Over its 30-year history, FotoFest’s Portfolio Review has been a launching pad for the careers of hundreds of photographic artists. Many artists have been discovered by this program and many reviewers have found new talent to exhibit, publish, collect, and represent. In 2016, FotoFest brings 165 international, professional reviewers to meet one-on-one with registered artists. They include museum curators, editors, publishers, gallerists, collectors, and photo agency representatives to review the work of 450 registered artists.
I was honored to be one of the reviewers for the 1st of 4 sessions for FotoFest’s Meeting Place Portfolio Review. This is a daily record of the 15 or so photographers work I viewed. Whether they were looking for practical results for a completed body of work, or feedback on work in progress, the Meeting Place Reviews offered the opportunity to present their portfolio to a wide range of photography professionals who could assist in their future career development.
Award-winning photographer Yukari Chikura, born in Tokyo, photographed ‘Zaido’ a traditional Japanese ritual going back over 1300 years. Her sincere respect for those who keep this valuable tradition is shown in her moving images. Wendell A. White’s project, Manifest, is an effort to seek out the cultural artifacts of the American concept and representation of race. The histories of slavery, abolition, segregation, the U.S. Civil War, and the Civil Rights Era are a few of the narratives that emerge in these photographs. Byrd Williams’ IV family has been taking photographs for four generations. His great-grandfather came to Texas in the late 1870. The four generations of Byrds have all used the same kind of large-format cameras. Byrd IV estimates he has about 10,000 negatives and prints from the four generations of his family. Sarah Prud’homme’s Road Kill series was inspired by a flattened bird on a dirt road. Because many of these creatures defy gravity when alive, some of my road kill naturally want to float in space. Croatian born photographer Maja Georgiou lives and works in New Orleans. Check out her series with children on her website. Victoria Schultz transforms her life experiences into staged but true stories. Born in Helsinki, Finland, her studio’s are located in New York and Paris. Vincent Ricardel has photographed legendary artists and musicians, as well as global business and political leaders. Here he explores mixed media of dancers shadows. Paul Y. Courtney professionally shoots jockeys around the world. His portraits of horses were very fine. Michael Joseph series of young adults hopping trains around the U.S. is brilliantly photographed, though their stories are very sad (from my perspective). A must-see. Mikhael Antone is a filmmaker and visual artist. She received the Aaron Siskind Award while at the School of Visual Arts and has received several other awards throughout her career. Jeff Graves has turned his attention to “wet plate collodion” photography creating black glass ambrotypes. Jeff works primarily with large format cameras. Melbourne based Kristin Diemer works “with Lumen prints, a process using black/white photographic darkroom paper and exposing it to sunlight. The prints are scanned, then fixed with darkroom chemicals, then scanned again. Amazing colors and tones appear on the black/white paper.” Barbara Kynes’ series ” “A Crack in the World” gives us a glimpse into a magical world just out of reach except in these magical images. Jeff Martin, “For the last 50 years I have been striving to capture that right moment in time, that split second that reveals a simple but compelling story.“ Jason Gardner tells stories. He recently published “A Flower in the Mouth”, a book of photography and writing about the culture, music and rituals of Carnaval in Pernambuco, Brazil.
Websites:
http://yukari.chikura.me/public
http://wendelwhite.com
http://www.fwweekly.com/2009/08/12/photo-story
http://www.sarahprudhomme.com
http://www.majageorgiou.com
http://www.victoriaschultzphotography.com
http://www.vincentricardel.com
http://www.paulycourtneyphotography.com
http://www.michaeljosephphotographics.com
http://www.mikhaelantone.com
http://graymatterimages.com
http://www.kristindiemer.com
http://www.barbarakyne.com
http://jeffmartinstudio.com
http://www.jasongardner.net
