NEW YORK PHOTO FESTIVAL 2008
The First International Photography Festival in the United States

Photography, one of the most important visual media of our lives, has been surprisingly uncelebrated, particularly in the United States. New York City, home to the most influential commercial and fine art photography community, has lacked—until now—a large-scale event dedicated to photography.

powerHouse Books and VII Photo Agency have joined forces to launch the new, annual New York Photo Festival, the first international-level festival of photography to be based in the U.S.

The inaugural New York Photo Festival (May 14–May 18, 2008) promises to deliver a dynamic, high-quality event in what is arguably the photographic capital of the world. The festival will celebrate both contemporary photography and the creative, inspirational talents of the people who produce this work.

The New York Photo Festival will be headquartered in DUMBO, an off-the-beaten-track, but easily accessible neighborhood on the Brooklyn waterfront between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

World-Renowned Curators

The goal of the New York Photo Festival is to document the future of photography in all its forms. Our group of internationally-respected curators will deliver their personal vision of the newest and most important trends in contemporary photography, each exhibited in their own pavilion and promising to draw the attention of the entire photographic community.

Curators include Magnum photographer Martin Parr, The New York Times Magazine picture editor Kathy Ryan, Lesley A. Martin of the Aperture Foundation, and Tim Barber of tinyvices.com.

Four Days Celebrating Contemporary Photography

In addition to the curated pavilions, the festival will offer visitors an extensive range of activities that will generate dialogue and buzz among all the communities of photo professionals, amateurs, students, and aficionados of art and culture: seminars, slide shows, book signings, photographic workshops, live performances and events, and a gallery row. The festival will also be documented online in a regularly updated virtual environment.

Our Growing Support

The New York Photo Festival has already received support from major institutions and individuals in the U.S. and abroad: museums and galleries, photo agencies, the media, scholars, and more (for references, please refer to our list of advisory board members on page 4). The scope of our support demonstrates the expectations of the festival and the high standards on which it has been built thus far.

Over 100,000 Visitors Expected

With its unique scope and focus, the festival will appeal to all people involved in image-making and collecting: professional photographers and artists, arts editors, scholars, curators, collectors, as well as everyone with an appreciation for what is undoubtedly the most popular fine arts medium. The four primary international photography festivals in Europe and Canada each draw between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people per year. Our ambition is to attract a comparable audience to the inaugural festival in 2008, and to increase substantially in subsequent years as the scope and real estate available for the festival grows.

Founders

Frank Evers is the Managing Director of the VII Photo Agency. Prior to joining VII, he spent 10 years in the video game world running game production studios. His games have generated over $1 billion in sales. He started in the movie business as a Management Associate for Sony Pictures Entertainment, and later produced the cult classic film Swimming with Sharks. Evers is married to the photographer Lauren Greenfield, with whom he has partnered on her work since they both graduated from Harvard in 1987. They have two sons, Noah and Gabriel, and are based in Venice, CA.

VII Photo VII Photo was named the third most important entity in photography by American Photo (April 2005). It is considered one of the most prestigious photo agencies, and its members are many of the best photojournalists in the world. Formed as a photographic collective just a few days before the tragedy of 9/11, VII has since documented a world in turmoil, and has done so for most of the world’s leading magazines.  For more information, please visit www.viiphoto.com.

Daniel Power is the Founder and Publisher of the 2007 Lucie Award-winning publishing company powerHouse Books. He has done sales and marketing work for Aperture, Artforum, and Parkett. He co-founded Distributed Art Publishers in 1990 and started powerHouse Books in 1995. Power launched the powerHouse Gallery in 2003, and in 2006 he moved the gallery, bookstore, and publishing company into a large, two-story space in DUMBO, now the powerHouse Arena. Since its founding, powerHouse Books has published and distributed more than 500 photographic and illustrated books.  powerHouse Books also incorporates an artists' agency and publishes a magazine. 

powerHouse Books—the world-renowned publisher of cutting-edge and classic art, photography, advertising, and pop culture books—is housed in the powerHouse Arena in DUMBO, a 10,200 square-foot laboratory of creative thought offering a gallery, boutique, performance space, and community center.  powerHouse Books was selected as one of the 50 most important people and places of the next decade by Wallpaper* magazine.

For more information, please visit www.powerHouseBooks.com

Advisory Board