Canadian Students Shortlisted for 2010 Student Focus Cody Spence and Laura Fetherstonhaugh from SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta were amongst the 12 young photographers shortlisted for Student Focus program organized by the 2010 Sony World Photography Awards. Every year, the student initiative invites students from across the world to submit images focusing on a specific theme. The 2010 theme was “War and Peace” as reflected in each student’s individual country. All 12 shortlisted student photographers have been invited to fly to Cannes to compete for the 2010 title and 50,000 euros worth of photography equipment for the winning student and institution department. The Sony World Photography Awards and World Photography Festival runs from April 22 to 27 2010, and offers students a week of lectures, talks and master classes, including talks led by the judging panel, industry figureheads and Academy members. The final assignment, entitled Dusk Til Dawn, asks students to submit a series of six images each that capture Cannes at these contrasting moments. The overall winner will be announced at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony inside the Grand Theatre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on April 22, 2010. www.worldphotographyawards.org/studentfocus/
Pietro Masturzo Wins World Press Photo of the Year 2009 The International jury of the World Press Photo Contest announced on February 12, 2010 that World Press Photo of the Year was awarded to Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo. Showing a women shouting from a rooftop in Tehran, the photograph relates to the nights that followed the June 2009 controversial presidential elections in Iran during which people shouted their dissent from rooftops and balconies. Pietro Masturzo will be presented his award on May 2, 2010 along with a 10,000-euro cash prize and a Canon EOS Digital SLR camera and lens kit. Canadian photographer Kitra Cahana won 1st Prize Stories in the category of Arts and Entertainment for her photo series on Rainbowland, New Mexico. Canadian Paul Nicklen won 1st Prize Stories in the category of Nature for his series on South Georgia, Antarctica. In total, the jury gave away prizes in ten themed categories to 63 photographers from 23 nations including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mali, Mexico, the Netherlands, Palestinian Territories, Peru, Somalia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. Approximately 101,960 images were submitted to the contest from 5847 photographers of 128 different countries.www.worldpressphoto.org
2010 Anthropographia Competition Creating new spaces for photojournalism, encouraging the promotion of human rights, exposing social injustice, and underlining the multiple realities of our current world, Founder, Matthieu Rytz and Managing Director of VII Photo, Stephen Mayes, have announced the shortlist results for the 2010 Anthropographia Competition of Photojournalism on Human Rights. From among many submissions worldwide, The Anthropographia Award for Photography and Human rights was awarded to Marcus Bleasdale from VII for his work The Rape of a Nation. Focusing on the human rights abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bleasedale documented this area of the world where an estimated 45,000 people die each month due to disease, malnutrition and neonatal problems. Honorary mentions for Photography and Human Rights includes Munem Wasif from Agence VU for his work in southwestern Bangladesh entitled Salt Water Tears and Marc Wattrelot for his work in Pakistan entitled Lost From Balochistan. All shortlisted series of images and text may be viewed at www.anthropographia.com. A multimedia screening will be presented during the Montreal Human Rights Film Festival on March 15 and an exhibition will take place in Montréal together with the World Press Photo 2010 from September 1 to 31, 2010.
