t want to be a fashion photographer but I was sure I wanted to become a photographer. I successfully applied at the Academy of Photographic Design in Munich and graduated in 2003.

Like many young photographers I went to New York City right after graduation to work and pursue my own projects. Also, like many young photographers, I did not have an easy time there and after about one year I decided to leave New York, since I felt I was not moving forward.

I started working at a vacation rental in Hawaii. I was working during the day and taking photographs at night. Later on, I received a scholarship to show my work at the reviews of Fotofest 2006 in Houston.

Since then, my work has been exhibited in the USA, Canada, Syria, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and was featured in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Stern Magazine, and European Photography. My work has been awarded in several competitions like the Flash Forward 2007 & 2008 and the Voiglaender New Talent Award 2007.

In 2007, I received a scholarship of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) to live and work in Seoul, South Korea for one year. This is where I am now, working on a project about a German village in South Korea.

Le Hermitage Painting by HHS! winner Roc Herms Pont

Roc Herms Pont
Currently residing in Barcelona, Spain

Work Statement
Close to photojournalism, with a strong graphic design background, I started using photography to capture and remember what I found interesting though my eyes. People, places, details ... I use photography to share my view of the world, to express myself.

Bio
Roc Herms Pont sounds German, but it is Catalan. 3 monosyllables and three vowels is all he need for presentation.

Born of the hands of the Spanish constitution (1978), he later discover the world of photography, when this became, thanks to digital cameras, the most mainstream form of artistic expression. He left his job as an art director at an advertising agency and embarked on advertising photography, personal projects, and something close to photojournalism.

He currently works as a freelancer within the world of design, advertising photography, and photojournalism.

Reids Farm by HHS! winner Derek Hendersen

Derek Hendersen
Currently residing in Auckland, New Zealand

Website: www.derekhenderson.net

Work Statement
My photography is about what people don't see even when it's right in front of them. Making the mundane sublime. Having empathy with others and the environment. I am fascinated by thepursuit of happiness and how people live their lives. I believe happiness in life is about balance, moderation, and living in harmony with the environment.

Bio
I was born in a rural town called Napier, in New Zealand. Where I'm from you couldn't really study photography at the time. So I became an assistant for an advertising photographer in Auckland, New Zealand. I then worked in London for magazines like ID, Arena Homme Plus, The Observer Magazine, Exit, and a few more. I wanted to work on more personal projects so I moved back to New Zealand and I'm currently working on my second book which will be published by www.michaellett.comm in November.

Sex Worker Entwined With Client by HHS! winner Kate Orne

Kate Orne
Currently residing in New York, New York

Website: www.kateorne.com

Work Statement
Since ‘00 I have worked among the neediest people in Afghanistan and Pakistan and using photography as a tool to fight against indentured slavery and for the wellbeing of women, children, and animals. My commitment to social causes has become the defining part of my life as an artist. I have worked on several essays in South East Asia where the poor are sentenced to lives of disease and want. Throughout, I have been documenting their struggles in photos — using art as a connection to wider awareness in the outside world.

Since '05 I have worked among the sex-workers and their families in Pakistan — being the first photographer to document this shunned community. This body of work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels. Repressive fundamentalist Muslim laws not only shun these women's existence but in some areas make their actions punishable by death. However, in their brothels the women are the breadwinners. This underlying dualism surfaces in portraits of the women sitting proudly on the same beds where they not only service their customers but share with their husbands and children.

I use this project to raise awareness about this little known community, and to raise funds for the two little schools, the first ones ever to offer education to the children of the sex-workers with the mission to break the cycle of children being born into prostitution, sex abuse, drug addiction and crime. There are currently 80 students enrolled.

Bio
Born in Stockholm, Sweden. Based in New York City.

'99 - present
Artist focused largely on women and children issues in developing countries.

’94 - present
Commercial photographer focused on portraiture and fashion.

’02 – Present Established myfarawayfamily.com, an organization providing Afghan refugee children with education and their widowed mothers with micro loans and guidance to start their own businesses. Provided food distributions in Kabul and Peshawar among refugees.

’92 -’94 Editor at Interview magazine.

’88-’91 Producer of still shoots for art and commercial photography.

Publications
The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Interview, Artnet.com, Arena, Vibe, Spin, Marie Claire, Dansk, Harpers Bazaar, Glamour, Tokion, +81, Dune among others.

Exhibitions / Selected Awards
2008
Show&Sell Chelsea Art Museum NYC
Sideluck Potshow.
Selected participant, Review Santa Fe.
American Photography 24 Best Photography of 2007

2007
Act of Faith Nordlicht Photofestival, Netherlands 2007. Curated by Wim Melis
Up& Now! Photographic Center Northwest Judged by Charlotte Cotton, curator of LACM
Spectra ’07 Silvermine Guild Arts Center Curated by Peter McGill, Pace/McGill Gallery NY

Brandon Herman's cover photograph for Kaiserin Magazine

Summer '06 Hey Hot Shot winner Brandon Herman has two photographs in the current issue of Kaiserin (including the cover!), a bi-annual art magazine that features emerging artists. Herman also has an edition available on 20x200.

