I know where you should be this weekend: the New York Photo Festival.

Lesley A. Martin, a HHS panelist, is one of the curators, and it looks to be a tremendous affair. Jen Bekman gets in on the action too, sitting on a panel about curating tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

The festival was created because “New York City, home to the most influential commercial and fine art photography community, has lacked—until now—a large-scale event dedicated to photography.”

This year, powerHouse Books and VII Photo Agency launched the New York Photo Festival, which is the first international-level festival of photography to be based in the United States.

Visit the festival’s site to see the great schedule and report back about what you go to see.

Tonight, the Griffin Museum of Photography will present Jen Bekman with its Rising Star Award at its 3rd Annual Focus Awards its annual Focus Awards. The Griffin Museum of Photography recognizes the work of people who are not photographers, but who have been instrumental in increasing awareness of the photographic arts among the general public.

Awards are presented in three categories: Lifetime Achievement, given to an individual whose ongoing commitment to photography has far-reaching impact; Rising Star, awarded to an emerging force the photographic community is watching with interest; New England Beacon, recognizing an individual whose work brings prominence to the local photographic scene; and the Spotlight Award, given to an entity that consistently shines a light on photography and enhances the art form. Ms. Bekman is this year’s Rising Star.

The museum says,

“An innovative gallery owner, Bekman has used her knowledge of the Web to change gallery culture. After years of managing Web development teams at Netscape and Disney, she used her Internet skills and interest in photography to create a vehicle for connecting emerging photographers with potential buyers on the Web. She writes a blog, Personism, and is founder of the international photo competition, Hey, Hot Shot! Her latest endeavor is 20 x 200, a place to buy editioned prints and photos at affordable prices. She has been featured in many publications and was named Innovator of the Year by American Photo.”

We’re so proud of Ms. Bekman. Visit the museum for more info.

It’s time! We are now accepting entries for 2008’s first edition of Hey, Hot Shot! We’re all super excited about the great changes in store for applicants and winners. And, remember, all applicants are also potential contenders for features on this very blog.

Hey, Hot Shot! offers unrivaled opportunities for emerging photographers to have their work promoted online, reviewed by top-notch panelists and exhibited in our New York gallery. Now entering its fourth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists. This year we’ll sharpen our focus on fewer hot shots, giving them even more exposure. Read on for the details.

Fewer hot shots + longer exhibitions = more exposure
The competition will now be bi-annual. In each competition 5 photographers will be selected to be part of a two-week showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Cold hard cash
All winning photographers will be awarded a $500 honorarium.

Ultras go solo
At year’s end 2 Ultras will be selected from 2008’s 10 Hot Shots. The Ultras will be represented by Jen Bekman and slated for solo exhibitions at the gallery.

In it to win it
As always, we’ll be selecting contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period. Contenders will also be considered for 20×200, Jen Bekman’s newest online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices.

So what are you waiting for? Get your work out there: apply now!

We are only accepting submissions online, via this web site.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, June 17th @ 8pm(EDT).
Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 9th @ 1pm (EDT).
There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.
Submissions are open to everyone (from anywhere in the world!).
The competition is open: APPLY NOW!

2006 Hey, Hot Shot! Ne Plus Ultra Kate Bingaman-Burt

Lesley Martin, Hey, Hot Shot! panelist and the publisher of Aperture’s book program will speak tonight with Harper’s Books art book dealer Harper Levine, and Daile Kaplan, V.P., Director of Photographs, Swann Galleries Inc., and others in an Introduction to Collecting Photography Books, a panel discussion. They will talk about what makes specific books valuable, and thoughts to consider in building a book collection. It should be a great night for photographers and collectors alike.

The details:
Introduction to Collecting Photography Books
Panel Discussion
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
6:30 p.m.

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

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.

Last minute but not least, Anthony LaSala, Senior Editor for PDN and now Hey, Hot Shot! Panelist, has joined our ranks and right in time for the winter review! Anthony is a guiding light for photographers young and old, amateurs and the experienced alike. Already a friend and patron to the emerging photographer, he has helped to bring us PDN’s 30––their choice of the top 30 emerging photographer’s to keep your eye on. As the newest member of team Hey, Hot Shot!, he’ll help this beyond believable group select 2007’s initial round of Hot Shots. Yes, today spirits are high. Welcome Anthony!

Since 1997, Anthony LaSala has been part of the editorial staff at the award-winning, monthly magazine for professional photographers, Photo District News. Now a Senior Editor for PDN, he writes and oversees several columns for the publication, and has helped make the international magazine the “bible� of the photography industry. A nominee for Photography Editor of the Year at the 2003 and 2004 International Photography Awards, he has also been a regular contributor to a number of national magazines, guest curator for numerous gallery exhibitions in the New York City area, and a panelist for several annual contests. He is the author of the forthcoming The Brooklynites (powerHouse, 2007) and World’s Top Photographers: Nudes (Rotovision, 2005). He currently lives in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

I’ve said it before and will say it again, this all-star team keeps getting better and better. If you need a reminder of exactly who will be looking at your submissions, take a look at the panelist page [or see their sweet smiling faces on the blog].

