Deadline Friday for Call for Entries

(Ed. The deadline has been extended until Tuesday April 7, 2009 11:59 PM EST)

Just wanted to remind you all that this Friday is the deadline for our Call for Entries!

Nymphoto is pleased to announce its fourth group show and first call for entries to be exhibited at Sasha Wolf Gallery.

Nymphoto is looking for the best in female contemporary and emerging photography. Work will be curated by the core members of the collective, in conjunction with highly respected curator and gallery owner, Sasha Wolf. Works selected will be included in "Nymphoto Presents at Sasha Wolf Gallery" and be on view from May 23 to June 6, 2009. Sasha Wolf Gallery is located in lower Manhattan, conveniently located and easily accessible from both Chelsea and Dumbo, two of New York's artistic centers.

For more details, head to the submission page.

Helen Levitt 1913-2009

Via Conscientious I learned of the passing of Helen Levitt. A great photographer, New Yorker and pioneer.
You can listen to an interview with Helen Levitt with Melissa Block via NPR, by clicking here.

Upcoming: Elaine Mayes @ Steven Kasher Gallery

Frank French, Age 16, Park Panhandle, 1968
Vintage gelatin silver, printed 1968
courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery/© Elaine Mayes

Elaine Mayes: Haight-Ashbury Portraits
Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street
Second Floor
New York, NY 10011
April 2-May 9, 2009
Opening Reception: April 2 6-8 pm

Christina Seely at PCNW

from Lux series, © Christina Seely

Christina Seely has a lot of great news in the next coming months. She is having a solo show at the Photographic Center Northwest this coming month. Also, there's an in-depth interview with her process by Joshua Berger on Plazm.com.

Lux
Christina Seely
March 30 - April 27
Informal Artist Talk & Reception: Thursday, April 2, 5-8 PM

Photographic Center Northwest
900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122
Mon. 12pm-7pm, Tues. 11am-5pm, Wed.- Fri. 12pm-7pm

Revisit our conversation with Christina here.

Tomorrow: Katy Grannan Lecture at Parsons

via Aperture:

Katy Grannan
Parsons Lecture

Monday, March 30, 2009
6:30 pm

FREE

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Aperture and Parsons The New School for Design present Katy Grannan in the third lecture of an ongoing series. Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1969, Grannan currently lives and works near San Francisco. Her work will be included in a March 2009 group exhibition Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Her photographs have been exhibited at the Photographer's Gallery, London; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain; the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2004 Biennial, New York; and the 2004 Arles Photo Festival, France. Grannan was the recipiant of a 1999 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant; the 2000 PASS Award, with Margaret Talbot, for her photographs accompanying Talbot's New York Times Magazine story "What's Become of the Juvenile Delinquent?"; the 2004 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers; and the 2005 Aperture Award for an Emerging Artist. Her first monograph, Model American: Katy Grannan, was released by Aperture in 2005, and her second, The Westerns (Fraenkel Gallery/Greenberg Van Doren Gallery/Salon 94 Freemans), debuted in January 2008.

Alana Celii Print Sale

© Alana Celii

I know how hard it is to pay out of pocket to fund a thesis show. Expenses may include rent of the space, frames, mats, mounting, printing, postcards, food, drinks, tables, paint, puddy, etc. A lot goes into a show and I never doubt money is always used to its full advantage for the best outcome. Last May, I had opened my own Prints for Sale and received a great amount of help from fellow bloggers, artists, and professors. Without the sale, I don't think I would've have possibly been happy with a mediocre show.

I ask you now to help Alana Celii out. She sent me an email a few days ago that explains her sale.

As some of you may know, I am graduating this May from Parsons School of Design. To help offset the cost of framing my senior thesis exhibition, I am offering a limited edition of five images from my thesis body of work.

1. Corey After He Shot Himself in the Eye, 2007
2. Hawks, 2008
3. 1 P.M., 2006
4. Virgin Mary Night Light, 2005
5. Motel, 2007

Each image is in an edition of 15. They are hand printed at 5 x 5" on 8 x 10" Fuji Super Type C Glossy paper. Each image is 20 dollars plus S/H, or all five for 85 dollars.

Please pass this on to anyone who you feel may be interested, or if you could please post it on your blog, if you have one. I greatly appreciate it!

For larger images please see: http://alanacelii.com/ps/


Best,

Alana

http://alanacelii.com

Loretta Lux @ Kultuhuset Stockholm

Through May 17, 2009 you can see the work of Loretta Lux at Kulturhuset Stockholm in Sweden.
Find out more at: www.kulturhuset.stockholm.se.

Artist Talk: Maria Passarotti

Allerton © Maria Passarotti

Nymphoto's Maria Passarotti is participating in a talk at Safe-T-Gallery this Sunday March 29, 2009 in Dumbo. Maria and other artists participating in the Night Moves exhibit will discuss their work.

Artist Talk
Maria Passarotti & others
Safe-T-Gallery
111Front Street
Suite 214
Brooklyn, NY
March 29, 2009
2-4:30 p.m.

