Upstate New York Gets Upscale Museum

    The Buffalo State College (SUNY) is set to experience its share of excitement this fall with the new $33 million, LEED-certified, 84,000 square-foot Burchfield-Penney Art Center (BPAC), opening on November 22nd, 2008. With 19,000 square feet of galleries and over 5,000 square feet of educational space, it is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art and artists of Western New York housing over 7,500 works of art and thousands of archival files representing the work of nearly 600 artists.
    The Burchfiel-Penney museum will be home to the largest public collection of Charles E. Burchfield’s work and is set to present works by Elbert Hubbard, Karl Kipp, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marion Faller, Susan Rothenberg, Joseph Piccillo, Robert Longo, and Paul Sharits—to name a few. A vast collection of artistic practices will be exhibited at the BPAC including contemporary works ranging from sculpture, representational and non-representational painting, photography, drawings, prints, video and mixed media.
    According to the museum’s mission statement, the museum will serve as a “learning laboratory” hub for the Buffalo State College (SUNY) campus offering education and student life exposure to art conservation, art, design, art education, and museum students, amongst other disciplines.

To view a list of future exhibitions and for more information call (716) 878-6011 or log on and visit www.burchfield-penney.org

Photos courtesy of Burchfield-Penney

Capturing the Campaign

Were you drawn to the TV during those last few days in which we waited to see who would win the Democratic nomination?

Well now that the race is over, you can still be a part of the busy day-to-day life of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama by viewing several photographs from the campaign trail taken by Larry Fink. Currently on view at the Pace/MacGill Gallery is an exhibition displaying over 20 images shot over a two and a half month period. You will see everything from Clinton's first steps off an airplane  to a subtle gesture from Obama that reveals a typically unseen emotional side.

The photographs are on view from July 4th to August 15th on Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Pace/MacGill Gallery is locate at 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022. For more information call 212.759.7999 or email info@pacemacgill.com

Billboard and PDN present: Summer Music Moment

With all of our summer contest offerings, we like to think PDN is keeping photographers on their toes even in the laziest and hottest months. This latest contest is a salute to one of our favorite parts of a quintessential summer—live music. Rock fiends, concertgoers and photo fanatics, take note!

Billboard and PDN present: SUMMER MUSIC MOMENT - The Ultimate Music Photography Contest

We're looking for YOUR Summer Music Moment! We want to see the moments, the music, the scene—through your eyes.

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories: Performance, Crowd, Place and Spontaneous Moment with one grand prize winner amongst all.

Amateur Prizes
Grand Prize:
$1000 cash, an iMac 24 inch 3 ghz with Photoshop, a point and shoot camera, published on Billboard.com and in the September 2008 issue of Billboard Magazine.

First Place in Each Category:
A digital camera, published on Billboard.com and in the September 2008 issue of Billboard Magazine.

Professional Prizes
Grand Prize:
A professional D-SLR camera, image(s) published in the September 2008 issue of Billboard Magazine and a one-year subscription to Billboard. Winning images will be published in the December 2008 issue of PDN and online at www.pdnonline.com and www.billboard.com.

First Place in Each Category:
A digital camera, image(s) published in the September 2008 issue of Billboard Magazine and a one-year subscription to Billboard. Winning images will be published in the December 2008 issue of PDN and online at www.pdnonline.com and www.billboard.com.

Fan's Favorite
(Professional and amateur categories will be combined. There will be ONE winner.)
A digital camera, Billboard and PDN-branded items, published on www.pdnonline.com and www.billboard.com. 

Fees
Amateur:
Single entry - $15 per image
Series* - $20 per series

Professional:
Single entry - $35 per image
Series* - $50 per series
Student - $20 (I.D. required)

*A series consists of up to six visually-related images that will be judged as a single entry.

Deadline: August 29, 2008

For more information and to enter the contest visit:
http://www.billboardphotocontest.com

A Mid-Career Survey of Catherine Opie at the Guggenheim Museum.

American Photographer Catherine Opie has worked to capture a series of personalities within her complex body of photographic work. The Guggenheim Museum located at 1071 Fifth Avenue in New York, NY, will be home to the exhibition come September, encompassing an overview of her richly diverse artistic projects ranging in genres from studio portraiture, landscape photography, and urban street photography. Guggenheim Press Release states, “Since the early 1990s, Catherine Opie has produced a complex body of photographic work, adopting such diverse genres as studio portraiture, landscape photography, and urban street photography to explore notions of communal, sexual, and cultural identity.”

