Anne's Wedding, 2000 by Mike Sinclair

Guangzhou Zoo II, 2007 by Kurt Tong

We are pleased to announce photographers Mike Sinclair and Kurt Tong as the newest Ne Plus Ultras. Selected from 2009's ten talented Hot Shots, Sinclair and Tong have earned representation from Jen Bekman Gallery, and will be preparing for solo exhibitions and participating in art fairs over the next two years. Congratulations to Kurt, Mike and all of the 2009 Hot Shots!

We would also like to recognize each and every one of the 2009 Hot Shots for their talent and dedication. All of these photographers participated in group exhibitions at Jen Bekman Gallery—Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 First Edition and Second Edition—and many have limited-edition prints featured on 20x200. You can expect to see lots more from all of them soon.

All ten Hot Shots were chosen from an extremely competitive group of photographers who thoroughly impressed our esteemed panel: Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Alan Rapp, Kent Rogowski, Stefan Ruiz and Jeffrey Teuton. We'd also like to extend our thanks to every member of the 2009 panel for their time and commitment to Hey, Hot Shot!

2009 First Edition Hot Shots:
Michelle Arcila
Daniel Cheek
Mike Sinclair
Parsley Steinweiss
Kurt Tong

2009 Second Edition Hot Shots:
Marisa Aragona
Leah Tepper Byrne
Alejandro Cartagena
Jessica Eaton
Justin James King

It was difficult to select just two photographers from the talented group of Hot Shots, but Kurt and Mike emerged as the best fits for the gallery's roster. We look forward to continuing to work closely with both artists across all of the Jen Bekman Projects. Please join us in congratulating them.

Meet our newest Ultras:

Kurt Tong has worked and traveled extensively across Europe, the Americas and Asia. In 1999, Kurt co-founded Prema Vasam, a charitable home for disabled and disadvantaged children in Chennai, South India before becoming a full-time photographer in 2003.

Tong received a Masters in documentary photography from London College of Communications in 2006. He has since been chosen as a winner in the first Lens Culture - Rhubarb Photo Book Award, the Blurb Photography Book Now competition and the prestigious Jerwood Photography Award.

Kurt's photographs have been widely exhibited around the world at venues including: Jen Bekman Gallery in New York, Impressions Gallery in Bradford, The Royal Academy in London, La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Abbaye de Neumunster in Luxembourg and the CPA Exhibition in Chengdu, China. This summer and fall, several of Kurt's projects will be on view in the UK and France.

Mike Sinclair is an architectural and fine art photographer living in Kansas City, Missouri. His photographs are frequently published in the architectural press and elsewhere, including The New York Times, Metropolis, Architectural Record and Interior Design. His work is in several public and private collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, also in Kansas City.

In addition to the the Hey, Hot Shot! group exhibition, Sinclair has participated in Mixtape at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Hey, Hot Shot! 2010:

The 2010 competition is currently open for entries and we look forward to seeing your submissions. Follow competition news and updates on Twitter and Facebook, and read about featured contenders daily on our blog. The deadline for submissions is August 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). Apply now!

Colleen Plumb is a 2008 HHS! Ne Plus Ultra. Selected from all of 2008's Hot Shots, she's one of the newest photographers to be added to Jen Bekman Gallery's roster of represented artists.

Colleen was awarded her first solo-exhibition at City Gallery soon after participating in Hey, Hot Shot!. She is currently showing work from her series Animals Are Outside Today at van Straaten Gallery in Denver. Her photography is featured in the upcoming issue of Hotshoe and on The Rumpus. Hey, Hot Shot!'s founder, Jen Bekman notes, "I've seen many a series exploring our relations with the animal kingdom, but few have resonated for me in the way that Colleen's project does."

Plumb's prints are available on 20x200:
Field Museum Sue
Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green
Amish Horses

Congratulations Colleen!

