Donations for Leon Shambroom, Son of Photographer Paul Shambroom

In July 2010, Leon Shambroom, the son of photographer Paul Shambroom and independent curator and writer Joan Rothfuss, suffered a severe brain injury due to smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning while trapped in a house fire in South Minneapolis. This tragedy has left him unable to talk or walk and requiring 24 hour medical care and the family facing heavy expenses.

In keeping with the spirit of strong mutual support in our photographic community, this is a time when one of us needs the help of all of us.

Donations can be given through this link to: Health Advocates.

Alec Soth, Carrie Thompson and Brian Ulrich hope to hold an online version of a recent benefit auction at the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis for Leon at a future date. We will post details when they become available.

Of Interest 4.15: "What Makes a Great Portrait?" on Conscientious

The 12 on Portraiture series is half-way through. The next group of photographers responding to the question will start with Anastasia Cazabon, Jen Davis, Shen Wei and Stella Johnson.

The midpoint seems like a perfect opportunity to recommend reading an article on Joerg Colberg's Conscientious from 2008 entitled "What makes a great portrait?" Colberg's article is both an expansion of and complement to the discussion generated by the photographers who have responded to the question here on fototazo. The combination of readings will hopefully further the collaborative effort of getting to an understanding of the topic, as Colberg writes as the goal of his article in its introduction.

Colberg sent an email to a large number of photographers, as well as curators, gallerists, bloggers and others involved in the photography world and then published their responses as a collective article. Responders include Doug DuBois, Colin Pantall, Amy Stein, Brian Ulrich and Dylan Vitone among many others.