Carrie Marill, A Dream World Glimmers In The Background Of The Soul (Detail)

Fall '07 Hot Shot Todd Forsgren has six photographs in the latest Jen Bekman show, Ornithology. The group show, which features a stellar array of artists working in various media, opens tonight, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the gallery, at 6 Spring Street.

Ornithology features bird-themed works by Echo Eggebrecht, Todd Forsgren, Laura Levine, Carrie Marill, Christina Muraczewski, Victoria Neel, Lamar Peterson, Jason Polan, Alec Soth, Amy Stein, Keith Taylor, Bert Teunissen, and Luke Stephenson. Many of these artists will debut exclusive editions on 20x200 during the course of the exhibition.

In the spirit of summer, Ornithology takes its cues from the great outdoors. With their brightly colored plumage, sweet songs, and uncanny ability to fly, birds have captivated humans for centuries, making ornithologists out of even the most casual of observers. From Aristotle to Audubon, Darwin to the binocular-clad of Central Park, our feathered friends have proven to be a source of abundant inspiration.

Of his work, Todd writes:

Ornithologists now use mist nets instead of shotguns. These nearly invisible nets are set up like fences and function as huge spider webs, catching unsuspecting birds. The researcher carefully extracts the bird from the net. Each bird is measured, aged, sexed, and banded with an individually numbered anklet. Then the bird is released.

I photographed these birds while they are caught in mist nets, moments before the ornithologist extracts them. Here, the birds inhabit a fascinating space between our framework of the bush and the hand. It is a fragile and embarrassing moment before they disappear back into the woods, and into data.

9717 by HHS entrant Liz Danahey-Fish

Hey, Hot Shot! contender Liz Danahey-Fish makes photographs of items she's purchased at thrift stores around Los Angeles. She writes, "This is a catalog of last chances — someone saved this stuff when they donated it, someone saved it when they priced it, and I saved it yet again when I bought it."

What she neglects to mention is that she really saves the stuff when she photographs it. She's documenting detritus. She's saving stuff in a way that's a lot more permanent than simply purchasing it for pennies and putting it on a tchotchke shelf.

Her approach is direct and interesting. I'd rather look at her shots than through the Goodwill bins, for sure.

*REMINDER* Go get your entry ready! Submit it! There is still time. Not much, though! All entries for the current round of Hey, Hot Shot! are due tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17, at 8:00 p.m.*

Okay, so you like what you see here, and you've done some further investigating at the 20x200 and Jen Bekman sites. Hopefully you've visited the gallery and other galleries too. Now it is time to start shopping.

Join Jen Bekman, Michelle Dunn Marsh, and Amy Stein, and moderator Michael Foley for In Focus: Collecting Photography, a panel discussion, tonight, Thursday, June 12, at 7:00 p.m. at The Affordable Art Fair (135 W 18th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues).

The Affordable Art Fair is, "the place for new and established collectors to discover and buy paintings, drawings, sculptures, video, photography and limited edition prints from distinguished galleries, all priced from $100 - $10,000. This year the Fair will host more than 70 galleries from the US, Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America.”

Time is almost up.

Have you entered this round of Hey, Hot Shot!? If not, then you need to do it soon. Do it now. Send us your photos and your completed application at once, for the chance to be selected and honored in the Hey, Hot Shot! competition.

Unlike previous years, we WILL NOT be extending the deadline. Not even by a day or an hour or a minute! All submissions are due TUESDAY, JUNE 17, at 8:00 P.M.

Tonight, the Griffin Museum of Photography will present Jen Bekman with its Rising Star Award at its 3rd Annual Focus Awards its annual Focus Awards. The Griffin Museum of Photography recognizes the work of people who are not photographers, but who have been instrumental in increasing awareness of the photographic arts among the general public.

Awards are presented in three categories: Lifetime Achievement, given to an individual whose ongoing commitment to photography has far-reaching impact; Rising Star, awarded to an emerging force the photographic community is watching with interest; New England Beacon, recognizing an individual whose work brings prominence to the local photographic scene; and the Spotlight Award, given to an entity that consistently shines a light on photography and enhances the art form. Ms. Bekman is this year's Rising Star.

The museum says,

"An innovative gallery owner, Bekman has used her knowledge of the Web to change gallery culture. After years of managing Web development teams at Netscape and Disney, she used her Internet skills and interest in photography to create a vehicle for connecting emerging photographers with potential buyers on the Web. She writes a blog, Personism, and is founder of the international photo competition, Hey, Hot Shot! Her latest endeavor is 20 x 200, a place to buy editioned prints and photos at affordable prices. She has been featured in many publications and was named Innovator of the Year by American Photo."

We're so proud of Ms. Bekman. Visit the museum for more info.

It's time! We are now accepting entries for 2008's first edition of Hey, Hot Shot! We're all super excited about the great changes in store for applicants and winners. And, remember, all applicants are also potential contenders for features on this very blog.

