American Photo, POTY 09, and more news…
I’m on the cover of American Photo (May/June) which I was over the moon about! Big news, but slightly different publicity than usual for me, because the article is all about Flickr and its ’superstars’. Alot of people on flickr have inevitably, and understandably, felt it’s their right to discuss whether they ‘agree with’ the 12 that AP chose for their particular angle. (Unfortunately, some people had to fall onto sexism, ageism, anti-modernism and general cynicism in order to have ‘their say’ – some faltered on a fundamental level by failing to distinguish between one artist and her cover-girl appropriation…) You can see the cover on my Flickr stream here (just a thread of nearly 500 congrats messages) but a more rivetting discussion over on Kyle’s flickr photostream.
POTY 09!
I have been asked to judge on this year’s Photographer of the Year competition run by Digital Camera magazine. It’s the first time ever that I’m doing something like this and I’m very pleased to be asked. The other judges are picture/news/archive editors, with one other photographer, Steve Bloom (who photographs wildlife). Hopefully I can give some kind of different perspective, being the youngest judge! There are ten categories so there’s bound to be an appropriate one for your work (you can enter up to 5 per category) most importantly, anyone in the world can enter and it’s FREE. Those terms are all enticing enough.
IN HER OWN IMAGE
Last year, myself and 43 other female self-portrait artists put together a book called ‘She Took Her Own Picture’ which showcased a double page spread of a selection of each of our work, and became a bestseller on Blurb. Since last autumn, we’ve been working on another volume ‘In Her Own Image’ – bigger and better, with the 70 or so contributors’ work intermingling page by page by an elected design team among us. With the first book we did not have the ability to give any money to charity so we sold at cost-price.
With ‘In Her Own Image’, however, thanks to Blurb’s help, we are able to donate profits directly to a chosen women’s cause! This will be finalised within the next few weeks and the book will be online ready to purchase… I’ll post here when it’s available, with more about the book and how to see a preview.
SITE UPDATE
I am having a redesign that will keep some graphic identity of the current site, but refresh the front page layout and logo, shuffle around some content, and put most text on WHITE so it’s easier to read, including this blog! So – message to all the weary-eyed, hang in there 
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Posted in Collaborations & commissions, Essays, musings, Press/sponsors on May 8th, 2009 | Leave a comment | Tweet This!
2:13 pm on May 9th, 2009
Hi, I’ve never commented on your blog or your Flickr stream before, my photography is pretty different from yours, but over the past couple of years I’ve become an appreciator of your work. Big congrats to you for the cover!
I saw the thread on Kyle’s stream and it’s funny that this debate about whether you “narcissistic female photographers” are worthy of recognition still goes on. There’s no doubt that the subject matter plays an important role, but doesn’t it in pretty much all images? Who do these critics consider a photographer worthy of admiration? Someone who is male, ugly, shoots unpleasant things and makes them look interesting? That would be strange and somewhat twisted.
There are many Miss Aniela wannabes; why aren’t all of them successful? An analytical mind would think – she must be doing something right, rather than simply dismiss your talents.
I’d say that you and some of those other “narcissistic females” you mentioned are quite important photographers of this era. How important, time will tell, but no one can deny the impact that you have had on photography. This cover (as well as your other accomplishments) is proof. I’ll be following your journey with interest.
4:44 am on May 11th, 2009
hey congrats! i have been following you for a while and this is really exciting. i like your forward thinking and would love to collaborate with you sometime!!
9:32 pm on May 11th, 2009
Fantastic. Now instead of being judged by everybody else, you get to judge people. Huzzah! Fortunately, we all know you’ll make an incredibly fair judge. Sounds like a fun, fun, fun exerience.
3:15 pm on May 12th, 2009
Wow! Being a judge would be great. It will at the very least give you the opportunity to see a wide range of styles and abilities, many of which I hope will inspire you on to even bigger and better work.