Leonard JazzFest exhibit part of gallery's busy month

A Gallery for Fine Photography of New Orleans will be hosting two music-related photography events over the next two weeks, including an exhibit of the works of the late Herman Leonard at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, as well as an event featuring the photography and music of Henry Butler.

Many of the jazz-related photos of Leonard will be on exhibit during JazzFest at the Fair Grounds' grandstand (which is air conditioned, not a small thing to remember during the festival). The exhibit, "Smoke, Sound and Light – A Celebration of the Life of Herman Leonard," will run through both weekends of the festival, April 29-May 1, and May 5-
8.

Otherwise, on Thursday, April 28, the day before the festival begins, a "photographs and music" event featuring Butler will be held at the gallery at 214 Chartres Street in the French Quarter. The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Butler is not only a legendary local pianist and vocalist, but a noted photographer, who just happens to have been blind since birth.

A week after the festival has concluded, a new exhibit from Louviere + Vanessa, "Counterfiet," will begin at the gallery on Sat., May 14. A reception will be held that Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.

For more information, you may visit the website of A Gallery for Fine Photography.

Image: One of the Herman Leonard photos on exhibit at the Fair Grounds for the JazzFest, shown at the festival website.

Portfolio system demo set for April 21 in Bywater

A demonstration of Postmedium, an Internet portfolio management system for New Orleans area artists, is set for Thursday, April 21. The demonstration will double as what organizers call a "happy hour salon."

The event is to run from 6 to 8 p.m. at Antenna, a gallery operated by Press Street, an artist-run collective. The gallery is located at 3161 Burgundy Street in the Crescent City's Bywater neighborhood.

The creators of the system, Erik Kiesewetter and Rami Sharkey, will be on hand for the Thursday's event.

More information about the the portfolio system, along with system demos, can be found at the Postmedium website.

ASMP discussion set for April 20 at NOPA gallery

The New Orleans/Gulf South chapter of the The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) will present a panel discussion, " Commercial Photography In A Changing World," at the New Orleans Photo Alliance gallery on Wed., April 20, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The NOPA gallery is located at 1111 St. Mary Street, just off Magazine Street in the Crescent City's Lower Garden District.

The discussants, who have more than 80 years experience collectively, will include:

Eugenia Uhl, whose work has been featured in New Orleans Magazine, Metropolitan Home, GQ, Essence, and Travel & Leisure, among many others. Her clients include Adler's, Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, International House Hotel, Galatoire's, and Tulane University.

David Humphreys, a Baton Rouge-based photographer who has worked worldwide on photos of people, products, architecture and food. He has won many awards include Photo District News / Nikon Award and the Communication Arts Award.

Will Crocker, who has done editorial work for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, MacWorld, and Bon Appétit as well as corporate clients including Exxon, Entergy, Adler’s, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. His fine art work is in the collection at the New Orleans Museum of Art and he teaches photography at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts.

The panel discussion is set to begin at 7 p.m. Food and beverages will be served beforehand.

New exhibit opens at NOPA gallery on April 23

An new exhibit that features the work of five photographers, "Between the Faithful and Forlorn," will open on Sat., April 23 at the New Orleans Photo Alliance gallery. The opening for the juried show will take place from 6 to 9 p.m.

The NOPA gallery is located at 1111 St. Mary Street in the Lower Garden District.

Photographers with work in the new exhibit include Tim Best, Chip Chipman, Ann George, Leslie Parr, and Sandra Chen Weinstein.

The juror for the exhibit was Andy Levin, who works as a photographer, teacher, and editor living in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a contributing photographer with Life Magazine in the 1990s. Levin moved to Louisiana a year before Hurricane Katrina from his native New York City.

Image: "Chapter Three-Fire Proof," by Ann George.

Deadline for Works on Paper competition is April 15

The Richmond VA-based 12 12 Gallery is calling for last-minute entries to its International Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper 2011. The deadline for submission is Friday, April 15.

The exhibition juror, Dan Welden, Director of Hampton Editions, Ltd, will award up to $1000 in cash prizes.

Any artist of age 18 or older, from any part of the globe, is eligible for entry. Entrants can submit up to three images of works on paper, including, but not limited to, monotypes, photography using any photographic process, and hand-pulled prints from any printmaking process, as well as various types of drawing and collage on paper.

The first three images will be covered by a $35 entry fee. Up to two additional images can be submitted for $5 each.

For more information, please see the 12 12 Gallery website.

Finalists for NOPA documentary grant named

Twelve finalists have been named in the competition for the New Orleans Photo Alliance-established Michael P. Smith Fund (MPS Fund) or Documentary Photography grant for 2011. A winner from among this dozen will be awarded $5,000.

NOPA congratulates the finalists, among them the following:

Jeremiah Ariaz, Baton Rouge LA
Project Title: Tucumcari

Dominic Bracco II, Corpus Christi TX
Project Title: Life and Death in The Northern Pass

Debbie Fleming Caffery, Breaux Bridge LA
Project Title: The Last Row of Cane

Scott Dalton, Houston TX
Project Title: So Close, So Far: Daily Life and Cartel Violence in Ciudad Juarez

Loli Kantor, Fort Worth TX
Project Title: There Was a Forest, Jewish Life in Eastern Europe

Deborah Luster, New Orleans LA
Project Title: Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish

Charles Martin, Paulina LA
Project Title: Perique

Nancy Newberry, Dallas TX
Project Title: Mum

Rick Olivier, New Orleans LA
Project Title: Zydeco

Betty Press, Hattiesburg MS
Project Title: I Am Because We Are

Amber Shields, Austin TX
Project Title: Visions of Johanne: Aging of the Greatest Generation

Brandon Thibodeaux, Dallas TX
Project Title: Mound Bayou, MS

NOPA will announced a grant recipient by April 29, 2011.

