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January 28, 2012 /Photography News/ Photography is essentially a form of communication which could be used as a communication media between people from diverse cultures and languages. On the other side, with the advancements of digital technologies, photography has already been democratized as one of the most accessible art forms.

The 21 February Photo Contest 2012 is an international photography contest observing the International Mother Language Day 2012. This photo contest is focused with the same goals, as obtained by the UNESCO for the International Mother Language Day, to promote the importance of linguistic, cultural diversity and multilingualism.

The main objective of this photo contest is to provide a platform where people around the world could share their views and support towards this essential cause through the language of photography. Finally, this photography contest is actually less about competition and more about inspiring mutual respect, understandings and cooperation.

 

Prizes:

The first, second, third and fourth prizewinners will be awarded gift cards of USD 500, SEK 1000, USD 100 and USD 75, respectively, at some online stores or in other forms. The details about the gift cards is to be appeared. The fifth prizewinner will be awarded a gift voucher of GBP 25 with free shipment at Jack the Hat Photographic. 

 

Eligibility: Open worldwide. Both color and black & white photos are acceptable. 

 

Deadline: 7th February 2012 23:59 GMT

 

Website: http://www.motherlanguageday.org/   

 

 

January 28, 2012 /Photography News/ The Photocrati Fund offers $5000 grants to photographers to undertake important humanitarian and environmental photography projects. The organizers' goal is to identify outstanding photographers and to provide the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world.

The 2012 Photocrati Fund award will be announced at the Look3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, Virginia in June 2012. The grant winner will become a Photocrati Fellow for the calendar year from the announcement of his/her award until the announcement of the following year’s award.

Photocrati Fund Grants are in the amount of $5,000. The funds are intended to cover the costs of travel, lodging, and expenses for up to one-month of full time photography. If you are doing a project close to home, then the funds do not need to be spent on travel and lodging, but a case must be made for how they will be spent. Your project may also be longer than one month – just make a case for the appropriate duration for your project.

The funds will be disbursed in two portions. Photocrati Fellows will receive $4000 up-front prior to the project. The remaining $1000 will be disbursed to the Grantee upon completion of the project and upon receipt of a Project Report and an image portfolio from the project.

The Grantee is expected to provide a brief follow-up report upon completion of the project that describes how the project progressed, and which provides a detailed explanation of how funds were used. Along with the Project Report, the Fellow should submit a final Image Portfolio of 20-30 images.

Eligibility:

This grant is intended for both pro and emerging photographers. The grant is open to photographers over 21 years of age from any country worldwide, but applicants should have a proven ability to produce outstanding imagery and coherent photo essays, as well as the background necessary to carry out the proposed project. This means that for photographers planning to complete a project in a country other than their own country of origin, there should be a clear demonstration of preparation for work in that country (i.e. proper visas, contacts, language training, etc.).

Copyright and use of images:

The award winner retains all copyright and ownership of images resulting from the project, including the right to sell, print, or distribute images as he or she sees fit. By accepting the grant, the Grantee (the award winner) agrees, however, to give Photocrati a worldwide, non-exclusive right to display images included in the Grantee’s Photo Essay on the Photocrati.com website. The Grantee also gives Photocrati the right to use the resulting imagery on its website, in printed materials, or in galleries for the purpose of promoting the Photocrati Fund.

Deadline: April 1, 2012

For submission guidelines visit http://www.photocrati.com/photocrati-fund/

There are no application fees for this grant.

January 28, 2012 /Photography News/ Born 95 years ago today, on 28 January 1917, William Paul Gottlieb was both a notable jazz journalist and a self-taught photographer who captured the personalities of jazz musicians and told their stories with his camera and typewriter. His images document the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C., from 1938 to 1948, a time recognized by many as the "Golden Age of Jazz". Gottlieb's portraits depict such prominent musicians and personalities as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.

Gottlieb died of complications from a stroke on April 23, 2006.

In line with Gottlieb's wishes, his photographs were put into the public domain in 2010.

January 25, 2012 /Photography News/  Celebrated annually on 26 January, Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day, and ANA Day) commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.

The collection below is a photographic record of the people, places and events of Sydney after 1870, highlighting the history and changing nature of Sydney, Australia's first and largest metropolis. 

Courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales

 

January 16, 2012 /Photography News/ The Roberto Cimetta Fund has launched an open call for travel grants from 1st to 31st January 2012 in the framework of two partnerships with Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture and with Marseille-Provence, European Capital of Culture 2013.

Eligibility:

The RCF/Guimarães 2012 fund is open to artists and cultural operators in all artistic disciplines from the Euro-Mediterranean-Arab region[1] whose travel project will take place between Guimarães and the Euro-Mediterranean-Arab region and/or in relation to a project linked to Guimarães 2012. Priority will be given to projects in music, performing arts, cinema, visual arts, design and architecture, preferably in the framework of a residency.

The RCF/Marseille-Provence 2013 fund is open to artists and cultural operators from the Euro-Mediterranean-Arab region whose travel project will take place from a country of the South and East coasts of the Mediterranean to another country of that same zone or from a country of the South and East coasts of the Mediterranean to Europe, preferably other than France. Only in exceptional cases will mobility from a European country to a country of the South or East coasts be considered; the same applies for mobility linked to countries of the Arabian Gulf. The aim of the trip needs to be linked to the Marseille Provence 2013 project and/or the area of Marseille Provence 2013 (which extends from Arles to La Ciotat through the Pays d’Aix).

South Zone: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, and the countries of the Arabian gulf, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Yemen

East Zone: Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Armenia, Moldavia.

North Zone: Northern Europe: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway. South of Europe:  Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Portugal

Candidates must also respect the general criteria of RCF which apply to these specific funding lines:

1) The aim of your trip must directly or indirectly show potential for a constructive and long-term impact on the arts sector in the Mediterranean basin. This means that your travel must contribute to your own capacity building, which in turn can be shared in a “networking” fashion that will benefit connecting artists and operators in your own country or region so as to maintain, renew and develop contemporary arts.

2) New criteria: Your trip can take place as soon as the call opens but in this case you run the risk of buying your ticket without knowing if the application is successful or not.

3) Applicant’s profile:

- No nationality or age criteria. Applicant lives or works in the Euro-Mediterranean-Arab region.

- Profession: performers, creators, teachers, cultural organisers, administrators, project leaders.

- Financial means: applicants who are unable to find the financial resources themselves.

4) Applications must be made on an individual basis by email to grant@cimettafund.org. Only 3 members of a group can apply for a grant concerning the same project. A grant holder can only reapply twice. Applicants must choose the cheapest form of transport and can only apply for one international return travel ticket and visa costs (local transport is not reimbursed).

Deadline: January 31, 2012. The date of the next selection is 1st April 2012.

Website: www.cimettafund.org 

 

January 15, 2012 /Photography News/ Born 148 years ago, on 15 January 1864, Frances Benjamin Johnston was one of the earliest American female photographers and photojournalists.

She received her first camera from George Eastman - the inventor of the Eastman Kodak cameras - and was trained by Thomas William Smillie, the director of photography at the Smithsonian Institute. 

Johnston began her professional life as an artist-reporter. Sensing a changing trend in journalistic illustration while working as the Washington correspondent for a New York newspaper, she turned to photography.

She made her name as a photographer in the 1890s, taking portraits of the political elite in Washington, D.C. - she was the official White House photographer during the Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosvelt, and Taft administrations.

The Ladies Home Journal published in 1897 Johnston's article What a Woman Can Do With a Camera, urging women to consider photography as a means of supporting themselves. She co-curated (with Zaida Ben-Yusuf) an exhibition of photographs by twenty-eight women photographers at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, which afterwards travelled to Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Washington, DC.

Johnston photographed events such as world's fairs and peace-treaty signings and took the last portrait of President William McKinley, at the Pan American Exposition of 1901 just before his assassination.

In 1904 Johnston joined the Photo-Secession.

In the 1920s she became increasingly interested in photographing architecture, being one of the first contributors to the Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture. Her photographs remain an important resource for modern architects, historians and conservationists.

She was a juror for the second Philadelphia Salon of Photography, received four consecutive Carnegie Foundation grants to document historic gardens and architecture of the South, and was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 1945. 

Johnston continued to photograph until her death in May 1952 at age eighty-eight.