Dickens & Jones / Changing Room #2 by Michael Bodiam

La Pura Vida just released their list of the Top 15 Photography Websites of 2010 and we are delighted to see our name on their shortlist. The honor added us to the ranks with flickr, tumblr, Wired Magazine's Raw File, The New Yorker's Photo Booth, Daylight Magazine and a group of other amazing websites that we are proud to be in the company of.

In his thoughtful summation of HHS!, La Pura Vida Founder & Editor Bryan Formhals writes,

Photography contests can be a contentious topic but that's not why I'm putting Hey, Hot Shot! on the list. What I find interesting and think they excel at is writing about photographers. During their competitions they highlight the contenders on their blog and through intelligent writing they're able to describe why you should dig deeper into the work. Mixing business with artistic sensibility is a monumental challenge. Jen Bekman pulls it off without apologies. In fact, she coined one of my favorite quotes of the year: "If everyone likes what you're doing, then you're doing something wrong."

Thank you to the photographers who provide us with compelling and thoughtful work to write about, our readers that inspires us, and everyone else who helps make HHS! happen. Here's to an even better 2011 where most (but not everyone) likes what HHS! has to say.

Accolades abound for the talented Ms. Jen Bekman and her ingenious 20x200.com in the current issue of Domino Magazine. Hot Shot Matthew Tischler shares some of the limelight with fellow 20x200 artists Gregory Krum, Todd St. John, and Christian Chaize.

Hot Shot Jennifer Boomer's zine The Uncommon Vantage Point

Fall '07 Hot Shot Jennifer Boomer makes a zine, The Uncommon Vantage, and it was featured in the July issue of PDN. The zine includes images from Boomer's Dutch Harbor, Alaska adventures. Each is Ssgned and numbered and includes a 4X6 C-Print and a "cute" sticker designed by Leslie at Pancake Meow.

The PDN article, titled, "The New Portfolio" explains that, "Photographers are marketing themselves online and in print to potential clients in all kinds of new and interesting ways that are more portable and less expensive than traditional portfolios." It cites Boomer's zine as a particularly interesting mode.

The article, by Jay Mallin details:

"Smaller printing projects--still larger than the traditional promo postcards--are gaining some attention as well. Jennifer Boomer (28 and currently traveling, according to her MySpace entry) created a new portfolio by moving to Alaska and, photographing while working for a few months in a fish-processing plant. When she was done, she created a 'zine' to present her work to potential buyers.

As zines go, it's definitely upscale, with four-color reproduction and professional design in place of mimeographed monochrome. She sent it to 125 people she'd like to work with, from reps to editors to gallery owners. Again, no immediate jobs, but Boomer says she got a good response. "I felt like it was a good, positive step."

'I remember Jennifer's booklet, and I still have it,' reports Anne Lyse Tardivat, an editor with Agence Vu in Paris. 'I rarely receive such material. I guess it's not in the European style--yet.'"

Another Hey, Hot Shot! former intern of note: the work of Alice Wells was just featured on I Heart Photograph.

To see more images from Alice's great series, Take Me, visit her site.

This series is also part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Spring '07 Hot Shot Daniel Traub reports that the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired four images from his City's Edge series. The very series that won him a spot in Hey, Hot Shot!

Traub was also recently included in the PDN 30 2008 - one of 30 "new and emerging photographers to watch," by Photo District News.

And he's not the only Hot Shot featured on that illustrious list. Fall '07 Hot Shot Birthe Piontek and Fall '06 Hot Shot Shen Wei are honored there too.

Ian Baguskas's Rincon Artificial Island and Pipeline, Ventura, California, 2007 40x51" C-print

Peggy Roalf reviews Sweet Water, Spring '06 Hot Shot Ian Baguskas' current show at Jen Bekman Gallery, in Design Arts Daily.

She writes:

"In the last several years, photographers around the globe have taken up the plight of the earth, further endangered today through climate change, deforestation, and drought. The landscape, with human activities accepted as a 'natural' aspect of the view for better or worse, provides the raw material, from both a visual and philosophical standpoint. One of the most beguiling exhibitions on view in New York is 'Sweet Water,' photographs by Ian Baguskas, at Jen Bekman Gallery."

Baguskas' Sweet Water is up until May 3, 2008.

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

"It's a gateway drug for art."

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

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

"It's a gateway drug for art."