A Conversation with Jennifer Loeber

You probably have see Jennifer Loeber's nudes before. These refreshing unpretentious portraits are at once casual and deliberate. Jennifer's work is unapologetic and asks the viewer to reflect on their own experiences and perceptions.Her work reflects an artist observing life fully.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: Tell us a little about yourself.

JL: I was born and raised in New York City and thought for sure I was going to be a nurse when I grew up. Then I found out you may have to touch naked strangers and rethought that plan.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: How did you discover photography?

JL: My high school homeroom class was held in the school's darkroom. My first real experience with photography was as a very unwilling model for the senior photography class. I was promised it would be fun but wearing pink sequined gypsy pants and posing with a tambourine is never fun, under any circumstance. I could clearly see the appeal of being on the other side of the lens. I was introduced to Nan Goldin’s work that year and fell headlong into a deep love affair with photography. I moved to Boston after high school and attended the Massachusetts College of Art, studying under Nick Nixon. I used an old Crown Graphic and a junkie Rolleiflex and photographed my then very punk rock centric life.

Post college I moved back to New York City and started working as a photo editor at magazines. I put aside my own work during this time for the 9-5 grind until 2004 when I co-directed a documentary film with my husband and a friend. I also shot a series of still photographs during the course of our year and a half of filming and really found my photographic voice again. So I took a leap of faith, quit my full time job and started shooting like crazy.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

JL: Most of my inspiration in the past few years seems to come from film- this is likely a side effect of being married to a film critic! I seem to always have one I associate with a project in some way. Right before I shot "Zeig Mal" I watched bits and pieces of one of my favorite Kubrick films, The Shining. You can hit pause on that film in almost any scene and have a complex and beautiful, stand-alone photograph. I'm a huge fan of natural light and Kubrick's use of light is just totally inspiring.

Before I left to shoot my new series, "Cruel Story of Youth", I re-watched one of my favorite teen angst films, Ladies and Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains. Iwas headed off to live in the woods for a few weeks with a gaggle of teenagers and wanted to re-acquaint myself with disaffected youth feeling that seems to start surfacing as soon as you enter ninth grade and realize that you have the ability to dye your hair primary colors. While I was there shooting I became totally enraptured by a film my husband tucked into my luggage before I headed off- Lucile Hadzihalilovi's "Innocence". I would huddle up in 20 blankets and watch it on my laptop late at night while record-breaking monsoon style rains were pounding the area. It's set in an all girls school tucked away in what can only be described as a very magical looking forest and really echoed my own surroundings and feelings at the time. I have a major crush on that film.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: How did your "Zeig Mal" Project come about?

JL:I had been exploring portrait photography more and more in my work when I was faced with a situation not that unfamiliar to female New Yorkers- being flashed on the subway. It got me thinking about the give and take involved in have a successful flashing (at least on part of the flasher…) and that same sort of give and take you engage in when photographing portraits. The idea of photographing nudes had never seemed in the slightest bit interesting to me until I realized the inherent challenge in finding something different within it.

NP:. Where did the title "Zeig Mal" come from?

JL: In 2006 I got married and went to Berlin for our honeymoon. I fell in love with Germany and began googling everything and anything related to it upon our return. Through the magic of the internet I somehow stumbled upon the controversial 1974 sex education book, "Zeig Mal". The English translation is "Show Me".

The book included photographs of children and pre-adolescents in the nude, rather than the more accepted use of illustration in most sex ed books. Ultimately it was deemed subversive and obscenity charges were filed against it. I became really interested in the idea that nudity is almost exclusively viewed in a sexual manner- even when used as a children's primer about their own biology! The title stuck with me and when I started working on the nude portraits I immediately thought it would be a good fit for the series.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: What's next?

JL: In the immediate future I'll be taking a dose of cold medicine and going to bed. Further on from that is the ongoing continuation of "Zeig Mal" as well as getting "Cruel Story of Youth" out into the world. It's a series I'm really excited about not only because it’s so close to me personally but because it was a real challenge. Photographs of teenagers seem to be the trend du jour so similarly to "Zeig Mal" my goal was to find a way to rethink that concept a bit more interestingly.

NP: Thank you so much! To see more of Jennifer's work please visit: www.jenniferloeber.com.

Tomorrow: Katy Grannan Talk at F.I.T.

from FIT:

Fashion Institute of Technology, Building D, Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
27th Street @ 7th Avenue
2009 Photo Talks lecture series
All events are free and open to the public.

Photographer Katy Grannan, will speak on Thursday March 26th, at 5:00 p.m. in Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. Grannan’s portraits of strangers, that she finds via newspaper classified ads that are seeking art models. She photographs the respondents in their homes, offering each a $50 fee.

Daniel Cooney's 3rd Emerging Photographers Auction

Allerton, © Maria Passarotti

Tomorrow is the last day of the latest Emerging Artists Auction curated & presented by Daniel Cooney of Daniel Cooney Fine Art at www.igavel.com.

The auction features work of Nymphoto's Maria Passarotti and Jane Tam as well as many other talented photographers. The auction ends March 26th. With opening bids of only $200, it's a great chance to collect art and support emerging artists, so head on over to iGavel and place your bid!

