Deadline for Critical Mass

The deadline for Photolucida's Critical Mass is tonight and I just finished editing my entry. I submitted my most recent project Isolation/Identity and hope the portraits present a strong and cohesive body of work.

From Photolucida's Blog;

Introducing the Reviewer's Scrapbook!

Here in the States these days, it's hard to turn on the tv or radio without getting an earful about that particular day's political winners and losers. I suppose it makes sense when it comes to an election and one office up for grabs, but I worry that the competitive tone extends unnecessarily into the rest of the world. Here, for example, with Critical Mass.

One of our goals with Critical Mass is to emphasize its function as a resource and not necessarily a competition. The idea, from the beginning, was never about tabulating winners and losers, but to create a resource for contemporary art photography, allowing photographers from anywhere to get their work seen by editors, curators, and other people who actually use photography. Critical Mass was designed as a way to play matchmaker and then reward some of the photographers who everyone agrees are great with well-deserved monographs that automatically go into the collections of every single person involved. Ultimately though, it's not about the books, but about a process that allows everyone who enters to have a fair shot at having their work seen by people who actually use photography.

This year, in addition to the monographs, we've come up with an idea to celebrate the differences of opinion jurors may have by adding a "Reviewer's Scrapbook" section to our web site. This becomes a place where we can emphasize the individual tastes of select Reviewers. We've got lots of great reviewers but Laurel Ptak, for example, is going to have a significantly different list of favorites than Brooks Jensen, isn't she? The idea is simple- we're selecting 12 reviewers and inviting them to keep a folder on their desktop of their favorite images. After the voting has taken place, these images will then be turned into web slideshows, with one new slideshow coming out each month.

So far, invitations have been extended and are still coming in. Let's see, as of this moment, 86 hours before the deadline for Critical Mass entries, the following jurors have confirmed that they're willing to keep and share their scrapbooks:

Andy Adams, Flak Photo
Paul Buckley, Penguin Group
Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center
Rob Haggart, APhotoEditor.com / APhotoFolio.com
Whitney Johnson, New Yorker Magazine

We'll keep you posted as more confirmations come in. I tell you, we're excited...

Photolucida Critical Mass

From Photolucida, "The aim of Critical Mass, and all Photolucida programming, is to provide participants with career-building opportunities and to promote the best emerging and mid-career artists working today.

Critical Mass is a program about exposure and community. The idea is simple- photographers (from anywhere) submit a 10 image portfolio for $75. This work then gets pre-screened by a committee of 25 great jurors and from there, 175 top finalists are determined. These top finalists then pay an additional submission fee and their work goes on to a jury of approximately 200 of the world's best curators, editors, and professionals who have agreed to vote on these finalists. From these votes, two or three photographers receive book awards and once the monographs are published, everyone who enters and reviews will receive copies of the books."

Mary Virginia Swanson has some advice about entering:

"My best advice: submit 10 images that are coherent as a group. EDIT! Each image should add to the strength of the submission; don’t throw a curve ball into the submission, to show how broad your capabilities are… Carefully consider which image you elect to identify as “signature” from the submission, which will be used on the checklist we receive. If the selection of images you submit comes from a larger project or series, tell us. Provide us with titles. Write about your work with clarity."

Stripeman Gallery Call for Entry

Stripeman Gallery invites artists to submit work for the Kings and Queens group show, opening on October 10, 2008. This opening coincides with Second Fridays, the monthly program led by the Williamsburg Gallery Association to encourage visitors, where 36 galleries keep their doors open until 9 PM, or later.

Entries must be postmarked no later than tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23.

ETA: The deadline has been extended to Wednesday, October 1.

Call for Artists Art Gotham

Art Gotham is looking for artists for its annual Square Foot Show/Election 2008.

"Politics and art? As impossible a mix as oil and water? Not necessarily. Has there ever been a more powerful anti war message than Picasso’s Guernica? The last year has shown that Americans want to engage in politics again. We do care what happens here and abroad. To celebrate the excitement now bubbling as the coming election approaches, Art Gotham chose the timely theme “Election 2008” for its annual Square Foot Show, which opens Saturday, October 25th and runs through Saturday, November 8th, 2008. Artists were provided with 12x12 canvases, and asked to think politically as they create works for the show. Nothing like a tough assignment for producing amazing results.

All artists will start from square one, a uniform 12x12 inch canvas, to create a fresh, new work from any medium (yes, photography and sculpture included). Canvases will be offered on a first come, first serve basis for $35 each which also includes the canvas, advertising, publicity, reception and art installation costs. All forms of payment accepted. Each artist can include up to six works of art. You can send a friend to pick up a canvas for you. Canvases/entry to the exhibit can also be given as a gift to an artist.

