Family by Fall ‘07 contender Robert Gill

Young photographer Robert Gill has had a rapidly developing career as a photographer; so rapid, in fact, that he decided to leave New York last year and his job as a commercial photographer in order to fulfill what he calls, “the most important, yet vague, goal of my life: to become a conceptual artist.”

Gill calls upon creative frustration to explain his decision to desert the commercial world:

I felt like I had something more relevant and more important to say and I knew that the commercial world I was stuck in would never give me the platform to do so. By twenty-three I had already been exploited as a photojournalist in the Philippines for a missionary organization, shot a product catalogue for Urban Outfitters, and had been deemed the rookie photographer of the year in the National Horseshow Circuit. There is little room in product catalogues for a photographer’s view on life.

All by the age of 23? Wow! And he had only been equipped with a camera in high school, so now you know what I mean by rapid! And how exactly did he get here, you ask? Well…

I grew up in Pennsylvania, all of my childhood friends were Amish, I am not. When I was five I was run over by a truck my father was driving. I was diagnosed with ADD as result of the accident and was drugged through the most shaping years of my life. By the time I was in high school I was a D-C student, but one extremely intelligent/blessing of teacher saw through struggles with the educational system and gave me a camera. He had four photographs on the first roll of film I ever shot published in the local newspaper. This saved my life. Soon afterwards, I stopped taking medicine. I got B’s.

Gill is currently living down in Georgia where he attends photo history classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design and finds himself inspired by the “tender touch of André Kertész” and the “straight photography of Walker Evans.” He describes his currently body of work as based around “the pressures of young adulthood and the culturally entrenched goals my generation are striving for.”

Best of luck, Robert! And in case the rest of you haven’t heard, the Fall edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is now ON! So enter today!

A last minute heads up to anyone and everyone who happens to be in New York tonight. Ms. Bekman will be giving a special presentation at The Apple Store in Soho [@ Prince + Greene] as part of the NYC Photobloggers event. Come hear about HHS!, the gallery, 20×200, and other excitement! AND Ultra Joe Holmes is also on the bill. This is an event not to be missed.

TONIGHT - Sept 26 - 6:30PM
The Apple Store [Prince + Greene]

PS: There will be goodies involved. Be there or be [ ]

Noview Ave. by aspiring Hot Shot Aubrey Hays

The Fall 2007 Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is open and we’re about to send your heads swirling with Hot Shot spotlights, news, and otherwise. And you better brace yourself, this round there may just be many of us Hottie Shot bloggers perusing the entries and offering up our two cents for your entertainment.

For our first fall entry, an all time favorite — ladies in the landscape. Portland residing, London bound Aubrey Hays submitted work from a series produced amidst an Alaskan adventure with her sister. Simply put, her work focuses on the figure’s interaction with the environment surrounding it, and Aubrey has amassed many such an image for your viewing pleasure on her Flickr site.

I am quite fond of her image Noview Ave. for its quirky quality that stands in stark contrast to the seriousness seeping from her words. It also makes me think of this classic by non-Hot Shot, but fantastic photographer despite, Melanie Schiff.

Today I will not wax poetic on the work and instead will let Aubrey do so herself. On photography she says, “I have found a means of connecting, both metaphorically and literally, between you, me, and what we must go through together.” She goes on:

“Mono no Aware�, is a phrase from a Japanese linguistics scholar implying a sensitivity to things. It is a beauty tinged with sadness, and sadness tinged with beauty. The portraits I take are a rendering of this sorrow we hold onto. I am loyal to my sorrows, but I am also loyal to my happiness. My work is a cathartic representation of life’s transitions we continuously go through, past and present.

Aubrey is gearing up for a big year and heading to the London College of Art for her MFA in January. Keep it up Aubrey! Everyone else, enter today.

An image I found here when I googled “Russia” as Dan Boardman suggested I do to get an idea of what he is working on.

Let’s play a game of “Where’s Waldo?”. Or how about an HHS version of “Where Are They Now?” So, where are they now? (’They’ being the infamously talented and lucky winners of the most recent edition of HHS.) Well, the answer is: all over the place. In fact, I recently heard from a few of our latest additions to the Hot Shot family and they really are showing there work all over the place.

Jonathan Gitelson is currently exhibiting his work in Germancy alongside another jB friend in a show entitled Chicagraphy: Jonathan Gitelson, Matt Siber and Brian Ulrich, which is at Galerie f5.6 in Munich. The show runs from September 15 - November 3, 2007.