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

In the July/August issue of STEP magazine, Jen's 20x200 project got a nice little review -- "Art, Afforded" it's titled -- and alongside the great words about 20x200 was a lovely bit on Hey, Hot Shot!.

Her seasonal photography competition 'Hey, Hot Shot!' is like an American Idol for photographers, with a stellar rotating panel of judges and some pretty incredible exposure: winners receive a gallery showcase and an opportunity to be represented by Bekman.

Luckily for you, the next edition of HHS! will be opening tomorrow, your chance to be the next Amer--- I mean, Hot Shot! Check back to this blog for an official announcement at the start of the contest.

Untitled, from the series Concubines of New York by Fall 2006 Hot Shot Shen Wei

Fall 2006 Hey, Hot Shot! winner Shen Wei is one of those photographers who not only finds the time to make massive quantities of work that manage to remain cohesive and, well, good, but also is quite the man about town, with impeccable networking skills to boot. Oh,the juggle, he handles it well. Shen was recently awarded a Manhattan Community Arts Fund grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for his documentary project Concubines of New York.

And some older news, Hey, Hot Shot! panelist and celebrity blogger Joerg Colberg named him a Photographer of the Year, along with Amy Elkins and Richard Renaldi. And at the same time our own Jen Bekman was named an Innovator of the Year, Shen received an Honorable Mention for American Photo's Images of the Year.

AND... Shen's work in the Hey, Hot Shot! Showcase received press in two Chinese periodicals, The Sing Tao Daily and The Ming Pao Daily.

A translation from The Sing Tao Daily:

Shen Wei focused most of his work on portraiture, his portraits are sensual and sensitive, fully expressed his idea about body, persona and identity. In this 10 artists photography group show, he showed works from his series Almost Naked, "I like to look at American society from a Chinese perspective".

Oh yes, how impressive our alumni can be! Congratulations Shen.

The fabulous Jen Bekman taken by John Von Pamer for American Photo

American Photo has dubbed our very own Jen Bekman as an Innovator of the Year! A well earned title, if I may say so myself, and right in time for some major mile stones. The gallery is about to hit its 4-year anniversary and, if you glance at the past exhibitions, about to climb right on over the hill. Impressive, naturally, it's the JBG! And Jen stands in excellent company, other innovators (and Hey, Hot Shot! Panelists, of course) include Joerg Colberg of Conscientious, Caterina Fake of Flickr, and Lesley Martin of Aperture.

What will our innovator pull from her sleeve this year? Only time will tell, but the track record promises it will be nothing but fabulous!

Read more here.

Black Friday Frenzy at Macy's in Herald Square from Hot Shot! Casey Kelbaugh

Our very own Spring 2006 Hot Shot, Casey Kelbaugh, has a terrific, yet frightening photograph on the front page of today's New York Times. I don't know about you, but I've been trying my very, very best to stop being the good little consumer that I am and participate in Adbusters' Buy Nothing Day. This has proven far more difficult than I had hoped; I have a million and one excuses up my sleeves and 12 hours still remain. Luckily, I wasn't one of the thousands waiting in line outside of a department store at 4 a.m. on a freezing November morning; that takes some serious goals. Full of admiration, we are proud of our brave Hot Shot, shooting at risk of shoppers' stampede.

See the featured photograph and read the article here. Or even better be a rebellious rebel and get yourself a good ol' hard copy.

Chip's Drawing of a Robot From Outer Space by Spring 2006 Hot Shot Andrea Longacre-White

As we get closer and closer to the deadline—we have officially passed the two-week mark—there is more and more talk about town of Hey, Hot Shot! Props to the competition have been popping up all over the place...Daily Candy, Art Fag City, murketing, Design Observer, Conscientious, Modern Art Notes. A Hot Shot favorite, Alec Soth, recently mentioned the competition on his mandatory blog. Photo District News just gave us a shout out on their blog.

The word is spreading! Hot Shots will be announced on November 20.

Previous showcases have been a shortlist pick in The Village Voice and received mentions in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, Gothamist and Flavorpill, among others.

Stay tuned! Enter today!

Holly Lynton | Solid Ground : Hymenoptera

This isn't specifically Hey, Hot Shot! related, but it is fabulous gallery-related news! The excellent Vince Aletti writes about Holly Lynton's exhibition Solid Ground in this week's edition of The New Yorker.

