Your name:
Raul A. Gutierrez

Age(optional):
39

Where are you from?
I was born in Monterrey, Mexico. Suffered through a childhood in Lufkin, Texas.

Where do you live now?
Brooklyn

What’s your day job?
Media & Design Consultant

Which artists inspire you?
Paul Klee, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Kurt Schwitters, Garry Winogrand etc…

Describe that moment when you knew for sure that photography was something you wanted to pursue seriously:
Literally since I got back my first roll of film which happened when I was around 8.

What kind of camera do you use?
Nikon FM3 and a Maymiya 7 (amongst others).

What’s your favorite film?
Classic: Toss up between The Third Man and Wages of Fear
Contemporary: Toss up between Broadway Danny Rose and The Heroic Trio.

What’s your Favorite Museum?
Muséé Picasso

Who is your hero?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Who’s your favorite musical artist/group?
That’s sort of an impossible question.

What are you reading now?
Best American Short Stories 2005.

Favorite color?
I like the deep blue the sky turns just before it goes black.

Name at least three web sites you visit everyday:
bbc
boingboing
wfmu blog
kirchersociety

What are your favorite foods?
I can’t resist the traditional foods of Northern Mexico: Cabrito, carne asada, barbacoa… grilled meat basically.

Do you have an interesting/obscure hobby? If so, tell us about it.
I collect taxidermy (although less since my marriage) and Mexican ex-votos.

Do you do any artsy stuff besides photography?
I’m a big fan of the illustrated letter.

Your name:
Donna Alberico

Age(optional):
32

Where are you from?
Merrick, Long Island

Where do you live now?
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

What’s your day job?
Worrying where my next freelance photo job is coming from.

Which artists inspire you? (Doesn’t need to be photographers necessarily)
Eugene Richards, Nick Waplington, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Sebastiao Salgado

Describe that moment when you knew for sure that photography was something you wanted to pursue seriously:
My first day of b/w photo class in 10th grade
What kind of camera do you use:
Mamiya 7, can’t seem to stop shooting film and now a canon 20D (just started shooting digitally)

What are you reading now?
My travel guide to south east asia (going in october for a month to shoot and explore)

Favorite color?
Blue

Name at least three web sites you visit everyday:
nytimes.com
weather.com
google.com

What are your favorite foods?
Chocolate, mango, bagels

Do you do any artsy stuff besides photography?
Knitting, and writing in my journal if that’s considered artsy

Have you exhibited your work in any other shows? If so, which ones?
Yes, at momenta gallery and rotunda gallery (both in Brooklyn)

Your name:
Michael Itkoff

Age(optional):
25

Where are you from?
Philadelphia

Where do you live now?
NYC (East Harlem)

What’s your day job? (if you have one)
Founding Editor, Daylight Magazine

Which artists inspire you? (Doesn’t need to be photographers necessarily)
Sternfeld, Soth, Southam, Struffsky, Riebesehl, Evans, Frank,
Christenberry, Eggleston, Misrach.

What kind of camera do you use?
Mamiya 7

What’s your Favorite Museum?
Please Touch Museum

What are you reading now?
New Yorker / Transparent Things (Nabakov)

Favorite color?
Charcoal violet

If you could be any animal, what would you be?
Wolf

We interviewed the 10 Hot Shot winners via email, so that our readers could know a little more about them. The first response we received was from Stefan Simikich. Here are our questions and his answers:

Your name:
Stefan Simikich

Age(optional):
30

Where are you from:
West coast top to bottom

Where do you live now:
San Francisco, CA

What’s your day job?
Contractor

Which artists inspire you?
The ones that do shit rather than talk shit.

Describe that moment when you knew for sure that photography was something you wanted to pursue seriously:
It all started when I crashed real bad on my bike and almost busted my head open cause I didn’t want to break my camera. I thought, ‘This thing is really important to me, I almost died to save it.’

What kind of camera do you use:
Nikon and Contax. FILM

What’s your favorite film?
Classic: Weekend at Bernies
Contemporary: Weekend at Bernies 2

What’s your Favorite Museum?
Dave Schubert’s house

Who is your hero?
People with disabilities winning at life.

Who’s your favorite musical artist/group?
Iron Madien

What are you reading now?
Your questions on the computer. (Is this a trick question?)

Favorite color?
Blackish

Name at least three web sites you visit everyday:
anewyorkthing.com ( the glob there is the best)
fecalface.com
tinyvices.com
epiclylaterd.com
cryptozoology.com

What are your favorite foods?
Sandwiches

Do you have an interesting/obscure hobby? If so, tell us about it.
Cryptozoology

If you could be any animal, what would you be?
Bigfoot

Do you do any artsy stuff besides photography?
Television

Have you exhibited your work in any other shows? If so, which ones?
Thats all in the past. Let’s just say lots!

A photo by Spring Hot Shot Raul Gutierrez

Hey! Jane created a Hey, Hot Shot!
Flickr set for the Spring winners. Well noted, Jane.

chip’s drawing of a robot from outer space, 2005

It’s that time again - We’re very excited to announce the finalists for the Spring ‘06 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot!.

The Spring Edition Showcase with open with a reception for the artists on the evening of Wednesday June 7, 2006, from 6-8pm. The showcase will be on view Thursday June 8 from noon - 8pm and Friday June 9 - Sunday June 11 from noon - 6pm.