Hey, Hot Shot! offers unrivaled opportunities for emerging photographers to have their work promoted online, reviewed by top-notch panelists and exhibited in our New York gallery. Now entering its fourth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists. This year we'll sharpen our focus on fewer hot shots, giving them even more exposure. Read on for the details.

Fewer hot shots + longer exhibitions = more exposure
The competition will now be bi-annual. In each competition 5 photographers will be selected to be part of a two-week showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Cold hard cash
All winning photographers will be awarded a $500 honorarium.

Ultras go solo
At year's end 2 Ultras will be selected from 2008's 10 Hot Shots. The Ultras will be represented by Jen Bekman and slated for solo exhibitions at the gallery.

In it to win it
As always, we'll be selecting contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period. Contenders will also be considered for 20x200, Jen Bekman's newest online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices.

So what are you waiting for? Get your work out there: apply now!

We are only accepting submissions online, via this web site.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, June 17th @ 8pm(EDT).
Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 9th @ 1pm (EDT).
There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.
Submissions are open to everyone (from anywhere in the world!).
The competition is open: APPLY NOW!

By Summer '06 Hot Shot Kate Bingaman-Burt.

The past few weeks have been great, but, look, we need a break.

And, by "break," I mean a short pause here as we get ready, technically, to launch the first Hey, Hot Shot! edition of 2008.

So grab your portfolio, and start working on your statement and bio; I look forward to seeing them when we return.

Sold out 20x200 edition Untitled (Astoria Park, Queens, New York), by Carlo Van de Roer

"It's a gateway drug for art."

Today's Houston Chronicle writes on all things Jen Bekman — specifically 20x200, Hey, Hot Shot! and the gallery — in "On the Internet, it's real art for $20."

Sold out 20x200 edition Untitled (Astoria Park, Queens, New York), by Carlo Van de Roer

"It's a gateway drug for art."

Today's Houston Chronicle writes on all things Jen Bekman — specifically 20x200, Hey, Hot Shot! and the gallery — in "On the Internet, it's real art for $20."

Untitled #17, from "Stories," by Winter Edition '06 Hot Shot Jessica Bruah, which I wrote about in The Village Voice, back when they paid me to think about art shows in neat little 75-word blurbs.

Hi. I’m Jen Snow. I’ll be blogging here at Hey, Hot Shot! I used to write about art and shoot gallery openings for some newspapers and magazines. My photos and writing have also appeared in/on places such as The New York Times, Artforum's "Scene and Herd," McSweeney's, Rolling Stone, and Gawker's "Team Party Crash." I have a couple of jobs and a few websites and I’m excited to join Jen Bekman just as Hey, Hot Shot! is preparing some great big changes and a fancy new redesign. More on those soon. Please be in touch with comments and tips.

Please join me in congratulating the 2007 Hey, Hot Shot! Ultras:

Nina Berman
Karolina Karlic
Brad Moore
Birthe Piontek

Browse the links below and you'll get an idea of how hard it is to choose just four people from the forty talented photographers who have exhibited in this year's editions of Hey, Hot Shot!:

Fall 2007
Jennifer Boomer * Scott Eiden * Todd Forsgren * Shauna Frischkorn * Georg Parthen * Birthe Piontek * Marie Sauvaitre * Ross Sawyers * Ian van Coller * Carlo Van de Roer

Summer 2007
Dan Boardman * Afshin Dehkordi * Rachael Dunville * Jonathan Gitelson * Shuli Hallak * Beth Herzhaft * Gregory Krum * Kalpesh Lathigra * Ari Salomon * Willamain Somma

Spring 2007
Clint Baclawski * Nina Berman * Michael Julius * Karolina Karlic * Mark Marchesi * Casey Orr * Justin James Reed * Pavel Romaniko * Kelly Shimoda * Daniel Traub

Winter 2007
Holly Andres * Colin Blakely * Jeffrey Krolick * Juho Kuva * Molly Landreth * Brad Moore * Kirby Pilcher * Ben Roberts * Mickey Smith * Ka-Man Tse

Nina, Karolina, Brad and Birthe are now represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and will all participate in the upcoming exhibition Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual, which opens on Friday February 8th, 2008.

2007 was a great year for Hey, Hot Shot! We had an amazing array of international talent exhibiting at the gallery, and getting involved in all kinds of other gallery related programs: art fairs, jen@joe and 20x200 among them.

2008 is shaping up to be extra super great. We're making big changes to the competition as it enters it's fourth year: there's a site redesign in the works, there will be some significant (and awesome!) changes to the competition's format and we're cooking up an amazing array of opportunities for Hot Shots past, present and future.

We'll start accepting entries for the Spring edition in a few short weeks, and will be sharing all the juicy details with you then.

For now, be on the lookout for 20x200 editions from the Ultras, and from many of the other talented Hey, Hot Shot! alumni.

Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual, opens @ Jen Bekman Gallery on Friday February 8th and will remain on view through Saturday March 15th, 2008.

Image Credit: Ahern Rentals, Westminster, California (2006) by Brad Moore

From the series Sub Rosa by Birthe Piontek

At last! This Fall's Hot Shots have arrived. Someone just got back from Paris Photo mere hours ago and was appropriately exhausted - hence the delay of a few hours before posting the winners. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. Or should I say roll wiz ze panshez. We learned that in Paris.

