There's still something charming about the Americana (New Yorkana?) of the Miss Subways contest. Or perhaps there's only something charming in retrospect about the city voting on pretty commuters via posters on trains. Either way, HHS contender Fiona Gardner captures a bit of the bygone magic in her series that revisits these beauty contest winners decades after their small reigns. (From 1941 to 1976 an ad agency sponsored the contest; female commuters who were residents of New York City were eligible to compete for spots on future ads.)

Gardner makes use of the poses of iconography, to subtly and not so subtly, hint at the current lives of these former beauty queens. She says her work is "influenced by traditions of staged photography, early Hollywood spectacle, and contemporary performance-based art practices." She continues, "In particular, I am interested in 19th century photographers Lewis Carroll and Julia Margaret Cameron, contemporary photographers such as Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland, and the filmic spectacles of Busby Berkeley and Esther Williams."

Getting High by Hey, Hot Shot! entrant Kate Orne

"I work among the sex-workers and their families in Pakistan being the first photographer to document this shunned community. This body of work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels."

Kate Orne is undeniably walking in the altruistic footsteps of Zana Briski with her efforts to "raise funds for the two little schools, the first ones ever to offer education to the children of the sex-workers with the mission to break the cycle of children being born into prostitution, sex abuse, drug addiction and crime."

To fully grasp the complexity of the narratives, Orne's images are best seen as a complete body of work. Yet the image above, Getting High, recalls Nan Goldin and how some photographer's lives are inextricably bound to the people they love and document.

Jeremy Chandler is the current Photographer Laureate for the City of Tampa, where he resides. Chandler states that he "playfully question(s) and explore(s) a myriad of issues including land use, utopian ideals, alterity, masculinity and class." Playfully? More like a head-on assault via beautifully staged shots of masculine ideals and fears, the postures of fighting and hunting, and nature.

Abandoned Houses, Berkeley, CA, 2008 by HHS entrant Eve Morgenstern

I lived in over 10 houses before I was 20, so as soon as I saw these images of abandoned homes, I was pierced by their ability to speak not of comfort and safety, but of the delicateness and transience of life.

Then I remembered a song by The Smiths:
The passing of time
Leaves empty lives
Waiting to be filled

Sigh.

Benadryl on Black by HHS entrant Jeremy Freedman

I am allergic to everything, and so I instantly recognized this Benadryl pill in Jeremy Freedman's work. Freedman shoots pills in a close-up hazy way that seems fitting to pharmaceuticals. The colors really pop.

Brandon Herman's cover photograph for Kaiserin Magazine

Summer '06 Hey Hot Shot winner Brandon Herman has two photographs in the current issue of Kaiserin (including the cover!), a bi-annual art magazine that features emerging artists. Herman also has an edition available on 20x200.

SEED magazine, cover photography by Summer '05 Hot Shot Noah Kalina

Summer '05 Hot Shot Noah Kalina has a stunning photograph on the cover of the current issue of SEED and a 10-page photo essay on "Labs at Night" inside the magazine. And Kalina recently stopped by 20x200 to release an edition and a chat with Jen Bekman.

Liminal Echoes No.3 by HHS entrant Christophe Barbour

I pretty much just like this photo, by HHS entrant Christopher Barbour. It's a little bit lonely and a little bit sad, but it has this great bright focal point — that pink blur that I can only imagine is a carousel or a funny little house or a strange statue. Barbour says that he used a Holga pinhole camera and Fuji NPH 400 film. No additions or manipulations outside of the camera.

Carrie Marill, A Dream World Glimmers In The Background Of The Soul (Detail)

Fall '07 Hot Shot Todd Forsgren has six photographs in the latest Jen Bekman show, Ornithology. The group show, which features a stellar array of artists working in various media, opens tonight, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the gallery, at 6 Spring Street.

