February 28th, 2008
I interned at Jen Bekman Gallery two summers ago, when Hey! Hot Shot was building a lot of momentum and press and was before the creation of 20×200. Working directly with Jen, you can feel her ambitions for how the way the art world was run and for her gallery. It was between interning at Jen’s gallery or a major photography gallery in Chelsea that I had to choose from. Ultimately, I chose Jen because of the chance to work one on one with her and learn immensely from her drive. I truly enjoyed that summer (despite the fact that I sprained my ankle in the worse way possible that time.)
Anyways, the New York Times has a great article, “Easing the Pain of Collecting” featuring Jen and her gallery. It’s still amazing to see how far the gallery has come since last two summers ago.
Currently on view at Jen Bekman:
Ne Plus Ultra The Hey, Hot Shot! Annual
February 8 thru March 15, 2008
6 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
February 23rd, 2008
Kathryn’s Bed at Home, Brooklyn, NY ¬©Jane Tam
The next following weeks will culminate into full preparation for SPE National in Denver. I am still contemplating whether to include some work from Hong Kong into my portfolio and how it actually fits in conceptually with my Family series. When showing my work, it is all in how I explain the images.
You can tell when images don’t fit into a series of work and my portfolio is not exactly immune to that problem. My perfectionalist personality makes it hard for me to create new work as I constantly reshoot images over and over again. I am not the best technician when it comes to using a camera so reshooting is a must. So, I realize some images in my portfolio do seem to stick out like sore thumbs. Though with the whole series, you can certainly see the growth of how the project started.
Preparing my portfolio comes with a lot of finishing. Most photographers buy an archival portfolio box for prints, which usually comes in the grand old color of *drumroll* Black! When you’re in a conference with hundreds of other photographers all vying for attention, a black portfolio is not exactly what’s going to make you memorable. Seeing this problem from college reviews, I decided to make my own portfolio box. Notice the plaid. (please disregard the crappy digital photo)
A 16″x20″ plaid portfolio box; homemade by your’s truly. This certainly grabbed a lot of attention and I have some requests to make other’s. I have yet decided on a fabric for my next box but I plan to make it open in a “portrait” orientation rather than a “landscape” orientation. I also have to make a box to safe-guard my book.
If anybody wants to request a homemade portfolio box, just email me and I will give you a quote. (I’m trying to up money for my Senior Thesis show, coming this April, so any help is appreciated.)
February 14th, 2008
On a trip to Lamma Island, Hong Kong © Jane Tam
If only I was sighing in relief.
February 13th, 2008
Aunt and Uncle in front of Grandma’s ¬© Tam Family
Among the drawer full of random displaced negatives, I found this 8mm negative.