FotoDocument, based in Brighton, UK, has issued a call for submissions for their new series of £2,500 grants for documentary photographers.

FotoDocument  has  launched  its  first  photo  documentary  project  with  the Environment  as  the  theme.  We will commission a small group of photographers worldwide to create a coherent and innovative body of documentary photographs on this important issue.

We will be commissioning photographers who have a proven track record in creating dynamic  documentary  photography  and  can  present  an  exciting  project  idea highlighting solutions to the environmental crisis facing the world.

Deadline for application is March 31, 2010.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Our friends at Soulcatcher Studio in Sante Fe are launching “picture Hope,” a special benefit art sale starting today to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.  The sale of fine art prints features signed, limited edition photographs for just $50.00 each, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.  The prints are expected to sell quickly, so get your orders in today and support an important cause.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

 
Lange-Taylor Prize
Deadline: January 31, 2010

The year 2010 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor documentary prize, a $20,000 award given annually by the Center for Documentary Studies. First announced a year after the Center’s founding at Duke University, the prize was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. In 1941 Lange and Taylor published An American Exodus, a book that renders human experience eloquently in text and images and remains a seminal work in documentary studies. The Lange-Taylor Prize honors their important collaborative work.

The Lange-Taylor Prize is offered to a writer and a photographer in the early stages of a documentary project. By encouraging such collaborative efforts, the Center for Documentary Studies supports the documentary process in which writers and photographers work together to record the human story.

UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said: Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

Failing to prepare and present your proposal materials correctly may also cause you to fail in securing the funding you want.

Think about how you would present yourself when going for a job interview.  You should consider many of the same things when mailing off your proposal to seek funding support.  Your proposal materials may be the first and only impression someone will have of you as a photographer, and as a businessperson.

Ask yourself these questions: What kind of impression am I making with my material?  Is it the correct one?  Will the person who receives my proposal know I am organized, work in a professional manner, follow directions, and pay attention to details?

Here are some tips to help you make the right impression.

Organization And Presentation

Start with the envelope or package.  It should be new and easy to reuse for return mailing of your materials.

Make the package simple to open.  Use enough tape to ensure that it will remain closed, but don’t get carried away!

The address should be typed or printed so that it is easy to read.

Give your package its own identity by attaching to the outside a high-quality color copy of a photograph with your proposal title.  This will help your package stand out.

Remember, this is the first impression someone will have of you.  Take the time to create an attractive package.  Believe it or not, some people will even notice if the stamps are straight!

Proposal Letter

Your letter should be neatly typed, and written with correct gram-mar and spelling.  Ask a friend to read through it to make sure it is clear.

Be focused and to the point.  Provide all of the requested information in a concise manner.

Before you write the letter, research and plan your project.  Make sure your ideas are practical, obtainable, and realistic.

When estimating costs for your project, be realistic and honest.  For example, don’t budget $10,000 for film and only $100 for annual living expenses.  This will red-flag your proposal.

Do not be misleading!  You should be able to back up what you say.

Resume

Again, this should be neatly typed, and written with correct gram-mar and spelling.

Limit yourself to one or two pages.  Cover the highlights of your career, not everything you have done in your life.

Design your résumé in chronological order.  This makes it easy for the recipient to locate information.

Visual Materials

Do not send original slides or prints.  Do send professional high-quality copy slides.  Remember, your skill as a photographer will be judged by the quality of your copy slides.

If you cannot produce high-quality copy slides, hire someone who knows how to do it.

Label your slides clearly, with your name, phone number, and required information on each slide.

Present only the number of slides requested.

Other Materials

Put your name on everything you send.

Send only the requested information.  Sending information that is not requested will only get in the way of the required materials and may slow down the process.

Visual Continuity

Give your entire proposal a cohesive and professional look.  Use a computer and a word-processing program to create your proposal materials.

Use the same typeface throughout your proposal materials, one that is easy to read.

If possible, print all of your materials on the same paper stock.  Remember, when you mail off your proposal materials, the first impression someone will have of you is the look of your presentation.  You want it to say you are professional, trustworthy, creative, and talented.

On the other hand, don’t send a slick presentation with fancy logos and cool graphic design that is devoid of any substance.  It may be considered nothing but window dressing.

Personal Example

When I interviewed for my last teaching position, one of the first things the department chair said was “We’re very impressed with your teaching credentials and the presentation of your materials.”  I got that teaching position!

