Brenna & Javan, October 2011 by Hana Pesut (click on image to enlarge)

Pioneered by long time New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham in the late '70s, street fashion photography has now become a mainstream form of photography that's viewed by millions on any given day. The "photos of people on the street + blog" formula that evolved from Cunningham's column in print has not only changed the fashion world, but it's also created a new breed of photographers. Perhaps best known of them all is The Sartorialist—with a book published and representation by a major gallery, Scott Schuman really put the emphasis on "street," making his work relevant to the time and space we live in, thus validating his stylish photos as a means of documentation. While not a photographer working in the street fashion blogosphere, Contender Hana Pesut created a series, Switcheroo, that bears aesthetic resemblance to the fashionable photos flooding the internet and, beyond that, plays sartorial tricks with your eyes on the subject of identity.

Leila & Azim, September 2011 by Hana Pesut

Mostly presented in diptych, the portraits in Switcheroo are not of random passers-by, but of volunteer models who have gone through a casting process. Pesut explains her series:

Switcheroo is a dual portrait series where accomplices are photographed twice, once in their own outfits and again wearing each other's outfits against the same background. The magic in this series lies in the similitude of the normal and affected versions that are distanced when their variances become more apparent.

Rico & Fran, July 2011 by Hana Pesut

Hana Pesut is a self-taught photographer currently living in Vancouver, Canada. Her main focus in photography are the "little moments" that people sometimes miss and later wish they had captured. She hopes to inspire others to take more photos in their day-to-day life. For those who want to be part of Switcheroo, Pesut is currently casting for the project in the LA/Palm Springs area, from April 10th through the 20th.

Nevin & Mia, August 2011 by Hana Pesut

Contender Stephen Tamiesie's submission, Promised Land, was influenced by "the relationship Americans hold with the Western landscape and its continual development." The resulting landscapes—quiet, yet visually arresting—are a nod toward yesteryear's Westward expansion and the promises therein.

Untitled, from the series Promised Land, by Stephen Tamiesie

Untitled, from the series Promised Land, by Stephen Tamiesie

Tamiesie explains:

Since I was young, I've been fascinated by the grandeur and history of the American West. In the series Promised Land, I examine the once held American belief of Manifest Destiny—the 19th-century mantra that the United States was predestined to spread over the entire continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Motivated by President Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Westward settlers quickly achieved this goal when, in 1912, Arizona joined as the final state in the continental U.S., forming an uninterrupted nation stretching from sea to shining sea. At its origin, Manifest Destiny confronted a territory that was vastly unknown to most Americans. Today, it is apparent to anyone headed out on the interstate that the West—once a great frontier—has become accessible in nearly every corner on its surface. The photographs in this series are appraisals of the American thumbprint on the West, at points where population and a wild landscape intersect. Through these images, Promise Land surveys the idea of Manifest Destiny over 150 years since its conception, and it reveals the results of a once monumental belief now evidenced in the West.

Untitled, from the series Promised Land, by Stephen Tamiesie

Untitled, from the series Promised Land, by Stephen Tamiesie

Stephen Tamiesie lives in Portland, Oregon. He has worked with clients near and far, including advertising agencies, magazines and architects. His work has been published by Esquire, Newsweek and ZARA, and it is included in the permanent collections of Marriott International and Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. Stephen is also a specialty coffee roaster. And a nice guy. Should your path ever cross with his, you would quickly learn of his high regard for Western films and bourbon whiskey, preferably enjoyed together.

Contender Noah David Bau has created a series of portraits of orphaned Thai young males, whose meager livelihoods depend on intensive training and competing in Muay Thai, a combat sport similar to Indochinese kickboxing.

Bau 14, 86 lbs., 2011 by Noah David Bau

Ball 14, 83 lbs., 2011 by Noah David Bau

Bau explains in his artist statement:

The portraits of young Muay Thai fighters depict orphaned Thai boys who are all professional fighters. [Their] sole means of survival depends upon their success in the ring and, more fundamentally, the fitness of their bodies. The boys are subjected to grueling workouts in oppressive heat; their bodies endure unimaginable punishment; and they are trained to be ferocious and unrelenting. Proceeds from winning purses are used to maintain their squalid training camp and provide for meager sustenance. The portraits highlight the subjects' physicality in a constructed hyper-reality in order to question their potential commodification as professional fighters. The images suggest the brutality of the boys' lives, while allowing room for the viewer's likely incompatible conceptions of common adolescent experience.

Kwan 14, 73 lbs., 2011 by Noah David Bau

Noah David Bau is an American photographer who divides his time between Bangkok and Boston. His work, while visually and conceptually diverse, consistently attempts to disrupt the seamlessness of mass-mediated imagery. Operating from social and intellectual margins, the work illuminates paradox and contradiction, offering an unstable, problematic reality.

Mr. Bau graduated Magna cum Laude from Amherst College as an Independent Scholar in photography and sexual politics. He continued his studies at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles and later earned a Master's degree from Stanford University.

El Teide, view #02, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

It's Armory week here in NYC, with dozens of galleries and museums participating and exhibiting leading contemporary art and photography. Just in time for the art fair, the Hey, Hot Shot! Second Edition 2011 Showcase opens TOMORROW, March 9th, with a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Jen Bekman Gallery. Come join us in celebrating the work of these very talented photographers—meet and mingle with some of the Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots: Brendan George Ko, Cristina De Middel, Phil Jung, Meike Nixdorf and Michael Cappabianca. And if you want to get to know the photographers, click here to read Q&As with the deserving bunch.

The Hey, Hot Shot! Second Edition 2011 Showcase presents a diverse selection of contemporary photography from around the globe: Brendan George Ko blends lived experiences with the fantastic to create images that limbo hauntingly between worlds. Michael Cappabianca's work imaginatively interprets the physicality and structure of the book. Photographing what can be seen through the semi-private, semi-public space of the car window, Phil Jung looks at the role of the automobile in revealing the social landscape. Meike Nixdorf orbits around her subject—the mountain El Teide, in the Canary Islands—exploring the viewing and decision-making processes of photography. Cristina De Middel plays part photojournalist and part story-teller, re-imagining documentation of the failed 1964 Zambian space program.