Nymphoto: 2 Shows, 1 Book & 1 Call for Entries

UPDATE: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED UNTIL APRIL 7, 2009 11:59 PM!

The Nymphoto Collective is pleased to announce its first self-published book & the accompanying exhibit at Sasha Wolf Gallery.

"Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1" is a collection of interviews (initially published as blog entries) with various women photographers in varying stages of their careers. The interviews reveal not just the work of the artist, but discuss the thought process involved in the creation of work. While some conversations are more revealing than others, they all expose the persona behind the work; they are all a brief glimpse into the minds and thoughts behind the art. In order to establish continuity, all of the questions in the interviews are in essence the same. General and non-specific, they allow the artist to determine how much of the process and self she wants to expose, lending her the power to dictate.

Accompanying the release of "Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1" is the exhibit of the same title at Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York.

Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1
Group Show III
Sasha Wolf Gallery
10 Leonard Street
New York, NY
May 6 – 20, 2009
Opening Reception: May 6, 6 – 8PM.

Work by Michele Abeles, Juliana Beasley, Rona Chang, Nina Buesing Corvallo, Candace Gottschalk, Jessica M. Kaufman, Klea McKenna, Michal Chelbin, Talia Greene, Maria Passarotti, Susana Raab, Emily Shur, Tema Stauffer, Jane Tam, Garie Waltzer & Jennifer Williams.


Nymphoto is equally excited to announce its 4th group show and the collective's first public call for entries.

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf Gallery - Call for Entries

Nymphoto is looking for the best in female contemporary and emerging photography. Work will be curated by the core members of the collective in conjunction with highly respected curator and gallery owner Sasha Wolf. Works selected will be included in "Nymphoto Presents at Sasha Wolf Gallery" and be on view from May 23 to June 6, 2009. Sasha Wolf Gallery is located in lower Manhattan, conveniently located and easily accessible from both Chelsea and Dumbo, two of New York's artistic centers.

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf Gallery
Group Show IV
10 Leonard Street
New York, NY
May 23-June 6, 2009
Opening Reception: May 28, 6-8 PM
Nymphoto is a collective of women in photography that provides a supportive community for (its) artists and strives to send a positive message to the creative world: We firmly believe in the power of community. Through "Conversations" we are able to expand our community by including new artists in each interview and present their work to our growing audience. The collective is a fusion of disciplines: the scholastic, the representative and the museum. The call for entries exhibit serves to expand on this idea and our growing community, and aims to encourage connections and discourse among female photographers. The efforts of the collective are directed to correct the gender imbalance that continues to prevail in today's (art) world.

Find the submissions guidelines at www.nymphoto.com.
(ed.) Submission Deadline: extended until Tuesday April 7, 2009 11:59 PM EST
For more information, please contact Nymphoto at contact(at)nymphoto.com.

Lay Flat, 01: Remain in Light

If you haven't had a chance yet take a look or buy your own copy of Shane Lavalette's Lay Flat01: Remain in Light. Exquisitely printed and well edited, accompanied by wonderful text. In particular Cara Phillips' essay "The Secessionists Revisited: Artist Collectives in the Age of the Blog" struck a cord. As always Cara Phillips write with lovely prose and she poignantly speaks about the state of contemporary photography.

Tomorow: Michal Chelbin @ the New York Public Library

Tuesday, March 24, 6:30 pm

As part of the Photographer @ the Library lecture series, Aperture and the New York Public Library are pleased to announce a special talk and book signing with acclaimed Israeli artist Michal Chelbin who will discuss the work from her first monograph. Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes (Aperture, 2008) features richly detailed, internally charged portraits of small town performers in circuses and other traveling troupes taken over a period of six years in the Ukraine, Russia, Israel and England. Chelbin’s most frequent subjects are children and adolescents, yet her work encompasses a mix of generations. Often captured in performance costumes, Chelbin’s palette is intense, with a distinctive use of saturated pinks, blues, and greens. Her black-and-white images, which are intermingled throughout the book, have an almost Pictorialist richness. Though her influences are evident—most notably August Sander and Diane Arbus—the photographs in Strangely Familiar have a unique visual and emotional impact.

Michal Chelbin (born in Haifa, Israel, 1974) has lived in Brooklyn since 2006. Her work has appeared in several solo shows and more recently at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel and at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York; the latter also represents her.

WHERE
New York Public Library
Mid-Manhattan Branch
455 Fifth Avenue
(between 39th and 40th street)
New York, New York
(212) 340-0849

Wei Leng Tay at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum

© Wei Leng Tay

Wei Leng Tay just opened an exhibition at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, featuring work from "Where do we go from here" series. It is on view through April 14, 2009.

Where Do We Go From Here by Wei Leng Tay
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
March 20-April 14, 2009
3-1 Shimokawabata-machi
Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Japan

Today at the Brooklyn Museum of Art - The Market: Women Artists from Collection to Cultural Record

Sunday, March 22, 2009 , 2-4pm
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Forum, 4th Floor

The Market: Women Artists from Collection to Cultural Record includes prominent dealers, gallerists, curators, and collectors discussing women’s art in the market. Panelists explore why women’s work often commands lower prices and how the current market has evolved, with an eye towards strategies which would ensure women artists a place in the cultural record. Panelists include: Deborah Harris, Managing Director of The Armory Show, Modern; Claire Oliver, Founder and Owner, Claire Oliver Gallery; Sue Scott, Collector and Gallerist, Sue Scott Gallery; and Deepanjana Klein, Specialist Head of Sale, Christie's.

