The International Center of Photography (ICP) board of trustees today named Mark Robbins, dean of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University, as the new executive director of ICP. Robbins will succeed Willis E. “Buzz” Hartshorn, who announced last year he would be leaving his role for medical reasons.

Before joining Syracuse, Robbins served as director of design for the National Endowment for the Arts and as a curator of architecture at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. In a statement,  Jeffrey Rosen, president of the ICP board of trustees, said the board was impressed with his “vision of the transformational power of images” and noted that in his previous positions, Robbins “made a significant impact as a leader and a manager, and as an artist and an educator.”

To see the full news story, visit PDNOnline.com.

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ICP Director Willis Hartshorn to Step Down

The 28th Annual International Center of Photography Infinity Awards, held May 2 in New York City, paid tribute to its departing director, ICP director Willis E. “Buzz” Hartshorn, who last year announced he wanted to step down for medical reasons. Though Hartshorn will continue to work with ICP, this was his last Infinity Awards as director, a role he has held since 1994, when he took over from ICP founder Cornell Capa.

The crowd gave a standing ovation to Hartshorn, who oversaw the expansion of both the ICP museum’s exhibition space and its photography school and the creation of the ICP Triennial exhibition. In accepting a special Infinity Award last night, Hartshorn said that in the 30 years he’s been associated with ICP, its mission has evolved from promoting the appreciation of photography to exploring “how pictures create meaning.” He thanked the ICP board for creating a new advisory position for him within the institution. He also expressed gratitude to ICP founder Cornell Capa for his leadership and encouragement. Looking first toward the heavens and then, after a pause, downwards, Hartshorn said, “Cornell, thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

Photographer Daido Moriyama won the Lifetime Achievement Award. A video that preceded the presentation showed Moriyama capturing his black-and-white, expressionistic images, shooting on the streets of Tokyo with a small pocket camera, sometimes from the hip or without looking through the viewfinder. Moriyama took his iconic photo “Stray Dog” while in his 20s, but for a time he abandoned photography, frustrated that his work was only copying. After falling into a period of drug use, he by chance found and bought a used Pentax and then returned to making art. (more…)

On May 3, the day after he receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards gala, renowned photographer Daido Moriyama will be signing special editions of his latest book at the ICP in New York City.

The ICP says that the first 200 buyers of Moriyama’s new book, Color, will be able to choose one of 20 original prints which will be inserted in the book’s front cover and then signed by Moriyama himself.

Copies are $200, or $180 for ICP members. The sale not only celebrates Moriyama’s achievements, but also supports the ICP museum, educational programs and community outreach.

The event starts at 6pm at the ICP Museum’s bookstore. Books will be available on a first come, first served basis, and the photographer will only be signing the editions of Color that were made especially for ICP.

Any unsold copies will be available through the ICP store or online.  For further information visit the events page at www.icp.org

Information about the ICP Infinity Awards ceremony and dinner, taking place May 2, can be found at  www.icp.org/support-icp/infinity-awards

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Moriyama, Ai Weiwei to Be Honored at ICP Infinity Awards

This year I attended the third of four, four-day portfolio review sessions at Fotofest’s Fourteenth International Biennial of Photography. Fotofest, organized by Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, is the largest international portfolio review in the Untied States. Fotofest reviewers see 14 or more photographers per day, which makes it challenging for photographers to stand out.

I asked some of my fellow reviewers to share their thoughts on memorable work they saw. Here’s what they wrote:

Frazier King, Chair,  Houston Center for Photography

I would like to highlight the new work that is being done by Laurie Lambrecht.  Laurie’s new work is comprised of outtakes of the Chinese landscape—a kind of micro mundi. It is as if she was guided by ancient silk weavers to their points of inspiration. Each of the images compresses the landscape, sometimes in a trompe l’oeil fashion, so that the print looks like a silk weaving. Each image is not only beautiful but also very visually mysterious and intriguing.

