The aim of Photolucida’s Critical Mass program is to give exposure to emerging and mid-career photographers across the globe. In 2011, over 500 artists entered their work for the chance to be seen by over 200 professionals in the photography world. Curators, gallery directors, editors, and publishers juried the work of these artists, and through a truly democratic process, narrowed the field down to the Critical Mass TOP 50. Juror, Darius Himes of Fraenkel Gallery, selected one image per artist to represent the artists’ projects. The exhibition will travel from PCNW in Seattle to Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, and RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco, furthering the mission of all four photography organizations to bring top emerging talent to the public. To view the full body of work each artist submitted you can visit here.

THE JUROR

Darius Himes is Assistant Director of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. He is a co-founder of Radius Books, a non-profit publisher of books on photography and the visual arts, where he serves on the Board and consults on project acquisitions. He was founding editor of photo-eye Booklist, a quarterly magazine devoted to photography books, which ran from 2002–2007. A lecturer, educator, and writer, he has contributed to Aperture, Blind Spot, Bookforum, BOMB, PDN, and American Photo. In 2008, he was named by PDN as one of the fifteen most influential people in photography book publishing. His most recent title, “Publish Your Photography Book,” co-authored with Mary Virginia Swanson, was released by Princeton Architectural Press in the Spring of 2011.

Juror Statement

“The picture’s smiling appearance is for your sake, so that by means of the picture the real theme may be established.”—Mathnavi, 1.2769

Curating an exhibition from a pre-established group of artists and photographs has certain obvious challenges, as well as unpredictable rewards. The parameters are simple to explain: one photograph was to be selected from small portfolios submitted by each of the fifty chosen Critical Mass artists. What will be first and most readily apparent to the viewer is the vast diversity of work. That is the first theme. A further layer is provided by the groupings of images. They are both loose and intentional, with hints of association and shades of meaning. Lastly, one arrives at individual images, each extracted from larger, and in this case, unseen bodies of work. Each image then carries with it a theme singular to itself and yet stands in for a deeper vision, while simultaneously speaking to and being informed by the other works in the exhibition. Theme upon theme hinting at other themes; a wide-ranging conversation. As Kent Rogowski’s opening piece so elegantly indicates, the ultimate Contents to be found in the works shown here speaks to Love, Anxiety, Happiness and Everything Else.—Darius Himes

CRITICAL MASS ARTISTS

Jane Fulton Alt, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Jessica Auer, Mary Ellen Bartley, Daniel Beltra, Nadine Boughton, Colette Campbell-Jones, Christopher Capozziello/AEVUM, Kirk Crippens, John Cyr, Katrina d’Autremont, Scott Dalton, Christopher Dawson, Nigel Gordon Dickinson, Mitch Dobrowner, Carolyn Drake, Jeremy Dyer, Mark Fernandes, Misha Friedman, Lucia Ganieva, Meggan Gould, Gabriela Herman, Sarah Hobbs, Jeroen Hofman, Jennifer Hudson, Yaakov Israel, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Alejandra Laviada, Fritz Liedtke, Sebastian Liste, Gloriann Liu, Larry Louie, Mark Lyon, Michael Marten, Susana Raab, Jesse Rieser, Alejandro Rivas, Kent Rogowski, Philipp Scholz Rittermann, Geoffrey H. Short, Youngsuk Suh, Daro Sulakauri, Stephen Vaughan, Toshiya Watanabe, David Welch, Sarah Wilson, Susan Worsham

photo by My Duc Ly

The exhibition also includes a collaborative project between Out of Site students and Lick Wilmerding High School students, facilitated by The American Teenager Project.

Artists

Ashoka Alvarez, Julie Avetisyan, Kira Boden-Gologorsky, Lily Brennessel, Hedda Carney, Max Comito-Steller, Karry Farebrother, Kelsey Johe, My Duc Ly, Anna MacKenzie, Carlos Montejano, Xander Pearce, Crescencio Tano, Sydney Vaca

The Photo Center 17th Annual Photo Competition Exhibition will be chosen by W.M. Hunt, esteemed Collector and Curator. This annual juried exhibition draws entries from across the country and around the world, and remains among the most popular shows in Photo Center’s annual schedule. Selected entries will be exhibited at Photo Center in Seattle from August 3rd – September 18th, 2012. First, second, and third prize winners will take home $1000, $500, and $250 as well as $75 Gift Certificates of Blurb Scrip for each winner. The competition is open to all photographers internationally & all photographic processes. The theme is open this year. All entries must be received by Friday, May 18th, 2012

For submission details: http://pcnw.org/gallery/call-for-entries/17th-annual-photo-competition-exhibition_bill-hunt/

Photo Center gratefully acknowledges our Cash Award Sponsors!