Kat Griefen, Director of A.I.R. Gallery, and Ferris Olin, Co-Director of Rutgers Institute for Women in the Arts, moderate the program. This panel is part two of a two-part series presented in partnership with A.I.R. Gallery and The Feminist Art Project. Part 1, The Market: Women Artists from Studio to Collection, will be held at The Tribeca Performing Arts Center on March 11.

Brooklyn Museum of Art
200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org

Annenberg Space for Photography in LA to open

from The Annenberg Foundation:

The Annenberg Foundation announced the opening exhibit for The Annenberg Space for Photography, a community space dedicated to both digital images and print photography in Los Angeles, California to open Friday, March 27, 2009.

The premiere show, entitled “L8S ANG3LES,” will be comprised of images from eight Los Angeles-based photographers in the genres of fine art, architecture, documentary, fashion, photojournalism and celebrity portraits. The artists contributing to the group show are among the most respected in their fields-- John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Greg Gorman, Douglas Kirkland, Tim Street-Porter, Julius Shulman, Lauren Greenfield, and Carolyn Cole. The exhibit will also include work from three Los Angeles Times staff photographers depicting life in this city; Lawrence Ho, Genaro Molina, and Kirk McKoy. Following a gala premiere on March 25, the exhibit will open to the public on Friday, March 27 and close on June 20, 2009.

Located on the former site of the Shubert Theatre, the Photography Space is a 10,000 square-foot facility. The dynamic exhibition space will feature, along with a traditional print gallery, a state-of-the-art digital presentation system capable of sharing an unprecedented number of photographs with the public in large and high-resolution format. This system can also simultaneously show adjacent video of the photographers discussing their work.

The Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars,
Century City, CA. 90067
General admission is free.

Operating hours Wednesday through Sundays are 11am to 6pm. The Photography Space is closed Monday and Tuesday. Underground self-parking is available and can be accessed via Constellation Boulevard. Validation for reduced parking fees will be provided.

Emily Shur on Too Much Chocolate

© Emily Shur

One of our participating artists in our Conversations series and our upcoming group show, Emily Shur, was recently interviewed by Jake Stangel of Too Much Chocolate. I think it's a great interview to read for those just out of college or those trying to figure out what route to take. I'm really glad we have her to participate in our Volume I book and exhibition in May.

The LIfe of My Sisters exhibit in Singapore

via The Cathay Gallery:

The Life of my Sisters.
A photoessay by Debby Ng & Edwin Koo
5 March - 30 April 2009

Only a mere 28 per cent of girls in Nepal are literate, and less than three out of ten can read. Without essential skills, these girls risk falling victim to prostitution rings and child trafficking networks. Others are forced to live on the streets.

Education is the best hope these girls have of a normal life. A life of independence and true freedom.

For more than a decade, The Little Sisters Fund has been giving Nepalese girls a glimmer of hope through scholarships for underprivileged girls in Nepal. Photographers Debby Ng and Edwin Koo entered the homes of our little sisters - Nepal's hope for a better future. These photographs tell their story.

The Cathay Gallery is located at 2 Handy Road, #02-16 The Cathay
Open Mondays to Saturdays, 12noon to 8pm. Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays. Admission is Free.
For more information, email corporate_services@cathay.com.sg

Are you a Hey, Hot Shot?

2008 2nd Edition Hey, Hot Shot!, © Yijun Liao

Hey, Hot Shot! has been accepting submissions for their 2009 edition. Participate in a group show at Jen Bekman Gallery, win $500, and have a chance to be represented by the gallery. Their blog is a great resource to see what people are submitting as it is updated daily. You have until May 1st to apply, so do it.

Previous winners have included Yijun Liao, whom we had a Conversation with, Cara Phillips, Kelly Shimoda, Colleen Plumb, Rachel Dunville and many many more talented and successful artists.

Gail Albert Halaban

GAIL ALBERT HALABAN: OUT MY WINDOW
Robert Mann Gallery
210 Eleventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
-through March 28, 2009

Katherine Wolkoff workshop at ICP

Katherine Wolkoff is teaching a two weekend workshop at ICP this April called
"Photograph What You Know."

