You only have 18 days left to enter the last round of competition in 2008!

Yes, that's a little more than two weeks but, really, I am STRONGLY advising you: don't put it off. Now (!) is the time to apply. Here's why:

* We have three lovely ladies lined up to post about your work on this very fine blog. Between the three of us, we'll be posting approximately twice per day, Monday through Friday, which means +/- 10 photographers per week will be featured here and getting publicity via lots of traffic on their portfolio sites and/or blogs (just one of the perks of entering, mind you!).
* AND, because we tend to get a LOT of entries attheverylastminute, now that we're all writing regularly, the odds are pretty good that you'll be posted about if you apply soon; at least the odds are better than they will be as we get closer and closer to the deadline.

Really, I just don't want to you to have to add "enter Hey, Hot Shot!" to your list of New Year's resolutions again, right before "floss regularly" and "eat more fruits and vegetables." While you're at it, you'd also have to add, "STOP procrastinating!"

So, cross it off your list. You'll sleep better. I promise.

By Spring '05 Hot Shot Rachel Hulin

I am going to guess that if you are reading this you are an "emerging photographer," or someone who is interested in "emerging photography." And if either of those applies to you then you probably already know about Rachel Hulin and her fantastic blogging about photography (emerging and otherwise).

But did you know that Rachel is a Hey, Hot Shot winner? Spring 2005.

Did you know that Rachel has a new blog?

Bookmark it. If you fall into one of the two categories above then hers is one of the most important voices you should be listening to about photography each day.

Untitled (Max) by Fall '05 Hot Shot Dorthe Alstrup

Dear Jen,

The next time you receive a 20x200 newsletter that contains a piece of art you really really want to buy, you need to just buy it. You do not need to first e-mail Jen B. to say, "OMG. I really really love today's 20x200 edition! I am going to buy it right now! XO, Jen S."

When you write notes like that and then click back to 20x200 to buy the edition in question it might be sold out in the size you want. I'm just saying. For next time, remember: purchases first, exclamations second.

Love,
Jen

P.S. I bought this one instead.

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.'"

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

"The other day's pineapples," by James Deavin

Remember that talk about websites? I still don't have all the answers. But I have a good example. James Deavin, a Summer '05 Hot Shot, has a great website and a great blog. James's last post, by chance, is about website redesign. He writes, in general, with a candid honesty that is refreshing. It is nice to see his daily snaps so close to his carefully edited portfolio projects.

And there are gems like this, ". . .using a camera/phone hybrid. These devices mean you can more easily ask your friends for advice on composition-related dilemmas." I never thought of the cameraphone that way before. Brilliant.

Spring '06 Hot Shot Sarah Small has a great website.

You've done the hard part: you make great photographs, you have folders full of images on your hard drive, piles of prints. Now it's time to share your work with the world. The number one tip I have for Hey, Hot Shot! entrants is: have a website. "Have a great website" is what I actually mean, but "have a website," any website, is a really good first step.

If you are entering a competition with an online-only application, then we already know that you have internet access. And, really, that is all you need to start a website to promote/present your work. One really simple way of putting your work online is Flickr. Flickr is a tool for sharing photos. You can sign up for an account, use their easy Uploader, and then organize your photos. You can present different projects in different sets and collections of sets. You can title your photos and provide descriptions. You can even choose privacy levels to protect who sees and doesn't see your work.

Another well-designed and incredibly easy-to-navigate site for making sites is Tumblr. Sign up for a free Tumblr account and then post your all your photos. The templates are clean and the dashboard is so easy to use. For a blogging site, it is definitely photographer-friendly. I have a regular website and I also have a Tumblr; it's that good.

Ready for something with a few more steps? Register a domain and program a website. Guides to web design are infinite, templates exist, and you could always either barter for design work or hire a great designer who gets what you're going for. This option is not as scary as it sounds.

Buying a domain and programming it yourself leads to my second tip. I look through applications, I sat in the room as our fabulous panel screened submissions, I've talked to a million people who look at photographers' websites, all of whom agree: do not use Adobe Flash. Flash has its uses, but your portfolio should not be one of them. To oversimplify: it is very, very annoying. Your photographs should be strong enough that I never need them to fly across the screen, or pop up, or dance.

