Epson Launches Focal Points, a new addition to its website

Epson America, makers of professional imaging products for photographers worldwide, has announced the launch of "Focal Points," a supplement to the company's official website. The new addition is Epson's way of spotlighting the success stories of leading professionals in the industry of creative photography, and their experiences in pushing their work to a higher level through the use of Epson products.

One of the portfolios currently on display is "Movie Stars: Portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders." When invited to display his images of famous personalities at the Museo Carlo Bilotti in Rome (following exhibitions at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum), Greenfield-Sanders utilized the Epson Stylus Pro(r) 11880 wide-format inkjet printer to produce stunning 56x72 inch prints in both color and black and white. Focal Points tells the story of how this and other exhibitions came to life.

Other featured stories include "Rock and Roll" by Lynn Goldsmith (September/October 2006), who created enormous, high-detail prints for her exhibitions at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; "Just Suppose" by Maggie Taylor and Jerry Uelsmann (CameraArtsCameraArts May/June 2007), who met a challenge to "go bigger" for their joint exhibition at the Harn Museum; and "Empowered by Color" by Pete Turner, legendary colorist and satisfied user of Epson UltraChrome K3™ ink technology for greater transparency in his prints.

From Dan Steinhardt, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc:

"Focal Points features content that is both informational and inspirational. The first round of stories, images and videos allow viewers to experience recent exhibitions in some of the most prestigious galleries and museums in Europe and North America that they otherwise may not have had the opportunity to see. The accounts are also a testament to the overwhelming trust leading artists have in Epson Professional Products."

To view the new stories, and watch video interviews with selected photographers, Click here.

Image © Lynn Goldsmith.

AUCTION: Tamarind Auction to open for bidding

Starting May 2, 2008, the Tamarind Auction will be open for online bidding. Lots include lithographs and contemporary art, not to mention a 4-night shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chicago. Additonally, of particular interest to all photographers (who else but fashion photographers could have a use for all of those shoes?) is a workshop on Digital Meanderings in Albuquerque's East Mountains, hosted by Tamarind curator Becky Schnelker. The workshop will take two participants through beautiful and historic places near Schnelker's own backyard, and all will walk away with useful digitial photography techniques for work in nature. This lot has an estimated value of $400, and is limited to one slot for the lucky bidder and a lucky companion. Many other art expeditions are available.

The Tamarind Auction closes bidding on May 18, 2008, so be sure to take advantage of this offer! You must be registered to bid online. Go to their website to sign up.

FESTIVAL: LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph

Back for its second year, the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph is set to take place June 12-14 in Charlottesville, VA. During the festival, the downtown area will be transformed into a "living image," with exhibitions, outdoor projected presentations, film screenings, live interviews with photographers, and more. Photography of all kinds will be displayed everywhere: in the trees, in storefront windows, on the sides of buildings, and in numerous gallery spaces. The festival also marks the return of the popular and ground-breaking "Yourspace" exhibition, in which anyone can participate by printing and hanging original works.

Three photographers will also be honored for their long-standing contributions to the medium. Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark, surrealist boundary- pusher Joel-Peter Witkin, and Time Magazine veteran James Nachtwey will create individual exhibitions and be interviewed by NPR's Alex Chadwick at the historic Paramount Theater.

From LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph:

"New in 2008 are the LOOK3 Workshops and Project Critique Sessions. Photographers of all skill levels will find invaluable instruction and experience by enrolling in classes taught by renowned photographers David Alan Harvey, William Albert Allard, Eugene Richards and Lynn Johnson. Also, Maggie Steber and MaryAnne Golon will lead Project Critique Sessions to help students edit and develop working photography projects. Last year LOOK3 sold out early so we encourage you to start planning now."

Two major outdoor screening presentations, "Shots" and "Works," will present a dizzying variety of work from officially participating artists. Please visit www.look3.org for full details about the festival.