April 18/19 and April 26/27
Sat, Sun (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM)

Course Description:

This workshop is based on the notion that our own experiences and
lives inspire us to make the most interesting work. Whether it is your
daily life, your family, or the landscape you know best, these are the
places where you will find your own voice. Through careful observation
and the frame of the lens we can better organize and understand the
mad and poetic world in which we live. Students are expected to have
an ongoing body of work that they wish to pursue and challenge. The
workshop will consist of editing, making new photographs and critique.
We will look at both historical and contemporary examples of artists
who followed their passion and photographed their own lives.
PREREQUISITE: Photo II or portfolio review

click here to register

Call for Submissions for F/Stop Leipzig Photo Festival

Find out more at: http://www.f-stop-leipzig.de/v3/en/aktuell.php

A Conversation with Daryl-Ann Saunders

I met Daryl-Ann Saunders when she contacted me to participate in Night Moves, the exhibition she recently co-curated with Jill Waterman. I immediately loved the idea of participating in a show conceived and curated by female artists. Daryl-Ann and Jill curated a fresh and diverse selection of night photography in the show, including selections of their own work. I was intrigued by Daryl-Ann's unique take on one of the core elements of the urban landscape, the subway platform, and asked her to share her thoughts about her art and the process of curating a group show from an artist's perspective in the following conversation.

Night Moves is on view till April 11, 2009 at Safe-T-Gallery and Farmani Gallery in DUMBO.

In The Middle © Daryl-Ann Saunders


Departures © Daryl-Ann Saunders


Nymphoto: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Daryl-Ann Saunders: While growing up, I lived in Long Island, NY, Miami Beach, FL and in Queens, NY. When I was 14, I was restless and unhappy so I hitchhiked to New Orleans with a school friend and stayed near the French Quarter for a week. It was a dangerous, stupid thing to do but it opened my eyes from suburbia to the WORLD and awakened my desire to never be bored, to desire living a bit on the edge. Also, I learned the ability to be alone, which is really useful in photography because photography can be such a solitary thing to do.

Throughout high school and college I was very into reading, theatre, musicals, singing and poetry; I spent time acting and also behind the scenes as a member of the stage crew. It’s interesting how all these experiences and skills are now integrated into how I go about creating my photographs and into the final result.

NP: How did you discover photography?

DS: My love of music finally pulled me into being a photographer. After college, I kept going to music venues in Manhattan and I wanted to capture the fleeting experience of those performances. So even though I was initially self-conscious, I finally got the courage to begin carrying a camera with me to shoot the performances. Eventually, my music photography got published and then I was hooked so I started photographing everything in sight and learning everything I could about photography.


Transport Station © Daryl-Ann Saunders

Lift Off © Daryl-Ann Saunders


During a 10 year period, I did a lot of different things in photography - - I worked at a portrait studio, a camera store, photographed music performances at night, took photography courses at The School of Visual Arts, received a scholarship for courses at The International Center of Photography in New York where I met and studied with Lynn Davis, worked as a freelance assistant, became the photo editor of two alternative downtown publications (first the East Village Eye and then Ear Magazine) and spent all of my time either photographing or working at jobs to pay for my photography expenses.

Now, I shoot both commercial and personal fine art projects. I’ve worked on assignment shooting magazine portraits for business magazines like Forbes and photographed events, architectural interiors and business portraits for corporate clients. My commercial specialty for the last five years has been executive portraiture.

In my fine art work, I’ve explored alternative processes such as Polaroid Transfer, color toning and I’ve shot with low-tech cameras like pinholes and Holgas. For the last 7 years, I’ve been working on one main series titled On The Platform. It involves traveling to different cities throughout the world to shoot on subway platforms at night.

Doing both commercial and fine art work is pretty much like having two full-time jobs so it keeps me ridiculously busy but they each add value to the other. The camera is my way of observing and expressing things – it’s my notebook of life.


NP: Where do you find inspiration?

DS: They pop up from dreams, the news, the irony between what is hoped for and what is real, immoral action, nature, the juxtaposing concepts of immortality & fragility, seeing the work of others in exhibits, books or museums. Being in a beautiful natural setting often gets my creativity flowing. And thinking about childhood things brings lots of ideas to the surface that I’d like to explore through photography. I write many ideas down – and I look forward to following the trail of some of them.


Launch Pad © Daryl-Ann Saunders

Blue Bridge © Daryl-Ann Saunders


NP: How did this project come about?

DS: The impetus for the On The Platform series was the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Living in the urban center of NYC at that time, I felt personally brutalized by the event. I sorrowed for my city which I had always assumed was invulnerable and, over time, I desired to express some photographic connection to the event. There were rumors that terrorists would attack the subway system and that immediately clarified what I wanted to photograph. I scouted subway locations and, on quiet, cold nights began photographing. I explored combining images to create completed pieces. The first was an image from a Coney Island, Brooklyn station, that I titled Launch Pad. I liked the perspective and so I kept going with the idea. When Pfizer, Inc sponsored a solo exhibit in their Manhattan location, it was a great boost for the project.

The underlying themes of the series have evolved and deepened from when I first started. I usually shoot above-ground, not underground, because showing the close proximity of the subway platform in relation to the surrounding community introduces a powerful theme that I find interesting - - that of machinery vs. humanity. I act as photographic architect, combining imagery to create new realities, merging simultaneous moments into one. This reinforces the concepts of construction and de-construction from which the work first evolved. Initially, my work showed full scenes but it has now evolved to include grid-like arrangements of the photo material.

