photo by Andrea Bruce Woodall

10.06.2004

We're Back!

It's been a long year Photobetties but I am so thankful you guys kept the list serve alive and kickin' while I was unable to update the site.

As I am sure you know, things deteriorated quickly in Iraq, so my idea of photographing post-war reconstruction turned into a year-long combat assignment. But checking the list and listening to your conversations brought a bit of home to my room in Baghdad, which meant more than you could know.

I now have an apartment in Beirut, Lebanon instead of Baghdad, so I can continue to learn Arabic and shoot in the region without having to worry about getting kidnapped or blown up while walking to the "Saddam burger" stand down the street.

But enough about me. I am pleased to introduce two more amazing female photographers to the group. Andrea Bruce Woodall is a dear friend of mine who I met in Iraq. She basically kicks ass as you can tell from her image in the Singles section. Andrea is a photographer for The Washington Post and you can see much more of her work on their site Camera Works.

Loretta Rae is another close friend who is a University of Florida grad, like myself, and is in the Spotlight. If I am not mistaken, Loretta went to Thailand on vacation with friends last year and ended up with this intimate portrait of life in Bangkok's Red Light district. Unreal... It takes me months to come up with photos as personal as those she did on her VACATION! The girl has a gift.

What else.... we finally have Photobetty T-Shirts for those guys and gals who want to support our endeavor. They are $7 each with free shipping (ground, of course). I know you asked for these a LONG time ago, but better late than never! Photobetty postcards are also available at 10 for $2. We only have a limited supply of this stuff, so order while we got 'em!

So, thanks for your patience everyone and for staying interested in the site and our community even though I was unable to tend to it myself.

And if any of you are interested in seeing what I was up to while being a woefully neglectful website editor, you can visit my personal site/blog or the Peace Museum in Chicago where there will be an exhibition of my work from Iraq called Occupation : \Oc`cu*pa"tion\, n., which opens October 22nd.

I am not going to get into the politics of the whole situation in Iraq, but I will just say that unlike people in many countries, we have the right to choose who leads us. It is critical that we make the most of this opportunity. Elections mean WE are responsible for every action taken on behalf of America - including whatever happens in Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere else as our country wages it's war against "the evil doers". So, VOTE dammit!

06.21.2003

Happy Summer Photobetties!

I know it's been a long time since I updated the site, but some exciting stuff has been happening in my life. I just returned from an eight month photographic journey in the Middle East, mostly traveling in and out of Iraq before and after the war. It was an amazing historical experience that has changed me in so many ways. As a result, I am moving to Iraq semi-permanently and will be residing in Baghdad as a freelance photographer for at least the next year or two.

Then who knows?

Unfortunately, Photobetty will be updated less often. However, it will remain on the web and the list serve will remain active. For those who have yet to join the list, you are missing out. There are Photobetty get-togethers happening all over the country, including one this weekend at the National Press Photographer's Association's annual conference in the suburbs of Chicago. Photobetty t-shirts were made for the conference and are now available through the site as well, so buy one now so you're not left out of the fun!

Nevertheless, we have some great additions to the site. Dawn McCarthy, who dated a boyfriend of mine right after I did in high school, is sharing her work with us from Cuba. Dawn is an amazingly talented photographer and is an inspiration to me because she has no official training in photography but makes beautiful images just because she is moved by what she sees and feels. I think you can really see who she is through her images.

Lisa Levine contributes an image for the Singles section. She is a talented photographer from Hayward, Calif., and will hopefully be sharing more images with us in the future.

Thanks for staying tuned Photobetties and keep supporting each other because that is what this site is about. Rock on!

9.09.2002

Of all of the Sept. 11th images I've seen over the past year, few photos invoke as intense a reaction as Jessica Lifland's image of a young Pakistani-American girl dealing with her emotions regarding the attack on the World Trade Center. We will forever feel the reverberations of these actions against our country and it only seems appropriate that we honor its anniversary with this profound photograph on the cover of Photobetty. Lifland's image was featured in the Women in Photojournalism Conference's Defining Moments photo exhibit in San Diego. I was pleased to meet her as well and thankful she worked so hard to get us the info we needed to display this image in a timely manner. Please be sure to read the text that accompanies this photo in the Singles section - it is necessary to completely comprehend the meaning of this image.

For those new to the site, be sure to join our listserv. More information on this mailing list can be located by clicked the listserv link at the top of this into page.

8.21.2002

Welcome to the "Boys of Photobetty" issue of our awesome e-zine. I've wanted to publish this for a while, but I was waiting for the right guys (har, har). But rather than yap my face off yet again, it seems appropriate to let Rob, our technical guru and photobetty (or bob) in residence, do the talkin'...


So after the 5 minute conversation the boyfriend get's introduced... I see how it is...

I've spent the last 24 hours thinking about this paragraph and I've come up with nothing poignant to say. Especially nothing about being a boy and what it means to me to be actively engaged in a site about women in photography. I came up with some mildy interesting thoughts, but they really just served to circle back to our core notion a few years back (when this site existed only in our minds). We had the noble, if small, thought that it seemed like something fun to do --and it remains that today. Since starting this site, my job, my car, my apartment, and my computer have all gone from my latest uber-fetish to a faded and yellowed knick-knack collecting dust on the shelf of my life. This site, though, remains something I enjoy looking at every day and continue to get excited about every time Stephanie and I work on it.

Anyway, the current update uncovers the work of Johannes Burge and Harlan Overlike! Two obviously fine photographers. Rock on sisters! Oh... Wait a minute...

