photolucida

Success Story - Evgenia Arbugaeva at Newspace!

2012-01-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

I first saw Evgenia Arbugaeva's work at Lensculture/FotoFest in Paris year before last and was instantly intrigued. Apparently the other reviewers felt the same way as they awarded her, out of all the attending photographers, the 400 Euro prize from Blurb.

I was happy to see she submitted work from her Tiksi series to Critical Mass this year (2011), where she was one of the initial book award finalists. Evgenia gracefully declined the inclusion as she felt she is not done with this series yet - she still has a few more trips to Tiksi to build on this body of work.

Newspace's Laura Valenti Jelen saw Evgenia's work jurying Critical Mass and gave her a show which opens tonight - thank you, Laura!

Evgenia's work transcends "documentary" or "ethnographic" photography. It shows us a stage-like, playful world that seems to exist through a childhood vantage point. This might make sense as she grew up in Tiksi, which is located on the Siberian coast of Russia.

Evgenia's world is a magical, ethereal world (slightly science-fiction-y) that has been created through her poetic imagination, instead of the perhaps more realistic frozen, remote community that logistically is hard for a traveler to reach. To visit, one needs a special permit because of its strategic and military importance since the years of the Cold War.

Opening is tonight! See you there!

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CALL FOR ENTRIES - 2012 Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers

2011-12-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Blue Sky established the Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers in 2007 to create a public archive of original prints by contemporary photographers based in the region. The juried Drawers program has become a favorite part of Blue Sky's programming, available to approximately 25,000 visitors annually.

To coincide with the upcoming Portland Photo Month (April 2012), Blue Sky is expanding the geographic scope of the Drawers to include up to 80 photographers from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia and Alaska. If you are a photographer in one of these states, this is a great opportunity to potentially have your work in one of the most esteemed photographic arts centers.

Jurors this year are Clint Willour and Laura Moya.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, December 23, 2011, and there is no entry fee.
Details can be found here!

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Success Stories this Week!

2011-12-09T11:15:00.001-08:00

Ann Jastrab sent a Rayko current show - Carl Corey's 'Wisconsin Tavern League' - post card in the mail to us with the note:

"A Photolucida 2009 find! Finally getting Carl in the gallery..."

Also, up at Rayko Photo Center this month, work - 'Urban Wilderness' - by Joseph O. Homes, a 2010 Critical Mass participant.

From Critical Mass 2011 participant Jane Fulton Alt:

"Just wanted you to know that 'The Burn' was featured on the front page of the online Morning News website today...I am sure it must have been from Critical Mass exposure...

Many thanks!"

Also, we would like to send a big THANKS to the seemingly tireless Aline Smithson, who has featured many Critical Mass 2011 entrants...

Christopher Chadbourne, Carli Davidson, Bill Viccaro, Meg Birmbaum, Jackson Patterson, Cynthia Bittenfield, Sebastian Liste, Bootsy Holler, Michael Marten, Katarzyna Majak, Kenneth O'Halloran, Michael Mergen, Michelle Frankfurter, Susan Worsham, Daniel Beltra

...on her blogzine, Lenscratch the over last few months.

image: Carl Corey - 'Marty, Chippewa Club, Durand '

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Jeff Rich's 'Watershed' on the way to the printer!

2011-12-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

We are excited that the design phase of Critical Mass book award winner Jeff Rich's book is complete and on the way to the printer! It has been fun to see the final details come together - the last round of the copy editing done, the final decisions on colors of cover fabric, endpapers, the foil and H & T band. It will be gorgeous!

Please check out Jeff's website dedicated to the progress of the publication: WATERSHED - The French Broad Basin Book Project

Jeff will have some copies air shipped to Atlanta for the opening of his exhibition at the Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, opening reception on February third. The bulk of the books will arrive end of February and go out to all participating 2010 Critical Mass photographers and jurors shortly after.

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Some Fun Success Stories!

2011-12-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

On the local front, Jesse Rieser is opening his show 'Christmas in America: Happy Birthday, Jesus' tomorrow night (Friday, Dec. 2nd, 6pm) at Newspace Center for Photography and will be giving a lecture on Saturday at 1pm.

Jesse met the Newspace folks at Photolucida last spring. Jesse is also part of the current Top 50 Critical Mass finalists. Need to get in the mood for the upcoming holidays? This will get you started.

Also fun to see Portland photographer Carli Davidson (Critical Mass finalist) has a show at Pushdot Studios - 'Tiny Beasts'. Carli's 'Disabled Pets' series caused quite a (good) stir with Critical Mass jurors.

Some other news that has crossed our desk:

Just wanted to let you know that I offered Evgenia Arbugaeva (from Critical Mass) a show at Newspace in January. I fell in love with the work and we had an opening in the schedule. So glad I found her in CM!

- Laura Valenti

Just wanted to let you know that I've posted six images by Martin Karplus on PDN's Photo of the Day. I had met him and reviewed his work at Photolucida.

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2011/10/11530

- Darren Ching

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Critical Mass 2011 Book Award Finalists

2011-11-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

This year it was extra-hard! After much deliberation over the many worthy projects, Photolucida is pleased to share the following six photographers have been selected as the book award finalists!

Daniel Beltrá
Kirk Crippens
Scott Dalton
David Ellingsen
Jennifer Hudson
Larry Louie

You will notice that type of work represented above varies quite a bit in aesthetic and intent, but has the common denominator of being strong, compelling imagery. We are happy that artists doing such varied photographic work are all supported by the Critical Mass jurors despite aesthetic definition.

We look forward to seeing their respective book proposals and selecting the Critical Mass 2011 Book Award. Check back for updates in mid-January when we will make the award announcement.

Congratulations to the above photographers!

CM 2011 - Blue Sky Solo Exhibition Award winner is Nigel Dickinson

2011-11-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

Photolucida is pleased to share that Blue Sky has awarded Nigel Dickinson the Solo Exhibition that will be shown at Blue Sky in April 2012. The series he submitted to Critical Mass this year, 'Smokey Mountain, Cambodia' truly wowed everyone.

Nigel is a British photographer based in Paris, and he accepted news of the award while on an assignment in Bogotá, Columbia. His work focuses on the environment, human condition, marginalized communities, sustainable development, identity and culture.

This is the second year for the Photolucida - Blue Sky exhibition award collaboration and we're excited that Nigel Dickinson's April exhibition will coincide with the second annual Portland Photo Month.

We hope you'll have the opportunity to stop by Blue Sky in April 2012 to see Nigel Dickinson's work!

Photo: Youth recycling worker with lamp, before sunrise, Smokey Mountain

Success Story - Corinne Vionnet's 'Photo Opportunities' Published!

2011-11-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Corinne, for sending us this note:

My participation in Critical Mass has offered me great opportunities and has resulted in a publication with Kehrer Verlag, an exhibition at the Photo Festival in Denver, and also generated various contacts and some useful feedback from jurors. It has been a real encouragement to continue my work.

The publication of my first book on the series Photo Opportunities has happened in different steps. Critical Mass has played a key role in that publication, as Alexa Becker from Kehrer Verlag was one of the jurors and was able to see a selection of my work there first. After that, we had the chance to meet the following November at Paris Photo where I showed her prints and we were able to meet each other in person and discuss options for a book.

I would like to thank the whole team from Photolucida, and for their support to photography and photographers.

If you are lucky enough to be in Paris during Paris Photo right about now, you can attend one of Corinne Vionnet's book signings:

OFFPRINT, Friday, November 11th at 6:00pm
Book signing organized by Kehrer Verlag at Vice Versa stand

PARIS PHOTO, Grand Palais Saturday, November 12th at 4:30 pm
Book signing at - The Empty Quarter D02

Group Field Trip to Lishui International Photo Festival in China!

2011-11-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

As we speak, a good-sized group of American curators and photographers are hanging work at the Lishui 14th International Photography Festival in China. The curatorial direction is "American Life". Yan Li and Wang Peiquan reviewed on behalf of the festival at Photolucida last spring, and many of the exhibiting participants were found at our reviews.

We are happy that many folks that have been part of Photolucida's programming are attending: photographers Fran Forman, Noelle Swan Gilbert, Chris Churchill, Michael Kirchoff, Kirk Crippens, Ken Sklute, Andy Freeberg, Wendy Sacks, Aline Smithson...and curators Ellen Fleurov, Bob Morton, Ann Jastrab, Jennifer Schwartz, Crista Dix, Melanie McWhorter, David Bram...

We look forward to hearing your stories of cross-cultural communication, navigation of the international language of photography, the variety of interesting regional dishes sampled, and experiences visiting the Lishui WalMart!

Photo - From the 2009 Lishui Festival: Nine temples housed the exhibitions, Americans (Laura Moya, Desiree Edkins, Betsy Schneider, Sarah Wilson, Amy Miller) on the red carpet, curious spectators at Lori Vrba's exhibit.

Critical Mass 2011 - Top 50

2011-11-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

The votes have been tallied and we're ready to announce the Top 50*. But before we do, a reminder, as we've said many times before, Critical Mass is a match-making system. It's true the list below is exciting and it's an honor to be selected, but for all those who submitted to Critical Mass 2011 and don't find your name below, your work was looked at by some of the most esteemed photography industry professionals throughout the world and good things happen, even to those who don't make the Top 50!

Now, on to the list. A hearty congratulations to the following and a huge THANK YOU to our dedicated Pre-Screeners and Jurors!

Colette Campbell-Jones

Christopher Capozziello/AEVUM

Nigel Gordon Dickinson

Philipp Scholz Rittermann

Please visit our website to see images from the Top 50 submissions. To see one image from each Top 50 photographer in person, check out the traveling exhibition that will tour the West Coast in Spring 2012. Starting in February, 2012 the exhibition will be at Photo Center NW in Seattle, then in April at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, and concluding in May at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco.

* Technically, we had a tie for the 50th position this year. Rather than boot someone from the list, this year's Top 50 includes 51 photographers.

New Directions 2012

2011-10-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

The deadline's coming up for New Directions 2012 at wallspace gallery.

Juried by Debra Klomp Ching

submissions open through November 5! more info here.

We Love Success Stories!

2011-09-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know my success story from Critical Mass. My first monograph will be released at ICP book signing October 21st. The relationship I developed with the publisher, Charles Lane Press was a direct result of Critical Mass. Richard Renaldi became familiar with my Interior Relations portraits through reviewing work on Critical Mass. We subsequently made contact with each other and things went from there.

Thanks for your efforts with supporting the photo community.

Ian van Coller

I thought you'd like to know that our next show, Mary Ellen Bartley, is definitely a Critical Mass success story. We saw Mary Ellen's early book project the first year we were Critical Mass jurors. Saw the Paperbacks and Blue Books the following year and now are blown away by the Standing Open series.

Jan Potts
Corden|Potts Gallery

So my Photolucida opportunity wasn't directly from the 20min meetings (still working on those) but through the Indie Photobook Library and it's director Larissa Leclair.

My artist book project is now a part of the IPL collection and subsequently has been included in an exhibition at the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, MA. The exhibition opens this month.

All the best,
Ian Whitmore

Thought you might be interested in a success story coming out of Critical Mass. I'm sure that you folks put a HUGE amount of effort into this competition - time for some favorable feedback.

One of your jurors, Robert Morton, a former long-time picture-book editor and now agent, contacted me after seeing my work in the 2009 Critical Mass and going to my website for more. He contacted me, offering his services to get my work published in book form. I had already started on a book project and was happy to join forces with him.

This is just what one hopes for in entering these competitions and your stellar cast of jurors is perfect for getting one's work seen by influential people in the field. Thanks for all your hard work.

Best Regards,
Martin Miller

I'm pleased to inform you that Jesse Louttit was one of the photographers included in the September Issue of PDN for our feature "Film School: 8 Things Photogs Need From Video Clients," we ran three of his images for the piece.

I reviewed his work at Photolucida, and he just showed me his video work during the session based on my bio requesting to see video project.

Best,
Darren Ching

We just announced the representation of Jennifer B. Hudson as a print room artist with the gallery. We met and reviewed Jenn's portfolio at your review event.

