You know that when I'm not toiling away on Consuming Louisville in my cave I'm a photographer right?

When I showed my partner a print of this photograph she said "I love this because it reminds me of how I feel driving downtown early in the morning when the streets aren't crowded yet. It's like the day and the city are full of possibility." We'll ignore that this scene was at sunset instead of sunrise but other than that we'll go with her sentiment. Louisville is a city full of possibility so I called this image Possibility City. 

Many of the One Thing I Love About Louisville essays we've seen thus far have echoed that sentiment and many of the ones I've yet to publish do as well. People here believe anything is possible, that in this great city anything can be accomplished. So it pains me that the so called Possibility City campaign, put together by, I think Greater Louisville Inc., doesn't really tell any stories about how great Louisville is or how it really is a city full of possibilities. It's possible I'm too critical of the campaign but I want everyone to know how great Louisville is and how it's a unique and creative place. I just don't think the Possibilty City website conveys that information at all.

So consider this piece a tiny little effort to influence the conversation. Perhaps if someone Googles "Possibilty City" they'll stumble here as well as possibilitycity.com. When they get here they'll see an image that shows our beautiful downtown and lots of information about the great city of Louisville.

I'd love to hear if you agree that Louisville is a city of possibilities and if so why. I'd also love to hear what you think of the "official" possibility city campaign.

Prints of the image Possibilty City are available for purchase. Please contact me for more information.

Just a reminder that the Picturing the Neighborhood Photo Project is this Saturday January 19, 2008 at The 930.

Come be a part of a group photography project that will document the neighborhoods surrounding the 930. This project will offer participants the opportunity to learn the functions of their camera and to see their neighborhood in greater detail. Participants need to bring their own camera equipment, including laptops if available.

Selected photographs from the day will be featured in an exhibit at the 930’s second floor gallery, and if approved by the photographer, selected images will be featured on the 930 website as well as www.sojournchurch.com.

Saturday January 19, 2008
11a.m.-6p.m.

Please register by emailing michael@the930.org
Schedule of the day's activities after the jump

The 930
930 Mary St.
Louisville, KY 40204

The 930 has a great community based photography event next Saturday January 19, 2008.

Come be a part of a group photography project that will document the neighborhoods surrounding the 930. This project will offer participants the opportunity to learn the functions of their camera and to see their neighborhood in greater detail. Participants need to bring their own camera equipment, including laptops if available.

Selected photographs from the day will be featured in an exhibit at the 930’s second floor gallery, and if approved by the photographer, selected images will be featured on the 930 website as well as www.sojournchurch.com.

I'm a fan of street photography and street portraiture specifically. I've only recently started dipping my own photographic toes into street portraiture. I encourage anyone participating in Picturing the Neighborhood to remember to photograph the people in the neighborhood and not just landscapes, still lifes and architecture.

Saturday January 19, 2008
11a.m.-6p.m.

Please register by emailing michael@the930.org
Schedule of the day's activities after the jump

The 930
930 Mary St.
Louisville, KY 40204

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is presenting photographer David Harpe's first solo exhibition Details, Details, Details: Photographs by David Harpe. In what is the largest largest collection of work Harpe has shown there will be over 14 photographs, showcasing three distinct bodies of work: "water drops - features flowing streams of water photographed in freefall to create vivid abstract imagery, “Steele Bastille” - a series of abstract images of buildings in Louisville taken at sunset or at night, and a series of detail photographs from the book Stephen Rolfe Powell: Glassmaker."

The museum is celebrating the exhibit with an opening reception tomorrow night. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served and Kyle Meadows will be performing hammer dulcimer music.

Details, Details, Details: Photographs by David Harpe Opening Reception Friday January 11 5:00PM-7:30PM

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
715 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202

I noticed a call for photos on WFPK's newly redesigned website. Essentially they're looking for photos of Louisville that they can use for free, with some kind of nominal credit.

"So send us your photos. We’ll give you a credit, you’ll get a warm fuzzy feeling, and the world will see your work. What could be better?

(Specifics: Photos should be 72 dpi, no larger than 1,028 pixels wide, RGB color. All photos become the property of Louisville Public Media.)"