Hosang Park is a 2008 HHS! Ne Plus Ultra, selected from all of 2008's Hot Shots he's one of the newest photographers to join Jen Bekman Gallery's roster of represented artists.

Hosang has earned international recognition for his series of aerial photographs of urban spaces in Korea. Since becoming a Hot Shot, his work has been shown at NEXT Art Fair, PULSE NY and was published in Landscape Architecture Magazine. Of Park's parks, Nicola Twilley wrote for BLDGBLOG:

[The] cornucopia of amenities - climbing frames, fountains, seesaws and swing sets, pagodas, grass, ornamental rocks, meandering paths, trees and flower beds, benches, ponds, basketball courts... even public art - are crammed together as visual shorthand for endless leisure. They are landscape as signage, a placeholder for the possibilities of a park.

Park's prints are available on 20x200:
Howon-dong
Uman-dong

Congratulations Hosang!

Hosang Park + Colleen Plumb are 2008's HHS! Ne Plus Ultras!

Selected from 2008's ten talented Hot Shots, Hosang Park and Colleen Plumb will be represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for solo exhibitions, presented for book publishing projects and exhibited at art fairs in the coming year. Previous Hot Shot group exhibitions and solo shows have garnered attention from the New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, PDN, STEP Magazine, and The Village Voice.

Congratulations to Colleen + Hosang + all of 2008's Hot Shots!

It was nearly impossible to choose this year's Ultras, but after careful consideration, Colleen and Hosang emerged as the best fits for the gallery's roster. They were selected from an extremely competitive group of photographers — everyone thoroughly impressed our esteemed panel which includes: Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin, Kent Rogowski and Stefan Ruiz. We owe much gratitude to every member of the panel for their time and commitment to Hey, Hot Shot!

We would also like to recognize every one of the 2008 Hot Shots for their talent and dedication. All of the year's Hot Shots participated in group exhibitions, Hey, Hot Shot! Volume IV Edition I and Edition II, at Jen Bekman Gallery and many have print editions featured on 20x200. You can expect to see lots more from all of them soon!

2008 First Edition Hot Shots:
Juliane Eirich
Kate Orne
Derek Henderson
Colleen Plumb
Roc Herms Pont

2008 Second Edition Hot Shots:
Yijun Liao
Hosang Park
John Mann
Donald Weber
Cara Phillips

Joseph O. Holmes is a Jen Bekman Gallery favorite. He was a Fall '06 Hot Shot and a Ne Plus Ultra, and he's had a few great 20x200 editions too. Kara Canal spoke (wrote!) with Joe about topics such as --

His favorite photographer:
"The photos of Thomas Roma, a friend from my neighborhood, have been a tremendous inspiration. It took me a long time to understand and enjoy Lee Friedlander's work, it was something I had to work at, but all of a sudden one day it all fell into place. And, of course, Alec Soth."

His influences:
"When I read or hear or see great art, I get filled up with an irresistible impulse to create. I used to read Don DeLillo, for example, and then immediately feel compelled to start writing, short stories pouring out of me. It was the same way with songwriting, and it's the same with photography: Alec Soth's Sleeping by the Mississippi powered me for days."

His own art collection:
"We have paintings and photos from friends on our walls, but I don't consider us art collectors in any way. The term 'art collector' suggests to me certain investment motives. This is exactly the kind of attitude Jen Bekman is battling with projects like 20x200."
His 20x200 favorites:

"I really enjoy Jason Polan's delightful drawings; Eliot Shepard has the freshest eye I ever knew; I'm really envious of every photo I see by Brian Ulrich; and Bert Teunissen's mission is wonderful and his photos are gorgeous."

And she gets the dirt on what Holmes is working on now, what he'd be working on if it wasn't photography and more!

Read all of Kara's interview on the 20x200 blog.

