Rosanne Olson's photographic celebration of the female form

Photographer Rosanne Olson aims for a sense of frankness in her new work of black-and-white images, titled "This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes in Sizes." "Our," in this case, being women of all ages, and the statement "This is who I am" announcing that this will not be a typical collection of glamour or fashion images. Flaws and wrinkles that are often airbrushed in magazine photos, and body types that one rarely associates with nude photography, are displayed here with an eye for the natural beauty of women.

The aged, scarred, overweight, and bony bodies are each accompanied by biographies of the women possessing them, and Olson, with candid telling, relates stories of life-threatening injuries, anorexia, or past sexual abuse. More superficial complaints about unfortunate bruises and sags are also included. Some women are friends, and others strangers met on the streets of Olson's City, Seattle. Many others traveled from New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas to be photographed.

To preview more of this book, visit Rosanne Olson's website here.

San Diego Natural History Museum presents Mitch Dobrowner

The landscape photography of Mitch Dobrowner will be exhibited at the Ordover Gallery of the San Diego Natural History Museum from May 17 to August 3, 2008. An opening reception on May 17 will take place from 11 am to 1 pm, and entry will be free of charge. The main feature will be Dobrowner's series "Enraptured," a 28-image collection of black and white landscape photographs from North America. These include varied scenes comprising locations such as the American Southwest and the cityscapes of Los Angeles. The exhibition also includes San Diego-born glass sculptor Dick Ditore, and photographers Richard Garrod and Robert Walter.

During the exhibition, all photography and artwork will be available for sale, with a large portion of the proceeds going to the San Diego Natural History Museum. The high archival quality of Dobrowner's prints, created using traditional methods and materials that encourage simplicity in technique, ensure that your investment will go to a long-lasting piece of art that is abstract in sensibility, yet quintessentially American.

From Mitch Dobrowner's website:

"Dobrowner's printmaking process is performed in a dry darkroom with minimal dodging and burning. Prints are produced using archival quality 100% cotton rag paper with pigment based inks. The results are black and white landscape photographs that are somewhat abstract, yet feature a detailed symmetry and depth that transforms 'everyday' objects into iconic images."

Find out more about the available selection of Mitch Dobrowner's photography here.

Mitch Dobrowner's photographs are available for purchase at galleries around the United States and the world. These have recently been joined by Wall Space gallery in Seattle, WA, and the Bond Street Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. For a full list of locations, go to Dobrowner's website here.

Winners announced for The Singular Image and Project Competition

Center, the partner organization of Santa Fe Workshops, has announced the winners for their annual Project Competition and The Singular Image Awards. Hiroshi Watanabe's photographic project, "Ideology in Paradise," took top honors in the Project Competition, as did color photographer Dorthe Alstrup and black-and-white artist Joseph Guerriero in the Singular Image Awards' two categories. Congratulations also to the Juror's Choice recipients in the Project Competition, Walter Astrada, Dean Hollowood, and Marvi Lacar; selected Singular Image color entrants Kathryn Parker and Brad Moore (Second and Third Place, respectively); and entrants of Singular Image's Black and White category, Anna Boyiazis and Bob Gates.

The winning projects were chosen by a jury comprising Charlotte Cotton, Curator of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Chris Pichler, Publisher at Nazraeli Press; and Susan Scandrett, Creative Director of Mother Jones magazine.

From Charlotte Cotton, Chris Pichler and Susan Scandrett:

"We unanimously selected work that demonstrated active choices made by the photographer to represent what was of genuine interest to them. This is reflected in the range of our selections and the range of contemporary concerns. We saw many portfolios that referred to the rich heritage of photography: for instance social documentary; ecological projects; the photographic journey; and investigations of families and small communities. The most inspiring projects that we saw were natural yet innovative departures from these genres."

Click here to view all of the winning images at visitcenter.org.

Image © Hiroshi Watanabe.