And on this side of the Atlantic, a lady Hot Shot, Miss Ari Salomon, will be participating in the 3rd Annual IAPP Juried Panoramic Photography Contest and Exhibition which is presented by the International Association of Panoramic Photographers. The show will run from October 16 - November 2, 2007 at the Valley Photo Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Salomon will also be participating in “Landscape Revisited: Challenging the Traditional Approach to Landscape” held at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California from November 2 - November 21, 2007.

And as for the always humorous Dan Boardman, he writes, “Right now I’ve been eating a lot of candy and working my new project Russia, but that won’t be done until the end of the winter for sure (I hope). If you want a preview just Google image search Russia or Tetris, or just play Tetris.” Aside from all the candy, Boardman will be participating in a group show entitled “Multiples” held at Gallery 831 in Columbus, Ohio, which runs from October 13 - October 28, 2007.

From the entire jB team, we wish our winners the best of luck with all their shows this upcoming fall and we hope that those of you who happen to wander into Munich, Mendocino, Massachusetts, or Ohio (at the appropriate times, of course) will make your way to these galleries and support these awesome photographers!

As for me, I can be found on my boyfriend’s couch, attempting to cram in a last-minute reading of Walt Whitman’s Memoranda During the War. Tune back in for more from me later!

So, to re-cap: two major events collided on my calendar last week and created an eventful, pleasant evening out of a typical Wednesday night. That is to say, the Summer 2007 Showcase of Hey, Hot Shot! opened to a lively reception over at the gallery whilst simultaneously the Jewish world celebrated the incoming new year (shana tova!)

Having been all over the place last Wednesday (and all of last week, as well), the exhibition was as new to me as it was to all of the wonderful neighborhoodies who turned up for a glass of white wine and a look at the show. And what a pleasant surprise it was! Having sifted through the work consistently throughout the summer and have followed the process, it was incredible to see the prints in person, which were extraordinarily more beautiful seen face-to-face.

Plus, we had an awesome turn out of people who were dangerously spilling out into the street with their *ahem* glasses of water… And, it was nice to see the jB crew (whom I have been so far away from now that I am swamped with schoolwork). Also, the Summer ‘07 Hot Shots were well-represented at the event: Rachael Dunville, Gregory Krum, Willy Somma, Dan Boardman, and Kalpesh Lathigra (who came out all the way from Britain) were all spotted mingling with their eager audience.

Unfortunately the showcase is now over–I know, it’s sad! but we had to make room for HHS alum Kate Bingaman-Burt’s show, which opens tomorrow! If you didn’t get to see it, don’t fret! The Hot Shots are now popping up all over the place. If you haven’t done so yet, check out their websites and roam the NYC gallery scene for more of there work. For example, Ms. Rachael Dunville is the star of her first solo show over at the Peer Gallery, which runs through October 20th and features images from her Springtown series.

Otherwise, I hope to see you all before sundown at tomorrow’s opening over on Spring Street, and keep checking in with the blog where we will be posting continuous updates on our big, happy family of Hot Shot photographers.

Until then, adieu!

A Hot Shot, an Ultra, a 20×200 staple - Kate Bingaman-Burt is a bonafide bekman star. And tomorrow night her anxiously awaited solo-show opens here at the jb!

Yes, Kate Bingaman-Burt’s Obsessive Consumption opens this Friday and quite a show it promises to be. Initially winning us over with her photographs in the Summer 2006 Edition of HHS! [perhaps you recall the rack of wedding dresses or the mountain of shopping carts] this time around she’s taking over our humble abode, filling it to the brim with Obsessive Consumption goodies, a KBB wonder world.

And in the meantime [because by this point you’re bound to be bursting with excitement] you can get your hands on a Bingaman-Burt print over on 20×200. Ms. Kate is part of our fantastic launch pad, her piece “I Bought All of These” is hand-colored and out of this world in its greatness.

So let’s make it a date! Tomorrow night please join us at the jb and help us celebrate Obsessive Consumption with some smashing + schmoozing soiree fun.

Obsessive Consumption - Kate Bingaman-Burt
Opening Reception: Friday September 21 from 6-8PM
September 22 - October 27, 2007

jen bekman
6 Spring Street [between Elizabeth + Bowery]
gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12-6PM

See you soon!