With the help of friends and assistants, I’ve photographed the On The Platform series in New York City, California, Boston, Atlanta and Shanghai. On location, I am assisted by friends or assistants and I work in whatever cities where I can find inexpensive or free lodging through friends, colleagues or relatives. I stayed with my brother for three and a half weeks in Shanghai, China to add to the series and that was an amazing experience.


Underpass, Shanghai © Daryl-Ann Saunders

Open Door, Shanghai © Daryl-Ann Saunders


On The Platform subway images are in corporate & private collections and have been exhibited nationwide. A selection of these images was recently published in the book “Night and Low-Light Photography” by author and photographer, Jill Waterman. And currently, this work is displayed on 4’x10’ banners in an ongoing public art installation in Jersey City, NJ. Prints are available through Safe-T Gallery in Brooklyn.

NP: Tell us a little about the show Night Moves you recently curated at Safe-T-Gallery? How have you found the experience of acting as artist and curator?

DS: I conceived the idea to have a night photography exhibit at Safe-T-Gallery and it was discussed with the gallery director, Don Burmeister. I thought it would be timely to curate it with Jill Waterman since her book on night photography was due out in several months. It was sheer coincidence that Jill was in contact with Farmani Gallery, the gallery next door. So, we proceeded to create a dual-gallery exhibit focusing on the subthemes of city and sky.

I think I was successful in donning the “curator hat”. In fact, it became so natural to think of the artists first, that I ended up printing and framing my own work for the show merely a week before the opening. Curating is certainly a test of your character and skills of impartiality. I had to deal with the ongoing changes that occur in the evolution of an exhibit’s premise, ideas and artist roster not just with one gallery but two. And interacting with personalities and layers of agreement always results in some amount of compromise so that plans can proceed smoothly. In addition, I was doing this while maintaining my commercial photography business so getting enough sleep was definitely a challenge. But the end result is stupendous. I am very exacting so I am especially gratified that Night Moves turned out to be such a captivating exploration of night time photography work.

We had a huge turnout for the opening reception on March 5th. And several related events were planned. The night photography symposium coordinated through B&H Photo last Monday was packed. Through Adorama Camera, Jill and I are conducting a night photography workshop. And the final event is a gallery artist talk on Sunday, March 29 from 2 to 4:30pm. It is a free event to which the public is invited and information is at http://www.DASfineart.com/UP-1.htm.

NP: What's next?

DS: I’ll be working on more subway images from other cities (Atlanta, CA, Boston, etc.) and exhibiting. For 6 weeks starting in mid-April, On The Platform images will be on view in the lobby of 545 Washington Boulevard in Jersey City, N.J. (across from the Pavonia PATH Station) as part of the “Building Cities” project organized by Jim Pustorino, director of Victory Hall Inc.

I'm currently shooting a night series of minor league baseball games titled Rituals: Night Baseball in which rituals of family life are revealed through clothing, possessions and demeanor against the classic American backdrop of night baseball. I’d also like to explore some childhood themes through my photography, participate in an artist residency, and put more of my commercial and fine art work onto my website. I have lots of ideas, as always.


Rituals: Night Baseball (Untitled) © Daryl-Ann Saunders

Rituals: Night Baseball (Untitled) © Daryl-Ann Saunders


For more information, visit Daryl-Ann Saunder's websites:

Commmercial Work: http://www.Daryl-AnnSaunders.com
Executive Portraits: http://www.ExecutivePortraits.com
Fine Art Work: http://www.DASfineart.com
DAS Fine Art Calendar & Night Moves Information: http://www.DASfineart.com/UP-1.htm

Opening Tomorrow: Hidemi Takagi- Happie Photographie in First Exposure

image courtesy of Hidemi Takagi

"ArtBridge 2009: First Exposure"
Artbridge is an organization created by artist and designer Rodney Durso, to develop, curate and showcase works of large format art for public display and enjoyment. Through Artbridge, artists have the opportunity to exhibit their work to a wider public audience including the casual observer and art enthusiast alike. All projects are large scale, sometimes taking artist and viewer into unfamiliar territory and bringing new and interesting influences to communities. Please see visit: www.art-bridge.org

FIRST EXPOSURE, the debut exhibition of ArtBridge, presenting works of 26 artists in painting, photography and digital art affixed to 470’ linear feet of scaffolding on West 23rd Street bet 9 ave and 10 ave.
The art work will be up there for 6 months - up to 1 year.

Opening Receptions: Thursday, March 19th, @ 6pm - 8pm
London Terrace Gardens, Chelsea
425 West 23rd St. btwn 9th & 10th Ave. NYC
(then proceed to concierge area)

Hidemi Takagi who we had a Conversation with last year is showing images from her Happie Photographie series for this show.

Daniel Cooney's 3rd Emerging Photographers Auction

© Jane Tam


Head over to www.igavel.com to see the latest Emerging Artists Auction curated & presented by Daniel Cooney. The works are also available for viewing at Daniel Conney Fine Art in Chelsea.

The auction features work of Nymphoto's Maria Passarotti and Jane Tam as well as photographs by Susanna Raab, Ellen Rennard, Satomi Shirai, and Laurie Sermos to name a few. The auction ends March 26th. With opening bids of only $200, it's a great chance to collect art and support emerging artists!