Debra Klomp Ching
KLOMPCHING GALLERY

Critical Mass 2011 Follow-up

2011-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

As previously noted, the 200 Critical Mass 2011 Finalists have been selected! As these photographers complete their finalist registration and we prepare the work to go out to the 200+ Jurors (listed on the left), we would like to take a moment to share a bit about the Critical Mass process:

First - the voting.

We currently use a custom-designed, web-based program to accept and distribute images and text. (In the early days of Critical Mass, submissions were on CD and voting was done on paper!) Since then, we have developed an online system that can both accept incoming image files and text AND allow secure access to jurors around the globe so that they can view and score the projects. This system is also used to tabulate the rankings, track entrant payments, generate the 'All Entrant' and 'Finalist' CDs, among other banal behind-the-scenes administrative tasks. While this program is one of the Critical Mass expenses (that necessitates entry fees), we've invested years into it's development and this year it is at the top of it's functionality. This is important both because it makes submission the easiest it's ever been for photographers and runs seamlessly, so the Jurors can focus on the photography itself and not the system.

What the system does is show each Juror EVERY image by EVERY photographer. In the Pre-Screening round, that means that 25 Pre-Screeners saw EVERY one of the 7,000+ images submitted (for the Finalist round, more than 200 Jurors will see ALL the Finalist images). Each photographer's images are all presented on one page with links to the artist statement and artist info. Jurors have the option to enlarge the images to full screen and as well read the statement and pricing info - they can choose to read the artist statement before or after viewing the images. As Lauren Henkin mentioned in her post about her experience as a Pre-Screener "Remember, all of what you apply with, from website addresses, to pricing, to writing, to image preparation, gives jurors clues as to your credibility as a working artist—best to use every opportunity to show that you are working and connected to what is happening in this community." Each aspect of one's submission is an opportunity to distinguish oneself. While not every juror will pay the same attention to every aspect of a submission, the information is there for them to spend as much time as they wish with.

About those Pre-Screeners.

Some might wonder - Why the Pre-Screening phase? Why not just send all the work to the Jurors? Our Jurors are some of the best and brightest photography book publishers, collectors, curators, editors, festival directors, gallerists, and more from around the world. Their time is often limited and in order to fit Critical Mass into their busy schedules, we have to keep the volume of work presented at a reasonable level. Our Pre-Screeners are a dedicated group of Jurors who want to be a part of the process of culling all of the submissions down to the Finalist group. Their contribution is huge and greatly appreciated!

Votes, scores, and rankings and...where do all the numbers fall?

First, as mentioned, all of the Pre-Screeners voted on all of the entrants. If a Pre-Screener (or Juror in the Finalist round) doesn't submit a vote for every entrant, we don't count their votes when tabulating the rankings. Statistically, the difference could be small, but given the fraction of percentages we're dealing with, one person's incomplete votes can actually change the rankings. So, we make sure a vote is entered for every participant in order to keep things statistically fair for all.

As for the hard numbers: Our programming automatically translates the subjective personal rankings into a numerical system in order to come up with the Finalist and Top 50 lists. When tabulating rankings, the programming gives us numbers that look like this: 1.7916666666667. The point is - try not to worry about the specific number that is be linked to your entry. Yes, they are used to rank the work. But, in the end, the goal is to get your photos in front of people who will connect with them. Numbers are the most efficient way to narrow all the submissions to an amount reasonable for the Jurors. While it is an honor to be selected as part of the 'Finalist' or 'Top 50' group, the real "winnings" come in the form of being a part of a community larger than oneself and connecting with people who want to see your work. Remember, all work ends up on the "All Entrants" CD, which is distributed internationally.

An additional note: we specifically seek out jurors with a wide range of tastes, preferences, and photographic needs so that entrants have the best chance of connecting with a Juror who might love their work. This means that the "winners" are not limited to the Top 50 or even the Finalist group. Which brings us to the last topic of this post.

Photographers who didn't make the Finalist round, but have found fans among the Pre-Screeners:

It happens every year - Pre-Screener favorites don't always make the Finalist round (ie: when former Photolucida Board Member and Critical Mass 2009 Pre-Screener, Chris Rauschenberg, recently posted some 2009 non-Finalist favorites on his website). Since the 2011 Finalists were posted, we've been receiving emails from Pre-Screeners about work they loved that didn't make the list:

Susan Spiritus was the first one to email. She wrote immediately following the announcement "I am VERY sad to see that Ellen Jantzen did not make the cut! Her work is not only fabulous, but so unique in style!" She also mentioned, "...Tim Hyde, whose work I have been watching for years, now, and am very surprised that he did not make it to the finals either."

Paula Tognarelli followed by writing "Two people I was disappointed that didn't make the cut for Critical Mass were Bremner Benedict and Tara Sellios. Both are from the Boston area and both have stellar bodies of work that deserve note."

George Slade "would have gone to bat for inclusion of Sarah Christianson, Gina Dabrowski, Tara Sellios, and several others as Finalists." Slade also noted that there's "something about a jury selection process that eliminates submissions that are more unusual; consensus typically smooths out the rough edges, those 'outliers' whose jaggedness calls for attention."

Claire Annette Mussard wrote "I found interesting the work of Alinka Echeverria. And she received a big prize from the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation."

Christina Spielvogel emailed the following:

Three of my favorites didn't make the Finalist list:
1. Dimitri Mellos - It's difficult to believe that his submission didn't make the cut! Mellos's NYC street photography is richly layered and surprising; his brings new energy to a disappearing genre.
2. Emma Powell - strangely beautiful collodion images.
3. Shaun Hines - finely-crafted black and white images.

Finally, Photolucida Director, Laura Moya, gave the following report:

Twenty-one photographers that I gave the highest mark did not make the Finalist list! Of course there are a strong handful that I wish had:

Brooks Dierdorf's series "Trophy" is a powerfully eerie series that shows hunting trophy images sans hunter, giving the visual importance to the slaughtered animal and suspending it somewhere between life and death.
Elizabeth Orcutt's "Mother Series" is like sitting through an art history class - but viewing the familiar images with the artist's self-imposed facial features. Her version of Dorthea Lang's iconic 'Destitute pea pickers/Mother of Seven Children' image will be forever seared in my memory.
Ross Sawyer's "Dismantled Rooms" series documents intentional destruction to rooms vacated because of a house's foreclosure. They are images of vandalization, but also beautiful abstractions.
Kirsten Hoving's "Night Wanders" series is gorgeous - inspired by Joseph Cornell and his work with astronomy, she photographs objects placed under disks of ice to create the feelings of galaxies and spiral nebulae.

Other photographers whose work I made note of and hope others do, too: Wendy Given, Cecilia Portal, Heidi Romano, Lindsey Beal, and Daniel Orlando Lara. The work of all these people will be on the CM2011 "All-Entrant" CD...

We strongly believe that even if your work didn't make the Critical Mass 'Finalist' round, if it found a fan, that fan will remember! Keep working, keep sharing the work and eventually, great work will get noticed.

Critical Mass 2011 FINALISTS

2011-08-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Critical Mass Pre-Screening process is finished, and Finalists have been selected:

Sandy Alpert
Jane Fulton Alt
Mariam Amurvelashvili
Amy Anderson
Ri Anderson
Chris Anthony
Evgenia Arbugaeva
Jessica Auer
Susan A. Barnett
Rachel Barrett
Mary Ellen Bartley
Steven Beckly
Daniel Beltra
Chris Bennett
Hollis Bennett
Anne Berry
Guia Besana
Tatyana Bessmertnaya
Meg Birnbaum
Cynthia Bittenfield
Aaron Blum
Tami Bone
Michael Borek
Nadine Boughton
Mark Brautigam
Shelley Calton
Colette Campbell-Jones
Christopher Capozziello/AEVUM
Christopher Chadbourne
Chung (fanky) Chak
Scott Chandler
Ronit Citri
Elizabeth M. Claffey
Daniel Coburn
Christine Collins
Beau Comeaux
Kirk Crippens
Michael Crouser
Maisie Crow
John Cyr
Katrina d'Autremont
Scott Dalton
Carli Davidson
Marc Davidson
Christopher Dawson
Brad DeCecco
Jason DeMarte
Julie Dermansky
Nigel Gordon Dickinson
Mitch Dobrowner
Carolyn Drake
Maureen Drennan
Jeremy Dyer
David Ellingsen
Andrew Emond
Harlan Erskine
John Faier
Mark Fernandes
Elizabeth Fleming
Fran Forman
Michael Forster Rothbart
Michelle Frankfurter
Misha Friedman
Lucia Ganieva
Helen K. Garber
Candace Plummer Gaudiani
Ayala Gazit
Ann George
Andres Gonzalez
Meggan Gould
Joshua Dudley Greer
Laura Griffin
Bryan David Griffith
Christoph Grill
Brett Gundlock
Yuji Hamada
Deborah Hamon
Corey Hendrickson
Lori Hepner
Amy Herman
Gabriela Herman
Liz Hickok
Nicole Jean Hill
Sarah Hobbs
Jeroen Hofman
Bootsy Holler
Jennifer Hudson
Yaakov Israel
Stella Johnson
Kakha Kakhiani
Loli Kantor
Brian Kaplan
Michael Kirchoff
Heidi Kirkpatrick
Alex Kisilevich
Ellen Kok
Richard Kolker
Astrid Kruse Jensen
Kevin Kunishi
Alejandra Laviada
Rubi Lebovitch
H. Lee
Jim Leisy
Isa Leshko
Fritz Liedtke
Beth Lilly
Sebastian Liste
Dina Litovsky
Gloriann Liu
Larry Louie
Benjamin Lowy
Mark Lyon
Katarzyna Majak
Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman
Michael Marten
Anne Leighton Massoni
Bill McCullough
Heather McDonough
Michael McElroy
Mary Beth Meehan
Michael Mergen
Leigh Merrill
Nick Meyer
Rizwan Mirza
Alyssa Miserendino
Viviane Moos
Elizabeth Moreno
Bridget Murphy Milligan
Jerome Nakagawa
Jesse Neider
Landon Nordeman
Kenneth O Halloran
Paccarik Orue
Lydia Panas
Deborah Parkin
Mary Parsi
Jackson Patterson
Bradley Peters
Rachel Phillips
Walker Pickering
Alexis Pike
Caleb Plowman
Alessandro Puccinelli
Susana Raab
Christopher Rauschenberg
Mike Rebholz
Jason Reblando
Justin James Reed
Ron Reeder
Suzanne Révy
Ali Richards
Joachim Manuel Riederer
Jesse Rieser
Jenny Riffle
Alejandro Rivas
Nick Rochowski
Kent Rogowski
Sanford Rose
Diane Rosenblum
Harold Ross
Irina Rozovsky
Fred Runkel
Jacinda Russell
Wendy Sacks
Lynn Saville
Jennifer Schlesinger
Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Dona Schwartz
Christine Shank
Geoffrey H. Short
Rebecca Sittler
Matt Slaby/LUCEO
Alix Smith
Jared Soares
James Soe Nyun
Catie Soldan
Rafael Soldi
Jane Alden Stevens
S. Gayle Stevens
Youngsuk Suh
Daro Sulakauri
Lacey Terrell
Bryan Thomas
Sherwin Tibayan
Bill Vaccaro
Ian van Coller
Stephen Vaughan
Jim Vecchi
Aaron Vincent Elkaim
Corinne Vionnet
Lori Vrba
William D. Wade
Jo Ann Walters
Toshiya Watanabe
David Welch
Grace Weston
Kate Wilhelm
Sarah Wilson
David Wolf
Susan Worsham
Marcus Yam

If you're among those listed above, within the next few hours you will receive an official email with information about how to proceed. If you do not receive this email by the end of the day (Monday, August 29th), please contact me immediately.

If you're not among the Finalists, please know that your work has been seen by of a fantastic group of Pre-Screeners who were really invested in the Pre-Screening process. We’ve heard from them that they were impressed with the quality of work this year. As has happened in the past, it is inevitable, that some of the Pre-Screeners favorites didn’t make it to the Finalist round. So, if your work found a fan, that fan will remember. Regardless of the results, you made a wise choice to believe in your work by submitting and that, alone, is valuable.

Thank you to everyone for being a part of this process! We are grateful for the opportunity to see your photographs and hope that this process leads to new prospects for you and your work.

