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2nd edition, THE JACOB RIIS AWARD

November 23, 2010

Selected among thousands of photographers from all over the world, Kamil Vojnar from France won the first edition of The Jacob Riis Award. Andrea Land (USA), Heather McClintock (USA), Nermine Hammam (Egypt), Mitch Dobrowner (USA), and Robert Baum (Belgium) were the Runner Ups in this competition.

With this second edition offers again outstanding recognition opportunities for professional and non professional photographers worldwide WPGA is committed to discover and distinguish new talents as well as to acknowledge established artists. Be part of the group of photographers that are shifting the world of photography: enter your images to one of the most challenging and rewarding photographic competitions for pro and non pro photographers.

Until November 30th you have the chance to enter with Early Bird discounted entry fees, and submit your images at any time before the final deadline; therefore you can save today and still have lot of time to prepare your work.

The winner will receive a cash prize of $3,000, and a selected works of his/her winning portfolio will be featured in the convcer of the book 2nd. Edition of The Jacob Riis Awad to be published during 2011. The first Runner Up will be featured in the back cover.

The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards organize the second edition of THE JACOB RIIS AWARD (named after the Danish-American photographer, 1849-1914) benefiting Save the Children Foundation. It will focus in portfolios (minimum of 8 and maximum of 12 images) inviting photographers working in all mediums, styles and schools of thought. Traditional, contemporary, avant-garde, creative and experimental works that include old and new processes, mixed techniques, and challenging personal, emotional or political statements will be welcome. The Award is open worldwide to all professional and amateur photographers working with digital or traditional photography or combinations of both. There is no theme for this Award, and the images will be evaluated as a cohesive body of work (a theme or images representing the artistic trajectory of the photographer), rather than individual images.

The Award will consist in a cash prize of $ 3,000. A selected image of the winner portfolio will be featured in the cover of the Book The Jacob Riis Award 2011. JURORS:

The Jacob Riis Awards will be juried by Chris Steele-Perkins, UK (Magnum Photos), Tim Anderson, USA (publisher Red Dog Journal), Larry Padgett, USA (founder and former Managing Director of The Center for Fine Art Photography), Sucheta Das, India (Photographer), and Julio Hardy, Argentina/Spain (Managing Director, WPGA).

Awarded portfolios will be exhibited during 2012 in a city and venue to be decided

AWARDS’ DATES:

Early Bird Deadline (with discounted entry fees): November 30th at 11:50 EST

Final Deadline: January 31th, 2011 at 11:50 EST.

Juror’s Announcement: Last week of March, 2011

ENTRY FEES:

Early Bird: $60 for the first portfolio; $30 each additional portfolio

After the Early Bird deadline: $80 for the first portfolio; $40 each additional portfolio

Each portfolio should be composed of a minimum of 8 images and a maximum of 12. Submission of entries can only be done online.

COPYRIGHT:

Submtted photographs may be reproduced for the purpose of marketing and promoting WPGA contests and awards, in catalogs, posters, postcards, publications, and on the INternet. Such use is granted for not more than two years after the announcement of the awards and without payment to the photographer of featured models. Photographers will receive photo credit with each use, and will allow WPGA to sub-license their photographs to the press for reproduction in connection with the contests and WPGA exhibitions.

To see the image specifications requirements and to submit your portfolios click here.

To see the awarded portolios of the first edition of The Jacob Riis Award click here

Posted in art, Artist, awards, opportunities, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

THE 2011 TRAVEL AND STUDY GRANT PROGRAM

November 23, 2010

Jerome Foundation announces:

THE 2011 TRAVEL AND STUDY GRANT PROGRAM
Deadline: February 28, 2011

ELIGIBLE DISCIPLINES: MUSIC, THEATER, and VISUAL ARTS

The 2011 Travel and Study Grant Program will award grants to emerging creative artists (composers, sound artists, playwrights, creators of performance art and experimental theater, and visual artists). Minnesota-based executive and program administrators working for nonprofit organizations in music, theater, and visual arts are also eligible to apply.

The deadline for applications in Music, Theater, and Visual Arts is February 28, 2011.

Applications must be postmarked on or before the deadline to be eligible for consideration. Fax and e-mail submissions are not permitted.