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-five photographers—including 2010 Whitney Biennial artists Nina Berman and Curtis Mann—with unparalleled opportunities for support and exposure.

Michael, Brendan, Meike, Cristina and Phil 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 March 10th through March 25th, 2012.
The opening reception will be Friday, March 9th, 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.

First Edition 2012 DEADLINE is March 14th at 11:59 P.M. ET

For your shot at $10,000, a solo show at Jen Bekman Gallery and two years worth of representation from the gallery, apply before the deadline!

Our final Q&A with the Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots is with Brendan George Ko, who we first wrote about as a Contender. His eerily stunning photos could easily be images you see when you close your eyes—relics of hauntingly beautiful memories. In this interview, Brendan explains the origins of the series. Be sure to check out his work in the group show Second Edition 2011 Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery, on view March 10th through March 25th. And if you're in New York City tomorrow, March 9th, join us for the opening reception, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 6 Spring Street.

Ablution, 2010 by Brendan George Ko

Living in: Toronto, ON (more specifically: a retired coffin factory)

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography:
A little film studies at Ryerson University and a BFA in photographic arts at Ontario College of Art & Design.

How you pay the bills: Mostly odd jobs; I work as a TA and I work at a photo lab. I sell work from time to time and photograph for others once in a while.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer:
[paraphrased] "You are an artist, you have to make art. It has become the way you think and communicate. You were born with this inside of you and you will spend your entire lifetime perfecting it." —Nicholas Pye

Three artists who inspire you:
Joel Sternfeld
Taryn Simon
Olivier Alary

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
There is this image from Poltergeist that isn't necessarily a "work of art," but I tend to get images from films stuck in my head over photographs and paintings. There is a door in a house that serves as a gateway between one plane of reality to another, and when the door is opened it floods our world with an encompassing brilliance, lens flares and smoke. The characters are blown away by a mighty vortex that radiates from its center. And it is this phantasmagoric event that happens within the familiar landscape of the house that is stuck in my head.

Scene from Poltergeist, MGM Studios, 1982

Your favorite photobook(s):
An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Taryn Simon
Click Doubleclick
Vitamin Ph

What was the last great exhibition you attended? Any exhibitions you currently recommend?
Scenes from the House Dream, by David Hoffos, at the MOCCA, Toronto, ON. It was almost two years ago, but it blew my mind away and had this effect that made me feel like a curious child in a simulation bat cave at a natural history museum again. Also: Coming After at The Power Plant in Toronto.

Irwin Allen, 2005 by David Hoffos. Two channel visual, audio and mixed media installation

Reading now:
Whitechapel's The Cinematic, and Carl G. Jung's Man and His Symbols

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
American Suburb X
The Great Leap Sideways
Today and Tomorrow

Top non-photo website/blog:
The Lavender Hour
McSweeney's Internet Tendency
VVORK

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work:
Part One: I was walking down the street and there were dead leaves and this golden beam of sunset light falling on them. Before me flashed a memory that was ambiguous and reoccurring—even though the initial memory has passed, it was still being lived, and it was then I realized that memory could be split into two: memory (sequence, proportion, scale) and feeling (mood/atmosphere), and that atmosphere can come and go and is virtually timeless (ghost-like). I'm interested in this split of memory and creating atmospheres that provoke the human psyche and conjure up these detached and ambiguous memories.

Barking Wall, 2011 by Brendan George Ko

Part Two: New Mexico. I was living there during a very unique time in my life where I was a child coming to age. I was still holding on to my imagination and the strange, sometimes supernatural and unexplainable events that happened during that time. It seemed to halt my imagination and kept it from being lost or reprioritized as an adult. The landscape and legends of that particular region of the Midwest continue to inspire me, as well as haunt me. It is the place I became an artist.

Next project(s):
I am continuing a study I call Atmospheres (which started with Nocturne and continued with The Barking Wall). The third installment is called We Soon Be Nigh! The work focuses on apocalyptic atmospheres that are inspired by the feeling of uncertainty towards the future, the possibility of strange shifts in our normal lives and faint light. And, on top of that, I am preparing for my first solo show happening at the end of March.

When we first wrote about Hot Shot Phil Jung in a Contender post, we remarked that "the modern personal automobile moved the boundary between 'public' and 'private' outward. Your mobile personal bubble is exposed, or displayed even, to the public: on the street, in the garage, at the mall, by the beach, etc. It's probably beyond the primary design intentions of any car, but you can't really hide your car when it's parked outside." Phil's series Windscreen took a peek inside these parked cars, gauging both what the contents and keepsakes inside these cars revealed about their owners, as well as what the cars (contents and all) revealed about the social landscape. You can catch Phil and view works from the series at the opening reception for the Second Edition 2011 Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery tomorrow, March 9th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Sleeping Mask, 2010 by Phil Jung

Living in: Boston, MA

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography: I jumped around a bit when I was younger. I studied a semester at SVA before moving out West and getting my BFA (in photo) from the San Francisco Art Institute. I decided to get my MFA a few years later and attended MassArt's graduate program in photography. Having the guidance of professors like Henry Wessel, Nicholas Nixon and Abelardo Morrell has had a profound effect on my work.

How you pay the bills: Do you want the long or short answer? The short answer is day by day. No, but seriously... It's always a struggle to balance everything. Last fall, I was teaching a handful of classes as an adjunct professor. Between the different schools, I had to commute hundreds of miles per week. After all that driving, I still had to work a night job to subsidize my income. You have to be really committed and a little bit crazy to decide to make this your career.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: Make sure you have someone in your life that can be brutally honest about your work.

Three artists who inspire you: Wow, that's tough. There are so many! Lately, I've been looking at Eirik Johnson's Sawdust Mountain. I really love his new work. It has a social consciousness that I think is important. Judith Joy Ross's ability to capture both the humanity and vulnerability of her subjects is extraordinary. The woman inspires me to no end. I have had the opportunity to assist her from time to time and it's always a humbling experience. I'm also a huge fan of Robert Bechtle's paintings. I looked at so many of his images while photographing for the Windscreen series. The quality of light in his paintings completely transforms the ordinariness of the middle-class neighborhoods he paints.

