AP Party

I spend a fair amount of time in the little town of Telluride and those who follow this here blog may recall that I participated in a bookbinding and box making class at the Ah Haa last fall (check out the fruits of that labor). While I’d given them work in years prior for their silent auction, this year Lauren asked if I’d like to be included in the main event, the live auction. I felt honored and I hope that my print will help raise a little much needed cash for the small local arts organization.

Check out the print below just before it got shipped out yesterday and see the most recent image from the Hotel Delmano series here.

30″x34″ Flowers at the Hotel Delmano #1 print (1 of 5)

I had been trying to keep this quiet until I could see it with my own eyes, but now the AP 26 collection is online and I wanted to share. I’m very excited to announce that my photograph Pride was selected for inclusion in this year’s American Photography Annual book. The book isn’t out until November, but you can check out a slideshow of all the work HERE. Below is the press release:

We are pleased to present the Selected and Chosen images from this year’s American Photography 26 competition. All winners were previously notified by email in
March.

On behalf of the entire jury, I would like to thank everyone who entered. Your submission and support of American Photography is greatly appreciated and we look forward to the opportunity of viewing your best work
again next year.

From over 8,000 photographs submitted by more than 1,200 photographers, agencies, publications and schools, our distinguished jury Selected only 314 to appear in the book and represent the best images from 2009. Another 132 images were then Chosen with at least two votes to appear on the website.

AP26 will be distributed world-wide in hard cover in November. All images will also appear on THEE, our searchable archive of the jury-selected images, to be launched with the book at ai-ap.com.

A link is provided below that will take you to a slide show of the Selected (book) and Chosen (website) images. From here you’ll see the winning images presented in alphabetical order by photographer. Additional credits, photographer’s contact and complete captions will be included in the book and on the permanent website in November.

American Photography 26 Slide Show

The slide show will be up for a limited time in preparation for the official launch after The Party, November 11th in New York City. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event that brings the entire creative community together to celebrate the winning photographers and their collaborating creatives. Details will be sent in the fall.

Discounted, advance book orders for AP26 will be taken on our web site in September. Limited copies of our silver-anniversary volume AP25 are still available, so order now at ai-ap.com.

Again, our thanks to everyone who submitted work and our congratulations to all the winners! We are honored to present your work in this year’s 26th annual of American Photography.

I’d been following the site for quite a while and had sent Mr. Adams over a number of images in the past, but it wasn’t until we met over prints at Review LA that I was able to grab his attention. Being that he was one of my reviewers, his attention was undivided and his critique was insightful and really informed. He also turns out to be a really nice and easy going guy.

Here’s a screen grab from Flak yesterday, but I recommend you check out the site personally if you don’t already visit every day like I do.

Thanks Andy!

Also, if you for some reason missed this photograph’s recent appearance right here on my own blog, it is just below here, in the post immediately preceding this.

Stripped Shirt

Regarding Review LA: this being my first portfolio review I could only guess what the experience would be like, but I have to say it scarcely could have been better. It goes without saying that if you’re not open to hearing criticism (especially at this early stage) then a portfolio review isn’t a worthwhile way to spend your time. However, I was ready and excited to hear from others how I might improve, refine and develop some of my latest work, a fair amount of which hasn’t even graced this very blog. As a result, I found it was eye-opening and inspiring to look more objectively at my own work.

Main Palm

Amidst all this introspective evaluation and shoe gazing, the most enjoyable part of the weekend was getting the chance to meet and spend a little time hanging out with some of the other photographers in the hotel lobby, where everyone was killing time between reviews chatting and checking out each other’s work. In particular, I got the chance to hang out a bit with Liz Kuball during the public showing at Photo LA. She was at Review LA showing her beautiful California Vernacular project. I had seen an image or two of hers floating around places like 20×200, so it was cool to see so much more of the collection in person. I also got to meet and talk with Susan Worsham who’s Some Fox Trails in Virginia is lovely and quietly unsettling in a wonderful way, as well as Sarah Windels and Andrew Ti. All in all there was a lot of work to see and some cool new people to keep up with.

Garden Hose

Untitled (Green Painted Room)

La Fete

Untitled (Frond)

Paradise

If your in LA and interested in seeing all the work being reviewed, there is a showing open to the public Friday Jan 15th from 5-8pm. Come down and say hi.

Hold Tight Cover

Hold Tight Interior and Selection of Prints

DCasa p1

I also shot recently for a good friend, the designer of Cream NYC. While the project was simple enough, it featured the lovely Danish musician, Oh Land, who is coincidentally playing at one of my favorite festivals this year: Iceland Airwaves (October 14th-18th). If you happen to be out there for the festival check her out.

Additionally, I’ll be attending a box making class in Telluride, Colorado next week put on by the American Academy of Bookbinding. The plan is to construct a small handmade box to hold a new selection of limited edition prints, some of which have been popping up on the blog here in the last few months. So now I’m editing the images trying to pare them down to a meaningful group and if the whole thing isn’t a complete disaster I’ll post a few images of the final box once its complete.

Finally, I bet there is at least one person out there (in fact I think I know who that one person is) who is wondering what happened to the video that I was hyping a little while back right here on this very blog. Well, I’ve got a rough cut finished, but am now trying to clear the music used, which given the stature of the group isn’t exactly a walk in the park. If it clears, I’ll post it, otherwise the music will have to be replaced and the piece recut, which means there’s no imminent launch date. Sad I know, but if and when it ever sees the light of day, that day will be a happy one.

www.taitsimpson.com

I had the chance to see a Shulman retrospective at the Getty in LA a few years ago and even own a copy of his book Photographing Architecture and Interiors. He had an incomparable sense of composition and as far as I’m concerned is the god-father of modern architectural photography. You can see more of his iconic work here.

©Julius Shulman