My last tip is applicable to every website option above. Edit your work. Regardless of the platform you choose, the actual photographs and sequence of photographs is, by far, the most important thing. In a Hey, Hot Shot! application you choose three photos in a feat of editing that is difficult at best. On your website, show your stuff, but figure out how much to show. Try different numbers and arrangements. Think about the structure of work in terms of telling a story to your viewer. How much should you tell? Don't give away too much, but be sure to tell the whole story. How many stories do you need to tell, or how many bodies of work do you want to showcase? What caption information is necessary? It's important to think about the constraints of internet viewing as well. How many pages will someone scroll through, or how many thumbnails will someone open? Subtract a few from whatever number you first guess. Ask your friends where they really stopped clicking. Check your site stats to see what pages people look at, and spend the most time on. In an ideal world, you would edit your work in a way that promotes finishing it all.

There is more to website design, and to photographer's websites, of course. I'm certainly not the authority. But some other quick tips: make your name and contact information clear, consider a bio, a c.v., a statement. Edit everything for grammar. Keep it simple. No flash!

Yifatch Belsky, Diffusion 1

Here's where we really get into it. Inside Hey, Hot Shot! Yiftach Belsky entered this competition, just like, I hope, you have, or will. He selected three images and wrote a brief statement and I found it all earlier today, while looking through entries, while combing for Contenders. Belsky's three images were strong, and his statement intriguing, but it felt like something was missing. Like there had to be more to it than what I was seeing. And there is more, and because he has a super website, I can see it. A lot more. Great images. A more complete picture, entire stories even.

So, DO be sure to include your website when you enter. If you don't have one, make one. Not just for us, obviously, but because there are people out there, people like me, who want to pour through more.

Untitled (snow-trees) from the series "Broken Cinema" by Chris Bennett

In Chris Bennet's entry statement, he first quotes Jonas Mekas, which is nice, but tells me far less about his passion than his own great explanation that follows.

“It is not my business to tell you what it is all about. My business is to get excited about it, to bring it to your attention. I am a raving maniac of cinema. I capture what I see with my eyes into my camera, and in doing so, I use all my body – not only my eyes but my brain, my heart and each and every cell in my body. In addition, I think both memory and oblivion are important. Filming is a contradiction; I am very much stressed and focused at the very moment of shooting, but at the same time, it is a very relaxed moment.” -Jonas Mekas

This quote both captures how I feel about artist statements and how I truly feel about my work, but I know I can't get get away with that so here is what I have to say. ...

"Broken Cinema" contains images with a forward motion and a passing of time similar to that of a cinematic projection. Through these extended sequences of still images I hope to create an experience that could be considered cinematic in conception.

I'm not wagging a finger, but this is a good lesson, entrants: your words are really important. It's your statement. We want to hear what you have to say.

A few weeks ago, Rob Haggart at A Photo Editor put out a call for work. He curated a slideshow meant to forge new relationships between photographers, photo editors, and art collectors. It's up now, on his blog, and with an embed code so that others can host the show too. It's called I Like These Photos (to the point, perfect), and it features the work of 297 (!) photographers. It's a novel way of collecting images, for sure.

He writes:

Attention art buyers and photo editors, this is a free promo that’s meant to supplement all the other ways you find photographers to hire. I created it see if there might be an easier more efficient way to quickly look at 200-300 photographers. Compared to the weekly promo pile this works pretty good. Plus, if you’re like me, you remember a picture and not necessarily who took it so you can come back to this slideshow and find the name and website of the photographer whenever you like. This project only works if you find work you like and hire the photographer. I can create more of these but it’s a complete waste of time if it doesn’t connect buyers with photographers. That’s the only reason I did this.

Are you a photographer who missed out this time? Don't worry, Haggart promises, "we’re going to do this again with different editors in a couple months."

Have you done your taxes yet? Have you had your taxes done for you yet? One day to go, and yet, there's still hope. "Business of Art: Taxing Artists," a New York Foundation for the Arts article, has some great information that's relevant to photographers and other artists. For example, "...artists should also be aware of what is known as a Un-Incorporated Business Tax. If someone is a freelance artist doing a portion of their business in New York City, there is a tax form they have to complete in addition to their federal, state and city tax returns."

Winter '07 Hot Shot Mickey Smith

Why visit one gallery, when you can visit 75+ all at once? The AIPAD Photography Show runs today through Sunday at the Park Avenue Armory. "More than 75 of the world's leading fine art photography galleries will present a wide range of museum quality work by contemporary, modern and 19th century masters at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City," says AIPAD.

"AIPAD is dedicated to creating and maintaining high standards in the business of exhibiting, buying and selling photographs as art. Acting as the collective voice of the art photography dealers that make up its membership, AIPAD maintains ethical standards, promotes communication within the photographic community, encourages public appreciation of photography as art, concerns itself with the rights of photographers and collectors, and works to enhance the confidence of the public in responsible photography. AIPAD members provide a wide range of services to the public, such as exhibitions, appraisals, expert opinions and consultations."