Without further adieu ado:

Jennifer Boomer
Scott Eiden
Todd Forsgren
Shauna Frischkorn
Georg Parthen
Birthe Piontek
Marie Sauvaitre
Ross Sawyers
Ian van Coller
Carlo Van de Roer

Congratulations! Pencil in the opening for the Fall HHS Showcase on Wednesday, December 12th from 6-8. The showcase will be up until Sunday the 16th - you have four days to check it out!

Extra special thanks to our shining panel stars: Joerg Colberg, Stephen Frailey, Darius Himes, Youngna Park, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Ian Baguskas, Christine Collins, and Joseph Holmes.
It wasn't easy to decide between all you talented hot shots, but here's a list of some very honorable mentions: David Balhuizen, Jason DeMarte, William Hannigan, May Heek, Mickey Kerr, Adam Krause, Mollie Murphy, Nandor Ordog, Toni Pepe, Corine Smith, Damian VanCamp and Jon Wasserman

A big merci to everyone who participated, and congrats again to the winners.

Zanele Ndlovu by Ian van Coller

Ian van Coller
Currently residing in Bozeman, Montana

Website
www.ianvancoller.com

Work Statement

This project focuses on the intersection of post-apartheid black and white identities via photographic portraiture and oral recording of black domestic workers.
There are more than 1.5 million black South Africans, primarily women, who still serve as maids and nannies in white households. Although these domestics and their employers remain separated by an enormous gulf in race, culture, education and poverty that characterizes much of South Africa today, they are often wedded by an intensely intimate, personal, and awkward interdependence. In this project, my intent is to capture some of the complexities that all South Africans face in creating and asserting post-Apartheid identities in the face of dramatic economic and cultural realities.
The women in this portrait series were photographed in the homes where they are employed. They were asked to choose their own dress and posture as a means to express their identity within that environment, and became active participants in the construction of these images.

Bio

Ian van Coller is an artist and photographer who grew up in apartheid era South Africa. After receiving a National Diploma in Photography in 1991 from Technikon Natal in Durban, van Coller moved to Arizona in the southwest of the United States. He spent nine years in Tempe where he completed his BFA degree in Photography (from Arizona State University) and worked for 5 years as a photogravure collaborative printer and partner at Segura Publishing, a small fine art printing company in Tempe (www.segura.com). In 2000 Van Coller moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he received his MFA in photography from the University of New Mexico. He currently lives in Bozeman, Montana where he is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Montana State University. Van Coller returns to South Africa every year to work on art and photography projects. His work has been widely exhibited in the United States and South Africa where his work is included in many museum collections including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Fogg Museum, The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and The South African National Gallery (IZIKO).

Untitled (One) by Ross Sawyers

Ross Sawyers
Currently residing in Seattle, Washington

Website
www.rossawyers.com

Work Statement

The spaces in my photographs are influenced by living in increasingly smaller spaces in closer proximity to others in increasingly dense neighborhoods and housing developments of a city like Seattle. I construct the situations I photograph as a way to challenge my understanding of the buildings and neighborhoods I am referencing. Building, then photographing models allows me to exaggerate and over-state what I observe in my surroundings rather than simply replicating it. The environments depicted in my photographs are close to the actual, but deliberately are not accurate copies of reality.

Recently my intentions have shifted from representing specific received ideas to the exploration of why I am so attracted to these types of environments. As the spaces I create and mediate get further away from the reality I know, I have found it increasingly important to incorporate details familiar to us as humans in living spaces in order to ground the images in a sort of reality while at the same proposing situations outside the expected.

Bio

Born in 1979, Ross Sawyers moved from Iowa to Kansas City Missouri in 1998 to study photography at the Kansas City Art Institute. He received his B.F.A. from KCAI in 2002 and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2007. Sawyers was recently chosen by the Art in Loop Foundation in Kansas City to be the inaugural artist for the semi-annual commission ArtWall. Concurrent with the unveiling of ArtWall, he was invited back to the Kansas City Art Institute in November of 2006 as a visiting artist. In March of this year Ross was invited to present his art work at the Society for Photographic Education national conference “Look Out� in Miami Florida where he was also presented with the Crystal Apple Award. Sawyers’ work is part of the Belger Family Foundation Collection in Kansas City, the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Collection and the King County Portable Works Collection, both in Seattle. He was selected for the 2006 CoCA Annual His work was seen in his recent solo show at Platform Gallery in Seattle in July and looks forward to a solo exhibition at Gallery 4Culture in January.

Slab City, USA by Marie Sauvaitre

Marie Sauvaitre
Currently residing in New York, NY

Website
www.mariesauvaitre.com

Work Statement

Reflecting on globalization, mobility and the new roles of borders, ERRANCES - French term for something between exile and wandering - explores and pays homage to nomads’ home through color landscape photographs.