Juried exhibition: emerging (I) 3

The Creative Center for Photography's gallery space in Los Angeles, CA will be hosting a juried exhibition of silver prints in black and white created by students. The images were selected by Freestyle Photographic Supplies' Educational Steering Committee, a group of photographic educators dedicated to passing darkroom skills and other traditional techniques to future generations. Many institutions from California and beyond, like East LA College, the International Center for Photography, and Montana State University participated in this show. The exhibition will run from April 24 to June 25, 2008.

From FreeStyle:

"(The Freestyle Educational Steering Committee) offers advice and council to Freestyle Photographic Supplies with regard to supplies, curriculum, and
creative techniques. The Steering Committee also serves as a forum for the educators' thoughts and concerns about photography in the modern classroom."

Click here to find out more about FreeStyle.

Open Shutter Gallery presents Mitch Dobrowner

In Durango, Colorado, Open Shutter Gallery will present the black-and-white work of Mitch Dobrowner, along with the photographs of Thomas Carr. Dobrowner has assembled an impressive collection of stunning outdoor scenes of natural vistas in the United States. His ghostly reprentations of legendary geographic monuments, like New Mexico's Shiprock shrouded in stormclouds, or Merrick Butte in Arizona's famous Monument Valley, are but two examples in the photographer's magnificent catalogue. Dobrowner's images are captured with black-and-white film, and some are processed digitally, making him an impressive example of the "new school" of analog photography, in which a photographer's expertise in color, light and shadow has complemented, rather than hindered, the old school sensibility reminiscent of landscape photographers like Ansel Adams.

The exhibition runs March 14 to April 30, 2008.

From the Open Shutter Gallery:

"(Open Shutter) Gallery owner Margy Dudley carefully selects the finest quality works with an eye on photographers who address humanitarian and conservation issues through their photos. Dobrowner’s surreal photographic landscape images, created by using a mixture of black and white film and digital cameras, reflect the power of nature and the hushed beauty of outdoor scenes in North America. Other great photographers who have exhibited at the Open Shutter Gallery include Pentti Sammallahti, Nick Brandt, Peter Turner and Lois Greenfield. Coincidentally, Mitch, as a young photographer at age 18, assisted Peter Turner at his NY studio."

Dobrowner's work was featured in a 12-page spread in Silvershotz Journal of Fine Art Photography, and he was also featured as a participant in the 2008 Photo LA Festival. To find out more about the artist's works, visit his site here. Open Shutter Gallery's site is here.

Galerie Poller in New York presents Kerim Aytac

Galerie Poller, of both New York and Frankfurt fame, presents a new exhibition of photography by Kerim Aytac: "Tokyo Hotel", running from Thursday, February 14, to April 5, 2008. A British-Turkish photographer, Aytac balances the style of his work between the abstract and the representational, the meditative and the obscure. These are not action photographs, nor are they meant to be true-life images. Instead, every photograph impresses as a self-contained mystery, as if the images displayed are those stolen from a person who is just waking in this environment. Galerie Poller is an excellent partner for this photographer, being solely dedicated to contemporary photography since 2002.

From Galerie Poller, originally by Kate Keara Pelen:

"Kerim Aytac seems to resist clichés of composition, resist the 'good' shot. Instead he seeks out small, incidental, sometimes even unremarkable goings-on. At times the work brings to mind Robert Frank or Walker Evans. But in fact these images adopt more of an in-between viewpoint; alongside an American low picturesque there is also nostalgia for the French semi-abstract black-and-white tradition. The B&W also serves to bring everything to an equal formal level; layers of reflections, markings and traces dissolve into the surface on the brink of the recognisable. As a viewer you have to struggle to identify individual elements, which resist, like embedded ciphers."

Aytac's website can be viewed here.

New Exhibition: CameraArts feature artist Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin

Based in Minneapolis, MN Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin (CameraArts November/December 2007) will be participating in a two-person show in her home city. Nina Bliese Gallery will be hosting the exhibition,which will feature Hofkin's inrared photographs, along with the wood sculpture of Robyn Horn. The exhibition begins February 18 and runs throughMarch 28, 2008. Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin's participation in a cultural exchange program in Israel led to her photographs being featured in a permanent installation at the Poriya Hospital in Tiberias, Israel.

