Smashbox FACE OFF 2011

You know it is the fall when Smashbox announces their yearly Face Off competition ! Check out this year's list of judges :

Greg Garry – Photo Director, Complex Magazine
Kimberly Brooks – Art Editor, Huffington Post
Justin Tyler Close – Creative Director, The Lab Magazine
Matthias Vriens McGrath – Photographer
Davis Factor – Photographer
Stephen Kamifuji – Creative Director, Genlux Magazine
Ettore Zuccarelli – ezProductions
Brian Bowen Smith – Photographer
Albert Kodagolian – Director/DP, Bueno Films
Rocky Morton – Director, MJZ Productions
Jeremy Power Regimbal – Creative Director, The Lab Magazine
Rick Callahan - Copious Management

They do accept video as well as stills. More details here. They haven't announced what the winners receive but more than likely free studio test days at Smashbox as well as other goodies.

Dates to remember : submission by Nov. 18 and opening night is Dec 8, 2011. Entry fee is $20 per image.

Last year's winner : Ricky Middlesworth

"I don’t know if there was any single moment where I had an epiphany, “I’m a Photographer!”. I think it was a gradual process that took years to come to terms with and accept. Being a photographer is such an emotional roller coaster: one minute you feel brilliant, the next you feel like you suck."

- Andrew Eccles (via)

ASMP "Adaptation: Learning New Skills for the Changing Media Landscape"

There's a host of other Strictly Business videos on http://vimeo.com/asmpnational

Rodarte, Catherine Opie, Alec Soth @ Hammer Museum (10/19)

“For this book, two photographers were commissioned by Rodarte. The designers provided Alec Soth with a map of California, marked with suggested routes and sites, as well as loose instructions for photographic content (Condors, forest fires, people sleeping, etc). Catherine Opie’s task was to photograph the clothing on models. One camera follows a roadmap, the other documents design. Informed by a cartographic impulse, or by the desire to link fashion design to the production of spaces and worlds, the book folds the trajectory and speed of a road trip into the static fashion image. The book, itself a kind of map or topological system, also splits the fashion image in two: landscape and portrait. […] And who are the models in Opie’s photographs? Some are friends, some are strangers, others were probably hired from an agency. In any case, this is not a typical casting: the Rodarte brand has been populated by models and non-models, insiders and outsiders, inviting a sort of social erosion or contamination between body types, age groups, gender orientations and life-forms. Step by step, shot by shot, the book disorients the fashion image and reactivates it as a map instead. In the book, fashion keeps getting away from itself, losing itself.” —John Kelsey

This coming up Wednesday, Kate and Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte) will be havng a discussion with Catherine Opie and Alec Soth about their book "Rodarte, Catherine Opie, Alec Soth". Event is free.

Wednesday Oct 19, 2011 7-9 pm

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

APA/LA "Erik Almas : Evolution of an Intriguing Style" @ Pier 59 West Wednesday Oct 12, 2011

Closing this Weekend

+ Ed Freeman "Wet - Underwater Nudes" @ The Gallery 945 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA 90012 until Oct. 15, 2011

René Peña

Cirenaica Moreira

+ Cirenaica Moreira & René Peña "Black+White in Color" @ Couturier Gallery 166 N. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036 until Oct 15, 2011


+ Clyde Butcher @ G2 Gallery‎ 1503 Abbot Kinney Boulevard Venice, CA 90291 until Oct. 16, 2011

Karly Domb Sadof "Waiting for Work" opening reception (10/13)

Every day, clusters of Latino men and women line the streets of New York City's boroughs and affluent suburbs, looking for work. They clean houses and gutters; they mop the floors and landscape the grounds. And on any given day, there are 117,600 to 260,000 of them waiting on street corners across the United States, waiting for someone to offer them work. They are day laborers. They are jornaleros.

