The deadline for entries for the Renaissance Photography Prize 2011 is fast approaching. Photographers have until 10pm on Monday 17th to submit entries.

It costs £15 to enter a single image, £25 for 3 and £40 for 6. There are five entry categories with prizes for category winners, the overall winner and the best film entry. 20 photos from each categgory will be selected for exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

The prize, founded by Fiona Gifford in 2007, raises money to support younger women with breast cancer. The prize is run entirely by volunteers and all the entry fees go to support the Lavender Trust.

Joel Sternfeld - McLean, Virginia, December 1978
n: 1978, p: 2003
Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

I like surprises and I love the ability of a photograph to catch you unawares and make you do a double take.

Joel Sternfeld is a master at being surprising. There’s nothing oblique about his image titled “McLean, Virginia, December 1978”. You could say the mystery is hidden in plain sight. It is cleverly constructed in such a way as to send you on a false track initially. You see pumpkins. Particularly for American viewers there’ll be strong associations immediately flooding their minds about Thanksgiving, harvest time, Halloween, pumpkin pie. This process of association seems to determine the pace at which the viewer then continues to discover more of the picture’s message. A fire suddenly interrupts the happy memories of trick-or-treating. The house seems to be on fire just as an afterthought. It gives the picture an almost dreamlike quality in so far as dreams often present completely different priorities to waking life. Pumpkins become vitally important while the dangers of a burning house appear only on the periphery. While the fire is alarmingly ferocious fanned by a strong wind and a longish exposure making it appear as a solid mass of orange, a fire crew is already attending to it. So we return to feeling safe. This particular detail of the image is relegated to something no more significant than the crackle of a log in a fireplace.

But the story doesn’t end here. We are now looking really closely and spot a fireman almost blending in with the pumpkins in his orange outfit - apparently deliberating over which one to buy to bring home to his family. The unease returns. There’s a house on fire and one of the fire crew has nothing better to do than buying pumpkins? Is the fire under control? Has the house been written off? The viewer comes away from the image bemused. All the clues are there, but the mystery is not resolved.

I’m not sure who first said that Sternfeld “explores the irony of human-altered landscapes in the United States”, but type his name into Google and you’ll find that sentence in connection with him on almost every hit. There’s definitely a sense of irony in this image. But rather than being cruel or bitter, it’s a sweet, gentle irony.

Lydia Polzer

Lydia Polzer’s prints Traintracks 1 and Bernauer Strasse are both available from the Gallery from just £19 + p&p.

All photos © Marian Pislaru

Artist’s statement: “For me, every man is a story. Although I can not read the beginning nor the ending of it, I am extremely lucky to read at least one chapter of the story. Despite the fact these men and women are part of my daily routine I don’t know their names. Should I? I guess I get more than that. I see a driver opening the doors with the pinkie because of his greasy hands, the tidiness of a female driver’s dashboard, a sticker of the driver’s son superhero, food likings, vices, received gifts, music tastes, religious beliefs and so on. Personal objects and habits make you feel more like home. A two by three inches stuffed toy or a four by six inches photo bring the beloved ones back into the driver’s cabin. The man is modelling continuously his workplace to obtain the comfort and the warmth of home, to work easier and to banish the boredom and the loneliness of this job. These seemingly insignificant little things tell me the chapters that compose my story: Personal.”

The Bus (Personal).

Our first offering of 2011 is a magnificantly intense seascape  by Chris Friel.

Sea of Blood 4 is our second offering from Chris.

For our final offering before Christmas we bring you a rather ‘new topographical’ take on the holiday season.

‘Christmas Tree, Alley’ from David Schalliol shows an otherwise unremarkable alley in Phoenix, Arizona, brought to life by an individual expression of Christmas spirit.

As a photographer and sociologist, David Schalliol is interested how people organize the world around them. He’s particularly known for his Isolated Building Studies project, which examines the divergent investment processes in Chicago neighborhoods. Selected images from this project can be purchased through Catherine Edelman Gallery.

He is currently working on a variety of projects exploring the transformation of urban centers in the United States.

This gorgeous and poignant print is available from just £19…

All photos © Michael David Murphy

The background to ‘No Flash Corner’ can be found on Michael’s blog. More info here. And there’s also a Flickr group.

More ‘No Flash Corner’.

All photos © Keith Davis Young

Artist’s statement: “X Marks the Spot is a collection of photos defined by their environment. In this case, the environment is TX. I have lived in this state my entire life and can still appreciate its honest, underlying tone of oddity, as well as the character it has.”

Keith Davis Young

Oslo, Norway 2009

Chiba, Japan 2009

Bayonne, NJ 2008

All photos © Jason Koxvold

More ‘Matter’.

All photos © Michael Wolf

Our first pick this week is  Tokyo Compression, a project from Michael Wolf. The project features photos taken on the Tokyo metro during rush hour, documenting how individuals deal with the intensity of the experience. It’s fascinating how many seem to retreat inwards, escaping mentally whilst physically trapped. A compelling project.

All photos © Jonas Eriksson

It has been a while since we featured a photoblog, and photoblogs are somewhat less fashionable these days, but minimodi from Jonas Eriksson is well worth a browse.