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
Paul Graham's sequence Pittsburgh (Lawnmower Man) immediately comes to mind. It's a sequence of a man mowing, what seems to be, an enormous lawn with a push mower. It's a uniquely American scene depicting a certain everyday ordinariness, but it's in Graham's carefully executed and subtle handling of these images that contain its strength. The sequence becomes a type of visual poetry.

Pittsburgh, 2004 (Lawnmower Man), from the series A Shimmer of Possibilities

Your favorite photobook(s): Too many to list, but if I had to name one it would be New Topographics. With a group of photographers like Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, the Bechers, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore and Henry Wessel, how can you go wrong? I've had the book for years now and I still look at it all the time. Bill Owens' Suburbia is also a favorite of mine. It just keeps getting better with age.

What was the last great exhibition you attended? Any exhibitions you currently recommend? Actually it wasn't photography: The first survey exhibition of Mark Bradford's work at the ICA in Boston was unbelievable. You could spend a whole week in the gallery and still find something new in the work.

Reading now: A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future, by David Hancocks

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
American Suburb X
Flak Photo
Fototazo. Fototazo is a unique site combining social giving and photography. It helps raise funds for emerging photographers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Colombia. It's definitely worth checking out!

Top non-photo website/blog: You mean there are non-photo websites and blogs out there? My friend Pia has a wonderful blog called Bread and Beta. It's an amazing assortment of recipes and journal entries that stem from her love affair with food.

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work:
I'm fascinated by American culture and what defines us as Americans. I see this body of work as a contemporary look at our unique social landscape through the cultural geography of the automobile. The car is a vehicle in my work, both in a literal sense and as a metaphor of the human condition. So while I'm out photographing, I'm thinking about a car's connection to class structure, its spatial mobility and its use as a means of escape. I try not to traffic too much in nostalgia. I'd like people to feel as if these cars are very much on the road and still being driven.

588-Verbenas on the Desert, 2008 by Phil Jung

I love all the different types of surfaces and textures of automobiles, and I follow my natural curiosity to peer in their windows and try to find artifacts that can tell me about its owner and occupants. My photographs become portraits of the people driving them.

One of my favorite albums is Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. I think this body of work is a good visual counterpart to the album. Many of the stories on the album deal with ordinary working-class characters that face a challenge or turning point in their lives. I was looking to set an overall tone throughout the series that visually looked and felt like songs on the album. For me, music is an invaluable tool to set a certain mood or tone while shooting.

I feel my work is relevant to what many of us are feeling today. The promise of something better is slowly evaporating. I wanted to address those feelings in a form of visual language. In doing so, I hope people will think critically about the images, the world they live in and where they see themselves in relationship to the two.

Next project(s): I've been working steadily on a series of images that speak to our relationship with nature and the differences between conservation and preservation. I'll be updating my website in the coming months and should have some of the new work up.

Second Edition 2011 Hot Shot Meike Nixdorf impressed the panel with her landscapes, taken as she "orbited" around her subject—the mountain El Teide, in the Canary Islands—exploring the viewing and decision-making processes of photography. You can view her works at the Second Edition 2011 Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery, which is on view from March 10th to March 25th. (For a documentary on the making of the series, click here.)

Nixdorf explains of the series:

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.

El Teide, view #02, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

Living in: After having lived in a lot of places (and even continents), I am now back in Berlin, the city in which I spent part of my childhood.

What I like about Berlin is that it is very international. You can hear all these different languages on the streets. I also enjoy that Berlin is very diverse; each neighborhood is like another city wtihin the city.

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography:
I learned a lot from working as a photo assistant (for a total of seven years) to photographers in Germany and New York. In regards to technical understanding and business know-how, I feel it is the best kind of education you can get out there.

It was only later on that I also took photography and video classes at the ICP, New York. The school was a great help with developing a better understanding of contents and concepts. Before I went to school, I wasn't really clear about why I was shooting something in a certain way.

How you pay the bills: Photography & counseling

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: It was when I first came to New York in 2005. I was showing my book around and was truly convinced I had some very unique landscape photography in it. Then someone said to me, "This is very beautiful photography, but pretty much any good photographer could have shot this." At first I thought this was bullshit, but then I had to realize that he was right.

Nowadays, I often feel the same way about other people's photography. I can enjoy it so much more when the personality of the photographer somehow shines through the images.

Three artists who inspire you:
I am mostly inspired by my partner and friends and the wonderful work they do. I guess it has to do with being able to see how things slowly develop, and also knowing the person behind the work.

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
For some reason the works that touch me the most are often video installations. This is probably due to the fact that there is more physicality to them than to photographs, in the way that they are displayed and perceived or interacted with.

Installation shot from Bubbles, by Wolfgang Muench & Kiyoshi Furukawa

The video installation Eraser, by Doug Aitken, is one of my all-time favorites. Another great and very playful video installation is Bubbles, by Wolfgang Muench & Kiyoshi Furukawa, part of the permanent exhibiton at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, in Germany.

Your favorite photobook(s):
I prefer photobooks that make use of the medium instead of just displaying images site after site.

Paul Graham's A Shimmer of Possibility has a great rhythm to it that is evoked by the drastically changing image sizes, the repetitions and the blank pages. I also adore the wonderful story telling in Alec Soth's Niagara.

What was the last great exhibition you attended? Any exhibitions you currently recommend?
One of my favorite exhibitons was Robert Frank - Storylines, at the Tate Modern, London.

Reading now:
Haruki Murakami, IQ84. He is one of my favorite writers, besides Tim Winton, Jeanette Winterson and Ben Okri.