Thoughts on the Pre-screening process

2011-08-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

These past couple of weeks I've been pre-screening the submissions for this year's Photolucida Critical Mass program. I've never juried anything of this scale before and while I'm used to critiquing and reviewing work one-on-one with photographers, this is a completely new experience for me. 700 photographers + 7,000 images = a ton of work... and a unique opportunity. There have been countless times that I've submitted my own work to competitions and for juried shows, never to understand the perspective of those looking at the images, what they might be looking for, what order of priorities might be in place, what the level and quality of the other work submitted was. I thought that by writing my experiences in jurying, it might give my fellow artists a glimpse into how to better prepare for submissions. Let me preface all of this by saying that this is merely my own perspective. Other jurors, most likely, have different priorities when viewing work, and may have a different process for viewing work online.

All that being said, here are my thoughts:

Artist Statements
For me, it's critical to read each artist statement before I look at the images. I'm sure the reverse is true for many jurors, but I want to have some idea about what I'm going to see and what the intent of the artist is before delving into imagery. I read every artist statement. Because there are so many entries to see, I have to read quickly, so the statements that get read in full are those that are limited to about 3 short paragraphs. I have to say that about 85% of these statements need major work. The language is often vague, process-oriented, filled with art-speak, and generally, not helpful to understanding what the work is about. I truly believe that I'd rather see something like, "I made these images simply because I felt compelled to do so." than most of what I'm having to read with these entries. If you are not a good writer, or struggle with writing about your work, try to write three paragraphs and answer the following questions:

Why do you photograph?
Why did you make this work?
How does this work relate to who you are as an artist?

If you can just answer these clearly, you'll be way ahead of what's out there.

The Viewing Process
These images, on both my laptop and desktop at my studio, are larger in size than what exists on many blogs or social media outlets. When the images load, I see the top of the image first and as it loads down I begin to see the rest. This is a small point, but I found it interesting how many times I noticed technical flaws in images because I was forced to see the tops, or edges of the image before the centers. If you have blown-out edges, or a lot of digital noise in the upper part of your image, that's what I saw first. Just a reminder to make sure you look at your files from corner to corner, not only where the focal point of your image may be.

Hierarchy of Ratings
There are four ratings that you can give to a body of work. Naturally, I save the lowest score for work that I cannot connect with in any way, and the highest score for work that I feel is publication-worthy. The trouble areas are in the middle. How I decide between these middle ratings depends on how I answer two questions, Do I feel this work is or should be still in development? and Have I seen enough that is at a high level of quality that I would want to see more? If I feel that the work should still be development, I go with the lower of the middle scores. If I feel that it could be complete, or close to completion and that I'd like to see more, then I give the higher of the middle scores. This can be tough at times, and where strong sequencing and editing really help.

So what am I evaluating when looking at these portfolios, specifically? This is the list and the order varies depending on the intent of the artist and my own interpretation of the work (keep in mind that the list is in no particular order):

Concept
Subject
Composition
Technical Ability (how well are the online images crafted - please no more purple skies)
Writing
Beauty (yes, this does matter to me)
Mood
Context

Other Notes
I made some other notes on interesting things that I've seen.

1 One photographer submitted nine images instead of ten. I actually appreciated that. It said to me that this person was confident enough to realize that they didn't have ten strong images and that they would just put forth what they thought was worthy. If you don't have ten really strong images, but you have nine, maybe it's worth just submitting those? I don't know how other judges reacted to this, but I found it interesting.

2 A few photographers used one of their ten entries for images that weren't photographs in their portfolios. For example, one used an installation shot which I found very smart because the installation of the work was very important to how I interpreted the images. Another used a shot of an actual book which is how they saw their work being presented in it's final format. Seeing these were extremely informative in understanding how the artist would want the work presented.

3 With pricing, if you're not sure what to price your work at, you should do some research and try to go to more gallery shows where you can see what similar work is priced. I saw a range of prices, from $75 up to $4000. I have to say that if someone prices their work at $100 for a 16x20 print, it does make me wonder how much experience they have in showing and how active they are in the community, because you would know that for a relatively accomplished photographer, a 16x20 print would sell for much more than $100. Remember, all of what you apply with, from website addresses, to pricing, to writing, to image preparation, gives jurors clues as to your credibility as a working artist—best to use every opportunity to show that you working and connected to what is happening in this community.

4 A ll of us should read at least once, Bruce Fraser's Real World Book on Sharpening, my bible for sharpening images. There are so many files that I see online that could be made so much better if sharpened properly. I'm not going to use any of the images I saw with the submissions as an example, but below I have one of my own. The first is undersharpened which is what I'm seeing in most cases with the entries. The bottom one is sharpened to how I would want it viewed. Again, this is a personal preference, and maybe most felt that they wanted a softer look, but with so many like that, I started to question it.

My hope in writing this is that you might think as carefully about the presentation of your submissions that are viewed online as you do for galleries.

Lauren Henkin
www.laurenhenkinblog.com

Critical Mass Pre-Screening Notes

2011-08-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Where are we in the Critical Mass 2011 process? Most pre-screeners are close to finishing up their jurying, and Photolucida will announce the finalist list the week of August 22^nd. Everyone who entered will receive a CD with all the 2011 submissions inclusive in September.

Finishing up my own pre-screening, I thought it might be interesting to translate some notes jotted down into a general look at the content trends (‘trend’ in this case meaning ‘direction’ and not ‘fad’) of this year’s Critical Mass – what ideas/content are emerging photographers spending their time, talent, and emotional energy on?

The notes below are a neutral look at some general trends. No category or example is meant to have more weight or importance over another.

Image prices varied greatly - from $15 to $9,000.

Imagery mediums ranged from iPhone jpgs, expired Polaroid film, ambrotypes w/black fabric, large format w/150 year old French Petzval lenses, encaustic work, photographs frozen under ice, mordancage.

A loose attempt to categorize some of the submissions:

Literal imagery (trees, landscapes) to conceptual (the photographic interpretation of the word ‘sic’), to three dimensional (photos on saws).

Multiple entries of night photography, blurred photography.

Natural disasters: floating oil spills, tsunami damage, wildfires.

Self: self-portraiture over time (polaroids, passports), middle-class identity, adoption, self portraiture taking cues based on Victorian spirit photography, examination of self as man in pink tutu, childhood memories.

Cultural sub-groups: Neo-nazis, Klanspeople, Freemasons, marijuana farmers, rubbish dump pickers, Hasidism/Greek Orthodox Christians, women healers, opera characters, South African gangs, people with chickens, roller derby people, hunters, scavenger hunters, cage fighters, Japanese apple farmers, Jewish culture in Morocco, Burmese refugees, ice fishers.

People with disabilities: formal portraits of, blind people choosing to be parents, prom at a school for the blind.

Sex: drag queens, sex parties/clubs, S&M, porn industry, prostitution.

Nudes and naked people: abstract and non-abstract.

Family: parents aging/dying, children in modes of play/evolution, motherhood and fatherhood issues, working through suicide of a spouse, siblings in institutions, mother/daughter relationships, family members with cancer, same-sex parents, mental illness.

Abstracts: nature, peeling paint, graffiti, the body, food molecules, stained glass.

Chernobyl (the aftermath of, the tourism destination spot of).

Animals: disabled pets, aging animals, kennel club dog shows, the equine, the family of simianus, bats & fireflies.

Places you may or may not be familiar with: estate sales, garden shows, yard alters, zoo exhibits, examining rooms, funeral homes, public restrooms in department stores, NYC lobbies, spots where overdoses occurred, soccer fields in rural South Africa, African clinics, abandoned lace factories, voting booths.

American landscape: Yellowstone, Las Vegas, Appalachia, a ‘piano farm’ in North Carolina, Blackfoot Indian reservation, the Snake River plain, the Catskills, road trips, small towns, large cities, amusement parks, sustainable farms, the psychology of “the West”,

Public Spaces: Urban sprawl, man-made environments, tourism, theme parks.

Incorporating one’s own face into existing art/photographs.

Artful documentation of physical aspects of photography: developer trays, viewfinders.

Economic Recession: undeveloped real estate sites, abandoned houses, middle-class struggle, farmer suicides, deserted auto dealerships.

Military – training grounds, children playing war games, realities of Iraq & Afghanistan, the JROTC, Sandinista & Contra veterans.

Hard to categorize: jello cityscapes, explosions, how the inner psyche reflects the culture at large, journal of dream recordings, liminal spaces, people with freckles, protected memory, psychological landscape, interpretation of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

It has been amazing to see so many varied projects cross my computer screen - so many worlds to absorb and think about - thank you!

Critical Mass 2011 Closed...BUT other options

2011-07-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

If you missed registration for Critical Mass 2011 do not despair, there are plenty more opportunities for great photography, such as...

Due TUESDAY JULY 27th! En Foco's New Works Photography Fellowship Awards (entry is FREE!), juried by Michael Mazzeo DEADLINE EXTENDED TO AUGUST 4TH!

Also due TUESDAY JULY 27th! Summer New Artists Feature Application Call from Culturehall

Conscientious Portfolio Competition 2011 juried by by Joerg Colberg, Caroline von Courten, and Michael Mazzeo (also, FREE!). Due August 21st.

For those photographers who reside in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, or Alaska; the Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers at Blue Sky (also FREE), juried by Clint Willour and Photolucida Director Laura Moya. Due December 23st.

Critical Mass 2011 - 24 MORE HOURS

2011-07-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Due to some complicated issues with the registration system during closing of Critical Mass 2011 Registration, we are offering an EXTRA 24 HOUR EXTENSION.

We apologize to anyone inconvenienced by the registration issues on Friday and hope that you will be able to take advantage of this extra 24 hours to participate.

Registration is open NOW from 11:00 am PDT today (Monday, July 18), through 11:00 am PDT tomorrow (Tuesday, July 19).

Please note, the system will lock at 11:00 AM. Any unfinished submission (with less than 7 images or missing text) will not be included in the jurying process. Please do not wait until the last minute to complete your submission.

Critical Mass 2011 - Still Time Left to Register

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Let the Final Countdown begin!

Critical Mass 2011 Registration

Open until Midnight PDT

Critical Mass 2011 Closes this Friday, July 15

2011-07-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

If you're thinking about entering Critical Mass 2011, there's still time. Registration will remain open until Midnight PDT, Friday July 15.

Five days left!

Oh and don't just take our word for the value of Critical Mass, check what some past participants and jurors have to say about the program.

Field Trip to Mongolia!

2011-07-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

Photolucida's Laura Moya is on her way to Mongolia later this week to the Xiang Sha Wan Week of Photography. She has curated work for the "Folk Culture and Non-Material Heritage" exhibition with the (above) work of Kathleen McLaughlin (Critical Mass 2006) Nancy Newberry (Critical Mass 2009), and Jane Alden Stevens (Center's Reviews 2010). Nancy and Kathleen will meet up with Laura in Beijing and they will travel to Mongolia together.

Last December, some other Critical Mass participants (CM10) made the same trip (Thomas Michael Alleman, Lauren Semivan, Justine Reyes, Chris Rauschenberg). A great account of this trip by Brook Jensen is blogged about here.

Laura also participated in the Lishui Photo Festival in China in 2010, curating work by Desiree Edkins and Lori Vrba, both who have entered Critical Mass. Says Laura, "It is great to find work for curatorial projects in our own programming!"

Reminder, Critical Mass 2011 closes in NINE days on July 15.

Critical Mass...Money, Money, Money

2011-07-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Every year, as people around the globe weigh the pros and cons of entering Critical Mass, the question of money comes up. Critical Mass has a two-tiered entry fee - $75 US ($90 International) to enter and $200 if you make the Finalist round. In fact, last year at about this time, the same question was addressed on this blog. Click the link and scroll down for insights from Photolucda founder, former board chair, and Critical Mass entrant Chris Rauschenberg (yes, he can now enter as he retired from the Photolucida board in June 2010 and hasn't been a Critical Mass juror since 2009) about why Critical Mass was created.

But still, where does all that money go?