Katarina, from Hot Shot Karolina Karlic's Dear Diary series

Spring '07 Hot Shot, Ne Plus Ultra, and 20x200 contributor Karolina Karlic is in a show. Work from Karlic's Dear Diary series is up now through November 8 at the Independent Feature Project in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The IFP notes:

The lush large scale prints of ... Karolina Karlic radiate a sensuality revealing everyday lives longing for meaning and connection.

...

Intrigued by the motivations of those that post Internet classifieds through "Missed Connections" on Craig's List, Karolina Karlic sought out the posters to create her images. Perhaps by helping to complete their need for connection she was able to draw them into collaboration to make photographs of vulnerability and longing in our contemporary world of impersonal Internet communication.

On the art-inspired-by Craigslist ads note, check out the songs of Gabriel Kahane's "Craigslistlieder." The music has been touted as, "His song cycle, Craigslistlieder, art-song settings of eight anonymous posts he found on the ubiquitous personals/classifieds website Craigslist, has won over fans and critics with its affiliation of raucous pop culture and deft high-art craft. " And it is true. Perhaps it's time for a music and photo show for Karlic and Kahane together.

P.S. Only one print is left from Karlic's 20x200 edition (pictured above)!

P.P.S. Full disclosure: I shot some photos for Kahane's recent album.

anhm #30 by Hot Shot and Ultra Joseph O. Holmes

Without fail, each batch of Hey, Hot Shot! entries includes work made inside the American Museum of Natural History. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. We love the museum too. Just a fun fact. And maybe something to keep in mind when shooting. Those scenes have probably been shot before. If you must shoot there, make it work in your own way. (Another day we will discuss shopping carts, for you seem to also really love shopping carts.)

My favorite example of AMNH work is from Fall '05 Hot Shot and Fall '06 Ultra Joeseph O. Holmes. His diorama series is splendid, and can be found on 20x200 as well. (There is only one print of this edition left!)

The Museum itself recently launched an online portal into its own archives of photographs, "Picturing the Museum: Education and Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History." It is worth a look.

Shoot The Blog reprints a great Sugimoto quote about the dioramas:

"Upon first arriving in New York in 1974, I did the tourist thing. Eventually I visited the Natural History Museum, where I made a curious discovery: the stuffed animals positioned before painted backdrops looked utterly fake, yet by taking a quick peek with one eye closed, all perspective vanished, and suddenly they looked very real. I'd found a way to see the world as a camera does. However fake the subject, once photographed, it's as good as real." - Hiroshi Sugimoto

In New York City, it is hot. In Ultra Ian Baguskas's Kamping Kabins it looks nice and cold. You don't have an air conditioner, eh? Buy a print from 20x200 and dream. There are still some prints, in all three sizes, left of this great work.

Baguskas writes:

Kamping Kabins is from my project, Search For The American Landscape, which looks at the relationship humans have with nature; specifically, the conflict between our inherent love of nature and our desire to alter it and need to take from it.

These images were inspired by photographic surveyors such as Timothy O'Sullivan and Carlton Watkins who explored and documented the land and settlements in the old West by photographing landscapes not only for their beauty but also as a record of places that few people had seen before. My photographs, however, are of landscapes that have experienced human exploration and the subsequent impact from the growing demand for convenience and natural resources.

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

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!

Then and Now shots by Ultra Kate Bingaman-Burt

You have two days to get yourself into the jb to see the Hey, Hot Shot! ne plus ultra annual. The work of Ultras Ian Baguskas, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Alison Grippo, and Joseph O. Holmes is up and on the walls through Saturday for your viewing pleasure. It's a fantastic show, if I can say so myself, and if you are in NYC you absolutely do not have an excuse—see the show!

A little motivation in Ultra updates, facts, and fun:

Ian is busy, busy, busy—working on a book and getting his prime portfolio together. I take it as a good thing that he doesn't have time to respond to my emails full of silly requests. We are, of course, expecting nothing but ultra-goodness.