For months I traveled across cultures and continents, living amongst nomads, while creating a poetic visual evidence of their “homes�. Starting in Jordan’s Bedouin tents, to Slab City’s trailer parks in California, through the gypsy outposts of Beauduc, France, I then explored New York and completed my photographic journey in Israel’s Negev desert.

From my own experience of exile, I am drawn to these tensions between the pulls of nomadism and the search for the feeling of home. When looking at nomadic dwellings, I am touched by their vulnerability, their transience and the enigmatic play between interiority and exteriority that they engage with the landscape in which they integrate.

My belief in the social responsibility and moral agency of the artist made me choose these places carefully: they cover various regions (the US, Europe, the Middle East) and religions (Muslim, Christian, Jewish). By juxtaposing these economically and religiously contrasting cultures in my images, the arch-narrative of the project goes against a dichotomization of the world. My goal is to challenge the viewer’s curiosity for nomadism, and in a bigger scheme, “Otherness�.

In today’s hybrid post-modern world, one must welcome difference, tolerance and the cohabitation of antagonisms.

Bio

Marie Sauvaitre is a French photographer, now residing in NYC.
After graduating with an MBA from the University of Houston in 1994, she obtained her MFA Photography from the NY School of Visual Arts in 2005.
Her fine art work has been shown since by various galleries in:
- New York: in 2007 in Chelsea at the Robert Steele and Mixed Greens galleries, in 2006 at the Storefront for Arts and Architecture and in 2005 at the Exit Art Biennial.
- Buffalo: Chautauqua Center for Visual Arts and
- California: Richard L. Nelson Gallery, Davis.
Her editorial work is published in magazines internationally (Photoeye Magazine or Time Out New York - USA, Masa Acher - Israel, Korean Photography - Korea, Il Corriere della Sera - Italy) as well as in books such as: Title TK (Anarchive Publications France), New York Downtown Style (Garden City, Taiwan) and Witty Design Objects (Garden City, Taiwan).
Over the past two years, she expended her teaching experience to being a Guest Lecturer in Undergraduate Photography, as well as an Adjunct Professor for Graduate Photography, at the NY School of Visual Arts.

From the series Sub Rosa by Birthe Piontek

Birthe Piontek
Currently residing in Vancouver, British Columbia

Website
www.birthepiontek.com

Work Statement

Similar to numerous other photographers my first take on photography was rather journalistic. Inspired by artists like Jeff Wall, Stephen Shore, Anna Gaskell and the work of David Lynch my pictures became increasingly staged over the last years.

In order to tell my stories, I frequently use a combination of portraits and stills, which currently constitute the lion’s share of my work.

Two subjects have always been of great interest to me: innocence and adolescence – both of which playing major roles in my latest project Sub Rosa.

The intimate moments captured in Sub Rosa oppose the innocent vulnerabiliy of youth to otherwise rather somber settings. We are confronted with introductions and conclusions of stories from a world we once were privy to – all the while hinting at secrets and revealing none.

Bio

I was born and raised in Germany and studied Communication Design and Photography at the University of Essen where I received my M.A. in 2004.

During my time at University, I started working as a freelance photographer for various clients and magazines. To get the experience of living and working in another country I moved to Vancouver, BC in 2005.

Since then my work has been exhibited internationally, and featured in publications and magazines including 'The New York Times Magazine', 'The Globe and Mail', 'Stern' and 'Die Zeit'. My work has been recognized a number of times, most recently by being honored with the Santa Fe Juror's Choice Award in 2007.

Village by Georg Parthen

Georg Parthen
Currently residing in Dusseldorf, Germany

Website
http://www.georgparthen.de

Work Statement

My "Lanscape" series is an ongoing project about reality and its photographic representation. I digitally construct photographs of landscapes that are implausible but appear authentic at the same time. It is up to the viewer whether to believes them or not. I want the images to arise doubts whether the shown reality really does exist or not. This works best when viewing the images in real-life size. Also the images represent my personal interpretation of beautiful landscapes.

I studied documentary photography in Essen with Jörg Sasse and just got my diploma a few weeks ago. All my former works are rather strict documentary works about contemporary phenomena as for example carports and mulitplex cinemas. In my new series i try to transcend the idea of documentation further. What is a documentation of a place that does not exist?

Bio

I grew up in Wiesbaden, Middle Germany, then did my social service in the middle of nowhere in the Harz mountains near the former German-German border and then moved to Essen to study photography. I did that for the last 7 years and got the best education I could ever imagine.
The thing that always interested me most in photography was the fact that you tell something or create a feeling without actually saying it.

Robert (Playing Smuggler's Run: Hostile Territory) by Shauna Frischkorn

Shauna Frischkorn
Currently residing in Willow Street, Pennsylvania

Website
www.shaunafrischkorn.com

Work Statement

My work explores popular culture through everyday life.