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
I am not a regular blog reader. But I admire everyone out there who is putting so much love, time and energy in running a blog or photo website. Here are three examples of people who do exactly that:

Gianpaolo Arena, Andrea Gaio and Claudio Bettio: Landscape Stories

Pieter Wisse: 500 Photographers

Adriana Teresa and Graham Letorney: Fotovisura

Top non-photo website/blog:

I read Die Zeit online, a weekly German newspaper with outstanding journalism.

El Teide, view #06, 2011 by Meike Nixdorf

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work: I have been fascinated with how things can sometimes change dramatically when looked at from different perspectives. Probably because this is the normal way for me to look at things. I automatically try to take not only my very own point of view, but also look at any kind of subject matter from other people's points of view.

It was a challenge to come up with a project that could transform this abstract idea into a conceptual landscape series.

Grit, my partner, shot a making-of video, which gives a glimpse into the production of In the Orbit of El Teide.

We also plan to produce a video portrait of myself and my work in the upcoming months, where you will be able to hear more about the motivation behind my photography in general and the ideas behind the different projects. Check my website for updates.

I generally like to share my projects with other people. It is another great way of learning about my work.

Next project(s): I have already started to work on my next project, Christ in the Desert. More information on the project will be coming up soon.

Next up in our installment of Q&As with Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots is with Cristina De Middel. Her imaginative, muted-color series The Afronauts caught our attention with its part story-telling, part photojournalism approach to the failed Zambian space program of 1964.

Untitled from the series Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

Living in: London

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography:
I have a degree in fine arts from the University of Valencia in Spain, with a concentration in drawing. But I also spent one year focusing in photography at the University of Oklahoma. I also spent a couple of years in Barcelona, attaining a master's in photojournalism. Despite this academic background, the truth is that I think all I'm using to work with the camera these days was learned during my years as a photojournalist, and I still feel that all my work is a reaction to that way of telling stories and that industry.

How you pay the bills:
I work as a freelancer for Spanish magazines in London and sell artwork through my webpage. I also get some income from lectures and workshops in Spain and from photo contests.

Best advice you ever received as a photographer:
"Don't make me lose time with stories I don't understand or stories that just interest you and your teenage fan club." Not real advice, but it worked for me.

Three artists who inspire you:
Duane Michals
Wong Kar-wai
Michel Gondry

But this is just to name a few of them. I normally VERY MUCH enjoy any story told with images, words, pictures or drawings. I'm a story addict.

Photograph (or other work of art) that you can't get out of your head, ever:
Any work from Marcel Broodthaers, and A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.C., by Diane Arbus.

A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.C., 1970 by Diane Arbus

Your favorite photobook(s):
I move a lot and got tired of moving heavy boxes full of books from one place to another, so it's been a while since I don't buy any. Still, this year's favorite is Redheaded Peckerwood, by Christian Patterson

What was the last great exhibition you attended? Any exhibitions you currently recommend?
Definitely the last (and by far the best) exhibition I've attended has been Taryn Simon at the Tate Modern in London.

Reading now:
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, by Amos Tutuola, a nigerian author that is opening my eyes to African magical traditions.

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
Flak Photo
American Suburb X
Lightstalkers

But the first positions should be for the ton of newspapers I check during the day.

Top non-photo website/blog:
I have to say Wikipedia, Vimeo and YouTube. Sorry for not discovering anything here, but the internet is a very specific tool for me, and if I want to sail away I'd rather read or watch movies than explore the web.

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 series Afronauts works for me as a solution given to an ethic or moral problem raised during my days as a photojournalist. I could never really feel comfortable telling stories (made in a couple of days in a foreign country most of the time) that the audience would consume as real just because they would appear in the media.

Untitled from the series Afronauts, by Cristina De Middel

I started to compensate for this professional frustration a few years ago by building these stories, in which the issue would never be whether the story is real or false. It gives me a lot of freedom and I enjoy playing that true/false game with the audience. I started working on the basis of my opinion, which is a sin in the documentary field, and the priority became for me to build a story easy to understand by using the photojournalism language.

With this mixed approach it is easier for me to convey a message that, after all, hasn't changed much since I started as a photographer. The Afronauts talks about a crazy group of people, using beautiful and funny pictures, but it is based on the fact that nobody believes an African country will ever reach the moon. That is the hidden critique, and that is my message.

Next project(s):
I am working on two new projects this year: both together with other professionals. The first one is to build a very special travel guide for Spain, and I am working with a journalist who has a very similar sense of humor. This involves a lot of driving and research in the countryside, and that is something I love doing.

The second one is extremely secret and will start in April. I will be working with another photographer, Laia Abril, and due to the nature of the project we cannot disclose information before it has started.

Apart from that, I am now working on the design of the Afronauts book, and I am planning another trip to China.

On Friday, March 9th, the Second Edition 2011 Showcase kicked off at Jen Bekman Gallery, located at 6, Spring Street, New York.

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 Michael Cappabianca, whose work imaginatively interprets the physicality and structure of the book.

Of the series, Cappabianca wrote:

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?

Photographe de Paris, 2009 by Michael Cappabianca

Living in: Cambridge, MA

Your formal and/or informal education and training in photography:
I started taking photography classes in college. My first real love of looking at photographs came during my first history of photography early in college. After that, I became obsessed with digging in libraries and learning from photo books, just as much as from the photographers I was studying with in school. I graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a bachelor's degree. For the following years, I was always making work and building darkrooms in my apartment wherever I lived. My own photographic concerns were emerging as I was able to use the tools I learned and apply them to my own experiences. I ended up in graduate school at the California College of the Arts. It was an immense learning experience in the world of contemporary art. I was able to put my photography knowledge in perspective and see that the multidisciplinary approach to making art can still leave room for straight photography.

How you pay the bills: eBay

Best advice you ever received as a photographer: I once talked to Robert Adams and he was so warm and encouraging and ended up saying, "Just keep clicking away." I think that's what it comes down to: Just keep working. Work even when you feel like you have no idea what you're doing; just use your instincts, and who you are and what you're interested in will come about in the work.

Three artists who inspire you:
Lee Friedlander
Georges Braque
Gordon Matta-Clark

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

The film The Seventh Continent by Haneke. It's terrifying and beautiful.

