FAQ: advice for emerging photographers
Emerging photographers often ask, ‘How do I get my work out into the world?’ My two cents are actually two names:
Jen Bekman has a fab gallery with a terrific competition for emerging photographers called Hey, Hot Shot. The next deadline is November 7th. Jen also has a must-read blog.
Mary Virginia Swanson has worked in museums, galleries, stock agencies, magazines and universities. She knows every inch of the photography world and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with emerging photographers. Find out about Mary and her workshops on her website.
what does everything think of tim roda: http://www.gregkucera.com/roda.htm
i find the work to be very appealing. it’s big, inexpensive, he’s emerging, and its very interesting melodrama and fables and stuff.
He seems a little unorganized. I am liking some of the work but he lacks a cohesiveness to the work that would make it more exciting. Some of the ones I don’t like feel a little like he is shooting a play. but then again all this is hard to judge on the web.
Alec,
what is your connection to Mary Virginia Swanson? did you take her workshop? is she more relevant photography in the business sense or the art sense? also what’s you advise to someone who is considering an MFA? do you know of any standout programs? would you ever teach at a university? like Crewdson and Ulritch? thanks!
[...] - Alec Soth said nice things about how Hey, Hot Shot! is terrific opporunity for emerging photographers. I’ve always thought so, of course, but it’s awfully nice to have someone as smart, accomplished and talented as Alec agree. (Thank you kindly.) [...]
[...] In a recent post on advice for emerging photographers, I neglected to mention my absolute #1 recommendation, Review Santa Fe. In 2003 I won a free trip to the Reviews. I hadn’t heard of a portfolio review before and wasn’t even sure I wanted to go. [...]
I couldn’t agree more about MV Swanson best money and time I have spent to date. Knowledgable and enthiusiastic about photogrpahy - open and helpful to all in the three seminars I attended. And actually I learned more about the presentation of work from her than I would have been able to learn that quickly myself. I learned more about what made a “body” of my work in the short time I had with and to be honest she didn’t particularly like my work. Still she was able to provide serious insight.
Hot Shot is a wonderful opportunity. Jst wish Jen would call me in.
I think MV Swanson has a book available too. I saw her speak at the VII conference in Pasadena. I think she may have helped Mona Kuhn get off the ground (and you hear about Mona everywhere).
[...] 4. He also gives advice to emerging photographers, including to enter Jen Bekman’s Hey, Hot Shot competition. [...]
[...] Thanks to Paul for pointing out that I got an “honourable mention” in the Summer 2007 Hey Hot Shot competition run by New York’s Jen Beckman gallery. This is a pretty big deal: Hey Hot Shot seems to have a lot of Kudos in the art photography world, and I (like many others) picked up on it via a post on Alec Soth’s blog (Alec, as well as being a darling of the art photography scene, is a very sassy guy [as you’ll see if you delve into his blog]). [...]