2024 Reviewer

Biographies

Andy Burgess, Founder, Dark Spring Press

Since 2016 Dark Spring Press’ mission has been to publish beautifully made and carefully considered small-run, limited-edition photography books. DSP has published nearly twenty books, mostly focusing on photography that is subtle in intent and often understated, poetic and contemplative. Many of the books we have produced are appreciated for their attention to detail, quiet aesthetic, and tactile qualities. As a small press they are proud to have released books at The Photographers Gallery in London, Photo Eye in Santa Fe and the ICP in New York.

Dark Spring Press favors a collaborative approach with photographers and sees each publishing project as unique in its aims, intentions, and stylistic approach. If you have a large coffee table book project in mind, we are probably not the publisher for you, but if you are interested in showing me personal projects that are emotive and poetic and require a thoughtful and more modest or bespoke approach then I would love to review your work, be it color or black and white, film or digital. 

Many of the photographers Andy has published were initially met at review events such as the Medium Review and PhotoLucida, offering a track record of providing valuable advice and publishing opportunities for photographers attending review events. Andy has been a full-time artist for the last twenty-five years, exhibiting his work internationally. As a patron and supporter of other artists and a lover of photography and books he founded at Dark Spring Press in 2016, a small boutique publishing company. He has many years of experience exhibiting art and working with galleries, collectors, and museums and enjoys advising artists on their career path. 

Follow Dark Spring Press on Instagram at @darkspringpress

Kai Caemmerer, Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Photography, SFO Museum

Kai Caemmerer is the Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Photography for the SFO Museum, an AAM accredited museum located in the San Francisco International Airport. SFO Museum features more than twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals, including multiple galleries dedicated to the exhibition of photography. Since joining the team at SFO in 2017, Kai has organized over one hundred exhibitions—recent exhibitions include Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre: To Survive on this Shore, Kari Orvik: Geneva, and Teresa Eng & Jessica Chou: First-Generation.

As a reviewer, Kai is open to discussing projects at all stages of completion, but is particularly interested in seeing cohesive bodies of work focusing on topics that are engaging and accessible to the global traveling public.

Follow the SFO Museum on Instagram @sfomuseum

Diane Chung, Owner & Gallery Director, Chung 24 Gallery

I am looking for coherent bodies of work with compelling narratives. Specifically, fine art practices that seek to innovate and reinterpret the medium of photography without compromising the craft. Analog, digital and alternative photographic processes are all of interest, with particular focus in landscape, abstract and mixed-media work. CHUNG 24 GALLERY’s mission is to discover and nurture emerging artists, to showcase new works by established artists and to feature artists from diverse backgrounds. The gallery presents five to seven exhibitions in a year. Founded in 2021, the gallery is located in the vibrant 24th Street commercial corridor in Noe Valley, San Francisco, California.

Follow the gallery on Instagram @chung24gallery

Alex DeCosta, Curator, Hyde Art Gallery

Alex DeCosta is an artist, arts administrator, curator, and art installation specialist with a passion for arts education and directing community accessible art programming through regional exhibitions, artist workshops and lectures, and collaborative initiatives across multiple institutions. 

After receiving his BFA from NYC’s School of Visual Arts in 2010, Alex DeCosta became an assistant for several artists’ studios around the city. Over the next several years, Alex gained extensive experience handling artwork and curating exhibitions for various institutions including Gallery HO and Art MORA Gallery in Chelsea, the Armory and SCOPE Art Fairs, and the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning in Queens. In 2012, Alex joined the New York Foundation for the Arts as an assistant for their fiscal sponsorship program and shortly after, became a full-time art handler for Sotheby’s Auction House. Since relocating to San Diego in 2015, Alex has held positions at the Madison Gallery and Laguna Art Museum, before accepting the gallery directorial position for the Hyde Art Gallery at Grossmont College in 2016. 

The Hyde Art Gallery services the entire Grossmont College and San Diego County community as a supplemental educational resource with exhibitions featuring local and international artists, in conjunction with lectures and studio workshops. The gallery’s exhibition schedule features rotating media to equitably represent the various studio art disciplines taught at Grossmont - ceramics, digital arts, drawing, jewelry design, painting, photography, and sculpture. The gallery is always looking for new and engaging artists, artist groups, and independent curators. Its primary aim is to not only influence and refine our students’ respective art practices but also expand their understanding of the endless variety of mediums, techniques, and concepts at their disposal to achieve their educational goals.

