Liz Kuball Photography | Blog: October 2008

Group show: UnCritical Mass

Photolucida’s Critical Mass is a yearly portfolio review unlike any other. Applicants submit a portfolio of ten photographs and pay a $75 fee. A committee prescreens these applicants (there were 606 of them this year) and chooses 175 finalists (180 this year, because of a tie). The finalists pay an additional fee of $200 and have their portfolios sent on to a panel of 200 reviewers—big names in the field, from curators to gallerists to editors to bloggers. . . . It’s a truly impressive list. The reviewers rank them, and the top 50 photographers are listed on the Critical Mass Web site. Photolucida publishes monographs for two or more of the top-scoring finalists (look for Amy Stein’s soon). In other words, Critical Mass is a fantastic opportunity for photographers.

I applied for the first time this year and didn’t make the cut. After I mentioned my disappointment, I started receiving e-mails from photographers who’d also not gotten in. And it occurred to me: The list of 180 finalists is impressive, but so were the photographers who e-mailed me. Critical Mass had to cut off the list somewhere, but why not give those of us who didn’t make the cut a chance to show off the work we’re proud of? And the idea for this online group show was born. I posted about it on my blog, passed the word around to a handful of friends, set a deadline about 36 hours away, and received 40 submissions, all of which are posted below.

Many thanks to Shawn Records, board president and secretary of Photolucida; Andy Adams, founder and curator of Flak Photo; Lane Collins; Katherine Dexter; Geoffrey Ellis; Elizabeth Fleming; Aislinn Leggett; Jennifer Loeber; Aline Smithson; Doug Stockdale; Michael Werner; and anyone else I’ve missed who Twittered or blogged or e-mailed about this and got the word out. And a huge thanks also to all the people who e-mailed me their work and got behind this idea with such enthusiasm.

I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I have! Be sure to follow the links to the photographers’ sites (where available), to see even more of their work. (You can click the photos or the photographers’ names to get there.)

Finally, a huge congratulations to the 180 talented Critical Mass finalists, including friends Amanda Keller-Konya, Kevin Miyazaki, Cara Phillips, Aline Smithson, Tema Stauffer, Will Steacy, and Bill Vaccaro. Inspiration, one and all!

Labels: Critical Mass, photographers, Photolucida, portfolio reviews

Call for entries: Critical Mass rejects

If you entered Critical Mass this year, and you didn’t get in, take heart: You can be part of a one-time-only group show right here on my blog. Send me your favorite photo from your Critical Mass entry, the one you’re thinking rocked it so hard that the Critical Mass jurors must be blind not to have chosen you. The deadline is Thursday, October 30, at 8:59 p.m. Pacific time (11:59 p.m. New York time). The next day, I’ll post every photo I’ve received. Spread the word.

Note: Please send your image at 72 dpi, measuring at least 500 pixels on the longest side. (If you’ve already sent me your image, no worries.)

Labels: Critical Mass, portfolio reviews

Good news, bad news

Today I’m on the delightful Meighan O’Toole’s blog, My Love for You Is a Stampede of Horses, and I was invited to be a part of an exciting worldwide photo project slated for November 4*. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I didn’t make the cut for Critical Mass. I’m thinking the only answer is to drive up to Portland and TP Shawn Records’s house. Who’s in with me?

This afternoon, before I found out about any of this, good or bad, I was in an exceedingly foul mood. (Just ask S.) I’ll spare you the details, but in my litany of ways in which my life, the human race, and the universe in general collectively suck, I mentioned how 2008 was a total bust of a year, that I’d gotten nothing done, that I’d wasted it. And then it hit me: There are two months left. Over 16 percent of the year remains. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s something. It’s time.

I was e-mailing with a friend tonight, and something she said really got me: “I am so delighted to be in my mid-30s, yet sometimes I feel like I am racing towards my own death. You know? Like OMG, I am not doing enough, and how do I take the next step, and what is that next step, and OMG did I miss it?!?!” I wrote back:

I feel all the time like I’m not doing enough. Not in an Oprah-watching overwhelmed soccer mom kind of way, but in a “Shit, there’s so much I want to do and see, and I haven’t even scratched the surface” kind of way. I used to work at a library shelving books, and I’ll never forget realizing one day that I would never, ever, ever have enough time to read all the books I wanted to read, even if I quit doing anything else and just read 24/7 for the rest of my life and lived to be 100. That was such a sobering thought. And then it hit me that I’d never walk on the moon, and I’d never win an Olympic medal, and I’d never win an Oscar. I never wanted to be an astronaut or anything, but it just dawned on me: Fuck, I’ll never walk on the moon. . . . There was a whole slew of shit that I was never going to do. And ever since then, I’ve been on a race against time.