Chantel Paul, Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego)

On Thursday, the final day of reviews, I met with Mariela Sancari. Her series “El caballo de dos cabezas,” depicting the process of grieving and reconciliation Mariela and her identical twin sister experienced after their father committed suicide when the girls were 14 brought a well of emotional response for me. I am still thinking about the moment of clarity when I read her images and wonder if the intense emotion it brought stemmed from my own close relationship with my younger sister. Whatever the reason, these images touched me in a way that was incredible and not easily forgotten.

Hava Gurevich, Director, Art 2 Art

Lucia Herrero
Project: Tribes

I liked [Herrero's] “anthropological” take on a typical family activity. The work has an immediate visual strength to it, but also a good conceptual base that resonates with me: she is looking at her own culture, and a very mundane activity, and very average people. But the images reveal something very profound to me, about our material culture, about subtle differences between generations, and ethnic groups… She uses the tools she has (lighting, lenses, direction) with great technical skill—which gives the images a heightened drama.

Artist: Paul Lange
Project: Fowl Portraits

The idea of implementing traditional portraiture standards to these birds is whimsical, theatrical, and majestic. These portraits really need to be seen printed large because the detail is gorgeous, and the character revealed in these beautiful birds is undeniable. The response to these images is direct and immediate… you either connect with them, or not.  I don’t think there is a big underlying concept, other than respect and awe for these creatures.

Artist: Lais Pontes
Project: Born Nowhere

Lais takes self-portraits that she skillfully manipulates digitally and then releases on a social media site for people to interact with. The project is collaborative and evolves over time, with input from friends and strangers…each girl’s background, personality and story is a collaborative collage of comments people leave on the posting. This project taps into issues of stereotypes, culture, class, race, age etc..  I think it is a smart use of social media. I also like the tension between the very controlled portraits and the unpredictable outcome of each piece.

Artist(s): Hillerbrand+Magsamen
Project: House/ Hold

There is so much humor, honesty, humanity, humility, playfulness, neurosis, and family dynamics in this work, taking the quirkiness that makes a family unique and turning up the dial to “11.”

Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography (Massachusetts)

Ellen O’Connell is a photographer I met at Fotofest this year from Zurich, Switzerland. She received her MFA from NYU. She turns her camera on her children. In a series called “Triptychs” she assembles a three-part image of her subject. For this purpose I have chosen to deconstruct her triptychs to focus on 3 portrait shots of her son; the clown, the lion tamer and the muscle man. Her prints utilize a carbon ink method that adds a richness that invokes a timeless quality. Her studies are cropped faceless, making the subject anonymous. The effect creates tension yet the images are very lighthearted.

Manfred Zollner, Editor, Fotomagazin (Hamburg, Germany)

In her project “Wait Watchers,“ American photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero is using photography for some kind of a social experiment that is mixing the conceptual approach of staged photography with social documentary photography. She is selecting public spaces to pose publicly in front of her camera. The chance encounters and reactions of those people passing her while the camera’s timer is exposing this situation, make her series special. Morris-Cafiero is a young woman, whose “overweight” body may not exactly fit the common ideas of beauty. Her posing is subtle, showing the casual behaviour of someone, who just happens to be at the place. The glances and reactions of those people passing by are telling, however. Aggressive staring, unrestrained mocking, subtle looks, belly-holding: as a result of her long random sessions in several cities and countries, Morris-Cafiero´s images reveal prejudices and a society´s tendency to outcast people for their appearance. This project is still in its early stages and in my eyes has a lot of potential for further development. Those images I’ve seen so far, certainly stick with me.

Clint Wilour, Curator, Galveston Arts Center

Of all the resources at my disposal for the discovery of new photography, I would have to say it has been for the last 28 years (including this one) Houston FotoFest. During those four weeks I reviewed 145 portfolios and visited over 70 exhibitions. Some of the most memorable discoveries this year were David Robinson’s sliced mushroom narratives, Judy Haberl‘s luminescent ink jet mural, Jamey Stilling‘s new project The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar, Jeff Deemie‘s West Texas photographs and Nicolas Fedak‘s new take on alternative processes.

