This summer, Adam Bacher, a photographer based in Portland, Ore., was one of several artists selected by Portland City Hall to participate in a series of First Thursday events. The month-long exhibition of Bacher’s work included images from areas in the western United States.

Tony Duran, a Los Angeles photographer known for his images of celebrities, recently finished an all-day photo shoot with IMG model, Albert Reed. A segment of the shoot and an interview with Reed were filmed for Al Gore’s new television project, “Current.”

In September, photographic artist Albert Normandin mounted an exhibit of his work at Sugar and Sugar, a gallery in the Gastown district of Vancouver, B.C. An auction party was scheduled for Sept. 20, with proceeds to benefit the ALS Society
of British Columbia. The six-week show, titled “So Far,” includes photographs Normandin has taken during his travels to 28 countries over his career.

Getty Images has appointed Cole Porter to the newly created position of senior editorial advisor. In his new role, Porter, formerly director of photography for the Seattle Times, will be an advocate for adherence to photojournalistic editorial standards.

Randy and Andrea Wells, based in Bellevue, Wash., recently completed a travel assignment in the San Juan Islands for AAA Washington’s magazine, Journey. Their images have appeared recently in Holland America’s Caribbean and European brochures, Elle magazine, and books from Harcourt and Guest Informant.

Six students from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif., recently returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they spent five weeks creating photo documentaries about life, culture and politics in that country. The students are Al Cuizon, Antonio Franco, Nick Mantzel, Jacqueline Mata, Brandon Nightingale and David Sowers. Their exhibit opened Oct. 1 at
the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara. In addition to the exhibit, the students will produce a book and a CD of their images.

Gary Shenk and Mark Sherman have been promoted to senior vice president positions at Corbis, while two other senior vice presidents, Jennifer Hurshell and Joe Barrett, have left the company. As senior vice president, images, Shenk will supervise Corbis’ image-licensing business. Previously he was a founder and general manager of FlixMix, a Universal Studios subsidiary.
Sherman has been named senior vice president, services. Prior to joining Corbis, Sherman was director of account management at Fine.com in Seattle and spent seven years at Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles.

In Memoriam

Hy Peskin, sports photographer and philanthropist, died of kidney disease June 3 at the age of 89. Peskin, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., first entered the world of journalism by selling newspapers as a boy. He later became a sportswriter for the New York Daily Mirror.

After a stint in the Marines from 1943 to 1944, Peskin became interested in stop-action color photography. He is credited with pioneering a new look in sports images, and throughout his career as a photographer, his work appeared in magazines such as Sports Illustrated where he was the first staff photographer. Peskin’s images also became familiar to readers of Life, Time and The Saturday Evening Post.

In 1961, Peskin started a foundation called the American Academy of Achievement. The program, still in existence, provides high school students with the opportunity to meet successful figures from around the world, including Nobel Prize recipients, heads of state, scientists, athletes and entertainers.

James G. Lott, a longtime Seattle Times photographer, died in early July of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 52. Lott’s award-winning work was marked by a compassion and empathy for the less fortunate, and his coworkers have created the Jimi Lott Scholarship through the National Press Photographers Foundation in his honor.

Coworkers remember Lott for his keen eye, boundless energy, willingness to experiment, and ability to capture moments and images that spoke to the heart.

For four consecutive years (1985-1988), he won the Reid Blackburn Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in feature photography.

Lott won 18 Sigma Delta Chi awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for excellence in journalism, as well as first place in the feature category in a 1992 state photojournalism contest for prep sports. In the 1988 Pictures of the Year competition at the University of Missouri, Lott received a first-place award for his photographs of homeless people and an award of excellence for a feature picture story on cowboys.

Donations to the Jimi Lott Fund may be mailed to Frank Folwell, NPPF Treasurer, 1175 Huntover Court, McLean, VA 22102. 

Special Honors

Patricio Robles Gil has been named 2006 Outstanding Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association. Gil is known for his passion for conservation and the use of photography in protection efforts in his home country of Mexico. The award will be presented at NANPA’s 12th Annual Summit, to be held Feb. 9-12, 2006, in Denver.
Other honors being presented at the summit include two Lifetime Achievement awards. One will be given to environmental and fine-art photographer Pat O’Hara, of Port Angeles, Wash., whose color photography has been showcased in 17 books. The second recipient is Les Line, who was editor-in-chief at Audubon for 25 years. He currently is working as a freelance science writer and editor for National Wildlife, The New York Times and other publications, including Audubon.

The International Photographic Council, a nongovernmental organization of the United Nations, recognized the recipients of its 7th Annual Professional Photographer Leadership Awards at its International Professional Photographers Month luncheon at the U.N. in New York City on May 11. The five award winners were Jeff Sedlik, selected by the Advertising Photographers of America; Gary Gladstone, the American Society of Media Photographers; Marvel Nelson, Professional Photographers of America; Peter Souza, the White House News Photographers’ Association; and Tony Corbell, Wedding Portrait Photographers International.