No. 150 - Winter 2021 : RITES OF PASSAGE

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Thank you SHOTS No. 150 SPONSORS!

CALL FOR WORK: SHOTS No. 151 : Spring 2021
Theme: CELESTIAL BODIES Deadline: March 5th, 2021
Click here to Submit Images

EDITOR'S STATEMENT: with SHOTS founder Dan Price [link]
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Diego Echevers Torrez [link]
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Christine Fitzgerald [link]
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Michelle Rogers Pritzl [link]

CONTRIBUTORS:
cover: Dana Marsy: Grand Rapids, MI
@danamarsy

back cover: Alan Berkson: Milford, CT
omages.com

pg. 28 Mike Allee: Indianapolis, IN

pg. 11 /-\ 5 |-| 3 R: unk.
retech.org

pg. 34 Elizabeth Bailey: Los Angeles, CA
elizabethbaileyphoto.com

pg. 16 Lex Beach: Northampton, MA
lexbeach.com

pg. 24-25 Barbara Brill: Englewood, NJ

pg. 41 Sinden Collier: Houston, TX
sindencollierphoto.com

pg. 17 Max Cooper: Candler, NC
maxcooperphoto.com

pg. 29 Todd R. Darling: Mid-Levels, Hong Kong
toddrdarling.com

pg. 12-13 Sunny Fincham: Baltimore, MD

pg. 18, 38 Natalie Finney: Seaford, VIC, Australia
nataliefinney.com

pg. 26-27 Edie Fogel: Orlando, FL
ediefogel.com

pg. 8 Roger Gaess: Brussels, Belgium
rogergaess.com

pg. 37 Joy Gyamfi: Vancouver, BC, Canada
roughclub.ca

pg. 10 Janique Helson: Wilton, CT

pg. 4-5 Yajie Jiang: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

pg. 7 John Kinney: Hume, VA
john-kinney.format.com

pg. 22 Tom Kirkendall: Edmonds, WA
tomkirkendall.photoshelter.com

pg. 36 David Knox: New Orleans, LA
knoxphoto.com

pg. 33 Autumn Lee: Minneapolis, MN
theautumnlee.com

pg. 19 Todd Leen: Alexandria, VA

pg. 23 Krysia Lukkason: Lithia Springs, GA
krysialukkason.com

pg. 35 Paul Matzner: Milwaukee, WI
paulmatzner.com

pg. 39 Aimee B. McCrory: Houston, TX
@mccroryrae

pg. 26-27 Adam Olson: Roseville, MN
filmrocks.com

pg. 32 Jenny Papalexandris: Kiama Heights, NSW, AUS
jennypapalexandris.format.com

pg. 1 Ann Piché: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
apichephoto.com

pg. 9 Leslie Rosenthal: Pasadena, CA
leslierosenthal.com

pg. 15 Dave Schaible: Catonsville, MD
viewbug.com/member/Fudd

pg. 14 Nashalina Schrape: Astoria, NY
nashalinaschrape.com

pg. 6 Tricia Seabold: Hillsboro, OR
@tseabold

pg. 17 Mark Sluder: Huntersville, NC
@marksluder

pg. 30, 31 Priscilla Spencer: Dallas, TX
priscellie.com

pg. 40 Bradly Dever Treadaway: Brooklyn, NY
bradlydevertreadaway.com

pg. 20-21 Morgan Tyree: Powell, WY
flickr.com/photos/mdt1960/

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EDITOR'S STATEMENT Old SHOTS Envelope

Early SHOTS Mail-In Subscription Envelope, 1986.

Upon Shots' 150th issue, I thought it appropriate to celebrate with a bit of history. Below is some of the origin story of the magazine that Dan Price sent to me shortly after I became editor. I thank Dan for his vision and perseverance, which inaugurated this unpretentious and innovative platform for photographers. And thank you to all of you – the supporters of this still small, but mighty endeavor.

—Elizabeth Flinsch, ed.

"It was 1986. I was working as a news photographer in the small town of Danville Kentucky. Always trying to push the envelope of what could be published, and having a liberal minded editor, i shot stories like the Kentucky Derby and endless weekly features with unconventional cameras such as the Diana, a Widelux, or a tiny Minox spy camera. The readers loved the artistic quality of the imagery and we won plenty of press awards.

Over time i came to know many other photojournalists in Kentucky and beyond and started setting my professional sights on the prestigious Magnum Photos, befriending the likes of Alex Webb, Susan Meiselas and Eugene Richards. Sylvia Plachy in New York and Robert Frank in Nova Scotia became letter writing friends.

I felt blessed, in that my position as Chief Photographer, i was able to fully indulge all my crazy ideas and publish many unusual photo essays. My friends at the larger newspapers had no such freedoms. I heard all about their frustrations when shooting next to them at sporting events in Lexington and Louisville. I also learned that many of them had personal photo projects that lasted months and even years. These projects kept them sane while dealing with the few and sometimes boring assignments they were being sent out on.

It was then that i came upon the idea, seconded by all the photographers i knew, to create a small magazine, in order to publish these special projects. I decided to forgo fancy layouts and used an old typewriter for photo captions and any text that i needed. My friends submitted their wonderful photos accompanied by hand-written letters explaining their work and beliefs in the medium. Instead of retyping what they had submitted, i photocopied the letters and glued them to the master copy. This home-made, pasted together style was what set SHOTS apart from other photo publications. People seemed to like the “unpolished” look. I continued with that look for my entire tenure of almost 50 issues.