The 2011 Travel and Study Grant Program is supported by the General Mills Foundation, the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.

The Travel and Study Grant Program places emphasis on individual exploration and growth. The program supports such activities as research leading to the creation of new work, the development of collaborations, participation in specific training programs, time for reflection and individualized study, investigating artistic work outside of Minnesota or New York City, and dialogue on aesthetic issues.

Application materials are available on the website at www.jeromefdn.org and in paper form upon request to the Jerome Foundation office:

400 Sibley Street, Suite 125
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101-1928
Telephone: 651.224.9431 or 1-800-995-3766.

courtesy of smack Mellon, Brooklyn NY

Posted in art, galleries, Grants, living life to it's fullist, opportunities, travel, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

My life as a photography subject. who needs photo salon?

November 17, 2010

i’ve been asking a member of photo salon held each 3rd wed at soho photo to show my work there to the members who are mostly commercial photog’s and have been ignored by emmanuel on each request.

photo salon is the playground of The Photogroup Salon Committee
Jay Maisel, Howard Schatz, Bill Westheimer, Jack Reznicki, David Hodgson, Rich Pomerantz, Emmanuel Faure all of whom are excellent photog’s in their own right, they started photo salon to show their work to friends and family, but have expanded to show others as well.

shadows

i am the type of person who takes these things personally; rejections, acceptances, awards etc but try and put on a humble public face. yes it does hurt not to be accepted no matter where from the playground as children to the workplace.

it’s true i didn’t voter for myself during voting for my first emmy back in 1985. i thought that it wasn’t right to vote for yourself, of course i was lucky others voted me a winner. where did i get these cockamamie ideas? the next year of my second nomination i did vote for myself and won again. but that’s neither here nor there.

Philip F Clark writes in his The Artpoint blog about the painter Max Rodriguez that he ‘understands that art is an act of freedom.’ well so do i and others have that same right.

reflections-inspired by jay maisel

but looking at my work now, maybe they are right that i don’t fit the groups esthetic nor commercial aspect.

man on the stairs

after all my work is really just a snap shot of my life. i can’t take pictures of someplace i’ve not been to. it’s a real chore keeping up with my life photography and trying to run an informative blog such as this, but what the hell else do i have to do during the daytime? so these images are a part of my life where i’ve been

metal door

but my life isn’t something i do for others pleasure, I DO IT FOR ME. i love to share my occurences and discoveries with others, how i see things

hallway

or what i don’t see but am there anyways. so i’ve come to the same conclusion that groucho marx came to, of not wanting to belong to any club who would have me.

man with cell phone

so i’ll just continue doing what i do, wandering around the city taking pictures as photographers have done since the invention of photography or maybe i’ll go below and see what there is to see.

hallway

radios

textures

hatchway door handle

moving down deeper into the innards of life, as was shared by a teacher of mine’ Self discovery isn’t always good news’

ship walls

engine room

until we get to the proverbial locked door, do we have what it takes to open the door and see what’s behind it?

chained door

oh well so photo salon won’t let me be a part of them. i’ll just have to continue doing what i do and they will be the lesser for it. i know i am loved and a fairly talented guy who’s just doing this because i love to make pictures. this is my life. thank you for sharing in it.

Posted in art, Artist, awards, chiaroscuro, opportunities, Photography, photography presentations, public art, tenebrism, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

2011 Charlatan Ink Art Prize

November 17, 2010

The Charlatan Ink Art Project

was established in 2009 within the walls of the iconic Carlton Arms Hotel, New York, by two visual artists, Dariusz Solarski from Poland and Austrian born Andre van der Kerkhoff. From the moment of its conception, the Charlatan Ink Art Project has grown from a whimsical idea into an ever expanding universe of ideas, which will touch over time all aspects of the visual arts in whatever form or shape.

Within those expanding ideas the Charlatan Ink Art Project contains the essential nucleus of its creation, the establishment of the CHARLATAN INK ART PRIZE for the VISUAL ARTS. Which is part of the CHARLATAN INK COLLECTIVE.

The CHARLATAN INK ART PRIZE for the VISUAL ARTS will be the gateway for the Charlatan Ink Art Project to connect worldwide with artists, galleries and art organizations, facilitating cross pollination and creation of fertile soils to establish new and exciting means to present art to a wider public.

