15 Minutes of Fame

What do a lawyer, legal assistant, former sailor, two teachers, and a journalist have in common?

They're all members of the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) and presented their photography at November's "Your 15 Minutes of Fame". Each presenter had 15 minutes to display prints or slides, and answer audience questions about their work, equipment, and future goals.

The next installment will be next Wednesday, January 19th from 7-8:30 p.m. (

Future dates are March 16th & May 18th.) I've been hosting this series for a year now, and love seeing the work of the emerging and seasoned photographers and artists who call Tampa Bay home.

First up was Dick Caldwell, whose photos included poppies from the Canadian Rockies to tulips in Toledo, Ohio, and wintering avians in Apopka.

Maikel Izquierdo (my friend and co-worker last year at FMoPA's literacy-through-photography class) likes to "get in real close" for portraits. She has snapped images from Boston's lighthouses to Alaskan dog sledding teams.

Chicagoan Mike Douglass said he uses photography to repackage others people's art into what he calls "found art," such as a used painters palette and other artists' spaces. Similar to cloud gazing, everyone comes to his or her own conclusions about what he or she see in his photos.

Judy Leavens has photographed some of the most beautiful natural spaces in America like the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Arizona, and adores getting out to Florida State parks.

Joseph Gamble's pieces included underwater shots in Key Largo and part of his season-long series of a minor league baseball team in Savannah, Georgia.

Kitt Amaritnant likes action shots. His series "Muay Thai in America" followed one night of young fighters in and out of the ring. He also shot a lot of hands because he believes: "A lot of times you don't need to see the face to know what the person is thinking."

Mr. Amaritnant was voted audience favorite of the evening. You can view his photos at his website Amaritnantphotography.com.

Contact me at

15minutes@fmopa.org if you have any questions or would like to register.

Photo by Maikel

Izquierdo

Not Your Momma's Kindergarten

I, along with my fellow FMoPA volunteers, began teaching the final installment of the B&CG/Eckerd Family Foundation photo & literacy classes today.

We teachers have enjoyed testing out the waters, adjusting our curriculum, and daydreaming about future expansion. But there's nothing like an hour with 15 under-5-year olds to make you live in the present moment.

My Club, My Place, My Point of View

Come join me at FMoPA on Thursday evening from 6:30-7:30 to soak up the efforts of dozens of student photographers.

My Club, My Place, My Point of View is a one night

only exhibit, the product of weeks of hectic instruction

and production by FMoPA's outreach team

(of which I am a member).

In March I wrote briefly about the volunteering I'm doing with FMoPA, teaching digital photography and literacy to kids at a Tampa Boys & Girls Club, thanks to a grant by the Eckerd Foundation.

It's always a little sad when a project wraps up, but there's no doubt this ending will be happy.

Kids, Cameras and Words

The Florida Museum of Photographic Art, or FMoPA (or spelled phonetically: Fa-mope-ah), began a new community outreach project for youth in March. Thanks to a grant by The Eckerd Family Foundation, last month a few FMoPA volunteers (including yours truly) developed curriculum and began teaching digital photography and literacy to K-12 students at a Boys and Girls Club in Hillsborough County.

We hope to take this pilot program county-wide next year.

At the end of April we'll have a museum showing of the student's photos and essays. I'll keep you posted on the details.

Photos by Maikel Izquierdo

15 Minutes of Fame

A few posts back I wrote about FMoPA's 15 Minutes of Fame, but I gave the wrong date for the next one. I misstated that it was coming up this Wednesday, but it's happening next week on Wed., February 24th.

If you're a photographer this is a great opportunity to learn how to present your work/share it with the Tampa community, as well as view the work of others. Museum membership is required to be a presenter but not an audience member.

Construction on the new Tampa Museum of Art and Curtis Hixson park, circa 2008.