Happy 4th of July

Aline Smithson


I hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend. A big thank you to all the wonderful photographers that have submitted to the First Annual Lenscratch 4th of July Exhibition. It's been a lot of fun reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones, and if nothing else, it reconfirms that we are a wonderful community of image makers and sharers. I love that the work has come from all corners of the country and there is a connectedness to our American images.

Aline Smithson


In fact, I was struck at how many of these images seemed to create a narrative or a conversation when attached to each other. The line-up is random, I placed as the images as I received the e-mails, and some of the results are quite amusing and interesting. If you see something you like, send the photographer an e-mail and let them know. It makes our world smaller and more supportive.

So again, thank you, and remember, I do this again in December: I'll be asking you for the favorite photograph that you have taken in 2010...so keep an eye out in December for another call for work! Keep in touch, stay safe, and enjoy your independence! And a heads up, the last image might not be one you show your grandmother.....

The Official July 4th Exhibition

Jonathan Blaustein, Taos, NM


Aaron Hobson, Essex County, NY


Liz Lantz, Ogle County, IL


Manjari Sharma, Columbus, OH


Tim Hyde, Schuyler, NE


Cat Gwynn, Los Angeles, CA


Ann Mitchell, Long Beach, CA


Camile O'Briant, New York, NY


Deborah Martin, Slab City, CA


Lydia Marcus, Twentynine Palms, CA


Sally Mars, St Paul, MN


Angela Bacon Kidwell, Waterpark USA, TX


Constance Hobbs, Locust Valley, NY


Linda Morrow, Santa Fe, NM


Frank Marshal, Old Sturbridge, MA


Ellie Brown, Ithaca, NY


Phil Bebbington, Marfa, TX


Beth Rosenberg, Hood River, OR


A. Scott Britton, Washington DC


Paige Fukuhara, Seattle, WA


Ferit Kuyas, Galveston, TX


Christy Karpinski, Minneapolis, MN


Susan Barnett, Venice, CA


Meg Birnbaum, Woburn, MA


David Ottenstein, Bute, MT


Sara Jane Boyers, Los Angeles Chinatown, CA


Mark Berndt,Mission, KS


Russ Martin, New Paltz, NY


Steven A. Smith, Abbotsford, BC, Canada


Gray Malin, Balboa Island, CA


Siri Kaur, Orange, CA


April Rocha, White Sulpher Spring, WV


Amber Sowards, Baltimore, MD


Katie Shapiro, Red Rock, CA


Paul Shelasky,, Providence, RI


Ray Carofano, Venice, CA


Barbara Alper, New York, NY


Robert Schaefer, Jr., New York, NY


Ellen Rennard, Whitefield, ME


Catharine Stebbins, Altadena, CA


Polly Chandler, Washington, DC


Enrique Ahumada,, Castroville, TX


Helen Garber, Santa Monica, CA


Sue Bryan, Costa Mesa, CA


David Torrence, St. Louis, MO


Tread, Lexington, KY


Liv Naesheim, Catalina Island, CA


Carl Corey, Mt. Rushmore, ND


Lydia Panas, Kutztown, PA

Jolie Margulies, Thousands Oaks, CA


Ahmer Inam, Charlotte, NC


Jamey Stillings, Highlands, NC


Brian Freundlich, Washington, DC


Deanna Dikeman, Sioux City, Iowa


Keith Prue, Vineyard Haven, MA


Lori Waselchuck, New Orleans, LA


Judy Gelles, Philadelphia, PA


Warren Harold, Clear Lake, TX


Gabriela Herman, Martha's Vineyard, MA


Blake Andrews, Salem, OR


Dave Jordano, Rockford, IL


Sarah Hadley, Traverse City, MI


Paris Visone, Peabody, MA


Jason Wilson, Mt. Rushmore, ND


Donald Schwartz, Washington, DC


Rose-Lyn Fisher, Hollywood, CA


Jim Rohan, Wakefield, MA


Dona Schwartz, Minneapolis, MN


Jan Potts, San Francisco, CA


Sylvia Denlinger, Trotwood, Ohio, 1952


Tom M. Johnson, Lakewood, CA


Mike Peters, Ridgefield Park, NJ


Lauren Henkin, East Topsham, Vermont


Bill Vaccaro, Clarence, NY


Mark Tanner, Redondo Beach, CA


Gordon Stettinius, Tucson, AZ
This one was taken as a response to the proposed budget cuts in the National Endowments for the Arts and National Endowments for the Humanities back in 1995. I sent prints of this to all of my senators and congressmen with an R.I.P. - N.E.A. message typed into the mirror at the head of the 'coffin'.


Wesley Brown, Los Angeles, CA


Lacey Terrell, The Culpepper & Merriweather Great Combined Circus, Montana


Kerry Mansfield, Calistoga, CA


Mark Indig, Los Angeles, CA


Jeff McLane, Williamsburg, NY


Ruben Natal-San Miguel, West Village, NY


Tom Leininger, Parker, TX


Andy Hurvitz, North Hills, CA


Deon Reynolds, Eureka, NV


Phillip Toledano, somewhere in North Dakota


Nate Larson and Marni Schindelman, Asbury Park, NJ
From the Geolocation project: Using publicly available embedded geotag information in Twitter updates, we track the locations of users through their GPS coordinates and make a photograph to mark the location in the real world. Each of these photographs is taken on the site of the update and paired with the originating text.


Cole Thompson, Fort Collins, CO


Jess Dugan, Goldsboro, NC


Dan Freund, Los Angeles, CA


Walker Pickering, Austin, TX


William Schmidt, Winter Park, FL


Tyler Robbins, Sun Prairie, WI


Valery Rizzo, Wellfleet, Cape Cod, MA


Bill Chapman, Birmingham, AL


James Bengel, Raleigh, N.C.


Carmen Luceno, Jersey Shore, NJ (go Snooki!)


Tamara Reynolds, West Nashville, TN


Marc Todd, Los Angeles, CA


Marcy Cohen, San Francisco, CA


Robert Bright, Malibu, CA


David Cory, South Bend, Indiana


Kevin McCollister, West Hollywood, CA


Eva Timothy, New York, NY


Mindy Veissid, New York, NY


Gloria Baker Feinstein, Kansas City, MO


Amanda Keller Konya, Elk River, Idaho


Kurt Jordan, Oxnard, CA


Sandy Dyas, Tipton, IA



Linda Plaisted, Washington, DC


Catherine Just, Pasadena, CA


K. Praslowicz, Duluth, MN


Nancy Baron, Palm Springs, CA


Adam Neese, New York, NY


David Bram, Albuquerque, NM


Jim Marx, Leadore, ID


Karen Florek, Marina Del Rey,CA


Wesley Phillips, Spartanburg, S.C.


Ken Rosenthal, New York, NY


Cindy Bendat, Long Beach, CA


Ashley West Leonard,North Hollywood, CA


Maja Georgiou, Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, LA


Jackie Alpers, Tucson, AZ


Mimi Haddon, Santa Monica, CA


Laurie McCormick, Nantucket, MA


Yves Rubin, Venice Beach, CA


Jacqueline Truong, Newport Beach, CA


Maura Brennan, Venice, CA


Kathleen Taylor, somewhere in WV


Charles Maclauchlan, Steilacoom, WA


Timothy Archibald, Gretna, LA