Paul Conlan in Southern Spaces Katrina Exhibition

For the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the online journal, Southern Spaces, has announced the publication of Katrina + 5: An X-Code Exhibition by Dorothy Moye.

In an earlier commentary for Southern Spaces, Dorothy Moye described the widespread use of the X-code, an iconic graphic applied by search-and-rescue teams in 2005 post-Katrina New Orleans. In this virtual exhibition, Moye presents X-code images selected from the work of more than twenty-five photographers in the intervening five years. Visually striking and emotionally compelling, the X-code speaks through its sheer numbers, its rhythmic repetition across the curving network of city streets, its narrative traces of ciphered messages, and its graphic directness.

Paul Conlan, a principal with the SlowExposures committee and featured photographer in the show, has 13 photos included in this work, including images from the Lower Ninth Ward, Bywater, Faubourg Marigny and French Quarter areas of New Orleans. Note that due to the large number of photos and photo slide shows incorporated in this work it takes awhile for the online document to fully load. Be sure to scroll through the slide shows.

Debbie Fleming Caffery: Katrina Images

“Restore Trinity: An Exhibition of Katrina Images,” featuring the work of Debbie Fleming Caffery, Mario Tama, (Getty Images) and Lee Celano,(Reuters) will be presented by Camp Restore Friday, August 27 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the still-damaged Trinity Lutheran Church, 5234 North Claiborne in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward.

The photographers will donate work that will be auctioned on online to help restore Trinity-Claiborne. Proceeds will be dedicated toward efforts to restore Trinity-Claiborne, which remains damaged after flooding with 12 feet of water during Hurricane Katrina. Camp Restore hopes to reestablish Trinity as a multipurpose community center and place of worship by Easter, 2012.

Please check out a slide show of my work on Time Magazines web site this weekend from my series “Religion in Ruins,” and the “Destruction of St. Bernard Projects” and some samples from my new handmade book of Katrina images edited by Jack Woody on my web site. This weekend we will celebrate the great will and spirit of New Orleans residents while we mourn the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. We will remember what still needs to be done in Louisiana and the people we all need to help.

Debbie Fleming Caffery: Visual Storytelling

New workshop scheduled with Debbie Fleming Caffery: Visual Storytelling, October 21-24, 2010.

This workshop invites photographers to explore a unique and challenging intersection, one that is fundamental to the nature of photography- images that document the world from a personal perspective.

Famous for her remarkably poetic and insightful documentary portraits, Debbie Fleming Caffery shares her wealth of experience, techniques and unique personal approaches to the special relationship that exists between the photographer and the subject, and the world at large. Open to all levels, this four-day workshop prepares participants working in black and white or color photography to observe and respond to the poetic possibilities that are present in each moment.
Through daily morning discussions and reviews of works in progress followed by afternoon shooting sessions, participants hone their skills, capture emotional content, and create memorable images in a legendary New Orleans neighborhood.

Famous for its friendly, eccentric and colorful characters, the French Quarter over its nearly 300-year history has inspired artists and writers from Edgar Degas and Walker Evans to William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and any number of others whose creativity was sparked by its diverse and individualistic inhabitants. Mime artists and street performers, exotic dancers and drag queens, blues singers and fortunetellers all contribute to the heady mix of a neighborhood known for round the clock street life. Debbie also covers the practical aspects of the photographer's tool kit: camera systems, lenses, film selection and printing, as well as the possibilities posed by the final result, for instance, a book, an exhibition or a portfolio of images.

This workshop prepares each photographer to enter the field with an active eye, heart, and mind, ready to observe and respond to poetic possibilities present in each moment. There are daily discussions and reviews of work in progress, as well as shooting assignments designed to help participants hone their abilities to recognize and capture emotional content and create memorable images. Participants should be confident working on their own as each student works on a project for the duration of the workshop.

Participants are encouraged to research possible subjects prior to arrival and come ready to continue to research with an open mind upon their arrival.

A portfolio is required for admission.

Diane Kirkland

Diane Kirkland graduated from the University of Alabama with a BFA in Art and an emphasis in Photography. After school she worked for many years with the State of Georgia as the marketing photographer for tourism, industry and film production within the state. Her job was to produce the images used in Georgia’s advertising campaigns, promotional publications, and travel features for newspapers and magazines (domestic as well as international).

