The April 2006 issue (28) of mooncruise*, an online magazine featuring photography and music by international artists, is now up and ready for viewing.
PHOTOGRAPHY by: Cynthia Edorh, Adriene Hughes, Elena Getzieh, Emiliano Granado, Igor Ken, Ione Saizar, Jan Hoeft, Juao Coraçäo, Yu-fei Lin, Mark Peter Drolet, Matthew Holloway, Monica Menez, Satu Palander, Sonja Müller, Tread, Worapong Sunthornrohit
MUSIC by: Au4
mooncruise.com (requires Flash 6)
"Projekt30 is taking submissions for its 24th publicly juried exhibition, scheduled to open June 1st, 2006. We are an artist-run arts organization dedicated to promoting emerging artists. The exhibition will include thirty artists; invitations will be sent to over 50,000 galleries, collectors, and fellow artists. All artwork submitted will be presented online prior to the exhibition so visitors of Projekt30 may help select which artists will be included in the May Exhibition. Visitors have the option of contacting any participating artist with feedback or opportunities. Unlike other juried exhibitions, all participants receive some exposure."
Deadline: May 1st, 2006
Opens: June 1st, 2006
Fee: $35 for up to 10 images
Go to www.projekt30.com or email admin@projekt30.com for more details.
Via The Art List
"Call for Photographers – Photo Works of the 21st Century, by The Center for Fine Art Photography. Juried by Robert Stevens, photography faculty at the School of Visual Arts and the International Center of Photography, and consultant to Sotheby’s. Also, On the Edge, juried by Stephen Perloff, editor of The Photo Review and The Photograph Collector. Selected works receive international exposure through the Center’s publications, will be included in its traveling exhibition to Denver International Airport and be eligible for monetary awards."
Details and online submissions at: www.c4fap.org or email: exhibitions@c4fap.org
Submission deadline: 1 May, 2006
Via The Art List
David Ellis is leading a two-day pinhole photography workshop for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day at AS220, a non-profit community arts center in Providence, RI, US. The price, $100 + $35 lab fee, is incredibly reasonable as far as these things go.
"Today, there is a growing interest in pinhole photography, which focuses more on the essence of, and less on the fact of a moment. This fun and exciting “low-tech” approach allows us to accept chance while freeing us from our need to control outcome. It is an excellent opportunity for any artist as well as beginner or seasoned photographers to loosen up their imaginations and explore new avenues of seeing.
"During this two day workshop, we construct cameras made from ordinary containers, take photographs using photographic paper to create paper negatives and use the darkroom to make prints. On the first day, we construct our cameras, take photographs, explore exposure times, learn darkroom processing and create negatives. On day two we use the darkroom to create positive prints. Prior photographic experience is helpful but not necessary. Open to artists from all mediums. Throughout, emphasis is placed on experimentation and process with individual coaching and a final group critique…"
Two days: Sat. & Sun., April 29th & 30th, 9:30am–4:30pm each day.
Complete details at as220.org
Via Pinhole Visions
Paul Beard posted a how-to for converting an old folding 6×9 120 Foldex 20 camera to use a pinhole instead of a lens and adding a cable release. Even if you’re an old hand at pinhole conversions, you may want to check out his elegant cable release design.
"After kvetching about the pictures of other camera HOWTOs, I figured I better do a good job on my own.
"Read on for some pictures and text on how to convert an old 120 roll film camera to a pinhole camera, as well as adding a cable release…"
Read instructions at paulbeard.org
Via MAKE Blog
Cinematographer Anders Uhl shot a TV spot for Buell with a pinhole on his movie camera. He wrote:
"The Buell spot was mostly 12 FPS, 180 shutter Ilford HP5+ pushed three stops. I initially tested Kodak TMAX in a 535, but the results were not quite as good as the Ilford, which holds up very well at just about any rating. A freak week long rainstorm drove my exposure down and muddied things up a little (too many greys), but you can get some fairly sharp images if you have sharp contrast and strong highlights."
View the spot at Subliminal Pictures (QuickTime required)
From the Cinematography Mailing List
JPG Magazine writes:
Sometimes the best shots are accidents. They come from the moment your finger slips, your settings are wrong, you shoot into the sun, or your model sneezes. The results are more about serendipity than technique, and they can surprise even the most accomplished photographer.