The preliminary panelists, who selected the finalists, were Stella Kramer, independent editor and editor of Fraction J; Gina Martin, Photographer Representative for National Geographic Image Collection; and Kevin Miller, Director of the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach FL.

Tom Rankin, the Director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, will select the grant recipient from the twelve finalists.

The MPS Fund was created by the Alliance to honor the life and work of Michael P. Smith, one of New Orleans’ most legendary documentary photographers. It is awarded annually to a photographer living in the Gulf Coast region whose work combines artistic excellence and a sustained commitment to a long-term, cultural documentary project.

You may read more about the fund, and Michael P. Smith, at the NOPA website.

NOPA hosts non-profit slideshow on Saturday

Momenta Workshops, a Washington DC-based company that began holding a non-profit-oriented workshop on documentary photography in New Orleans this week, is hosting an open slideshow event on the evening of Saturday, April 9.

The slideshow series will be held at the New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, located at 1111 St. Mary Street in the Lower Garden District. The gallery's doors will open at 7 p.m.,, for a cocktail hour, and the slideshows will follow at 8 p.m.

Guests are asked to bring photographic slideshows with works that celebrate the non-profits of New Orleans.

Darkroom competition deadline this weekend

The Darkroom of New Orleans is asking for submissions to its juried exhibition for Spring 2011, "Synthesis: Mixed Media Photography." The deadline for entry is midnight on Saturday, April 9. The exhibit will open on Saturday, May 14, at the Darkroom's gallery space.

The juror will be Russell Joslin, a Minneapolis MN-based photographer, as well as the editor and publisher of SHOTS Magazine, a reader-supported, quarterly journal of fine art photography. It has been in publication now for almost 25 years.

The competition is open to all artists. Submissions must be original works. The fee for entry is $20 for consideration of up to 10 images. For more information, please see the exhibit and competition page at the Darkrooom website.

Image: SHOTS magazine publisher and exhibit juror Russell Joslin. Self-portrait. © 2011.

Book, online exhibit competition deadline is May 3

The Colorado-based Center for Fine Art Photography is calling for submissions to its Portfolio Showcase Volume 5, which will include a book and online exhibition. The deadline for entry is midnight on May 3, 2011.

There is no theme for the exhibit. And the images will not be evaluated individually, but as a body of work. Ultimately, 15 photographers will be chosen to display 12-image portfolios in the book and exhibit. The online exhibit will be held from July 1 to Nov. 30, 2011, while the book is scheduled to be released in November.

The juror will be Chris Pilcher, founder of the Portland, OR-based Nazraeli Press, which specializes in books about contemporary photography.

The exhibit is open to photographers worldwide, including amateurs, as well as professionals. The Center invites photographers working in all mediums, styles and schools of thought in its exhibits.

For more information, and submission informatin, please see the Center's website.

Contest set for Huey P. Long Bridge's "Big Lift III"

To commemorate the third and final segment lift of widening of Jefferson Parish's Huey P. Long Bridge, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is launching an online photo contest. Professionals and amateur photographers will be allowed to take shots of the lift, which is scheduled for April 9, weather permitting.

The contest is being co-sponsored by the the project management team; namely, the Louisiana TIMED (Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development) Managers, a joint venture of GEC Inc., PB Americas Inc., and the LPA Group Inc.

In a press release, the DOTD noted that launched the contest because of the interest shown by the public in the earlier segment lifts--which were given the names "Big Lift I" and "Big Lift II." (Note: Thus, "Big Lift III.") These took place in June and November of 2010, respectively. More than 500 people commented on the project's social media sites, and hundreds more posted photos of the widening projects.

According to the DOTD, a steel structure larger than a football field will be lifted into place this time, via multiple barges and heavy-duty jacks. The department notes that this will be a major engineering feat, given the rarity of the size and scope of the projects.

Members of the public will be asked to take photos from public spaces only, given safety concerns.

The deadline for entry will be Friday, April 15. A special website has been set up for submission of entries. A complete list of the contest rules and regulations, meanwhile, can be found on the project website.

Entries will be put up for a vote and winner will be awarded the People’s Choice Award. In addition, one or more Judges’ Choice Awards will be selected. The Judges Panel will vote for at least one professional and one amateur winner, but it will be up to panel members as to further recognition of entries. Winners will be featured in various project publications, as well as online promotions and Facebook and Twitter project pages.

The bridge, which stretches across the Mississippi River and carries auto traffic on U.S. 90 as well as rail traffic, opened in 1935. Its dedication is shown in the photo below. The widening project began in 2006.

For further information about the photo contest, you can send an e-mail to hueypbridge@gmail.com or calling the lift's Public Outreach Office at (504) 731-4200.

Images: Public domain photo of the Huey P. Long Bridge, available at Wikipedia. The dedication photo is from the archive of Ron Chapman, Professor of History at Nunez Community College in Chalmette LA, available at the Help Remember New Orleans website of New York's School of the Visual Arts.