On view: (re)terrain

from vertexList

(re)terrain, a three-person exhibition by Daniel Bejar, Rebecca Loyche, and Laura Napier will be on display at vertexList gallery through Sunday, April 5th, 2009.

(re)terrain examines spaces and places of the heavily urbanized and conflicted world we live in. The exhibition looks at the social production of space as well as the malleable and volatile nature of public space. The works in the exhibition ask us to (re)consider the complex nature of the world we inhabit and the very ground we stand on.

Laura Napier reshapes public space and the way we move through it with a video projection of an intervention at a busy pedestrian thoroughfare. She also presents a large mural print of the New York Stock Exchange building that blurs the boundary between document and fiction, staged scene and reality.

vertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1pm - 6 pm, or by appointment. They are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard Street. For more info please visit our website or call (646) 573-5837.

Nymphoto: 2 Shows, 1 Book & 1 Call for Entries

UPDATE: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED UNTIL APRIL 7, 2009 11:59 PM!

The Nymphoto Collective is pleased to announce its first self-published book & the accompanying exhibit at Sasha Wolf Gallery.

"Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1" is a collection of interviews (initially published as blog entries) with various women photographers in varying stages of their careers. The interviews reveal not just the work of the artist, but discuss the thought process involved in the creation of work. While some conversations are more revealing than others, they all expose the persona behind the work; they are all a brief glimpse into the minds and thoughts behind the art. In order to establish continuity, all of the questions in the interviews are in essence the same. General and non-specific, they allow the artist to determine how much of the process and self she wants to expose, lending her the power to dictate.

Accompanying the release of "Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1" is the exhibit of the same title at Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York.

Nymphoto: Conversations Volume 1
Group Show III
Sasha Wolf Gallery
10 Leonard Street
New York, NY
May 6 – 20, 2009
Opening Reception: May 6, 6 – 8PM.

Work by Michele Abeles, Juliana Beasley, Rona Chang, Nina Buesing Corvallo, Candace Gottschalk, Jessica M. Kaufman, Klea McKenna, Michal Chelbin, Talia Greene, Maria Passarotti, Susana Raab, Emily Shur, Tema Stauffer, Jane Tam, Garie Waltzer & Jennifer Williams.


Nymphoto is equally excited to announce its 4th group show and the collective's first public call for entries.

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf Gallery - Call for Entries

Nymphoto is looking for the best in female contemporary and emerging photography. Work will be curated by the core members of the collective in conjunction with highly respected curator and gallery owner Sasha Wolf. Works selected will be included in "Nymphoto Presents at Sasha Wolf Gallery" and be on view from May 23 to June 6, 2009. Sasha Wolf Gallery is located in lower Manhattan, conveniently located and easily accessible from both Chelsea and Dumbo, two of New York's artistic centers.

Nymphoto Presents @ Sasha Wolf Gallery
Group Show IV
10 Leonard Street
New York, NY
May 23-June 6, 2009
Opening Reception: May 28, 6-8 PM


Nymphoto is a collective of women in photography that provides a supportive community for (its) artists and strives to send a positive message to the creative world: We firmly believe in the power of community. Through "Conversations" we are able to expand our community by including new artists in each interview and present their work to our growing audience. The collective is a fusion of disciplines: the scholastic, the representative and the museum. The call for entries exhibit serves to expand on this idea and our growing community, and aims to encourage connections and discourse among female photographers. The efforts of the collective are directed to correct the gender imbalance that continues to prevail in today's (art) world.

Find the submissions guidelines at www.nymphoto.com.
(ed.) Submission Deadline extended until Tuesday April 7, 2009 11:59 PM EST
For more information, please contact Nymphoto at contact(at)nymphoto.com.

In Real Life

If you missed it this weekend, you'll have another chance next weekend to catch "In Real Life" - organized by I Heart Photograph's Laurel Ptak.
Find more information at: www.letsmeetinreallife.com.

Tomorrow: Nikki S. Lee Lecture at FIT

The F.I.T Photography Department Lecture Series presents Nikki S. Lee in their latest "Photo Talks" program.

From the press release:

Nikki S. Lee's most noted work "Projects (1997-2001)" depicts her in snapshot photographs, in which she poses with various ethnic and social groups, including drag queens, punks, swing dancers, senior citizens, Latinos, hip-hop musicians, and Korean school girls. Lee conceives her work as less about creating beautiful pictures, and more about investigating notions of identity and the uses of vernacular photography.

Nikki S. Lee
March 17, 5-6pm
Fashion Institute of Technology
27th street at 7th Ave
Building D, Katie Murphy Amphitheater
New York City

Sasha Wolf Gallery Presents Work by Bill Sullivan

Morgan courtesy Sasha Wolf Gallery/ © Bill Sullivan

Sasha Wolf is currently showing the photo based work of artist Bill Sullivan. Don't miss this meditation on traditional (photographic) portraiture -- through May 2, 2009 at Sasha Wolf Gallery.

To revisit our conversation with Sasha please click here.

Susan Burnstine Interview

Head over to www.neworleansphotoalliance.blogspot.com for an interview with photographer Susan Burnstine. The interview was conducted by Ann Marie Popko.

