WORKSHOP: The High Sierra Wilderness Photography Workshop

Photographers now have an opportunity to spend a week in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of central California, August 9-17, 2008, while learning from award-winning landscape photography expert Phil Hawkins. For 28 years, Hawkins has backpacked and photographed in the High Sierra, and will offer his expertise in photographing waterfalls and other natural wonders, as well as sunrises, sunsets, star tracks and moonlight. Participants will spend five full days of the week-long workshop at 9,500 to 11,500 foot elevation, with a full moon on the last night.

What's more, the Perseid Meteor Shower will take place August 11-12, 2008, offering a unique chance for photographers to capture a spectacular natural light show. The workshop is aimed at photographers of all skill levels and techniques. Just remember you'll be "roughing it" in the beautiful wilderness of the High Sierra for most of the week.

The cost per person is $3,370. Treks will be made regularly on horseback, and all comforts such as food, lodging, and showers will be provided. Only eleven spots are available for this workshop. Go here to make reservations!

Education Based Series of Exhibitions continues at MoPA

The Museum of Photographic Art (MoPA) in San Diego, CA will present its second installment in a series of education-related exhibitions titled "Picturing the Process: Landscape Through Time and Space." Lasting from July 12, 2008 to February 1, 2009, the Museum will present 40 works from its collection, arranged in chronological fashion from the earliest landscape photographers of the 19th Century to the contemporary photographic artists seeking to define the Landscape as medium. Featured photographers include (to name a few) Industrial Revolution photographer Carlton Watkins, 20th Century legend Ansel Adams, and contemporary photographer of the Atlantic Joan Myers.

From MoPA's press release:

"The exhibition will present a selection of discrete approaches to landscape photography from the landscape as a representation of beauty, as a means of artistic expressions, and as a forum for political and environmental issues. Each of the photographers represented in the exhibition has attempted to define the landscape while presenting discoveries concerning its structure, beauty, meaning, and future preservation."

Also running at MoPA are "Flesh: Portraits by Gary Schneider," until September 14, 2008; and "Humanitas: Images of India by Fredric Roberts," from May 3 to September 7, 2008. Click here to visit the museum's website.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: The Canon Photography in the Parks Photo Contest

Canon U.S.A. has done more than pay lip service to Earth Day, evidenced by its new recycling programs and outreach incentives, as well as its third annual Canon Photography in the Parks competition. Established to encourage American photographers of every stripe to take an active creative interest in the nation's parks, this call for entries can be entered at the Canon Digital Learning Center. Prizes include Canon EOS series SLRs, earth-friendly Pixma Pro9500 Photo printers, and a Grand Prize trip for two to any participating national or state park.
The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2008.

To enter, one must be 13 years or older (the minimum age range has been extended), and an amateur photographer. According to Canon, Professionals include those who received more than 51 percent income from photography sales in the last three years, and are not eligible for submission. Registration and uploading can be completed at the Canon Digital Learning Center web site here. There are no entry fees.

Keep in mind for Earth Day: The Canon Forest Program

In association with the American Park Network, Canon U.S.A. has announced The Canon Forest Program, a national campaign starting in May and lasting through August, 2008, to promote green products. During the campaign, a tree will be planted for every ten Canon Generation Green products registered, and volunteer consumers will get the opportunity to help take care of parks and public land. Approved products include PIXMA Professional Inkjet Printers and imageCLASS scanners. To be included in the Generation Green family, products are be designed with Canon's standards of energy-saving, waste-reducing features.

From Canon U.S.A.'s Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group:

"Canon's commitment to the environment and helping to make it more sustainable is an inherent part of our corporate philosophy and product offerings. Through the Canon Forest Program, we want our customers to feel a connection with their Canon Generation Green products, knowing their purchases will contribute to planting trees and revitalization programs, which will help offset our collective carbon footprint."

Among other imaging companies, Sony has led the charge in establishing a national Take Back Recycling program for broken cameras, irritable printers, and useless electronics. All products are accepted, and you can find a list of locations here. Read the original blog article here.

You can keep track of the campaign's progress at the official site, when the program begins in May. Registration of Generation Green Products can also be be processed at the site.

WORKSHOP: Focus on Nature, Iceland

Some of the world's most acclaimed and experienced masters in photography will be part of a new workshop series, "Focus on Nature," to be held at a former US military base in Iceland. Nature photography, of course, will be the focus, and Iceland's grand vistas the subject during its 2008 Summer semesters. Classes will be taught by regular CameraArts contributor John Paul Caponigro, Peter Gasser, Rick Sammon, Vincent Versace, and Markus Zuber. Campus facilities including a printing center and a computer lab will be readily available to participants.

