If you are marking your calendar for the New York Photo Festival, which kicks off in DUMBO, Brooklyn on Wednesday, May 12th and continues through Sunday, May 16^th, this just came in from Aperture Foundation. Each day at 4:30, Aperture presents a series of illuminating discussions on career building, as well as discussions with two artists, Eirik Johnson and Jowhara AlSaud, who will present their work and talk about the larger social implications of their projects - all at St. Ann's Warehouse. The lineup:

Thursday, May 13, 4:30 pm: Emerging Artists' Support Systems, Part 1
The Artist's Perspective with Justine Reyes, Brian Ulrich, Hank Willis Thomas

In part 1 of the Emerging Artists' Support System, Aperture brings together three artists, Justine Reyes, Brian Ulrich, and Hank Willis Thomas to present their work and experiences securing the funding, reviews, fellowships, and grants that are so valuable in earning recognition for their efforts, providing feedback and input on ongoing projects, and often significantly impacting the work itself.

Left: One from Sawdust Mountain by Eirik Johnson. Right: Black Power, 2008 by Hank Willis Thomas. Copyright the photographers, courtesy Aperture Foundation.

Friday, May 14, 4:30 pm: Emerging Artists' Support Systems, Part 2
Funds, Fellowships and Reviews with Amy Elkins, Ariel Shanberg, Amy Yenkin

Part II of the discussion brings together Amy Elkins, co-founder of Women in Photography; Ariel Shanberg, executive director of the Center for Photography at Woodstock; and Amy Yenkin, director of Open Society Institute, to offer insight on how artists can better benefit from the various opportunities available to them. This will include key aspects that impact the decision-making processes of granting institutions, as well as what an artist can do to enhance their qualifications and competitiveness in a juried situation.

Saturday, May 15, 4:30 pm: Sawdust Mountain: Eirik Johnson and Jason Houston in Conversation

Eirik Johnson - whose Sawdust Mountain exhibition, a culmination of four years photographing throughout Oregon, Washington, and Northern California, is currently on view at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore - joins Jason Houston, Orion photo editor and activist, for a conversation about the tenuous relationship between industries reliant upon natural resources and the communities they support. Johnson's project addresses the timber and salmon industries, which form the bedrock of a regional Northwest identity, but whose environmental impact is increasingly at odds with the contemporary ideal of sustainability.

Sunday, May 16, 4:30 pm:Time Frames:
An Artist's Talk with Jowhara AlSaud

2008 Aperture Portfolio Prize runner-up and emerging artist Jowhara AlSaud will present and discuss her controversial, provocative body of work, Out of Line. In this series, AlSaud uses a labor intensive, craft-oriented process to create images that address Saudi Arabia's stringent laws of visual censorship, all while conflating Western expectations of feminine-Arab identity and blurring the lines distinguishing photography from the more traditional art practices of drawing and etching.

Please visit the NYPH website for a complete schedule of events including exhibitions, lectures, presentations, portfolio reviews, The New York Photo Awards, and the Leica Photo Scavenger Hunt.

DART: Design Arts Daily is a media sponsor of the New York Photo Festival, the first international festival of photography in the U.S.
Founded by Daniel Power and Frank Evers, the festival is an initiative of powerHouse Books, located in DUMBO, and is now in its third year. The four main pavilions, each showcasing compelling and personal visions of contemporary photography, will be curated this year by Vince Aletti, author, critic, and curator; photography curator, writer, and picture anthropologist Erik Kessels, a founding partner and creative director of KesselsKramer, Amsterdam; Fred Ritchin, professor of photography and imaging at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts; and playwright, poet, musician, and photographer Lou Reed, whose photographs have been exhibited worldwide.

In addition to its main exhibitions, the New York Photo Festival offers a number of satellite shows, presented by organizations from around the world, at other locations in DUMBO, Brooklyn. For information about these shows, please visit the New York Photography Festival website.

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