HOLLY LYNTON

Exploring the possibilities for fantasy in her own back yard, Lynton turns it into a wild kingdom for a series of color photographs that assume the point of view of a playful and inquisitive child. Lynton's nearly naked little girl and a bare-chested friend take on a fairy-tale presence in a landscape rendered mysterious by worm's-eye-view closeups. He's a giant seen through a scrim of leaves; she's a sprite, crouching to catch a sprinkler's spray in her mouth. But some of the most intriguing images are unpopulated: a tunnel in the snow; a bird caught behind the netting on a raspberry bush; leaves, petals, dead bees, and dry ice floating in a plastic pool. Through Oct. 28. (Bekman, 6 Spring St. 212-219-0166.)

Space is very limited, so please RSVP: rsvp AT jenbekman DOT com. The show remains on view through Saturday October 28, and the gallery is open Wednesday - Sunday from noon - 6pm or by appointment.

Spring '06 Hot Shot, Andrea Chu, Jeff Liao, and former Hot Shot Honorable Mention Erica Shires in The Daily News

The Daily News recently wrote an article about three Pratt alumni, all graduated within the past five years, who have been named by Photo District News as among the Top 30 Photographers to Watch this year. Spring 2006 Hot Shot, Andrea Chu is among the three named in the article and said she looked up to the emerging 30 when she was in school. She felt extremely humbled to be selected.

PDN has an amazing selection is a great source of inspiration and motivation for young photographers! Surely, it has to be bookmarked!

The showcase for the Summer edition of Hey, Hot Shot is coming up soon. Mark your dates for Wednesday, September 6, 2006 for the opening reception!

It's that time again -- the deadline to enter the latest edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is upon us. The deadline for the Spring edition is next Monday, May 8 @ noon.

The competition has been getting lots of good play this week (and it's barely Tuesday!) -- first there was opening reception for jen@joe which features loads of excellent work from 2005 Hot Shots. You can see photos of the event over on Flickr: jen@joe Reception: Sunday April 30th.

Then, there's that article in the May issue of Art in America that talks about Jen Bekman Gallery, leading into it is a description of Hey, Hot Shot! We've posted excerpts on the JBG Blog, which you can read here: JBG in Art in America's May Issue.

Finally, yesterday evening, American Photo magazine posted an item on their website about the upcoming deadline: Hey, Hot Shot! Deadline Approaching. (But you knew that already, didn't you?)

OK, so that's the news, hot shot. Don't delay: Apply Now!.

Rebecca Smeyne, Winter 2006 Hot Shot and lead writer and photo director for myopenbar.com, was at a wild party in Manhattan called Happy Valley a few weeks ago where she took some photos. One of them was included in Anthem Magazine on April 19th.

Black Face Jesus by Rebecca Smeyne

Hedda Lettuce by Rebecca Smeyne

This excerpt from Anthem Magazine does its best to describe the scene:

"So this club Happy Valley has been getting mad NYC media love lately, and after last night's Joanna's Angels release shindig, I can certainly see why. It's like some weird amalgam of crass Eurotrash excess and a cocaine-fueled 1980s I never lived through; transvestites with big fake boobs; a DJ booth set in a gaudy disco ball; various people taking their clothes off; various people smoking inside and not getting yelled at; $11 plastic cups of Jack Daniels; a really flamboyant dude who was, I swear, wearing a jacket made out of an oven mitt; a 20-minute trailer of the Angels' porn, the plot of which was a bit hard to follow (presidential meetings and secret missions punctuated by bouts of tender, tender lovemaking); trying to sit next to various transvestites with fake boobs and/or wearing nurse's costumes in the hopes of procuring some of their Grey Goose bottle service overflow (which never happened); arriving home at 5 a.m. still wired and waking up feeling like somebody chewed on a vital corner of my brain. As a former college classmate of the lady in question, I can still remember when Ms. Angel was a saucy co-ed with a Web site and a dream. After last night, all I can say is--these kids sure grow up fast."

Paaarty.

Photojojo is a quirky and creative photo newsletter edited by an entrepreneurial duo: Amit Gupta and Kara Canal. They keep their readers both entertained and well informed with DIY projects and tips on how to become a proficient digital camera user. All good stuff.

It turns out they've just written a piece entitled "The 7 Best Photo Contests to Enter Today: You're a Star, Now Show the World," and Hey, Hot Shot! was on the list! Damn straight.