Registration is now open for the Summer semester. Price ranges from $2,450 to $4,800. Participants can expect to be trained in a fully renovated, state-of-the-art facility, and learn in instructor-designed workshops. Field trips will be made regularly to capture the majesty of Iceland's countryside.

Click here to visit the "Focus on Nature" website.

Image ©Paolo Ardiani.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts presents Women to Watch

Until June 15, 2008, The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, DC will exhibit "Women to Watch," in which 32 works by 11 contemporary female photographers. The exhibition was designed to increase the visibility of emerging female photographers deserving of both national and international attention. Participating artists include Marita Gootee from Mississippi, Lissa Rivera from Massachusetts, Zoe Strauss from Pennsylvania, Tricia Moreau Sweeney from Illinois, Tarrah Krajnak and Wilka Roig of Vermont, Valerie Belin from France, Jin-me Yoon from Canada, Elisa Sighicelli of Great Britain, Paulina Parra from Spain, and Joan Myers from New Mexico.

Joan Myers will contribute her images of industrial encroachment on nature—in this case, beautiful panoramas of generators and power plants. Strauss presents photographs of people in her hometown neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Gootee creates impressionistic images of nature, which emphasize the mutability of photographic perception. Rivera documents and unusual subject with deadpan attention to detail: the gaterings seen at college fraternity and sorority houses. Belin's images of Parisian models have been manipulated to appear lifeless and sexless, raising questions about contemporary identity.

This exhibition represents a collaborative effort between 10 of NMWA s national and international committees and the museum. For more information, click here.

Also, Joan Myers will soon present an exhibit at Andrew Smith Gallery in Santa Fe, titled "Brimsone: Photographs from Iceland, Yellowstone and Pompeii," from June 27 to September 10, 2008.

From Andrew Smith:

"Joan Myers is one of New Mexico's most intelligent and prolific artists. Over the last twenty-five years she has produced photographic projects and books about the Santa Fe Trail, Japanese relocation camps, images of older women, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, the environment of the Salton Sea near Palm Springs, California, and a comprehensive document and book of Antarctica.

"In recent years Myers has been photographing globally. The exhibit highlights her color photographs made in Iceland, Italy and in Yellowstone where she has been concentrating on geothermal sites that include boiling lakes, mud pots, hot springs and geysers, as well as the ancient city of Pompeii that was destroyed by the fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D."

Go to Andrew Smith Gallery's website for more information.

Image: Untitled (White), 2006 © Elisa Sighicelli. Partially backlit c-print on lightbox, 48 x 48 x 2.

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"

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.

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.

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

2nd Annual Photography Masters Cup honors conservation photographer

This international competition, presented by The National Color Awards, aims for the world's best photography. In 2007, the Photography Masters Cup saw over 15,000 entries from 69 countries in 2007. Conservation and Environmental Photographer Joe Zammit-Lucia was selected for third place in the Professional Nature Photography category. His winning image, "Defiance," captures a Cotton-Top Tamarin in superb clarity and detail. Winning photographers in the competition receive the Masters Cup, exhibition at the Masters of Photography Biennale, international press and exposure, and endorsement from the biggest names in imaging.

From the press release:

"The winning images were selected by a who's who Jury of the most celebrated professionals in art and photography from National Geographic, Musee de E'Lysee, Financial Times to The Art Newspaper and Fine Art Society in London. Awards were presented in 21 categories to photographers of twenty five nationalities. Joe Zammit-Lucia's image "Defiance", an exceptional image entered in the Nature category received a high percentage of votes to win third place overall."

Pre-orders of the book FIRST STEPS: Conserving Our Environment will be available for preorder November/December 2007. The book's release is planned for April 22, 2008, on Earth Day. Zammit-Lucia is currently working with environmental organizations on multiple projects around the world. Proceeds from the Masters of Photography Biennale Charity Auction will benefit Art for Disabled Children for the second year in a row. At the first International Color Awards in 2006,the Exhibition was held in Brazil and benefited APADEH School. No artform seems to have quite the ability of photography to show what in the world needs protecting.

Go to Zammit-Lucia's website to find out more about his work, or here for all of the Photography Masters Cup winners.