At Friendlies 1984 by Bede Murphy

Man of many mediums and aspiring Hot Shot Bede Murphy submitted imaged from his series UPSTATE in the 80’s, an archive of photographs and diary entries from his teen years.

A humoristic look at the cloistered existence (and a lack grammatical ease) it provides a glimpse of a young person declaring ownership over the creative impulse.

In his free time, Murphy runs LAND, a gallery/studio in DUMBO for adult artists with disabilities to create and show work. Keep it up Murphy.

We are reaching the one week point. Why not just enter today?

Bayshore Blvd by William John Smith

California-based Hey, Hot Shot! contender William John Smith entered the wide world of visual arts at the suggestion of a tarot reader. On his work, “The images that I’m submitting are from a five year project to document San Francisco from my viewpoint which of course is somewhat different than a visitor’s. I’m inspired by most everything I see.”

And you? Enter while it’s still the weekend.

Sterling Heights by Rachel Hawthorn

From aspiring Hot Shot Rachel Hawthorn’s submission:

In the continued investigation of how human memory is faulty and flawed, I constructed small models of homes I’ve lived in, all from memory and exterior photographs. Missing walls, empty spaces and partial structures trace the gaps where memory has faltered. The tiny sculptures have taken up residence in my backyard, and are photographed as they shift and warp through the weather and time, much like the fractures in personal memory.

Enter Today!

Oh the excitement for a Thursday afternoon––Raul Gutierrez has signed on as a panelist for the Spring Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! Raul, already an invaluable member of the jen bekman family, is a Hot Shot himself, a Spring 2006 Hot Shot to be specific. An amazing photographer, writer, and thinker, Raul’s website and blog offer endless hours of consuming pleasure. Mr. Gutierrez has also been working hard with Ms. Bekman on the anxiously awaited, awesomely-awesome 20×200 project. [If you find yourself unfortunately out of the loop, read about that excitement here.] And, you’re in luck, an old HHS! interview with Raul can be found here.

Raul Gutierrez is a photographer and design consultant who has had an eclectic career working behind the scenes in Hollywood, on Broadway, and on the internet. He recently showed his long term project, Travels Without Maps, at the Nelson Hancock Gallery in New York and has been in of a number of group shows including Hey, Hot Shot! Gutierrez also maintains Heading East, a website that is often (but not always) about photography. He is currently working on a book of Travels Without Maps as well as a number of photography related internet projects.

We love Raul and you should too! So much excitement, such a f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c panel.

Journey Into Manhood by Ryan Pfluger

Aspiring Hot Shot Ryan Pfluger loves his dad, is inspired by his dad, and, well, likes to take photos of his dad. Submitting work from his thesis project Not Without My Father, Pfluger says that photography facilitates dialogue between the two men as they create and re-create memories from Ryan’s relatively fatherless childhood. In and out of rehab during the time for fishing, barbeques, and life-lessons, Ryan’s father is a participant in the two of them constructing that coveted father-son bond, one that’s based in both reality and fiction, one that is making up for lost time.

Maybe it’s cliche to say that in a bio, but I really use photography as my way of creating relationships. Maybe it was because I was socially awkward, or rather, I still am socially awkward.

This awkward 100% New Yorker finished up his MFA at SVA yesterday. Congrats Ryan!

Enter today!

Hospital Study 1 by aspiring HS Michael Cevoli

Words from Providence-based Hot Shot hopeful Michael Cevoli:

Two years ago I began a photographic project based on the interiors of former state prisons and their nearby surroundings. I was initially interested in the massive structures, do in part to the similar functional elements found in industrial architecture, namely the timed and controlled repetitive motions that make said facilities operate, and also because of the striking beauty and attention to detail not commonly associated with a prison.

We’ve reached the two week point. Enter tonight!

Cocktail Hour by Kelly Hamilton

I could not ignore the resemblance in aspiring HS Kelly Hamilton’s work and that of Fall 2006 Hot Shot Joe Fornabaio. Maybe it’s that they both shoot black and white, unfortunately a rare trait in our hopefuls. And that they are both photographing their families, nothing very unique in itself. Or it’s that they both seem to have a certain knack for getting that perfectly quirky moment that defines family life while neither glorifying it nor mocking it, but getting it just right.

Kelly is submitting from her series Sunday Dinners, a project she has been working on for the past two years. She says, “When I see a familiar expression or something completely new I press the shutter.” She also gives her images titles such as Where are you headed baby brother?, Unclosable Distance, and Just Outside the Door. Keep it up Kelly!

We have a new week on our hands and only two remain to enter the Spring Edition of HHS! Why not right now?

133rd Ave at Cross Bay Blvd by aspiring HS Mark Marchesi

For this round of HHS!, photographer Mark Marchesi submitted from his series The Town and the City. The work is cinematic in both its scale and suspense; I think of Gregory Crewdson minus all the bells and whistles. These images are dramatic and straight out of a thriller favorite without feeling contrived or theatrical––not to mention they’re just good looking photographs. Mark says on the series:

It is inspired by Jack Kerouac’s classic literary work which is set in a dying Massachusetts mill town. The novel stuck a chord and filled me with nostalgia for a time when New England mill towns thrived and the word “home” was not just a term used by developers to sell more houses.

Mark has been working on this series for the past three years and there is an immense amount of worthy work on his newly updated website. Keep it up Mark!

It’s Friday and the weather is turning around––the perfect time to enter the Spring Edition of Hey, Hot Shot!

Wedding by Laura Griffin

Aspiring Hot Shot Laura Griffin submitted work from her Comfort of Strangers series. Interested in a bit more than the mundane, she’s out to write poetry with her imagery, looking for the strange, the beautiful, and the mysterious in her subjects. Griffin comes to us from Atlanta, Georgia and is inspired by guess who. From Griffin’s statement:

With this work, I believe that an image can stand in direct representation of an idea, emotion, or remembrance through association. The colors, light and subject matter create feelings of isolation, silence and timelessness and I hope that the viewer will relate these images to their own experiences and memories.

You have a little over two weeks to get those entries in. How about today?

Wishing Well by Mandy Sue Springer

Here on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog you have seen a handful of repeat hopefuls. Spending a good amount of time with each entry, most aspiring Hot Shots tend to stick with me. Being in the try, try, try again game myself, I always find it helpful to see how others choose to revamp and repackage their work for submission––whether they start fresh with a new body of work, leave just a trace of the previous, or submit the identical twin to their former. During the Winter Edition, I paired the work and words of artist Mandy Sue Springer with some thoughts about the statement, both written and unsaid [see that here]. This round Mandy Sue has a new website where you can see her series Digging for Salamanders along with other photographs, paintings, and mixed media. From her statement:

I used to want to change the world, but I learned that was not going to happen. Instead I had to change my world and find all the beautiful things in the ugly things and fall in love with this new found beauty. I can remember the amazement in finding salamanders under rocks in the creek. I would keep them in buckets for just a little while, but then let them go. Growing up my life was a treasure hunt, and they were just one of the little hidden treasures. I am once more searching for these lost treasures.

enter today!