Epson International Panoramic Photography Competition 2010 The Epson International Pano awards is a contest dedicated to the art of panoramic photography. Whether images are taken through panoramic format film photography or “stitched” together using popular digital software such as PTGui and Adobe Photoshop, all professional, non-professional, and student photographers are invited to submit their work to win over US$13,000 in cash and prizes. Categories include Nature and The Built Environment. Deadline for all submissions is April 30, 2010. www.thepanoawards.com
AOP Photographers Award 2010 The AOP Photographers competition is now open to all professional photographers for the 27th edition of the international photography contest. The award, as described by the contest organizers is, “A celebration of exceptional commercial work by the industry’s elite.” This year, the contest features a new range of categories for commissioned and non-commissioned, member and non-member work including: Commissioned Advertising Innovation, Commissioned Design Best Commercial Use of Photography – Advertising, Commissioned Editorial Best Commercial Use of Photography – Design, Commissioned Documentary Best Commercial Use of Photography – Publishing, Non-Commissioned Body, Non-Commissioned Environment, and Non-Commissioned Object. Participants can submit their entries on-line until March 28, 2010. Judging will take place in May and June focusing on image beauty, creativity, technical skill, and originality. All winning images will be showcased in an exhibition and in a 2010 Awards Book. awards.the-aop.org
Photokina 2010 For the first time in the event’s history, Photokina World of Imaging invites organizers of photography competitions, international organizations, associations, publishers, clubs or professional photographers who wish to address a contemporary, specific theme by means of an exhibition, to submit portfolio entries to the 2010 Photokina photography exhibitions. Entries must contain a portfolio of at least 15 images, including descriptions relating to idea, theme and concept of work as well as applicable references to publications or previously presented photography exhibitions. All entries may be submitted via mail or electronic application by March 31, 2010. The exhibitions will be announced on April 30, 2010. Photokina 2010 takes place from September 21 to 26, 2010 in Cologne, Germany. www.photokina-cologne.com
2009 Hasselblad Masters Awards Winners Announced Congratulations to Canadian Mark Zibert of Toronto who was awarded 2009 Master for his work in the General Photography category. Now in it’s ninth consecutive year, the Hasselblad Masters’ awards recognizes the top ten photographers in the following categories: architecture, editorial, fashion/beauty, fine art, general photography, nature/landscape, portrait, wedding/social, product, and up-and-coming artist. 3000 submissions were received in 2009, almost double the amount of images received in 2008. After judges selected the top 100 finalists, 10 winners were selected based on photographic ability in the areas of creativity, composition, conceptual strength, and technical skill. 2009 Hasselblad Masters also included: Lyle Owerko, USA, Joas Carlos, USA, Claudio Napolitano, USA/Venezuela, Dirk Rees, UK, Mark Holthusen, USA, Quentin Shih, China, Stephan Zirwes, Germany, Bang Peng, Hong Kong, and Nina Berman, USA. In addition to being granted the title of Master, each winner is granted access to a Hasselblad H4D movie camera and script while their work and Master project will be profiled on Hasselblad Web sites and in the 2009 Masers Vol. 2 - “Emotion” Book. The Masters 2010 awards are now officially open, deadline is December 31, 2010; more information can be found at www.hasselblad.com.
EXHIBITIONS
Scalpay: Last of the Fishermen The Pikto Gallery presents works by Johan H. Campbell from March 23, 2010 to April 29, 2010. The exhibit, curated by Donald Weber, offers a mix of photographic images and videos that relate the lives of fisherman on the East Coast of Canada. Based in Toronto and Scotland, Campbell graduated with a BA in fine-art photography and now works in traditional documentary photography portraying the raw imagery of places, people, and landscape. www.pikto.ca/gallery
In Between The Confederation Centre Art Gallery in P.E.I. presents works from 22 Canadian artists in the exhibit entitled In Between. Meditating on how spaces influence different perceptions of the world, the exhibit focuses on the physical, psychological, negative, allegorical, and pictorial forms of space. Through various forms of art, the artists reveal the relationship and evolution between past and present, form and function, tactile and memory. Artists include Paulette Phillips, James Lahey, Robert Sinclair, Lionel F. Stevenson, Kim Ondaatje, Jessica Korderas, Micah Lexier, Robert Harris, Yo Rodeo Poster Company, Jack Chambers, Chris Dorosz, Christopher Pratt, David Rokeby, Gary Neill Kennedy, Thaddeus Holownia, Nigel Roe, Lindee Climo, George S. Zimbel, Rick Pottruff, Richard Furlong, and Stephen Waddell. The exhibition runs until May 16, 2010. www.confederationcentre.com