Photolucida is a 501c3 non-profit (or not-for-profit). As a federally-recognized non-profit, in exchange for not paying taxes we ensure that all of the income the organization takes in is used to further the mission. This means no one person or group of persons is making money from our programs. Instead, Critical Mass income goes towards:

A portion of staff salaries and overhead to ensure we have basic facilities/equipment to run the program.
Payment to a programmer to manage the registration system, the online juror voting system and CD production.
Costs associated with the Critical Mass Top 50 traveling exhibition.
Expenses to produce the Book Award monograph (design, production, and printer fees).
Shipping of the CD's and monograph(s) to all jurors and entrants (typically 700+ people). This is why we charge a bit more for international entrants as the expense of shipping the books has gone up exponentially in the last several years.

But, that's still soooo much money, how does one justify that expense?

The primary goal of Critical Mass is to create connections in the photographic community. This could mean immediate successes like offers to exhibit work, book deals, editorial jobs, etc. But the more likely scenario, is that people will see your work and remember you in the future. Maybe they remember the project the next time they see you at a portfolio review. Maybe they recall an image you took when hiring for an editorial job six months later.

We can't promise any one result, we just know that things do happen for most of our Finalists and Top 50. How do we know? They tell us.

Kirk Crippens recently shared:

"Critical Mass 2010 provided a platform for my project Foreclosure, USA to be seen, which in turn helped some doors open more easily. Personally, it was a validation of the work and served to encourage me to pour energy into my follow up series, The Dealership Wreck. In the months following Critical Mass 2010, I've had numerous exhibitions, features, lectures and events with the Foreclosure, USA series (and already a few from it’s follow up The Dealership Wreck)."

Rachel Barrett had a similar experience, saying:

"It's hard when things are slow or without a big ta da to see how much impact there will be in the long run. I would say that at the reviews pretty much everyone commented on knowing my work from Critical Mass and that being a big component. I'm now represented with Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, am currently participating in a group show at the Jen Bekman Gallery, publishing with Fraction Magazine in July, and will be publishing in Orion Magazine later this summer."

From Helen K. Garber, a past Critical Mass Juror:

"I gave up a position as judge to submit a new series of work in 2010. And since there is no better way to introduce photo-based work to such a large influential group of jurors, I paid my entry fee and submitted another new series to the 2011 contest....."

In his Lenscratch interview, Critical Mass 2009 Top 50 Photographer, Caleb Cole discusses his experience with Critical Mass.

Sol Neelman emailed almost two months after Critical Mass 2010 Top 50 were announced to let us know he just received an invite to publish his work in a Critical Mass juror's publication. This is after he received a book deal with another CM juror who initially saw his work in Critical Mass.

Finally, one of my personal favorites was from Isa Leshko. She wrote:

"Just wanted to share with you a positive outcome from my involvement with Critical Mass. I was offered representation and a solo show with the Corden/Potts Gallery in San Francisco! They saw my work on CM and interestingly, they contacted me the day the top 50 list was announced. Today everything was finalized, so I am able to announce the news.

Although I am of course disappointed I did not make the Top 50 list, I am very happy to have been a finalist. I'm not sure this opportunity would have presented itself had it not been for CM."

Ok, so it costs money to make Critical Mass happen and people seem to benefit from the program...how does one decide if it's worth it?

In the end, each photographer has to assess whether Critical Mass makes sense for them given where they are in their career, how far along in a specific project they are, the state of their financial affairs, and I'm sure a lot of other personal factors. We can't make that call for you. If you feel like you have a solid body of work, a decent idea of what you're doing with the project and a corresponding statement, and are ready to share it with a larger community than just yourself...now might be the time.

Good luck!

Feel free to email with any additional questions: registration (at) photolucida.org

Critical Mass Countdown begins...15 days left!

2011-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Have you been thinking about entering Critical Mass 2011? Well, you've got 15 days left to decide before we wrap it up for another year!

206 reasons to enter Critical Mass 2011

2011-06-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Look close and you'll find some exciting new names!

Call for Entries - New Native Photography 2011

2011-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

The New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, in partnership with the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts is encouraging Native American artists working with photography to share their recent work with a broad audience of viewers.

The winners will be invited to show their work in an exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art in August during SWAIA’s 90th annual Santa Fe Indian Market, as well as in an online version of the show.

Kate Ware serves as a juror, deadline: July 5th.

More information!

Critical Mass Jurors & Pre-Screeners...a brief introduction

2011-06-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Long-time Critical Mass Juror & Pre-Screener, Susan Spiritus, was recently interviewed by Photolucida Board Member, Lauren Henkin. Check it out to learn more about Susan's thoughts about owning and running a photography gallery for 35 years.

The complete archive of Lauren's Photo Radio Blog is brimming with interesting conversations with a number of Critical Mass Jurors & Pre-Screeners - Melanie McWhorter, David Bram, Julia Dolan, Todd Tubutis, Blue Mitchell.

photo courtesy Lenscratch/Aline Smithson.

Critical Mass 2011 Registration is OPEN

2011-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Go to it!

What is this Critical Mass you say? Check out answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions.

Upcoming exhibition calls for entry

2011-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

A few exhibition opportunities to keep you busy until registration for Critical Mass 2011 opens TOMORROW.

The quickly-approaching deadline for PCNW's 16th Annual Photo Competition Exhibition...

A FRESH show curated by Darren Ching and W.M. Hunt (also a Critical Mass Juror) for Klompching Gallery...

The Photo+Craft exhibition curated by Blue Mitchell (also a Critical Mass Juror) for Lightbox Photographic Gallery and Plates to Pixels online gallery...

And for those new-minted photography grads, an International Exhibition Competition for BA and MA diploma work.

And we're back!

2011-05-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

Please forgive the recent photolucida blogging absence. We've been busy working on some really exciting programs and projects! Examples include:

The 2011 Photolucida Portfolio Reviews. A huge thank you to all of our Reviewers! We couldn't have done it without you. Check back for success stories, Participant and Reviewer reports/blog posts, etc. More photos coming soon to our Facebook page.

Image copyright Daniel Cronin

Critical Mass 2009 Books have arrived! If you didn't participate in Critical Mass 2009, you can still get a copy of Birthe Pointek's Idea of North or Alejandro Cartegena's Suburbia Mexicana.

We've started the design phase on the Critical Mass 2010 Book Award - Jeff Rich's Watershed. Photolucida Board Member, Lauren Henkin, will be collaborating with Jeff on the book design.

Preparations for Critical Mass 2011 are under way! Registration opens on June 1. That's right! Get your images and statements ready! Critical Mass 2011 opens in less than 48 hours.

The list to left reflects the burgeoning list of Critical Mass 2011 Reviewers. 123 and counting! Check back to see it grow!

Todd Hido Lecture and Critical Mass Top 50 Exhibition in Portland

2011-03-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

In case you weren't able to make it last Friday to the "Across the Divide: Critical Mass 2010 Top 50"opening reception and Todd Hido lecture at Photo Center NW, you'll have another chance in April to see the exhibition and hear Todd speak about his work.

Hido will give an artist lecture at the Portland Art Museum on Friday, April 15 at 7:00 pm, in conjunction with Photolucida's Portfolio Reviews. He will discuss his creative process and the evolution of his work, including several new bodies of work about which he rarely lectures; including the story behind the book, Crooked Cracked Tree in Fog.

We expect tickets to sell out quickly. Buy yours, today!

"Across the Divide" will be on display at PCNW through the end of March. Look for it at Newspace Center for Photography in April and RayKo Photo Center in May.

'Across the Divide' Opens at PCNW!

2011-03-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Across the Divide - Critical Mass 2010 opened this Friday at PCNW. It opened to a full house (photo was taken afterward!) and all the work looked gorgeous. Folks stayed for a talk with Todd Hido and a good time was had by all. The show will be in Seattle for the month of March, then will travel to Portland and be up for Portland Photo Month, then travel down to Rayko Photo Center for the month of May.

Thanks to everyone from CM10 Top 50 who participated, and we are glad your work is part of the west coast tour!

Critical Mass 2010 Book Award winner is Jeff Rich!

2011-02-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

Photolucida is pleased to announce our 2010 Critical Mass book award winner - Jeff Rich.

We look forward to working with Jeff to produce a hardbound monograph of his series, "Watershed - A Survey of the French Broad River Basin".

Thank you to all our book award finalists to submitting great proposals!

Image: Blue Ridge Paper Mill, The Pigeon River Canton, North Carolina

photo-eye interviews Photolucida director Laura Moya

2010-12-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what the intricacies of Critical Mass and the subsequent book publishing are?

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes?

Ever wonder how Photolucida gets all those books to the post office?

Learn more! Read this!

Stories to Warm the Heart - Critical Mass 2010

2010-11-24T14:05:00.001-08:00

As we (in the US) prepare for Thanksgiving festivities, Photolucida is pleased to share some recent Critical Mass Success Stories to warm the heart and help put you in a festive mood...

Sol Neelman recently wrote to tell me this:

"I randomly met Alexa Becker from Kehrer Publishing last month during the Frankfurt Book Fair. She surprised me when she said she knew of - and loved - my work from judging Critical Mass. We spent a great deal of time talking about my book project and looking over my images. Before I left, she offered me a letter of intent. Looks like things are on track for a book release in mid 2011. I'm very excited, to say the least."

Isa Leshko shared:

"Just wanted to share with you a positive outcome from my involvement with Critical Mass. I was offered representation and a solo show with the Corden/Potts Gallery in San Francisco! They saw my work on CM and interestingly, they contacted me the day the top 50 list was announced...I'm not sure this opportunity would have presented itself had it not been for CM."

Another photographer said:

"I am sure [Critical Mass] will help me a lot and I am already going to get a show case entry in a well known blog, because they saw my work at Critical Mass."

Michael Sebastian also wrote:

"Not ten minutes after your email arrived the other day, I got another from a photo editor [who had] been a juror fro CM this year, and saw my work. One of my images will illustrate an upcoming story in [this juror's publication.]

I hope it's the start of other opportunities to come; this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't participated in Critical Mass 2010."

We hope this is the start of many, many more opportunities to come for all of our Critical Mass entrants!

Critical Mass Awards Announcements

2010-11-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

There were a lot of great options to choose from this year, but we've narrowed it down to the following six selected from the Top 50. Congratulations to the following book award finalists!

Christopher Capozziello

They will be submitting proposals, of the work they submitted to Critical Mass 2010, for consideration to receive the Critical Mass 2010 Book Award. We will announce the Book Award in early 2011. Check back for updates, then!

Also, we are pleased to share that Blue Sky has awarded Mitch Dobrowner the Solo Exhibition that will be shown at Blue Sky in April 2011.

Congratulations to the above photographers and also to everyone who submitted to Critical Mass 2010. We have started receiving emails from participants who have already started to make connections for assignments, book publishing, and gallery representation. More stories soon!

LAST CHANCE FOR NEW DIRECTIONS 2011

2010-11-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 20TH:

the deadline for wallspace gallery's annual New Directions show is coming up this Saturday, November 20th!

curated by David Bram, Founder and Editor of Fraction magazine:

this year's theme: The Portrait: "Moments of Being"

As photographers, we look for faces and expressions that tell stories. We look for character. We look for emotion.

We look for the hook, that moment of being that creates a compelling portrait. Like a modern physiognomy, a portrait tells a story equal parts subject and photographer in a single moment.

As the curator of this show, I will be looking for portraits that are edgy and daring. I want more than the traditional head shot. I want to see work that pushes the boundaries of what is normally called a portrait. (Please note: For this show, my interests are not in photo-journalistic photographs of the homeless, the needy, or third world subjects)

Photographs by Emmet Gowin and Sally Mann (for example) show a trust and a relationship between the photographer and the subject. There is a connection that is clear to the viewer; this is what I am looking for. I will also be looking for unique styles and interesting compositions. The images might be quiet, honest, sexually charged, or pure. These portraits, color or black and white, should convey a unique and powerful moment of life.

-David Bram

ALL THE INFO YOU NEED IS RIGHT HERE

"Northwest Territory: Women in Photography" on Photo Radio!

2010-11-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

A great week-end was had here in Portland at NWSPE!

Photolucida was a happy sponsor, and organized a dynamic panel titled "Northwest Territory: Women in Photography", comprised of 9 women from the Pacific Northwest and moderated by Julia Dolan, Portland Art Museum Curator of Photography.

Through the magic of Photo Radio, you can hear it, too! Grab a coffee, and pull up a chair, and click on the link above!