Your favorite photobook(s):
The four volumes of The Work of Atget
Frank Gohlke's Measure of Emptiness
Lee Friedlander, Photographs

What was the last great exhibition you attended? Any exhibitions you currently recommend?
Anselm Kiefer's 2010 show Next year in Jerusalem at Gagosian blew me away.

I'd recommend seeing the late Jan Groover show Formalism is Everything at Janet Borden. Her work was such an inspiration.

Reading now:
The Flame Alphabet, by Ben Marcus

Top three photo-related websites/blogs:
DLK Collection
American Suburb X
The Photography Post

Top non-photo website/blog:
A piece of monologue, a blog about Beckett, modernist literature and philosophy

Golden Hands, 2011 by Michael Cappabianca

Tell us a little about the inspiration/impetus behind the series you submitted, and why you felt it was important to share this work:
I was working at a bookstore at the time I made this work. We used this colonial era house as storage that used to be the store and living space until a new larger store was built next door. So this old house was still filled with books alongside the remains of a domestic life, as well. I knew I had to make work here. For me it had it all: books, the reference to the previous inhabitants and gorgeous light creeping into the closed-off chambers of an enormous old house.

Working in a bookstore everyday you are confronted with the dwindling sales and interest in printed books. As libraries eliminate whole collections and electronic books take over, I thought it was time to present what we had. These images are in fact not a direct defense of the printed book, but evidence of an interaction with them. I wanted to investigate the outward appearances of books. Some of these books are famous and highly prized treasures, and for others it became like photographing the preconditions of books in general, waiting to be filled with knowledge.

Next project(s):
I'm currently working within two completely different houses making interiors and images of objects found within them. Basically, one house is very old and one is relatively new. I'm moving from books on to other objects that describe the interior life. I'm working currently with objects that describe a certain idea of volume. It is similar to the way my photographs of books almost act as vessels that the viewer can fill with their own content.

Wadi Fuqin, on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, is known for its traditional farming practices—passed down over the millennia and considered by many to be the finest, most impressive agricultural system in any Palestinian village. But the ongoing conflict over Israeli expansion threatens to endanger, among other things, the village's water supply. In his series Sabras — The story of the Palestinian village of Wadi Fuqin, Contender Leeor Kaufman examines the well-preserved agricultural village. In photographing Wadi Fuqin, its people and its produce, Kaufman paid "close attention to the joy and love the place and produce bring to the villagers." He adds, "It is important for me to document it, before it might change, for them and for myself."

Kaufman also shot a video in the village, focusing on a teenager's perspective of his village, its conditions and his desire to explore the world and attend university. Click here to watch the short video.

Abu Ahmad at his fields in Wadi Fuqin, Jan 2011, by Leeor Kaufman

Of the series, Kaufman says:

Wadi Fuqin, a small Palestinian village, carries the inconceivable complexities of the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The village is a well-preserved model of a traditional agricultural way of life, developed thousands of years ago. The community has harnessed the water flowing from the valley's 11 springs to nourish their fields. Kilometers of canals direct the spring water to storage pools and onwards to the many fruit and vegetable fields. Currently, the agricultural way of life and natural landscape is endangered by many threats. To the east, the massive development of the Beitar Ilit Settlement is posing an immediate danger to the springs; to the west, the planned separation wall threatens to harm more springs and close the village in between the wall and the settlement. The villagers are not permitted to cross to Israel, nor are they allowed to cross to the settlement. Some of the villagers, left with no other income possibilities, work in the settlement's construction site (with special permission), building the threat to their village themselves.

Hamad preparing his father's field for a new season beneath the settlement, Aug 2011, by Leeor Kaufman

Of the conflict, Kaufman poignantly notes:

As an Israeli, I approach this story with great passion. A known saying in Hebrew determines that a person is the scenery of his childhood. Wadi Fuqin is part of the scenery of my childhood. The smell of the fresh vegetables and the clear water are a good part of my memories. I grew up in a country mixed with Jews and Arabs and no walls in between. It's true that the atmosphere was not always welcoming on both sides, but it is still part of my memories, part of who I am.

Hamad cleaning radishes in Wadi Fuqin, Jan 2011, by Leeor Kaufman

Leeor Kaufman is a filmmaker and a photographer. He is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University's film department and the International Center of Photography's documentary and photojournalism program. Leeor has worked on independent films and commercial television programs as a cinematographer, film editor and director. His short and feature length films were screened in film festivals and television channels worldwide. Leeor is currently based in New York, working on film, photography and multimedia projects and teaching at the International Center of Photography.

Jamil taking his cabbages to Bethlehem, Oct 2011, by Leeor Kaufman

Maid and Manservant, by Kurt Tong

Kurt Tong recently talked to Jonathan Blaustein for A Photo Editor, discussing his work and current show, earning a living as a photographer, the advantages of living in Hong Kong and, of course, 20x200 and Hey, Hot Shot! An excerpt follows, but be sure to read the full, candid interview. And head to Jen Bekman Gallery to catch his show, In Case it Rains in Heaven, before it closes on March 4th.

JB: You went [to Review Santa Fe in 2009] a young guy, just trying to get his work out into the world. And in the ensuing three years you've evolved into a photographer with an international exhibition record, you're represented by Jen Bekman, one of the biggest galleries in New York, you had a book published by Kehrer Verlag. It seems like it all came together for you in a relatively short period of time.

KT: Before Santa Fe, I had this plan to shoot a project, In Case it Rains in Heaven, which is the one that got published and exhibited a lot. I'd done the leg work in the two years leading up to Santa Fe. Doing the reviews. Meeting the curators. So I had my network ready. I went back to Hong Kong and shot the project, and I was able to show it to a lot of people in a very short period of time. From there it snowballed.

JB: ...You have a solo show up right now at the Jen Bekman gallery in New York, as we speak. You came up through the ranks of the Hey, Hot Shot! competition. You were chosen as their Ne Plus Ultra [in 2009]. And when people think of Jen Bekman, they often think of 20x200. $10 to the artist for each 8x10 print. How does that work? You talk about surviving on print sales, but you can't survive on $10 a pop.

