If you’re in the New York City area over the next week, please check it out.  Below are the details.

• Location: Calumet Gallery, 2nd Floor, 22 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010 (map)
• Dates: January 12–20, 2012
• Time: 9am–5pm

Here is a sample of what I saw.

Unfortunately, both the rally and the races scheduled for the day had to be cancelled due to excessive wind, but the day was not a total waste, as a handful of the participants stuck around for the entire day, and we were able to at least see some of the balloons during the late evening hours, despite their not being able to leave the ground.

Below are a few of the photos from the afternoon, and I’ve got another balloon rally on my calendar for next month, so hopefully we’ll fare better then.

The focus of this series for me was both an exploration of the historic architecture of the city, as well as to showcase the current plight of the city and its citizenry.  Below is a small sample of the series, which can be viewed in its entirety on its gallery page.

It is an honor to be chosen as one of their featured photographers out of the fifty-nine participants that took part in this program, and I hope to keep up the momentum from this going forward.  My photo is on the third page of the pages listed here, along with the cover and the story itself.

To read the full article and see all of the featured photos, please visit the ASMP Bulletin reader site (free sign up is required).

Young Photographers Alliance Honors Another Five Talented Young Photographers With Scholarship Awards

NEW YORK, NY — September 14, 2011 — Young Photographers Alliance (YPA), a 501(c)3 educational foundation dedicated to developing the talent of young photographers, has awarded scholarship awards to five talented young photographers from across the US:

• Katie Koti, Graduate Student, Yale University (Alamy Award)
• Kathya Maria Landeros, Graduate student, Massachusetts College of Art & Design (Jerry Tavin Award)
• Hayden Myrick, Freshman, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (ASMP Award)
• Alena Reyes, Senior, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (ASMP Award)
• Kevin Truong, Junior, Pratt Institute (APA Award)

Photo essays submitted by the award winners are available to download from: www.youngphotographersalliance.org/programs/scholarships.php

This year’s scholarships have been generously funded by ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), APA (Advertising Photographers of America), Alamy (stock photo agency), and Jerry Tavin (YPA Founder). YPA is honored to have Deborah Willis, Lois Greenfield, Albert Watson, Theresa Raffetto and Hans Neleman present this year’s awards to the five scholarship winners at the YPA Award Ceremony and Benefit Auction, to be held at the Calumet Studio, New York, from 7pm to 10pm on Wednesday, October 19th.
The Benefit Auction, which will begin at the Award Ceremony and continue online until October 31st, will include highly collectable signed prints by renowned photographers Amy Arbus, Barbara Bordnick, Brad Trent, Cameron Davidson, Jill Enfield, Marcus Gaab, Martyn Thompson, Sebastian Smith, Toby McFarlan Pond, Vincent Dixon, Jimmy Fikes and others. There will also be prints by the 2011 YPA Scholarship winners.
The Award Ceremony and Benefit Auction is YPA’s principal fundraising vehicle. The event is open to all and is a unique opportunity to meet leading players in the photography and stock image business, and to enjoy – and possibly acquire – some stunning photography, while celebrating and supporting young talent. Tickets may be purchased online and cost $50 (or $75 at the door).
For more information or to buy tickets, see www.youngphotographersalliance.org/events/ or contact Deborah Free at 585-768-7880 or deborah@youngphotographersalliance.org.

About YPA

Young Photographers Alliance is a global community where young photographers connect with the inspiration, resources and contacts they need to build successful and sustainable careers as the artists, communicators and documenters of the future. The foundation brings together a wealth of industry experience through its board and membership, and offers real-world knowledge, insight, experience, and contacts to help students and other emerging photographers develop their artistic skills and business acumen as photography professionals. Likewise, through its programs, YPA helps established photography professionals connect with the next generation of innovative image-makers. For more information, visit www.YoungPhotographersAlliance.org.

The judging panel for this year’s YPA awards comprised: Hans Neleman (Photographer), Jill Enfield (Photographer), Spencer Jones (CEO at Glasshouse Images), and Jerry Tavin (YPA founder).

About the presenters

• Deborah Willis is a contemporary artist, photographer, curator of photography, photographic historian,author and educator. Among other awards and honors she has received, Ms. Willis was a 2000 MacArthur Fellow. She is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts of New York University.
• Lois Greenfield (www.loisgreenfield.com) is a photographer made famous by her ability to capture the human form in motion and her use of it as a compositional element in her art. Greenfield’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Her newest venture has taken her career full circle, collaborating and performing around the world with the Australian Dance Theatre in “Held”, a dance inspired by her photography in which she shoots the live action as part of the performance.
• Albert Watson (www.albertwatson.net) has made his mark as one of the world’s most successful fashion and commercial photographers during the last four decades, while creating his own art along the way. His striking images have appeared on more than 100 covers of Vogue around the world, as well as Rolling Stone and Vibe. He also has created the photography for hundreds of successful advertising campaigns for major corporations, such as Prada, the Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel.
• Theresa Raffetto (www.theresaraffetto.com) is a member of American Photographic Artists (APA) and currently serves on the national board as President, as well as being an accomplished food and concept photographer.
• Hans Neleman (www.neleman.com) is an internationally renowned photographer, film director and author, as well as the founder of WIN-initiative, a boutique stock photography agency and its promotional magazine, WINk.

Note to Editors

YPA will provide additional materials upon request to any editors or writers who would like to produce a feature article on the scholarships or mentoring program. Please contact Deborah Free at 585-768-7880 or deborah@youngphotographersalliance.org to discuss your requirements and deadlines. The YPA logo and photos from last year’s Award Ceremony may be downloaded from: www.youngphotographersalliance.org/PR/

Contact : Deborah Free
Phone number : 585-768-7880
Email : info@youngphotographersalliance.org

For day 30, I have put together a short story board of how I spent that final night of the project.  It was Friday night, and as usual, was just hanging out at home, exhausted from working all week and chasing around two small kids.  I’m not much of a television watcher, so instead of vegging out on the couch, the lady and I tossed on a playlist of Hendrix, CCR, and Pink Floyd and reignited our old rummy rivalry.

I haven’t given much thought to my next project yet, but if you’re reading this on the website, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve redesigned the site.  Most likely, I’ll be focusing my attention on finalizing this redesign for the next few days while I toss around some ideas for the next thing I want to focus on doing.

Til then…

For day 29, I grabbed a few photos of the bouquet, focusing primarily on the change that the roses are experiencing.

I did this shot from a couple of different angles, but each time the background was distracting to me, so in my edit, I mainly focused on trying to tone that down, but other than that, I didn’t spend too much time on this one.