The New Orleans Darkroom opens online gallery

The New Orleans Darkroom, the source for contemporary fine art photography in the Big Easy, has announced a new online gallery. The gallery offers browsing criteria in searching for books and photographs, either by artist, by genre, theme, and price, among many others. This latest feature is a part of the Darkroom's efforts to achieve wider recognition of its artists on a national scale. A section is also given over to entry fees for juried competitions and other events, with easy online payment options.

Says New Orleans Darkroom owner Charles Magnin:

"New Orleans is replete with outstanding photographic talent who suffer from the scarcity of venues that focus on their promotion. The purpose of the online gallery is to offer Southern artists a truly broad audience."

Featured photographers include Jackie Brenner (whose book, Friday Night Grind, was released by Shine Media Group, and is available to order here), Richard Sexton, and Joséphine Sacabo (CameraArts August/September 2003), to name only a few. The online gallery can be viewed at gallery.neworleansdarkroom.com.

Image ©Harold Gee

Fotosphere Gallery presents Koichiro Kurita

A series of images inspired by psychological studies will be exhibited by Fotosphere Gallery in New York City until April 26, 2008. For the series "Perceiving," Koichiro Kurita used his camera as a moving eye, assembling individual photographs into unified works comprising four, eight, nine, and twelve images. Kurita is known for his tranquil, simple photographs of natural scenes. In the past, he has made platinum prints on handmade rice paper. With this exhibition, he aims to create a psychological examination on the concept of psychological comprehension as it relates to the photograph. Kurita's philosophy ties perception inextricably with experience of a form, object, or idea. Kurita has lived in New York City since 1990, and has been photographing landscapes (often in America, sometimes in Japan) for more than 20 years. This idea of "Chi-Su-Ki (Earth, Water, and Air)" is central to Kurita's work, as is the personal interpretation of these forces that takes place (whether aware or subcoscious) when one views these images.

From Fotosphere:

"Koichiro Kurita’s works are exhibited internationally and collected by major museums including Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Princeton Art Museum, The Fogg Museum Harvard University, George Eastman House, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Maison de Europeanne de la Photographie, The Biblioteque Nationale de Paris, Fuji Art Museum and among others. He lives and works in New York City and gives workshops in his studio."

For more information about Fotosphere, click here. Image: The First Encounter Beach, Cape Cod, MA 2006 ©Koichiro Kurita 24x30"

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.

NEW CALLS FOR ENTRY: The Center for Fine Art Photography

The Center for Fine Art Photography has announced new calls for entry: The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) Show, for SPE members, will exhibit 50 chosen photographs in the Center's online gallery. Ten final photographers will be selected from the fifty to have their works exhibited at the Center's gallery space in Fort Collins, Colorado. Also, a chosen photographer will have his or her work exhibited in a two-page portfolio spread in a future issue of CameraArts! What's more, The Center for Fine Art Photography has also announced The Artful Nude, juried by none other than Kim Weston. Along with the ever-considerable cash awards, participants have a chance to be selected for a $300 workshop award, applicable towards Mr. Weston's Workshop, to be held August 1-4 in Fort Collins. This is your chance to visit the home of this wonderful organization and learn from a true master of the female form.

From The Center for Fine Art Photography:

"Artists have been depicting images of the human body since the early cave dwellers. Nude images engender a unique interest and emotion. We are continuously fascinated with struggle to create images of the unadorned human form. This call for entry focuses on the true art of the nude."

Visit Weston Photography here.

The deadline for The Society for Photographic Education Show is February 26, 2008. Deadline for The Artful Nude is April 8, 2008. Click on the listed deadlines (either here or in the sidebar) to learn more.

Image: Sarah, © Kaitlyn Boucher

The Center for Fine Art Photography to cut the tape on new facility

The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado has announced the expected opening date for their new facility. On February 1, 2008, doors will be opened next door to the Poudre River Art Center, which is home to resident artists' galleries.Also, the F-stop Cafe (too scary to be a coincidence!) offers an outdoor pavillion all furthering the artistic enjoyment for visitors.