The news keeps on getting better and better… I am thrilled to announce that Aperture’s own Lesley Martin has joined our ranks as a Hey, Hot Shot! Panelist for 2007. As the Executive Editor of Aperture Books, Lesley is much to blame for tempting my book lusts towards many a guilty indulgences. One need only glance at Aperture’s recent releases before going on a wild bibliophile-photofanatic spending rampage. Lesley, we have much to thank you for. And I must mention again, along with our very own Jen Bekman, Lesley was named one of American Photo’s Innovators of the Year.

Lesley A. Martin is Executive Editor of the book-publishing program at Aperture Foundation, where she has worked on-and-off for the past eleven years. In between stints at Aperture, she pursued graduate course work at Columbia College and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and also served as Senior Editor and Production Director of Umbrage Editions. Her writing on photography has been published in Aperture, American Photo, and DoubleTake, among other publications and she has edited over fifty books of photography, including Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer; An-My Lê: Small Wars; My Life in Politics: Tim Davis; and Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names by Alex Webb. Martin is also the coauthor of two volumes on design, Graphicscape: Tokyo and Graphicscape: New York and contributing editor of Full Vinyl: The Subversive Art of Designer Toys.

It truley could not get any better. Lesley joins Joerg Colberg of Conscientious, Photographer Christine Collins, Photographer and SVA Photo Department Chair Stephen Frailey, Eileen Gittens, Founder and CEO of Blurb, Amit Gupta founder of Photojojo, Jenni Holder, previous Director of Edwynn Houk Gallery, The Ultras, and, of course, Jen Bekman, herself. You have less than one month to get those submissions in and show off your stuff to this beyond amazing panel.

Get it in, get it out there – Enter today!

The fabulous Jen Bekman taken by John Von Pamer for American Photo

American Photo has dubbed our very own Jen Bekman as an Innovator of the Year! A well earned title, if I may say so myself, and right in time for some major mile stones. The gallery is about to hit its 4-year anniversary and, if you glance at the past exhibitions, about to climb right on over the hill. Impressive––naturally––it’s the jb! And Jen stands in excellent company, other innovators (and Hey, Hot Shot! Panelists, of course) include Joerg Colberg of Conscientious, Caterina Fake of Flickr, and Lesley Martin of Aperture.

What will our innovator pull from her sleeve this year? Only time will tell, but the track record promises it will be nothing but fabulous!

Read more here.

As if the panel wasn’t amazing enough already––Eileen Gittins, Founder, President, and CEO of Blurb has joined the ranks! Eileen, an internet legend, a photographer, and a dedicated librophile, has revolutionized self-publishing. Her brainchild Blurb has made it possible, and more importantly financially feasible, for each and everyone of us to have our very own book. Eileen and her team think we should all have the reward of flipping though our own pages––does it get any better?

Eileen says this is the most fun company she’s ever run, which is saying a fair amount as she has lived and worked all over the world with Kodak and as VP at Wall Data before and after the IPO, CEO of Personify (behavioral segmentation and analytics) and Verb (context search), and outside Board Director at Qbiquity and Popular Demand.

Eileen never stopped photographing since her days studying photography, and that’s how Blurb got started. She wanted to create a beautifully designed and produced photo essay book – something that looked like a book you’d buy at the bookstore – but she only needed 40 copies. This turned out to be remarkably painful, expensive, and time-consuming – and she thought that was just wrong. So she founded Blurb.

Eileen’s favorite quote: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.� (Gandhi)

We are thrilled to have the amazing woman that is Eileen Gittins join us and you should be to! And, of course, Eileen is also on The List…

He’s the hand that guides so many of us through the quickly condensing photographic-web, the man who consistently brings us new artists to ogle and old favorites to rehash. He’s the one we can depend on for genuine thoughts and opinions, the one who brings us outstanding interviews and always keeps us entertained. He’s a photographer, a thinker, a writer, a blogger, and an astrophysicist. He’s a staple for us all, the photography/life/art/culture blogger of bloggers, and the mind behind Conscientious—he’s Joerg Colberg, our Special Guest Panelist for Hey, Hot Shot! Fall 2006.

In his own words…

I was born on 15 February 1968 in what was then West Germany. I wish I could write that my interest in photography started when I found an old camera as a little boy. But alas, that didn’t happen. Instead of using it I took it apart when it didn’t work. In this spirit of wanting to know how things work - instead of being creative - I went to school and university. Eventually I ended up with a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics, a degree that doesn’t have all that many applications in one’s daily life (but, hey, it’s quite interesting). In a sense I could write that I turned to photography after I had learned how - literally - the Universe worked, except that that’s also just partly true (but it sounds good). In any case, I picked up photography at around the age of 30, again by chance. This time I had to buy a camera, because apparently there are only so many free cameras in one’s life time. In parallel to learning how to take photos (by making each and every mistake that one could possibly make) I started compiling a weblog about contemporary photography, Conscientious. I guess it would have been harder to pick up theoretical astrophysics at the age of 30, so I’m not complaining.

We are thrilled to have Joerg on board and along for the Hey, Hot Shot! ride. This November he joins our amazing group of panelists in looking at your work. We are four weeks away from deadline, so get it in and let Joerg be the judge!