Until April 1, the 2012 Photocrati Fund Competition is open for applications for $5000 grants to emerging and professional photographers to pursue humanitarian and environmental photographic projects around the world. The winner and top finalists will be announced in June, and the winner will become a Photocrati Fellow for a year. Last year’s Photocrati Fund Fellow was Paul Colangelo whose project Surviving Todagin, focuses on the changing environments of Todagin Mountain in the Sacred Headwaters Region of British Columbia where the world’s largest population of Stone’s sheep lives. Colangelo’s work is featured in our February/March issue of Photo Life.
From February 1 through 29, the 8th Annual Calgary Banff Canmore Exposure 2012 Photography Festival will be offering a month-long festival of photographic events. This year the festival will explore the theme of Insight with talks, discussions, workshops, special events, and over 50 exhibitions, including the Emerging Photographer Showcase. For a complete schedule, please visit their website.
© Edward Burtynsky, Nickel Tailings #30, Sudbury, Ontario, 1996, Collection of Glenbow Museum
Until April 9, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alta., is presenting the exhibition Encounters. Edward Burtynsky’s images are rich in detail and scale, yet open to interpretation. A diverse group of 30 Canadians selected this collection; each person chose one work by Burtynsky and wrote a commentary to accompany the image, creating a unique exchange of ideas between the artist, the guest curators and the viewers of the exhibition.
Kodak Centennial T-shirt © Jenny Montgomery
Kodak was a part of my family’s particular culture. Not just because that was the only film ever used in my photography-loving family, but because my grandfather started working for Eastman Kodak in the ’50s, and my dad also worked there for two summers when he was young. When I first began taking pictures as a kid, my dad handed me some Kodak film. I’ve got a Kodak centennial umbrella in my car, and the centennial t-shirt too. They remind me of my grandfather.
As I ponder Kodak and their declaration of bankruptcy, it makes me wonder where the company went wrong in their business plan. A number of articles have been written about it, and from my recent reading, I was surprised to learn that Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975.
So what happened? How could this legendary photography company invent the digital camera and then not go on to thrive in the world of digital photography? It seems that after Kodak invented the digital camera, they made a choice to not fully pursue digital technology because they thought it would hurt their film business. And that’s the tragedy of it: their worst fears came true. The film business declined, and Kodak hadn’t made its place as a leader in the digital market either.
What resonates with me is that what seems to have led them on this path was fear. Kodak chose to cling to what was familiar instead of embracing change. In prioritizing what had been and what was, they forgot to build new dreams of what could be.
Sometimes growth involves letting go, and that jump between what is and what might be is scary. But I usually find that pursuing a dream with an unknown ending is infinitely more rewarding that taking the safe route out of fear of failure. Besides, I don’t think failure is quite as bad as people say it is because there is always the choice to get up again, dust off, and bravely keep going. I hope Kodak can find a phoenix-like way to creatively and courageously move forward.
Installation of Stan Douglas: Entertainment at The Power Plant, Toronto, 10 December, 2011 - 4 March, 2012. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.
Through March 4, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto is presenting Entertainment: Selections from Midcentury Studio. Vancouver artist Stan Douglas created this new series by re-creating a mid-century studio and hiring actors to participate in staged photographs to explore the era’s preoccupation with various diversions. Exploring ideas of history and reproduction, Douglas’ images depict magicians, dancers, sporting events, gambling, and the Malabar People—a series of portraits of the staff and patrons of a fictional 1950s-era nightclub.