Game Boys is an ongoing portrait series of young men engaged in a familiar pastime—they are playing video games. For the past three years, I have been photographing video game players who come to my studio, sit in the dark, and play for hours while I quietly watch and shoot. The studio setting lends a theatrical quality to this commonplace activity. Sometimes, I watch the game to see a particularly interesting sequence, but mostly I just watch the game players. I seek to explore the popular culture phenomenon of video games by examining the “gamers� who play them. Because my work is rooted in the tradition of portrait photography, I look beyond the hype surrounding video games and focus on the players themselves. Traditionally, the belief has been that a portrait could tell us a great deal about a subject: a window into a person’s inner character could be found through facial expressions. Although the expressions on my subjects may appear to be passive, the gamers in these photographs are actually performing fast-paced maneuvers and executing split-second decisions, making these portraits of intense concentration.

Bio

Shauna Frischkorn received her MFA in photography from SUNY Buffalo in 1998. She currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and teaches photography at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She had a two person exhibition at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art in New York in April, 2007. Publications include American Photography 20, Time Magazine, and Mother Jones Magazine.

Painted Bunting, 2007 by Todd Forsgren

Todd Forsgren
Currently Residing in Boca Raton, Florida

Website
www.toddforsgren.com

Work Statement

To create his paintings, John James Audubon shot birds and contorted their bodies into dramatic poses by wiring and pinning them onto boards. The quirky and flamboyant postures he used were not immediately popular with the scientific community, but today they are renowned.

It was Roger Tory Peterson who pioneered the idea of a field guide. His guides highlight observable marks, pointed out by carefully placed arrows, which allow for the identification of birds at a distance. Peterson painted thousands of systematic illustrations of birds in static poses which he based on photographs, bird skins, and field observations. Field guides have allowed hobbyists, artists, and scientists to identify birds with binoculars instead of a shotgun.

Ornithologists now use mist nets instead of shotguns. These nearly invisible nets are set up like fences and function as huge spider webs, catching unsuspecting birds. The researcher carefully extracts the bird from the net. Each bird is measured, aged, sexed, and banded with an individually numbered anklet. Then the bird is released.

I photographed these birds while they are caught in mist nets, moments before the ornithologist extracts them. Here, the birds inhabit a fascinating space between our framework of the bush and the hand. It is a fragile and embarrassing moment before they disappear back into the woods, and into data.

Bio

I grew up along the shores of Lake Erie, just was of Cleveland, Ohio along a major migratory bird flyway. John James Audubon’s Monograph, Birds of America, and Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America were the first pieces of artwork I loved. I spent days studying and trying to emulate Peterson and Audubon as a bird-watching teenager.

As an undergraduate at Bowdoin College in Maine, I studied biology, focusing on using molecularly biology explore ecosystem ecology. However, when I picked up a camera during my senior year, I realized that my youthful passions of birdwatching and gardening lay in photography, not biology. When I graduated in 2003, my only desire was to take pictures.

Since then, I have traveled widely with my camera. My work grew substantially in 2004-2005, when I studied at the SMFA in Boston for a year. Aside from the bird photographs in this portfolio, I have spent much of my time photographing urban and community based agriculture projects. Across the US as well as in Cuba. Next February I begin a Fulbright Fellowship to look at the new agriculture projects in Mongolia.

Sequim, WA by Scott Eiden

Scott Eiden
Currently residing in Brooklyn, NY

Website
www.scotteiden.com

Work Statement

As a history major in college, my senior thesis was a study of the history of the Utopian colonies in the 19th century in the Pacific Northwest. This involved a great deal of traveling to these locations and meeting with people who had some type of link to the colonies. But as I was traveling, I began to meet people who, in their own way, were trying to find their utopia. These people and this search stuck with me for a long time. As I began to take photography more seriously, I wanted to go back and explore this theme further. Having moved to New York, the trips to the Northwest became more personal (being able to visit family, friends, memories, etc) and the project took a more intimate turn. These are images of an admittedly idealized utopia of the Pacific Northwest - my Home. The images are a type of fiction in many ways, an idealization of a place I could no longer live in.
The title of the project comes from a book by Edward Bellamy that was credited with starting the surge of the Utopian movement, and a quote from Thoreau - "It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around."
The images submitted were photographed with an 8x10 view camera.

Bio

I grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and attended the University of Puget Sound, where I graduated with a BA in History. I have no formal training in photography, but have been taking pictures since I received my first camera at 11 (a Yashica from my mother - I still have it). I began printing my own work in 2000 at the Photographic Center Northwest, and continue to do so in New York. I also print for other photographers (Sze Tsung Leong and Len Jenshel among others) as a freelance printer.

Foreign Vessel in Harbor, Dutch Harbor, Alaska by Jennifer Boomer

Jennifer Boomer
Currently residing in Dallas, Texas

Website
jenniferboomer.com

Work Statement

After I finished studying photography in school, I made the move that so many other aspiring photographers make and I headed straight for NYC. I lived in the city for a year, working as a freelance digital technician for various fashion photographers. I worked hard, learned the business and more importantly, learned what type of photographer I did not want to be. After my year of living in the city came to an end, I made the decision to stop assisting, to build a portfolio and to begin my photographic career on my own terms. In the back of my mind I had always kept stories that an old boyfriend had told me about his former job as an Alaskan fisherman in the Bering Sea. He painted a picture of a vast and colorful place, somewhere that I wanted to experience firsthand. I chose to move from Manhattan to The Aleutian Island Chain in Alaska since it was the furthest place west I could possibly move in Alaska and still be in the United States. I have always been attracted to extreme lifestyles and isolated places, so moving to Dutch Harbor, Alaska seemed to be a great place to live and to work at becoming a better photographer. Photography is how I explore my surroundings and what results is photographs from my fascination with what I find. The following “Greetings from Dutch Harbor� series is the result of my intimate 2-year relationship with the environment and community existing on the edge of the earth in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Bio