Water: Our Thirsty World In Partnership with National Geographic Magazine, the Annenberg Space for Photography in California presents Water: Our Thirsty World. The exhibit opens on March 27, 2010 along with the magazine’s April 2010 issue on the state of the world’s fresh water. Examining local and global challenges of the planet’s fresh water resources, both the digital and print images highlight the significance of fresh water in daily life. Open for three months, the exhibit offers night lectures expanding on the themes and images presented in the galleries. The images will be on view until June 13, 2010. www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org One Month: Weather Permitting The Rick Wester Fine Art (RWFA) centre in New York presents Sharon Harper’s exhibition: One Month, Weather Permitting. The twelve 40 x 30-inch black-and-white photographs, exposed over several nights in a row, and then re-expose using different camera orientations, capture long-exposure star trails over Banff, Alberta. All images will be on view from March 4 to April 24, 2010. Sharon Harper is based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts and principally focuses on photography and video. She currently works as an assistant professor of photography at Harvard University and has exhibited in Europe in Spain and Germany as well as across the USA. rickwesterfineart.com
American Realities The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH), Ontario, presents Terence Byrnes' photographic series Springfield, Ohio: The End of the American Road until May 24, 2010. After photographing the people and places of Springfield for over 40 years, Byrnes has focused on subjects that may have been overlooked. He depicts the realities of American life and has captured the range of essential human emotions, on black-and-white and colour film and with a digital camera, from 1966 to the present. Byrnes shows the evolution of people and place in terms of class and race, while representing a constant in the role of unbiased spectator. Currently living in Montréal, Byrnes' photographs have been exhibited across North America. artgalleryofhamilton.com Do you see what I see? “Mirrors are perception. Our eyes act as the sonar of our conscience. Objects, people, the slightest surface or plane that our eyes fall upon; all this is no doubt just a reflection of oneself.” In this translated artist’s statement from the exhibition Pareidolias, Nicolas Baier challenges photographic conventions through the collage of many hundreds of images of mirrors. In each “digital fiction” image, Baier reflects on the phenomenon of recognition. Scholars describe pareidolia as forging specific forms from vague suggestions and perceptions, from the root of cognition. Baier’s large-format photographs assemble images between the sensory and hallucinatory, drawing on issues of science and the paranormal. The exhibit is on at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) from February 5 to May 24, 2010. It was organized in association with Musée régional de Rimouski, in partnership with the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, St. Mary’s University Art Gallery, and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. cmcp.gallery.ca The Thirteen Attributes of God
The Art Gallery of Hamilton presents a recently acquired photographic series entitled The Thirteen Attributes of God until April 11, 2010. This is a collection of 13 silver-gelatin photographs by Simon Glass. Within each photograph there are images such as lips, hands, and feathers, and lifeless birds. Read from right to left, Glass has inscribed Hebrew text, found in the liturgy of the Jewish High Holidays, across the images. The attributes are traditionally invoked on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and Glass presents a perspective into the collective questions of language, faith, history, and meaning. Associate Dean at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Glass is represented by the IndexG Gallery. He has been the recipient of various grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and has exhibited his works across Canada. artgalleryofhamilton.com Vancouver Art Gallery: 2010 Olympic Games The Vancouver Art Gallery presents key collections of Canadian and international works for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The program features two major outdoor installations, two floors of works from British Columbia’s visual arts community, and an exhibition of drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci loaned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II from the Royal Collection. The exhibit will continue until approximately May 16, 2010. Additional works presented include those of B.C. Binning, Emily Carr, Robert Davidson, Stan Douglas, Charles Edenshaw, Gathie Falk, Rodney Graham, Brian Jungen, Liz Magor, Susan Point, Bill Reid, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, John Vanderpant, Frederick Varley, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Paul Wong, Jin-me Yoon, and many others. This exhibit, which includes a great diversity of artistic media, welcomes the world to Canada’s Western shores. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca
Posing Beauty in African American Culture The Art Gallery of Hamilton presents Posing Beauty, a historical and contemporary photographic exhibition of representations of African American Beauty in western media. Examining the relationship between beauty and art, this exhibition presents the racial context of beauty revealing notions and attitudes about class, gender, and aesthetics in popular culture. This exhibition features works drawn from public and private collections and is accompanied by a book published by W.W. Norton. Curated by Deborah Willis; artists in the exhibition include Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Eve Arnold and Edward Curtis. The exhibition will run until May 9, 2010. www.artgalleryofhamilton.on.ca Through The Lens For more then 13 years, the Whyte Museum has given students, local and international, the opportunity to learn about the creative process of photography, building awareness in the community and encouraging individual experimentation in the medium of visual arts. In 2009, fellow Through The Lens alumni and photographer Erin Wallace, worked with these students on their craft and skills, while travelling through Novovolynsk, Ukraine. From February 6 to April 4, 2010, selections of photographs can be viewed together with photographs taken by students from Banff Community High School, Canmore Collegiate High School and Morley Community School in the Main Gallery. For more information please visit www.whyte.org