David D. Johnson

This series features selected articles from Shooting From The Heart: Photography That Makes A Difference, our highly regarded handbook for photographers developing documentary projects.  If you can’t wait for the full series to be published, feel free to download a free PDF version of Shooting From The Heart and have a copy to keep as your own!

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC will be hosting an exhibit by Blue Earth photographer Heather McClintock featuring images from her project The Innocents: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda opening this week January 22, 2010 and running through March 13.

In conjunction with the exhibit, Halsey will also host a panel discussion, including Heather McClintock, Blue Earth board member Heather Dwyer, and other photographic experts to discuss “The Politics of Presentation: Finding a Venue for Challenging Documentary Projects” the following day on Saturday, January 23.

This panel will look at the challenges surrounding the dissemination of difficult imagery and explore exhibition venues, websites, and publishers’ perspectives.  Each panelist will give a brief overview of their organization’s engagement with challenging work, and share stories about how the organization has been able to persevere in this rarefied area.

If you are in the Charleston area, don’t miss this unique opportunity!

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Photo Center Northwest is hosting Blue Earth: Art as Activism, an exhibition featuring three Blue Earth photographic projects.  Join us for an artist reception, featuring brief presentations by all three artists, on Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m.  For his project Amazon Forest At Risk, Daniel Beltrá photographs the threats to the Amazon rainforest and inspires an appreciation of the plants, animals and people that depend on it.  Heather McClintock’s project, The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region.  In her project Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People, Rozarii Lynch documents the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and the social, health, and economic issues they face.

Blue Earth: Art as Activism
Artists’ Lectures and Opening Reception
Friday, February 5th, 6-9 p.m.
Lecture Tickets: $6 regular, $4 members, 206.720.7222 ext 10

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - February 28, 2010
Location: Photo Center NW, 900 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122

Daniel Beltrá - Amazon: Forest at Risk

The ancient rainforest of the vast Amazon basin represents over half the world’s remaining tropical forests. This verdant wilderness is one of our richest ecosystems, harboring the greatest biodiversity on the planet. And, this forest is vital to the world’s atmospheric health as almost 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come directly from tropical forest clearance. Burning down the Amazon contributes significantly to global warming. Since 2001 Daniel has photographed the changing forest, witnessing both the worst drought in living memory and one of the river’s most extensive floods. He has documented the burning of thousands of acres of untouched rainforest. By continuing to document the threats to the forest’s wildlife and local inhabitants he presents a powerful argument for their protection.

Heather McClintock - The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda

The Innocent is a collaboration of trust and discovery, from the vantage point of the children living in the war-torn region of northern Uganda. Despite living amidst conflict, these children are resilient enough to show the courage, strength of will, and hope that exists within the human spirit. For more than twenty-two years, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been engaged in an armed rebellion against the government’s military, the Ugandan Peoples Defense Force (UPDF). The Acholi tribe has been caught in the middle of this complex and barbaric civil war, in which countless numbers have been brutalized and abducted minors comprised almost 90% of the rebel soldiers. It is estimated that as many as 66,000 children have been abducted by the LRA, wrenched from their families and forced to become soldiers and sex slaves. The Acholi are a proud and gracious people who want nothing more than to be educated, sleep safely in their own homes, have food to eat and clothing on their backs, to live in peace; no different than you and I.

Rozarii Lynch - Life in Peril: Tanzanian Albino People

Despite being a significant portion of the population, albino people in Tanzania are under- represented and largely misunderstood. Under the searing sun they suffer greatly-physically and socially. They face significant health problems such as poor vision and a high incidence of skin cancer. They also endure widespread discrimination, a lack of education, and limited financial and health resources. Compounding this misfortune, albino people in Tanzania are now commonly hunted, mutilated and murdered. Their body parts, believed by some people to have magical powers, are sold to witchdoctors who make “get rich quick” potions which are traded to those seeking fortune. By documenting the atrocities currently being committed against albino people in Tanzania, and, the social, health and economic issues they face in general, this project aims to raise international awareness and effect positive change for their situation.

We are pleased to once again invite applicants for the Blue Earth Prize For Best Project Photography at the PhotoAlliance 2010 Our World Portfolio Review. This award offered in partnership with PhotoAlliance provides recognition for photographic work best representing our mission: To raise awareness about endangered cultures, threatened environments and social concerns through photography.