I was born in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas in 1979 and went to the same school with the same group of students from preschool through high school. I discovered photography in high school and it afforded me the opportunity to stay out of trouble and saved me from otherwise boring weekends hanging out at the local mall. At 16, I saw Diane Arbus’ photograph, “Retired man and his wife at home in a nudist camp one morning, N.J. 1963.� It was Arbus’ nudist camp photos that inspired me to venture out of my comfort zone and to photograph people hanging-out at the Downtown Dallas Bus Station. I became facinated with the transitory lifestyle and was eager to photograph the people at the station and to learn their stories about where they had been and where they were going. Needless to say my mother almost had a heart attack when she found out that her teenage daughter was spending her weekend nights at a seedy bus station. Since leaving NYC in 2006, I've been living the gypsy lifestyle, traveling across the country while documenting people and places that I discover.

Untitled #6 (Catskill, NY, USA) 2006 by Carlo Van de Roer

Carlo Van de Roer
Currently residing in Brooklyn, NY

Website
www.carlovanderoer.com

Work Statement

I am interested in the landscape as a recreational and social space. Swimming pools and the sea dominate much of my work, as I attempt to examine and reconnect with the environments that surrounded me growing up in a small coastal community.
This series focuses on outdoor swimming pools that have been drained or abandoned.
When full, the surface of a swimming pool is a flat continuation of the pool edge, obscuring what is below the surface. When drained, the depths are revealed -- allowing us to examine the empty pool postmortem.
These locations were once bustling social environments, and visiting them was a collective, public experience. Now deserted by swimmers, the experience of visiting these pools is solitary, still and private. Some have become bogs, homes or gardens -- new lives that often go unobserved. Photographing them can be a voyeuristic and dark experience. I have focused on an intimate view of these locations, using tight crops which also emphasize the absent, making these photos as much about what is not there as what is there.

Bio

Carlo Van de Roer was born in 1975 in New Zealand, where he received his BFA in photography from Victoria University. Since leaving New Zealand in 1999, Van de Roer has traveled and photographed extensively in countries throughout Central America, Asia, Europe and the United States. He currently lives in New York.

What's left by recently featured HHS! contender Aubrey Hays

Although we've been accepting new entries for a couple of weeks now, I've realized we never made an official announcements with the most important details. So...

*drumrolls, unrolling of the red carpet, general fanfare*

Ladies and Gentleman, behold! The Fall 2007 competition of Hey, Hot Shot! is now in full throttle!

Entries will be accepted here through Tuesday, November 6th. This season's winners will be announced on the blog on Tuesday, November 20th and the HHS! Fall Showcase will take place at the jen bekman gallery from December 13th through December 16th, with an opening reception on Wednesday, December 12th from 6-8PM.

That leaves y'all one month to get crazy and creative. And, remember, its always best to get your entry in before the deadline crunch!!

So, why not enter right this minute?

A last minute heads up to anyone and everyone who happens to be in New York tonight. Ms. Bekman will be giving a special presentation at The Apple Store in Soho [@ Prince + Greene] as part of the NYC Photobloggers event. Come hear about HHS!, the gallery, 20x200, and other excitement! AND Ultra Joe Holmes is also on the bill. This is an event not to be missed.

TONIGHT - Sept 26 - 6:30PM
The Apple Store [Prince + Greene]

PS: There will be goodies involved. Be there or be [ ]

A Hot Shot, an Ultra, a 20x200 staple - Kate Bingaman-Burt is a bonafide bekman star. And tomorrow night her anxiously awaited solo-show opens here at the jb!

Yes, Kate Bingaman-Burt's Obsessive Consumption opens this Friday and quite a show it promises to be. Initially winning us over with her photographs in the Summer 2006 Edition of HHS! [perhaps you recall the rack of wedding dresses or the mountain of shopping carts] this time around she's taking over our humble abode, filling it to the brim with Obsessive Consumption goodies, a KBB wonder world.

And in the meantime [because by this point you're bound to be bursting with excitement] you can get your hands on a Bingaman-Burt print over on 20x200. Ms. Kate is part of our fantastic launch pad, her piece "I Bought All of These" is hand-colored and out of this world in its greatness.

So let's make it a date! Tomorrow night please join us at the jb and help us celebrate Obsessive Consumption with some smashing + schmoozing soiree fun.

Obsessive Consumption - Kate Bingaman-Burt
Opening Reception: Friday September 21 from 6-8PM
September 22 - October 27, 2007

jen bekman
6 Spring Street [between Elizabeth + Bowery]
gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12-6PM

See you soon!