You will set the price to sell your Square Foot artwork! You will also be given a clear cover notebook insert to include your bio, resume, information on your art, images of your work, your website etc for collectors and curators to read more about you. ART GOTHAM’s Square Foot Show will be an excellent opportunity for you to promote your art to collectors, curators and and other gallery visitors. You will also meet many other artists. Art Gotham will choose artists for future solo shows from this group exhibit as well. This is a benefit for artists: you will receive 50% of the sale proceeds based on the price you set to sell the work."

REGISTRATION/CANVAS PICK-UP DATES
Saturday, September 6th 1pm – 5pm

Sunday, September 7th 1pm – 5pm

Friday, September 12th 1pm - 5pm

Saturday, September 13th 1pm – 5pm

Sunday, September 14th 1pm – 5pm

More details can be found here.

AIM deadline

The deadline to apply to the Bronx Museum of the Arts' Artist in the Marketplace is today.

From their website: "AIM comprises a twelve-week seminar program offered annually in the fall and the spring. Classes meet on Tuesday evenings 6 - 8 p.m. Enrollment is limited to 18 artists per semester. The program culminates with an annual group exhibition and accompanying catalogue.

AIM sessions provide information, instruction, and professional guidance by addressing areas of practical concern to artists, such as curatorial practice, copyright law, exhibition and public art opportunities, gallery representation, grants writing, income taxes, and marketing. A core set of workshops is annually enhanced by a number of guest speakers including artists, collectors, critics, curators, dealers, lawyers, and accountants."

ASMP call for entry

Image 08 is a nationwide photo contest run by the New York chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and open to all professional and student photographers residing in the United States. Submit one or more of your favorite images that were created on or after January 1, 2007. The deadline for entry submissions is May 14, 2008.

Pause, to Begin call for entry

Pause, to Begin is a unique, new photography competition currently accepting applications now until April 1, 2008, and the selected finalists will be announced online April 15, 2008. Ethan and David, the founders of Pause, to Begin, will hit the road in May 2008 with a documentary filmmaker to visit the selected finalists and record the time they experience together.

By traveling to meet the selected finalists in-person, Pause, to Begin becomes a publication that reflects not only the visited photographers and their process for creating, but also the journey of making Pause, to Begin.

The first year of Pause, to Begin culminates in November, 2008 with the release of a limited edition, hard-bound fine art book that is distributed to important creatives in the photographic industry and available online for purchase. The selected photographers will also be exhibited at a to-be-announced gallery that will coincide with the book release celebration.

Tips on entering a call for entry

Last month I posted this on photographylot. I thought I would also include it here for those who didn't have a chance to read it.

I was recently a juror on a photography portfolio panel for a national scholarship organization. It was an eye-opening experience being "on the otherside" and seeing how our own work might be evaluated when we apply to galleries or for grants or even just apply for a job. I learned quite a bit and thought I'd share some tips with you. Some of these are painfully obvious but it never hurts to repeat them, right?

Essentially I spent all day in a dark room with a group of photographers and photo-related professionals and we were given the task of viewing over 3000+ images. Of those images, only 5% were chosen for further consideration.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

All the images were judged on originality, technical skill and the emergence of an artistic voice.

1. Edit. Then edit. Then when you're done editing, edit some more. Some of the projects I saw had great individual photos but the editing was poor and those were rejected.

2. The image itself is the most important. Judges were more forgiving of technical "mistakes" or even sloppiness or lack of skill if the image itself was strong.

3. Body of work
Only show one body of work. Don't try to show versatility in style or technique. Be consistent. The judges wanted to see a singular vision. Even if we didn't agree on the message of the work or if we didn't like individual images, the portfolios were still placed in the next round if the overall body of work was strong.

Show your singular vision by exploring an idea fully. Some portfolios showed the genesis on an idea but didn't explore it and those were rejected.

4. Unlike what conventional wisdom would dictate, try to place most, if not all, your stronger images in the front or beginning of your portfolio. While this sounds counterintuitive, the reality of judging so many portfolios meant that many were not viewed fin their entirety. For example, the portfolios each contained 8 images each. If the judges did not like the series by the fourth image, the entire series was dismissed and we moved on to the next.

5. Engage the audience emotionally.
Some portfolios were technically competent and consistent and overall
they were "fine" but left us emotionally flat. Those were the first to get dismissed.

Hope this was helpful. If you have any thoughts to add please let me know.

New York Photo Festival

The New York Photo Festival has been announced and will take place from May 14-18, 2008. According to their PR, New York has lacked, until now, a large-scale event dedicated to photography. The focus will be on contemporary photography and the festival will take place in DUMBO. The curators are the satirical Martin Parr, Kathy Ryan from The New York times, Lesley Martin from Aperture and Tim Barber so it will be interesting to see their choices.

More importantly, for photographers, the debut of the New York Photo Awards was also announced. There will be 16 category winners and 32 honourable mentions. Jury members include Lauren Greenfield and Frank Evers. For information about the awards click here. The deadline is April 14, 2008.

There's a snappy ad promoting the festival (and the DUMBO arts resurgence) here.