The body of a white male found recently with a camera lens in a mass grave in eastern Libya could be that of photojournalist Anton Hammerl, the Huffington Post reports. Hammerl was shot by troops loyal to deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi on April 5, 2011, according to other journalists who were traveling with him at the time.

Those journalists were captured and detained for several weeks, and reported Hammerl’s death after their release.

The Huffington Post says that Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, has been in Libya following inquiries into the whereabouts of Hammerl’s remains. Bouckaert is now trying to get the governments of South Africa, Britain or Austria to help administer DNA tests for a positive identification of the remains.

Related: Print Auction to Benefit Children of Anton Hammerl to be Held at Christie’s

On May 15, 2012, Christie’s will hold an auction of photojournalism prints to benefit the children of Anton Hammerl. The South African-born photojournalist was killed while covering the conflict in Libya in April last year by forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi.

Hammerl was survived by his wife and three young children.

Photographers who have donated prints for the auction include Sebastiao Salgado, Alec Soth, Christopher Anderson, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Yuri Kozyrev, Larry Fink, Lynsey Addario, Susan Meiselas, Ron Haviv, David Burnett, Joao Silva, Samuel Aranda, Marcus Bleasdale, David Hume Kennerly, Roger Ballen and Vincent Laforet.
Update: Christiane Amanpour, the ABC News global correspondent, has agreed to host the May 15 benefit. Tickets to the event are now available for a suggested donation is $75. Photographers Danny Clinch, Platon, Giles Duley, Jason Florio, Anastasia Taylor-Lind and the estate of Tim Hetherington have recently given images to the auction.

Those interested in bidding on prints can do so in person or online. More information can be found on the Friends of Anton Hammerl site, which was created by his friends to benefit Hammerl’s children.

http://www.friendsofanton.org/

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United Photo Industries, a Brooklyn-based collective dedicated to exhibiting and promoting photography, has announced their first major event, which will take place at a river-front park in Brooklyn, New York, this summer from June 22-July 1.

Dubbed “Photoville,” the event at Brooklyn Bridge Park, will feature 35 concurrent exhibitions of photography from all over the world. Each exhibition will be housed in shipping containers, forming a “village” of photography exhibitions, which will be free and open to the public.

As part of the Photoville programming, PDN has joined with United Photo Industries and Brooklyn Bridge Park to produce an outdoor photo exhibition called “The Fence,” which will adorn Brooklyn Bridge Park for two months this summer.

To create the installation, more than 300 images will be printed on photographic mesh, forming a 1,000-foot fence. The images exhibited on “The Fence” will be selected from contest entries by a jury of photography curators and editors. For more information on how to enter, visit The Fence contest site here.

In addition to the exhibitions, Photoville will also feature outdoor projections, panel discussions and lectures, workshops, a food and beer garden, tents with photo gear vendors, and even a dog run.

For more information about the inaugural Photoville event visit photovillenyc.org.

Photojournalists covering conflict zones can now apply for Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) training. RISC, which was founded by journalist and author Sebastian Junger, currently has courses scheduled for New York City in April 2012, London in fall 2012 and Beirut in winter 2012/2013. Each three-day workshop focuses on teaching attendees crucial combat medical skills.

Junger was a friend of the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington, with whom he collaborated on the documentary Restrepo. He started RISC after he learned that Hetherington, who was killed by a mortar in Misrata, Libya, last year, could have survived his injuries if someone on the ground with him knew basic lifesaving techniques.

“Combat photographers like Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington regularly take chances that many writers wouldn’t dream of, and as a result they suffer a disproportionate number of casualties,” Junger says. “RISC is an attempt to train freelancers in battlefield medicine and equip them with combat medical packs so that they can render aid immediately and effectively. The industry has gone far too long without providing any medical training for the people—mostly freelance photographers—who run most of the risks.”

