Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation have joined forces to launch two new photobook awards in 2012, celebrating the book’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Entries will be accepted from July 15 through September 10, 2012. A pre-selected shortlist of thirty titles will be profiled in The PhotoBook Review; exhibited at Paris Photo at the Grand Palais and at Aperture Gallery in New York; and tour to other venues, to be determined. Winners will be revealed on November 14, 2012, Paris Photo opening day.

FEATURING TWO PRIZE CATEGORIES

First PhotoBook
A $10,000 prize will be awarded to the photographer/artist whose first photobook is deemed by an independent jury to be best of the year.

PhotoBook of the Year
PhotoBook of the Year will be awarded to the photographer/artist, and publisher responsible, whose book is deemed by an independent jury to be the best of the year.

THE JURY

The awards will be judged in two stages. An initial jury will meet in New York to select the shortlisted entries in both categories. Jurors will include Phillip Block, Julien Frydman, Chris Boot, Lesley A. Martin, and James Wellford. The final winners will be decided by a separate jury that will meet in Paris before Paris Photo begins, including Els Barents, Roxana Marcoci, Edward Robinson, and Thomas Seelig.

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Dave Anderson has photographed in tough places—a surviving Ku Klux Klan bastion in Texas, New Orlean’s post-Katrina Ninth Ward—but his photographs are rarely gritty. His Aperture monograph One Block, which documents the rebuilding efforts of one block of Ninth Ward residents, focuses less on the neighborhood’s despair and more on its hopes for renewal. Anderson knew that to photograph amidst such hardship he would have to tread lightly: “I was super-cognizant of ‘photographers fatigue’–people were sick of photographers showing up night and day and making grand promises,” he mentioned in a Color magazine profile. That Anderson spent time living and forming relationships with the residents he photographed is evident in the work—the subjects appear at ease, comfortable sharing their struggle to rebuild with Anderson and his lens.

Anderson produces videos as well as photographs—he is the man behind Oxford American’s SoLost web series, a video exploration of “the side roads, backrooms, cellars and psyche of the modern South,” which so far features 29 four-to-seven minute mini-documentaries on subjects ranging from a couple constructing a medieval castle in Arkansas, to Alabama menswear designer Billy Reid, to photographer William Eggleston. SoLost is a one-man operation, which accounts for the easy rapport between Anderson’s camera and his subjects, and why these videos feel like privileged glimpses into the richness and diversity of life in the American South.

Anderson will give a lecture about his image-making projects at The Center for Photography at Woodstock, this Friday, July 13 at 8pm. If you’re in the area, it will be worth checking out.

›› Watch a video of Anderson speaking about One Block with Aperture, and head to the Aperture store if you’re interested in purchasing a copy.

The Latin American Photobook, edited by Horacio Fernández and published by Aperture, has been awarded the historical book award at the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival. The volume, a blend of bibliography, facsimile, and encyclopedia, offers a critical study of the most important photography books to come out of Latin America, from the 1920s to today. Along with Aperture’s The Dutch Photobook: A Thematic Selection from 1945 Onwards and Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and ’70s, The Latin American Photobook is part of a growing body of scholarship on the photobook and its place in photographic history.

Jonathan Torgovnik won the Rencontres d’Arles Discovery prize for Intended Consequences—his portraits of women and their children who were born of rape in the Rwandan genocide—which was published by Aperture in 2009. Watch an excerpt of a panel discussion with Torgovnik, and read an interview with the photographer on FLYP. Intended Consequences and limited-edition prints of Torgovnik’s work are available for up to 35% off as part of Aperture’s summer sale, until midnight EST, August 10, 2012.

Check out The Guardian for more coverage of the Rencontres d’Arles festival prizes.

Photo by Elina Ruka

Aperture’s board of directors has announced the appointment of new director of development Linda L. Truesdale who comes to the foundation with twenty years of experience as a fundraising professional. Most recently, she held the position of Director of Development at The Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson and has worked with such clients as the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music; Mark Twain House; Alzheimer’s Association of Northern New Jersey; and Bomb magazine. As Director of Development, Ms. Truesdale’s primary responsibility is to provide overall strategy and leadership in the planning, implementation, and management of Aperture’s diverse and comprehensive fundraising program.

Click here to learn about ways to get involved in the support of Aperture’s programs.

Click here to learn about Aperture’s 2010 Benefit and Auction.

Check out new Aperture projects by Sanna Kannisto and Trevor Paglen coming soon, made possible by the Aperture Fund for Emerging Artists. In this clip, watch Trevor Paglen talk about his exploration of covert activities by the U.S. Government in his first monograph, Invisible, to be released in Fall 2010, and Aperture’s publisher Lesley A. Martin speaking about our long standing commitment to discovering and publishing the work of new and visionary photographers.

Often shot from a long distance, Paglen explains how the fuzziness of his images questions how we perceive and interpret images in our society using techniques from both the photography and the astronomy fields. Following the tradition of 19th century landscape photographers like Muybridge, he speaks about his series of spy satellites taken over pictorial western landscapes connecting the dots between both, as tools of discovery for unknown territories and geographical expansion. Paglen finally touches on the political performance as part of his photographic practice.

Now more than ever, we need your support to bring the outstanding work of these artists the global attention it deserves. Please contribute $10 or more today by clicking on the link below:

Click here to make a $10 donation to this fund now

Click here for more information on the Aperture Fund for Emerging Artists

Aperture Foundation would like to send its deepest condolences to the international Haitian community currently enduring the loss of their loved ones.

We here at Aperture would also like to salute the many photojournalists who are in Haiti reporting on the earthquake’s aftermath; their documentation is critical for us to more fully understand the scale of what is happening.

Aperture-published photographer Jonathan Torgovnik is currently on the ground in Haiti. His recent images of CNN reporter Anderson Cooper’s rescue of a young boy show the fragility of life after the earthquake and how very important it is for us all to support ongoing rescue and relief efforts. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, survivors, and families affected by this great tragedy.

Aperture would like to call everyone who generously supports our book, magazine and educational programs to vote for Aperture Foundation Inc in Chase’s Community Giving Contest.  Chase is giving $25,000 to nonprofits who receive the top 100 votes in a Facebook contest, simply become a fan of Community Giving and cast your vote. The deadline is December 11, 2009.

Thanks again to all our supporters, and please spread the word.

If the above button does not work, click here.

Palmbeach³ Contemporary Art Fair, opened today at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. This four-day event features collections from over 80 national and international dealers, including Aperture, located at booth A13. The contemporary works at the fair range from museum-level artists like Robert Rauschenberg to emerging and mid-career artists, in all forms of media. Aperture’s booth reflects this milieu with photographic prints on display from artists ranging from Imogen Cunningham to buzz-worthy newcomers Edgar Martins and Michael Wolf.

Palmbeach³ Contemporary Art Fair
Thursday, January 15 –Sunday, January 18, 2009

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida
(561) 209-1308