Matt and John by Jeremy Mazzenga

Aspiring Hot Shot Jeremy Mazzenga, never found without his view camera in tow, is interested in memory, nostalgia, family, and adolescence.

When I’m not entering data into excel spreadsheets as my day job, I’m either photographing or daydreaming about it. Photography is a way for me to relate myself to people and the world. At 25 years old, I’m interested in the modern trend of how humans view images on screens, rather than prints, and how it will interact with photography.

Utilize the extra time, enter while you’re here.

Procrastination is a killer and old habits sure do die hard. So at this very last of minutes, being our oh so gracious selves, we’re going to give you one whole extra week to apply to this round of HHS! A full set of days for you to get ‘em in and get it out there. Having said that, why not do it now––Enter today.

Deadline: Monday May 14 @ 11:59PM

Good luck!

Nixon’s Tie Matched His Shirt by Larissa Cleveland

Yes, it is here––the deadline for the Spring 2007 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! Do you have your entry in? I hope so. Just as I hope you can make it to the showcase’s opening soiree on Wednesday June 6. The weather will be warm, the skin will be showing, and the wine will be flowing––it will be a night to remember. Will you be a guest of honor?

In the meantime, I offer you aspiring Hot Shot Larissa Cleveland. Larissa submitted work from her series on the curious community of collectors. Fascinated by our innate desire to possess in order to find meaning in life, Larissa offers us portraits of these foragers basking in the joy that is their most precious of possessions, their collection. From Larissa’s statement:

This body of work represents my investigation into a societal preoccupation with collecting and the narrative or symbolic power of objects. My experiences as a child surrounded by the mass collection of civil war artifacts that belonged to my father has prompted my continued interest in the pursuit of collecting and also to question the nature of hobby versus obsession. In creating these images, I investigate the personal and social conditions that inform an inherent need to possess, create order, gain status, knowledge and to preserve.

I am liking Larissa’s titles––little glimpses into her interactions with her subjects, tiny little tales such as “She is an Artist. There Wasn’t Room in the House” and “He Called Me Little Lady. He Ate Them All” and of course “Nixon’s Tie Matched His Shirt.” Keep it up Larissa.

And now, let the countdown begin. Midnight will strike sooner than you think. Enter now!

From Marine Wedding by Nina Berman

You are most likely familiar with the work of photographer Nina Berman and, if not, you should be. This Hot Shot hopeful has a hefty list of well-earned accomplishments under her belt. The above image from Marine Wedding not only won the prestigious 2007 World Press Photo prize in portraiture, but also spread across the web like no other, sparking debates of all shapes and sizes. Raising questions of bravery, the American Hero, and personal vs. political motivation––needless to say, the image is one that sticks. Allow me to pass the mic to Nina…

I’m a documentary photography interested in the American political and social landscape. I started as a writer wanting to tell stories but found myself increasingly frustrated with the act of writing and would edit myself into oblivion. I chose instead to make images because I felt the process was inexact and I enjoyed not knowing for sure if what I felt and hoped to convey actually came through in the photograph. … I am submitting images of those wounded in wartime. I made the photographs in an attempt to explore the myths of warfare and offer images that strip the warrior of heroic sentiment.

The work is pretty impeccable and necessary to see if you haven’t as of yet. And of course, DEADLINE IS TOMORROW! The clock ticks + it ticks fast. Get ‘em in, enter right now.

The Titanic by Clint Baclawski

A mere matter of days away from deadline, I suppose I’ll go ahead and apologize for the scattering of missed opportunities when it comes to daily Hot Shot hopeful spotlighting. As I recently mentioned, I’m wrapping up a degree and it’s posing to be not quite as leisurely as I would like.

What I do like, however, is the number of student submissions coming in. Oh how I love to see what I’m up against. Today, take Clint Baclawski, a student in the MFA program at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Perhaps you remember running into his work via panelist Joerg Colberg. His website is chock-full of compelling work and I would say it’s worth some of your Sunday time. From his submitted statement:

My most current work depicts a spectacular American culture saturated with large-scale color imagery, consumerism, and forward momentum. The attractions featured in this series are both novel and commonplace, including parades, reenactments, fairs, and trade shows in ordinary communities around our country every day. Each event is transitory, challenging me to capture a single image before that scene is forever altered.

Just days until deadline. Utilize the weekend, enter today.

Blue Velvet by Lydia Panas

Hot Shot hopeful Lydia Panas has a heavy background in academia. After getting her BA in Psychology from Boston College, she went on the the Art Institute of Boston and then to SVA for a BFA in photography. She went directly into the Whitney Independent Study Program and then on to get her MA in Photography from New York University / International Center for Photography. Two weeks away from getting my first degree and anticipating the release from the academic world of art, this list boggles my mind.

Lydia submitted work from her series The Divine Byzantine Crypt. I will admit this image makes me a bit uncomfortable for various reasons I need not go into. In her words:

My work is about the discovery of who we are; so that through recognition, we proceed less from unknowing, and more from a place of clarity. I want to find that tenuous place between glory and defeat, which is the human condition.

The clock ticks. Use the weekend wisely.

Oh yes, our Hot Shots make us proud. The list is out for The Griffin Museum of Photography’s 13th Annual Griffin Juried Show and I spy many a’ familiar name. Fall 2006 Hot Shot Shen Wei, a regular when it comes to receiving recognition for his increasingly amazing body of work, received The Griffin Award. And Ultra Joseph O. Holmes and Winter Hot Shot Colin Blakely are on the list! The three will join a pretty impressive group of photographers in the show opening late August.

And a little sugar on top, this week’s edition of Artkrush is jammed pack full of art blog fun. If you’re looking for more daily distraction, they’ve compiled a nice little list of blogs to read––HHS! + Personism + all the regulars to be reading + more.

As always, more good news sure to come.

The Path of Practice by Brook Reynolds

In the work of aspiring HS Brook Reynolds spirituality and artistic endeavors meet. For her, photography is a means to explore the impermanence and interconnectedness of life. From her statement:

Photographing bamboo is like returning to the breath in meditation and becoming fully present in the moment. It is my acknowledgement of a certain presence in the landscape that adds structure, stability, and continuity to the endless possibilities of referring to nature for artistic expression. Like the breath, the experience of bamboo in these photographs can be peaceful and intentional, but it can also be dynamic and chaotic. The multiplicity of aesthetic, ecological, and spiritual properties of bamboo add variety and complexity to the imagery so that the meaning of bamboo shifts depending on the context.

Less than a week to go! Why not enter now?

Man of Vision by Chase Browder

Today’s Hot Shot hopeful, Chicago-based photographer Chase Browder, hails from a land just before that of the adobe Circle K and the kokopelli dreamcatcher. An 8th generation Texan, Browder is a bonafide camera-carrying cowboy.

A player in the Chicagraphy arena, Browder goes beyond the Midwestern landscape into the psychological dude ranch-land of the West––the West where Rogers drives a Mustang and Wayne dines at Chuy’s Cantina. By photographing representations of the frontier and the everyday Texas he knows so well, Browder re-envisions romantic notions of his native soil. On his series Another Story..

As the photographer I am visually retelling the stories of my homeland. In the liberating of vernacular and popular images I want to continue the mythological story of the West.

Browder graduates from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s MFA program this month. If you find yourself in the windy city this weekend and still wonder how the West was won, stop on by his thesis show and keep your eyes peeled for the big black brim.

In the meantime, this is it. We are officially at the one week mark––and my oh my, time sure does fly. Enter today.