Once the Charlatan Ink Art Project has established itself within the New York art establishment and with time on a global stage, Charlatan Ink LLC New York will pledge itself to metamorphose into an art-entity, that will not only search for new inventive art and art practitioners, but will commit itself to nurture new talents through its facilities of publishing and art management. Charlatan Ink LLC New York will create an innovative new model in artist representation, allowing artists to be free of commercial conformity and limiting art market policies.

remember to click on the fly. to contact Charlatan Ink LLC

Charlatan Ink LLC
1133 Broadway, Suite 708
New York, NY 10010
212-330-8214

Posted in art, Artist, awards, opportunities, public art, Uncategorized, what will they think up next? | Leave a Comment »

goodby Mendocino Ca. final pictures

November 13, 2010

the great american adventure , mary’s and my train travel across and conclusion in caifornia is over. bills are recorded time to move on other projects needing attention so i’ve burned the last disk of images, twelve in all 48 gb of images. there is no way of sharing all. but this is a start

mendocino hotel, calif

wandering around the town taking everything in

inn

church

town of mendocino ca

but as i wander around so does my mind as i discover new things

garden light

tower house

fence with red plastic tack

tree

and of course where there is light then comes darkness

mendocino fire dept

sunset over mendocino

etched window

house for sale

silhouette, mendocino ca

but what would any picture story of mendocino be without the famous carved topping to this downtown icon.

carving

a topping to a wonderful trip. well worth the effort of dragging suitcases on and off trains every few days then resting and celebrating our wedding in a quaint town such as this.

Posted in art, mendocino ca, Photography, travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

International Aperture Award 2010, bronze award in landscape

November 12, 2010

i was going to try and finish up the california trip today having caught up with posting expenses etc, cleaned my kitchen yesterday washed the window always a hard job because the window has an exhaust fan in it that gets the window screen greasy so ammonia has to be used. the one positive effect of cleaning with ammonia is i can breathe easier now. but that’s why i left the chemical darkroom the smell of the fixer.ugh

but reading my email this morning i had some pleasant news from the International Aperture Awards

Aperture Award announcement

pretty cool huh? i love this image maybe because i know the story of when and where. it was taken on RT 7 in Vermont during the time i was showing mary around where i grew up and where my family was from. We had an exhibit in Burlington and decided to drive up there to deliver the prints and stay for the opening.

this picture looks across farmland in front of Lake Champlain [not seen] toward the mountains of new york state in the background. mary stopped the car and pulled over and i took a couple of exposures. i loved the lone tree and the rays of lighting. it reminds me of how i’ve felt most of my life, me against the world.

this is the same trip where i asked mary if she would be my wife. life has changed for me now, i don’t feel as if i am alone in this world. even if i’d not asked and mary accepted my proposal did i feel the same old negative feelings of being alone. i had mary in my life but i wanted to make a statement, to whom i am not sure, the world? how i felt about her and what she really meant to me.

having her in ones corner is a real asset because once she makes up her mind, she’s there. so maybe this tree symbolizes mary and not me. i have to remember life isn’t all about me nor are the pictures. they actually present themselves to the world for all to see and if i am lucky enough to be there and capture the moment with my brownie i have a way of remembering and sharing that moment of beauty with others.

just like now, being married to mary, we both have the legal & moral right to share and enjoy our work together. my life has improved so much after meeting her, being open with her is something i highly recommend as is having love in ones life. it does open new vistas and opportunities. but don’t get any funny ideas as she is taken and we don’t share well with strangers.

so any award i win we both win as she is a part of what and where i do life along with how open my eyes and ears are. having a life and sharing it is a wonderful thing, i highly recommend it.

so maybe you can think of ways you can share your life and the wonders that befall you, or just turn to the stranger next to you and say hello. it does make a difference.

