The leading photograph for the January 2007 Open Gallery exhibit called ?Clearing? depicts fish sellers taking a break after working overnight inside a fish market at Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is obvious why this photograph submitted by Hanggan Situmorang received such a high rating from the members of the selections group.

Hanggan lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. Social issues, street life, and events documentary are his main expertise. He has just finished workshops in Environmental Portraiture, the Art of Editing, and Business and Marketing, held by World Press Photo Foundation and Panna Institute of Photography in Jakarta.

Hanggan writes, "I am an Architect working in Jakarta. Love sketching and taking documentary pictures since I was a little boy. Opened my mind to photography recently and falling in love ever since. I love capturing street, documentary, nature, and people photographs. My compositions might not all 'clean' nor conventional, and message-telling pictures are truly my favorite."

Take a look at more of Hanggan?s work on his online portfolio at hanggan.net

The current submissions for the BWPC Open Gallery are displayed based on the evaluations of the Selections Committee. To qualify for display, images had to have a minimum of five (5) votes and average three or higher on a scale from 0 -5.

Mike has been shooting photos since 2002 and has devoted himself to artistic photography. Mike has concentrated most of his efforts on black and white images grouped into a very interesting body of work he called ?Urban Absurd.?

Mike feels that his depiction of bizarre street scenes are in no way photojournalism or real events but situations created entirely from the mind of the artist. Mike?s images capture particular aspects of life from a specific point of view.

?Teddybear's World? is yet another example of Mike?s creative narrative bordering on the bizarre. He has selected most of the photographs from his series to share with BWPC subscribers and we are pleased to present Mike as the Featured Artist for the January, 2007 exhibits.

It is strongly recommended that you check out Mike Sikorski?s online portfolio at tegieer.net. There you will find further bodies of work including Gangstarr, Phantom, and portraits set to background music that is totally appropriate for all the work on his site.

The selections process for the January 2007 exhibits was exceptionally tough this time with over 60% of the submitted images being rejected by participating members. We send notices to those who have had their work shown in BWPC exhibits and invite them to participate in the selections process.

Selecting photography for the exhibits can be challenging for the Administrators and the members of the Selections Group. The BWPC administrators first review every image that is submitted. The photos are checked to make sure they conform to our basic submission guidelines and are then made available for review to members of the selections group.

My personal favorite, ?Snowstorm, Cortlandt Alley NYC? was submitted by Maria V. Szulc. Maria writes, ?I just have to photograph. I use Nikon F3 & TriX. My photographs have been published in the local newspaper "Manhattan Times", University of Colorado literary magazine "Square One". Most recently,"Naked Punch"a print magazine from Britain published several of my immigration protests photographs and "NOÖ Journal"showcases my photography in issue 5. My website has been published in "Gomma Reviews".

Check out her website at mariaszulc.net

Submitting photography and participating in the B&W exhibits is the most important source of contribution. We also encourage members to help with the newsletter by writing articles on any subject that interests them and will be interesting and useful to the general subscriber list. Best of all, membership in this community is FREE & Private. We only ask for your participation and enthusiasm.

Community polling drives the content of this website. Your participation in the polling process will help determine what photographer's work will be published in our monthly features.Other important decisions include site & newsletter content and continued opportunities for community members.

Photographs will NOT be viewable to first-time contributors until the exhibit is announced to the public. Your images will only be viewable to the members of the Selections Committee.

If your images are not selected for an exhibit: Don't worry, don't give up and pay close attention to the images that were rated highly by the committee.

Registered users have the opportunity to send black and white E-Cards to their friends and family. Send E-Cards for any occasion and send them as much as you want. It?s free!