This Sunday: Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion: Why Are Women Artists Still Underrepresented in Major Collections?
Where: Williamsburg Art & Historical Center (Brooklyn)
When: Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 6pm

Find out more by visiting: www.wahcenter.net

click! photography changes everything - Call for entries

Organized by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative (SPI) as a series of integrated programs, click! photography changes everything invites the public to consider ways in which photography enables us to see, experience, and interact with the world.

click! invites experts from a spectrum of professional worlds—innovators, image makers, writers, and public figures—to survey the ways photography has influenced the history, progress, and practice of each of their fields of interest. These commentaries and their related images reveal how photographs are encoded with information and values, and how the meaning of images depends on the needs and perspectives we bring to them.

This month’s focus is on celebrating Women’s History Month in March, so the Smithsonian is seeking entries exploring the role of women both historically and today. From how photographs of women played a part in the Women’s Rights Movement to how photography celebrates, captures, or challenges what it means to be a woman, click! wants photographs and stories on everything that has and does shape the female experience. Additionally, starting on March 9th, we will be featuring portraits of women scientists, artists, and leaders on the Smithsonian Commons. You are encouraged to share your own personal photo and story or write about a photo from the Smithsonian Commons.

Submission Guidelines: http://www.click.si.edu/Contribute.aspx

A Conversation with Brea Souders

Once you see a Brea Souders image it will stay with you and linger. Her work functions on many levels and you can feel the care that she takes in creating each image. We are greatly pleased to present a conversation with this talented artist today.


©Brea Souders


Nymphoto: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Brea Souders: I was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland and studied photography at the University of Maryland Baltimore County before moving to New York City in 2005. I grew up as an only child in a house surrounded by woods, and I always had plenty of time to myself to daydream and breathe in my surroundings. My mom is a painter and my dad a physicist, and they have both influenced me in many ways. I was interested in psychology for most of my life growing up and started out in college as a psychology major, but quickly learned that I was not so interested in rigid text book theories, but instead in the vast potential and diversity of the human mind. I began to look to people who were pushing those boundaries rather than defining them. It was at this time that my interest in art became my primary interest. I wanted a better way to understand and engage life, and photography provided a perfect outlet.


©Brea Souders


NP: How did you discover photography?

BS: There were several little used cameras that were given to me in childhood – a polaroid, a 110, and point and shoot 35mm’s – I remember being vaguely interested in them and snapping photos in the woods, of people’s hands, or of my two cats. But unfortunately, I can’t claim to be one of the romantics that fell in love with photography instantly. It’s been a slow process, with spurts of growth and a lot of confusion in between. I’ve experimented a lot with the medium and feel I am just now finding my voice. When I was 17, I discovered a book of surrealist photographs by Man Ray in my mom’s bookcase. This book shocked me and sparked an enormous interest in the medium. That same year I began to take photography classes and fell in love with antiquarian and alternative processes. Artists like Dan Estabrook and Susan Fenton were major influences at that time (and still are). It took years for me to appreciate color photography, but after I graduated from college I saw some photographs by Bernard Faucon and thought the color was just astonishing. I’ve been hooked on color ever since, and study it everywhere I go.




NP: Where do you find inspiration?

BS: All kinds of things – the changes of seasons, shifts in light, bicycling at a fast clip, overhearing snippets of conversations when I’m out having coffee somewhere. All the usual things like that. The fabric and flower districts in New York are new places of inspiration – I like to cruise the aisles and imagine ways to use the various gems I discover. I always like to have a lot of books on hand, although unfortunately I rarely finish them. I’ve been reading a lot of dream journals for a current project and have found that to be really invigorating. Jack Kerouac’s Book of Dreams is an especially exciting read! Of course, learning about anything new is always inspiring, and I’m influenced by people who are determined to live in an expanded world and people with unusual beliefs. I’m also inspired by the discoveries of strange new organisms and any discoveries in space. And maybe most of all, I find a great meal with friends to be very inspiring. Good things usually come out of conversations had over a delicious feast!


©Brea Souders


NP: How do your projects come about?

BS: I carry a sketchbook with me most of the time and try to write down things that inspire me regularly. I usually have a few seeds of ideas spinning around for a while, and when one idea grows out of control, I decide to devote more time and energy towards seeing it to fruition. I’m learning to dive into projects more quickly. Most of my work relies on a lot of research and I have a tendency to get hung up in that stage. It comes to a point where I feel almost paralyzed and don’t know where to begin with the actual production. So I’m forcing myself to produce work earlier on, side by side with the research. It results in more photos that end up getting scrapped, but I think overall it benefits the work and is a better balance of planning and intuition.



©Brea Souders


NP: What's next?

BS: I’m currently working on a project called Islands & Streams that examines the recorded dreams of scientists, philosophers, writers and other luminaries from whom I’ve drawn creative inspiration. I’m isolating fragments from their dreams, creating them in my studio or outdoors, and then photographing them. The final photographs will be sequenced together to create a new narrative.

NP: Thank you!

To see more of Brea's work, please visit: www.breasouders.com.