Focusing on photographic arts
November welcomes the return of the Medium Festival of Photography, a 4-day photography event complete with portfolio reviews and artist lectures on photography. This year’s festival will take place from Thursday through Sunday at the Lafayette Hotel, with additional activities happening all over town.
For aspiring photographers portfolio reviews have become a popular one stop shop to have your work seen by a number of influential photo industry gate-keepers in one place. It can be an investment so you should pick and choose which portfolio reviews to attend based on who is reviewing;
Medium is considered one of the better ones in the U.S. But there are similar and vast reviews all over the world. You should definitely do your research on where to invest your sizeable registration fees beforehand and only attend when you and your mentors believe your work is ready to be seen. I have attended two in my time and it is like speed-dating with career makers. It is a fun experience and you do get the chance to network. All kinds of unexpected opportunities arise.
Camera Obscura: The Philadelphia Museum of Art East Entrance in Gallery #171 with a DeChirico Painting © Abelardo Morell, 2005 Unfortunately, registration for the Medium portfolio reviews has closed for this year but there will be a portfolio walk at 3rdSpace in University Heights. This event allows participating portfolio review photographers to share their work with the public as well as participating reviewers who they did not meet with during the daily sessions. I’d encourage you to attend just to see what type of work gets shown.
What is still open for registration is the Present Tense lecture series that will be happening all through the weekend. It kicks off with a keynote lecture by Abelardo Morell followed by two days of presentations by influential figures in photography, from artists pushing the boundaries of their materials to industry professionals examining the current state of photography.
I encourage you to check out Medium’s
Web site for a complete list of speakers.
Obscura Object 31 © Stephen Berkman, 2006 And while you are focused on the photographic arts check out these shows happening around town:
The Museum of Photographic Arts is showing 30x: Three Decades Staking Claim: A California Invitational which presents cutting edge contemporary California photographers, and jdc Fine Art in Little Italy which is showing Anónimo,Heroes and Performers the work of Luis González Palma.
