DSI Blog

I was invited to review graduate and under graduate portfolio’s at the Society for Photographic Education Mid Atlantic conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Carnegie Mellon was the host university and Collette Copeland organized an excellent event for the weekend. I was impressed with the speakers and the general support of the photographic community.

The students’ images were strong and they each demonstrated a solid body of work. They all were working on various subjects and themes. One young woman was using photography to explore uncomfortable topics, ranging from teen sexuality and suicide. Her images provided an opportunity to open a dialogue about these issues. Another young woman was using a variety of cameras, from pinhole and Holgas up to 4×5 to explore her environment. A young man named Andrew, recently back from duty in Afghanistan, was producing some beautiful black & white landscape images.

I was very impressed by the work of a young woman, Paulina Waksmundzki, from Penn State University. She has an excellent command of lighting and structure in her images. I encourage you to visit her website at www.pwphotography.moonfruit.com and enjoy her work.

My thanks to Collette Copeland for inviting me to the conference. You can view her work at http://colettecopeland.com/about.htm

– Eric

Thanks to everyone who came to the NIK Software seminar at E. P. Levine last week. There was a great demo by Janice Wendt using NIK Silver Efex for B&W; workflow. Kathy Skarvan showed beautiful frames from her company Ava Art.

VOTE!

Digital Silver Imaging will be closed on Oct 23 & 24 so we can attend PDN PHOTOPLUS 2008 at the Javitts Center in NYC. www.photoplusexpo.com.

Look around for Eric or Jay and see some sample prints.

Some details below on a workshop with Mary Virginia Swanson. For those who don’t know Swannie, she is an amazing person to work with. Her knowledge of photography, galleries, portfolio reviews is unsurpassed. Swannie has given great advice in seminars at the PRC and to many local photogs in one-on-one consultations. She’ll get you to focus on the pieces that matter and really get you on track.

The Center for Creative Photography in Tuscan is another amazing rescource. Their outstanding collection can be viewed up close and personal ( but no touching the photos ). Appointments are necessary.
From the CCP website – “The print study program gives the public free and unprecedented access (by appointment) to one of the world’s largest photography collections. During the scheduled viewing, visitors may select and view photographs from the over 80,000 prints in the Center’s collection.”
I was there in 2006 and had them bring out some of my favorite photogs – Arbus, Winogrand, Avedon and David Akiba. Yes, you coulkd see their work in galleries, museuns and books. But yiou would be able to look under the matt and see the notes on the back! Really an great place to visit.

MARKETING WORKSHOP for PHOTOGRAPHERS November 6-9th in Tucson, Arizona

This workshop, led by Mary Virginia Swanson, will provide participants with an overview
of the fine art photography market and how one can effectively target galleries, collections and publishers most likely to respond to their work. Participants will gain an understanding of presenting work to industry professionals via competitions and portfolio review events, as well as the value of attending Gallery Expos such as Photo LA and AIPAD. Examples of successful promotional tools with be shared, as well as selfpublished image catalogues and limited edition books. Ms. Swanson will share her extensive library of reference materials with participants.

Guest Instructors: artists Lisa M. Robinson (.com) and Ken Rosenthal (.com)

Site visits: Center for Creative Photography and Etherton Gallery

The workshop begins at 6 p.m. on November 6th and concludes at 12:00 noon on Sunday November 9th. Optional sessions include Rosenthal/Robinson Studio tour and one-hour consultations with Ms. Swanson. Discounted hotel rates have been arranged.

Visit www.mvswanson.com and go to UPCOMING EVENTS for complete details.