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.

Prix De La Photographie announces competition winners

Prix De La Photographie, better known as Px3, had an immensely successful second year of its annual photography competition, having received thousands of incredible entries. Judging in categories in Advertising, Photojournalism, Photographic Books, Fine Art, Nature, and Portraiture, along with numerous sub-categories, the panel selected a First and Second place winner in each. Entries were judged on the basis of originality, creativity, the quality of execution, and overall impact on the viewer. What's more, the People's Choice Award is still open for voting.

The title of Px3 Photographer of the Year was given to Balasz Gardi of Hungary, and his single image "The Valley" was highlighted for particular recognition. The Best New Talent Award went to Ryan Schude of Los Angeles, with his image "The Saturn" also receiving distinct praise. These two photographers, along with the First and Second Place winners in each category, will be featured at the Galerie Acte 2 in Paris June 26-28, 2008, and published in the Px3 Annual Book. Click here to see a full list of winners and images, complete with subcategories.

From Px3, Lucie Awards and Focus on AIDS Founder Hossein Farmani:

"I was extremely impressed with the quality of the photographs submitted. Considering Px3 is only in its second year, the overall excellence of work submitted was really outstanding."

Vote for your favorite entries in 2008's Px3 competition by clicking here.

Pictures of the Year International honors Leaders in Photojournalism

The Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition has conferred a special award this year, bestowing the Distinguished Leadership in PhotoJournalism Award upon Magnum Founders: In Celebration of Sixty Years, a hard-cover, limited edition book of platinum prints celebrating the work of pioneering photographers who have come to help define modern photography. The book was submitted by Verso Limited Editions, and a special award was bestowed. Eleven highly esteemed professionals reviewed more than 46,00 images for the competition, and were all amazed by the presentation and quality of Magnum Founders.

The distinction is shared among Verso Limited Editions, Magnum Photos, and Magnum founders (and photographic legends) Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David Seymour. Verso specializes in hand-crafted books in the traditional style, in an attempt to emulate the rare first editions of the 1900s from artists such as Picasso, Matisse, and Salvador Dali.

From Verso Limited Editions:

"Seventy-five editions of Magnum Founders are being produced, each containing twelve bound, original 14 x 16 inch platinum prints, three by each photographer, as well as one freestanding platinum print by Robert Capa. The images selected for the book are some of the most important of these photographers' careers, and each print bears the stamp of the photographer's estate. The Cartier-Bresson prints in Magnum Founders are the only estate-stamped prints released for sale since his death in 2004.

"Commissioned by Magnum Photos, the book was published in cooperation with the estates of the four photographers and contains a foreword by Elliott Erwitt, renowned photographer and past president of Magnum Photos."

To find out more about Magnum Founders: In Celebration of Sixty Years, click here to visit the Verso Limited Editions website.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Photography(book)now

An international symposium and celebration of fine art photography books, Photography(book)now is inviting photographers to submit their own books for a chance to be recognized at related events all over the world, as well as a $25,000 grand prize, bestowed to assist a chosen photographer in the competition and self-publishing of his or her book. A panel of recognized experts in the field are on board to give the winners added prestige and recognition in the fine art photography world. What's more, the seven top winners will be invited to attend the competition awards ceremony in San Francisco, CA, on September 12, 2008.

Confirmed jurors include Head Judge Darius Himes of Radius Books; Jen Bekman of Jen Bekman Gallery; Elisabeth Biondi of The New Yorker; Frish Brandt of Fraenkel Gallery; Charlotte Cotton, of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Photographer Stephen Gill; Lesley A. Martin of Aperture Books; Alan Rapp of Chronicle Books; Kathy Ryan of The New York Times; Photographer Brian Ulrich; and Denise Wolff of Phaidon Press. Entries will be judged in two seperrate categories: General and Thematic Photography Books.

From Eileen Gittins, Founder and CEO of Blurb:

“Any photographer would kill to have their work reviewed by this prestigious group. Our jurors are all excited to see the range and creativity of books that will be submitted, now that it is so simple and affordable to compose a book of great beauty and quality.”

All winners will have their work showcased and recognized at Photography.Book.Now salon events worldwide. Deadline for submissions is July 14, 2008. Click here to visit their website.

