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Deadline for entry in the 19th annual European Publishers Award for Photography is March 31. Open to photographers worldwide, the competition promotes contemporary photography book publishing. It’s a collaborative effort among six prominent European publishing houses, including Dewi Lewis Publishing of the United Kingdom, which is coordinating this year’s competition.

To enter, photographers submit a substantial, completed and unpublished photographic book project. The winning entry will be published in book form in six languages and six editions in autumn 2012. Italian photographer Davide Monteleone won the 2011 award for his photo project, Red Thistle, which explores the culture of Northern Caucasus.

The entry form and competition rules are available on the Dewi Lewis website: http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/EUROAWARD/EUROAWARD2012.html

National Public Radio aired a story today about Barrytown, NY, wedding photographer Douglas Baz and his 23-year-old chef daughter, Molly, who took to the road in search of Southern barbeque. This was no casual father-daughter road trip. Molly intended to do deep research on the roots, meats, smoking techniques and special sauces that divide and unite Americans. From Kentucky to Texas, Alabama to North Carolina the pair visited 31 BBQ joints, traveled 4,258 miles and captured 1,656 images. They created a blog of their BBQ odyssey, Adventures in BBQ, javascript:void(0);/*1326929661124*/which features Doug’s photographs, videos and fine storytelling. Read (and hear) it on NPR: javascript:void(0);/*1326928408618*/.

Images © Douglas Baz

National Public Radio reports that Andreas Gursky's photograph Rhein II was purchased for $4,338,500 at a Christie's auction last week, breaking the record for the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction. Measuring 6x11 feet, the photo beat a previous record held by Gursky for his 99 Cent II Diptychon, which sold at Sotheby's for $3.3 million in 2007. Read about it on NPR: 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/11/15/142342119/meet-the-worlds-most-expensive-photo-part-ii?sc=emaf

Rhein II © Andreas Gursky/Christie's Images, Ltd., 2011

Imaginative photographer Brian McCarty of West Hollywood, Calif., (www.mccartyphotoworks.com) wants to help kids caught in the crosshairs of war.  He started a photo project called WAR-TOYS in Jerusalem, the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. McCarty works with art therapists to help children draw pictures of their experiences. Often kids can’t talk about traumatic incidents, but they can draw them, which in turn can help them express their feelings.

Using the kids’ drawings as blueprints McCarty recreates the scenes using local toys in the locations where the incidents took place and photographs it. Earlier this month he told CNN that this art project validates the children’s feelings and he hopes it will change lives. McCarty is raising funds to continue the WAR-TOYS project through Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com), an open platform fundraising website.  He hopes to take WAR-TOYS to Afghanistan, Somalia, and other places in the world where strife damages children. More info: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianmccarty/war-toys?ref=live.

 In the November issue of Professional Photographer magazine, read about the amazing underwater experiences of Douglas J. Hoffman of Maui Photography in Hawaii, a family portrait and fine art photography studio (www.douglasjhoffman.com). On a recent photo expedition to the South Pacific, Mr. Hoffman wrote to the magazine from Fiji about his experiences:

Aloha!

I had the pleasure of co-hosting a 10-day photography-dedicated trip on the Naia, a 120-foot boat that took us to the Kotu islands of Ha'apai Tonga, one of three island groups in Tonga. It is incredible to immerse myself in photography for five weeks. We had 30-40 knots of wind and 12-foot seas most of the trip, which made getting in and out of the water somewhat challenging. Still we managed to have a few good whale encounters that included young whales ranging from about 5-7 years old that were over 30 feet but not yet sexually active. We saw them play and practice courtship dances, as well as heat runs, which are when bull males battle for the chance at mating with a female.  

© All images copyright Douglas J. Hoffman

Continue reading "A Whale of a Story " »

© Sally Mann. Courtesy of Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta and Gagosian Gallery, New York

On view through October 29 at Jackson Fine Arts Gallery in Atlanta is "Proud Flesh," a solo exhibition by celebrated fine art photographer Sally Mann. The show title refers to a series of nude photos she made over a six-year period of her husband of 39 years, Larry, who suffers from late-onset muscular dystrophy. The black-and-white photographs, made from collodion wet-plate negatives, offer select and often abstracted views of Larry's declining, noble body. In some photos her study of him is aloof, while others are tenderly close and knowing. Effects from the capricious collodion process add to the work's abstraction and edgy mystery. This exhibition is a fine continuation of Mann's probe into the nexus of physical and spiritual in her characteristically unflinching, illuminating, provocative way. A book of photographs from the series was published in 2009 ("Proud Flesh," Aperture/Gagosian Gallery). The more recent "The Flesh and The Spirit" (Aperture/Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2010) gives a more complete and in-depth look at Sally Mann's fascinating artistic journey. www.jacksonfineart.com http://sallymann.com

The U.S. premiere of the exhibition Helmut Newton: White Women • Sleepless Nights • Big Nudes at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston is on view through September 25. This is the largest U.S. exhibition of Newton, who died in 2004 at age 84. More than 200 prints from the famous fashion and fine art photographer’s first three books are on display, all of which have been acquired by the museum. If you miss the show you can see the work in the exhibition catalogue, available for sale on the MFAH website, which features essays from legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour, designer Karl Lagerfeld and Newton’s widow, June. www.mfah.org

©The Helmut Newton Estate/Maconochie Photography. The image is under copyright and must not be screen-grabbed, downloaded, or dragged off this website. No usage whatsoever is permitted.

To mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Taschen has published a commemorative edition of New York photographer Joel Meyerowitz’s 2006 book Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive (www.phaidon.com/store/photography/aftermath-9780714862125 ). Meyerowitz was the only photographer granted access to the Ground Zero site during the massive recovery effort following the 2001 attack. The book has the support of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, and some of Meyerowitz’s photos will be on view in the 9/11 Memorial Museum when it opens in 2012. http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com

On display through November 1 at New York University’s Windows Gallery is an exhibit to commemorate 9/11 called One Year at Ground Zero: From Recovery to Rebuilding. The exhibition displays the work of New York photographer Sam Hollenshead, who took the images between 2001 and 2002 at the World Trade Center site. www.nyu.edu/life/resources-and-services/kimmel-center/kimmel-galleries.html