Ornithology features bird-themed works by Echo Eggebrecht, Todd Forsgren, Laura Levine, Carrie Marill, Christina Muraczewski, Victoria Neel, Lamar Peterson, Jason Polan, Alec Soth, Amy Stein, Keith Taylor, Bert Teunissen, and Luke Stephenson. Many of these artists will debut exclusive editions on 20x200 during the course of the exhibition.

In the spirit of summer, Ornithology takes its cues from the great outdoors. With their brightly colored plumage, sweet songs, and uncanny ability to fly, birds have captivated humans for centuries, making ornithologists out of even the most casual of observers. From Aristotle to Audubon, Darwin to the binocular-clad of Central Park, our feathered friends have proven to be a source of abundant inspiration.

Of his work, Todd writes:

Ornithologists now use mist nets instead of shotguns. These nearly invisible nets are set up like fences and function as huge spider webs, catching unsuspecting birds. The researcher carefully extracts the bird from the net. Each bird is measured, aged, sexed, and banded with an individually numbered anklet. Then the bird is released.

I photographed these birds while they are caught in mist nets, moments before the ornithologist extracts them. Here, the birds inhabit a fascinating space between our framework of the bush and the hand. It is a fragile and embarrassing moment before they disappear back into the woods, and into data.

Las Vegas, Nevada by HHS entrant Noah Beil, 2008

Noah Beil's landscapes are sneaky. Best viewed as a set, his shots highlight the man-made interruptions that manage to blend in with natural horizon lines. He explores the fine line between alteration and landscaping, destructive and decorative structures.

Measured in Time, #2, by HHS entrant Jacqueline Truong

This shot is like a movie. Like a great old movie about a sport that I'm not interested in, but with a story and spirit that grab at my heart. I can't turn it off. What composition!

(What? You thought we were finished? While we are no longer accepting submissions for the current round of Hey, Hot Shot!, and these posts and my blog views are not a reflection at all of the judging process, but we'll stick with it, because it's fun to see what's out there, from among all the great stuff was sent in.)

9717 by HHS entrant Liz Danahey-Fish

Hey, Hot Shot! contender Liz Danahey-Fish makes photographs of items she's purchased at thrift stores around Los Angeles. She writes, "This is a catalog of last chances — someone saved this stuff when they donated it, someone saved it when they priced it, and I saved it yet again when I bought it."

What she neglects to mention is that she really saves the stuff when she photographs it. She's documenting detritus. She's saving stuff in a way that's a lot more permanent than simply purchasing it for pennies and putting it on a tchotchke shelf.

Her approach is direct and interesting. I'd rather look at her shots than through the Goodwill bins, for sure.

*REMINDER* Go get your entry ready! Submit it! There is still time. Not much, though! All entries for the current round of Hey, Hot Shot! are due tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17, at 8:00 p.m.*

Unexpected Suprise (Venti Americano, 01.31.2008) by HHS entrant Jon Mali

Maybe it's because I know that I have to wake up four and a half short hours, and because I'm about to embark on a roadtrip wherein I traded all my driving shifts for the promise that I'd be in charge of staying awake with every other driver. Or maybe it's becuase Jon Malis's work is so good, that it is so appealing to me right now.

I love this bottom of the coffee cup abstraction, from the series Stained Grounds. I think he uses a scanner, but I'm not sure. I'm certainly going to think about his process on the road.

Hey, Hot Shot! contender Jamiee Campbell states in his bio that he's "been embarrassingly awkward while asking people so sit for me," and it shows. But this isn't a bad thing. If anything, I sort of like it. It's what attracted me to his work, maybe.

This photo is awkward. It's funny, but a little sad. It made me wonder: about the woman, about the shooter.

Campbell's statement adds, "I still think my friend Anthony wrote it best when he stated, 'Jamie Campbell makes jokes only he finds funny, but he convinces you to laugh all the same. He works with the themes of insecurity, burden and desperation, but does it with self-deprecation and humor and profound honesty, leaving you unsure of whether you want to hit him or hug him.'"

That sounds almost right. Although I'd love to see what a photo that makes me want to hit the photographer would look like.

