FotoFreo Newsletter: February 6, 2012

The WA Life competition has now closed. We wish to thank everyone who entered for their interest and will look forward to seeing your photographs on display around the port city of Fremantle in late March. Don’t forget the winners of the $10,000 prize pool will be announced at the Moores Building, 46 Henry Street, Fremantle, during the evening of Sunday, 25^th March.

Also, applications for the Magnum scholarships, supported by the WA Department for Culture and the Arts, have also closed. We were particularly pleased with the level of interest and the high standard of the entries in this important event and the three recipients of these awards will be notified shortly.

FotoFreo will be conducting two panel discussions as part of the Incite Conversations for FotoFreo 2012.

On Saturday, 17^th March, there will be a discussion about The Landscape in Australian Photography Today with moderator Alasdair Foster and panellists Gael Newton, Richard Woldendorp, Juha Tolonen and Murray Fredericks. More details on the website.The discussion will be followed by the launch of a new book, Landscape and Photography, by Rod Giblett and Juha Tolonen. The book launch is a free event.

The next day, Sunday, 18^th March, there will be a discussion about Indian Photography Today, with moderator Alasdair Foster, Gael Newton, Devika Daulet-Singh, Raghu Rai and Sohrab Hura. Again, more details on the website.

There are still a number of places available in the FotoFreo Workshop Programme so check it out.

Book and Book Launch

FotoFreo is pleased to announce there will be a book launched during the festival to accompany the exhibition, No Worries: Martin Parr.

The book, entitled NO WORRIES Martin Parr, is published by T&G Publishing and FotoFreo. It is hard cover and comes with a forward by Robert Cook, Curator Modern and Contemporary Photography and Design, Art Gallery of WA.

The full retail price will be AUS$70.00, plus postage (if required).

However, for a limited time only FotoFreo is offering a special pre-publication price (for a limited number of books) of AUS$55.00, plus $12.50 postage to mail anywhere in Australia, or you can collect the book during the exhibition.

For more details and to purchase your copy, see the website.

Book cover No Worries Martin Parr - Newsletter

Perth Centre for Photography

As a part of the core programme the Perth Centre for Photography (PCP) has two exhibitions, Alter Ego, by Robbie Cooper and A New Kind of Beauty, by Phillip Tolenado.

Robbie Cooper’s Alter Ego exhibition explores personal and social identities being shaped in the Meta verse at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Portraits of online gamers and virtual-world participants from America, Asia and Europe are paired with images of their avatars, with profiles of their real-world and virtual self-created characters.

For Phillip Tolenado’s exhibition he explains, “I’m interested in what we define as beauty, when we choose to create it ourselves. Beauty has always been a currency, and now that we finally have the technological means to mint our own, what choices do we make? Is beauty informed by contemporary culture? By history? Or is it defined by the surgeon’s hand?”

Just a reminder that the PCP has moved and is now located at 100 Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. If you are in Perth this week, the PCP is celebrating the opening of its new gallery on Wednesday, 8^th February at 6.00 pm.

Jason-Rurouni © Robbie Cooper

The Fringe is DEAD, long live the OPEN EXHIBITION PROGRAMME

In the perhaps vain hope of avoiding any confusion, there has been a name change. What, up until quite recently, has been referred to as the Fringe is now known as the Open Exhibition Programme.

By this we mean, FotoFreo calls for submissions, assesses the applications received (there is a selection committee) and then allocates exhibition spaces to the successful applicants, some of whom may have already found a space to exhibit.

The bottom line is – there is a selection process and not everyone gets accepted.

Not all applicants like the sound of the word “Fringe”. In fact there are people who will not take part in the festival because in some way is seens to be demeaning to be a part of the Fringe. The standard for the 2012 Open Exhibition Programme is particularly high and there are a number of well known photographers taking part with several from overseas. It is our intention to continue to raise the standards for this section of the festival.

We still like the idea of the Fringe and in FotoFreo 2014 there will definitely be a Fringe to accompany the Open Exhibition Programme.

Satellite Events

FotoFreo consists of many parts and includes a number of ‘satellite events’. Satellite events are those that are conducted under the umbrella of the festival and which we are pleased to be associated with and endorse.

However, they are not a part of the programme funded by FotoFreo. In most cases, the people or organisations involved in these events have had some past association with FotoFreo.

Such an event is the Documentary Photography Workshop with Claire Martin and Sam Harris.

Run over five days from 30^th March – 3^rd April, the workshop is open to 12 intermediate level photographers.

Price: $550

Claire has had a long association with FotoFreo, starting as a volunteer while she was studying at ECU. In 2010 Claire received the Magnum Foundation 2010 Inge Morath award for Female Photographers under 30, and in 2009 was recognized by Getty images as an Emerging Talent in Reportage.

Sam, originally from London where he worked as a photographer mainly with the music industry, now lives in the south west of W.A. where he teaches photography, undertakes commissions and exhibits at international festivals. Last year he won the 2011 Momento Pro-Photobook of the Year award at the HeadOn festival. He is exhibiting in the Open Exhibition Programme of FotoFreo 2012.

For more details visit the FotoFreo website or go to www.harrismartinworkshops.com.