Revenge by G.F. Diaz

Aspiring Hot Shot G.F. Diaz is pushing the Metaphor with a capital ‘M’ on the viewer. Hoping we will make a connection in “the physical with intangible symbolism,” Diaz is interested in the very essence of perception and how we as consumers of photography love to pick apart the frozen image. Digitally constructed collages of wildlife taken from their natural environments and placed in “unlikely” backdrops––sometimes subtly, sometimes blindingly––the images span the gamut of the photoshop composit. While Diaz’s words seem to demand a more serious reading of the work, the images are unquestionably humorous. The selection above, for me, is the perfect mashing of the ever-favorite toying with taxidermy genre and the equally as loved deer painting camp. Some words from the artist are in order…

I embrace nature, chaos and survival as my sources of inspiration, and infuse these themes with vivid human statements. I see our ambition, betrayal, triumph and pitfalls in each of these compositions, as we often find ourselves out of our elements and surviving the most unfavorable conditions.

Diaz unfortunately does not have a website, but you can enjoy Revenge all day long. Time likes to just slip on by and, as always, the deadline is planning on creeping right up, so keep the good work coming!

Deadline: Tuesday May 8 @ 11:59PM
Enter Today!

Jolene: Teenagers Belfast by Michelle Sank

From aspiring Hot Shot Michelle Sank’s submission:

Michelle is interested in the way that individuals are shaped by social structures, how gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity ‘enter into’ us as subjects. The work looks particularly at individuals positioned within lower socio-economic structures where, for example the promise of adult sexuality appears to offer future security and happiness. Her deceptively simple portraits ask important and probing questions about the status and perception of young people in contemporary society.

The clock ticks, enter today!

The concept is simple: Prints in limited editions of 200, for $20 each. We’ll introduce two new editions a week: a photo one day and a fine art reproduction on another. These prints will be high quality work done by great artists. You’ll be able to sign up for a membership, buy gift certificates and have opportunities to buy larger pieces at affordable prices too.

Read the announcement over on Personism.

We’re still in private beta for a few more weeks - Sign up for our mailing list and we’ll keep you posted!

I’m lost (part 1) by Laurent Champoussin

Hot Shot hopeful Laurent Champoussin resides in Paris, France. Excusing himself for his english skills, he sums his statement up with, “Do you remember of that cue from “The Maltese Falcon : ‘the stuff that dreams are made off’? So I’m trying in a humbly way to catch this stuff in a world like it is without artifice.”

Ice Fishing Two by Finn O’Hara
Aspiring Spring Hot Shot Finn O’Hara comes to us from Toronto. Submitting from his series made in the Canadian Arctic, Finn is interested in access to cultures that are generally unfamiliar to the outsiders. Attributing his success within the project to dedicated research, discussion and, he admits, blind luck, he hopes to capture the remote, obscure, and the little known. From his statement:

As polar issues such as global warming become more important, I hope to document the people of the Arctic and their emerging society. The elders of Cambridge Bay have seen the transformation of their society from one in which small family groups lived in nomadic camps, to a far more modern community life. In a single Arctic lifetime, more has changed for them in one generation than what has occurred over several thousand years for “western society�. As they embrace traditional knowledge and values, and the new opportunities presented to them by advanced technologies, I hope to document this social transformation through a combination of portraiture and landscape photographs.

Finn also shared with us his appreciation of photography not only as a “beautiful art” with endlessly exciting and practical tools, such as the Hasselblad he romances, but as a multifaceted job with endless opportunities to be jumped upon.

So jump on this one… Enter today.

Traces #1 submitted by Brady Robinson

Orlando-based artist and Hot Shot hopeful Brady Robinson submitted work from her series Traces, images of what she so literally describes as “fleeting landscapes.” Jessica Dawson from the Washington Post has already categorized Brady’s work as travelogue impressionism. Moving at a pace that doesn’t mesh with that necessary for the careful and patient landscape photographer, Brady is such an artist with a different lifestyle. I am rather curious as what these shots would look like if Brady had been equipped with say a 4×5, a tripod, and more time––my curiosities answered: they would look just like that which we are already far too familiar with. A project still in the works, Brady continues to adventure out into the landscape documenting her experiences in speedy motion. From her statement:

The work is a mapping of time and space; movement is captured through a window point of view while wandering through the landscape. Reflections are captured to give a sense of inside and out. As a photographer, I examine the social and cultural landscape and exploit the tradition of the “snap shot�. New relationships between disparate images are formed through scale and sequencing.