Remember, there's still plenty of competitions to enter at the Center for Fine Art Photography's website. The deadline of first competition, Street Photography, is tomorrow, so get those photos in! It's as easy as hooking your digital camera up and importing the pictures—images made by any camera or process are welcome!

Also Edgy: Pushing the Limits of Photographic Art (deadline: February 5, 2008) and the American Society of Media Photographers competition (deadline: March 4, 2008) are currently accepting entries.

Click here to enter.

December is A Month of Photography in New Orleans

In December 2007, New Orleans Photo Alliance will present, in collaboration with city museums, galleries, and local photographers, the Second Annual PhotoNOLA: A Month of Photography in New Orleans. For thirty days, the City will be host to fine art photography exhibitions, gallery lectures, portfolio reviews, panel discussions and workshops, and a street fair. The festivities begin November 30, 2007, with a Gala and Print Auction at the Annex of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The works of Maggie Taylor, Hiroshi Watanabe, Keith Carter, and others will be up for sale. Carter, along with Chris Jordan, will be hosting workshops and public slide presentations on the first and second weekends of the month.

Coordinated gallery openings on the first and second Saturdays will showcase some great contemporary photography, including work by Debbie Fleming Caffery, Robert Polidori, Josephine Sacabo and Louviere+Vanessa. Another anticipated event is PhotoNOMA on December 5 at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where 100 photographers will display their portfolios as part of a community art walk. The Photo Alliance Street Fair will take place December 15.

If anyone without experience of these kinds of events imagines a staid, dull, and confusing affair for non-photographers, rest assured this cannot be further from the truth. When enough photographers are gathered together, with the incentives of portfolio reviews and meetings among industry professionals encouraging a turnout of their best work, the images and artwork on display rivals that of any national or international art festival. Participants bring not only their work, but their curiosity and passion as well.

For a full list of lectures, exhibitions, and events, click here.

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.

WORKSHOPS SERIES: 6 Photographers to teach in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

In the fall of 2007, the Santa Fe Workshops presents its seventh annual series of one-week photography workshops in the historic Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. Veteran Santa Fe Workshops instructors lead 14 workshops in personal vision, figure study, documentary story telling, travel photography, and portraiture, along with workshops exploring Mexican culture and heritage.

The first two weeks of the new season of Workshops in San Miguel de Allende will be a fount for creative inspiration and photography. Renowned photographers Norman Mauskopf (CameraArts March/April 2007) teaching Heart, Mind, and Eye, Renie Haiduk will teach his course The Visual Journey; Chicago based photographers Paul Elledge and Leasha Overturf present Beyond the Surface: The Contemporary Color Portrait; Macduff Everton, with The Travel Assignment; and many more.

For more information on workshops in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico or other workshops offered by the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, visit www.santafeworkshops.com.

Tim Anderson's PhotoArts Album

Here are a few more images from the Marketplace floor at PhotoArts Santa Fe. Tim Anderson had his Canon in hand to capture many of the retailers and camera-makers in action.

LIVE at PhotoArts: Final Round

It's been a wonderfully fun mess that we've gotten into here in Santa Fe. Most of the major booths--the big camera makers, software purveyors, and bag-slingers--are already coming down, as if an eggtimer was set at 3 o'clock. Friends are calling from the Cowgirl Cafe, down the street from our venue at El Museo. Here are a few final images from the floor:


Joe and Karen Ethridge. Karen actually looked like there was no place she'd rather be.

Baron Wolman and his two trustworthy assistants. You can see more of his photography, including portraits from the birth of Rolling Stone, here.

Dan at photo-eye booklist takes a break from shooting the you-know-what with Market goers.

Photographers and Booth neighbors Alan Dolgins (booth pictured here) and Fernando Delgado.

LIVE at PhotoArts Santa Fe: continued

John "Mac" Read of Santa Fe Camera Center, and Art "Pentax" mentally preparing for the show.