The theme for Issue 6 is ‘Oops!’ to celebrate these happy accidents. We’re seeking submissions of photos that say ‘Oops!’ to you. Maybe it’s a photo you didn’t mean to take, or a moment you didn’t expect to capture. You’re encouraged to have fun with the theme. Surprise us!
Got the perfect "Oops!" photo? Submit it now! Submissions open until April 30.
Go to submissions page at jpgmag.com
I think magazines like JPG are a great idea, but the themes for many of them are getting a little strange. Most of them seem off the mark in many ways, both as a potential buyer and contributor.
JPG’s last theme, "Photography Is Not A Crime", was interesting and relevant, but it leaves me wondering what the point of JPG really is: is it a magazine of photography, as their previous issues have led me to believe, or is it a magazine about photography? The way I see it, the two have less in common than it initially seems. (As David Bayles and Ted Orland pointed out in their book Art & Fear, making and viewing art are completely separate activities.) As a customer, I’m confused as to what I’m actually buying; as a potential contributor, I’m at a loss as to what to submit. Reportage? Shots constructed to take a stand on the issue? Photos of places that other people have or are likely to be harassed for shooting even though it’s legal? Throw me a frickin’ bone here!
The "Oops!" theme leaves me similarly lost, not about what to submit, but what the point would be. I’m sure there will be some great work in that issue, but it won’t be because it was accidental. I see no connection whatsoever between something about a photo being accidental and it being a compelling image. It probably took me a few hundred rolls of film to learn the lesson, but a photo being of something you love or a nice color, fun or difficult to make, shot with a particular camera, or developed or printed with a particular process doesn’t magically make it good. A shitty photo is a shitty photo with or without that stuff. All that yields is a shitty photo that’s sentimental, colorful, or was a pain in the ass. A platinum print of a bad image won’t make it any better than having shot it with a Leica will; it can still suck mightily. None of this process stuff has anything to do with the experience of viewing the end result. So who cares if it was an accident or not? I don’t. I care that it’s engaging—that’s it.
What I think would be an interesting approach to this theme is for people to show an initial accident that started them down an artistic path that they’ve then deliberately developed: what they were going for, what they got instead, what about the accident made them see the potential for future work, how closely the initial idea of where they would take the idea matches where they’re at with it now, and what that development pictorially looks like. But then we’re back to the about or of photography magazine question, as this is more about process than result. Not that there’s anything wrong with convering both, but when you have a narrowly-defined theme, it creates expectations one way or the other.
While this is a matter of personal philosophy, I’m not sure why themes are necessary for this sort of thing at all. It’s certainly a common practice, and I’d hesitate to call it a bad one, but I think I’d prefer a broader sampling of whatever the editors think is good in general. (For a good example of this, check out File, an online photography magazine with no theme and no deadline, who simply publish whatever they find compelling.) It would probably offer more opportinuty for discovery, which is, I think, what I’m really after when buying this sort of thing. Of course there are many, many ways to interpret a theme, but I know that my editing can get a little narrow when I’m going after a theme vs. simply being open to anything that’s compelling. Perhaps most interesting is the opportinuty to find your own themes within a diverse body of work, as it’s not only more participatory, but can teach you something about yourself.
(I’m not a big fan of the one-way art experience where you’re shown a piece and told what it’s about, what it means, and how and what you’re supposed to feel and think about it. To me, that usually feels like a joke that has to be explained. I’d rather strap myself in, go for the ride, and see where it takes me. I’m not saying that this and themes are the same thing, but it feels to me like themes are a step up the one-way hill.)
My aim is not to slam JPG. There’s a lot of this happening with these sorts of publications, both electronic and print, and JPG just happened to be the example at hand.
The idea is that on the first Saturday of each month, you have 120 minutes to shoot a roll of 120 film. You then upload the results to the 120 Challenge group on Flickr (free Flickr membership required).
While I can shoot a roll of 120 in 120 seconds, the fact that every frame is uploaded makes me very selective about what I shoot and makes me at least consider the continuity of the sequence, which is generally not on my radar at all. It pushes me out of how I normally shoot, which makes for a really interesting experience.