Thursday, September 27, 2012

2012 WIP - LTI/Lightside Individual Project Grant Recipient


I recently received the 2012 WIP - LTI/Lightside Individual Project Grant for my project, Paterson, a series of documentary portraits depicting residents of Paterson, NJ during the years following the economic crisis in 2008.  Many thanks to those who have supported the project thus far.

Thank you to Humble Arts Foundation and Women in Photography for creating and promoting this platform and opportunity for women working in photography.  In March 2008, I participated in a panel discussion on women in photography with Cara Phillips and others facilitated by Humble Arts Foundation.  It's been amazing to witness the evolution of a website inspired by that discussion and how significantly it has contributed to increasing exposure and recognition for women working in photography.  As someone who also curates and writes for an arts site, I appreciate the commitment it takes to keep these projects alive, so thank you to these two talented photographers and WIP's co-founders, Cara Phillips and Amy Elkins, for their dedication.

Thank you to Jeffrey Kane and LTI-Lightside Photographic Services for sponsoring four years of this unique grant.

Thank you to this year's juror Sasha Wolf - the owner and director of an exceptional gallery - and a great supporter of women working in photography.  I met Sasha at her gallery in the spring of 2009 when she hosted two exhibitions curated by Nymphoto, a collective of women photographers. I've deeply felt Sasha's encouragement of my own work and gained enormous respect for her vision and her relationships with artists and the arts community.  I'm truly honored that Sasha has recognized the Paterson series for this grant.

Thank you to my family, always, for their love and their support of my creative life and bearing with me through the ups and downs. Thank you also to my friends and to Tawny for sharing stories and images and for inspiring me with her creativity and passion.

My deepest thanks to the many people in Paterson who have shared part of themselves and their experiences to make this project exist. I began taking pictures in Paterson on a fall afternoon in November 2009, and have made since more than fifty trips to the city and walked countless miles through its downtown streets looking for people with whom I might create a connection.  I have photographed over a hundred subjects and, in some cases, listened to stories about financial hardship, unemployment, homelessness, addiction, and depression. And, in other cases, their stories have been less fraught with these struggles. In every encounter, I've appreciated the willingness of these subjects to make the human connection that is the essence of these portraits.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013


I'm honored to share the incredible news that my portrait of Cathy on Market Street in Paterson was chosen for inclusion in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 exhibition on view at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery from March 23, 2013 through February 23, 2014.  My deep thanks to the competition jurors - Brandon Fortune, Peter Frank, Hung Liu, Richard J. Powell, Alec Soth, Wendy Wick Reaves, and Dorothy Moss - for recognizing this work.  Thank you to Cathy and all of those in Paterson who have participated in this street portrait series during the past three years.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

TEDx / Ideas Worth Spreading in Your Classroom


PDNedu's Fall 2012 issue is now live, including my article covering TEDx events at universities and highlighting TED talks by contemporary photographers with information about creating TEDx events in your own communities.

Please see: TEDx / Ideas Worth Spreading in Your Classroom 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Trois x Trois = 9 Inspirations


My cross-continental kindred spirit, photographer Pauline Magnenat, who recently curated Culturehall Feature Issue 88: TOGETHER, ALWAYS, has created a new web project. Trois x Trois asks artists to share 9 things that have recently inspired their creative lives, and I was happy to be invited by Pauline to mention some books, films, and an organization that have made an impression on me.

A short list of inspirations:  Trois x Troix / Tema Stauffer

Beasts of the Southern Wild, a feature-length film directed by Behn Zeitlin
Girls Who Smoke, a short film directed and co-produced by Tawny Foskett
Bill Cunningham, New York, a documentary directed by Richard Press and produced by Philip Gefter
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a novel by Junot Diaz
The Chronology of Water, a memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, a biography by Linda Gordon
The Ongoing Moment, writing on photography by Geoff Dyer
Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth-Century Photography, a book edited by Tate exhibition curators Emma Dexter and Thomas Weksi
The Duke Center for Documentary Studies, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to documentary arts