Untitled (Two) by aspiring Hot Shot Tamara Umansky

Inspiration came to Tamara Umansky from the combination of a day in the park and a father’s hobby. After moving from Mexico City to Houston at the ripe age of 13, she picked up her father’s Nikon and snapped a shot of a park bench. Struck by her inability to articulate what the image was doing to her, her passion for the medium began. She admits her work has no overarching theme, at least that she can identify as of yet––but she is inspired by everyday objects, people, places and things. Since graduating she has worked as still photographer on various film sets. Tamara says, “the idea of documenting something that doesn’t actually exist and authenticating it seems paradoxical, but it holds a special appeal for me.”

Keep it up Tamara. As for everyone else, the clock ticks. Enter today!

Travis, 2005 by aspiring Hot Shot Molly Landreth

Submitted from Seattle, Molly Landreth’s series Embodiment is an exploration and archive of contemporary queer communities and their ever-transforming roles within youth culture. She carefully constructs images of carefully constructed identities in hopes of revealing not only who her subjects are, but who they wish to become. From Molly’s statement:

Coming of age witnessing rapid changes in how gender and sexual minorities are viewed, I began this project as an investigation into the ways this generation of young people is continuing to challenge traditional life narratives within both straight and mainstream gay and lesbian communities. Even with today’s increasingly progressive attitudes, to be visible is to become both empowered and vulnerable. As a result, these images depict subjects who meet my gaze with a rare combination of forthright self-awareness and total abandon, like they are standing in for something much larger than themselves.

Less than 3 weeks remain to show us what you’re investigating.
Submit your entry today.

Pink Dots by aspiring HS Grant Willing

Apologies for the barren blog as of late, there will be recompense, you can be assured. Like many Hot Shots and HS Wannabes, I am still in pursuit of my luxurious degree, my BFA––and it is once again time to take care of business.

Yesterday, I flew into Chicago and was welcomed by freezing winds and snow. Leaving what was relatively mild weather in New York to find myself with nearly frostbitten toes and a beyond pink nose, aspiring Hot Shot Grant Willing’s work struck a chord in me. Grant grew up in Colorado, another past home of mine, one where snow is quiet, clean, romantic, for skiing and snowmen. Trying desperately not to slip on the sidewalks of icy Chicago, I am hoping to find inspiration in Grant’s words: “I am trying to show the beauty in the smaller things that have not been concealed by the weather; they form an entire picture where the rest of the frame is void of considerable detail.” Not always an easy task. He goes on…

My photographs represent a bleak and often empty scene of places that I have visited. Even though most of my photographs show a presence of life, they still have an emptiness that suggests a lack of involvement and care. This carelessness presents a subtle irony that I am trying to capture.

You keep it coming and so will I. Enter today!

Andre Zweig from Dina Kantor’s HHS! Submission

Aspiring Hot Shot and SVA MFA candidate Dina Kantor submitted work from her series Finnish & Jewish. Initially intrigued by her family heritage and Finnish-Jewish blood, she has turned her eyes to an impressively small yet thriving population. In Dina’s words:

Today, there are an estimated 1,500 Jews living in Finland. There is one synagogue in Helsinki, and one in Turku. A third synagogue, in Vyborg, was burned down during World War II. How does this religion survive in a country where there are only two synagogues? In a nation of 5.3 million people, how do 1,500 Jews maintain their cultural identity? In 2006 I began making portraits of the members of this small community. In addition to being a visual record, the photographs function as a sociological document exploring how Finnish Jews live, work and practice their religious traditions.

With these pictures, I am investigating the way photography contributes to the construction of identity and community. Today’s society is increasingly complex and multi-cultural. As our heritages blend, our identities are no longer definable by a social stereotype of a community, but by our unique experiences and backgrounds. Photography has an exceptional ability to record details, and I am employing it to record cultural signifiers and traditions as they blend, as well as to depict physical characteristics of a hybridized community.

Enter today!

drei #21 by Christopher Young

Sometimes an artist’s words are enough. I give you aspiring Hot Shot Christopher Young.

This image is part of an ongoing series titled drei (German: ‘three’) that addresses specific aspects of both my personal life & creative practice––people, place and props. It consciously develops ideas of context, implied narrative and space as components in the communication of associated concepts. These locations are loaded with long lost narratives and I make my images after the direct emotive connection has been severed. Often deserted, they are going through a process of decay, destruction and regeneration. By contrasting them in exhibition context with my portraiture and still-life work - often in diptych or triptych form - I hope to re-invent a deeply personal but at the same time completely fictional history. Any discovery is tainted by the subjective experience of the viewer projecting their own narratives into a scene. They are then left to clumsily read or even create their own mythologies.

Enter today!

Teressa from Jeff Elliott’s HHS! Submission

It is fascinating for me to watch the entries come in, they really do pop-up from all across the board. I get to see the work of artists of all sorts, shapes, and sizes––from my peers and individuals just discovering their love of the medium to artists who give me something to aspire to.

Jeff Elliott aspires to Hot Shot status. He has been photographing for over 40 years. For him, photography started with Antioch College. He went on to get his MFA and studied at M.I.T., The San Francisco Art Institute, The University of Madrid, and The Universidad de Arte in San Miguel. And I thought one institution was confusing… In 1968 he found himself an apprentice for Minor White. He went on to live in several ZaZen Monasteries and taught meditation for 8 years. During his 30’s and 40’s he became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and retired at a prime age. Ever since he has devoted his time and energy to his photography. He comes to Hey, Hot Shot! with a series taken while living in the mountains north of Mexico City.

Oh what will I see next? Enter today!

Katie and Andria, Indian Springs by aspiring Hot Shot Andrea Wallace

Here is my underinsightful observation of the day: a website is a very useful thing to have, especially if one happens to be a photographer. In addition, a blog to keep us up-to-date and generate discussion is often twice as nice. As Hot Shot Matthew Nighswander said in his interview, “Organizing a website is a great way to get to know your own photography and if I could live off that, I would be fine with never being published or exhibited again.” I won’t go as far as him, but as someone who’s had a nearly complete website for an embarrassing period of time, let me reiterate how important a website can be.

Aspiring Hot Shot Andrea Wallace has put together a body of work worthy of a peek. Her submission comes from a series of bathers taken at Indian Springs––a historic site turned tourist attraction in central Colorado. While I enjoyed seeing her submissions, seeing the full series on her website was quite delightful.

The springs, once considered sacred by Native Americans, has been “rebuilt” to include swimming pools, cave rooms and motel accommodations. The contemporary “hot springs experience” demystifies romantic notions of soaking nude in natural steaming pools along side a flowing river. People now wear bright colored bathing suites and plastic armbands, which denote admission to enter specific pools. The natural desert environment is now home to a botanical garden of tropical plants, a 130,000 gallon dome covered swimming pool and Native American music playing over loud speakers.

The subjects she photographs are consistently peculiar. Any one of them would fit rather well into my extended family, leaving me with a good dose of familial embarrassment to stack on top of that lingering over my lack of a site. So for all of us struggling to get it live, let Andrea be an encouragement.

I have a long leisurely week ahead to spend in front of my computer, so keep it coming and submit today!