A Trip: The RSF Reviewers

N34°11.115'W116°08.399' by John Divola

Unsurprisingly, my updates from the road thing didn't work out so well. My trip was jam-packed, but not in a bad way. I will post excerpts and impressions in dribs and drabs. I'm going to start at the very beginning, I hear it's a very good place to start.

I am still absorbing the whole Review Santa Fe experience, which was so great in so many ways. I can't recommend it highly enough for emerging photographers - it's a huge opportunity. Center put together an amazing team of reviewers, I was really flattered to be included among them.

Reviewers who I got to spend a lot of quality time with included NYC gallerists Daniel Cooney, Michael Foley (next door hotel room neighbor, loaner of toothpaste) and Bill Hunt (hilariously and highly inappropriate at times, gotta love 'im). West Coast dealer Charles Guice and I bonded over a shared love for decent coffee (a love most harshly unrequited in the Southwest, I'm sad to say.)

On the media side, Darren Ching from PDN (and his fab wife, independent curator + writer Debra Klomp Ching), Kira Pollack from The NYT and Darius Himes from photo eye Booklist. (Darius was also a totally gracious host and Santa Fe tour guide. Props to him for making sure that all us reviewers had a good time.)

On the book front, I had fun hanging out with Alan Rapp from Chronicle Books, Christopher Bain from B&N and Joan Brookbank from Merrell.

I also really enjoyed meeting Joanna Hurley - she's the chair of Center and we talked about their new branding, transitioning from being known as "The Santa Fe Center for Photography" to simply being "Center". (They did a fabulous job.) And of course, Swan was there in a starring role - reviewing, presenting, connecting people and throwing lovely parties.

Part of what makes RSF especially great is that it's juried. Everyone who I met with is dedicated to their craft - they all spent a lot of time preparing for the event, and it showed. It was productive and inspiring and well-run. I already can't wait 'til next year. (For photographers' impressions, check out what Joe and Raul had to say.)

Next up, later today or tomorrow: the photographers themselves.

(Sidenote: the image above, from John Divola, is entirely unrelated to anything I just wrote about but is included in the review of Where We Live I recently wrote for Booklist and I just got done with spending a lot of time in the desert AND Laurel just posted about Divola's new project, Abandoned Paintings, this morning, inspiring me to dig up this image for this here post.)

Comments

[Leslie Brown]

Great links as always! Check out the juried show opening reception pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/prcboston/

We missed you, but are glad you had such an adventure! Can't wait to hear more.

Cheers, Leslie of the PRC