What could be better? Getting paid for your photography would probably be better. Not having any photo you submit, and would therefore be allowing WFPK to use for free, becoming "the property of Louisville Public Media" would probably be better. Getting an actual photo credit instead of a very hard to read with no link tiny print mention would probably be better.

I love WFPK (I'm a PRP member) and I get that there are a lot of photographers who do think there is nothing better than having one of their photos used for free but I hate this. I hate having no clear photo use policies. They say they may use photos in mastheads or maybe in slide shows but it's not limited to that. They could use a submitted on a brochure or marketing mailers and the photographer wouldn't be paid. I hate not paying photographers for their work but I think what I may hate even more is Louisville Public Media claiming ownership for anything submitted when they've made clear they are not going to pay any photographers for those rights. The photographers are supposed to just be happy giving both use of their photos and the rights to those photos away for free.

I don't think WFPK has any malicious intent here, I just think they're trying to get the absolute most they can for free but in my mind the way they're doing it isn't right. I respect and love the medium of photography and don't like seeing it devalued. Asking people to voluntarily submit images is one thing but having no clear usage rights defined for submissions is wrong, claiming complete ownership of the work is wrong. To put it in terms that are more directly applicable to WFPK it would be like saying to local bands "Submit your music to us! When you submit your music to us we might play it on the air but we also might use it in commercials. And by submitting your music to us you gave us complete ownership of it so if we want to sell it for other commercial purposes and advertisements or maybe put it on a CD compilation we will and totally won't need your permission and we won't need to pay you. Thanks! Don't you feel warm and fuzzy?"

Can you imagine WFPK attempting such an initiative with music? I can't, so it very much bothers me that think it's ok to do this kind of thing with photography.

I acknowledge that I could just be irrational about this issue because I'm a photographer and as such want photographers to be compensated both monetarily and with actual, real photo credits for their work. So what do you think? Am I wrong to be upset?

The email I sent to WFPK (some of which I've used in the above text) after the jump.

The Pink Door
Louisville, KY 40205

Louisville photographer Sarah Lyon (she of the Female Mechanics calendar featured in our holiday shopping guide) has a second calendar available this holiday season as well. The second calendar, called Louisville Portraits and Spaces, is a limited edition run with only 50 copies made. The small, elegant calendar is a beautiful collection of photographs that features different and I'd say even haunting perspectives on people and places in our fair city. Stop by Scout downtown to pick up your copy.

Louisville Portraits and Spaces Calendar $35
available at Scout
801 E. Market St.
Louisville, KY 40206
584-8989

Just a reminder about the Ben Sollee CD release events this Friday November 16 and Saturday November 17 at 21C Museum Hotel.

An Evening Of Music and Dance with Ben Sollee
Celebrating the release of Learning To Bend
Choreography by David Ingram and Delilah Smyth
Photography by Mickie Winters
Friday November 16th and Saturday November 17th
21C Museum Hotel
8 pm
$10

Check out Ben's MySpace page for a few older audio clips to get a feel for his eclectic sound. I heard a sneak preview of the album and I loved it. Definitely, definitely worth checking out when it's available for purchase.

Tickets for the event are available for purchase at Quills Coffee & Books

I'm late getting the info on this event but if you're interested in photography this sounds like a good way to spend a Saturday morning and if you're a photographer a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Brennan Heritage Center is proud to present:
The Brennan Photography Symposium
 

Public Session: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm

• Tour of The Brennan House & special exhibit of Brennan family photos
• Lecture with Bill Carner, University of Louisville, Photo Archives
• Photography: Processes, Preservation, & Conservation

*Bring one of your own old photos to be analyzed by Mr. Carner

Photographers Session: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

• Tour of The Brennan House & special exhibit of Brennan family photos
• Open photography session: Featuring a rare chance to photograph this Victorian Italianate Townhouse beautifully furnished and decorated by the Brennan family during their 85 years in the home.

Lights provided by Murphy's Camera

$10 per Session
To reserve your place, please send payment to Brennan House, 631 S. 5th Street, Louisville, KY 40202.