And while an armory full of exhibitors can feel like overload, it's also a great chance to quickly visit with some people you might not usually have the time (or the access) to see.

By Rachel Hulin, shown in the Hey, Hot Shot! Spring 2005 Showcase

Rachel Hulin at Shoot the Blog has done all of the hard work for you. She's compiled a list of opportunities — competitive, fellowship, grant, publishing — open right now to photographers like you. It's an exhaustive list, so, seriously, you should really thank her. And report back on your progress.

P.S. More info about our own competition, Hey, Hot Shot!, coming soon.

P.P.S. Hulin, herself, is a Hot Shot; she showed in Spring '05, our very first show.

Untitled (Can I Come Home With You?) by Jane Tam

• Former Jen Bekman intern Jane Tam is selling inexpensive prints of her photos to finance her senior show. Such a simple, brilliant plan. Jane writes,

  "I am currently a senior at Syracuse University, preparing for my BFA Solo Thesis Show on May 3rd. Like many college students, I am immensely in debt from the costs of film, processing, developing, and printing. Frames cost money. Mounting costs money. The space I rented cost money. This is all for a solo show featuring my photographic series on my family. I do not ask my family for money as they are a working class family who struggle enough to put me through a private university. So, any little bit will help me. Thank you! For those who donate $15 or more will receive a 5x7 print in the mail."

  I love Jane's Can I Come Home With You? series. In it she sketches families from found family photographs into images from her own home life. Two great ones from this series are available among the prints in her store.

• I should admit, I do not know how to use Photoshop. It was only after I started shooting regularly on assignment that I figured out how to resize and rename my images before I turned them in to editors. I'm not proud of this. Since then I've been intrigued, but not hooked, each time someone shows me a free, quick-fix type tool. I've played with Picnik, etc., but I still have pages of steps bookmarked for the boring batch operations I must often perform. Last night I signed up to try Photoshop Express, Adobe's new free online version of Photoshop. The flash-based interface is easy to use, and there's even an Auto Correct option and some organizing options. A few minutes of playing with it didn't teach me how to do anything, exactly, but I'm willing to give it a try. Although, if you want to give me a cheap Photoshop tutorial, I'm up for that too.

  
  

• Rob Haggart, A Photo Editor, writes about an exciting new opportunity for free promotion:

  
  

  "I’ve wanted to do this for awhile and my thinking on the future of photography and photo contests and other things I’m cooking up has gotten me inspired to offer everyone the chance to promote your best work for free by submitting a couple images for a slide show. There’s plenty of photo editors and art buyers who are readers and I know they will find it extremely beneficial to view a quick slide show with hundreds of different photographers featuring their best work and I can’t think of any other examples where this exists, so here we go.

  There will be a bar for entry and I will edit out any photographs that are a waste of time for potential buyers to look at. I know there are a lot of top shooters who may be wary of submitting their photographs so I’m going to make sure all the work displayed is top notch. You can also remove your images at any time if you don’t think I’ve done a good enough job.

  The purpose of this is to connect photographers with buyers for FREE. That’s it. No bullshit. If that doesn’t happen to anyone then the project has failed."

  Rob has a good eye, and from this, it seems, a good heart. A no-bullshit approach to connecting shooters and editors seems generous on all fronts. Visit his site for details about how to participate in this Flickr-based image pool.

  
  

• Spring '06 Hot Shot Casey Kelbaugh founded Slideluck Potshow, a slide show and potluck gathering for artists in New York (that has since branched out to other cities too). The next New York event is tomorrow night, Saturday, March 29, at the Chelsea Art Museum. The theme is patterns. Artists of all sorts each get five minutes to show slides of their work while everyone eats and chats.

Painted Palms, California City, by Ian Baguskas, 2007 30x37.5" C-print

Ian Baguskas was a Spring '06 Hot Shot, a 2007 Ultra, and his "Kamping Kabins" is available now at 20x200.

Sweet Water, Baguskas' debut solo exhibition in New York City, is comprised of thirteen color photographs of failed oases of the American West. Please join us for the show's opening tomorrow, Friday, March 21, from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Sweet Water will remain on view at Jen Bekman Gallery through Saturday, April 26, 2008.

Baguskas is skilled at juxtaposing the refuse of habitats of modern aspirations with the vast land and otherwise open skies that those constructs interrupt. His images are quiet and still, non-snarky meditations on man's remaking of nature. In Sweet Water, he captures development (and attempts at development) of the land, and also the subsequent decay of much of that development.

