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Young Artists Program Video Premieres

YO videoMMW's newest video, which highlights our popular Young Artists "YO" Program, has just been released and is available for online viewing.

Produced and directed by Maine Media College Professional Certificate Program graduate Kevin Carragher, with production and post production assistance from Chris Lehmann, the project is the result of a summer-long effort to document the dynamic and intensive high school workshops here in Maine.

Kevin, MMW 2009 Post Production Manager, worked with his Post team to interview students and faculty, shooting documentary footage of the students at work – and at play – while overseeing to the daily operations of a busy post production department. They've captured the magic of a teen summer in Maine, where talented young artists come from around the world to share and expand their passion for media arts. The short film culminates in a display of stunning photographic and film work by the YOs themselves.  

Like all things Maine Media, this video is a collaboration of talents. In addition to extensive video footage, still photography from MMW faculty and staff, including Massimo Bassano, Tim Broekema, Carrie Pratt, Shea Richards, Kendrick Disch, and Brendan Bullock, is also incorporated in the piece.

Kevin has just returned to Maine to assist Anelisa Garfunkel in teaching the first Seven-week Film Workstudy session of the year.

Hart Wrote the Book, Leads the Class

Doug HartDoug Hart returns to Rockport in June to lead the Camera Assistant for Film & HD workshop. This is his 31st year at the school, demonstrating his dedication to education while pursuing a rewarding freelance career as a first camera assistant in the industry.
 
He is known throughout the industry as the man who “wrote the book” on camera assisting. In The Camera Assistant: A Complete Professional Handbook, he describes the important facets and duties of the first and second camera assistants' jobs, whether in feature films, episodic television, documentaries, commercials, or music videos.  Teaching notes for his Maine class became the book in 1996, because until then, there was no textbook for this work.

Doug has worked as first camera assistant on feature films, documentaries, television shows, and commercials for more than 35 years, including 10 years (and 10 films) as working with Gordon Willis, ASC. Projects include Presumed Innocent, Stardust Memories, Hannah and Her Sisters, NBC's The Cosby Mysteries, and CBS's Central Park West. He is a member and former president of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600, IATSE, and currently serves on their National Executive Board and National Training Committee.  He is also currently teaching Cinematography at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
 
“I came to Rockport first as a student at the Feature Film Lighting Workshop 30 years ago, and fell in love with the place and the idea,” Doug recalls. “I've been back every year since, first as assistant instructor and now as instructor. I love teaching, but I always learn something, too, from the other instructors and from the students.  We never stop learning, and MMW is the best place I know of to do that.”

Doug stays in Maine after his Workshop to assist with Camera Operator. These classes can be taken individually, in sequence, or as part MMW’s Cinematography Residency program.

Where in the World is Ziad Hamzeh?

Ziad HamzehMMW film instructor Ziad Hamzeh has a packed travel schedule this spring and summer, which includes stops in Maine, Los Angeles, Tunisia and the Middle East. Along the way he will make appearances at several locations to receive awards before getting to work on his new film project, Asmahan.

After spending a weekend in Rockport at the spring MFA retreat, Ziad flew to Tunisia where his contribution to the world of cinema and art was recognized with a medal of honor at the Tunisian Spring Film and Arts Festival.  After that he returns to Hollywood to be honored by the Open Fist Theatre Company, a top theatre in LA that he founded and ran until 1995.

Following this, Ziad will be back in the Middle East for pre-production meetings regarding his new film Asmahan. The film, he explains, is “about a Druze princess with eyes so green, who became the toast of Cairo in the 1930s…only to be killed at age 26 for her defiance of traditions.” In between all of this, he will teach two film directing workshops in Rockport between June 20 and July 3.

Ziad, President/CEO of Hamzeh Mystique Films, is an award-winning director, producer, and writer. He teaches The Director’s Craft June 20-26 and Directing Actors for the Camera June 27-July 3 at MMW.

June: A Maine Gem

image: Shea RichardsJune is one of two spectacular months in Maine that are often overlooked by visitors (September coming in a close second). Early summer in the Pine Tree State is a time for stunning new growth in gardens, along costal routes, and in the countryside; the transition from a Maine winter to summer is always exciting and (usually) quite pleasant!

Now, if you were in Rockport mid-June last year, we know: rain, rain – and more rain. But we were not alone; most of the country experienced similar record precipitation woes. Actually, our students seemed philosophical about working in rainy weather – foggy mornings provided fascinating lighting configurations for class field trips. Imagine the budget needed to provide such special effects on a real-world production!