To this day i am amazed when i see Shots in the photography section at a book store. Amazed that it is still going after 32 [now 34!] years and that not only have several editors taken over and done fantastic jobs running it, but that there is still a willing audience who support it. Viva La Shots!" ■

—Dan Price, Founder of SHOTS Magazine

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FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Diego Echevers Torrez
Interview by Elizabeth Flinsch

All Images © Diego Echevers Torrez

ELIZABETH FLINSCH: I first came upon your pictures from your Cocani series. Can you tell us how that project came to life?

DIEGO ECHEVERS TORREZ: Cocani was born as a pretext to keep stories of one of the most important economic sectors of mining developed within the city of Oruro during the 20th century. The stories related to coca and its economy have been part of my family history, since I can remember, so I always tried to get closer to that world to discover a little more about my roots. Coca, its aromas and mines are part of an important set of imagery in my childhood, and particularly in my present, especially because they are also part of the Oruro Carnival festival (Declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco in 2001), where the creative genius of the Andean world that inspires my life is manifested. The morenada, its characters, and fundamentally it's actors have always been the cause of a lot of secrecy, but with the passing of generations, the intensity of their presence has gradually diminished, so they have become a heritage at risk, not only for his union, but also for the place of memory to which I belong, perhaps that is why I feel that it is an important chapter in my search, and therefore also a reason for a photographic approach. I am not a cocani, and neither do I pretend to be, but I believe that an important part of my country, to which I strongly adhere, has a thread of blood connected to these stories in the depths of its life, so it is no less alien the need to protect his memory, because that is how we also protect ours.

What drew you to photography? How did you decide to shift from architecture and anthropology to photography?
Photography has allowed me to be free, always. From that first time I had to hold a camera to do a university job, I felt that the viewer allowed me to approach the world from my own conditions. More than twenty years have passed and now I feel that beyond having greatly encouraged my professional training in architecture and anthropology as a tool, photography has become my way of feeling and understanding life, from freedom.

In an interview with the Albumen Gallery, you said that "Photography is a poetic interpretation of life." How does this guide and influence the types of images you create?
Photography makes me optimistic, through it the world and life are different. Navigating in the viewfinder of a camera the possibilities of approaching the universe are endless. There, in the very immensity of what you observe, photography forces you to discover yourself and find yourself constantly, even to surprise yourself many times, because it reveals things that you yourself did not know you were wearing, so in that constant exercise of catharsis becomes possible to find the poetry of life.

What impact do you want your photographs to make on the viewer (if they are not true projections of reality)?
I want my photography to inspire you to see and feel the world from a more human possibility, where poetry and empathy build a bridge that brings us a little closer to what surrounds us.

What do you think about when you are making portraits? Do you know what you are looking for before you begin a shoot?
When we do portraits, we talk a lot and shoot little. A portrait is always an act of consent and complicity between the photographer and the person who is photographed, and from there it is impossible to think of a photographic piece that does not aim to show something that emerges from the conversation. There is almost always an implicit search in the portrait, something that allows the person to be distinguished from the other millions of people, without necessarily saying that there are no chances for chance or fortune.

What is the most profound lesson you have learned from being a photographer?
Photography has taught me that life and the world are a complex act in which too many factors converge, so that almost always nothing is what it seems, and that if you really want to experience what surrounds you, the attitude to discover the world is approaching through a camera.

Who or what has most influenced your photography? Who inspires you?
My photography is the result of intense and unforgettable afternoons of old images in the patio of my house, since I can remember. I love the work of old photographers, not necessarily known or established, particularly the work of those who understood that a good portrait should be like a painting where all the elements were controlled and consigned to keep the gesture of the character. I grew up without many influences, because I did not have access to sources that could enlighten me, however much of the work was done in a very intuitive way, and little by little it was gestating until I found the work of teachers such as Edward Curtis, Karl Blosfeldt, Irving Penn, Graciela Iturbide or Sebastiao Salgado. From there, I feel that a lot has changed and since then I became more reflective and critical of what I do. In my country I cannot fail to mention two great exponents who surprise me more every day: Carlos Portillo (unknown until now, and for whom we are working on the recovery of his work from the first half of the 20th century in the mines of Bolivia ), and Julio Cordero. About who inspires me, I think that more than one person, those who inspire me a lot are old school photographers, who with little had to do a lot. ■

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FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Christine Fitzgerald

The earth is a tough planet. Everything is in a state of flux – it has always been that way. The intent of the Threatened series is to draw attention to species facing extinction. Humans have accelerated the pace of extinction and time is running out for many of the world’s threatened creatures. The Threatened series is an ongoing body of work that combines still life images and portraits using specimens from various archival collections including the Canadian Museum of Nature. The inclusion of portraits of children in the series links a symbolic future through the children with the past by including wildlife specimens in the portraits. The series examines the tension between humans and the natural environment and the brevity of life. The inspiration for the work is all the naturalists, explorers and scientists who travel the globe collecting specimens to help us better understand the world we live in. ■

—Christine Fitzgerald

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Michelle Rogers Pritzl

I was immediately struck by both the intensity and depth of Michelle’s work when I first encountered it as a portfolio reviewer at Review Santa Fe. The story behind the series “Not Waving But Drowning”, are self-portraits are from her direct experience escaping an Evangelical marriage that, as Michelle herself describes, “show the truth of a life lived in the confines of oppressive gender roles, cult-like manipulation, and the isolation of Fundamentalism.” To me this photo represents her process of reclaiming her own power. ■

—Douglas Beasley, Publisher