Katrín Elvarsdóttir's Equivocal

I found Icelandic photographer Katrín Elvarsdóttir's work today via Humble Arts Foundation's latest Group Show exhibition. Her wonderfully ominous series Equivocal reads as fragmented stills from a dream sequence. In the statement, Elvarsdóttir affirms:

"We are inside looking out. We are outside looking in. A woman in a red coat, a mobile home after midnight, yellow curtains – these are all clues in a fragmented narrative that raises questions rather than provides answers. In the photography series “Equivocal” we witness enigmatic events that we inadvertently have taken part in. Like uninvited guests in a scenario that refuses to reveal whether it is fact or fiction. The fragments combine in multiple ways and force upon us incomplete story lines of an ambiguous nature. Whether we like it or not."












Mobile Home After Midnight

Mobile Home in the Morning

Yellow Curtains 4

TV Room

Table Lamp

All Images © Katrín Elvarsdóttir

Too Much Chocolate

Jake Stangel got in touch to promote his recently launched website Too Much Chocolate. As the mission statement affirms:

"Too much chocolate specifically aims to serve and connect young emerging photographers all over the internet.

At this point, we all exist in a hazy internet bubble, not really sure who or what is exactly out there. Sure, we all have a handful of internet photographer friends, and we bounce around on informative blogs, but there is a need for a ‘hub’ where emerging photographers can reach out to one another, have a running dialogue, ask questions, just talk, and feel some sense of collectiveness.

There are three main areas on the site, meant to address the following needs:

- Rotating Gallery: Wouldn’t it be nice to be exposed to a new collection of mind-blowing work every week? How neat would it be if THAT photographer then chose the NEXT week’s artist, then interviewed him/her about their workflow, influencers, style? It would be like an internet photo conga line!

- Discussion: Wouldn’t it be great to know you can participate in a living conversation between photographers, like yourself, that doesn’t die within the week? About anything on your mind? In a nice environment of inclusion, resource-sharing, and philosophical dialogue?

- Interviews: Wouldn’t it be helpful to get the advice of photo editors, art buyers, curators, etc. that is specifically tailored to us, especially when we don’t have the money or desire to send out thousands of promos for a 1% return?

Manuel Vazquez's Traces

Manuel Vazquez e-mailed me with a sampling of images from his series Traces, a wonderful project which explores hints of light in social spaces. Vazquez's photographs resemble many of Ray Metzker's street photographs from the early 60's. Their shared affinity for high contrast and sparse composition often transforms the street into veritable stage that acts out the heightened drama of the everyday. In his statement, Vazquez asserts:

"This project researches the visual traces that are left in public spaces. In our daily lives we dwell in public places, where our journeys are filmed and stored as visual codes. The omnipresence of the gaze of surveillance turns the city into a spectacle, and us into actors. Traces looks at the city as a theatrical scenario created with those visual codes, a “theatrum mundi”. Here, each image is a montage of single photographs where the “mise en scène” is deliberated, composed, and where the deep black canvas is an allegory to the city where people are continuously under the spotlight. Traces researches in the anonymity and the exposure to city life.

The intent of this project is to place the observer as a witness of a “spectacle” in places where loneliness and similarity are accentuated."











All photographs from the series Traces

All Images © Manuel Vazquez

My Second 20 X 200 Print!

I am now the proud owner of Idaho Springs, Colorado, one of Justin James Reed's new print editions over at 20 X 200. Also available is Norristown, Pennsylvania, a wonderful image from Justin's series Paradise. Get one soon before they sell out and deep regret consumes you!



Idaho Springs, Colorado. Image from the series Westward.

Image © Justin James Reed

Call For Submissions: 4th Issue of The Exposure Project Book

So, the time has come to start putting together the 4th issue of The Exposure Project Book. Unlike our selection process for the previous issues, the upcoming book will compile work culled from an open call for submissions. We are asking photographers working in any facet of the medium to send the following:

-5-7 Low Res JPEG's sized @ 72 dpi

-These images should reflect the vision of an ongoing, or recently completed body of work

-In addition, please send a brief artist statement which corresponds to the work submitted

We are also hoping to publish literary works in addition to the photographs chosen. If you have written an essay, article, review, or conducted an interview that is in some way related to photography we would love to review it. Proposals for unwritten works can also be submitted; simply send Microsoft Word formatted material in an e-mail.

Deadline for submissions is: Monday, January 5th, 2009

All submitted material should be sent to ben@theexposureproject.com.  Selected photographers and authors will be notified of acceptance no later than February 1st.  

Wassenaar 02

I got an e-mail from Noel over at We Can't Paint alerting me that he is now accepting submissions for Wassenaar 02. Every photographically minded person should take advantage of this opportunity, as Wassenaar is one of the most exciting new forums for photography currently online. Below you can find all the necessary specifications:

Wassenaar Magazine is currently looking for submissions of photography, writing, and photo books/zines to be featured in Issue 02. Before submitting please carefully read the instructions listed in each category. All material (photographs, writing, books/zines) will be considered fairly and weighted against the total submissions received.

Due to the relatively large amount of entries received, we cannot respond to individual questions concerning your submitted photographs.

Send all submissions with the subject line "Wassenaar 02" to:submission@wecantpaint.com

DEADLINE: January 28, 2009


Photographs

When submitting photographs for consideration we ask that you include a brief bio in the body of your email (let us know who you are!). An artist statement or description of the submitted images is not necessary but strongly encouraged. Please include your description (optional) and any relivant titles that may help us with the selection process. Image submission details are outlined below:

- Send a selection of 8 -10 images from a body of work
- No image should be over 5mb
- All images should be 72 dpi
- Sized at 550 pixels high/tall
- Saved as a .jpg file and labeled with no spaces or punctuation like this:

your_name_here_1.jpg

*Note: No zip files please (attach the images to the email instead)*


Writing

Wassenaar is always interested in articles, essays, and interviews. Please format your written submission as follows:

Send a brief summery or intent of your article/essay in the body of the e-mail with the actual article/essay formatted for Microsoft Word as an attachment. If you are submitting an interview, please attach 3-5 sample images (if relevant) along with the complete written piece as an attachment formatted for Microsoft Word.

Fred Muram's I'm Going Baldessari

Fred Muram's project I'm Going Baldessari wonderfully incorporates elements of humor and absurdity, qualities that, in my opinion, don't surface enough in contemporary photography. I'll let Muram take it from here:

"I want my audience to experience images and video that can be understood within the context of similar experiences that might have occurred within their own lives. As individuals we share so much in common with other people, but we are isolated within our own minds. There is a disconnectedness created between every individual and their surrounding universe that is fundamentally integrated through that person’s ability to accept sensory information and respond with language.

The work I create relies not only on my interactions with people, but the exchanges I observe between other people and social groups. These interactions are not limited to people; I have also explored inter-species behavior and how animals react to unfamiliar environments in recent work, and have since come to realize that there are many instances in which we can learn about ourselves by trying to understand the reality of other creatures."












From Top To Bottom:

I'm Going Baldessari - Makes Green

I'm Going Baldessari - Security System

I'm Going Baldessari - Region Appropriate

I'm Going Baldessari - 's Automobile

I'm Going Baldessari - Dots At Rest

All Images © Fred Muram