Without further ado, we present to you the Spring 2006 Hot Shots:
donna alberico
ian baguskas
andrea chu
alison grippo
raul gutierrez
michael itkoff
casey kelbaugh
andrea longacre-white
stefan simikich
sarah small

Special thanks go to our awesome, fabulous and excellent panel for their insight humor and hard work. And the other people who help make it happen: Jesse Chan-Norris and Jeff Kirsch for their technical prowess, Antony Van Couvering for hosting our panel meetings, Lauren Cerand for PR support, and also just for being her amazing self and last but not least the Spring intern crew: Anna Wolfgang, chief Hey, Hot Shot! blog editor, Christine Dillion (editor of the jen bekman News Blog) as well as recent arrivals Sophie Lvoff + Jane Tam.

It’s always tough to narrow it down to the final ten, so we’re also happy to include a list of great photographers in our honorable mentions category:

Keliy Anderson-Staley, Dave Barry, Michelle Bruzzese, Sylvie Buchler, Samantha Casolari, Jessika Creedon, Eric Ray Davidson, Amy Eckert, Bethany Fancher, Rachel Hawthorn, Brandon Herman, Simone Lueck, Sara Macel, Jeremy Mazzenga, Liz Nielsen, Leah Oates, Pascal Shirley, Don Simon, Joanna Simpson, Michelle Westmark, Jen Williams and Shiigeki Yoshida

louis-american truckers

donna alberico
Currently resides in Brooklyn, New York

website: www.donnaalberico.com

work statement
Through photography I look to capture the true essence of people in their most natural environment and the circumstances surrounding their lifestyle. My work showcases an aspect of Americana – specifically the working class – that may not usually be celebrated. I strive to comprehend the honesty of the subject and treat them with respect, whether it’s a truck driver who has been drinking on the job, or a young girl learning her lines on a pornography set. Many of these subjects I document have an element of daily struggles and hardships which supercede them into a nomadic existence, one where they live with their own set of rules and values.

bio
Since a very young age I have used photography as a filter for which I see the world. I received my first camera before the age of 11 and went on to study photography at the School of Visual Arts where I graduated from in 1996 with a BFA in photography. Upon graduation I accepted a position from Harvard/Cornell Universities to work on an archeological dig in Sardis, Turkey documenting and recording recent Lydian findings. After it’s completion I returned to New York where I currently live. Since then, I have been working on personal documentary projects and shooting editorial assignments for magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Fortune, Newsweek, Marie Claire, and Bike Magazine to name a few. My work has been apart of group shows in Brooklyn, Long Island, and Los Angeles, and was in Art NADA in Miami this past December where 3 pieces sold to collectors.

My most recent documentary is an ongoing project on American Truck Drivers.

log cabins 2

ian baguskas
born: Philadelphia, PA.
Currently resides in Brooklyn, New York

website: www.ianbaguskas.com

work statement
I am continually finding myself interested in subjects that
examine the relationship Man has with Nature; Man’s longing for and continual exploration of the landscape.

This work examines the sometimes lonely journey that people take to see and experience the American West.

The picture “log cabins 2″ is part of a series inspired by photographers like Carlton Watkins who explored and documented settlements in the West. The settlements that I have documented are made for people who are looking to experience the “Old West”. These cabins, however, are right next a major highway. These type of journeys are highly romanticized, but are usually anything but romantic.

bio
I was born 1977 in Philadelphia, recieved a BFA from Cooper Union, and am curently living and working as a photographer in New York.

I was recently selected to show work at an auction to
benefit the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights
Campaign and the March For Our Lives at the Dactyl
gallery in SoHo.

cloverfield

andrea chu
born: Palo Alto, CA.
Currently resides in Brooklyn, New York

website: www.chucandy.com

work statement
My first experience with a camera was when I was 13 and I stole my brother’s camera to document a day of skateboarding with my friends. Though the subject of my work has changed, this sense of freedom and whimsy continue as strong themes and my friends and family remain my greatest sources of inspiration. The images I have submitted are part of an ongoing series of my closest childhood friend, Candy, whose two daughters, Vicki and Annie, were born when we were still in high school. I have been documenting the girls’ lives since their birth. They are now young teenagers—around the age I was when I first met their parents—and I find their changes and entry into adulthood to be of endless fascination. For me, the series reflect a time of change, the mystery of incipient womanhood and a playfulness tied to that fleeting bridge between childhood and adulthood.

bio
I grew up in Palo Alto, California and lived San Francisco until my mid-twenties. I moved to New York six years ago to finish a BFA in Photography at Pratt Institute, where I concentrated on learning the finer points of printing in color. I graduated four years ago and landed my first editorial job with Paper Magazine. My work as also been featured in the following magazines: Sportswear International, Time Magazine, Time Out New York, and Cookie Magazine. This year PDN included me as one of the emerging 30.

old city, kashgar

raul gutierrez
born: Monterrey, Mexico
Currently resides in Brooklyn, New York

website: www.mexicanpictures.com

work statement
Photography has been part of my everyday life as long as I can remember, so much so, that I substitute photographs for memory as words often seem clumsy and imprecise compared to even the simplest of images. My interests are in documenting the visceral world, grand journeys, and the small mysteries we experience daily. I believe images are already out there, they exist, it is simply up to us to frame them.

bio
I was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. Photography is self taught. My BA was in art history specializing in Eastern Zhou era bronze.

This September a one man show of my work will be on display at the Nelson Hancock Gallery in Dumbo.