Critical Mass - Top 50!

2010-10-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

We are announcing the Critical Mass 2010 Top 50! But before that, some things to note:

Critical Mass was started as an alternative to in-person portfolio reviews. It was designed to put imagery in front of professionals (curators, collectors, editors, gallerists, etc.) who care about photography without the larger commitment of in-person reviews. Also, it is a less expensive option for photographers than in-person reviews. Over the years, we have added the Book Awards, a Top 50 group exhibition and this year we have collaborated with Blue Sky and photo-eye to offer a solo exhibition and website and portfolio hosting, respectively. In addition, we randomly selected 5 Finalists to attend our 2011 in-person portfolio reviews gratis. However, Critical Mass's main intent is still to be something of a match-making system.

See what Shawn had to say about the program last year - Critical Mass 2009: a little perspective and scroll down for Critical Mass Q & A in 2008.

If you entered Critical Mass and did not make it to the Finalist round, or you did, but don't find your name on the list below, please know that the work you are making is important. The process you went through when entering Critical Mass was a great contributing step in getting it out into the world!

Some enlightening numbers...

549 photographers entered Critical Mass this year

20 pre-screeners narrowed the selection to 177 Finalists

4 Dutch photographers received International scholarships

215 jurors voted on the Finalists

50 Finalists came out at the top of the list

For clarification, among the Finalists the difference between number 50 and number 51 is .0051813471503. Among the full list, the difference between Finalist number 177 and non-Finalist number 178 is .05. The point being: the difference between a Finalist and non-Finalist is slim and between the Top 50 and non-Top 50 is slimmer. And again, the goal, is really those potential connections. The numbers and awards are truly meant to be secondary...

But, because we are all curious, the Top 50 are:

Christopher Capozziel l

Tom Chambers

Christopher Churchill

Ethan Eisenberg

Mary Shannon Johnstone

Annie Marie Musselman

Christopher Rauschenberg

Congratulations to the Top 50 and to everyone who took part in making this the best Critical Mass, yet. And a special thank to our hard-working and dedicated pre-screeners and jurors!

Opportunities and Updates

2010-10-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of last-minute opportunities. In deadline order:

Due November 1 - FotoVisura's Grant Competition

Due November 5 - HCP's 2011 Fellowships

correction: Due November 19! - Project Basho's Annual Juried Photography Competition

Due December 4 - Michael Mazzeo's Latest RSVP Initiative and corresponding exhibition

One update:

Later today we'll be announcing the Critical Mass 2010 Top 50. Check back in a bit!

SPE NORTHWEST on the horizon!

2010-10-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

NOVEMBER 5th - 7th, 2010

Newspace will be hosting this year's SPE Northwest Regional Conference! A great week-end chock full of panels and lectures by regional photographers and educators. Dry and boring it is NOT!

Photolucida is pleased to be a sponsor and present the panel, "Northwest Territory: Women in Photography", moderated by curator Julia Dolan.

Do you live in the Northwest Territory?
Hope to see you there!

Image: Rebekah Rocha

What? Really? Wha?

2010-09-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Golden Ticket Time!

We are pleased to announce the five CM finalists that (we hope!) will be going to the Portfolio Reviews on us next spring: Robert Knight, Christopher Churchill, Rachel Barrett, Michael Tummings and Noel Swan Gilbert!

photo: Jill Greenberg

Coming Soon!

2010-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Registration for the 2011 Photolucida Reviews will open shortly! Mark you calendars!

For 24 hours, from 9am (PDT) on Wednesday, September 8th through 9am (PDT) on Thursday, September 9th register via our website for a space at the Reviews. No exceptions, no extensions. A random lottery will be used to fill the 155 slots to the Reviews. Those who don't make the initial list, will be part of the wait list. For more information see the website (http://www.photolucida.org/critique.php). A partial reviewer list will be posted prior to Registration.

The 2009 Portfolio Walk through.

LAST CHANCE

2010-09-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize postmark deadline is

September 8

And remember, the juror this year is William Eggleston.

wow.

And the Finalists are...

2010-08-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Critical Mass 2010 Finalists...

Thomas Alleman

Jane Fulton Alt

Mariam Amurvelashvili

Amy Anderson

Evgenia Arbugaeva

Alexandra Arzt

Justyna Badach

Chan-Hyo Bae

Rachel Barrett

Mary Ellen Bartley

Jeff Becker

Claire Beckett

Matthew Besinger

Aglaè Bory

Steven Brahms

Kendrick Brinson/LUCEO

Jesse Burke

Christopher Capozziello

Tom Chambers

Cori Chandler-Pepelnjak

Rona Chang

Christopher Churchill

Sam Comen

Kirk Crippens

Julia Cybularz

Katrina d'Autremont

Mitch Dobrowner

Jess Dugan

Natan Dvir

Daniela Edburg

Matt Eich/LUCEO

Ethan Eisenberg

Lisa Elmaleh

Doug Ethridge

Susan E. Evans

John Faier

Bill Finger

Sarina Finkelstein

Francine Fleischer

Elizabeth Fleming

Martha Fleming-Ives

Dana Fritz

Matthew Gamber

Helen K Garber

Terri Garland

Candace Gaudiani

Dima Gavrysh

Ayala Gazit

Kevin German / LUCEO

Amy Theiss Giese

Noelle Swan Gilbert

Sarah Girner

Rebecca Greenfield

Brigitte Grignet

Torrie Groening

Aaron Guy

Laura Heyman

Craig Hickman

Jessica Hines

Aaron Hobson

Joseph Holmes

Norihisa Hosaka

Elin HØyland

Ben Huff

Debora Hunter

Carol Isaak

Tom M Johnson

Heather Johnston

Mary Shannon Johnstone

Thomas Jorion

Loli Kantor

Rhea Karam

Kim Kauffman

Eileen Kennedy

Justin Kimball

Justin James King

Brendan Kingsley

Chad Kleitsch

Robert Knight

Marcus Koppen

Dianne Kornberg

Katie Koti

Liz Kuball

Collin LaFleche

Christine Laptuta

Richard Laugharn

Jean Laughton

Alejandra Laviada

Surendra Lawoti

Christine Lebeck

Rubi Lebovitch

Sunae Lee

Alex Leme

Isa Leshko

Brent Lewin

Robert Lewis

Jennifer Loeber

Sara Macel

Stephen Mallon

Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman

Rebecca Martinez

Rania Matar

Nate Mathews

Mary Beth Meehan

Marcia Michael

Jody Miller

Martin Miller

Yvonne Muller

Annie Marie Musselman

Yoichi Nagata

Sol Neelman

Loren Nelson

Nancy Newberry

Jehad Nga

Ben Nixon

Ann Pallesen

Louie Palu

Azita Panahpour

Hally Pancer

Mary Parisi

Toni Pepe

Rachel Phillips

Kate Pollard

Benjamin Rasmussen

Christopher Rauschenberg

Justin James Reed

Frank Relle

Justine Reyes

Jeff Rich

Kathleen Robbins

Rebekah Rocha

Charles Rozier

Maureen Ruddy Burkhart

Felipe Russo

Selena Salfen

Lee Saloutos

Jeffrey Sauger

Lynn Saville

Traer Scott

Michael Sebastian

Lauren Semivan

Mahesh Shantaram

Manjari Sharma

Jeff Sheng

Brian Shumway

Emily Shur

Tim Simmons

Charlie Simokaitis

J. Aiden Simon

Matt Slaby/LUCEO

Hrvoje Slovenc

Pavel Maria Smejkal

Yisook Sohn

Amber Sowards

S. Gayle Stevens

Jamey Stillings

Sarah Sudhoff

Monika Sziladi

Jordan Tate

Sameer Tawde

Svjetlana Tepavcevic

Devin Tepleski

Lacey Terrell

Brandon Thibodeaux

Amy Thompson Avishai

David Evan Todd

Daniel Traub

Michael Tummings

Kevin Van Aelst

Danielle van Ark

Louviere+ Vanessa

Michel Varisco

Jim Vecchi

Alvaro Villela

Corinne Vionnet

Jo Ann Walters

Lori Waselchuk

Shoshannah White

Ian Whitmore

Kimberly Witham

David Wolf

Carl Wooley

If you're among those listed, you should have received an official email with information about how to proceed and submit your payment for the next round.

If you're not among the Finalists, take solace in knowing that your work has been seen by of a fantastic group of pre-screeners. Often, we hear that pre-screeners see work they love, that doesn't necessarily make it to the Finalist round. So, if your work found a fan, that fan will remember. Regardless of the results, you made a great choice to commit to your work by submitting and that, alone, is valuable.

Thanks to everyone for being a part of this process! We'll keep you posted with more news as we have it.

This is it!

2010-07-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Registration for Critical Mass 2010 will close in 24 hours.

Approaching the Final Hours

2010-07-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

2 1/2 DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010!

Critical Mass - A New Route to the Portfolio Reviews!

2010-07-21T21:12:00.001-07:00

Have you ever considered signing up for a coveted spot at the biennial Photolucida Portfolio Reviews...but missed the sign up date? Or maybe, you remembered but by the time you registered all of the slots were filled up (last time all filled in less than an hour)? Perhaps, you've always wanted to try it out, but have been a little intimidated?

Regardless, we now have another way to attend the Portfolio Reviews in April 2011!

Five slots to the Reviews will be awarded at random to photographers from the Critical Mass 2010 Finalist group.

That means, if you are a Critical Mass 2010 175 Finalist, you have a one in 35 chance to also attend the Reviews. We'll be announcing the official registration date, soon. In the meantime, we're pleased to offer an alternative route to the Reviews!

ONLY 4 MORE DAYS TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010.

This Just In...

2010-07-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce that Todd Hido will curate our Critical Mass 2010 Top 50 Exhibition!

As noted on our website, the exhibition will be on display during Photolucida's April 2011 Portfolio Reviews, at Newspace Center for Photography. In addition, we are happy to share that the exhibition will also travel to San Francisco in May 2011, for display at RayKo Photo Center!

What does this mean for you, you might ask? If you are one of the Critical Mass Top 50, your work will be viewed by Todd Hido and one your images will be chosen as part of the exhibition on display at these two great venues next spring!

ONLY 6 MORE DAYS TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010!

A FEW MORE INTRODUCTIONS

2010-07-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

By now, you might have noticed, Critical Mass is a multi-staged juried process. The first round of which is handled by our dedicated pre-screeners. They are the gatekeepers to the 175 Finalists who are then seen by our complete roster of THE BEST JURY EVER. While not everyone can make the coveted Finalist list, rest assured it is a valuable thing to have your work in front of these people, as there are still opportunities to be had with our pre-screeners.

Just to prove the point, check out what a few of these folks are up to when they're not pre-screening Critical Mass entrant photographs...

187. Paula Tognarelli, Griffin Museum of Photography

Paula, one of our most faithful pre-screeners, is the Executive Director and Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography, which houses three galleries on-site, two virtual galleries and four satellite galleries. Griffin Museum just awarded David Bram (another CM juror), founder of Fraction Magazine, the “Rising Star” of the 2010 Focus Awards.

167. Tina Shelhorn, Galerie Lichtblick

Another tireless pre-screener, Tina Schelhorn is founding director of Galerie Lichtblick, in Cologne, which is celebrating its 20th year as a non-profit organization for contemporary photography. Tina says, “I made a quick check on the number of selected Critical Mass photographers from over the years that I did exhibitions with and, since 2004, it has been 23 people.”

180. George Slade, Photographic Resource Center at Boston University

George is also pre-screening this year! He is the shiny new programs manager and curator at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. George is a knowledgeable and accomplished curator, scholar, and writer, and we love him for many reasons, including writing the afterward in CM book award winner Priya Kambli’s book, Color Falls Down.

49. Jon Feinstein, Humble Arts Foundation

Also pre-screening is Jon Feinstein, co-founder of Humble Arts Foundation. Humble Arts Foundation gives emerging fine-art photographers exposure by way of exhibition and publishing opportunities, limited-edition print sales, and twice–annual artists grants. Humble has been a pioneering hub for showcasing new fine-art photography, and strives to bridge the gap between ambitious early-career photographers and often-unapproachable art institutions.

REMINDER, ONLY 9 MORE DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010.