We’ll keep our eyes on Brady’s progress. In the meantime, show me what you’ve got. Enter today!

Rocco by Sigrid Jakob

Aspiring Hot Shot Sigrid Jakob is interested in masculinity, in fact she limits her subjects to men and only men. In straightforward portraits within both studio settings and the domestic space, she analyzes their bodies through the lens––how they are put forward by the sitter and then how the bodies are accepted by her audience. In her words:

My basic theory is that being a man in this day and age is fraught with difficulty. Women have been gaining power, at work, in relationships, economically. Men are increasingly expected to conform to stricter ideals with regard to their appearance, being emotionally expressive, being good team players. Male stereotypes are no longer the refuge they once were. With these shifting expectations, men are expected to redefine themselves.

Known for her series on the gay male subculture of bears, she scrutinizes the manner in which the male body is exalted depending on the context. For her, bears represent “a redefinition and reappropriation of male stereotypes that is both traditionalist and utopian.�

Sigrid began taking photographs as a teenage runaway. The camera was a way to prove her existence and validate her view of the world when no one else cared. She is inspired by other female artists who are wandering in the terrain of masculine identity such as Collier Schorr and Laurel Nakadate.

Deadline is Tuesday May 8, 2007––time is on your side––but why not enter today?

Auditorium by James Rajotte

Summer 2006 Hot Shot James Rajotte is adding another notch to his belt. In addition to being a Hot Shot and featured in PDN’s 2006 Photo Annual of Student Work, James has earned his Master’s in Fine Arts in photography from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY.

The culmination of his blood, sweat, and tears, (trust me, I am also an M.F.A. candidate and it’s rougher than you think) will be on display at the Visual Studies Workshop Gallery, 31 Prince Street, Rochester, NY from April 7th - 27th. That’s right, the opening is this Saturday (tomorrow!) at 7:00 p.m.

Scott, 2006 by James Rajotte

With blasted, James joins the ranks of photographers working as sociologists, including, but not limited to, Phillip Toledano, made famous by his portraits of video gamers, and Paul Graham who photographed people watching television in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

He’s in good company but his photos stand out because they are slightly ambiguous. His subjects seem genuinely engaged but sometimes sad, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes alienated, and always alone, illuminated by the off-color glow of a monitor, and seated in surrounding darkness. The work gives rise to the questions he poses:

What, if any, are the visual opportunity costs of an electronic society? Why look at actual reality when we are able [to] fulfill our intellectual and emotional needs anonymously and vicariously via meta-realities?

These questions also supplement a conversation that has been floating around the jen bekman Gallery blog regarding avatars, Second Life, and even virtual galleries.

The show proves to be worth the trip to Rochester. If you absolutely can’t make it, do see the work on Rajotte’s website.

Identity by Amelie Sourget

There are moments when the mind goes blip, sometimes for short periods and sometimes for more extended ones. What always perplexes and entertains me is the way the mind retains information from when it goes on these little breaks. Images jump in and out of the brain, leaving traces that are not always trackable. Words, sounds, and smells become more fragmented and jumbled than usual. Your blogkeeper is recovering from such a blip.

With aspiring Hot Shot Amelie Sourget my initial mental stutter began with her name. Originally hailing from France, Amelie has recently relocated to the fine city of New York. While providing me with very little meat beyond the three images she submitted, I know she shoots with a Hasselblad, lives for the color darkroom, and was once upon a time a political science major. Amelie, also, has a knack for tackling the broadest of subjects in the simplest of fashions, giving her images titles such as An absurd world and Identity. There is a good amount of work on her website––take a peek, see how it sticks.

As for your entries, the clock ticks. Enter today.

Thermometer by Walker Pickering

Aspiring Hot Shot Walker Pickering puts it simply––he shoots nouns.

And you? Enter today.