Atlanta photographer and ACP11 Portfolio Review participant Laura Noel is on today’s version of Flak Photo.

Great to see this video on CNN of Sheila Pree Bright talking about her project “Young Americans”. Sheila’s also relaunched her web site and it looks great!

(Ed note: Sheila is a current board member of ACP.

Atlanta-based artist Danielle Roney is part of a group exhibition in Chicago called “The Edge of Intent” at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Curated by ACP10 Portfolio Reviewer Natasha Egan, the show includes work by Liset Castillo, Dionisio González, Andrew Harrison, Tim Long, David Maisel, Simon Menner, Danielle Roney, Christina Seely, Eric Smith, and Joel Sternfeld.

“Moving from sand to animation, Danielle Roney’s (American, 1968) single-channel, three-section video eGoli imagines a fantastical landscape in a mythical “city of gold,” once an alias for Johannesburg, South Africa. During a 2007 residency in South Africa, the Atlanta-Beijing–based artist documented her experience through photographs, video, and sound recordings. Collaborating with animator Jeff Conefry, Roney crafts a hyper-real cyber city and its environs. The result implies a city struggling to find both its own ideal and its desire to become part of a global community. eGoli explores the African countryside and Johannesburg’s environs, and also the molecular structures of the city’s built environment.”

The official announcement of the Artadia Atlanta short-list is out, with three local photographers making the grade. Congrats, all! (Photographers in bold, w/ links to their sites.)

The 15 Artadia Awards 2009 Atlanta Finalists are: Tristan Al-Haddad, Corrine Colarusso, Don Cooper, Ruth Dusseault, Sarah Emerson, Scott Ingram, Benjamin Jones, Stuart Keeler, Alexander Kvares, Fahamu Pecou, Rocio Rodriguez, Danielle Roney, Jerry Siegel, Larry Walker, and Angela West.

We’re pleased to note that Atlanta-based photographer Sheila Pree Bright (and ACP board member) was selected for a Loridans Arts Encouragement Award on February 16th from the Charles Loridans Foundation. Congratulations, Sheila!

Local photographer Kathryn Kolb has two more book signings this month, and one is tomorrow night, Thursday the 11th, at Charis Bookstore, in Little Five Points, from 6-8pm. On Sat, Dec. 20th, there’ll be a signing at Out of the Blue, a boutique on main street in Blue Ridge, GA, from noon to 4:00pm.

There’s a substantial article about Sheila Pree Bright’s latest exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“Tapping into common racial and socio-economic stereotypes, Bright challenges viewers to examine their own preconceptions and to consider the idea that relationships between race and lifestyle are often misrepresented in the mainstream media.”

Ed note: Sheila is a member of ACP’s executive board.

We were sad to hear this weekend that Kael Alford’s leaving Atlanta, but the good news is that she’s received a Nieman Foundation Fellowship at Harvard, due in part (no doubt) for her fantastic work. Excellent! Good luck, Kael!

Berkeley Lake photographer Marilyn Suriani, a participating artist in ACP 9, mentioned to me a few months ago that she had vintage photographs she’d shot in Atlanta in the 70s & 80s. I’m always interested in seeing how things used to look, so she sent over a disc with some scans.

Her photographs show an Atlanta that’s just about gone, or if not gone, has at least lost some luster. I haven’t wandered into a place yet and seen these three gentleman, at least.

Most of the photos can be seen on Marilyn’s site (on her site, click the “Photography” menu at the upper-right), including views inside strip clubs (where Marilyn worked as a waitress), storefront churches (these aren’t vintage - early 90s), and Marilyn also has a wide selection of street scenes & portraits from Little 5 Points in the late 70s and early 80s.

All pictures © Marilyn Suriani.