PDN Contests

Both The PDNEdu Student Contest and the Student category of the Photo Annual offer tremendous exposure. The first offers a new portfolio review prize as well as some gear and a gallery show, the Annual has a student cash award awarded to one lucky winner at our Photo Annual Party in NYC. Check them out!

Now Open:

Photo District News Presents:

THE PDN PHOTOGRAPHY ANNUAL
The Power of Photography
The most compelling, provocative, emotional work of the year

Deadline: 12.21.09**
**Late? Pay $10 to extend your deadline to 1.25.10
Register and Enter Online*!
www.pdnphotoannual.com

PDNEdu Presents:
PDNedu Student Photo Contest 2010!

 New Prizes in 2010
 Portfolio consultation, gallery show, & Gear!

Deadline: 12.07.09**
 **Late? Pay $5 to extend your deadline to 12.21.09

Action Surf Photography Workshop

The School of Visual Arts is offering an exciting new study abroad class.

Action Surf Photography in Rincon.

March 6 - March 14 ( 2 studio credits)

Study with Art Brewer, one of the world's premier surf photographers.

This intensive eight-day course is not only a unique opportunity to learn the technical skills and equipment necessary to shoot surfing and other water related sports, but also a rare opportunity to become immersed in the surf culture of Rincon — Puerto Rico’s “Hawaii of the Atlantic”.

Click here for more information!

YPA Student Awards and Benefit Auction October 13 in New York

For many students passionate to express their vision through photography, the spiraling costs of higher education and demise of public school art programs create barriers that are difficult to overcome. Besides the adverse affect on individual students, left unchecked this lack of support is likely to have a long-term negative impact on the future of professional photography as a whole.

In spring 2009, photo industry professionals Deborah Free and Jerry Tavin formed The Young Photographers Alliance (YPA) as an educational foundation to provide deserving students with opportunities for advancement. Through college scholarships, mentoring, internships and educational seminars YPA is establishing itself as a global community where emerging photographers can connect with the inspiration, resources and contacts they need to build successful and sustainable careers as great artists and communicators of the future.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, YPA awarded three photography scholarships and two honorable mentions to exceptional college students. Administered in cooperation with the Worldstudio AIGA Scholarship Program, which offers scholarships in nine other categories of art and design, an upcoming award ceremony will highlight YPA’s inaugural fundraising gala at New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion on Tuesday, October 13 from 7 – 10 pm.

School of Visual Arts junior Julianne Jamora will be presented with a $2,500 scholarship as the YPA Alamy award winner, Pratt Institute freshman Khrystyna Chekhlata and Academy of Arts University freshman Bonnie Mills will receive $2,000 scholarships, while Ringling College of Art & Design freshman Shannon Soule and Pratt Institute graduate student Nicole Nolan will be recognized with honorable mentions.

The event will also feature cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, live jazz, a raffle and silent auction, with signed prints from YPA scholarship recipients and the work of many highly coveted professionals up for the bidding. Benefit tickets are available for $85 in advance or $100 at the door.

This evening gala will open the annual photo industry event, Picturehouse, which connects photography buyers and suppliers in an all-day professional trade fair on Wednesday October 14. During this fair the five winning students will have an opportunity to present themselves to registered attendees in a special location on the event floor.

For future scholarship applicants, new forms will be available here in December 2009 and students can begin uploading portfolios in January, with a deadline of Friday April 2, 2010.

Keep in mind that submissions are judged on the following five criteria: quality of work, academic record, recommendations, financial need and a written statement of purpose.

“I have made a conscious decision to make a life committed to the community and the youth,” wrote YPA Alamy award winner, Julianne Jamora in her scholarship statement. “Everything moves in cycles, and it will eventually be my time to pay homage to the ones who have inspired me, and I can think of no other way than to better my community,” she concludes.

To read the statements from other awardees and to learn more about the YPA’s additional programs and volunteer outreach, visit these links.

Show Your Stuff in the Lone Star State: Enter the Texas Photographic Society's Annual International Student Contest

This fall, the Texas Photographic Society (TPS) is offering a valuable opportunity to aspiring photographers everywhere, with a chance to be published in an exhibition catalog and included in a group show in San Antonio, TX.

Open to photography students of all ages and across all areas of the medium, renowned photojournalist Lucian Perkins is the juror for this year’s competition. As a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, former Washington Post staff photographer and winner of the 1996 World Press Photo of the Year for his portrait from war-torn Chechnya, Perkins has both an impressive resume and a discerning eye.

