fototazo Begins Mentorship Program

© Natalia Lopera

fototazo is launching a mentorship program as we start the new year. The program matches young, emerging Colombian photographers with mentors from across the spectrum of the photographic world - gallery owners, bloggers, academics, art directors, and working photographers. The goal is to provide the mentorship photographers with commentary and advice on their work from professionals in the field and to expand their network and knowledge of resources beyond Colombia.

The process will be a semi-public one. Images from the photographers will occasionally be posted on this site along with commentary from the mentors under the belief that their advice and insight will frequently be useful to other photographers and seeing how they look at and talk about photographs will be of public interest.

© Oscar Ulloa

The program will begin with four photographers, each matched with two mentors:

Photographer: Oscar Ulloa
Mentors: Matt Johnston co-runs The Photo Book Club as well as Phonar; he is a Professor at the University of Coventry in England; Kevin Thrasher is a photographer based in Richmond, Virginia

Photographer: Natalia Lopera 
Mentors: Julia Schiller co-runs the site Actual colors may vary; Oliver Schneider co-runs the site Actual colors may vary

Photographer: Daniela Serna 
Mentors: John Edwin Mason runs the blog John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History and is a Professor at the University of Virginia; Wayne Ford runs Wayne Ford's Posterous and co-runs The Photo Book Club

Photographer: Aura Lambertinez
Mentors: Charles Guice is Founder of Charles Guice Contemporary; Gwen Lafage is Founder of Gallery Carte Blanche

Bryan Formhals, Founding and Managing Editor of LPV Magazine, will be serving as a floating mentor and guest critic, periodically reviewing work from all four program photographers.

© Daniela Serna

The mentorship program photographers will be delivering new work to the mentors in roughly a month at which point some of the work and comments will begin to appear in subsequent posts.

© Aura Lambertinez

October Equipment Delivery

© Daniela Serna

fototazo launched its equipment delivery program in June to complement its microgrant program. Information about the first delivery can be found here.

Equipment prices in the United States are frequently cheaper than in other parts of the world and many international photographers can be helped by being given access to US market prices.

In response, fototazo has begun to purchase, pick up and hand-deliver equipment from the United States to young, emerging Colombian photographers on trips between the two countries. In this program the full price of the equipment is covered by the photographer.

This month fototazo made its second equipment delivery, purchasing and importing a Nikon d7100 for Rossana Orozco as well as a Nikon d3100 LCD Protection Film for microgrant recipient Daniela Serna and a 52mm Hoya UV Filter for Aura Lambertinez whose Nikon d5100 was delivered to her through this program in June.

Statistics on the money saved by these photographers through this program, money that they can reinvest in more equipment purchases or towards their tuition fees to continue their photographic educations, will be posted when firm local market values for the equipment are established.

If members of our network of readers will be coming to Colombia and would be interested in carrying a piece of equipment to help a photographer here, please email fototazo@gmail.com.

A Note from Daniela Serna, 3rd Microgrant Photographer

© Daniela Serna

We have received an email from Daniela Serna, our third microgrant photographer whose new Nikon d3100 ket was fully funded by the readers of fototazo, with a message to her donors.

To learn more about our microgrant program, please read the about fototazo page.

Her letter:

To the donors towards my grant,
I am truly grateful for your generosity, for believing in my work and for supporting me with your donations. This new camera will allow me to continue my projects and it will be helpful for me in all of my academic work.
To fototazo, thank you so much for supporting me, for allowing me to show my work and for connecting me to your microgrants.

Thank you very much,
Daniela Serna

7.15.11: Third Microgrant Fully Funded

The final donation needed to complete the funding of the third fototazo microgrant for Daniela Serna was received during the two week summer break. A special thank you to all who helped to give a young photographer the opportunity to move forward in her passion and career through donations.

The next microgrant project will be launched shortly.

Microgrant Photographer 3: Daniela Serna

Age: 19
Location: Bello, Colombia
Request: Refurbished Nikon d3100 kit
Grant Status: $544 of $544 raised (100%)
Donate here

Daniela's statement: I was born in Medellín. I am 19 years old and currently live with my parents and my brother. I study visual arts at the University of Antioquia and belong to a research group named Mediators in Education at the Museum of Modern Art of Medellín where for two years I have also worked as a guide and teach workshops.

During my six semesters at the university I've had great interest in photography as a medium. At first I used photography only as a tool to record processes, but I have realized the many possibilities of the photographic image.
 
I've always had a great interest in books, not only for their literary content, but also as aesthetic objects. My current project focuses on documenting the objects or written notes that I find inside used books. What is found in a book speaks of the people who owned them, how they read them, and the different ways they inhabited and transformed them.

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