See yawl at the WIPJ conference in a few weeks! I heard San Diego likes to party!

Two hints reg. upcoming photobetty updates... you can wear them and it could or could not be a tattoo...

6.21.2002

Happy Summer! Sorry for the delay in posting some new work, the folks here at Photobetty were busy training, fundraising and participating in the 330 mile Washington DC AIDSRide. It was an amazing experience and we highly recommend the adventure if you are looking for a challenge and are interested in helping in the fight against AIDS. Between the four of us (Rob, Edie, myself and our friend Rhonda), we raised about $12,000. Go team! Although it is a long way off, we are thinking about doing the 500 mile Heartland AIDSRide next year, from Minneapolis to Chicago, if anyone is interested in forming a team with us. Just some food for thought...

We are very excited to present some rare photographs by legendary war photographer Dickey Chapelle, researched by our own Karen Clements. She took a trip up to the Wisconsin Historical Society and got permission to copy images directly from Dickie's archive. Karen was moved by the experience as she sorted through photos and editing marks from the photographer herself. "Damn! Amazing!," Karen wrote in an email to me. "To be going through boxes of her prints that she herself printed with notations that she typed up... God, I wish I could talk to you or that you could come over and see the scans I have... Thank you for including me! It has been amazing!" We hope you enjoy this unique presentation.

As well as a great researcher, Karen Clements is a talented photographer and is the feature in the Singles section. Be sure to read the text on this image, it is very powerful and should generate some interesting comments on the listserv.

Until then...

3.13.2002

Hey Photobetties! We have a special treat for you ladies and gents... For the In Charge section we are presenting Karen Kring from PICTURE THIS Projects, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago that uses photography to encourage creative expression and increase self-esteem while bridging the gap between people of different backgrounds. Karen describes the passion and dedication needed to establish and maintain such an important entity.

In the Spotlight section, we are proud to feature several photographs made by many of the young girls who have learned photography through PICTURE THIS. I have to say that these ladies have some talent. This collection of images is both impressive and inspiring.

Jackie Alpers is our Singles woman. She has a very cool eye so make sure to check out her Web site as well.

12.09.2001

Ah ha! We did it. We updated the site on time and we're introducing two more awesome female photographers. The first is Bridget Farr, a very talented Canadian photographer currently working on a project called Beyond the Frame. She categorizes the images as a kind of “fish out of water” conceptual portraiture of women. Most recently, Bridget has put together a 2002 calendar of these images.

Eudora Welty is our historical figure featured in the Before You section. Even though she is most well known for her Pulitzer Prize winning writing, she was a pioneer in our field. I have been a fan of hers for some time and was saddened when I heard of her passing this summer. I will mention that with exception of the portraits, Miss Welty's designee declined use of her images online at this time. So all we could do was link the few images available on the web. However, I do encourage checking out her work in print publications.

Finally, I am very pleased with the success of the listserv. Keep it up and this will continue to be a rewarding experience for years to come!


11.05.2001

Welcome to the new and improved Photobetty! I guess it took us long enough. We were busy putzing around surviving car accidents, family health issues, traveling overseas and covering America's New War. As you will see, however, it was worth the wait.

For our first femme fatale in the Spotlight, we have New York City's very own Abby Gennet. We finally hooked up while I was in town covering the WTC attack, managed to have dinner and escape from the insanity for a few hours. What's super funny is that I found out that not only are we both from Miami, but went through the photojournalism program and didn't know each other (she was about two years ahead). Abby is super cool and took me to a club called Don Hills for an evening titled "Bitch," which was right out of the circa 1980 punk scene. I got to watch all these wild woman singers (including herself) get on-stage and belt out heavy metal songs. She has also waited patiently for over a year while I got my act together enough to get her work on the site. But alas, here she is and she ROCKS.

At the suggestion of several Photobetty visitors, we added a new Reviews section. Our first review is by another New York City photobetty, Antonietta Pace. She comments on Shutterbabe by Deborah Copaken Kogan. I read the book as well and found that it asks a lot of questions about the role of women in photojournalism, so feel free to start up a conversation about this on our new mailing list.

I will add that this is a Yahoo group mailing list which means they put an ad at the bottom of each message. If this bugs you, don't sign up. You may also choose the "digest" option which will compile all of that day's postings into one daily email.

If there is a photo related book, Web site or gallery show that you want to review for Photobetty, lets do it! Speaking of photo shows, my friend Dawn McCarthy's work is currently on exhibit at WAX Music & Sound at 18 W. 21 St. 10th floor (btwn 5&6 aves.) in NYC. Expect to see her images on Photobetty very soon.

We are still an affiliate site to Silicon Salley, an online magazine for women in technology. Emily contacted me for an interview after discovering Photobetty online. Since then we've become a great resource for one another. The Photobetty gallery on Silicon Salley is a nonprofit collaboration that helps Photobetty reach a wider audience and allows Silicon Salley to host great artwork on their site. So keep this in mind when submitting work to Photobetty!

Feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions at s t e p h a n i e at s t e p h a n i e s i n c l a i r . c o m. It has been an amazing experience hosting this site. We are really on our way to building an awesome community of women photographers. Thanks for your participation!

--Stephanie Sinclair s t e p h a n i e at s t e p h a n i e s i n c l a i r . c o m

This site is dedicated to my mother, Paula Schulte, whose fiesty spirit continues to inspire me daily.