"Waiting for Work" is a collection of portraits of jornaleros. It creates a space where this often-nondescript group and singular mass becomes visible. Photographed in a portable studio in several soup kitchens and worker centers in and around New York City, "Waiting for Work" uses a simple visual approach that gives viewers the opportunity to look eye-to-eye with dozens of day laborers and learn their stories. Through viewing these personalized narratives, the exhibit provokes and supports viewers to consider their own reality, and the realities of those whom are ignored. By focusing on the act of documentation, itself, "Waiting For Work" challenges complacent assumptions about cultural difference and fosters cross-cultural engagement.

Opening Reception Oct 13, 2011 6-9 pm

Perfect Exposure Gallery
3519 West 6th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90020

All the World's an Image : A Thematic History of Photography

There was a newsletter from Julia Dean Photo Workshops in my email box about their "All the Worlds an Image: A Thematic History of Photography" lecture series. Each month Carol McCusker would cover one of the themes. I'm disappointed I just found out about thiese lectures. They are already halfway through the series. Tonight's topic would be Nudes, followed by War/Social Consciousness next month (Nov. 8) and finishing up with Fashion/still life in December (Dec 13)

Each lecture is $15 general/$10 for students w/ID. 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Julia Dean Photo Workshops
755 Seward St.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

IRIS Nights - Mona Kuhn "Beauty Without Apologies" (10/30)

I do relate to the idea of slow motion, a pensive state, and the moments in between thoughts. Though my photographs show nudity, they are quiet as opposed to sexy.

Next Thursday, Mona Kuhn will be speaking at IRIS Nights lecture series hosted by the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. Event is free and passes are available Wednesday (10/12) at noon as well as Thursday (10/13) at 9:30 am.

Thursday Oct 20, 2011 6:30-8:00 pm

The Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067

APA/LA "Erik Almas: Evolution Of An Intriguing Style" (8/12)

I love to. I mean, that’s something I have to fight on almost every job now, my desire is to shoot 4 x 5 or 6 x 8. Most of the time they say, sure whatever you want, as long as you’re going to accommodate our timelines and blah blah blah. Everybody tends to think that digital is so much faster. It is, if you shoot a catalog and you can see it straight on the screen. But for me, shooting the frame is just half the job, because you use the computer afterwards to add clouds and color and all that. So you don’t really do things a lot faster if you’re shooting film or digital.

APA/LA presents "Erik Almas : Evolution Of An Intriguing Style" this Wednesday night @ Pier 59 in Santa Monica. Door Prizes include: 2.5 hour portfolio and marketing consultation review with Kate Chase and Diane Eames, Think Tank bag, Blinkbid Software and more. Free to APA members , RSVP @ director@apa-la.com. Non-members is $20 online and $25 at the door.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

6pm door open
7-9pm presentation

Pier 59
2415 Michigan Avenue
Santa Monica CA 90404


F-Stop magazine "Erik Almas"

"There's no denying that the Internet culture has influenced photography, and today it's really become a double-edged sword. Although the Internet creates exciting opportunities for artists, it also creates the need for greater responsibility. A photographer's role is no longer just about making great images. You have to wear many hats and be your own publisher, your own marketer, your own publicist - all on top of being a great photographer."

- Andy Adams (Flak Photos)

(click to enlarge)

Sunset Blvd and Holloway in West Hollywood. 1940 Dolores's diner on the right would eventually become Tower Records in the 70s. And Bulichki restaurant across the steet is where the empty Tower video now sits. Today Book soup would also be on the left (via. Vintage Los Angeles)

Allan Sekula’s "The Forgotten Space" Screening @ LACMA (10/8)

This new essay film by photographer Allan Sekula and film scholar Noël Burch offers a lucid and multifaceted look at global capitalism and its manifold effects, human and environmental, as filtered through the journeys of container cargo from the Netherlands to Southern California and onwards to Asia. Followed by a discussion with Allan Sekula, Bérénice Reynaud (Co-Curator, Film at REDCAT) and other guests to be announced.

Saturday, October 8, 2011 @ 7:30 pm. FREE

Bing Theater
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Sunny Bak "Boys and Dogs" opening reception (10/8)

Hold Up Art presents Boys and Dogs, a collection of works by world renowned photographer Sunny Bak. Her photos of the Beastie Boys and the “Licensed to Ill” tour solidified Sunny’s place as a serious rock and celebrity photographer. Simultaneously, her love of animals, especially dogs, led to the creation of the best selling People Magazine parody, Pupple. These two diverse collections of images represent the work that have defined Sunny’s career.