Most conflict-training courses can be costly. However, applicants accepted into RISC courses are only required to pay for their own travel and food expenses. Housing and workshop costs are covered with funds raised by RISC. Many media organizations have donated funding for the first round of workshops, including ABC News, National Geographic, Vanity Fair and Condé Nast, and Getty Images.

The first workshop takes place in New York City April 18 through 20, which is the one-year anniversary of Hetherington’s death. At the time of this writing, all but three of the 24 spots were filled, with eight people on the waiting list. Applicants were chosen based on the amount of time they’ve spent in conflict zones. RISC’s mission is to train experienced conflict reporters, photojournalists and other members of the media who will use the medical skills on future assignments. The workshops do not include hostile environment training, such as preparation for loud noises, surprise attacks or mitigating personal risk.

Though the dates aren’t set for the London and Beirut workshops, RISC has already received applications for both cities (42 and 15, respectively). Regardless, the organization encourages journalists to continue to apply since it plans on holding courses once a year in all three cities.

Go to risctraining.org to apply for workshops and get more information.

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Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington: A Reflection

©Amber Terranova. Sam Kaplan, Ryan Pfluger and Holly Stuart Hughes at the March 14, 2012 PDN's 30 Seminar at the School for Visual Arts Theater in New York City.

At the first in a series of educational seminars organized as part of the 2012 PDN’s 30 programming, three photographers named to this year’s PDN’s 30 spoke about the importance of establishing and unique esthetic perspective, and about being persistent in creating and promoting new work to potential clients.

The panel discussion at the School for Visual Arts Theater in New York City, which was moderated by PDN editor Holly Stuart Hughes, included PDN’s 30 photographers Sam Kaplan, Peter Ash Lee and Ryan Pfluger, as well as veteran photographer Andy Katz and New York Times Magazine associate photo editor Clinton Cargill. (more…)

This Sunday, March 11, is the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Photographers who have extensively covered the devastation and the environmental and nuclear consequences around the affected region are marking the anniversary in variety of ways. Here are a few of the events:

Black Tsunami
FotoEvidence, the organization that supports photography books on social justice issues, is releasing a new digital book featuring Tokyo-based photographer James Whitlow Delano’s documentation of Year Zero, taken in Miyagi prefecture. His somber black-and-white photos convey the epic scale of the damage in a personal, almost poetic way. Black Tsunami is now available in the Apple iTunes store as an iPad app.  A preview can be seen on Vimeo.

Dispatch from Tohoku: A Group Slide Show
Sunday March 11, from 7:30 to 9:30, photographer Jake Price’s SeenUnseen will be presenting “Dispatch From Tohoku: Documenting the Aftermath,” a slide show of work by several photographers who documented the aftermath of the disaster.  Tickets are $15, and the proceeds will benefit Art in a Box, which brings supplies to children affected by the tsunami. Curated by Elissa Curtis, Dana Kien and Jamie Wellford, and produced by Price and Emmanuelle Chiche, the slide show includes images by James Whitlow Delano, David Guttenfelder, Kyoko Hamada, Dominic Nahr, Kosuke Okahara, Q. Sakamaki, Munemasa Takahashi and Price, and artwork by Midori Curtis.  It will be held at The Bubble Lounge, 228 West Broadway, New York City.

Wa Project Photo Auction
In April 2011, Wa Project held a photo auction in New York City that raised over $16,000 for rebuilding efforts in Japan. Now Wa Project is holding an auction and exhibition in Tokyo at the 72 Gallery of the Tokyo Institute of Photography, featuring photos by Kenro Izu, Venetia Dearden, Jake Price, Gilles Bensimon, Jamel Shabazz and others. The images all exemplify the theme of “wa,” loosely translated to mean “harmony.” All funds raised through print sales will be donated to Archi+Aid, which works with architects, students and communities rebuilding from disaster and preparing for the future. The show ends on March 11. For more information see waphotographyauction.com