Point & Shoot

Atlanta Celebrates Photography festival celebrates 20th anniversary

are now seeking nominations of students ages 19 and younger who have committed themselves to service to the community.

Nominations are welcome from teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, siblings, fellow students or community leaders. Here’s the information we need:

• Nominator (name, relationship to nominee and contact information)

• Nominee (Name, age, grade, school, parent or guardian names, contact information)

• Characteristics and service: Please provide a paragraph describing why this nominee deserves recognition. Include service projects, goals, interests and areas of interest to help illustrate your point.

The deadline for nominations is Nov. 16. Please email your nominations to editor Collin Kelley at collin@atlantaintownpaper.com.

By Grace Huseth

The 20th anniversary edition of Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) will include a variety of photography related events including speakers, exhibits, panels, parties, workshops and fairs that are open to the public. The network of photography events makes ACP the largest annual community-oriented photography festival in the nation.

Amy Miller, ACP executive director, said the festival offers something for everyone, from professional photographers, collectors and artists to those just graduating from point and shoot. With more than 100 free events and exhibitions to experience, Miller has highlighted three of the best:

Look

Miller says public art is one of the most important parts of the ACP Festival. For the sixth year in a row, ACP will present FENCE, an outdoor exhibit at Piedmont Park’s dog park. FENCE has become the largest public photo exhibit in North America at over 700 feet long.

“People tend to linger at the dog park and will have a chance to get into the stories that these photographs tell,” Miller said. “The photographers are telling a story in six pictures or less, so the pictures have to be concise and able to convey a message.”

Out of 2,000 entries, three local photographers made the cut in an exhibit that displays only 41 artists. Daniel Edwards displays his series “Black Outlined Blue,” a collection of images of African American police officers both in uniform and in daily life. Dale Niles was selected for her series called “Animals Revisited,” which features taxidermy and live animals combined with landscape photos and other elements. “Cascade Roll” by Raymond McCrea Jones is a collection of shots from the popular Cascade roller skating rink.

Lecture

Each year, ACP hosts photography talks with the best photographers in the trade. Iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz will speak at the ACP Marquee event on Nov. 29 in addition to lectures by Guggenheim Fellows Meghann Riepenhoff and Deana Lawson offered throughout the festival season.

Atlanta-based photographer Derek Blanks will share his love for photography at the Westside Cultural Arts Center on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. as part of a local spotlight lecture series. Blanks is most famous for his work with the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” as well as a portfolio of celebrities like Mo’Nique, Viola Davis, Jennifer Hudson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nicki Minaj, Wendy Williams, Steve Harvey, Janelle Monae, Chaka Khan, Kelly Rowland and Nick Cannon.

“It’s not only great exposure for [the photographer] but it helps people who are aspiring photographers see how someone in their own hometown can succeed. They can look at that road map and get inspired by what he’s done,” Miller said.

Learn

On Saturday, Oct. 20, from 1 to 4 p.m., ACP will host a photography fair open to the public at the Georgia Tech Hotel. Fifty ACP selected exhibits will be on display for an afternoon of photography talk, a tour of the latest trends in international photography and an opportunity to buy prints the same day.

“It’s an informal way to put your work out there, but it’s also a way to get feedback,” Miller said. “It helps the community see a wide breath of work from people all over the country, but it also helps photographers get great at sharing their work and get an audience’s response.”

For a complete list of events happening during ACP, visit acpinfo.org.

Freedom Parkway, which connects Downtown to Ponce de Leon Avenue, has been officially renamed “John Lewis Freedom Parkway” in honor of the Civil Rights icon and the U. S. congressman from the Fifth Congressional District. A dedication ceremony was held Aug. 22 at the intersection of Ponce and the parkway that now bears Lewis’ name. “I am very deeply moved that the City of Atlanta would choose to honor me in this way,” Lewis said. “I am more than lucky but very blessed that the people of the Fifth District have allowed me to represent and serve them for more than 30 years. It has been a real love affair. I have loved them, and I know I am fortunate that they have loved me back in return. I think about so many from the movement who also deserve this kind of honor. Too many are gone. I am just glad I am here to witness all of this. I thank Councilman Andre Dickens for sponsoring this legislation, City Council Chair Felicia Moore for her leadership and the Atlanta City Council for making this a reality.”