Opening reception Oct. 8, 2011 @ 7 pm

Hold Up Art
358 E. 2nd Street.
Los Angeles, CA 90012



Yo Venice "Sunny Bak: “Boys and Dogs”"

APA Advocacy Alert 10.4.11

From APA/San Francisco :

There is a troubling situation that has come to the attention to a number of photographers, producers and clients working in the Los Angeles area. There is a law firm sending demand letters against people who have hired agency-represented talent for employee payment violations. The claims are all basically the same.

The demand letter states the model was a hired employee of the company that paid them. Be it photographer, producer, or acting adverting agency. Therefore, at the end of the shoot they are entitled to be paid in full because they have been fired. They will file a lawsuit against the hiring principal for failing to make timely payments.

Read the rest here

Definitely inspiring, I listen to this every so often when I need a "recharge"

Art Mère / Art Père (10/6)

Walter Chin

Patrick Holeck

Glen Wexler

Gray Malin

Rebecca Cabage

Art Mère / Art Père : An evening of art, photography, and music to raise funds for cancer benefiting LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Research Centers. Featured art will include works from various American and European artists. Money will be raised through admission donations, the sale of silent auction items, and editions available through Artspace.com. Cocktails and hors d' oeuvres will be served. To attend, email shannon@thealist.us. Admission donations of $100 will be taken at the door for all guests.

Photography works by Nealy Glenn, Brian Bowen Smith, Gray Malin, Edie Baskin, Andrew Zuckerman, Glen Wexler, Robert Zuckerman, Warwick Saint, Rebecca Marks Leopold, Carol Westwood, Bernard Lewinsky, Gus Gustawes, Jeremy Eichenbaum, Patrick Hoelck, Marco Piana, Mark Norby, Lisa Franchot, Brett Hillyard, Donald Fish, Rebecca Cabage, Alexander Bush, Nicole Whitaker, Sal Owen, Cole Whittle, Art Davis, Steven A. Heller, Francesco Scavullo , Deborah Turbeville, Gregory Harris, Walter Chin, Caitlin Cronenberg, Francesco Carrozzini, Greg Kadel, Charles Nesbit, Martyn Thompson, Fabio Chizzola , Ross Oscar Knight, Yelena Yemchuck, Sara Abbott and Scott Caan


October 6, 2011, 8pm - 11pm

Smashbox Studios
1011 N Fuller Ave
Hollywood, CA 90046

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

Self portraits and stories @ http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

"Emerging Focus" Int'l Photography Competition

EMERGING FOCUS announces its first international photography competition. This is a visual call to arms to clear up the cacophony of the mundane, to look past the clutter. We seek to find out what makes a photograph a good photograph, and what makes a good photograph a great photograph. And we present this challenge to you: the elders and the young, the schooled and the amateurs, the students and the teachers, the executives and the workers, the artists and the scientists, the writers and the readers, the actors and the audience.

This new competition is presented by photoLA and The ICON so I gave the website a quick read through. There's not a list of judges available as of yet but there is an opportunity for the twenty finalists to have their image exhibited @ photo LA 2012 Jan 12-16, 2011. The competition is open and currently accepting submissions until November 25, 2011 11:59 Pm PST. Finalist notified on December 5, 2011. Cost ? $40 bucks for 5 images.

Read the nitty gritty -> http://www.emergingfocusphoto.com/

IRIS Nights - Lauren Greenfield (10/13)

Lauren Greenfield will screen and discuss the digital feature she directed as part of the BEAUTY CULTURE exhibit. The 30-minute documentary explores our cultural and historical obsession with beauty and the way beauty has been defined and sought after in contemporary culture. In addition to the film, Greenfield will also show new photography as well as relevant works from her career.

This free event will be held next Thursday. Passes are available on Wednesday Oct. 5 at noon as well as Thursday Oct 6 at 9:30 am.


October 13, 2011 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Annenberg Space for Photography
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067