Juried Photography book contest

That's right, it's a juried photography book show. Designed to promote photography books that are self-published, this is a unique opportunity to get your long term project recognized. Concepts are considered so don't feel like it has to be an already finished work. Categories include general and thematic. Thirty-five dollars to enter each book. Grand prize is twenty-five thousand dollars cash money to finish or start your project. Check them out at www.photographybooknow.com.

Potato Blight

Our photo assignment work very slow here - leaves us time to photograph those metaphorical vegetables that one discovers in the root cellar. Is this a good image to depict the state of our financial services economy in the US. Rotten at the core.

There's an insightful analysis of the bail out of Bear Sterns over at the NY Times by Gretchen Morgensen:

"WHAT are the consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in?"

and more:

"And as one of the biggest players in the mortgage securities business on Wall Street, Bear provided munificent lines of credit to public-spirited subprime lenders like New Century (now bankrupt). It is also the owner of EMC Mortgage Servicing, one of the most aggressive subprime mortgage servicers out there."

read the entire story here

No Year-Round Rentals

©Russell Kaye

I've been doing a ton of driving lately - two jobs have required driving across New England and back. One hand on the steering wheel, one hand on the camera, I've passed the time in the car looking at the world and have become fascinated with the way images are caught with the shot-from-the-hip, drive-by, especially at twilight. I've also become wearily fascinated with real estate and living in a small seaside village here in "VacationLand" that for the most part has no year-round rentals because everyone can get about ten times the year-round rent for those 4-5 weeks we call summer. We sold our house nearly two years ago in advance of the Real Estate meltdown and in preparation for moving back to NYC or Athens/Atlanta. And here we are still - having not decided on a destination. In the end, these twilight images are really just an exercise in the frustration with myself over all the aspects of mid-career and decision-making and making my family wander between summer and winter rentals. If you really want to feel the seasons, move to Camden, Maine and plan on renting for a bit. (Our winter house rents for $4000/week ($16,000/month) in the Summer - so this June will be the 4th time in two years we've moved our family of four...yick)

Great publishing opportunity

Life Images magazine publishes quarterly and you can submit without paying a dime. Check it out here. Sure, it's another photo magazine built out of reader submissions but free advertising is a rare thing.

Results from "A Photo Editor" Blog

I recently got mentioned on Rob Haggart's "A Photo Editor" Blog

Here's Rob's post:

Book Viewers For Photographers

Russell Kaye discovered a sweet little book viewer for photographers (here). Here’s his book. Get yours at Issuu (here).

And here's the results:

that's almost 600 visitors immediately after Rob's notice - and since then I'm averaging well over 50 visitors a day... It's great to know people are stopping by - thank you Rob!

Submit, even if it's last minute!

In typical John fashion, I was sent the Is It Possible to Make a Photograph of New Jersey Regardless of Where You Are in the World contest link on the afternoon of the deadline day. After wracking my brain for an hour or so, I went out to have some lunch and remembered a photo I took of a bench in Pueblo, Colorado that I thought might fit the bill for the show. Rushing home, I submitted the image and later reflected that at least I'd taken advantage of the opportunity and let it go at that.

I got my acceptance last night for the show. Sweet! I was blown away, my first group show had nothing to do with the project I was putting all my effort into. As they say, leave no stone unturned and submit up until the deadline.