Crista Dix, Executive Director, Griffin Museum

Before coming to the Griffin Museum in 2020 Crista Dix spent fifteen years operating her own photography gallery, Wall Space Creative, closing it in 2020 to make the move to New England and the Griffin. Having a career spanning many paths she has a background rooted in science, business and creative art. This well-rounded experience provides a solid background for supporting the Griffin’s mission to encourage a broader understanding and appreciation of the visual, emotional and social impact of photographic art.

Ms. Dix is open to view all types of photography, including moving images, installation and public projects. She is open to providing feedback on projects not yet completed and answering questions concerning next steps for projects or series not yet realized.

Follow the Griffin Museum on Instagram @griffinmuseum

Hamidah Glasglow, Executive Director & Curator, Center for Fine art Photography

Hamidah Glasgow has been the Executive Director and Curator at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2009. She holds a master’s degree in humanities specializing in visual and gender studies and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Hamidah is a co-founder of the Strange Fire Collective. She is one of the founding board members of the Colorado Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. 

Hamidah is interested in work that pushes the boundaries of photography, socially and environmentally relevant work, and projects that can exist outside the traditional gallery format. She is not interested in traditional nudes, traditional landscapes, and commercial work. 

Follow the Center’s work in Instagram @thec4fap

Virginia Heckert, Curator of Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum

Virginia Heckert joined the J. Paul Getty Museum as a curator of photographs in 2005. She has organized monographic exhibitions on Bernd and Hilla Becher, Mario Giacomelli, Irving Penn, Ed Ruscha, and August Sander, as well as the exhibitions Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography (2015) and Cut! Paper Play in Contemporary Photography (2018), which addressed contemporary approaches to the materiality of photography.

Virginia is interested in photographs as objects, not just as images. What is their presence on the wall or on the printed page? She responds most favorably to photographic works created with a camera, in the darkroom, or with photochemical means, rather than primarily on the computer. She is also intrigued by works that blend analog and digital technologies. She is not interested in stock photography, commercial photography, or “fine art nudes.”

Portfolio reviews provide an opportunity to view new work and gain insight into current trends and practices. At the Medium Review she looks forward to discovering new artists, not for immediate consideration for the Getty Museum’s exhibition or acquisition programs, but to follow for a few years, observing how the work matures and sharing observations with colleagues.

Frances Jakubek, Independent Curator

Frances Jakubek is an image-maker, independent curator, and consultant for artists. She is the co-founder of A Yellow Rose Project, past Director of the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City, and Associate Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts.

With a background in exhibition production and promotion, she is interested in viewing bodies of work at any completion or stage of development. Conceptual projects that incorporate a personal narrative, documentary work, and unwieldy projects are of particular interest. Frances can offer the most help with finding threads and connections within a broad range of photographs, and is eager to build relationships and foster a community of artists and administrators. 

Follow her work on Instagram @franciepants

Samantha Johnston, Executive Director & Curator, Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC)

Samantha has been the Executive Director and Curator at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center since 2015. She holds a certificate in Arts Development and Program Management from the University of Denver, an MFA from Lesley University College of Art & Design, and a BFA from Alfred University. Prior to joining CPAC, she taught photography and visual arts for 12 years at high schools in Boston and Denver. 

She has curated exhibitions with contemporary artists such as Jess T. Dugan, Daniel Coburn, Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman, and Zora Murff. At the Medium Review, Samantha is looking for photo-based artists for solo and group exhibition opportunities at CPAC’s gallery. She is interested in viewing a wide variety of work including non-traditional photo based projects; works in progress, and finished projects. She is open to discussions about editing, sequencing, and project development.

CPAC is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to fostering the understanding and appreciation of photography in all forms and concepts through exhibitions, education, and community outreach. CPAC also organizes the Month of Photography Denver (MOP) a biennial festival that celebrates the photographic medium through public exhibitions, events, and programs at more than 75 museums, galleries, and other participating spaces across the Denver Metro region. 

Follow the centers work on Instagram at @CPACphoto

Melissa Castro Keesor, Director, Harvey Milk Photo Center

Melissa Castro Keesor is the Director of the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco, CA.  The Harvey Milk Photo Center is the oldest and largest community wet darkroom in the United States and is part of the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department. The Photo Center has exhibits, classes, workshops, and lectures that are available to the public.  The wide selection of classes is taught by working professionals within the industry, in both fine art and commercial photography. 

Melissa has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Academy of Art University.  An early advocate for digital photography, she was a consultant to many photographers, and taught courses in digital photography and marketing at the Academy of Art University. She began working with the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department in 2012 as the Visual & Digital Arts Program Coordinator for the Cultural Arts department, and her current position as the Director of the Photo Center in July 2021.