Fabrications The ViewPoint Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, presents Diane Laundy’s latest photographic work Fabrications. Taking the pattern, colour, and shape of the modern skyscraper, Laundy captures the abstract beauty of the structures, creating a macro-micro effect. “I see architecture as a fabric that can be cut and shaped by my viewfinder, and patterned and embroidered by the world around it. Photographing a building is like cutting a length of fabric into a few simple shapes and piecing them together into a new creation.” Drawing parallels between the intricacies of sewing and those of designs in architecture, the patterns and rhythms of each appear in her large-format prints, on display from March 3 to 28, 2010. The ViewPoint Gallery, an artist run co-operative, promotes the artwork of photographers in Nova Scotia. Founded in July 2000, the centre also holds artist talks and open print reviews, where photographers are welcome to share their printed works for group discussion. For more information, visit: viewpointgallery.ca. ACAD Student Photography Shows Throughout the year, Albert College of Art and Design gives their students the chance to show off their end of semester work in cooperation with a team of student photographers and a few local art galleries in Calgary. This past December, fashion design students modelled their “wearable art” in an art show called Regalia and as part of the show the students’ work was photographed and showcased at OneBlueWall gallery. In March 2010, the ACAD Jewellery and Metal senior class will be having a photo exhibition at an Art Central gallery to accompany the book that they are publishing on their artwork. For more information on these events and more, visit www.acad.ab.ca.
The Berlin Olympic Games Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre presents an exceptional series of 150 photographs on Canada’s participation in the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Berlin. One of the first Olympic ceremonies presented on live television worldwide, the images document the controversy of the international boycott of the Berlin Olympic Games. The photographs presented in More Than Just Games offer insight into Canada’s participation in the games, the politics surrounding Nazi Germany’s camouflaged militarism and racism, as well as the experiences of the individual athletes. The second exhibit, Framing Bodies: Sport and Spectacle in Nazi Germany, explores the relationship between athletics, politics, and visual culture during this period of time. Research for these exhibits was done by Canadian scholars Professor Richard Menkis and Professor Harold Troper. Both exhibits are open until June 18, 2010. A 90-minute interactive tour is also available for the public. www.vhec.org
Now Open: The Art Gallery of Alberta After nearly five years in the making, the new Art Gallery of Alberta (formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery) has opened its doors to the public. The new state-of-the-art gallery features a three-floor, 30,000 square foot space for national and international exhibits, a dedicated gallery space for the AGA`s permanent collection of over 7000 works of art, an expanded Education centre, a restaurant, a gallery shop, and a 150-seat theatre. Designed by Randall Stout Architects Inc., the 85,000 square foot centre represents a new standard of excellence for the visual arts community of western Canada. The premiere line-up, launched on January 31 2010, includes major works by Edgar Degas, celebrated Canadian Photographer Yousuf Karsh, and internationally-renowned artists Janet Cardiff and Georges Bures. www.youraga.ca
INDUSTRY NEWS
The End of Fujifilm Professional Quickload Films Announced in by Fijifilm Professional UK, FujiFilm Japan will cease to manufacture its Quickload professional film in April 2010. Due to a significant drop in Quickload sales, the company has decided to consolidate the professional range films in order to support their remaining lines. The Quickload film, known for its durable quality and flexibility, will now be sacrificed to enable more popular formats to be produced and marketed. However, for those endeared by the film, Fujifilm correspondents say there should be enough stocks of the Quickload Pro 160S, Provia 100F, Velvia 100 and Velvia 50 to last for another 12 months, depending on demand. For fans of medium to large format photography, Fujifilm also announces that it will continue its production of sheet film. From early Summer 2010, purchasers of the 5X4 inch and 10X8 inch films will be able to buy 20 sheet boxes instead of the current 10 sheet packs. www.fujifilm.ca
SPECIAL EVENTS