From Nina Bliese Gallery:

"She recently exhibited her work in a one person show at Nof Tavor in Israel, and in June, 2007, her photographs were featured in a solo exhibition at the Givatayim Theatre in Tel Aviv. She says of her work, 'In my photographs, the elements of the invisible and immeasurable are added to the image area to produce surprises that may be frightening or exhilarating…or both. After all, many aspects of life are beyond our control.'”

Go here to see Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin's personal website.

To see more images, go to the gallery's website here.

Exhibition Chronicles Turning Point in American Photography

"Debating Modern Photography: The Triumph of Group f/64" is an exhibition honoring both sides of a debate about the direction and state of photography in the 1930s. Running February 16 to May 4, 2008, at the Center for Creative Photography, the exhibition will present works from the members of Group f/64, including Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Sonya Noskowiak, Edward Weston, to name a few; and from the practitioners of the pictorial tradition of photography, which was the dominant style at the time that the group was formed. The mechanical nature of Group f64's images, with bold, angular shapes and strong shadows, and the painterly, soft-focus style that came before are presented as 100 works by 16 artists.

Pictorial photographers of the 1930s, like Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen, and Karl Struss, represent the lasting tradition, heavily involved in hand-crafting images, dignified portraits, and romantic landscapes. As a result, photographs from the "pictorial" era are closer to individual, painterly visions, both in the method of creation and in the adherence to form and subject matter.

Group f/64 made its first exhibition a reality at de Young Memorial Museum on November 15, 1932, after uniting in San Francisco to celebrate the camera's underappreciated attributes: specifically, the exacting focus and clarity achievable at the aperture setting that made the group's name. Now, this retrospective exhibition comes courtesy of the Center for Creative Photography and the Phoenix Art Museum.

From the Center for Creative Photography:

“Group f/64 photographs include nearly every possible category: industrial, urban and natural landscapes; portraits of friends and fellow group members; isolated objects for sharp-focus still lifes; and details extracted from the visible world. ...To distinguish themselves from the Pictorialists, (Group f/64) wrote, 'Pure photography is defined as possessing no qualities of technic [sic], composition or idea, derivative of any other art-form.'"

Reception speakers include Susan Ehrens, who will examine the photographic legacies of Anne Brigman, Imogen Cunningham, and Alma Lavenson; and Joan Fontcuberta will "discuss the tension between truth and beauty that has propelled photography's evolution since its origin." The reception takes place March 28, 2008, at the Center for Creative Photography Gallery at the University of Arizona.

Click here for details.

Farmani Gallery presents Helen K. Garber and L.A Noir.

Starting February 5 and running through March 1, 2008, Farmani Gallery will present a special exhibition of Helen K. Garber's nocturnal city landscapes, called "L.A. Noir." A multimedia presentation, the exhibition will incorporate Garber's black and white photographs with bebop jazz music and pulpy narration. The age of classic film noir, fueled by the images of Humphrey Bogart smoking his cigarette, or Welles gazing up at the damning finger of the partner who he murdered, are often associated with these images, but Garber casts them in a different light. The images are often tranquil, and the light makes old motels and highway stops look pristine. A top pick for the 2006 Santa Fe Prize in Photography, the exhibition has been shown at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz, NY, and the Venice Art Walk in Venice, CA.

A percentage of sales from the exhibition will be donated to the Los Angeles Conservancy, which preserve many of the old spots that have become visually synonymous with film noir from the 1940's and 50's.

Julian Cox, former photo curator at The Getty Center, said:

"This work demonstrates a fresh and distinct photographic vision, one that sparks new understandings and imaginings about the city of Los Angeles and its elusive mythologies. Image and text are woven together with considerable skill and flair, the one informing and complementing the other. Of course many artists have photographed Los Angeles over the years, but none with quite the wit and acuity of vision that is found in L.A. Noir."