This award will highlight the work of one attendee in a special Honors Section of the Blue Earth website as well as in a blog follow-up about PhotoAlliance, the Review and the winner’s project. Blue Earth will also waive the application fee for the winning photographer to submit for Blue Earth project sponsorship as well as offer free membership for one year. Three runners-up will also be offered free submission for Project Sponsorship and a free one-year Blue Earth membership.

PhotoAlliance 2010 Our World Portfolio Review
Addressing the Creative Ways We Explore, Portray, Express and
Connect Through Images.

March 12-14, 2010 in San Francisco
To guarantee a high quality experience, the event will be pre-juried, with a limit of 50. Deadline to submit your portfolio for consideration
February 10th, 2010

Reviewers are committed professionals representing a cross section of our community including book and magazine publishers, packagers and editors, museum, non-profit and commercial gallery directors and curators and leading educators and photographers.

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh  © Asim Rafiqui

Want to follow the day-to-day work in the field of an internationally famous photojournalist?  Blue Earth project photographer Asim Rafiqui is providing regular updates on his latest trip to India.  At his personal blog The Spinning Head, Asim is sharing details on all the situations, sites, spaces that he is exploring as part of his “Idea Of India” project along with maps of his travels though the country.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Primordial Tree © Stephen Harrison

The Ansel Adams Gallery and Blue Earth are proud to host an inspiring lecture series and photo exhibit featuring our dramatically changing planet titled “Changing Earth: Photographer’s Call to Action” at Mumm Napa Fine Art Photography Gallery through March 13, 2010.

The third in our Mumm Napa lecture series will feature “Eye: Forgot It Had A Brain,” a presentation by Blue Earth project photographer Stephen Harrison on Saturday, Feb. 6th 2009, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

“The limitations inherent in image making with camera and lens since 1839 are now gone,” according to Harrison. “Virtually any image capable of being visualized in the human imagination can today be implemented using a variety of tools. The camera is one of many. The inventions and discoveries made over the millennium by painters and sculptors are now relevant to constructing compelling images. In the midst of the dazzling array of images now flooding the world of art, profound technological advancements have been made in the neurosciences and related endeavors regarding that one single backstage organ called the brain. In literally the past ten years, our understanding of human brain and the visual cortex has been nothing less than spectacular. Like the Renaissance in the early 16th century, new exciting paradigms and questions are now emerging that have direct bearing on the visual arts: How can the scope of art and photography be expanded in lieu of these recent advancements? How are images represented in the brain? What vital neural processes influence the construction of meaning in visual images? What precisely is metaphor, and how does the process of conceptual mapping perform its invisible work in visual images? What does science have to say about the neural correlates of visual images that are interesting and transformative? This presentation will touch upon these topics as told by a seasoned and consummate photographer during his personal journey of image creation.”

Stephen Harrison, far from being retired, continues his lifelong intense involvement in photography and the fine arts. Harrison has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in engineering, a MA degree from Antioch University in psychology, and an M.D. from Yale University. He completed his psychiatric residence at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. He trained in photography in the fine art department of both Purdue and the University of Illinois. By 1989, Harrison completed a Sanskrit to English translation of the Classical Indian text: “Bhagavad Gita.” He is the Author and photographer of the book: “Whispered Prayers: Portraits and Prose of Tibetans in Exile.” He has completed two films: one on Tibetans in Exile and a second based on the novel “Island of the Blue Dolphin” with an original score and music performed live by the Santa Barbara Symphony.

Mumm Napa Winery is located at 8445 Silverado Trail, Rutherford, CA 94573.  For directions call (707) 967-7700.  Visitor center and fine art photography gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.  Series lectures are free and open to the public, but please RSVP at (707) 967-7740 to guarantee seating.

Upcoming Lectures
Feb. 6th - Stephen Harrison, “Eye: Forgot It Had A Brain”
Mar. 6th - John Trotter, “The Future of the Colorado River”
Mar. 13th - Florian Schulz, “Freedom To Roam” and
Daniel Beltrá “Amazon: Forest at Risk”

We would like to thank SanDisk for sponsoring the lecture series and our friends at PhotoAlliance for generously helping to publicize the lectures.

Don’t forget - PhotoAlliance’s annual portfolio review is approaching soon, and the deadline to submit your portfolio is February 10th, 2010.

