#fototazo

The premise here is simple: to ask a curator, blogger, editor, photographer or other person involved in contemporary photography to select five portfolios of work that they are currently excited about to recommend to the rest of us, placing emphasis - ideally - on work that hasn't seen heavy rotation online. The portfolios are not presented in any sort of order. The series comes from a belief that the Internet has a tendency to briefly cohere around certain projects and, longer-term, establish its own canon of photographers, distinct and separate from the gallery and museum canons. While these dynamics have advantages, they also have the expense of promoting a limited number of projects on a large scale, frequently overshadowing other projects equal in quality. This series, then, seeks in particular to look for great photography that counterbalances heavily distributed projects. It also is part of a general interest I have for this site to go behind the limits of my single vision, personal knowledge and time. Today's guest is Jennifer Schwartz. Her biography follows the post. For previous posts in this series, please see the site links page. Nataly Castaño helped organize this post.

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Crusade for Art is always searching for talented photographers to feature in our online curation project,FOCAL POINT. FOCAL POINT surveys the landscape of emerging photographers and selects three talented, driven and noteworthy artists to highlight each quarter. It was a challenge to select just five for fototazo, but I chose photographers whose work may be new to your audience.

Dorothy O’Connor The worlds Dorothy creates are full and glorious, and as someone lucky enough to have been able to see many of them close-up and in person, I can attest to the fact that every minute detail is considered. Her Scenes are a wonder and some of richest images I have seen.

  Katie Koti  Katie's photographs are raw and wide-open in a way that is both refreshing and a little unsettling. The energy and unselfconscious way the subjects seem to embrace life and each other feels rare, precious and foreign. I want to keep looking, either to puzzle it out or to wonder at the pure beauty. But I want to just keep looking. . .

  Amelia Morris Amelia describes her work as "a series of public declarations and private confessions." Her photographs are that plus whimsy and humor and heart. They feel honest in the most beautiful way.

Julien Mauve After first seeing Julien's photographs in the student award area of Paris Photo in 2012, I couldn't stop thinking about them. They pull you in with mystery and beauty and then keep you there.

Ansley West Rivers Ansley has a gift of creating visually beautiful images that address not-so-beautiful environmental issues.Seven Rivers (still in progress) showcases that talent to the fullest. All of the images are created in-camera to create a layered effect that shows both the current state of the river and also alludes to future consequences of unchecked threats to fresh water.

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