Lenscratch

John Bridges, Embrace

LENSCRATCH, a daily journal/magazine that explores contemporary photography and considered one of the top 10 Photography related blogs you should be reading by Source Review, Wired.com and InSyle Magazine, featured the upcoming show that I am exhibiting a silver gelatin photograph in. See article written by Aline Smithson here or below.

 RayKo’s 7th AnnualPlastic Camera Show opens Wednesday, March 5th from 6-8pm and runs through April 29th, 2014. It’s one of my favorite toy camera events and I have been a participant over the years, attending the spirited and packed-to-the-gills openings that have connected me to wonderful image makers. And as Gallery Director Ann Jastrab states,”..this year won’t just have pictures from the usual suspects, stars of previous years like Thomas Alleman, Michelle Bates, and Sam Grant. It also won’t just have sublime landscapes, fiery trees, unique Polaroids, heartbreaking portraits, funny dogs, sexy horses, crazy cross-processing, flares of wild color, precious 2 ¼ inch square collodion plates and one taxidermied giant anteater. The exhibition will have stunning photographs from Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Iran, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and, ohhnc, from many of these United States of ours, all the way from Maine to California, and Alaska AND Hawaii too!

And just when you thought film might be dead. Well apparently not, so rejoice and come down to RayKo on the night of March 5th to experience the magic with the rest of us fans of the latent image. Many of the artists will be in attendance, including this year’s featured artist is James Rohan.

Long live toy cameras….and film!

Plastic Camera Show at Rayko Photo Gallery in San Francisco

Excited to announce I will be in this exhibit! Hope you can make the Plastic Camera Show at Rayko Photo Gallery in San Francisco and see my 120 film image taken with a plastic Holga and printed in silver taken in 2004 in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  The opening reception is March 6th from 6-8pm. The show is from March 6th to April 29th.

Happy Year of the Horse! Sharing the February 2014 issue of the Sun Magazine that I am published in with my horse neighbors.  My photograph was taken in a snow storm in Manhattan, New York.

I am giving an artist talk this evening at the Petaluma Arts Center at 7:25. The talks start at 6. I'll be speaking about a piece from Karawala, Nicaragua & sharing my Pedagogy of Photography collaborative work with bilingual & bicultural youth from Latin American to New York City.

I'm in two upcoming exhibits in my new hometown, Petaluma, California!

Four of my photographs were selected for the exhibit, Landscapes- Art Around Town at Petaluma Valley Hospital. The show will be held from November 13, 2013 – February 12, 2014. The selected black and white photographs are from Beaver Dam/ Wisconsin, Cape Cod/Massachusetts, Yosemite/California and Bronx/New York.

I found out about this exhibit and was encouraged to submit by attending a fabulous Day of the Dead celebration last Saturday night at the Petaluma Arts Center -located in the Historic Railroad Depot Freight Building. My little choo choo lover was so happy. We had such a great time and I was so impressed with the art and culture of the Día de Muertos event that I became a member of the Petaluma Arts Center. 

I will also be in the upcoming 13th annual members show, The Place Where We Live, November 15, 2013- January 3, 2014 at the Petaluma Arts Center. I will be exhibiting one of my favorite images from Karawala, Nicaragua where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  The opening for the The Place Where We Live Exhibit is Saturday, November 16th from 4:00-7:00.

I hope you can check out some of my photographs around Petaluma.  See links below for  more information or location for shows.


The Place Where We Live Exhibit

Art Around Town at Petaluma Valley Hospital

As a documentary photographer, nothing feels more real than photographing birth.  I love being a documentary birth photographer and I am on a birth high for weeks after.  It is so unbelievable to watch a little human enter the world and be a part of such an intimate milestone in families lives!  I photograph births and other family related work under the site photoRAYA.  Raya means new & life in Miskitu, one of the languages I spoke as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua   One of my recent birth photos was removed & then restored on facebook and it was written about here by PetaPixel. PetaPixel is a leading blog with 146k followers covering the wonderful world of photography whose goal is to inform, educate and inspire in all things photography-related.

Here is the direct link to the story. http://petapixel.com/2013/06/25/birth-and-breastfeeding-photos-removed-restored-on-facebook-and-instagram/

Center for Fine Art Photography

Honored to have one of my photographs in this exhibit, (Un)Clothed at the Center for Fine Art Photography, curated by Mona Kuhn.  My photograph, "After Birth" is a postpartum cesarean birth & breastfeeding image. The exhibit opened June 1 and is up through June 29.  Tonight is the reception from 6-9pm if you are in Colorado. If you can't make it you can view all the photographs in the exhibit here.

The Sun Magazine

I am in the September Issue of The SUN Magazine.  A portrait of demolition derby driver, Lightning, at the Dodge County Fair in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.  

Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Grant

2011 is off to a great start! The Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) Community Arts Regrant Program and the BAC Board of Directors awarded me a generous grant to do a personal & collaborative photography project. Details about the project coming soon! My project will be funded by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). Below is additional information about the Brooklyn Arts Council.

ABOUT BAC

WHO WE ARE
We are the arts council for the borough of Brooklyn. We bring leadership and energy to every part of Brooklyn’s arts scene, supporting and connecting it all. It doesn’t matter where you fit into the arts—artist, audience member, participant, venue, educator or supporter—we want you to create and experience the arts in every neighborhood of Brooklyn.

What drives us? Our impassioned belief in the intrinsic value of the arts and artists, as well as what they can do. Art has a unique ability to bridge cultures, inspiring positive transformation in individual lives and entire communities.

WHAT WE DO
BAC gives grants, presents free and affordable arts events, trains artists and arts professionals, teaches students, incubates new projects and promotes artists and cultural groups across our borough. Brooklyn’s cultural anchor since 1966, BAC has also been the catalyst helping the arts community grow. We continually evaluate and evolve what we do to meet the changing times, and keep our commitment to community engagement, diversity and inclusion when it comes to the arts in our borough.