Review Santa Fe

Review Santa Fe is a portfolio review event for photographers. It is a gathering of gallery owners, museum curators, publishers, consultants, etc. who are selected for their experience, involvement and commitment to advancing the work of emerging and mid-career artists. There are a couple dozen portfolio review events around the world including Photolucida in Portland, Oregon, Encuentros Abiertos in Buenos Aires and Mois de la Photo in Paris. Review Santa Fe is unique in that it is the only juried event. I understand there were about 600 applicants and 100 were chosen. Knowing the caliber of work that was sent in, I feel honored to be included. 

Since being notified a couple of months ago of acceptance based on the Timeless India portfolio, I've spent my time in preparation researching the 42 reviewers, re-printing my portfolio to the standards expected, developing and creating various promotional materials (for my website, blog, the workshops I'll be teaching, and for specific portfolios) and considering how to articulate my own creative process.

This afternoon the participants will gather at The Lodge in Santa Fe to register and have orientation about how the event will unfold in the next three very intense days. I have so many questions! For instance, we have each been assigned 9 reviewers. Can we try to sneak in a meeting with another two or three we'd like to see? Is there any food to be had in this place? I'm already a bit nervous, don't want to pass out from overstimulation and hunger!

I've considered all the angles to this weekend including getting a manicure. Since I'll be flipping through photographs for three days, I don't want my ripped up cuticles to distract from the art. And in these dry desert conditions, they really are ripped to shreds.

Stay tuned for daily reports.

Photograph: Curious Family in Jodhpur, India

Passion for Photography

What are you passionate about? Not counting family, what makes your heart sing, makes you smile when no one is looking?

These thoughts crossed my mind while I was processing my Timeless India portfolio for the Review Santa Fe event in June. It was so exciting for me to convert the colorful images to black and white, exciting to tweak the sliders to give them the look of an antique plate. And looking at these people once again on my screen excited me. I touched the screen where the little girl's face looked up at me and I recalled being in her village in Rajasthan. I fell back into my chair and grinned from ear to ear remembering an exchange with the Gujurati Hijaras.

What I love about travel photography is that is gathers all the things I feel most passionate about: experiencing something new, meeting people from cultures very different from mine, making photographs and later processing them, then sharing the experience with others. This is my raison d'etre'.

Let me tell you a little bit about the hijaras of India. For the most part they are eunuchs, but some are transvestites who have opted into this way of life. The hijaras in the photograph below (I have posted both the color photo and the black and white version from Timeless India) had low voices so we assumed that they fell into the latter category. They are considered to be auspicious people and are welcome at weddings and births to offer their powerful blessings - for a fee, of course. Lisl Dennis and I offered these two hijaras twice their normal fee to sit and pose for us - 40 cents! - for the honor to have them sit for a moment on the stoop of a shop in a small village in Gujarat. I love their gestures and the intense eye contact. The moment we finished photographing them, the Muslim call to prayer wafted through the village and I realized...I am living my dream; this is such a glorious moment.

Tell me one of your glorious moments!