Brooklyn Bound

We support our own here at PDNedu, so when PDN Senior Editor Anthony LaSala teamed up with photographer and former PDN's 30 Seth Kushner on a new book, we had to blog about it.

The Brooklynites is a collection of images, interviews and essays on famous Brooklyn-borough residents like Spike Lee and Steve Buscemi, as well as only-famous-in-our-office Brooklynites like our very own PDN Contest Manager John Gimenez and his girlfriend Amy.

Published by powerHouse books, The Brooklynites is available through booksellers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Also check out an upcoming FREE slideshow and book signing with the authors:

Date: November 14, 2007
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Barnes & Noble
            106 Court St.
            Brooklyn, NY 11201

From top left: A portrait of Spike Lee from The Brooklynites; John and Amy in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Photographs by Seth Kushner.

Calling All Gear-heads!

If you've got a gear experience you want to share, check out PDN's new baby, PDNGearGuide.com and post a user review. We've just recently launched the site and want to hear from photo enthusiasts like you about what you do (or don't) love about your DSLRs, point-and-shoots, tripods, strobes, and more. Log-in (it's FREE!) to share your point of view and possibly help other gear-heads from making a really bad purchase.

swaziAID brings meaning to Art

If you're ready for your photography to start helping the world, here's where you can start:

The Makers United Fine Art Gallery wants your work to support SwaziAID, a non-profit organization dedicated to socio-economic and healthcare improvements in Swaziland (a nation located between South Africa and Mozambique with the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS victims in world). The Makers United program sells fine art through its online gallery with all profits going to swaziAID. The hope is to to raise funding for Swazi relief and development programs by promoting, reprinting and selling the artists' work to the public.     

If you are interested in including your artwork in the Makers United on-line Gallery, the swaziAID organization would love to hear from you. They are now accepting applicants and would like make the process as easy and accommodating as possible. Remember:

• No printing or handling obligations
• All rights remain with the artist
• All forms of re-printable art are acceptable
• No minimum or maximum number of submissions
• Your art will be advertised - visitors and buyers will be linked to your personal Web page (if applicable).

All accepted art will be displayed on the Makers United online gallery, organized by individual artist and by category. Included in the gallery will be an advertisement section for each artist next to his or her work. On this page, artists can give a short bio as well as a link to their personal portfolio or gallery.

Free exposure that helps your fellow man? Sounds like a win-win situation.

For more information and to apply for the gallery, visit www.swaziaid.org/makers-united.html The Swazi people currently have a more than 40 percent prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the adult population. Due to grave poverty and health circumstances all over Sub-Saharan Africa, Swaziland often receives relatively little attention from large international foundations and non-profit organizations.

SPE Rewards Students

The Society for Photographic Education recently announced its 2007 Student Scholarship recipients. Congratulations to the following winners.

Crystal Apple Award Recipient (sponsored by Freestyle Photographic Supplies)
Ross Sawyers, University of Washington, graduate

Crystal Apple Faculty Recipient
Paul Berger, University of Washington

Jeannie Pearce Award Recipient
Kelly Flynn, University of Miami, undergraduate

SPE Student Awards Recipients
Tanya Boggs, San Francisco Art Institute, graduate
Wendy Cooper, Savannah College of Art Design, undergraduate
John Holmgren, University of Minnesota, graduate
Tracy Longley-Cook, Arizona State University, graduate
Lauren Anne Loricchio, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, undergraduate
Lily Mayfield, Columbia College Chicago, graduate
Erika Nusser, Parsons The New School for Design, graduate
Stephanie Rose, Kendall College of Art + Design, graduate
Becki Rutta, Florida State University, graduate
Luke Strosnider, Visual Studies Workshop/SUNY Brockport, graduate

Photo Professor Takes First

The Santa Fe Center for Photography named John Weiss as its 2006 Excellence In Photographic Teaching Award winner. Weiss is a professor of photography and founder of the MFA program at the University of Delaware. He was awarded $2,500 and an Adobe Creative Suite.

"Teaching takes everything out of me, because I give everything I have to teaching," Weiss said in a formal statement. "In the classroom, I address the crucial initiatives of what it is to be alive, awake and aware in this world. I want to awaken in students a different way of seeing."

Criteria for the selection included a passion for teaching, an ability to excite students to learn, a concern for students as individuals and an enduring artistic curiosity.

Honorable mention awards went to Amanda Keller-Konya from the Brentwood School in Los Angeles and Rebecca Ross from the Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona.

For more information on Weiss and the SFCP award, see PDNedu's Spring 2007 issue, out this March.

The Best in Color Photography

The Philadelphia Museum of Art showcases the biggies of color photography in their new show, Mavericks of Color Photography, on through November 27.

Post-Modernism Appears in the East

Robert Rauschenberg, who is known for his everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to image-making, and Cindy Sherman for her inventive self-portraits are both showing at the Guild Hall Museum in in East Hampton N.Y. through Oct. 23.

Elinor Carucci's Diary of a Dancer

Elinor Carucci's new photos of Middle Eastern dancing are up through August 19th at Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 529 West 20th St., 3rd floor in New York.