I don’t know if I’m making clear the connection I see in these threads, but it’s about an age limit being assigned to the term emerging (read Jörg Colberg and Cara Phillips); it’s about knowing that I’m going to blink and it’ll all be over; it’s about being disappointed with myself for not getting enough done (and then being frustrated that I’m comparing myself to anyone else—read Susana Raab); it’s about feeling like half my countrymen are crazy (and realizing that they think I’m crazy, too); it’s about the hourglass running out and the future hanging in the balance; and it’s about the very real possibility that none of this even matters, and that we’re lucky if we make it to the coat closet.

October 22, 1999: Adlai Stevenson hangs in the cloakroom at the Democratic National Committee Club on Capitol Hill. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

* If you want to be a part of it, go here for the details on how to enter the juried portion of the event and take a picture on November 4 @600 beats.

Labels: age, blogs, Cara Phillips, Critical Mass, Jörg Colberg, Meighan O’Toole, photographers, politics, portfolio reviews, S., Shawn Records, Susana Raab

Zoe Strauss and kismet

Whenever I need inspiration, whenever I feel like I’m nothing but a fraud, whenever I’m in my head too much, Zoe Strauss appears. Not literally—I’ve never met her in person—but somehow, somewhere I come across her. The first time or two this happened, I thought it was happenstance, but I’m starting to think it’s kismet. Today’s appearance: the following video. Check it out.

via Flak Photo

Labels: photographers, Zoe Strauss

Amy Poehler, rap star

Labels: actors, Amy Poehler, Barack Obama, politics, Saturday Night Live, TV

A muslin who convorts with terriers

Labels: Barack Obama, politics, Saturday Night Live, TV

Muzi Quawson and some other stuff

I’m really drawn to photographers who straddle the line between documentary and fine art. One photographer whose work I’ve been interested in recently is Muzi Quawson, who had a solo show at Yossi Milo earlier this year. When I started looking for more information on Quawson, I came upon a page at the site of the Royal College of Art, from which she earned her MFA. This is the bit that got me:

Quawson “kind of knew vaguely” what she wanted to pursue in her own practice—she knew she wanted to document U.S. communities that live on the fringes of American society, and she knew that she was fascinated by the cinematic scope of a landscape that, through the work of some of the country’s most influential directors, such as Martin Scorsese, made her feel like she was “revisiting a place I’ve been to before”—but she was having trouble turning her ideas and influences into a single, clear vision.

I love hearing about people who “kind of knew vaguely” what they wanted to do and eventually figured it out. I’m still in that vague stage, but I’m getting closer.

Meanwhile, here’s some of Quawson’s work for you to enjoy. (You can also hear an audio interview and watch a video interview with her; these were created in conjunction with the Tate Triennial 2006: New British Art exhibition at the Tate Britain, of which Quawson was a part.)

Labels: interviews, Muzi Quawson, photographers

Soldier and dogs

This video is titled, “My dogs greeting me after returning from 14 months in Iraq.” Seems like a good way to end a bad week.

via AC360°

Labels: dogs

Buy this: A Sense of Place

First 30 people to buy Susana Raab’s new zine, A Sense of Place, get the beautiful print you see below the zine in this image. I know at least 2 of those 30 are already gone, so hop to, people.

Labels: buy this, photographers, prints, Susana Raab, zines

Richard Renaldi auction to benefit Barack Obama

Richard Renaldi is having his very own auction to benefit Barack Obama. If I had the money, I’d be all over this print. If you’re feeling flush right now (or you have room on your credit card), you won’t want to pass this up.

Labels: Barack Obama, photographers, politics, prints, Richard Renaldi

Jack, 199?–2008

I had to put down Jack today. He’s been with me since August 1995, my entire adult life, through snowstorms and boystorms and a cross-country move. And though it’s hard to throw a Kong Ball to Boo Radley through tears, I’m so glad I have him. He doesn’t replace Jack, of course, but life goes on, and that’s never more apparent than when Boo jumps on me and wants to play.

Love your dog a little more tonight.

Labels: Boo Radley, dogs, Jack

Debunking myths

So much for the myth that Barack Obama supporters are all latte drinking, Prius driving, NPR listening, East Coast liberal elites.

Labels: Barack Obama, politics

Friday, October 31, 2008

Group show: UnCritical Mass

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Call for entries: Critical Mass rejects

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Good news, bad news

Zoe Strauss and kismet

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Amy Poehler, rap star

Friday, October 17, 2008

A muslin who convorts with terriers

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Muzi Quawson and some other stuff

Friday, October 10, 2008

Soldier and dogs

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Buy this: A Sense of Place

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Richard Renaldi auction to benefit Barack Obama

Monday, October 06, 2008

Jack, 199?–2008

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Debunking myths

About

Contact

Web Site

Say That Again?

Want to Comment?

Get E-Mail Updates

Where to Find My Work

Follow Me on Twitter

Looking for Something?

Blogs I Read

R.I.P.

Subscribe

E-Mail
First Name
Last Name