KT: When I talk about print sales, I'm talking mostly about the galleries representing me. Jen Bekman has only [four] of my prints on 20x200. It's only those [four] prints sold through her that are from $10 a pop. My other prints sell for considerably more. They range from $600 to $6,000.

I think a lot of people have issues with Jen Bekman's model, 20x200, bringing the cheap prints into the market so people don't buy the expensive prints. But I've got to say, at the end of the month, they're the only ones who guarantee me a check every month. Whether it's $200 or $2,000, they never fail to sell something. Whereas my other galleries often go through three or four month dry patches.

JB: So the fact that there are [four] images out there for very little cost is not having any adverse effect upon the higher market value of what you do?

KT: No.

JB: People are going to want to hear that. It's a controversial subject, and you can only speak for yourself. But I have talked with Joseph Holmes about it in the past, who also works with them, and he's been very positive about how the 20x200 program works too.

KT: I think it's important what work is put onto 20x200. Obviously, they have a very strict curatorial process. They pick the best work, so as a photographer, with all the publicity it gets, it's tempting to give them your best shots. But it's important to put some of your best work aside.

JB: And what was the opening of the exhibition like for you?

KT: It was exciting... In reality, I think there is a difference between having a show in New York and a show in Europe. It's the buzz afterwards. In London, if you have a show, and you don't manage to get the newspaper or the bloggers down at the opening, they stop talking about it, and the show just fizzles out. But in New York, a lot of people didn't come to the opening, but since I left, it's kept going. I think it's a much more vibrant scene of online art critics, in New York, I find.

Source: A Photo Editor

Untitled, from the series Ash, 2009 by Mu Ge

From roaring rivers to vast oceans, from soaring mountains to barren desserts, the landscape that surrounds us (that many of us love to look at or visit but have otherwise lost touch with) is the thing that we call "nature." When we stare at nature, what are we really looking at? The dazzling beauty of it, one might say. But why just beauty? Is that all there is to see? When we set out to see things, we often do so with too many assumptions and preconceived notions. We tend to only see what we want to see, what we think needs to be seen, as if to prove something, either to ourselves or others. In doing so, we miss out on finding our own relations to the things we are looking at. To Contender Mu Ge's eyes, nature is full of traces of time and history.

Untitled, from the series Ash, 2011 by Mu Ge

In the statement for his latest series Ash, Mu Ge writes:

This time, my inner heart points to nature. Ash holds the nature as the subject of "generalization," striving to find a balance between mankind and nature with some sort of agreement and respect, and to find the spiritual values that we have gradually forgotten: From representation to daily life, from rocks to cloud and water, etc., all beings are constantly changing with time. It allows me to learn to reflect life with awe, and to learn to listen to the demand of nature. Yet the nature is there. The spirit of ancestor Lao Tzu also lies there. We have long been accustomed to accepting all kinds of changes, but we shall not forget the traces and eternity of time. I hope Ash won't only lay eyes on the world of representation, and duplicate images that the eye can see; rather, it will attempt to experience the value of each element in the nature, to give each element their recognition, to speak the truth, and to observe their turnover and eternity in time.

Untitled, from the series Ash, 2010 by Mu Ge

Moving on from his acclaimed and emotional documentary series Going Home, Mu Ge switches to large format to accommodate the scale of his new subject. But the same unique visual style found in Going Home—that slightly washed out, low contrast quality (probably contributed by his Cold War-era Kiev 60 camera)—still lingers in Ash. Lonesome figures, ruins and overlooked corners of nature are often the subject matter, many of them accompanied by fog, adding a touch of drama and timelessness to the understated images. The frequent use of closeups also brings out an extra earthiness—almost a dusty feel, echoing the series' title.

Untitled, from the series Ash, 2010 by Mu Ge

Mu Ge was born in Chongqing, China, and graduated from Sichuan Normal University with a degree in broadcasting and television directing. He currently resides in Chungdu and lectures at the College of Radio and Film at Chengdu University of Technology, while also working as a freelance photographer and photo editor. His Going Home series has been shown internationally, including at Format Festival, Derby; Nofound, in Paris; and Anastasia Photo, in New York. His work is currently part of a group show focusing on Chinese contemporary photography, and will be on view at Katonah Museum of Art in New York from March 25th to September 2nd.

Aquarius, 2011 by Brendan George Ko

Photographers, the entry fee will once again increase to $80 tomorrow, Thursday, March 1st. Lock in that $70 fee now, then complete your entry no later than Monday, March 14th at 11:59 p.m. ET for consideration to become a Hey, Hot Shot! First Edition 2012 Hot Shot.

At stake for one Grand Prize-winning photographer is $10,000, a solo show at Jen Bekman Gallery in NYC and two years of gallery representation. Plus (!!!) all entrants are reviewed for participation with 20x200. What are you waiting for?

On View

+ The Magenta Foundation's 2011 Emerging Photographers group show (which kicked off last year in Toronto) is being brought to the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, in Portland, Maine. Hey, Hot Shot! photographers in the exhibition include Brendan George Ko, Laurie Kang, Kurt Tong, Yijun (Pixy) Liao, Jessica Eaton and Justin James Reed. The opening reception is Friday, March 2nd, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., and the exhibition only runs till March 4th. And head over to the online Magenta Magazine, which features a portfolio of work by panelist Penelope Umbrico.

+ Cindy Sherman's work from the mid 1970s to the present is the subject of a retrospective at the MoMA in NYC. Featuring over 170 photographs, the exhibition is on view through June 11th.

+ Ansel Adams Los Angeles, on view at DRKRM Gallery, includes Adams' rarely seen work as a photojournalist: photographs of a prewar Los Angeles that were taken on assignment for Fortune Magazine in 1940. The exhibition will be on display through March 17, 2012.

