Well, it’s back to work now after a fun few days in New York.  It was really nice to be there without camera gear or a portfolio to lug around, even though I still had a full schedule.  I went to Adhesive on Wednesday and the AP25 Party the next night.  It was fun to see see friends, as well as meet some new people.  Some of the photographers I met for the first time included Ben Baker, Rudy Archuleta, and Joey L.  I also had the chance to catch up with Nick Onken for lunch.  First time I had Pho, which was very good by the way. 

I wasn’t able to get a copy of the AP25 book (hopefully soon), but there is some excellent photography in there.  I would recommend buying a copy when you get the chance.

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An email went out this past April to the winners of the American Photography 25 silver-anniversary competition, and I am happy to say that I received one of those emails.  This was the first time that I submitted my work to AP.  It all became official last week as the selected photographs were released in an online slide show.  In all, 10,100 photographs were submitted, and the jury selected the 351 best images from 2008 to be published in the AP25 book.  The book will be distributed world-wide in hard cover this November.  My portrait of Annie Leibovitz is the picture that was selected from my submission.  Annie Leibovitz also has work in AP25, including her controversial portrait of Miley Cyrus which appeared in Vanity Fair.  

It is a major thrill to have my work selected for this, but what really blows my mind is the fact that many of the photographers I have been inspired by since I first picked up a camera also have work in AP25.  Dan Winters, Peter Yang, Annie Leibovitz, Emily Shur (check out Emily’s blog if you haven’t already), and Martin Schoeller.  I am very thankful for this opportunity.

Steve Wiecking just put up a nice post about AP and me on his Seattle Met blog (here).