TO DRAW A FEW NAMES OUT OF THE DIGITAL HAT

2010-07-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

The only problem with offering over 200 amazing jurors is that it's too easy to look at them as a huge list and let their individual accomplishments and affiliations get overlooked. When we're making our list of who to invite each year, our primary concern is to invite jurors who actually use photography and have something to offer our participating photographers. Here, we're going to use one of our favorite internet tools, the true random number generator, to select a few jurors and highlight why they've been invited to be part of THE BEST JURY EVER:

61- Christopher Gianunzio, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center:

The biggest problem with Philadelphia these days is that's the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is so far from Portland. After opening last year, PPAC, under the direction of Sarah Stolfa and Christopher Gianunzio (two great photographers in their own right), has impressed us with hosting talks from Mitch Epstein, Chad States, Doug Dubois, and Tim Davis, as well as hosting a Photo Book Art Fair with a wide variety of great publishers. Oh, and did we mention that they've got a great digital lab and a handsome gallery space...

75- Elizabeth Houston, Hous Projects:

A NYC / LA gallery with past shows of emerging contemporary work that have included Philip Toledano, Eric Ogden, and Scott Davis and a current group show, The Naked Truth, curated by Ruben Natal San Miguel, blogger/collector/CMjuror and all around super photo enthusiast.

34 - Daniel Cooney, Daniel Cooney Fine Art:

Daniel's the namesake of a great NYC gallery that specializes in the emerging photo scene, both on the walls in the gallery and through his series of auctions of emerging photography. Among the highlights of his past year's shows was Timothy Briner's "Boonville," a project that was described by the New Yorker's Vince Aletti as "an exhibition that begs to be expanded into a book."

139 - Stephen Perloff, The Photo Review:

Since 1976 The Photo Review has been publishing portfolios, reviews, interviews and critical analysis from the likes of Stephen, Peter Hay Halpert, Barbara L. Michaels, and A.D. Coleman. The Photo Review also puts out The Photograph Collector, a monthly newsletter with tips for collectors, curators, and dealers.

ONLY 10 MORE DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010.

About that Blue Sky

2010-07-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

When you think about "Blue Sky" what comes to mind? For me, its the clear, cerulean atmosphere that hovers above the rolling Flint Hills of Kansas. Well, that and one of my favorite photography galleries in Portland, Oregon.

Blue Sky is known to the locals as an historic venue that has shown some of the biggest names in contemporary photography during its 34 years and 10 months history (its true, Blue Sky will also celebrate their 35th Birthday in October!) Perhaps you've heard of some of these ladies and gents?

Larry Sultan

Amy Stein

Steven Berkman

Suzanne Opton

Doug Dubois

John Divola

Julie Blackmon

Simon Norfolk

Graciela Iturbide

Linda Connor

Wendy Ewald

Martin Parr

Bill Burke

Nan Goldin

William Christianberry

Robert Frank

And that's just a sampling of the hundreds of photographers whose work has graced their gallery walls. For a complete archive, check their site.

Why should you care about Blue Sky? Photolucida is delighted to team up with this fantastic space to award one solo show to a Critical Mass 2010 Top 50 photographer. The Blue Sky Exhibition Committee will choose one lucky Top 50 artist to exhibit their work in April 2011 thus becoming another entry in the Blue Sky history of stellar photography exhibitions. Not to mention, Photolucida will be holding our biennial Reviews in April 2011. The foot traffic through Blue Sky that month will be especially weighted with photographers and Reviewers from all over the world.

As if just having your work viewed by more than 200 top photography professionals wasn't enough, right?

ONLY 11 MORE DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010.

Did anyone else hear that?

2010-07-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

It's the sound of the BEST JURY EVER rolling over past the 200 mark.

You now have MORE than 200 reasons to submit to CRITICAL MASS 2010!

OUR APOLOGIES

2010-07-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

We regret to inform you that four members of the THE BEST JURY EVER from previous years have decided that they will not be jurying for Critical Mass 2010.

They've decided to enter instead. That seems like a pretty good endorsement, right?

ONLY 12 MORE DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010.

Even though

2010-07-12T16:29:00.001-07:00

I missed the opportunity to draw attention to Paula McCartney's lecture and book-signing up at PCNW last Friday (sorry Folks), at least I can still congratulate her on her show at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the release of her new book, Bird Watching.

It's so exciting to see this work finally break out into the world in a big way, especially because it's so good and I've noticed it coming together and finding an audience over time. Count me among those who have seen and appreciated this work in bits and pieces in a variety of places over the past few years (including CM2008, a year that included Darius Himes and Karen Irvine, the curator at MoCP, as jurors) and I'm excited to finally get to see the whole shebang. Or in this case, would that be a flock rather than a shebang? A huge congrats, Paula.

finite foto

2010-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

"As a photographer and photography editor, I look at a lot of pictures. When I use the phrase "a lot," I mean thousands upon thousands, every month. This process has made me weary of traditional portraiture..."
- Taj Forer

Our very own Laura Moya has a great interview with Taj Forer and Lisa Law over at Finite Foto.

p.s. note the list on the left. I'm guessing Monday's update will put us up over the magic number.

Critical Mass Updates!

2010-07-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed there have been some recent additions to the Critical Mass 2010 Awards section.

Not only will we produce a monograph for one lucky photographer and a curate a group show from the work of all the Top 50 Photographers, we have added so many new Awards, you might think it's Christmas in July...

One Solo Exhibition at Blue Sky

Three complimentary VisualServer websites and portfolios on photo-eye’s Photographer’s Showcase for one year

Five free spots in our popular, sell-out-in-10-minutes, 2011 Portfolio Reviews

More details to follow soon...

And now a word...

2010-07-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

from one of our Beloved and Esteemed members of The Best Jury Ever

Thanks Leslie. We heart you.

Critical Q & A

2010-07-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Aside from the excitement of photographers and jurors eager to participate in Critical Mass, CM registration always brings in email from the confused, the curious, and the cynical. Let's deal with these questions together so that we can all benefit:

• Is there a time limit on work submitted? That is, does the work have to have been made within the past year or something?

- Our opinion is that good work is good work and CM is a program designed to put good work in front of good people who actually buy, publish, and exhibit, good work. If you started a project twenty years ago and just finished it up yesterday, you're welcome to submit.

• Can I enter if I'm a student?

- Yes. That good work philosophy applies here as well. In fact, I'd say that if you're a student who's making good work and looking for a way to get people outside your weekly crit to take notice, CM is definitely among the best ways to accomplish this.

• sRGB seems to work for photos with neutral colors, but there is a major shift with any color intensity. Many of the images I intend to send are color-intense. Why srgb?

- Given that our jury of 200+ photo professionals are all over the world, looking at your work on a wide variety of computers, under a wide variety of viewing conditions, the best we can do is keep the playing field consistent for all. Like it or not, sRGB is the industry standard color space for the web. UPDIG is a great resource for more info on the confusion inherent in this brave new digital world.

• Your information concerning pricing does not say whether Critical Mass/Photolucida charges a commission on sales. Do you?

- Absolutely not. Photolucida is, in a sense, a non-profit matchmaking service, not a broker. Our funding comes in from donations and grants, as well as the entry fees from our participants.

• Non-profit? Come on... emerging photographers don't have that kind of money. If you really want to help emerging artists, you should make it cheaper. Those artists have no money for games like these.

- Your cynicism is understood in this day and age, but Critical Mass is a totally unique program, unlike anything else out there. In a sense, it's more of a sourcebook or reference tool for emerging contemporary photography than a competition. Any artist serious about their work can easily recognize the value of having your work seen through CM. Just look at that list of jurors to the left and also peruse the Top 50 from past years and tell me that this program is a game.

As for the cost, yeah sure, I hear you. But in the end, we're a small non-profit and it takes money to build software, publish books and send them out to everyone who participates. We keep the costs as low as we can. As a photographer who entered CM twice before I joined the Board of Directors for photolucida, I always considered it a simple business expense. If I could enter now, I would.

Let's take a little stroll down memory lane. A little CM history from Christopher Rauschenberg, one of the founders of both photolucida and Blue Sky Gallery, and perhaps most importantly, a photographer himself:

When we were inventing Critical Mass, we started with one core principle - everyone who enters must get their money's worth - and with the concern that the total cost of going to a portfolio review was just too expensive for many photographers. We were looking for an affordable way to get the work of photographers into the eyeballs and brains of curators and publishers, and we realized that we could accomplish that by using the power of the digital revolution. Our original deal was "fifty reviewers for fifty bucks" and it was designed to provide reviewers with everything they might need to fall in love with someone's work and to start making something happen for that work. Based on our experience, we asked for ten images from each artist, plus a statement, print sizes and prices, and contact information. We gave this to the reviewers on CD but also in ink and paper, with the thumbnail pages. That first year 600 photographers entered Critical Mass and three of us built a 6600 page document in Quark Xpress, then pdf-ed it and added 24,000 navigational links. We also made a traveling show of work by ten of the highest rated photographers. Things have changed a little since then- we don't paste it up by hand anymore (having hired a web design firm to run an automated process through the website) and we've added the book program and increased the number of curators and publishers to 200, but it's still our vision to try and bring into Critical Mass every curator and publisher to whom it is worth a dollar to show your work, so that you can take care of getting your photographs into the eyeballs and brains of all those curators and publishers in one fell swoop.

AND THE MOMENTUM BUILDS

2010-07-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Avalanche - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Have you been watching that sweet juror list over there on the left? It's still growing.

And of course, for those skeptics among you (I've always been one too), the list that's especially interesting is that of the pre-screening committee. Well, note that when we invite jurors, we make it clear that they're all invited to be among the pre-screeners, but it takes a special breed of photo enthusiast to really want to dig in and look at every single entry in a condensed period of time. Well, these strong men and women really really want to see great work and know that sometimes great work falls outside the common ground of democratic consensus. In addition to our Executive Director and our Board of Directors, this year's Truly Beloved and Esteemed Pre-Screening Committee (as of 7/5) consists of these true heroes:

Leslie K. Brown, Independent Curator

Crista Dix, Director, wall space Gallery

Jon Feinstein, Humble Arts

Melanie Flood, Melanie Flood Projects/Portland Art Museum Photo Council

Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center

Jim Leisy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council

Kate Menconeri, Independent Curator

Claire Annette Mussard, Curator/Consultant

Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Collector

Tina Schelhorn, Galerie Lichtblick

P. Elaine Sharpe, Independent Curator

George Slade, Curator/Program Manager,Photographic Resource Center at Boston University

Christina Speilvogel, Blue Sky Exhibition Committee

Susan Spiritus, Susan Spiritus Gallery

Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director, Griffin Museum for Photography

Laura Valenti, Program Director, Newspace Center for Photography

If you've been around this business for a little while, I'm sure you recognize these names, thus what a coup it is to have these folks stepping up to pre-screen. Looks like it's shaping up to be the best year yet.

THE PARTY JUST STARTED

2010-07-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, Critical Mass 2010 is now open for business. We've tested, retested, and retested some more and it seems the registration machinery is running smoother than ever. And watch that killer jury list grow and grow.

YOU CAN FIND MORE INFO AND A LINK TO REGISTRATION FOR CRITICAL MASS RIGHT HERE

Next week we'll have a little Critical Mass history lesson and address any questions you have, about who we are, what CM is, and why we bother. If you have questions or issues at any point, bring them on and I'll try to address them here to help as many people as possible. In the meantime, go get 'em...

CRITICAL MASS 2010 UPDATE RE-UPDATE

2010-06-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Alright... the initial batch of invitations has been extended to jurors for CM2010 and the response has been immediately overwhelming. We're at 147 as of this morning, but more keep coming in daily. The goal is to get 'er up over 200. The updated updated list is right over here:

We'll be updating the list regularly and dealing with any questions and info right here. Questions/suggestions? bring 'em on. Get ready and stay tuned...

Finally!

2010-06-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Critical Mass 2008 Books have finally made it through the long and harrowing journey and are making their way into the world! A huge congratulations to Céline Clanet, Andy Freeberg, and Priya Kambli for making such stunning and celebrated work. Also, a huge thanks and pat on the back to Laura Moya, our Executive Director, for the countless hours spent ensuring that these books were something that we can all be proud of.