Tim Anderson, managing editor of CameraArts Magazine, said of the exhibition:

"Helen K. Garber’s haunting, enigmatic Urban Noir scenes have haunted as well as taunted me. Garber has taken street photography to new depths of the imagination. Rather than viewing stark, in-your-face images, you see visions of things that might be, dreamscapes or landscapes of the mind."

In Farmani Gallery 2, during the same dates, Rose-Lynn Fisher (CameraArts January-February 2008) will be presenting "Liminal Spaces-Morocco." Farmani Gallery is the home of the International Photography Awards, of which Helen K. Garber is a sitting advisory board member. It is also the parent organization that presents the Lucie Awards. Click here for more information on this exhibition.

Conservation Photographer named one of the best by World Photographic Arts Corporation

Dr. Joe Zammit-Lucia, conservation photographer and CameraArts feature artist (January-February 2008) has been included in a new collection released in January by the World Photographic Arts Corporation: "The World's Greatest Black & White Photography." The selections have been made via the Corporation's Black and White Spider Awards. Zammit-Lucia has worked extensively in high-quality color photography using the complete control provided by digital formats. However, he also uses his impressive tools, both behind the camera and at the workstation, to create arresting monochrome images.

From the World Photographic Arts Corporation:

"A showcase of the finest in contemporary black and white photography, the book was three years in the making. Over 13,000 images were screened by a judging panel of nearly 50 international jurors which included representatives from the Tate Gallery, Magnum Photos, The Rekjavik Museum of Photography, Life Magazine, The British Institute of Professional Photography and many others."

Joe Zammit-Lucia's image "Pride #1," part of his Fauves series, was selected as a representative image of his work in the Nature section. This series, selections of which can be viewed at Zammit-Lucia's fabulous website here, portrays animals in portraits accentuating the emotion and pathos usually only associated with humanity."Pride #1" will also be included in "First Steps: Conserving Our Environment," to be published on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2008. View the website here.

The World Photographic Arts Corporation will open its 32rd annual call for entries February 4, 2008, for color photography. Click here for details.

Image: Pride #1, © Joe Zammit-Lucia

Socialist Realist photography from the the USSR

The Victoria H. Myhren Gallery at the University of Denver is set to present in March 2008 the exhibition by Semyon Fridlyand: “On the Road: Photography of the Soviet Empire.” A photographer in Soviet-era Russia, Fridlyand has left us an impressive body of work from this time period which is shrouded in mystery for so mush of the American public.The exhibition of 70 photographs will be accompanied by a catalog and essay collection, as well as an online archive. The exhibition will run March 6 to May 4, 2008.

These black and white images serve as examples of photography steeped in the philosophy of Socialist Realism, which imagined the future of Soviet society with great optimism. The more negative aspects of Soviet society, which seem in no way buried in today's Russia, are glossed over in favor of images of heroism and working ambition.

From the Victoria H. Myren gallery:

"Strong parallels exist between early Socialist Realism and corresponding movements in American photojournalism of the 1930s. For instance, the celebration of the production economy in Soviet photographs could feature the monumental beauty of industrial plants and equipment in a style similar to Margaret Bourke-White’s work for Life magazine.

"In pre-WWII USSR, the elevation of the worker to heroic status was a principle objective of Communist Party propaganda—just as it was with the documentary projects of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression."

Later work by Fridyland, after World War II's near-absolute decimation of the USSR and unheard-of loss among its people, is no less glorifying of the State or the Communist message. In fact Fridyland started working with color photography at this time, creating glossy images similiar to the 50s-era advertising of the US. Fridyland died in 1964, while the USSR, just having sent the first man into space, was enjoying the peak of its technological superiority over the Americans.

To see more images from another era in time, from a photographer who lived wholly in that era, click here.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Center's Singular Image and Project Competition

Center, sponsored by the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Calumet Photographic, CameraArts Magazine, and many others, is an organization dedicated to bringing photographic discourse and appreciation to New Mexico from all over the world. Every year, two competitions, The Singular Image and The Project Competition, are hosted in conjuction with Review Santa Fe, a one-of-a-kind juried portfolio event. The Project Competition promotes excellence and innovation in documentary projects and fine art series with a $5,000 cash award, $1,000 scholarships at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, complimentary participation in Review Santa Fe 2008 and more. The Singular Image awards single entries in both color and black & white and offers products from Singer Editions, Calumet, and Epson, to name a few.