Since I am so late getting the information on this event I'm not sure if there are any spots for the photographers session still available. I tried calling to find out but couldn't get an answer.

For more information call 502.540.5145

An interesting photography exhibit is running through December 15, 2007 at the Muhammad Ali Center.

Featuring fascinating photos of Muhammad Ali at the pinnacle of his career, this special exhibition offers an intimate look at the Louisville icon through the lens of internationally acclaimed photographer Sonia Katchian. A select collection of 41 photos were chosen from Sonia’s thousands of Ali images. The exhibit includes major fight photos that were originally published in Sports Illustrated and Sport magazine in the 1970's as well as dozens of behind-the-scenes photos of the Champ that illustrate the softer, personable side of Muhammad. The black and white images of Ali were taken in locations all over the world with his family, friends and other close companions. Most of the photos have had little public exposure.

Hours:
9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday
12 noon - 5 p.m. Sunday

Admission:
Exhibition is included with regular admission to the Ali Center.

$9 adults
$8 seniors (65+)
$5 students and military
$4 children (6-12)
Members and children ages 5 and under are free

When the series "A New Dawn? A Kentucky Mother's Struggle Through Drug Court" is published starting this coming Sunday in the Lexington Herald-Leader, and as it goes live on the newspaper's Web site as a multimedia package, it will represent four years of work by photojournalist and NPPA member David Stephenson and reporter Mary Meehan as they followed a drug addict's struggle to get clean after she was sentenced to treatment - not prison time - in drug court.

This series looks terribly interesting and intense. For the first time in recent memory I'll have reason to buy the Herald Leader and check out its website for the multimedia package. This past year seemed to have been full of stories where photojournalist did or were accused of doing wrong (deceptive practices in photo manipulation, etc) it's a treat to be reminded (though we shouldn't have forgotten) that great, important photojournalism is out there.

via NPPA

Previously I had said "The photography party in Louisville is going to keep on rocking till it just can't rock anymore. " Apparently it can rock just a little bit more.

Renowned photographer Alec Soth is presenting a lecture at the Speed Museum on Thursday August 30th.

Alec Sloth is the recipient of several major fellowships from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations and was awarded the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. His first monograph, Sleeping by the Mississippi, was published by Steidl in 2004; his follow up, NIAGARA, was released in 2006. Sponsored by the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville (Auditorium)

I'm really excited about this lecture. It's a great event for our city and our museum.

Alec Soth
August 30
6PM
Speed Museum Auditorium

The photography party in Louisville is going to keep on rocking till it just can't rock anymore.

On Saturday August 25 head to the Speed Museum for "fun-filled workshops to learn how cameras work, make art using light and discover techniques to create strange and wacky photographs. Bring your camera and our artist will teach you how to create your own masterpiece."

Funky Family Photo Days at the Speed Museum
Saturday August 25
12:00-3:00 PM

Louisville's celebration of photography continues with The Speed Museum presenting a great opportunity to learn how to deal with old photographs.

Bill Carner and Andy Anderson from the University of Louisville's Photo Archives discuss how to care for family photographs and older photographs. Participants may each bring two photographs. Admission is $10, $5 for members. Admission to The Best of Photography and Film from the George Eastman House Collection is included. For tickets or information call (502) 634-2960.

Saturday August 18
10:30 - 12:30 PM

The Best of Photography and Film from the George Eastman House Collection presents a wide-ranging selection of popular and recognized works from the history of photography. The exhibition explores photography from 1839 daguerreotypes to September 11, 2001, and includes such iconic photographs as Mathew Brady’s portrait of Abraham Lincoln; the first photograph of lightning; celebrity portraits by Nickolas Muray and Arnold Newman; Alfred Stieglitz’s The Steerage; and Robert Capa’s D-Day, Omaha Beach. The exhibition also features photographs by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harold Edgerton, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and many other prominent photographers. The film component of the exhibition includes film clips, celebrity portraits, motion picture stills, lobby cards, and movie posters for early films made before 1923. Tickets are $10, free for Speed members.

Speed Museum
June 19 – September 16, 2007

I'm really excited about this exhibit. I can't wait for it to open.