Kate, busy as ever, spends her days as Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Mississippi State University. If you're in the Milwaukee area, Kate's got a show up at the Paperboat Gallery through March 29. And she will be a presenter + panelist for Art For Consumption: the 36th Annual Pop Culture Conference in Atlanta on April 13.

Alison is applying for grants and waiting for warmer weather. Her work can be found in this month's edition of the UK magazine Digital Photographer, her boxing work is to be featured in a magazine based in the Ukraine later this Spring, and she has an article and photo essay on New Orleans heading to press. In her free time, Ms. Grippo has been donating her photography skills to Henry Buhl's Project Comeback. And we can expect to see some new and fabulous work, she shot her first pro-fight last week in Lancaster, PA and apparently L-O-V-E-D it.

Joe continues to consistently produce excellent work and plans to give over his spring to just that. To keep your interests piqued, some random facts from Joe's past: For twelve years Joe was a criminal appeals lawyer in the Legal Aid Society's offices on Park Row. As an aspiring screenwriter, Joe was represented for a time by a Los Angeles literary manager. For another bit of time, he built and maintained the site Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. And he was a Contributing Editor at MacAddict Magazine from the very first issue in 1996 until it turned into Mac|Life magazine last month. For fun, his high school band Ozone did an amazing cover of "All the Young Dudes."

I'll leave it at that. You have Friday and Saturday to see the work live—go!

Untitled, from the series Workspace by Joseph O. Holmes

Tonight Jen Bekman Gallery presents the second annual Hey, Hot Shot! ne plus ultra, also known as the HHS! 2006 Annual, the creme de la creme of Hot Shots. That's four fantastic artists in one show! We've got Ian Baguskas, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Alison Grippo, and Joseph O. Holmes. Yes, that is quite hot. And the kicker: It's the top of the hill for the JBG, the 40th exhibition!

Come and help us celebrate the big day.

Hey, Hot Shot! ne plus ultra
(2006 Annual)

Ian Baguskas | Kate Bingaman-Burt | Alison Grippo | Joseph O. Holmes

Opening Reception: Wednesday January 24 | 6pm - 8pm
Exhibition Dates: January 24 - March 3, 2007

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St (between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC 10012 | +1.212.219.0166

Untitled, from the series Friday Night Fights by Alison Grippo

Choosing the best of the best is never ever an easy task. With so many excellent photographers gracing our walls over 2006, it was next to impossible to narrow the number down from 40 to 4, but nothing is impossible for the JBG. We are bouncing off the walls with excitement over our Ultra selection. Not only are they extremely talented, intelligent, creative, and fun loving, they are now the newest additions to the Jen Bekman Gallery family. And how proud we are!

Watch out for our 2006 Hey, Hot Shot! Ne Plus Ultras...

Ian Baguskas
Kate Bingaman-Burt
Alison Grippo
Joseph O. Holmes

Our Ultras pretty much sum up the excellence that is HHS!. The fantastic four will participate in the 2007 HHS! Annual, join the too amazing to believe panel, will be represented by the gallery for 2007, and work towards what I'm sure will be four fabulous solo shows.

Save the date. The Hey, Hot Shot! ne plus ultra Annual opens January 24, 2007. Here we come!

From the series Three Star by James Deavin

Here it is. The second segment of my interview with James Deavin. Enjoy!

Alice: Visually your show is not that different from your earlier work, other than it is shot in another world... It is an impressive body of work. Were you working on the SL shots before NYC, HHS!, and your Ultra status?

James: No I started 3 months before the show opened. In the meantime I made work in the UK, in Bourneouth, a series called 3 Star...And some other stuff in NYC... I was introduced to Second Life and logged in w/ the sole intention of making pictures. I wandered around for 3 months without interacting really with anyone working out what it was all about

A: Did you figure it out?

J: it's a shame the 3 star stuff has been TOTALLY overlooked because of the SL stuff...Figure what out?

A: What it's all about? This Second Life... I'm joking, you don't need to go there. I'm still somewhat in awe over it, that's all.