The deadline for application to all three events is January 18, 2008.

From Center's announcement:

"Through the years of presenting these events, we have been pleased to honor many fine photographs and photographers. Now it's your turn; the time to plan your entries, research the outstanding jurors, and visit the website VISITCENTER.ORG to view the work of past honorees."

Announced jurors for The Project Competition include Charlotte Cotton, Curator of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chris Pichler, Publisher of Nazraeli Press; and Susan Scandrett, Creative Director of Mother Jones Magazine. For the Singular Image, Anthony Lasala, Senior Editor of Photo District News (PDN), will jury the black and white category, while Jen Bekman, Director of Jen Bekman Gallery, will judge color entries. Reveiw Santa Fe is unique in that an esteemed board of jurors selects the photographers to be reviewed at the event, which takes place June 5 to 7, 2008. This is a fine opporunity to stand head-and-shoulders with the finest upcoming photographers the medium has to offer!

Click here for more information on how to register or enter either of these fine competitons.

Photo Festival: PhotoVentura 2007

From October 20 to November 3, 2007, dozens of photographic events will be hosted in Ventura, California. During PhotoVenura 2007, photographers, artists, and galleries in the area will act in tandem to fill the festival with slide shows, contests, workshops, and exhibits. Special events include an inaugural PhotoVentura Gallery Crawl. This year's event has drawn over 100 participating artists at more than 20 venues. Foremost among these is the Buenaventura Gallery, the city's oldest showing space, which will host both "17mm and 180°: Altered Views, New Visions" with Kim and Peter Binfield, and will also co-sponsor Kidz Snap, a photo safari for children with a presentation at Bell Arts Factory.

From the PhotoVentura website, quoting photographer and festival founder Stephen "Schaf" Schafer:

"After the success of PhotoVentura 2005, people just kept asking me, when's the next Photoventura?" With the City of Ventura promoting itself as California's New Art City, art programming has been multiplying in the Downtown Cultural District. The city has managed to use art as a catalyst in the downtown area, exciting locals, tourists, merchants and artists with the New Art City Concept."

This seems more than just a local art festival, one deserving of national notice. Ventura appears to have a passion for photography built into its arts scene, with so many galleries participating. Schafer and Co. have needed only to announce a date for all of these organizations to come together—such strong bonds in the community have clearly led to a strong sense of organization and cooperation. The event will be all-inclusive to the various forms of photography, from black and white to color, from traditional landscapes and portraits to cutting edge, abstract works.

For a full list of participating galleries and events, visit www.photoventura.com.

Roger Mayne exhibition at Gitterman Gallery

Gitterman Gallery, located in New York, has dedicated itself to the art of photography. The photographs of Roger Mayne will be displayed September 21 to November 30, 2007. Images are taken from the breadth of the photographer's career, from his most celebrated to more obscure images from the 1960s. Born in 1929, Roger Mayne became known for shooting working-class neighborhoods in his native England. His nature photography of rural England and other places will also be on view.

As a boy, Mayne turned to photography to escape a rigid, controlled living environment and relate to people. This is reflected in the pathos contained in these images of everyday people in 1950s England. The sympathetic feel of Mayne's camera reveals more than just the way people looked, dressed, and gathered.

From the Gitterman Gallery's press release:

"These spare cityscapes express the anxiety that though the coming modernization of London would provide better housing and cleaner streets, it would also mark the end of community life in the street. During his travels abroad in the Mediterranean and later the East, Mayne photographed wherever he found vibrant street life continuing to exist. His choice to make some large scale prints was uncommon for the time and emphasized the immediacy of his expression."

Click here to view a gallery of images.

Image ©Roger Mayne