Perkins is known for an approach that juxtaposes a deep sense compassion for his subjects with an instinctive ability to reveal a person’s hopes and foibles, in a style that combines formal clarity with an offbeat humor. Currently, he is working as an independent photographer and videographer concentrating on multimedia projects and video documentaries while still pursuing his love for the still image.

“As a photojournalist/documentary photographer what interests me most about photography is its unique ability to freeze a moment in time and reveal something within that instance, be it a 500th or even two seconds. When you document humanity, that moment can unveil emotions that exist within all of us,” Perkins explains in the contest’s juror’s statement.

To submit your images for consideration, simply download the application form here and follow instructions for contest rules and image format. Deadline for entries is October 26 and winners will be announced on the TPS website on November 30. Winning entrants will have their work exhibited at Semmes Gallery at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio in spring 2010. A color exhibition catalogue will be sent to all entrants and exhibiting photographers will receive 3 copies each.

Founded in 1985, TPS is a nonprofit organization comprised of approximately 1,4000 amateur and professional photographers, hailing from 49 states. Committed to the advancement of contemporary photography as a vehicle for creative expression and cultural understanding, TPS centers on furthering the educational and artistic development of its members while involving the community by subsidizing local exhibitions, publications, workshops and outreach.

So, start searching through past work or come up with some new and compelling images and submit to this call today! 

Identity Identities (i/i): Perspectives on Identity in the Twenty-First Century

 

For those spending their summer vacation looking for culture on the streets of New York City, a group exhibition that recently opened in Chelsea holds a store of thought-provoking images centered on the shifting identities and role-playing apparent in twenty-first century life. Identity Identities (i/i), a photography exhibit concentrating on the evolution of identity in an ever-changing society, is on view at the Aperture Gallery until August 20.

The works on view are assembled from eleven alumni of the School of Visual Art’s photography BFA program. SVA and the Aperture Foundation have partnered to present this selection from these promising artists. Making this exhibit even more unique, it has traveled to New York after a debut at the Galleria San Ludovico in Parma, Italy, where it was originally coordinated as an exchange between photography students in Parma and the students of SVA.

Each artist was selected for his or her unique approach to the theme of identity, creating a very diverse and exciting exhibition. Stephen Frailey, curator for (i/i) explains, “I wanted as broad an aesthetic and ideological range as possible.”

Two artists’ works stand out in particular: that of Susanne Persson and Hugo Fernandez.  Persson’s concentration was on product and corporate identity specifically through the use of logos and branding.  Fernandez focused on a dark and guarded perspective of sexual identity.  Other graduates chose to concentrate on how identity manifests itself through group identification and how the places people live affect them. 

“I would like the audience to be enlivened by the playfulness and originality of much of the work, and understand also that self identity is key, no matter what the genre, to creating a meaningful body of work,” comments Frailey.

The Aperture Gallery on West 27^th Street will host this exceptional international exhibit until August 20. These creative perspectives on a never-ending challenge we each face is not to be missed. It may spark a change in how you look at your own life. For more information on the exhibit, please visit this link.

--Susan Guth, PDN intern

Calling All Budding African-American Artists: Apply Online for the 2009 William H. Johnson Prize

In honor of the late painter, the William H. Johnson Foundation for the Arts is seeking pioneering young artists working in one or more of the following mediums: painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, installation and/or new genre.

In 1926, William H. Johnson was acknowledged as the most talented artist in his class at New York’s National Academy of Design; however, he was passed over for a traveling scholarship most likely because of his race. Rather than see Johnson flounder in the United States, his teacher at that time, Charles Hawthorne, gifted Johnson $1,000 so that he could travel to Europe and escape the prejudices of the American art scene.

In the spirit of this remarkable act of generosity, the William H. Johnson Foundation seeks to award the most deserving of African-American artists early in their careers with the substantial amount of $25,000, in the hopes that this gift will have the same pivotal effect on a burgeoning artist today as it did on the young Johnson.

Past Johnson Prize Winners include Laylah Ali (2002); Nadine Robinson (2003); Kori Newkirk (2004); Dave McKenzie (2005); Edgar Arceneaux (2006); Rodney McMillian (2007); and Jennie C. Jones (2008). Their winning submissions can be viewed on the Foundation Web site.