J: WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT????? SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE. Well I know I have different opinions on what its all about to everyone at Linden Labs. I am writing an essay at the mo, on photography and SL, that makes it all clear.

A: I anxiously await.

J: It just fascinates me how it is possible to approach an entire world through the medium of perspective.

William Henry Jackson and his glass plates and camera gear

A: I can't help but imagine you virtually lugging your view camera around that treacherous landscape... That's still how it is in my mind.

J: Heh...Well that's the funny thing about it. That camera in SL was made for me! I mean its really mad in fact - there is NO way that camera system has been used by anyone to its full potential until I came along... it is a view camera.

A: A pioneer... THE pioneer.

J: How would non view camera users know that, or want to know that, its bizarre in fact... I asked Philip Rosedale about it at the opening. he said: "We made it for you."

A: sweet!

J: ...and 77mb file sizes! who would use that?? Except someone who wanted to make 40/50 prints??

A: It is a bit crazy.

Photographs from the New World by James Deavin

J: The funny thing is... I thought the SL images were a massive step backwards at first. They reminded me of the stuff I was doing in the RW at age 25 or something. You know just wandering around, taking pictures, whistling, taking pictures, all very innocent... Stuff like Three Star seemed to have much more depth to it. It was only as i started reading about and looking at still life painting that the penny dropped, and i saw how the SL stuff could develop.

A: Some of the SL shots would have gone over very very well in my beginning Large Format class...

J: right. its all straight verticals and so on. is that what you mean?

A: Basically.

J: And sharp back to front! Without focusing! Joy!

A: It amazes me how much talk the work generates.

J: I always forget to focus my view camera. it can be really annoying (when i get the film back) I am an expert "sharpener' in Photoshop...

A: How's the SL lens...?

J: what talk, Alice?

A: I got into a 30 min chat with someone in the gallery the other day about the work and SL

J: Wide angle.

A: Some people just won't stop...

J: Which is ok, although use normal to long in RL.

A: Maybe they'll make options...

J: do you get the feeling that people are thinking about authorship???

A: No, I don't...I think it's more the "mind trip" it takes them on...

J: OK...but wouldn't they get that trip through the computer screen too?

A: It seems we're all so caught up in the idea of a photographer documenting another world in the same way that he would document this one.

J: Right.

A: I thought it was a show of novelty at first, I will admit... However, no longer the case.

J: lol

A: It's good stuff. Anyways... Do you have any advice for aspiring Hot Shots and/or the new round of winners?

J: OK. My advice is that you could have a great opportunity on your hands. There can be no better way to get a show up quickly in NYC, with great people. That and remember to focus and stop trying to be William Eggleston...I mean, really!

From William Eggleston's Guide

A: Remembering to focus, not always an easy task. But Eggleston, he might be even harder to let go of...

J: and STAY OUT of SL!! Incidentally, where do you study?

A: Chicago

J: SL is my turf!

A: Oh we're all moving in, and never sleeping again.

J: Do you take pictures? Do you have an avatar? Questions questions! Role reversal!

A: Yes. And in fact I am still taking pictures.

J: What's your avatar's name? (Send them to me.)

A: Alie Wheels

J: Oh yeah? Brill.

A: flickr.com/photos/akwells

J: Do you think Flickr is a good medium for a portfolio?... Alie wheels -that makes me laugh!

A: It's not necessarily bad. But, my website is still a work in progress, stay tuned...

J: So do you need to know anything else, alie wheels?

A: I think that'll do. You're too kind to offer your time...

J: Well get back in touch if you need anything else, pleasure. Nighty night.

A: Will do. Sleep well.

Installation view of Photographs from the New World by James Deavin

This Wednesday from 6-8 pm jen bekman will be hosting what promises to be a rather intriguing artist talk. Marisa Olson of Rhizome will moderate a discussion between James Deavin and Eva + Franco Mattes about their respective projects documenting Second Life:Photographs from the New World and 13 Most Beautiful Avatars. Still somewhat mystified by this virtual world, I am anxious to hear what the artists have to say. Find out more about the event here.