Opie covers distinct subject matters from gay culture and lifestyles in her Portraits and Domestic series, to different views of American communities and establishments through her Houses, Freeways, Mini-Mall, and American Cities series. In and Around Home captures the diverse cultural setting of her own family living in Los Angeles. Character and personality are neither short nor compromised in her Ice Houses and Surfers series as she explores atmospheric communities and lifestyles.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a major publication combining all of Opie’s projects into one volume. The catalogue combines rich text and artistic imagery that convey the meaning behind her work and will prove to be a primary source for understanding the interconnections between the various artistic styles and subjects surveyed.

On View: September 26, 2008 – January 7, 2009
Media Preview: September 25, 10AM - 12PM
For more information regarding Catherine Opie’s work, please visit: http://www.guggenheim.org/press_releases/downloads/OPIE_Release.pdf

More contests! World In Focus Call For Entries

National Geographic Traveler and Photo District News are seeking the best professional and travel photographs for their annual World In Focus contests.

Professional photography contest: The Grand Prize winner will receive free tuition for a 6-day professional photography workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, one Nikon D-80 Digital SLR, an Expedition tripod and head, a NG5737 backpack, and a PDN PhotoServe portfolio. Category winners (travel portraits, outdoor scenes, sense of place, spontaneous moments, and photo essay) will each receive one D-60 kit, a Tundra photo/video tripod, a NG2475 shoulder bag, and a PDN PhotoPlus Expo Gold Pass. Fees are $35 per entry. 

Amateur category contest: The Grand Prize winner will receive a 15-day trop for two to Antarctica aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. The runner-up will receive a trip to the Cliffs Preserve in Patagonia, Chile; 3rd Prize includes a cruise for two on a Maine Windjammer schooner; 4th Prize includes and a seven-day photography workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico. Fees are $12 per entry.

Select winning images from both contests will be displayed at the PDN PhotoPlus Expo October 23 to 35. Winning amateur images will be featured in the January/February edition of National Geographic Traveler, and winning professional images will be featured in a winners gallery in PDN's February 2009 issue, online at www.pdnonline.com.

Entry deadlines: August 21, 2008; pay $10 additional per entry for an extended deadline of September 8.

For more information, and to enter, visit www.worldinfocuscontest.com. Go get 'em!

Photo District News presents the PIX Digital Imaging Awards.

Hello PDNedu Readers!

It has been a while since my last post, but I wanted to inform all of you of one of PDN's exciting upcoming  contests: The PIX Digital Imaging Awards!

The PIX Digital Imaging Contest focuses on the innovative styles and techniques of contemporary photography. We are looking for revolutionary imagery that incorporates all types of creative elements—making it extraordinary. Photographers can submit their work to one or more of the following categories: advertising campaigns, portraits/celebrities/music, travel/lifestyle, fashion/beauty, personal work, student work and websites.

A grand-prize winner will be selected for each category and will receive a Samsung digital camera, a PhotoServe Portfolio (valued at $860), along with a PhotoPlus International Conference Gold Expo Pass—other grand prizes to be announced! The PIX contest allows viewers to have a chance to judge their favorite images online. All winners will be featured in the November print issue of PDN and their work will be added to an exclusive online gallery at www.pdnonline.com. Winners will also be featured in a gallery at the winners’ party during PDN’s PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo this October!

To enter, log on and visit www.pixdigitalimagingcontest.com.
Deadline is August 1st, 2008 (8/1/2008)*

*Late? Pay $10 to extend your deadline to 8/15/2008.

PDN Faces Photo Contest

Take a look around, and it becomes pretty clear that our culture is obsessed with faces.  From celebrity-splattered magazines and reality TV shows to students' Facebook and Myspace pages, we're surrounded by images of faces everywhere at every moment.  So it should come as no surprise that here at PDN we're seeking inspiration from the same 21st Century motif:

PDN presents Faces Photo Contest

Prizes:
Grand prize winner from each category will receive:
*Digital Camera (make and model TBA)
*PhotoServe Portfolio (value: $860)
*PhotoPlus International Conference Gold Expo pass
*More prizes TBA

All winners are:
*Featured in December issue of PDN (photo district news) and in online gallery at www.pdnonline.com
*Select images will be exhibited at gallery exhibit at PDN PhotoPlus International Expo from October 23 to 25, 2008 in New York City.

Categories:
1. Celebrity/Editorial Portraits (studio)
    Published or unpublished.  Famous or infamous.
2. Environmental Portraiture
    A person in their natural surroundings.
3. Self-Portraits.
    You, yourself.
4. Animal Portraits
    Your friends, your companions, your family.

Deadline for entries: August 29, 2008

Entry Fees:
Single Entry - $35 per image
Series - $50 per series
Students - $20 (I.D. required)

For entry, please visit:
http://www.facesphotocontest.com