To apply, simply fill out the application form on the Foundation Web site, follow the requirements for image files, and then upload 12 images or submit a DVD to the Foundation’s Los Angeles office, along with two letters of recommendation. There is no application fee, only a deadline; all entries must be submitted by 3 pm on Friday July 31, 2009. 

Economic Conditions Got You Down? Apply Now for a Tuition-Free VJ Multimedia Workshop: July 30-Aug 2, 2009 in Ventura, California!

In response to the current economic crisis, Brooks Institute and Pierce College are combining efforts to offer an extraordinary four-day multimedia workshop for a highly select group of 50 individuals—25 students and 25 professionals. This unique opportunity will consist of a 24-hour shooting period, followed by two post-production workshop days, valuable portfolio reviews and a lecture series by several notable guest speakers.

The goal of this program is to give back to the visual journalism community by educating a new generation of visual journalists in current practices and strategies. In addition to the time spent shooting, editing and having work reviewed by award-winning photojournalists, filmmakers and educators, all participants will increase their exposure by having their final work displayed on the workshop’s Web site.

To apply, simply follow the instructions and file sizing requirements listed on the application Web site, and upload between 10 and 20 of your most compelling images, along with a short explanation of why you deserve to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Applications are open to all college students and visual journalists who have lost employment in the past two years. The deadline to apply is June 21, 2009 and attendees will be notified of their selection by July 7. And, if the benefits mentioned above are not enough to entice you, the best part of this workshop is that it’s tuition-free!

Apply now for Western Kentucky University’s Mountain Workshops in Murray, Kentucky: Oct. 27-31, 2009!

Are you a creative professional or talented student interested in strengthening your skills and engaging your passion for visual storytelling? Now in its 33rd year, Western Kentucky University’s photojournalism department is offering it’s annual Mountain Workshops series in Murray, Kentucky this coming fall. This formative experience consists of an inspiring and information-packed 5-day program that will hone your abilities and broaden your knowledge.

Three workshops are offered concurrently in Photojournalism, Multimedia and Picture Editing. Photojournalism applicants can apply by submitting a Web site link or a 10-image portfolio and resume on CD/DVD. Multimedia applicants must submit a 20-image portfolio, two multimedia slideshows and resume by disk or a Web site link. There is no portfolio requirement for Picture Editing workshop applicants, simply a resume. All applicants must also complete this short application form.

Participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements, lodging and food during the workshops, however, hotels are cheap, starting at around $60, and there are a myriad of restaurants in the area. The closest major airport is located in Nashville, TN.

The workshops are taught by a group of award-winning faculty and staff who will challenge participants to produce increasingly compelling work during the course of the program. While there is no application deadline, interested parties are encouraged to apply soon because of the sought after nature of these programs and the limited number of available spaces!

Students, enter the PDN PIX photo contest!

We are now accepting entries for the 2009 PIX Digital Imaging photography contest. 

Judges this year include; Anna Goldwater Alexander, deputy editor at Wired magazine, and Jennifer Pastore, photo editor at Teen Vogue! The student entry fee is only $20 for a single image or a series.

To learn more, click here

Last Chance to Register for En Foco’s Portfolio Review Sessions Taking Place This Saturday: June 20, 2009 from 10 AM – 5PM!

Emerging photographers take note—this valuable day-long En Foco program offers informative one-on-one reviews with multiple arts professionals ranging from museum curators to magazine editors in a supportive, nurturing and affordable environment. Reviewers will advise about future opportunities pertaining to your individual creative path, while providing constructive evaluation and critique.

This extraordinary opportunity is useful for photographers of ALL levels and abilities. Whether you feel you're ready for gallery representation or are simply looking for productive feedback, there will be reviewers to suit everyone’s needs; all that is asked is to be serious about your craft!

Each review session lasts for 20 minutes, and all participants are guaranteed a minimum of three reviews and a complimentary gift bag. In between sessions, attendees can relax in the photographer's creative lounge, meet other talented individuals and share work. 


One must be an En Foco member in order to attend, however, the $190 registration fee includes a one-year En Foco membership, which comes with all kinds of additional benefits. To reserve a spot, simply register on the portfolio review Web site.

Upon registration, all participants will receive an article on how to best prepare for the review, written by photo marketing expert Mary Virginia Swanson. So, don’t let this amazing opportunity pass you by, sign up for the En Foco portfolio reviews today!