MONIKA MERVA: The City of Children

Rabbit Ears, Hungary, 2005
The City of Children (Kehrer Verlag , 2011)

Mouse, Hungary, 2004
Photograph (c) Monika Merva /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Monika Merva /All Rights Reserved

In the Woods, Hungary, 2002
Photograph (c) Monika Merva /All Rights Reserved

Red Bottle, Hungary, 2005
Photograph (c) Monika Merva /All Rights Reserved

'Children generally know whom to trust, especially those who´ve experienced hardships. Monika Merva brought empathy and compassion as well as skill to this project and we can feel it in the children's responses. They allowed her into their private spaces and she's honored their trust with vivid, memorable portraits.' –Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

+ + +

The City of Children: Photographs by Monika Merva

"Monika Merva, a first generation American of Hungarian descent, has spent almost a decade visiting and photographing the children of Gyermekközpont in Hungary for this, her first monograph. Her photographs of the children are vivid and personal, the pacing of the rich, color images has a comfortably varied formal character. Though the cultural divide between the democratic West and former Soviet bloc countries seems almost unbreachable at times, Merva's images do so slowly — without obscuring their cultural specificity, they form a potent bridge between the viewer and subject."–photo-eye Books

JONATHAN SMITH: Untold Stories

Photograph (c) Jonathan Smith /All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Jonathan Smith /All Rights Reserved

La Lettre de la Photographie 1.18.11
Photographer Sylvia Plachy with Jonathan Smith
Hearst 2011 8x10 Photography Biennial Opening Night

+ + +

"Jonathan Smith's use of lighting and décor emotionally augment his true subjects - the colors of night air and the abandonment that floats in it."

+ + +

Eight winners and ten honorable mentions were selected for the 2011 Hearst 8x10 Photography Biennial from over 4,600 entries from across the U.S. and 70 other countries. Jonathan Smith was spotlighted as one of the eight emerging photographers, in an exhibition currently at the Hearst Towers Alexey Brodovitch Gallery, for his series Untold Stories.

Jonathan Smith studied in the United Kingdom at the Kent Institute of Design (KIAD) and the International Center for Photography in New York. Smith worked in the studio of the renowned New York photographer, Joel Meyerowitz from 2000 until 2009. He had his first solo show Untold Stories at Rick Wester Fine Art in September 2010. His work has appeared in Metropolis and View magazines, PDN, Art and Architecture and The Royal Photographic Society Magazine.

Jonathan Smith Photography

BRANDON SCHULMAN: A Portrait of America Left Behind

La Lettre de la Photographie
Hearst 2011 8x10 Photography Biennial

Sugar Cane Processing Plant, Atchafalaya Delta, LA
Photograph (c) Brandon Schulman /All Rights Reserved

Windmill, Carson City, NV
Photograph (c) Brandon Schulman /All Rights Reserved

Eight winners and ten honorable mentions were selected for the 2011 Hearst 8x10 Photography Biennial from over 4,600 entries from across the U.S. and 70 other countries. Brandon Shulman was awarded an Honorable Mention for his series A Portrait of America Left Behind.

"A Portrait of America Left Behind is a photographic study that I have been conducting over the past two years. The photographs represent the presence that humanity plays on the land even when they are not in view. The objects and buildings that we create for our needs, and our discarding when they are not. Zig-zagging my way thru 13 states, 15,000 miles over 3 trips, 2 months and 100’s of hours in my darkroom it has yet come to an end."

Brandon Schulman Website

La Lettre de la Photographie
Hearst 2011 8x10 Photography Biennial: Part I
Hearst 2011 8x10 Photography Biennial: Part II

REVIEW 2010: ASMP-NY Portfolio Review

New York Photo Awards: Fine Art Single Image, Honorable Mention
Photograph (c) Anna Moller/All Rights Reserved

The Innocent. Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda (book)
Photograph (c) Heather McClintock/All Rights Reserved

Photograph (c) Metin Oner/All Rights Reserved

The Gender Frontier (book)
Photograph (c) Mariette Pathy Allen/All Rights Reserved

Tribal Bhil Families at the Bathing Ghats at Baneshwar Mela
Photograph (c) Terri Gold/All Rights Reserved

Photographer Lynn Goldsmith, former ASMPNY President Stephen Mallon, with Fine Art Consultant Mary Virginia Swanson

Photographer Heather McClintock, with Reviewer Mary Virginia Swanson and a Board Member

Publish Your Photography Book, Princeton Architectural Press, Fall 2010
by Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson

Review 2010 Organizers, Photographers Stephen Mallon and Susan May Tell

My experience at the American Society of Media Photographers / New York REVIEW 2010: Fine Art Portfolio Review was excellent. It was a great platform for photographers to network with over 40 Reviewers that included industry insiders such as Fine Art Consultant Mary Virginia Swanson, Editors from PDN (Photo District News), Gallery Owners, Director's, Curator's and Photo Agents. I was impressed with the high level of work and creative presentations. I came away with many photographers to keep in contact with and profile here in the future. There were also a couple of very successful professionals there to show their new work (Lynn Goldsmith!!!), as well as a few first time students. Thank you to all the photographers:

(Blogspot is acting like a crazy person today and insists on making these names GIGANTIC...check out their links anyway)

Lynn Goldsmith, Heather McClintock, Manjari Sharma, Mariette Pathy Allen, Terri Gold, Sheri Lynn Behr, Joseph Squillante, Peter Braune, Peter Riesett, Andrew Prokos, Barbara Beeman, Jason Gardner, Peter Riesett, Melissa Lynn, Robert Hooman, Teresa Kruszewski, Raymond Adams, Meton Oner, Amy Lombard, Anna Moller, Dolly Faibyshev and Tom Donley

And thank you to ASMPNY's former President, Stephen Mallon and ASMPNY Fine Art Chair, Susan May Tell, for including me! A lot of great people from ASMP/NY worked to produce this event, Calumet Photo hosted the space and WagMag donated Pernod for the after party!