Auditorium

Summer Edition Hey, Hot Shot! Winner 2006

James Rajotte
Currently residing in Rochester, NY

website: http://jamesrajotte.net

Work Statement
Photography, I feel, offers the opportunity to greater explore and express an individual’s interest in the visual world. I find that my interest is piqued when I am exploring new places, or meditating on familiar ones.

I began working as a photojournalist during my undergraduate education with internships at newspapers, but found myself constantly trying to appease a demographic that wanted to see their own communities as problem-free. During my graduate studies, I have had the chance to re-evaluate my own ideas about the role of images in society.

My current work contends that our day-to-day visual environments can be deceptively oppressive and subconsciously discouraging. I feel that still photographs offer viewers the unique opportunity to realize that this contention is true.

The photographs from the project School address the oppressive environment of American public education. The images in the series are meant to symbolically convey a sense of hopelessness, rigidity, banality and intimidation.

Bio
James Rajotte (b. 1980) is a photographer currently living in Rochester, NY. After growing up in rural Pennsylvania, James studied Earth Sciences at Penn State University. He then worked as a photojournalist for several publications during and after his undergraduate education. Currently James is an MFA student at the Visual Studies Workshop.

man with bear

Summer Edition Hey, Hot Shot! Winner 2006

Nadia Sablin
Currently residing in Brooklyn, NY

website: nadiasablin.com

Work Statement
I was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, a city and country that no longer exist. The names changed after I left, the substance too. After growing up and getting a photo degree in the US, I went back. Not to St. Petersburg, and not to Russia — the legality of that was complicated. I found myself in Ukraine, in a small town where the Old World still existed. There is a sculpture garden where cows and goats pasture. People get water from wells. Traveling circus and zoo is a high form of entertainment. I took pictures for two years. The faces, the expressions of the people I encountered made me feel like I was in a fairy tale, a place Other Than. I tried to capture them as they were: old, dignified, magical.

Bio
When I was twelve, my family moved from the center of baroque Leningrad to a cheap apartment in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. There, I found a way back to beauty through art and photography. I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and subsequently Rochester Institute of Technology, from which I graduated in 2002 with a degree in Photography. I traveled extensively through the United States, falling in love with America and its landscape. It wasn’t until my moving to Ukraine for two years, that I began to photograph people. Currently I’m exploring portraiture in Brooklyn, NY. I am 26, and feel there is no better age to be.

Photography by Joseph Holmes

Another great way to promote emerging artists is through JPG Magazine. It’s true, I was even in their very first issue! The sixth issue called Oops features our own Fall ‘05 Hot Shot, Joseph Holmes.

There’s magic in mistakes. There’s something special in the spontaneous. Because it’s in those moments when photography becomes more than just a document. It becomes something real.

This issue of JPG is about your best “Oops!” photos. Whether it was faulty settings, old film, the random photo on the last frame of film, or the last photo a camera ever took, this issue features some of the finest slip-ups, freak-outs, and happy accidents ever captured on film or pixels.

All their past and current issues are on sale now, so support emerging artists and see some great work! You can view Joseph’s Museum of Natural History series here on Flickr.

The winners of the Summer edition of Hey, Hot Shot! will be announced soon so be sure to check back!

Rebecca by Rebecca Soboti

Dennis by Rebecca Soboti

Oh my! You only have less than 6 hours left to submit! Deadline is 6PM EST TODAY!

Rebecca Soboti’s images are inspired by family, traditions, and nostalgia. She’s interested in what she calls “archiving change” by continually shooting her family through years and years.

Over the years, my photographs have evolved from focusing exclusively on my family to including inanimate objects and scenery to unify larger themes.

My latest project, Monmouth, examines my family throughout a period of three years as my sisters and I endure our parents’ painful divorce. The photographs I am submitting illustrate pieces from the project Monmouth, which can be viewed in its entirety at www.rebeccasoboti.com

Get those submissions in now!

Apple Sweat 1 by Derek Powazek

Apple Sweat 2 by Derek Powazek

For all you on the East Coast, remember when it was scorching hot on the first week of August? It was so hot that certain parts of the city’s power went out, people died, and people just wanted to stay indoors with the air conditioner on. Derek Powazek was visiting the city with his wife during that week and captured the hardcore heat people endured in the streets. He used the non-intrusive Lomo LC-A camera to capture New Yorkers since his Holga was melting and the digital SLR was too in-your-face for fellow natives.