This two-day event will bring together top photography editors, publishers, curators, gallerists, and educators representing small, mid-sized, and major venues from around the U.S. to meet with engaged photographers to review their portfolios and encourage their careers.  The review will be pre-juried, with a limit of 50, and run March 12-14, 2010 at San Francisco.  Download a full prospectus for more information.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

Snowy Owl at the Sarvey Wildlife Center.  © Annie Marie Musselman

Annie Marie Musselman kept a crowd of over 100 enthralled at her Blue Earth lecture yesterday.  In the second lecture of the 2009-2010 season of our series highlighting documentary photography, Blue Earth project photographer Annie Marie Musselman spoke about her work rescuing animals in need at the Sarvey Wildlife Center as well as other work in Borneo with orangutans.  Attendees saw some of her most recent photos and heard personal stories from the field.  Annie’s work is dramatic, very personal; no one left the lecture that day without a deeper appreciation of our connections with the animals with whom humans share this planet.

Keep an eye out for announcements about upcoming lectures - our next speaker will be Stephen Harrison “The Brain Through The Eyes Of The Beholder: New Explorations in Art, Neuroscience and Cognition.”

All lectures are held Saturdays, 2 p.m.at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle.  Admission is free for Frye and Blue Earth members; $5 for students w/ ID or $10 for general admission.  Tickets will be available at the door.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

The new year brings parties, but also a new tax season…  Local Seattle arts agency 4Culture has noted in their blog that the IRS will be taking a closer look at artists’ tax returns - and the IRS specifically intends to target photographers for a closer examination.  Check out the post at 4Culture for more information and links to resources.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

“If you go to every farmer in this complaint, they all have an issue,” says Sherman Witcher.  “We all have a bond.  We can’t get loans because of the color of our skin.”  After bringing one of their semis up from the field to be repossessed by the bank in Rocky Mount, VA, somebody shot 13 bullet holes in it.  Photo taken in May 2001.  © Jeffrey Sauger

Celebrating Black History Month this coming February, Blue Earth photographer Jeffrey Sauger’s Where Furrows Run Deep will be exhibited at Loupe Digital Studio.

The American Dream remains elusive for our nation’s black farmers, who have been losing their land at a rate three times faster than the national average.  Institutional racism, foreclosures and bankruptcy have torn families from farms they have occupied for generations.  Today, African Americans own roughly only 1 percent of all farmland in the United States.

As this population continues to disappear from our national landscape, Loupe Digital Studio presents “Where Furrows Run Deep,” a comprehensive collection of images by Detroit-based photographer Jeffrey Sauger.  Shot on black-and-white film over several years, “Where Furrows Run Deep” depicts the tragedy and triumph of the American black farmer without artifice: It is both anthropological document and aesthetic achievement.

The exhibit will run through February with an opening reception February 4, 2010 at 117 East 24th Street, Studio 2B in New York from 6-9 p.m. Exhibit hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

- Bart J. Cannon, Program Manager

A Barn Owl that is undergoing rehabilitation leaps from the top of his cage at Sarvey Wildliife Care Center in Arlington, Washington. © Annie Marie Musselman.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars!  This week Blue Earth is proud to host photographer Annie Marie Musselman presenting “Finding Trust: My Discoveries At A Small Wildlife Sanctuary,” the second in our 2009-2010 lecture series on documentary photography focusing on global environments, social, and cultural issues. Musselman will be speaking in Seattle at the Frye Art Museum on Saturday, January 9 at 2 p.m.

“Finding Trust, the photo essay,” according to Musselman, “began 6 years ago at the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, a small sanctuary about 45 miles north of Seattle, Washington where I live and work as a photographer. In 2002 when my mother passed away, I was left looking for something to hold on to, something real to photograph, and found the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Located in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range, it is a place where injured, wild creatures come to finish their journey or start a new one. The photographs I produce document the delicate union that exists between humans and animals. It’s not just the actual places where were our lives often intersect, like a park or forest, but the spaces where our emotions meet. The work documents the infirmed animals’ recovery with a sense of wonder as they heal, hoping to return to the wild forests of the Northwest. I hope to capture the palpable emotions in my photographs because I can’t help but contemplate how much we actually know about each other.”

Tickets available at the door.  Free to Blue Earth and Frye members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with ID.

Is your membership up-to-date?  Renew today and attend all events in the Blue Earth Lecture Series for free!

Red northern lights. © Subhankar Banerjee

Wishing you a very Happy New Year from all your friends at Blue Earth!  If your city doesn’t have fireworks to celebrate the New Year, then sometimes the Aurora will have to do.