Diane was also the exclusive photographer for two large photographic books: “Oglethorpe’s Dream, A Picture of Georgia” and “Democracy Restored, A History of the Georgia State Capitol”. For the past few years she has been working as a freelance photographer with a special emphasis on natural landscapes and historic preservation. Diane has been selected by a juried panel to join the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Fulton County Arts Council and the Southern Arts Federation, which is a multi-media internet registry that spotlights outstanding artists who live and work in the South.

Diane was recently awarded the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Artist in Residence grant for Ossabaw Island, and have had the opportunity to return several times to continue my photographic exploration of this remote and beautiful place. During the month of September Diane Kirkland's photography will be on display at A Novel Experience in Zebulon, Georgia. A reception for the show is scheduled for September 18, 6 to 8pm. Also at this reception is a double book signing featuring Kathryn Kolb and Rob McDonald.

SlowExposures Salon

The third annual SlowExposures Salon is now accepting registrations. The Salon is limited to the first 30 people who register. Don’t miss out on an exciting opportunity to discuss “The Business of Photography” with our panel of experts. The Salon will be held from 2:30 until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 19. We will begin with a picnic lunch at 1:00 p.m. at the Whiskey Bonding Barn in Molena.

We are pleased to have participating in our panel this year, four experts exhibiting a range of talents in the field of photography. Our 2010 panel consists of John Bennette, curator and lecturer, NYC; Tony Cassadonte, director of the Lumiere Gallery, Atlanta; Gary Gruby, fine art and commercial photographer, Senoia; and Rob McDonald, fine art photographer and book author, Lexington, VA. With a panel of this caliber, SlowExposures Salon 2010 promises to be a stimulating one for our local photographers!

Our experts look forward to answering your questions and sharing their knowledge with you. For more information and to register for the Salon, please visit our website at http://www.slowexposures.org/.

(Shown above are Jody Iodice, moderator, and panelists Julian Cox, John Bennette, and Sylvia Plachy from our 2009 Salon.)

The Joy of Farming

This September, Griffin photographer, Malgorzata Florkowska, presents a collection of her original photographs at J. Michaels, 130 South Hill Street, to complement the annual SlowExposures juried exhibition that celebrates photography of the rural south.

A native of Poland, Malgosia (to her numerous friends) began pursuing her interest in photography six years ago when her new life in the South exposed her to Georgia’s red clay and rural farming community.

In 2007, her photograph “Ties that Bind,” won First Place in SlowExposures. In 2008 she curated “Horsing Around….,” an equine related photography exhibition. A year later, she published her first photography book, “The Joy of Farming.” In 2009, she was a juror for “Puppy Love” and this year her “Forgotten Luxury” has been accepted into the 2010 SlowExposures exhibition.

“Last April, I published “The Joy of Farming.” In the book, I selected over sixty photographs of rural Georgia including people, animals, landscapes and old agricultural structures and equipment.

I have chosen twenty-four images from that book to show at J. Michael’s next month. All photographs are in black and white and will be for sale at the frameshop in historic downtown Griffin.

This Fall marks the eighth year of SlowExposures --- September 17th through September 26th, 2010. The free photo exhibition is held annually at the R. L. Strickland Building in Concord, Georgia.

For more information, please call J. Michael’s at 770-467-0025.

Portfolio Review -- a few spots left!

As previously posted, SlowExposures has added a portfolio review to the events during the show. This review is limited and the slots are filling fast. To make sure you have a place at the table, sign up through the website by clicking on Portfolio Review and following the steps.

The review includes 20 minutes with each of the 5 reviewers: Sylvia Plachy, fine art photographer, NYC; John Bennette, collector and curator, NYC; Elizabeth Biondi, Visuals Editor, The New Yorker, NYC; Elizabeth Turk, professor, Savannah College of Art and Design; Brett Levine, Director of the Visual Arts Gallery, University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Some tips for those interested in the review:

1. Select 10 to 20 images of your best work; keep them a manageable size.
2. Present the images in print form in a book or portfolio box.
3. Begin working on the portfolio right now, think about it, add and delete photos to be sure that your images presented are the best. Do not wait to put this collection together.
4. Remember 20 minutes goes by quickly -- bring something to take notes.
5. Be consistent, edit, have work from one or two bodies of work.
6. Be prepared to discuss the work.
7. If you choose to have a leave behind, a CD is nice -- make sure it is representative of your art.