My camera found New York in a rare moment. A city of incredible diversity, united in sweat. From Chinatown to the Village to Coney Island, New Yorkers were out in the world, doing their jobs, making the best of it. By the time the rain started to fall and the heat began to fade, we felt a new bond with the people who call NYC home.

You better get your submissions in before 6PM EST tomorrow!!!!

Abandoned Car, New Orleans LA. by Sara Macel

Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, New Orleans LA. by Sara Macel

Sara Macel’s photography stems from her personal life, particularly her relationship with the South. These images are taken from her trip to New Orleans six months after the Hurricane Katrina incident.

Beyond seeking out photographs of the destruction, I was also able to capture images from the city’s the Saint Patrick’s Day parade and remnants from Louisiana’s plantation era. Living and photographing in the South, I have witnessed the region’s familiarity with defeat. From the Civil War to the constant threats of nature and the overwhelming heat, Southerners have an ingrained ability to bear hardship.

Tuesday, the 15th is the deadline so get them in now!!!

The Commute, AM, Plane by David Franck

The Commute, PM, V by David Franck

David Franck’s goal is to gel painting with photography creating images that meld together through colors, lines, and ambience. The photographs he created are one of the most seamless multiple exposures that I’ve seen. (Maybe thanks to the lovely smog in California.) His statement:

The landscape of California has been my subject for going on 15 years. The light and colors combined with the smog is an endless facination for me. Although I enjoy historical and documentry style of photography, I find my path to be one of collage, collection and manufacture to be more interesting than roaming around the city waiting to capture whichever images fall my way.

Remember, the deadline is this TUESDAY, AUG. 15 at 6PM EST!

To Sir, With Love by Katie Watson

Untitled by Katie Watson

These images by Katie Watson have a nostalgic feeling, from the fading colors to the subject matter. Katie likes to leave images to tell the viewer what it means, no BS about conceptualizing the idea. From her statement:

I love surreal images, bold colors, as well as stark images lacking color. It interests me to see images juxtaposed, too. In my photos, I use the figure a lot, and I love seeing other artists’ unique take on the conventional subject. On the whole, I feel that art needn’t always adhere to long-winded explanations, which are usually difficult to grasp. I don’t like to focus on conceptualizing, and looking for symbols where they don’t exist. Somtimes meaning behind art is necessary, but I like things simple, with a bit of mystery.

Ok, kids. The deadline is creeping up so get your submissions in before Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 6PM EST!

Auditorium by James Rajotte

School yard by James Rajotte

James Rajotte’s photographs investigate the “oppressive environment of American public education.” His deadpan style emphasizes the institution of each environment. A blurb from his statement:

Photography, I feel, offers the opportunity to greater explore and express an individual’s interest in the visual world. I find that my interest is piqued when I am exploring new places, or meditating on familiar ones.

The images in the series are meant to symbolically convey a sense of hopelessness, rigidity, banality and intimidation.

We’re inching closer and closer to the panelist judging so remember to send your best in! We’re waiting for them! Deadline is Tuesday, August 15 at 6PM EST!

John Trainer #1 by Juliana Beasley

Frieda 2 by Juliana Beasley

We have received a wide range of submissions and Juliana Beasely’s photographs demonstrate another variety in the way images can be taken. In these images, she got to know certain people that are overlooked on some basis by the mainstream: the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill, alcoholics, or drug addicts. A blurb from her statement:

For me, this project confronts various levels of marginalization. There is, first of all, a geographic marginalization insofar as all of this takes place on a peninsula at the far-flung edge of the city where the fog rolls over the beaches. Secondly, there is the social marginalization, the fact that the subjects are poor, physically or mentally challenged, and otherwise living far outside the mainstream, virtually invisible. Finally, and most importantly perhaps, there is the interior marginalization, a loneliness that I attempted to capture in the portraits, a sense of personal isolation that is often exacerbated by or results in alcoholism or drug addiction.

We’ve got less than a week until the deadline. Keep them coming!