To wet your whistle, last week I interviewed James about Hey, Hot Shot!, the show, and Second Life. Today I give you the first half of our little chat. Check back tomorrow for Part 2 and on Wednesday come hear him speak live in the gallery.

And we're off!

Alice: I'm new to this IM thing, at least it's been a while. I just got AIM and I downloaded Adium.

James: ok. well this works. i just like Skype cos they have the best emoticons, they rock

A: Well, I'll have to look into it then...

J: this one doesn't have ANY and that's bad

A: It does the trick... So your show is bringing them in in droves.

J: i see a world in the future when we all communicate solely by emoticons...Oh really? Droves?

A: And they're all asking for you.

J: Alice. I know Jen is putting you up to this.

A: No, I too think it's a bit silly to be so far when there is so much good going on here

J: Well no one has actually told me what i would physically do if i were in NYC...

A: Well, just being here would be enough.

J: erm

A: In the air... Anyways. How about this "interview"?

J: ok

A:You're the first Hot Shot to have a show at jb...That's pretty exciting AND it's a great one at that...Can you sum up in maybe a few sentences how HHS! has changed your life? To really lay it on you...

So that was a big question... Let me start over. Not too long ago you were a Hot Shot, then an Ultra, and now have a solo show that is starting quite a buzz. That's a lot for such a small amount of time.

J: So... HHS! well i just moved to NYC and was looking to meet people you know...

A: Did you enter before you headed this way?

J: No, and to be honest I cannot remember how I found out about the competition either. I thought it was unusual for a gallery to be doing something like this and I wasn't sure how it would develop. I was entering competitions generally, like Art & Commerce Emerging Photographers for instance... anyhow, for me, it got good when i started talking to Jen.

A: How so?

J: Well I like Jen and she is v. helpful in dealing with getting everything happening. Basically I liked working with her... I didn't even know there was an "ultra" part to the competition or the possibility of representation I was just entering competitions to get known.

A Summer 2005 Hot Shot winning image by Deavin

A: HHS! is a thing all it's own--there really is nothing like it, it's true. Did you win any of the other competitions?

J: I got stuff shown at Art & Commerce and quite a lot of stuff back in the UK. That's the thing about HHS!, though, it turns out there is much more of a future to it - the other comps just give you one chance to show in a large group show (like i thought HHS! was too), but it turns out HHS! has a future. . . . It's funny though, the fact that it's not "traditional" is very off-putting to many artists. The art world is so conservative.

A: So true. But because of this a lot of great work gets out there that otherwise perhaps would not get the chance, at least so early on. Do you think HHS! jump started some things for you here in NYC? Or set you on a different track as a photographer?

J: Well sure HHS! got me going gallery-wise in NYC. It's a tough nut to crack and it has given me amazing exposure that I am extremely grateful for...I'm not really on a different track though, I am still doing pretty much my own work and I do not think I have become more "art" orientated than anything else. I still hope my practice is not defined by where it is seen entirely...and I love the idea of growing with a gallery.

A: Photographs from the New World is a pretty, I hate to use the word, provocative show, one that might not have been as easy to sell to just any gallery.

Visit jen bekman on Second Life. Coordinates: Hooper (128, 28, 46)

J: It's perfect for jbg if that is what you mean. I don't know how hard it would have been to "sell" it to other galleries as I never tried... provocative, maybe but its hard to get an appointment at them!

A: It's perfect for jb. We practically live on the web over here...

J: I mean for an emerging photographer you have to show at group shows and befriend people in the industry, you know, pay your dues. HHS! is a different version of this...

A: So true. Trying to focus, sorry. thoughts everywhere.

J: The difficulty, and I know this isn't the point of the interview, is getting everyone else to believe this!

To be continued...