Museum of Contemporary Photography: 2008 Fine Prints Now Available!

The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago has announced the release of their 2008 line of limited edition fine art photography prints at its website store. Archival ink jet prints, lambda prints and C-prints are available in editions of 50 available prints per image. New artists include American photographers KayLynn Deveney and Greta Pratt, British artist Simon Roberts, Israeli photographer Orit Siman-Tov, and Dutch photographer Jan Theun van Rees. All prints are numbered and signed by the photographer.

Also, Luke Batten and Jonathan Sadler's collaborative work, New Catalogue, will be available. Their work has been featured on Photo-Eye, and has sold out on the photo-book reviewer's website.

From Photo-Eye:

"Using a methodology that both parallels and gently ridicules the concept of stock photo agencies, New Catalogue (artists Luke Batten and Jonathan Sadler) has created a series of original editions that tap into popular culture while expanding on traditional photographic genres. This book, their first, examines elements of American iconography that are at once hilarious and vaguely unsettling: “Big Ten Co-Eds with Ski Masks,” “Preppy Girls with BB Guns,” and “The Lost Cheerleaders” – each of which hints at a subconscious desire for danger in a sterile suburban setting."
Publish Post
Each of the prints are $300 each plus $15 shipping. Visit the Museum of Contemporary Photography's website for more information.

Leica European Publishers Award now open for entries

From March 1 to 21, 2008, Leica will be accepting book entries for the prestigious Leica European Publishers Award, which is open to photographers worldwide and is brought to us through a collaboration of seven European publishers. Submitted projects must be in the form of a finished photographic book with substance that has never been published. The winning entry will be published by each participating publisher and released to audiences in each respective country. An entry fee of 50 Euro covers the cost of returned materials.

Participating publishers include Actes Sud of France, Apeiron of Greece, Dewi Lewis Publishing of Britain, Edition Braus of Germany, Lunwerg Editores of Spain, Mets & Schilt of The Netherlands, and Peliti Associati of Italy. The chance for publication in so many languages, right off the bat, is a great opportunity for professional photographers ready to break into markets all over Europe. Click here to find out how to enter.

Last year's winning entry, "As I Was Dying," by Paolo Pellegrin, has just been released by award participants Dewi Lewis. This book captures moving (and often brutal) images of human tragedy and suffering. The horrors of war is the main subject in Pellegrin's photographs, and the vulnerable families and disadvantaged communities that inevitably are caught in the middle. For more about this entry, visit Dewi Lewis here.

WORKSHOPS: Fotofest 2008

Two public workshops, "Career Builders and Art Makers," and "Publishing Photo Books Today," will be running in March 2008 during Fotofest 2008 in Houston, TX. Taking place March 11 and March 16, respectively, both are coordinated by Mary Virginia Swanson, photography marketing consultant and prolific blogger. HP is collaborating on hosting "Career Builders," a comprehensive course on marketing one's art and building a business by promoting oneself in editorial, curatorial, and online markets; and Darius Himes, Editor and Publisher of Radius Books in New Mexico, is co-hosting "Publishing Photo Books." Both workshops have a $150 registration fee.

Each workshop will have nine speakers each. Brian Paul Clamp, Director of ClampArt Gallery; Katherine Ware, of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts; Manfred Zollner, Photo Editor of FOTOMagazin; artists Sean Perry and Lisa M. Robinson; Denise Wolff of Phaidon Publishing; and Thomas Hoepker of Magnum Photos are but a few of the excellent speakers who will be joining the hosts for these one-day workshops.

Fotofest, the Twelfth International Biennial of Photography and Photo-Related Art, runs March 7 to April 8, 2008. Click here for more information, and to register.

Now Online: CameraArts Holiday Gift Guide

Running out of ideas for the photographers on your Holiday gift list? Here's a list of our own, what we hope will be a helpful series of recommendations. Click here to visit the CameraArts website and see some Yule-time hints for books, videos, subscriptions, and workshops. Merry Christmas from all of us at CameraArts!