Tim Anderson, looking very suave after being honored at the 21st Century Luminarias and Legacy Project, with Photographer Marc Malin, who has an exhibition at James Hoyle Gallery in Santa Fe.

A neccessary adjustment.

That's it for today! Stay tuned on Sunday for more photos from the Marketplace floor!

LIVE from PhotoArts: It begins...

Clare Lighton, a photographer for the 21st Century Luminarias and Legacy Project, peruses CameraArts while taking a break from greeting visitors.

Rixon Reed of photo-eye demonstrates the new VisualServer software to Larry Padgett of The Center for Fine Art Photography. VisualServer is a fast, easy website uploading program, designed to supplement the busy photographer. Click here to learn more about their free trial.


Amy from Canon smiles for the camera as a schlepp takes place in the background.

LIVE at PhotoArts: construction

Here are a few more pictures of the construction, courtesy of Tim Anderson:

PhotoArts Santa Fe: LIVE at the event

Here we are at PhotoArts Santa Fe, in the marketplace showroom, feeling very much that we're inside the belly of the beast. As photographic displays go up in preparation for the main event, the focus of attention is brought to eye level, away from the slow curve of the ceiling, covered in a quilt-pattern of insulation struck through with air ducts, one of which runs directly over our booth.


...An early afernoon rain has just kicked in, and with a vengeance. Tim and I repeatedly voice our relief and gratitude that we've already eaten lunch. As I begin this sentence, the rush of water on the showroom roof has ceased. Hopefully this will mean a dewy, but pleasant, New Mexican afternoon.

Tim Anderson and Kim Weston with Poser: A sketchbook of ideas for artists and models. Weston is only one of the many photographers who have provided commentary for Tim's new book on fine art nudes.

Here's our man Tim with Rick Weston, fellow photographer and participant in the upcoming "one by twenty" exhibition at Albuquerque's Downtown Contemporary Art Center (website here). Twenty photographers (imagine that) will unite starting with the reception on September 7, 2007. When asked about his impressions of PhotoArts Santa Fe, Rick said "I'm overwhelmed." That makes two of us!

Rest in Peace, Bernd Becher

A pioneer of the German Sachlichkeit movement, Bernd Becher was a photographer of late industrial architecture. In June 2007, Becher died shortly after undergoing heart surgery. He was 75. The full impact of his contributions to fine art photography aren't widely understood, but they soon will be.

Becher and his wife, Hilla, introduced a new perspective on photography that was more objective than narrative-based. With no apparent action, Becher's images, when taken alone, may seem bland and lifeless. When assembled in grid-like compositions, the photographs illuminate the similarities and differences from one old, isolated building to the next.

The idea that the camera could open up unexpected new ways of seeing permeated the Bechers' work—first, through systematic capture from similar angles of otherwise unremarkable subjects; and second, the willful reorganization of pure detail on the part of the artist. The Bechers were a prime example of artists who pushed photography in new directions and caused the medium to gain respectability as a true art form.

Photographer and blogger Joerg Colburg has more on the German perspective of the art form that the Bechers pioneered.

From Conscientious:

It's quite interesting that the word "objectivity" isn't a completely exact translation of the German word "Sachlichkeit"...Of course, I can't come up with a better translation. Maybe you can understand it like this: When you meet a German you'll note that they are almost a tad too deadpan about things. I've noticed that non-Germans think Germans simply have no sense of humor, but that's just a simplifying misconception. I remember I once made a somewhat absurd joke in front of my advisor in grad school—a Brit—and he thought I was being serious. He just couldn't imagine a German would say something like that, with a deadpan expression, and joke at the same time.

The satire of these images may not be immediately apparent to Americans or Brits, but the multi-layered appeal is clear. The Bechers incorporated images of otherwise anonymous industrial conglomerations into new interpretations. Their work, along with that of many others, helped change the interpretation of fine art photography itself.