With over 1.21 billion people, India is one of the world's most densely populated countries, on track to surpass China as the most populated nation by 2030. In two-time Contender Candace Feit's submission, the documentary photographer, using her Hasselblad, captured moments of solitude and tranquility by the sea in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Untitled, 2011 by Candace Feit

In India, where personal space is often limited, being close to the sea promotes a different set of relationships, as [people] often gather to use this public space—both in groups and by themselves. This work explores the loneliness and isolation that can be the result of the constant stimulation of the world around us—the noise and heat; the demands of family, friends and work—and that isolation in the face of the sea. I watched as people gathered by the seafront; surrounding them was a constant buzz of vendors, cotton candy sellers, fortune tellers—all of which gave it a feeling of a frenzied carnival.

Through these photos I try to explore the idea that while things in these environments are loud and dirty, and almost never tidy, it is still possible to find moments of peace. And as an extension, in these moments of peace there is often a sense [of] separateness or solitude. Using the moments of stillness I find in each of these scenes, I try to bring order to the often overwhelming surroundings.

Untitled, 2011 by Candace Feit

Untitled, 2011 by Candace Feit

Candace Feit has been working as a documentary photographer since 2004. In the past several years, she has‪ moved beyond stories to a deeper narrative‬ of people and their relationship to their environments and the objects within them. For these images, she chose to use 120mm film, as a way to slow down the constant shutter click and more deliberately compose her images. Her clients include the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, UNICEF, Save The Children (U.K.), Action Aid (U.K.), AFAR Magazine and The Globe and Mail. Candace recently relocated from New Delhi, India, to Johannesburg, South Africa.

In his series Visible Light, Contender Alexander Harding captures the way (sun)light reacts to his set ups, exploring "the sun's physical presence and quantitative character." Harding explains:

The sun, being the center of our universe, is the source for all that lives on our planet. It keeps us in a specific orbit, and its waves provide us with energy allowing us to thrive. Whether it is acknowledged or not, we all have a strong relationship with the sun. Its light enables our visual perception and, at times, shapes our emotions. Although the sun affects how we feel, its light remains mysterious and ephemeral. We can feel it on our skin and in our eyes, but it seems intangible to us. We cannot hold or preserve it. Through my work... I [aim to] give sunlight an environment to travel within and record its behaviors.

Light Reflecting off Two Mirrors, by Alexander Harding

He continues:

The word "photography" most closely translates to "writing or drawing in light." I think of my photographs in this way; not as only a visual record of a moment in time, but as images created by light. Events in light are unique, organic and fleeting. This being the case, I do not attempt to reproduce these events. I can only shape the environment the sun enters and the amount of light that strikes the film within a period of time. What I hope viewers attain from my work is a sense of the marvel that light is. Through my work I wish to remain grateful to light, which enables our ability to see, reminding us that perception itself is a gift.

Six Suns, by Alexander Harding

Little Dipper, by Alexander Harding

Alexander Harding was born in 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his BFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2002. In 2003, he completed an additional year as a special student in photography. In 2011, Harding received his MFA from MassArt. Using photography and other media, Harding's work explores our physical and emotional connections to sunlight. Since 2007, Harding has been an Adjunct Professor in fine arts at the Boston Architectural College. He lives and works in Wallingford, Connecticut. Work from Visible Light has appeared in Holy Ghost Zine and Fine Line, and his process and inspiration are discussed in this recent interview.

Reflection in Mylar, by Alexander Harding

Contender Caroline Hancox is no stranger to Hey, Hot Shot! Of her former submission, Stacy wrote that Caroline "allows herself a wide variety of tools in order to hit exactly the right note of dream-like, chroma-intense ephemerality." In her series Fringe, that tool is the Polaroid camera and her use of Polaroid emulsion lifts. Dreamy and delicate, Fringe's softness extends to the landscapes photographed therein.

Fringes #3, by Caroline Hancox

Hancox explains:

These are Polaroid emulsion lifts from a recent project exploring what happens in parts of the landscape where nature is creeping back into areas that have been destroyed/built on/neglected by humans. I love areas of landscape that on first glance are not immediately beautiful but on closer inspection reveal a previously hidden attraction. I used Polaroid film for these images because I like the unpredictable nature [of] the medium, in that every pack of film could have a different hue or slight imperfections. These characteristics have been exaggerated by the Polaroid emulsion lift process (removal of the emulsion membrane from the backing paper and transferral onto a different surface), and the delicateness of the end result mirrors the scenes in the images.

Fringes #4, by Caroline Hancox

Caroline Hancox is a photographer based near Cambridge, U.K. She specializes in the relationships between humans and their environment, where she finds the little details and beauty in everyday life that often go unseen and unnoticed. She was short-listed and highly commended for Professional Photography Magazine's "Photographer of the Year" competition two years ago, and she is currently working on personal projects and commissions.

Fringes #5, by Caroline Hancox

In seeking out "eccentrics" from the South, Contender Barnett Cohen met and befriended a man named Oliver, the subject of much of his portfolio. Rather than creating images that focus on his subject's eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, however, the series offers an intimate look at a willing subject, complete with relics and glimpses at a past life.

Oliver #1, 2011 by Barnett Cohen

Postcard, 2011 by Barnett Cohen

Cohen explains:

My photographs are short stories about individuals on the margins of the mainstream, and I weave fact and fiction into cohesive visual narratives. It is this interplay between realism and mystery that intrigues me most and that which I seek to flesh out in my work. Influenced by Southern Gothic writers such as Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner, I set out two years ago to make portraits of eccentrics in small towns across the American South. That is how I first met and began photographing Oliver, the subject of my portfolio. Though Oliver is unconventional, my photographs of him are not simply a testament to the trope of the Southern Eccentric. They reflect an intimate relationship based on even needs: He wants to be seen and acknowledged, and I want to see him in the starkest of terms. Alone in his life, I have become his sole witness. I listen as he meanders between the past and the present, his existence fragmented by memory. My photographs are therefore glimpses or snippets of Oliver, while the series of images gather these jigsaw pieces into a coherent portrait of the man.

Vitrine, 2011 by Barnett Cohen

Barnett Cohen is a visual artist/photographer who splits his time between Brooklyn and the Deep South. He is currently applying to MFA programs in photography.