He says, "...This lifestyle was only temporary, ending when the aquifers were depleted and the water ran out." He explores a dyed lake in Antelope Valley, 80,000 acres of desert known as the would-be Los Angeles of California City, Rincon Artificial Island and Pipeline in Ventura, and a tiny green driving range at the Silver Saddle River "resort."

Ian Baguskas was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1977 and moved to New York to attend The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where he received his BFA in 2000. Recently named a PDN 30, Baguskas was a nominee for the 2008 KLM Paul Huf Award. His Search for the American Landscape series was shown earlier this year in a three-person show at The Ice Box in Philadelphia, PA.

Sweet Water at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street.
March 21 - April 26, 2008
Hours: Wednesday — Saturday, Noon – 6pm or by private appointment.

The one and only 4 Million Dollar Home by Crumpler

What do the hottest of hot photographers do to stay on top of style? Well, they don’t wear vests and sling 5 straps around their shoulders. Hot Shots sport Crumpler.

That’s right. Crumpler has signed on as a Hey, Hot Shot! sponsor for 2007. Cool? Very. In fact it is as cool as Crumpler giving our 10 Winter Edition winners their very own drool-worthy photo bags. These are not just any ol’ photo bags, they are 4 Million Dollar Home photo bags. Jealous? Me too.

To tempt you: a fully padded, waterproof bag with all the necessary pockets to store your most treasured of equipment––the kicker, it’s simply a good-looking bag that we can sufficiently geek out over.

AND! We are proud to announce that each of the 10 Hot Shots will be at the showcase in full form. Juho’s heading our way from Sweden, Ben from the UK, our new west coast pack is trekking east just for us. They are all Manhattan bound! So do come say hello, support the work, schmooze a little, and see some Hot Shots don Crumpler goodies.

PS: If you need some easy entertainment, Crumpler has a pretty amazing website that everyone should pay a little visit.

It seems to me that one of the most difficult things about being an artist is getting one's act together and getting work out there. If only each of us would jump on every opportunity we ran across, well we'd be a lot better off––procrastination can be a killer.

Here is one not to miss, The Photographic Resource Center's annual juried exhibition EXPOSURE. An amazing resource, the PRC is "an independent non-profit organization that serves as a vital forum for the exploration and interpretation of new work, ideas, and methods in photography and related media." Their Annual Juried Exhibition promotes some of today's most promising photographers and is an opportunity not to pass up.

AND our own Jen Bekman has been asked to be guest juror for 2007 and will be giving a lecture there in March as part of the amazing line-up of speakers for the spring.

The deadline has been extended through February 18––that's Sunday!

Exposure: The Annual PRC Juried Exhibition
Deadline: February 18, 2007
Entries can be postmarked or hand delivered to the PRC by Sunday and the entry form can be downloaded here.

You're reading about it, thinking about it, so why not enter before it passes you by. Good luck!

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 SL 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: its a shame the 3star 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 beg. 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.

Sometimes people come by the gallery and introduce themselves and get to talking about how they're planning on entering the upcoming edition of Hey, Hot Shot!. I'm always happy to put some faces to names of people who enter the competition. If I'm sweating a deadline, as I so often am, I might not be as attentive and engaged as I'd like to be, so it goes, but this kind of interaction gets to the heart of the matter for me: The whole reason I started the competition is because I really do love looking at new work and meeting and working with emerging photographers, and Hey, Hot Shot! allows me to engage in this process regularly in a manageable way.

Anyway, these aspiring Hot Shots usually ask me for some pointers about what kind of work they should submit. My stock answer is this "Think of it like a haiku." Meaning: you get three chances to express something and although each expression might be wildly divergent from the next, there's something that ties them all together. OK, maybe it's kind of corny, but it's how I see it.

Panelist Eliot Shepard was less corny and more specific in his very thoughtful post on the slower.net weblog, Advice for those considering entry into the Hey Hot Shot competition at the Jen Bekman Gallery. His post caused quite a stir a while back - it got Kottke'd and then in turn inspired another post on the Signal vs. Noise blog entitled Art statements, Pitchfork, and fancypants analysis, which was a broader meditation on "fancypants, look-at-me analysis has nothing to do with good art or good rock ‘n roll." It was all good stuff, and the discussion threads on both posts are interesting reads. Jen says: check it out.

Also, and for the record, I'm not one for a lot of flowery prose when it comes to statements, but I do like to know what an artist has on their mind when they go about doing what that they do. It's just about that simple.

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.