Okay, so you like what you see here, and you've done some further investigating at the 20x200 and Jen Bekman sites. Hopefully you've visited the gallery and other galleries too. Now it is time to start shopping.

Join Jen Bekman, Michelle Dunn Marsh, and Amy Stein, and moderator Michael Foley for In Focus: Collecting Photography, a panel discussion, tonight, Thursday, June 12, at 7:00 p.m. at The Affordable Art Fair (135 W 18th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues).

The Affordable Art Fair is, "the place for new and established collectors to discover and buy paintings, drawings, sculptures, video, photography and limited edition prints from distinguished galleries, all priced from $100 - $10,000. This year the Fair will host more than 70 galleries from the US, Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America."

Time is almost up.

Have you entered this round of Hey, Hot Shot!? If not, then you need to do it soon. Do it now. Send us your photos and your completed application at once, for the chance to be selected and honored in the Hey, Hot Shot! competition.

Unlike previous years, we WILL NOT be extending the deadline. Not even by a day or an hour or a minute! All submissions are due TUESDAY, JUNE 17, at 8:00 P.M.

Felipe Russo, Untitled (one).

This photo looks like a DNA report to me. Or, at least, what I imagine a DNA report to look like, based on Law and Order, and the like. The repetition, the data collection, the grid, the precision, of Russo's work evinces the fact that he is a researcher at Sao Paulo University. Russo works in the Landscape Ecology and Conservation Lab, and this gives new light to his work, here, with travelers.

He writes:

I used to travel quite often and photography was at first just a way to register and keep track of the projects I was involved. Soon, the images I brought back home started to become more interesting personally then the data I was collecting. It was then that I decided to change and use photography as the main medium to explore the subjects that I am interested in.

My main interest today, is man and his relationship with the surroundings, the landscape, culture and identity especially in urban and resent urbanized areas.

For this selection I decided to present part of my last body of work "In Transit", produced during my studies in Paris. The individual, in this city, struggles to preserve his identity or create a new one, while social tension grows.

Laura Noel, Red Rocket

HHS Contender Laura Noel writes:

And I have secretly been in love with the phrase "Love and Rockets," (though I can take or leave the band) for many years. Love and violence are two of the most powerful human urges and I am photographically drawn to symbols of love and violence when I find them in the landscape. The symbols we use says a lot about our culture.

Two of her entry photos have rockets. One does not. I'm interested in seeing more, in learning how those with rockets and those without fit together. I'm mostly interested in seeing the shots without rockets, though. Maybe they're more subtle.

James Rajotte for The New York Times

Summer '06 Hot Shot James Rajotte shot a photo-related story for The New York Times.

At Kodak, Some Old Things Are New Again by Claudia H. Detusch, with photos by James Rajotte, from The New York Times, May 2, 2008, is about how many of Kodak's new products are based on work they began, but abandoned, years ago. Eastman Kodak, which once considered itself the Bell Labs of chemistry, is trying to embrace the digital world and the researchers who understand it.

Rajotte has some great photos, including the one above, of Steven J. Sasson, an electrical engineer who created the first digital camera.

Context clues. I like this image, but I also like reading what HHS contender Sarah Wilmer has to say about her work.

"Looking back, I think I had an unusual relationship to the act of making these pictures and then even to the the resulting prints. That was about a hundred years ago and I am still photographing in a driven, obsessive, fun sort of manner."

and

"I am inspired by Edward Gorey, Joanna Newsom, 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings, my cat Tubs, my friends and the surrealists ... I am submitting photos from my most recent body of work that I think I finished about two weeks ago. There are flying cats, a fox, an amazing Latvian woman nearing 90, the oldest oak tree in the country, sleeping climbers, mystery and moments full of possibility...."

Don't be afraid to talk about yourself, and about your work.

I don't know what's going on in this photo, but it doesn't matter. The setting in Wilmer's work is rich, the cast and poses intriguing. There are stories in it.