Oliver #2, 2011 by Barnett Cohen

In Contender Roger Boulay's Stacks series, the photographer explores the intersection between photography and sculpture, creating and documenting hovering, suspended towers (at 60"x40") of newspapers and magazines.

Taken literally, some of the images in the series could represent the collapse of the print medium, a topic much discussed between 2009 and 2010, when these images were taken. But there's much more to the series.

Sag, 2010 by Roger Boulay

In his artist statement, Boulay explains:

In the series Stacks, I create five-feet-tall photographs of piles of newspapers and magazines that hover impossibly in space, frozen in a tenuous moment right before collapse. I give voice to the growing piles of detritus to allow viewers to consider how quickly "news" becomes old, and how consuming is ultimately unwieldy.

My work expresses some of the shifts of identity within our constantly changing and morphing culture. The sculptures topple and sway, erase and crumble, to articulate this vision of a totem that could stand unassisted. The layers of newspapers within these images—stories within stories we consume and discard—create a timeline of constructed identity, a spectrum of experience we express through our publications and press. Pockets of color create glimpses of advertising and images that draw the viewer in to the image to examine details of recombined text. Pinks and blues and greens make visual breaks in the slabs of gray paper. The larger forms of these structures create corporeal figures out of the residue and remains of our trash. They hang isolated in black, ghosts composed from the ephemeral, disposable media we purchase and throw away. Seen in a group, the stacks become figurative, signifying individuals with lives that are hard-won, bent and struggling to stand up.

Whiteout, 2010 by Roger Boulay

Roger Boulay was born in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He grew up in Norfolk, a more distant suburb in southeastern Massachusetts. He attended Amherst College, where he majored in Fine Arts and French. Boulay taught art at the Noble and Greenough school in Dedham, MA. In 2008, he moved to Albuquerque to earn his MFA in photography at the University of New Mexico. He also holds an MA in Dutch Art History from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. He currently teaches photography at the University of Kentucky.

Fracture, 2010 by Roger Boulay

With his Ebony 4x5 in tow, Contender Erik Lee Snyder set on a road trip in 2009, looking to escape the impact the financial crisis had on New York City. When he arrived in Shreveport, Louisiana, what he found was, in his words, "a place darker, more intense, and devoid of hope." Staying with a family in the outskirts of town, Snyder got to know his subjects closely, "eating their fried food, doing their drugs and swapping misery."

Baptist Church, 2009 by Erik Lee Snyder

Larry, 2009 by Erik Lee Snyder

In his artist statement, Snyder explains:

The images are not a documentation of pain or suffering, as pain cannot be measured or rated... The photographs of Port City are the sharing of the human condition, and the celebration of humanity in the United States only created by getting to know people, not subjects.

Larry's Trailer, 2009 by Erik Lee Snyder

Aleya's Room, 2009 by Erik Lee Snyder

Erik Lee Snyder (b. 1980, Atlantic City, NJ) is an American photographer. Equal parts honest documentary and strict formalism, Erik's photographs examine the collected ephemera of modern American culture.

Dennis Walks Home, 2009 by Erik Lee Snyder

Jericho. From the series The West Bank, by Philip Cheung

There's been a flurry of HHS! activity happening at Jen Bekman Projects recently. In the past weeks, three photographers found through Hey, Hot Shot! have released limited-edition prints on 20x200: Philip Cheung (three-time Honorable Mention), Laura Plageman (First Edition 2011 Hot Shot) and Kurt Tong (2009 Ultra). Speaking of Kurt, his solo show, In Case it Rains in Heaven, made its NYC debut at JBG in January and is on view through March 4th.

Stay tuned for even more Hot Shot goodness. Upcoming on the JBG schedule are two more HHS!-centric shows: the Second Edition 2011 Showcase, featuring work by the Second Edition 2011 Hot Shots, in March, and 2009 Ultra Mike Sinclair's solo show, in May.

AROUND JBP
+ Congratulations to Hot Shot (and 20x200 artist) Donald Weber on his first prize win in World Press Photo's Portraits-stories category for his series Interrogations. A photobook of the series was also recently published and can be purchased here. Donald's been receiving a lot of deserved attention lately—the Magnum Foundation's Emergency Fund recently named him a 2012 grantee.

+ Congrats are also in order for Hot Shot Alejandro Cartagena, who was shortlisted for a Sony World Photography Award for his series Car Poolers. The nod generated several write-ups.

+ Fans of Roger Ballen have lots to be excited about. The South Africa-based photographer teamed up with rap-rave crew Die Antwoord to co-direct their "I Fink U Freeky" music video. Meanwhile, the Manchester Art Gallery in the U.K. is gearing up for a major exhibition of the artist's work, on view March 30th through May 13th. Did we mention you can buy his limited-edition photographs over at 20x200 right now?! And, finally, if you'd like to join Roger and 1000 Words photography magazine on their photography workshop retreat, the deadline for applications is March 1st. The workshop will take place from May 5th through the 9th in Fez, Morocco.

ON VIEW
+ Inspired by William Henry Fox Talbot, Hiroshi Sugimoto's Photogenic Drawings returns to, and enlarges, the 19th-century inventor's original paper negatives. The collaboration is currently on view at San Francisco's Fraenkel Gallery and closes February 25th.

+ In Miami? The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse features sculpture, painting and photography by renowned artists from around the world. Included in its current exhibition are works by Mary Ellen Mark and John Baldessari.

+ Comprising three different series and including photographs of Kristen McMenamy, Vivienne Westwood and William Eggleston, Juergen Teller's current show at Lehmann Maupin in NYC is on view through March 17th.

+ David LaChapelle's new series, Earth Laughs in Flowers, will make its U.S. debut at Fred Torres Collaborations in NYC. The series includes 10 large-scale photographs of Baroque-style floral still lifes and will be on view February 23rd through March 24th.

+ Cindy Sherman's work from the mid 1970s to the present is the subject of a retrospective at the MoMA in NYC. Featuring over 170 photographs, the exhibition will be on view from February 26th to June 11th.