Melissa was born in Chula Vista, CA and lived in Tijuana, MX while attending elementary school. She is at home on both sides of the border and is bilingual in English and Spanish. Melissa is passionate about bringing dynamic, thoughtful and diverse photography to the exhibits at the Photo Center. 

Follow the Center on Instagram @harveymilkphoto

Anne Kelly, Director, Photo-Eye Gallery

Anne Kelly is the Director at photo-eye Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and has been with photo-eye since 2006.  photo-eye Gallery, established in 1991, is a premier contemporary photography gallery representing both established and emerging photographers. With 15+ years of gallery experience, Kelly can offer advice on establishing relationships with galleries, editing, sequencing, framing, pricing, and editioning of work.  At the Medium Review she seeks work that is fresh and original. She especially enjoys the use of past-century processes and has an affinity for magical realism.

Follow the Gallery on Instagram @photoeye_gallery

Michael Kirchoff, Editor-in-Chief, Analog Forever Magazine

Michael Kirchoff is a photographic artist, Editor-in-Chief at Analog Forever Magazine, Founding Editor at Catalyst: Interviews, Co-Host of The Diffusion Tapes podcast, and advocate for the photographic arts. Based in Los Angeles, Michael conducts artist interviews while investigating the creative process, presents written feature articles, and curates fine art bodies of work from emerging and mid-career photographic artists worldwide for all entities.

Michael is an independent curator and juror for a number of organizations, non-profits, and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, including Photolucida’s Critical Mass. During his years on the Board of Directors at the American Photographic Artists L.A. Chapter from 2006-2016, his guidance produced events and artist lectures for commercial and fine art photographers alike. His consulting, training, and overall support of his fellow photographic artist continues with assistance in constructing ones vision, reviewing portfolios, and sourcing exhibition opportunities.

Michael seeks portfolios that demonstrate a cohesive and thoughtfully edited body of work with an emphasis on the creative, either stylistically or thematically. Film-based and analog process work are of particular interest for fine art and documentary photography, but are not a requirement in seeking guidance or opportunities.

Follow him on Instagram @michaelkirchoff

Anne Leighton Massoni, Executive Director & Curator, Houston Center for Photography (HCP)

Anne Leighton Massoni is Executive Director & Curator of the Houston Center for Photography (HCP) in Texas. Dedicated to the art of photography, the mission of HCP has always been to promote the art and practice of photography in all its forms through various programs. HCP is actively looking to build two and three person exhibitions for the 2026 exhibition year. Massoni is particularly interested in seeing completed work, portfolios that addresses identity, contemporary societal issues, and/or challenges the practice of photography through new and/or re-envisioned technologies.

Before joining HCP, she was the Dean and Managing Director of Education at the International Center of Photography in New York City. She co-edited The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography in 2018.

Follow HCP on Instagram @HCPonline

Douglas McCulloh, Senior Curator and Interim Executive Director, UCR/California Museum of Photography

Douglas McCulloh is Senior Curator and Interim Executive Director at UCR/California Museum of Photography, the photography museum of the University of California.

McCulloh is interested in the whole shaggy beast of photography. But he is particularly intrigued by work with strong or even challenging conceptual flash of mind, by projects based in the West, and by ideas and images that stray far from the common herd. He does not mind hesitations, false paths, or outsider perversity. If won over, he can become a ferocious advocate.

Founded in 1973, the museum stages exhibitions concerned with the intersection of photography, new imaging, and society. With more than 500,000 objects, the CMP holds one of the major photography collections in the western United States.

Exhibitions curated by McCulloh have shown in a range of venues, among them: Kennedy Center for the Arts, Washington D.C.; Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg; Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City; Center for Visual Art, Denver, Colorado; Manuel Álvarez Bravo Center, Oaxaca; Sejong Center, Seoul, South Korea; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China, and, of course, the California Museum of Photography. His own photographic work has been shown nationally and internationally in more than 250 exhibitions including: Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Art Center, Los Angeles; Musée de l’Elysee, Lausanne; and Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City. 

Bayley Mizelle, Director, Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles

As a reviewer, I welcome bodies of work that fulfill or strive for an integrity within the medium. I’m particularly interested in photographers that interrogate the device of the image, the gesture of imaging and it’s objectivity; with a specific interest in Experimental or archetypal photo based practices with projects dedicated to subjects of conceptualism, aestheticism, photo ethics, narrative, and strong photographic compositional play. 

The Photographic Arts Council is looking to work with photographers and artists working with image based material. We work with artists to further an ongoing collaborative and collective conversational platform, dedicated to connecting participating artists with museums, educators, collectors, and gallerists, supporting diversely representative and accessible dialogue within the photographic arts. 