Photocentric 2010: A Juried Photography Exhibition The Garrison Art Center invites photographers, 18 years of age and older, to submit their images for the annual juried photography contest, Photocentric 2010. In the competition, artists compete for a chance to win a solo show at the Garrison Art Center in New York. Jurors include American photographer Harvey Stein, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Curator in the Department of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as photographer and chairman for the Department of Photography at Bard College, Stephen Shore. Deadline for all submissions is June 1, 2010. Additional information can be found at www.garrisonartcenter.org. The FotoFest 2010 Biennial For it’s thirteenth year, the International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related arts will be held in Houston, Texas featuring an exhibition program from five curators focusing on Contemporary US photography. Featured programs include The Meeting Place Portfolio Review, the FotoFest Fine Print Auction, the FotoFest Workshops, as well as Curatorial Dialogues, Symposia, and film and video programs. In addition to the exhibitions, The FotoFest 2010 Biennial features hundreds of exhibitions at participating spaces across the city. These spaces include every major museum and non-profit art space, most commercial galleries, corporate office spaces, and dozens of retail and restaurant spaces. All events will take place from March 12, to April 25, 2010. www.fotofest.org/biennial2010 Adventure Photography Show & Sale at the Whyte Museum From January 18 to April 7, 2010, The Whyte Museum is giving patrons the opportunity to purchase contemporary photographs by regional photographers including Will Gadd, Mark Gallup, John Gibson, Jerry Kobalenko, Pat Morrow, Marc Piché, Brad White, and Gery Unterasinger. The adventure photographs capture the rocky mountains and the men and women who enjoy the diverse number of activities available including hiking and ice climbing. All proceeds will go directly in support of the artists and the Whyte Museum’s exhibitions and programming. Show & Sale opening reception: February 6, 2010 from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is also presented in organization with EXPOSURE 2010. www.whyte.org
WORKSHOPS
MISCELLANEOUS
Stripped of His Title: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 Judges at the Natural History Museum of London, England have recently stripped Photographer José Luis Rodriguez, original Wildlife Photographer of the Year, of his title and £10,000 prize after finding out that he likely hired a tame Iberian wolf to complete the winning photograph entitled The Storybook Wolf. Judges are convinced that a wolf from the Madrid wildlife park named Ossian was used in the photograph despite the photographer’s claim that the image was taken in the wild after months of patient tracking. Banned from the contest for life, organizers also removed Rodriguez’s photograph from the touring exhibition, but stated that it couldn’t be removed from the thousands of books that had already been published by the BBC. The 2009 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest attracted over 43,000 entries from across 94 countries. Competition organizers did not say if another winner would be selected in place of Mr. Rodriguez.
World’s Largest Auction of Original Vintage Glamour Photography Sharing their 25-year collection with the world, Mr. Michael H. Epstein and Mr. Scott E. Schwimer are putting up for auction tens of thousands of vintage and contemporary fine-art images captured by legendary Hollywood photographers for the benefit of assorted charitable organizations. The multi-million dollar auction by Profiles In History, features portfolio and sequence work, master photographs, hundreds of black-and-white negatives, colour transparencies, printed images, and large-format photographs by George Hurrell, Lee Prince, Harry Langdon, as well as Mel Roberts. The images showcase various classic Hollywood stars including Gary Cooper, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, and Johnny Weissmuller from Tarzan, as well as sequence photographs Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, and Norma Shearer. Other celebrated subjects from the 1960s to present include Jessie Mann, daughter of acclaimed photographer Sally Mann, Drew Barrymore, Kirsten Dunst, Teri Hatcher, Kelly Klein, Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as many classic exposures of Ann-Margret, Halle Berry, Cher, Diana Ross, George Clooney, Will Smith, Rock Hudson, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The auction will take place on March 25 to 27, 2010 in Calabasas Hills, CA. Collectors and art admirers may participate in the auction via mail, fax, in person, or on the Internet by visiting www.profilesinhistory.com or www.liveauctioneers.com.
Skydiving Artist Takes Large-Format Photographs While in Freefall Using a custom designed 4 x 5-inch helmet-mounted film camera, Seattle photographer Aaron Gustafson recently completed a series of large-format landscape images that he shot while freefalling through the skies of New York and Washington State. “I wanted to upend the norms by making a [large-format] camera to be used in a wildly different way,” Gustafson said. “This is what you’d get if you threw Ansel Adams out of a plane.” Over the period of a few months, Gustafson captured one photograph per jump for a total of 25 images. Aaron Gustafson is a 2009 MFA graduate of Parsons The New School for Design in New York. The freefall 4 x 5 project was a part of his final thesis, which was shown at Arnold & Sheila Aronson Galleries, New York, in 2009. Gustafson was born in Washington State and is currently based in Seattle. Much of his work deals with man in relation to nature and challenging conventions of photography. www.aarongustafson.net