Japanese-born photographers Hiroyo Kaneko and Asako Shimazaki, both based in San Francisco for more than ten years, will present photographs taken in Tohoku. Kaneko started returning to her hometown, Aomori, the northernmost part of Tohoku, in 2007 for her project, “Picnics.” She has continued that series as well as started two additional projects; “Harvest” and “Snow Shoveling,” using a large format camera with color film. Shimazaki traveled through that area from the late 80s to the early 90s and photographed ruins, nature, traditional places and villages with black and white 35mm film.

The exhibition will coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami tragedy. These images of the same region from different times and approaches will share various perspectives of the artists’ lives and the local people’s lives, which may bring us a sense of hope, like a prayer for the victims.

Side Gallery: 4.12.12 – 5.4.12
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 12th, 6-8p

Photo by Jason Duffany

Crafted at RayKo Artists

Register now for a Traditional & Darkroom, Digital Photo & Workflow, Historical & Alternative processes, and Lighting & Technique workshop.  This semester Moshe Quinn joins our faculty as a new instructor and brings with him two new courses:  The Zone System and Creative Photography of Architecture.  Greg Wilson is also on board to show students Matting and Presentation to put the final touches on the completion of their projects. 

Register for one of RayKo's photo workshops today!

Announcing the 1st round of selected student artists
1st place – Kaden Kratzer
2nd place – Nadine Defranoux
3rd place – Cory Fitzgerald
2nd round entry deadline: May 11, 2012

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS & ENTRIES

During the past 7 years, thousands of students have gone through RayKo’s workshop and tutoring programs. It’s been phenomenal to see the outstanding submissions to the first Student/Instructor Exhibition. Equally wonderful is seeing some long-time students make the top of the list in a completely blind jurying process. Peruse the gallery to see the winners of the first round and view some of the stellar work our students have produced over the years like Kaden Kratzer’s minimalist Dragonfly tintype, Nadine Defranoux’s gorgeously captured moment in Mongolia on color film, and Cory Fitzgerald’s luminescent and painterly digital image.

Honorable Mentions

Sean Dana | J.M. Golding | Melvin Harper | Jennifer Hogan | Guilhem Lacaze | Marvin Moser
Leslie Podell | Evan Pyle | John Foxe Sheets | Kristina Smith | Sarah Twitchell | Cliff Williams

Exhibition prizes for workshop credits

1st place – $300 | 2nd place – $200 | 3rd place – $150 | Juror awards – $50
To enter the next submission round (deadline: May 11th) click here

Deadline submission, May 11th for Round 2!!

Photo by Audrey Jones

About

A Juried Show that is only open to students and instructors from the RayKo Workshop program. We take pride in the excellent and diverse workshops offered here, and have watched so many students thrive in our program that we want to highlight the works you’ve created! It’s a great opportunity to get your work out into the world, and be seen by thousands of people. There will be a main gallery exhibition, an online exhibition of the selected images that “win” for each semester, and there will be two entry rounds for images to be published in our Workshop Catalog. In each of the two catalog selection rounds, the prizes are class credits towards a workshop of your choice.

Click here to begin entry process

ELIGIBILITY

People who have taken a class or received tutoring in a specific process is eligible to enter. Whether you took one of our very first classes or are currently enrolled, you’re eligible.

When work is submitted, each entry has the potential of being accepted for up to four exhibition/print opportunities listed below:

1. Winners will be published in our workshop catalog
2. All selected images will be exhibited in the Main Gallery show
3. All selected images will be published in the Juried Show catalog
4. Winners will be published in our online gallery

For the December 2012 exhibition at RayKo, we will be creating a print catalog of all the accepted works. This will be an exciting presentation encapsulating the diverse range of work that students and instructors create.

CATEGORIES FOR SUBMISSION

You may submit images to multiple categories.

• Traditional & Darkroom
• Digital
• Technique & Lighting
• Historic & Alternative process

DATES FOR SUBMISSIONS and NOTIFICATIONS

Fall 2012 catalog

• Deadline for student image submission (Friday, May 11, 2012)
• Notified of results (Thursday, May 17, 2012)
• High res images due (Tuesday, May 22, 2012)

December 2012 RayKo Gallery exhibition

• Deadline for student & instructor submissions: October 12, 2012
• Notification sent: October 25, 2012
• High res images due: November 3, 2012
• Deadline for receipt of framed work: November 30, 2012
• Opening reception & catalog launch: December 6, 2012, 6-8pm
• Exhibition on view: December 6, 2012 – January 11, 2013

FEES

$10/up to 3-images
$5/each additional image (maximum of 10 total images)

Submit your best work!