Bayley currently serves as the Director of the Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles (PAC LA). In addition to her work in contemporary art and arts education in the fields of writing, photography, arts pedagogy, and artist consulting, she has been closely involved with the Los Angeles photographic community, contemporary art galleries and artists’ studios; co-producing and co-curating events and exhibitions, collaborating with The Lucie Foundation for Month of Photography LA, as well as Frieze LA. She was a grantee of the Citizen Artist AmeriCorps (CAA) Teaching Fellow Grant & Excellence in Education Award in 2016, where she taught and developed arts educational programing in photography and creative writing for underserved inner city youth programs in Los Angeles. 

Lauren O’Connell, Curator, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

Lauren R. O’Connell is curator of contemporary art at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, an accredited and internationally recognized institution that aspires to produce and mediate creative expressions that lead to connected curiosity and shared meaning across a wide range of publics.

At the Medium Review, Lauren is looking for conceptually rigorous and consistent projects. Photographic practices that include elements of installation or performance are welcome. Projects relating to the concepts explored in Hito Steyerl’s essay “In Defense of the Poor Image” are encouraged (read here). She is not interested in commercial, stock, decorative landscape, or traditional nude/figurative photography. Lauren can offer artists constructive feedback on their work and insight into museum processes, while guidance about market value and gallery representation should be directed elsewhere.

O’Connell previously held positions at the UC Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her curatorial practice is rooted in artist-centric projects that expand and challenge artistic mediums, conceptual frameworks, and relational experiences. O'Connell's research focuses on how art recontextualizes reality through epistemological examinations, speculative and historical reformations, and altered environments.

Follow the museum’s work on Instagram @_smoca

Katherine Ware, Curator of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art

Kate Ware has served as Curator of Photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art for fifteen years, where they primarily exhibit photographs in group or subject-driven exhibitions, as well as alongside work in other media. The collection is international with an emphasis on the American Southwest. Strong themes within the museum collection include issues of identity, human/land relationships, and the nature of photography.

Kate is most engaged with work that, in addition to being well-crafted and visually compelling, is distinctive, complex, and can stand alone outside the context of a larger series. 

Follow the museum on Instagram @newmexicoartmuseum

Charlie Wylie, Curator of Photography and New Media, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Since June 2016 Charlie Wylie has been the Curator of Photography and New Media at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Exhibitions include the current Shape, Ground, Shadow: The Photographs of Ellsworth Kelly and the upcoming Janna Ireland: True Story Index, with the MCA Santa Barbara.

At the Medium Review, Charlie is interested in seeing photographs as aesthetic statements that are formally assured in technique and subject matter, and which the artist could almost consider objects. He is intrigued by how photography and painting inform one another by analog and digital means, particularly in terms of abstraction. Charlie is not interested in commercial and stock photography, but individual studio-based practices of artists with a strong sense of how photography exists within an ever-expanding course of art history.

Prior to joining SBMA, Charlie was a contemporary art curator at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum, and Graduate Intern in the Getty Museum’s Department of Photographs. My areas of interest are dialogues between modern and contemporary art and photography; 20th-century German photography, and media installations featuring sound and moving images. He is happy to share his experience of over three decades of looking at and thinking about photographs in the context of a broad sense of art history and how the art and science of technology has influenced how images are made, seen and thought about. 

Follow the museum on Instagram @sbmuseart

Grace Widyatmadja, Photo Editor at NPR

Grace Widyatmadja is an Indonesian-American photo editor based in southern California, currently working as a photo editor at National Public Radio focusing on the 2024 presidential election. She began at NPR in October of 2021 and since that time has worked with photographers across the world to help create unique visuals for NPR stories. Her coverage has included the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the war in Ukraine, the January 6th hearings and much more.

As a reviewer, I am interested in documentary images, personal projects, and bodies of work that focus and highlight communities of color and stories that we haven’t seen before. Previously at NPR, I have worked on many stories that have a strong visual narrative and personal connection to the communities they explore. I am interested in work that aligns with journalistic practice. I firmly believe that every photographer has a unique way of telling a story and I am excited to seeing the fresh perspectives that will come through Medium photo review! 

Follow her work on Instagram @grace.widyatmadja

Jane Yeomans, Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine

Jane Yeomans works at Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine, where she commissions and licenses photography. Previously she worked as freelance photo editor and researcher for book projects, design firms and for many publications, including The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, ESPN and many others. She has been commissioning and licensing photography for many years in New York City, where she currently resides.

She is most interested in reviewing all work including but not limited to still life, narrative, portrait and travel as the work assigned and licensed varies from week to week.  She is also interested in seeing any projects which are long term and personal.

Follow her work on Instagram @jyeomansbbphoto