Posted in art, Artist, chiaroscuro, galleries, living life to it's fullist, Photography, photography contests, photography exhibits, tenebrism, travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

onward to the land of golden sunsets

November 8, 2010

another day of travel packing and dragging suitcases to another train. thinking of where we’ll be next but first getting out of here.

downtown reno

reno bus station

and of course a cowboys pickup truck

new cowboys horse

pretty cool buses but i think some of them are diesel fuel, don’t remember if this is one of them. but soon our delayed train, yes another one and the same old excuse freight train in front of them. but the train station is comfortable and not too crowded.

here comes the train

baggage is still handled the old way which is pretty cool

baggage wagon

we are traveling coach because our ride is only a few hours over the sierra mountains again we get behind another freight train almost to a walking crawl. but by this time on our trip i am getting bored taking pictures out the train window but iam surprised to not find any snow in the mountains.

dead pine tree

so during our last lunch aboard amtrak while mary was chatting with another dinner across the way i drifted off watching this flower change color as the light changed.

table flower

but soon we are to arrive

rocks & trees

but none too soon for my taste we pull into our final train destination. martineze,ca.

martineze station

martineze station clock tower

how do we get to our motel. mary has the station manager call us a cab but along comes one named ‘the chosen one’ whom we hail. we feel lucky to have found him and arrange to have him pick us up in the morning and return us to the station for our three hour thruway bus ride.

by the sea

it seems like paradise after being cooped up in the train for almost to the hour a week. there wasn’t one train where everything worked, no lounge car had working restrooms and our last train from reno didn’t have a door that closed between cars and i wondered what it was like going through the 4 mile tunnel from denver, the train crew warns people not to travel between cars then. but our tunnels weren’t than long but still how do they keep these cars in service?

but here we are at least for a week before ending our trip on virgin america going home. what we came to do, get married happens on the day mary had wanted. monday we did a location scout to find our place and i think we did alright. it was a sunny afternoon when we started getting dressed and ready then the fog rolled in and we thought shi…. but just as soon as we started the ceremony the sun came back out warming us up and making for some pretty cool pictures.

wedding ceremony spot

that’s mendocino in the background and the ocean crashing on the rocks below. so now we are man and wife. who would have thought that 6 years ago this is the way it would turn out? hey you never know

outside our window

is life art or is art life? does it really matter?

Tags:weddings
Posted in art, Great american train adventure, living life to it's fullist, Photography, travel, Uncategorized, weddings | Leave a Comment »

reno, nv ; moving west but first another stop

November 7, 2010

we are finally moving west towards our final destination. reno is our last stopover seeing mary’s friends and catching up on years long past. we were told the reno train station was in the middle of town and blocked traffic but we found that to not be true now. but there is a sense of frontier town still here. reno isn’t too big a city although it like every other american city it’s got it’s share of sprawl .

reno amtrak station

tracks

the amtrak tracks have been renovated with a project called ‘retrac’ and a display put in the old station of artifacts dug up during construction which shows shards of pottery, nails, pictures of fire cisterns adding to the wild west feel of the town. i enjoy perusing the displays waiting for our ride.

reno train station display

but now it’s all about gambling and we know how well that’s going with all this disposable income everyone has thanks to the republican austerity years. thinking about the money spent on this election as a big waste, makes me sick. i guess if i owned a tv station i’d feel different but i don’t.

train station window

i wonder where the balance to life has gone? we all seem to have fallen into fear, afraid our house, job, wife or even dog will turn on us and we will not be loved and cared for. i never thought i’d see these days here in this country, i blame the suits. they are the cause of all this turmoil and greed slowly strangling our society of the dreams we had in the 60’s & 70’s. i can only remember and not fully live them.

we are picked up at train station and whisked off to roses house where we drop our bags and head off to lake tahoe. nice to see the snow dusted mountains behind the city as we head up to the summit. mary and rose chat and i enjoy the scenery. crossing the summit we come to an overview of lake tahoe

lake tahoe

pretty cool but a bit chilly. then mary sees the size of the pine cones on the trees

pine tree

and thinks they’ll be cool to give to the ‘girls’ (grandchildren) so i go down the cliff and get one for mary. we then pick up two more for the ‘girls’ on the beach.

pine cones

there is a high class restaurant, meaning expensive place right on the beach with a gas fire pit and chairs which comes in handy warding off the autumn chilly. mary catches up on years past and my mind wanders looking out at the lake. we missed seeing any aspens in color in colorado by months but here are a couple, not really spectacular but nice anyways

aspen

aspens lake tahoe

and finally the dock.

dock at lake tahoe

now the expensive wine safe and sound deep in our bellies we head back to our lodgings at roses house.all in all a very nice two day visit with people i’ve never met before, which has not always been comfortable for me, meeting new people. but as i age i seem to be more comfortable around strangers. life has a way of adding small changes helping us along. so in a couple of days we will continue our journey out to the coast getting closer to our final destination. we drop our pines cones at the post office lighting our load to continue our last leg of this adventure. another short train trip then overnight in a motel before finally catching our thruway bus to willits ca.

