Jurors for 2009

Photos and portfolios submitted for Lens Culture International Exposure Awards will be reviewed and selected by an esteemed jury of international photography experts.

Here are brief biographies of each of the jurors whose participation is confirmed for 2009:

Stephen Mayes, (US), is Director of VII Photo in New York (www.viiphoto.com). He has worked at the top levels of photography for 25 years in the areas of journalism, art, commercial, and fashion — working as manager of Network Photographers; Chair of World Press Photo competition (including six years as Secretary); SVP at eyestorm.com; SVP at Getty Images; and Director of Image Archive at Art + Commerce. Stephen regularly writes and broadcasts on the ethics and realities of photographic practice. 

Sujong Song, (South Korea), Curator. Sujong Song started her career with GEO Korea in 1996, where she worked as Editor in Chief and director of photography from 2000 until 2004. Since then, her work has covered a wide range of fields in photography including publishing, editing, and organization of exhibitions. She was the symposium director of the Daegu Photo Biennale for both 2006 and 2007, the director of Seoul Photo Fair 2008, and curator of the Angkor Photo Festival 2009. In 2008 and 2009, she was invited to serve on the jury of World Press Photo. She is curating the 2009 Ulsan Photo Festival. Sujong has studied Visual Culture in Korea University and is a board member of the Visual Culture Society in Korea.  

Xavier Canonne, (BE), is Director of the Musée de la Photographie, in Charleroi, Belgium, since 2000. The museum is the largest and one of the most important museums of photography in Europe, (8000 m2), with a collection of 80,000 photographs, more than 800 of them on permanent exhibition, and the conservation of three million negatives. Xavier Canonne received his doctorate in Art History and Archeology at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He was Commissioner of the Sao Paulo Biennial (Brazil) for the French Community where the photographs of Christine Felten and Véronique Massinger were presented. He has been publisher of Marées de la Nuit since 1986 specialized in surrealism and avant-garde. He has curated many photography exhibitions and edited and several books, including Intimate Man Ray (2003), Scenes of Atget (2004), Lee Miller, a life (2005), and Surrealism in Belgium 1924-2000 published by the Mercator Fund in Brussels in November 2006 and Actes Sud-France (2008) (Fr-D-E).

Mary Virginia Swanson, (US), makes it her goal to help photographers find the strengths in their work and identify appreciative audiences in today’s marketplace. She is considered an expert in the area of marketing and licensing fine art. Swanson’s lectures and seminars on the subjects of industry awareness and marketing opportunities in the arts have proven to aid countless photographers in moving their careers to the next level. Swanson maintains a popular blog about opportunities for photographers at www.marketingphotos.wordpress.com, and she is the author of The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices, which is available through her website: www.mvswanson.com.

Christopher Rauschenberg, (US), is an established photographer and author of several photo books. He is co-founder, co-curator and board chairman of Blue Sky Gallery (www.BlueSkyGallery.org) where over the last 33 years he has co-curated and co-produced 638 solo exhibitions and 45 group shows. He is also co-founder, past president and current board member of Photolucida (www.photolucida.org), a Portland photography festival. He is co-founder and a member of the co-op Nine Gallery and has edited and produced approximately 60 photography publications.

Stefanie Braun, (UK), is a curator at The Photographers’ Gallery in London (www.photonet.org.uk). After completing a degree in Visual Theories at the University of East London in 1999, Stefanie worked at Creative Camera magazine before joining The Photographers' Gallery in 2000. For the past five years, Stefanie has organized and curated the prestigious annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. Other curatorial projects include solo and group exhibitions of historical and contemporary photography, such as Danny Treacy: Them (2008) and André Kertész: On Reading. She regularly serves on international juries such as the ECB Award 2008 and Hyères Photo Festival 2009, and is involved in portfolio reviews and lectures at universities and colleges.

Jim Casper, (France and US), is editor and publisher of Lens Culture (www.lensculture.com). He participates in portfolio reviews around the world, curates shows, lectures, and writes about photography.

For complete information about the Awards (how to enter your photographs, deadline, etc.), go to: lensculture.com/contest.