Aperture Events of the Holiday Season

Aperture Foundation has offered fine art photography books, travelling exhibitions and high-quality educational programs in New York and beyond since 1952, and this tradition continues well into the 21st century with new opportunities to engage in the world of photography both classic and cutting-edge. On November 28, 2007 at The Strand on Broadway, Richard Misrach will give a talk and sign copies of his landmark new work, On the Beach, which will be Aperture's largest book yet. On December 3, Sylvia Plachy, long-time photographer for The New Yorker, will discuss Goings On About Town: Photographs for The New Yorker. Never-before-seen images from the photographer's prolific career will be on display at the event.

From Aperture's announcement:

"Plachy, who is well known to New Yorkers for her long-standing photo column at the Village Voice entitled 'Unguided Tour,' explores the city’s dynamics from the inside out, revealing the vital and at times wacky creativity that energizes New York around the clock. The images are quintessentially Sylvia Plachy, and quintessentially New York. Plachy will also show and discuss other images from her illustrious 40-year career."

Plachy's photographic journey began in Budapest, where she was born, and she has taken pictures all over the world, though her New York images have achieved the most international acclaim and have been exhibited in locales around the globe. The talk on December 3 will take place in the Chelsea branch of Barnes & Noble.

Finally, on December 11, 2007, Aperture will present a special evening's seminar for young photography collectors. William Hunt of Hasted Hunt Gallery will guide participants through the first step of collecting fine art photographs. Hunt will examine the transition from being an occassional purchaser of photography to the attributes that define a true “collector.” Along the way, the ups and downs of collecting will be examined, as well as the things a collectors needs to know, and the question "why does it all matter?"

Click here to find out more about any of these fine events.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Where in the World is Smuggy?

SmugMug, the photo-sharing site with support options for everyone from the casual digital photographer to the hard-core shutterbug with a name to promote and prints to sell, is hosting an online competition for its members. An all-expenses-paid trip to Napa Valley, CA, awaits the photographer who captures the SmugMug logo in the most outlandish, eclectic, and exotic location possible. Free SmugMug subscriptions will also be offered.

Deadline for entries is December 5, 2007.

Also, SmugMug has partnered with Blurb, online publishers of creative books. As a result, SmugMug users will have the tools to create, publish, market, and sell professional quality books of photography. If you haven't tried SmugMug yet, you will be surprised at just how many professional features are being offered to the career photographer.

You may submit to "Where in the World is Smuggy?" online at this site. Two-week free trials are available to non-members. Winners will be announced one week after the contest ends.

New Book and Interview with Sean Perry

Transitory: The Abstract is Sean Perry’s (CameraArts November/December 2006) photographic study of architecture with text by Roy Flukinger. An interview with Perry will be featured in the column "Publishing the Photography Book" co-authored by Darius Himes & Mary Virginia Swanson. Look for it in the Fall 2007 issue of Photo-Eye Booklist.

From Sean Perry's Transitory website:

The first volume in a series of three, Transitory: The Abstract is a plate book featuring ten tipped-in artist prints and one free-standing platinum print...it is letterpress-printed and hand-bound in a quarter leather binding. The book and platinum print are enclosed in a full cloth drop spine box. Handmade by book artist Jace Graf and published by Cloverleaf Press in a limited edition of eighty-seven numbered and signed copies.

A .pdf of the Foreword can be found here.

New Release from Lynn Goldsmith

Lynn Goldsmith (CameraArts September/October 2006) is coming out with a new collection of photographs of one of the world's biggest bands. The Police: 1978-1983 is a first-hand account of the trio's peak years, when they released many of the songs that put them at the forefront of an era in popular music. These include "Roxanne," "Message in a Bottle," and the whole of their landmark album Ghost in the Machine.

Photographs of Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, and Sting are sorted into individual sections and group photos from some of the most important moments in their career, including the recording of Ghost in Montserrat. Due for release July 31st, this book is filled with wonderful color photographs, commentary from the band members, and an introduction by Phil Sutcliffe. You can visit Lynn's website here.

7/24/2007 UPDATE: Lynn Goldsmith will prove that she isn't content with having just one new book—Rock and Roll, Goldsmith's myriad collection of photographs from a long career of shooting performers, will be published in October 2007. Read more about it here.