Posted in art, nevada, Photography, travel, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

TED winner J R, The Parisian “photograffeur”

October 20, 2010

see more photos

NEW YORK – TED, the progressive California nonprofit that brings luminaries of technology, entertainment, and design together for the sake of world betterment, has made an unexpected choice for its seventh annual $100,000 TED Prize: JR, a 27-year-old street artist who, under a mysterious cloak of semi-anonymity, has been pasting monumental black-and-white photographs across the urban infrastructure of the world’s poorest slums.

In the past, the prize — given to a charitably-minded figures from diverse fields who then choose a “wish to change the world” — has been allotted to such global figures as Bill Clinton and Bono, as well as members of the arts sphere like author Dave Eggers, architect Cameron Sinclair, and photographers James Nachtwey and Edward Burtynsky. According to a statement, TED singled out the 2011 winner for the dramatic interventions the artist — whose provocative London dealer was recently profiled in Modern Painters — has staged around the globe.

“In Rio, he turned hillsides into dramatic visual landscape by applying images to the facades of favela homes,” the statement says. “In Kenya, focusing on ‘Women Are Heroes,’ he turned Kibera into a stunning gallery of local faces. And in Israel and Palestine, he mounted photos of a rabbi, imam and priest on walls across the region — including the wall separating Israel from the West Bank.”

According to JR’s own Web site, his artistic practice — which he writes “mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit” — began when he found a camera in the Paris subway leading to his ownership of “the biggest gallery in the world”: the world itself. He dislikes being called a street artist, and prefers the title “photograffeur” (graffeur means “graffiti artist” in French), the New York Times reported. The Times also referred to JR as a “Robin Hood-like figure,” although he will not announce until the TED Conference next March how he plans to use the prize to help the impoverished subjects of his work.

In recent years, the money has been to fight against obesity (British chef Jamie Oliver, the 2010 winner) and to build up a healthcare system in Rwanda (Clinton, a 2007 recipient). JR will likely use his winnings to continue his guerrilla artistic installations, as he has done with money earned at auction and in galleries in the past

JR first heard of the existence of the TED prize two weeks ago, and initially was wary in communicating with prize officials through Skype, disguising himself in dark glasses and a low-brimmed hat, according to the Times. “I’m kind of stunned,” he told the paper. “I’ve never applied for an award in my life and didn’t know that somebody had nominated me for this.”

artinfo

NYTimes

Guardian

Posted in art, Artist, awards, galleries, TED, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

italy, our first travels

October 18, 2010

after meeting mary and getting to know each other, sharing our wishes, fears and dreams she proposed we go to europe, italy as i remember. i had always wanted to travel the world without being in a uniform but never put it together. why do we always wait? how do we know what time we have left here?

we set a date and she cashed in some of her frequent flyer miles and got the tickets. we were all set.

in the meantime the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese had contracted the Beacon theater where i had just left for early retirement for a concert and movie Shine A Light and everyone i worked with said come back it’s going to be a big one, meaning everyone should made a lot of money. ‘But i am going to italy with mary’ i replied.

it did make me think about my work life, how i’d given up almost all my holidays and weekends to work. family events revolved around my work schedule. but not any more i had worked since i was 14 years old and it was time to stop and smell the flowers with Mary.

i’ve not regretted that decision one bit.

the other day i was looking for some tree images to enter into a contest and turned on a HD i seldom view with some of the italy images which i’ll share a couple here.

Colosseum cross

this is one of the first thing we see as we enter The Colosseum. it’s surrounded by people but i managed to get this shot off. this is really a pretty powerful place when one thinks about what happened here. who wandered these hallways and how long this place has withstood time