If you were a participant in Critical Mass 2008, you should be receiving your books soon!

more knowledge to make your life better

2010-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Aperture Portfolio Prize is open for business.

Will Steacy's "Down these Mean Streets" opens this week at Michael Mazzeo. It's also the featured June Podcast at Daylight. For those paying attention, you might also notice that all three of these key players, and the work in question, were participants in CRITICAL MASS 2009.

The Exhibition Lab is hosting portfolio reviews on June 27th. Registration is open now.

rosemary cuts down the carcinogens

Issue #15 of Fraction Magazine, Familiar Landscapes, is tearing up the bandwidth and features work by numerous photolucida participants, including our local superstar buddy Blake Andrews as well as Geoffrey Ellis, Jane Tam, Melanie McWhorter, and blogostar Joerg Colberg among others. Congratulations to all! Keep it coming...

Rare Visions of Rural North Korea

2010-06-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Rare Visions of Rural North Korea, photographs by Liu Yuan, curated by Taj Forer, and produced by Yan Li and the Beijing High Noon Art and Culture Center

Review Santa Fe's Portfolio Viewing

2010-06-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

If you're within a 500 mile radius of Santa Fe, you should definitely swing over to CENTER for their Portfolio Viewing Friday evening from 5:30 - 8:00. The Viewing coincides with Review Santa Fe, their three-day juried portfolio review featuring 100 photographers and loads of great reviewers. So many of our previous Reviews and CM participants, not to mention Reviewers will be there. Sounds like a blast. Of course if you can't make it in person, you can check out the work of the selected photographers here.

if you know these things, your life will be better

2010-06-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

Justin James Reed has got limited edition books, prints, & a show

there's Book Power at 23 Sandy

never approach a raccoon!

a one-year master class with Marc Prust and Lars Boering is being offered through Noorderlicht

previous Photolucida participants Susan Burnstine, Christina Seely, Brad Temkin, Michael Itkoff (juror), and myself (remember, I'm not only the president, I'm also a client), have been selected to travel to China with High Noon Culture in order to make photographs in the areas of Daqing and Tangsan. Congratulations to... us, I guess. Any travel tips from those who've been there?

photo-eye's magazine has a great review of Dona Schwartz's In the Kitchen by Aline Smithson

if you get lost, you're only seven steps away from staying alive

"Permanent Impermance" opens June 11th at the Washington Project for the Arts in Washington DC. Curated by Lerissa Leclair, the show features work by Christopher Colville, Todd Hido, Doug + Mike Starn, Kate MacDonnell, Curtis Mann, and previous Review and CM participant David Maisel.

The only thing better than a great show is when someone notices. The Boston Globe recently reviewed a show at PRC that featured many previous photolucida participants: Charles Rozier, Jackie Bates, and Mary Parisi, among others.

Brad Carlile's got a solo show going up at De Santos gallery in Houston (opens on the 5th)

collect.give has just released a new print by CM participant Lacey Terrell

the deadline for the f award has been extended to June 7th

you're not alone

Re:current: New work by Sonja Thomsen, just came down at the Dean Jensen gallery in Milwaukee. Hmm... sorry, I guess your life would have been even better if I'd have posted about that one last week.

and last, but not least:

Tonight, you can have a drink with me at Alejandro Cartagena's and Christine Osinski's talks at Blue Sky Gallery at 6:30 pm. In honor of the occasion, our good friend Lady Gaga has written a special song to honor our CM2009 Book Award Winner:

And tomorrow, you can have a drink with me at Wendy Given's opening at Wieden & Kennedy's gallery.

***** this just in: the Hellenic Centre for Photography is issuing an invitation to artists wishing to participate in the exhibition program of the Athens Photo Festival 10, whose central theme is Interfaces. Deadline is July 18th. More info here.

IT'S TIME AGAIN!

2010-06-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Critical Mass 2010 will open for registration July 1st! Right now we're in the process of making lists and inviting jurors. WHO DO YOU WANT US TO INVITE? With over 200 jurors, chances are they might already be included, but by all means, if there's someone you want us to invite, let us know.

LAST CALL!

2010-05-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

to get to EXPOSED: CRITICAL MASS, the exhibition of the CM2010 Top50, curated by Flak photo's Andy Adams at PCNW. If you're not able to make it to Seattle before the close of business today, you can check out Andy's installation shots here.

Thanks to Andy, Ann, and all of you who've participated. The show is exceptionally handsome and had a great turnout. Well done...

so much to share!

2010-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

• if you're in NYC: the New York Photo Festival begins today!

• if you're in L.A.: Erik Boker at New Puppy gallery (in collaboration with Drkrm/gallery- I hope that stands for "darkroom")

• if you're anywhere else:

- Culturehall's 43rd issue: FACT, FICTION, FILM AND FANTASY, curated by Tema Stauffer, is out online now!

-Fraction's 14th issue is available now and features work by Brad Temkin, Hollis Bennett, and Nate Larson + Marni Shindelman , among others.

- Visura Magazine's 9th issue is now available online.

- Lens Culture's new issue is now available online.

- Jeffrey Aaronson's "Borderland" won the first quarter of the Forward Thinking Museum's JGS Photography Contest. Congratulations Jeffrey! Check it out here!

• if you're in the market: SF Camerawork's just announced their 2010 Fine Print Editions and this year's photographers include previous photolucida participants Christopher Sims and David Maisel.

• if you're in the mood: The deadline for Newspace Center for Photography's Annual Juried exhibition is coming up soon- May 22nd. The juror this year is Darren Ching!

• if you're a concerned photographer: the deadline for FFF's International Award for Concerned Photography is May 31st. Previous winners include Jessica Dimmock and Mikhael Subotzky.

• if you're a female photographer: the WIP-Lightside Individual Project Grant is opening up for entries as of June 1st. Keep checking wipnyc.org for details.

Tim Wride in Seattle

2010-05-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

wall space and pcnw are joining forces to bring Tim Wride, former curator at LACMA, and Executive Director of No Strings Foundation to Seattle for a weekend of events celebrating photography, its artists and ideas from May 20-23rd, 2010.

Mexico in Portland, Israel in Zurich

2010-05-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

If you're in Portland, Oregon today, avoid the Fremont Bridge (nasty traffic this morning), but get over to Blue Sky tonight for a sneak peek at Suk Kuhn Oh's "The Text Book (Chulsco & Younghee) and Livia Corona's "Enanitos Toreros." Livia, one of our Critical Mass 2008 Top 50, will be on hand to speak about her work at 6:30. First Thursday opening and book signing tomorrow from 6 to 9.

If you're in Zurich, get thee to Walter Keller for Gabriel Benaim's solo exhibition "Tel Aviv at 100." Select photographs from this series are also in the current Portfolio Showcase 4: Book and online exhibition through the Center for Fine Art Photography. Juried by Kate Ware, this exhibition and physical book that you can hold in your hands, features quite a few other CM and Review participants, including Rita Maas, Jon Edwards, Nan Brown, and Ellen Rennard. Congrats all.

If you're anywhere else and can't attend these events, you should really quit wasting your time on the internet and work on your application for the Siskind Foundation's Individual Photographer's Fellowship. Deadline is May 17th.

Calling out loud pt 2

2010-04-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis Photo Center, Black & White, juried by George Slade. Cash awards. Deadline July 23

the Art of Photography Show, juried by Natasha Egan. Exhibition with an emphasis on sales. No limit on entries, significant cash awards, and a show catalog to boot. Deadline June 1st.

Calling out loud!

2010-04-23T04:44:00.000-07:00

PCNW'S 15th Annual Photo Competition is coming up, with Aperture's Denise Wolff as juror and quite a few impressive prizes. Deadline for entries is June 12th.

Guatephoto, Guatemala's inaugural photo festival, is a great opportunity for people from all over the world to take place in a show at Guatemala's Museum of Modern Art Carlos Merida and keep costs down by having the work printed and mounted on that end. Open to anyone, from anywhere, and with an entry fee of only $15. Deadline on this one is May 28th.

And for students, Michael Mazzeo just posted a call for CLASS PICTURES, a student-only show with no entry fee whatsoever. Yes, really... you should either enter or pass it on to someone you know who should. Deadline on this one is May 31st.

two out of three...

2010-04-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

are real now!

and the third one's coming soon:

Our CM 08 Book Award Books are almost ready to be sent out. So far, the response has been great.

Congrats Andy and Priya... Céline, yours is coming soon!

Remember, everyone who participated in CM08 (reviewers and participants) will be receiving all three books (they're slated to go out in May), but if you need an extra, or just can't wait, you can also order here, now.

OUCH!

2010-04-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

“There are very few professional photographers who, right now, are not hurting,” said Holly Stuart Hughes, editor of the magazine Photo District News.

Just got wind of this NY Times article (thanks Laura), about the sad state of the photography business these days. Couldn't help but notice that it features Matt Eich and Livia Corona as well. I feel like a congratulations is in order, but to be held up as examples of the difficulties today's photographers are facing isn't exactly as exciting as the previous announcements of Matt's inclusion in the PDN30 and Livia's Guggenheim, is it? Hang in there... you're not alone!

Last Chance

2010-03-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

to apply for CPW's Photography Now exhibition and Artist In Residence program.

to apply for the Joy of Giving Something's Forward Thinking Museum contest

and in the event that you're in Europe, it's your last day to get that book proposal over to your closest participating publisher for the European Publishers Award.

Here in my neck of the woods, today is also the day that you should remember to mark your calendar for the opening and talk at Newspace this Friday night and Saturday afternoon: Elizabeth Fleming (one of our esteeemed photographers) and Bryan Wolf (one of our esteemed Board Members). I'll definitely be there.

your reading list

2010-03-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

Larissa Leclair interviews Joni Sternbach

Winning the Critical Mass book award had a huge impact on me, and really changed my life as a photographer.
- Joni Sternbach

Part two of my interviews about photographers turned publishers: this time with Richard Renaldi

after reading those, you should also take advantage of free cone day at Ben & Jerry's.

THE FUTURE / PAST OF PHOTOBOOKS

2010-03-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Remember back when RESOLVE and Andy Adams brought together that month long series of cross-blog discussion on THE FUTURE OF PHOTOBOOKS? Well, good discussion shouldn't die out because of an arbitrary timeline. To keep that conversation flowing, I interviewed three photographers I admire: Jason Fulford, Alec Soth, and Richard Renaldi, about the forays each of them have taken into publishing. Part one is right here on Too Much Chocolate.

PDN30

2010-03-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to everyone selected for the annual Photo District News PDN30, but a super congratulations to our book award winners ALEJANDRO CARTAGENA and PETER VAN AGTMAEL and former Critical Mass Finalists MATT EICH and DEBORAH HAMON!

and one more...

2010-03-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

I bet a few more will trickle in as well. busy month...

Susan Burnstine at Newspace

opening reception Friday March 5th 6-9
Artist talk Saturday March 6th at noon

And of course, one more for the To-Do list

2010-03-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

EXPOSED: CRITICAL MASS 2009

© Dorothee Deiss

FEATURING THE WORK OF:

Jenn Ackerman, Jody Ake, Leslie Alsheimer, Jane Fulton Alt, Carl Bower, Andrea Camuto, Manuel Capurso, Alejandro Cartagena, Pelle Cass, Edmund Clark, Victor Cobo, Caleb Cole, Scott Dalton, Dorothee Deiss, Mitch Dobrowner, Jade Doskow, Ed Freeman, Lucia Ganieva, Judy Gelles, N.W. Gibbons, Toni Greaves, Jessica Todd Harper, Jessica Ingram, Mary Shannon Johnstone, Jimmy Lam, Laurie Lambrecht, David Leventi, Larry Louie, Benjamin Lowy, Simone Lueck, Sarah Malakoff, Rania Matar, Tim Matsui, Mark Menjivar, Brad Moore, Kate Orne, Ara Oshagan, Rachel Papo, Bradley Peters, Alexis Pike, Birthe Piontek, Ellen Rennard, Betsy Schneider, Peter Sibbald, Christopher Sims, Will Steacy, Serkan Taycan, David Taylor, Phillip Toledano

Guest Juror: Andy Adams , Editor/Publisher Flak Photo

Artists' Reception & Juror Lecture
Friday, March 5, 6:00-9:00 PM

593 artists entered Photolucida's Critical Mass Competition. 175 were selected after a pre-screening and voted on by 200 professional reviewers. The top fifty finalists are showcased at PCNW. Andy Adams, Editor / Publisher of FlakPhoto.com selected one intriguing image from each artist.