Have you heard the news? Or I guess more like read the news. This past Wednesday, the New York Times published a story on Nina Berman's Purple Hearts exhibit, which is now on view at the gallery and has been receiving a lot of attention from the press lately. You can check out the article here.

I was at the gallery the other day as camera-toting TV men came in, one after another, to interview Nina. And the phones were ringing off the hook! I spoke with several war veterans from all over the country--Texas in particular, who were all itching to say a few words to the artist. With all this attention, the show has luckily been extended an extra week, until Saturday September 8th, so those of you who haven't braved a visit to the gallery have a little more time to do so now.

Also, you may have heard through the gallery's mailing list about the exclusive Artist Talk we're hosting this upcoming Wednesday evening, August 29th. Unfortunately, the event is overbooked, but if you want to try to squeeze in, shoot an e-mail over to us and get yourself on the waiting list!

So, you may ask, why do I bring this information up here, on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog as opposed to the gallery blog? Well, it's because Nina is one of our most recent Hot Shot winners from this year's spring edition! While at the gallery last Thursday, Nina was talking about how she entered the contest at 2 AM on a restless night after hearing about it from a friend. Fast-forward just a few months later and she has to her own widely acclaimed solo show at the gallery. Wow!

It's exciting to see what good could come out of the competition--and so soon! Meanwhile, Jen is busy curating the upcoming HHS! Summer Edition Showcase, which is set to follow Berman's show and I must say, it's going to be good!

New York Container Terminal, #4 by Summer '07 HS winner Shuli Hallak

Summer is coming to an end and it's just about time for us to announce the winners of the Summer 2007 edition of Hey, Hot Shot! Drumroll, please...

And, the winners are:

Dan Boardman
Afshin Dehkordi
Rachael Dunville
Jonathan Gitelson
Shuli Hallak
Beth Herzhaft
Gregory Krum
Kalpesh Lathigra
Ari Salomon
Willamain Somma

Congratulations, winners! Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 12, which is the opening night of the Summer '07 Hey, Hot Shot! Showcase at the jb (from 6-8pm!) If you can't make it then, be sure to check out the show which will be up September 13 - 16, 2007.

A special thanks goes out to our lovely group of panelists:

Ian Baguskas, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Christine Collins, Alison Grippo,
Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Joseph O. Holmes, Lesley Martin, Anthony La Sala, Youngna Park,
and of course, Jen Bekman, her own self.

The panelists can all tell you that it was a tough decision to make. Here are some honorable mentions:

Allison Grant, Scott Chandler, Roger Snider, Carlo Van de Roer, Thomas Birtwistle, Camille Seaman, Chris Mottalini, Mark Goldberg, Liz Kuball, Mahesh Shantaram, Justin Visnesky, Chuck Avery, Heather Sullivan, James Rotz, Chris Bentley, Shana Wittenwyler, Jim Turbert, Johannes Twielemeier, Alejandro Cartagena, Erik Hagen, Joel Sanders, Dan Sumption, Glenn Glasser, RJ Mickelson, Sarah Szwajkos, David Bowman, Ben Alper, Kimberly Max, and Patrick Simpson.

Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations once again to all the winning photographers. Stay tuned to the HHS! Blog where I'll be posting bundles of fun news and tidbits related to our growing family of Hot Shots!

That's right, folks. Your time has finally come. The entry deadline has now passed and the submissions folder for the Summer edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is officially closed. This season's competition is pretty hot and I'm very excited to see who the panel selects!

Stay tuned to the blog for the winners will be announced here next Tuesday, August 21st. Plus, I'll continue posting Hot Shot-related announcements.

Expect to see one more contender post from me today, as well :).

Charlie Sober by Fall '06 HS winner Juliana Beasley

Yee Haw! Charlie over here looks pretty damn excited and you should be, too! You know why? Because us folks over here at the jb decided to give y'all some extra time by extending the submission deadline for the Summer '07 edition of Hey, Hot Shot! by one week!

That's right, you heard me. ONE MORE WEEK! The new deadline is Tuesday, August 14th at 11 AM (EST). So mark your calendars, tell all your friends, and do a little jig because extended deadlines are radical.

Dearest Hot Shot contenders and avid followers of the marvelous Hey, Hot Shot! Summer competition,

Our lovely gallerist, Ms. Jen Bekman, is exhausted. She has been working very hard these days, between our recent trip out to Scope Hamptons, the sad closing of A New American Portrait, next week's opening of Nina Berman's Purple Hearts, and the upcoming unveiling of 20x200. So, she decided to squeeze in time for a well-deserved vacation.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that you all have to update your schedules as well, since we pushed back the opening of the Hey, Hot Shot! show by one week. The exhibition will now be on view from September 13-16, with the opening reception occurring on Wednesday, September 12 (6-8pm).

Mark your calenders!

Signed with all of my love,

Marina

ATTENTION READERS!

Alison Grippo, a member of the jb family and Spring '06 Hey, Hot Shot! winner, has participated in the whirlwind Master-Disaster Photography Duel, which is a timed photography competition between teams of photographers and stylists.

We think her photos rock and you should think so too. And when you do think so, you can click here, and then