We’re pleased to report that this year’s Farmer’s Almanac predicts a drier than usual June for Maine, so don’t overlook our early workshops when making your summer plans.

Kalisher Images at George Eastman House

image: Jesse KalisherThe George Eastman House has recently acquired for its permanent collection two photographs by MMW instructor Jesse Kalisher. The new acquisitions include an image from his Mona Lisa series, Mona Lisa at the Mona Lisa and another of the pyramids at Giza,  Pyramids at Dawn, both silver gelatin prints.

The George Eastman House, located in Eastman’s former home in Rochester, NY, is an international museum of photography and film with an extensive collection of photographs, negatives, films, and technology. “That I can play a small role in the evolution of photography and The George Eastman House's collection is a wonderful distinction that I will work hard to live up to,” Kalisher says.

Kalisher has photographs in permanent collections of many other museums around the world, and was recently named one of 28 Lexar Elite Photographers for 2010/11. He will be in Maine this summer to teach his workshop, The Art of Black & White Photography from June 13-19.

 

BPPA Awards go to Chavez, Suarez

image: Dominic ChavezAmong the winners of the 2009 BPPA Photo Contest are MMW instructors Dominic Chavez and Essdras Suarez, who collectively brought home five awards for their excellence in news photography.

Chavez's image "Death at Birth" won first place for both the Feature Picture Story and General News categories, and his photograph “Airborne” won third place in the Portrait/Personality category. Suarez’s photograph “Mourning the Lion” won first place in the News Picture Story category, and he received an honorable mention for "Mirror Dance" in the Feature category.

The annual contest, put on by the Boston Press Photographers Association (BPPA), is judged by a panel of three working photojournalists and awards prizes in fifteen categories of news photography. The winners are listed on the BPPA website.

Suarez is a staff photographer at the Boston Globe and teaches Photojournalism: The Chameleon’s Approach at MMW June 13-19.  Chavez photographed for twenty years at the Denver Post and the Boston Globe, and is now a freelance photographer. This summer, he returns to MMW to teach Photographing the Human Condition from August 15 – August 21.

"Anonymous" Award takes Modica to Italy

image: Andrea ModicaJust a week after teaching her Intuitive Portraits workshop in Maine this June, Andrea Modica will board a plane for Italy to embark on a six-month photography project. As a 2010 winner of the Anonymous Was a Woman Award, Andrea will use her grant to spend time in Modena, photographing best friends in a high school for kids studying art.

The grant came as quite a surprise. The Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation annually distributes ten $25,000 no-strings attached grants to women artists more than 35 years old at critical junctures in their careers. True to its name, nominators and others associated with the program are anonymous, and the artists are unaware that they are being considered for the award. “I was not only surprised, I was thrilled,” Andrea says of her reaction upon learning she had been chosen as a grant recipient. “It’s a project I've been working on in the States and Italy, on an off, for a couple of decades, but now I'll get to pursue this in earnest.” Images of Andrea’s work, including selections from her best friends project, can be found at her website.

An established photographer with an international reputation, Andrea is a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. From June 13-19 she teaches Intuitive Portraits at MMW.

Schiffer Awarded First Newman Prize

image: Emily SchifferThe Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation has named Brooklyn-based photographer, and MMW alumna, Emily Schiffer, as recipient of the inaugural Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture for her ongoing Cheyenne River project.

The prestigious prize, which recognizes an individual for their innovative approach to photographic portraiture, comprises $15,000 and a solo exhibition in August at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine.  

Schiffer developed her Cheyenne River project while teaching with My Viewpoint, a youth photography program she founded in 2005 on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. When teaching, she and her students photograph alongside each other, creating images that “explore ‘play’ as a vehicle through which youth reveal and negotiate their emotions, traumas and desires”. Schiffer’s exhibition will open August 14 at the Farnsworth Museum, and her work can be viewed on her website.

The prize was offered through the 2009 Photo Annual competition of Photo District News and is sponsored by the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation with support from Maine Media Workshops, the American Society of Media Photographers, Photo District News, and the Farnsworth Museum. Recognized as the “Father of Environmental Portraiture”, and acknowledged as one of the great masters of photography in the 20th century, Arnold Newman shared his wealth of experience as a teacher at the Workshops for over 30 years.

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