Betty Press is Having a Splendid 2015 -- and its only September

Hattiesburg, MS photographer Betty Press (see image above) is having a fine 2015, and its only September.

Already this year, Press has had work from her portfolio Mississippi: The Place Where I Live included in the fall 2015  issue of SxSE Magazine and on the blog feature shoot (see image above).

In early summer, she was recognized with an Award of Excellence for her work in the Mississippi Collegiate Art Faculty Juried Exhibition at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, in Laurel, MS.
 

Press also had work in the 2015 edition of the SlowExposures photography show, which opened this weekend in Pike County, Georgia, and was named one of the Award Winners for her image Cake Walk (see above). 

Press also had work in Ain't Bad Magazine's retrospective issue From Here On, published in May of 2015, and has had work accepted for exhibition in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, in a show that opened September 25th and will be up until November 18th, 2015. 

Press will join Katie Archibald-Woodward, Mark Caceres, Bhargava Chiluveru, Frank Fuerst,  Debra Jansen, Ning Ma, Jamie Maciuszek, Cooper Joel Penn, Sandra-Lee Phipps, Lais Pontes, Jessica Rech, Jerry Siegel, Todd Suttles, and Michael ten Pas in this show, sponsored by the Atlanta Photography Group.   

Also in Atlanta, Press will have work in the Mary Stanley Selects exhibition, opening October 23rd, and up through November 28th, 2015, in the Atlanta Photography Group's exhibition space in the Tula Art Center, in downtown Atlanta.

Press's work in Mississippi will also be featured in F-Stop Magazine in October -- watch for that! 

This work in Mississippi has also been featured in RfotoFolio, which included an engaging interview exploring Press's long career as a photographer.

Here we learn that Press comes to her current work from a unique perspective, having been a photographer in Africa for years before coming to the heart of the African diaspora in Mississippi.

 
While in Africa, we learn, Press worked as a free-lance photographer, where she made some of the iconic images (see above) of our time.

Press also did personal work in Africa (see image above), work which this year earned her a place on the list of finalists for the Critical Mass Competition in 2015.

We are fortunate to have Press at work in Mississippi. 

Her exceptional eye, fine skills as a photographer, and unique perspective on the South she now calls home all suggest she has much more to show us as she continues to make meaning of our land.  

Mary Virginia Swanson to be Executive Director of Look3 Photography Festival

LOOK3, the Festival of Photography held each year in June in Charlottesville, VA, is getting a new Executive Director, who turns out to be none other than Mary Virginia Swanson, the well-known educator, career development advisor, and entrepreneur in the field of photography.

Here is the official announcement from the LOOK3 Board.  Here is a story on the appointment in PDN Online. 

Swanson's books on the business of photography, not to mention her talks at festivals and workshops and her mentoring of those developing careers in photography, have made her a well-known name in the fine art photography field. 

Now, she has accepted the position of Executive Director of LOOK3, a festival she describes in her official announcement as "a beloved festival . . .  that celebrates the vision of exceptional photographers, ignites conversations about critical issues and fosters the next generation of artists."

Swanson will begin her duties on the 15th of September, when she will "begin planning programming for our 10th anniversary year (L3X)."  

Swanson invites us "to visit the LOOK3 website to learn more about the artistic history of the Festival, sign up for our mailing list and plan to join us the week of June 13^th, 2016, in Charlottesville."

She encourages those who have "attended, as well as those who have yet to experience LOOK3 to share your thoughts with her at mvs@look3.org."

She wants to know, "Whose work inspires you?  What topics engage you? What do you wish to learn about photography today?"

This should be a major step forward for LOOK3, which has been a significant contribution to the richness of photography in Virginia and throughout the South. 

Indeed, LOOK3 has been so successful since the mid-2000's that the tasks of organizing, scheduling, and running the Festival have seemed sometimes to challenge the resources of the original founders. 

Its great to see LOOK3 flourishing, and to have a distinguished fine art photography educator now at the helm, to guide it to even greater success. 

Clarence John Laughlin Award Finalists for 2015

The folks at the New Orleans Photo Alliance have recently announced the finalists for the 2015 Clarence John Laughlin Award. 

The Clarence John Laughlin Award was developed by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in 2010 to support the work of photographers who use the medium as a means of creative expression. 

This award honors the life and work of Clarence John Laughlin (1905-1985), a New Orleans photographer best known for his surrealist images of the American South.

Among ten finalists chosen by juror Carol McCusker are three Southern photographers and seven other folks who are fine photographers but are Not From Around Here. 

The Southern photographers on McCusker's list are (1)Mississippi-based photographer Jamie Johnson (see image above)

(2) Mississippi-based photographer Don Norris (see image above) 

and (3) Atlanta-based photographer Dorothy O'Conner (see image above).

The recipient of the Clarence John Laughlin Award for 2015 will be announced on October 15th. 

Stay Tuned! 

Southern Photographers in fraction Magazine -- Summer 2015

The folks at [f]raction Magazine feature Southern photographers from time to time. 

Some of the folks to appear in recent issues include the following:

Daytona Beach-based photographer Justin Noland (see image above).

Richmond, VA-based photographer Andrew Fedynak (see image above). 

Louisville, KY-based photographer Neal Johnson (see image above). 



Last, but surely not least in this listing, the work of Omaha, Nebraska based photographer Rob Walters, who offers us in [f]raction 76 a deeply Southern meditation through photographs of Pinetta, Florida and surrounding locations (including some in Georgia, see image above)

Walters made these images in an effort to connect with his father, born in Pinetta, FL, who died in a plane crash before Rob was 2 years old. 

As Walters puts it, he made this work as "a way for me to build a narrative of my father's history for myself and to explore a part of the country that easily could have been where I "grew up."

Frankly, I cannot think of a more Southern kind of photography project than that one. 

Much more good work to come, from Southern photographers in [f]raction Magazine. 
 

Southern Photographers in AIN'T BAD -- Late Summer 2015

AIN'T BAD Magazine was started in the South, a creation of some enterprising folks who met at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

AIN'T BAD covers the world of photography, but the editors remember their Southern roots not only in the name of the publication but also by featuring Southern photographers in significant numbers in their coverage. 

They also suggest their Southern heritage in the way questions of home, family, and cultural identity seem to be ongoing interests in the interviews with photographers that enrich their galleries of images. 

Recent examples include the very insightful interview just up with Virginia-based photographer Matt Eich (see image above), which you can find here.  

Other Southern photographers who have recently displayed their work in AIN'T BAD include the following:

 
Charleston-based photographer Abby Murphy (see image above).

Savannah-based photographer Parker Stuart (see image above).

Florida-based photographer William Douglas (see image above). 

Durham, NC - based photographer Sarah Elizabeth Borst (see image above). 

Savannah-based photographer Carson Sanders (see image above). 

Durham, NC-based photographer Aaron Canipe (see image above).

Vermont-based (but educated at SCAD) photographer Kory Kingsley (see image above). 

More Southern photographers to come, I am sure, from the folks at AIN'T BAD, which is of course a hell of a lot better than that.