Lecture 7 PM: The Internet, Social Media & Photography Online, Andy Adams, FlakPhoto.com
Tickets: $6 regular, $4 PCNW members

Lecture Description: The Internet is influencing photography culture around the world: connecting international audiences to art experiences, enabling the discovery of new work and presenting never-before-seen channels of expression. The result is a collaborative community of photographers that interacts and shares their work more spontaneously than ever before.

Your To-Do List: March

2010-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a fresh month with so much to do:

• For those of you among the low-fi photo community, our good friend Mary Ann Lynch is editing the next issue of Light Leaks magazine, "Ebb & Flow: The cycle of change." The deadline is March 13th.

• The Center for Fine Art Photography has two calls for juried shows open right now: Animalia, juried by Karen Irvine and Consumption, juried by Brian Paul Clamp. The deadline for Animalia is March 16th. Consumption is April 13th.

• Enter CPW's Photography Now 2010 Exhibition, juried this time around by Lesley A. Martin from Aperture. Deadline is March 31st.

• check out the new issue of Fraction magazine. Many of our friends are included: Jonathan Blaustein, Mary Goodwin, Liz Kuball and more...

• oh, and also check out the new issue of LensWork, featuring Loli Kantor's "There Was a Forest." Loli originally showed her work to Brooks and Maureen at our Reviews last Spring.

• for those of you in New York, Paula McCartney's Birdwatching opens this week at Klompching. Also, everyone's favorite photographer/collector/blogger/and generator of enthusiasm for all things photographic, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, has a show of his own work, Concrete Jungle, at Kris Graves Projects. Congrats Ruben! Both of these shows open Thursday night. Go ahead and call in sick for Friday now.

• check out Verve photo. Good stuff there.

• Our friend Alexa Dilworth at the Center for Documentary Studies has sure been busy. But she's about to get busier. CDS just announced that William Eggleston is going to be this year's juror for the CDS/Honickman First Book Prize. Submissions will be accepted from June 15th to September 8th.

• CDS has also partnered up with Daylight Magazine and they've both announced the Daylight/CDS Photo Awards, to honor and promote talented and committed photographers, both emerging and established. The result will be a project prize, a work in project prize, and six jurors' pick prize winners, and ten honorable mentions. The jurors are folks you want to have look at your work: Vince Aletti, Darius Himes, Julie Saul, Alec Soth, Hank Willis Thomas, Jamie Wellford, Taj Forer and Michael Itkoff, Alexa Dilworth, and Courtney Reid-Eaton. Submissions will be accepted from March 15th through May 15th.

Remember when?

2010-02-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

Remember when Brian Ulrich was just early into all that fantastic Copia work? Back before his Guggenheim. Remember when Doug Dubois dug into the final stretch on his family work that resulted in his critically-acclaimed book that aperture published last year? Remember when Julie Blackmon wowed us all with that color work from her "Domestic Vacations" series? Back before her monograph was published by Radius Books and her representation list grew as long as my arm. Remember the first time you saw the work of Kelli Connell? Michal Chelbin? John Chervinsky? Todd Deutsch? Suzanne Opton? Chris Jordan? You remember... back before his appearance on the Colbert Report?

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Chris Jordan

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Skate Expectations

Well, every single one of these photographers is among the 2005 Critical Mass Top 50. This stroll down memory lane is brought about because The Critical Mass 2009 Top 50 page is now up and running. This page, as well as the pages from all of the previous years are an absolutely fantastic teaching, and even better yet, learning tool as it compiles the actual submissions from the Top 50 ranked photographers from each year of Critical Mass. My God... there are a full five years of the Critical Mass Top 50 listed now. Five years! It almost feels like looking through a yearbook... only less embarrassing. Share it, use it, enjoy it.

Finally! The Critical Mass 2009 Book Award Winners!

2010-02-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

A HUGE congratulations to:

Alejandro Cartagena and Birthe Piontek

top: Birthe Piontek | bottom: Alejandro Cartagena

Alejandro and Birthe are the recipients of photolucida's Critical Mass Book Awards for 2009!

Ultimately, Birthe's and Alejandro's projects rose to the top of the unique democratic process that is Critical Mass and join the ranks of the Critical Mass Book Award Winners. As is always the case with our Book Awards, we're super excited to help more people experience and celebrate this work by producing these books.

What's new this time though is that we're also especially excited to be partnering up with Daylight Books (the new book program of Daylight Magazine) to produce Alejandro's book.

Remember that everyone who participated in CM09, every photographer who entered and every juror, will receive copies of these books once they're produced. And hold on, before you start filling in the comments section with complaints of not having received the last batch of books, remember, it takes a while to publish a beautiful book of exceptional photography and our CM08 books aren't out into the world quite yet. Soon, though... very soon. We're in the final stretch right now and they should be coming in, and going back out to you, in March.

CONGRATS TO BIRTHE, ALEJANDRO, OUR OTHER BOOK AWARD FINALISTS, AND REALLY, ALL OF YOU WHO'VE PARTICIPATED IN CRITICAL MASS, FOR MAKING THIS UNIQUE PROGRAM SUCH A HUGE SUCCESS! LOOK FOR REGISTRATION FOR CRITICAL MASS 2010 TO OPEN THIS SUMMER!

How I'm planning to spend the afternoon of Saturday the 27th in Portland

2010-02-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

11:30: Hit Newspace before the current show, Carnival, changes over (Susan Burnstine next month!)

then maybe lunch at the food carts on Hawthorne

1:30: Down & Out at 23 Sandy in Portland, curated by Carol McCusker. This Saturday, Crista Dix from wallspace gallery will speak on "The State of Contemporary Photography Today" at 2.

2:40: sneak out (sorry Crista, but there's a little driving and parking time to factor in) to hustle over to Blue Sky for a double header at 3 pm with Sam Lee speaking on "War and Vietnamese Photography," followed by a community discussion with Chris Rauschenberg and Stephanie Snyder.

followed by cocktails, right?

Guggenheim fever

2010-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Not sure which was more exciting... Super Bowl Sunday or the overlooked news just finding me that Livia Corona is among the current Guggenheim fellows with her project "Two Million Homes for Mexico" that she'd shared in Critical Mass 2008. Aah, that's not exactly true... Livia's news is definitely more exciting.

Congrats to Livia (and the New Orleans Saints)!

To put on your to-do list:

2010-02-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

1) submit work to the Cedefop Photomuseum Award sponsored by the Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki, Greece by April 11th. This year, the award's theme is:

Learning for Life, Working to Grow

"The Central idea of this year’s theme is bound up with the importance of lifelong learning as well as with work and its importance as a means of personal development and not just a way of life."

2) Look up the current exchange rate to determine how far the 5,000 Euro prize will go.

3) Put some of that imagined windfall aside to go toward your trip to Thessaloniki for the next Photobiennale.

Congratulations to

2010-02-02T08:00:00.001-08:00

Alejandro Cartagena... he's a Finalist for Artwork International's Artist Career Development Grant!

picture HOPE

2010-01-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

picture HOPE: a benefit for Doctors Without Borders at Soulcatcher Studio: more great work, same important cause

Life Support

2010-01-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

Life Support: A Benefit for Doctors Without Borders at wall space gallery

Critic's Pick at the Griffin Museum

2010-01-25T12:53:00.001-08:00

A lovely trio- the Griffin, Chris McCaw, and our very own Laura Moya:

HURRY! HURRY!

2010-01-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

If you act now, there's just enough time to buy me a plane ticket so I can make it out to Boston for an amazing day-

First off, I'd take in the opening for Sandi Haber Fifield and Pelle Cass at Gallery Kayafas at 5:30.

and then I'd duck out just a wee bit early to make it over to support the Portland Trailblazers against the Boston Celtics. Please, we're running out of time, act now! Oh, and throw in tickets to the game too, will you?

sigh.

HAITI RELIEF PRINT SALE

2010-01-19T13:38:00.001-08:00

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!

2010-01-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

photo-eye has just published it's annual best-of lists of the previous year's photo books. This year, they've got lists by such luminaries as Alec Soth, Martin Parr, Jeffrey Ladd, John Gossage, and many others, including our very own Laura Moya. Give yourself a little time when you check it out- I've followed the link twice and find myself getting lost, in a good way, and re-surfacing much later.

By the way, it's also super-exciting to see so many photolucida/CM connections among the reviewers and the favorites. Both of our previous year's books, Peter Van Agtmael's 2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die and Joni Sternbach's Surfland received mentions.

A FEW MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

2010-01-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Note that I got the date wrong when I mentioned Ellen Rennard's work in that previous post- her work will grace the pages of Black and White Photography (UK) in February, not January. However, it ends up that she, along with other Critical Mass-ters David Maisel, Ian Van Coller, and Phil Toledano are all featured in Fraction Magazine's most recent issue. congrats...

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

2010-01-11T08:30:00.001-08:00

• Everyone in Portland loves Céline Clanet. Her show at Blue Sky is super-beautiful, her talk last weekend was super-interesting, and well, Portland's full of love already.

• Corden/Potts gallery is going SMaLL this month. Lots of familiar names on the list for this juried show: Ann Jastrab, Beth Kientzle, Charles Rozier, and more. Congrats gang...

• Ellen Rennard is showing at the Griffin Museum of Photography. I haven't seen it yet, but I believe she's also featured in the January (CORRECTION: THAT'LL BE FEBRUARY) issue of Black and White Photography (UK). I know Ellen gained many fans when she shared this work in Critical Mass 2008 and I know that at least one of these opportunities was a direct result from that. Congrats Ellen.

• China, China, China... I'm behind on all this, and it warrants more than just a passing note. Among my tasks to complete this week, I want to gather and post some photos and info about this amazing trip to China that so many of our photo folks attended recently. I've been sent a couple links, but in the event that you were there, or know someone who was, send 'em my way.

Critical Mass 2008 Book Award Winner: Céline Clanet, Stateside

2010-01-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Blue Sky Gallery, Saturday January 9th, @ 3:00 pm Gallery Talk

FIELD TRIP TO CHINA

2009-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

So, the reason I get an automated out of office reply everytime I email our wonderful director this week is because Laura's among the US curators who were invited to attend and put together shows for the Lishui Photo Festival:

Laura Moya, Paula Tognarelli, Carol McCusker, Crista Dix, Eric J. Keller, Evan Mirapaul, Ellen Boughn, Jason Houston, Brooks Jensen, and Taj Forer were all invited to attend.

Also, among the photographers invited from the US:

Ernie Button, Joni Sternbach, Mitch Dobrowner, Douglas Ethridge, Catharine Stebbins, Rich Scott, Rita Maas, Betsy Schneider, Susan Lakin, Mark Tomkins, Cyrus Karimipour, David Wolf, Stan Raucher, Karen & Stephen Strom, Loli Kantor, Rick Scott, Mark Tomkins, Mark Jaremko, Sarah Hadley, Jonathan Lipkin, Philipp Scholz Ritterman, Charles Rozier, Mary Parisi, Mariette Pathy Allen, Carol Isaak

Connections with these people came from meetings at Photolucida’s Reviews with Mr. Wang Yue and Yan Li from Pingyao International Photography Festival.

Laura has curated two exhibitions at Lishui out of work she's come across through our programs:

Desiree Edkins

and
Lori Vrba

Congrats to all. Hope you're having a blast. Hopefully you'll all send pictures so we can post them here.

ooh... and special thanks to Sean Justice, whose non-profit Scanning China Project has been incredibly helpful for all of these folks in planning their trips.

Black Friday

2009-11-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

details HERE.

do it.

CM09: Our Book Award Finalists!

2009-11-06T04:35:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to our Book Award Finalists!

Jody Ake

Carl Bower

Alejandro Cartagena

Toni Greaves

Birthe Piontek

Christopher Sims

Each of these artists will be asked to submit a proposal and from those, two books will be selected for publication by photolucida. Once those books are published, they'll be sent to each and every person involved with Critical Mass 2009. Well done! Thanks to all!