JURORS

Ann Jastrab, MFA, is a fine art photographer, master printer, and teacher. She is currently the Gallery Director at RayKo Photo Center. The RayKo Gallery offers over 1600 square feet of exhibition space and presents eight to ten shows annually featuring nationally recognized artists. Ann regularly participates as a juror and reviewer for a multitude of organizations: the SF Arts Commission, Academy of Art in SF, Artspan, SF Art Institute, Fotofest, Photolucida, Review Santa Fe, Review LA, PhotoAlliance, SPE, Fotovision, Click646, and Critical Mass. She has also taught at the Maine Media Workshops since 1994.

Audrey Jones received her B.F.A. in Photography at the University of Georgia in Athens. She has had multiple shows throughout Georgia and California. After graduating, she worked in New York City in various photography studios and businesses. Since moving to the Bay Area she has been teaching photography classes at a studio in the East Bay, as well running its facilities. Audrey is the RayKo Workshop Coordinator and a member of the Darkroom staff. She is currently working on a project documenting residents living on the Oakland waterfront.

Mia Nakano is a working photographer and teacher who is invested in working with people, organizations, and movements that create social justice. She is the former Photo-Editor of Hyphen Magazine, an award winning photojournalist, and has most recently been assisting in the Free The Hikers movement. She has been the Photo-Editor and production manager of several publications, is a frequent lecturer at Universities speaking about race, gender, and sex politics, and is currently the Co-Director & Digital Manager of RayKo.

Copyright aka “The Fine Print”

You will retain copyright of your entries at all times and will always be credited alongside your picture as well as grant a non-exclusive license to display your photograph in connection with this contest in print, email, web, and all forms of publication, along with photo credit for every use. Upon submission of images, you also acknowledge that the image is yours and yours alone, and if/when a model is used, the proper release has been acquired.

Juror

Ann Jastrab, Gallery Director,
RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA

$500 Developed Work Fellowship Recipient

Christopher Capozziello
New Haven, Connecticut

For more information, please visit Midwest Center for Photography.

2012 JURY:

David Bram, Fraction Magazine
Alexa Dilworth, Center for Documentary Studies
Jim Estrin, New York Times
Taj Forer + Michael Itkoff, Daylight
Paul Moakley, Time Magazine
Jessie Wender, New Yorker Magazine

1 Daylight Photo Award recipient wins:

-$1000 Cash prize

-Solo exhibition at the Daylight Project Space

-Feature in Daylight Magazine

-Daylight Multimedia podcast production

-Complete set of Daylight Books (published to date)

5 Juror Picks win:

-Portfolio feature in group Daylight Multimedia production

-Copy of Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers’ Essays

Entry Fee: $40

Deadlines:

Submissions due May 15
Winners announced July 1
Exhibition and multimedia features begin September 1

SUBMIT HERE: https://daylight.slideroom.com/

For more info, please visit Daylight Magazine.

The SPE member show,”Intimacy and Voyeurism: The Public/Private Divide in Photography,” juried by Todd Hido will showcase images about photography’s ongoing tensions between public and private domain, and will explore how the lines between those domains are often blurred. The following artists were selected for the exhibition:

Malena Barnhart | Sean Black | Tara Bogart | Kristy Lynn Carpenter | Daniel Coburn | Rachel Cox | Jess Dugan | Marico Fayre | Polly Gaillard | Tracie Heller | Rachel Hubbard | Julie Jones | Chris Jordan | Ashley Kaucshinger | John Kobeck | Julia Kozerski | Joseph Labate | Andrea Land | Sarah-Marie Land | Mark Lee | Alex Leme | Nora Lewis | Kimberly Llerena | Amelia Morris | Jay Muhlin | Teresa Munisteri | Peggy Nolan | Emma Powell | Julia Schlosser | | Besty Schneider | Marta Shumylo | Ernesto Somoza | Leona Strassberg Steiner | Claire Warden | Laine Wyatt

JUROR

Todd Hido is a San Francisco Bay Area-based artist whose work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times Magazine, Eyemazing, Metropolis, The Face, I-D, and Vanity Fair. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as in many other public and private collections. He has over a dozen published books, the latest monograph being A Road Divided, released in 2010.

Join us for the opening reception on March 24th when Todd Hido announces the best of show winner from this competition.

To learn more about Society for Photographic Education or the SPE national conference, go to www.spenational.org

Side Gallery: 3.15.12 – 4.6.12
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 24th, 6-8p

Crafted at RayKo Artists

Sean Dana | Rachael Jablo | Allen McKinney | Ron Saunders | Hiroshi Suzuki | Gordon Szeto | Pat Willard