Our purpose is to conduct a cooperative photographic gallery dedicated to the encouragement of the artistic development of photographers, without limit to subject matter or technique; to serve both its members and the public by organizing exhibitions, lectures, critiques, demonstrations, seminars and instruction; and by the sharing of experiences both at our current location and at locations outside of our physical space.

fotofoto gallery was established in 2003 to provide a venue for photographers, students and enthusiasts to further his/her appreciation for the fine art of photography. Through regular meetings, our membership addresses all of the gallery’s needs. All business is conducted openly and votes are held when a quorum is present. Elections are held yearly to maintain a consistency in leadership by alternating the officer’s positions. We have divided our energies into the following categories:
Community Outreach
Educational Outreach
International Outreach
Special Projects
Workshops

As a group, we have strived to make educational and community outreach a priority. Each of our members is committed to fotofoto’s mission to bring fine art photography to the Long Island community.  Many of our members go out into the community as ‘ambassadors’ of fotofoto gallery, in order to promote the gallery’s mission. They are involved with the community by giving tours, lectures, and workshops; by volunteering to judge or critique work for local photo organizations; by curating exhibitions of local photography; and by taking every opportunity to educate and inform the community about fine art photography.
The following is a sample of the projects that our members are (or have been) involved with:

• Giving yearly tours of fotofoto gallery exhibitions to Syosset High School art classes
• Judging a photography and graphic arts contest at Oakwood Elementary School
• Taking and printing photographs for publicity for the Glen Cove Senior Center
• Lectures off site: Heckscher Museum, Huntington Camera Club, Suffolk Community College, Port Washington Library
• Lectures at gallery: Wantagh High School, New Hyde Park High School
• Juror, “Illusion,” Huntington Arts Council, Main Street Petite Gallery
• Curator, Breaking Boundaries II, 100 Images from American Colleges and Universities, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
• Panel Member, American Photographic Education, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
• Presentation, China: a Photographic Essay on a Nation in Transition, “Steppin’ Out: Sabbaticals as Inspiration for Faculty Development,” Nassau Community College
• Long Island Fund for Women and Girls, pro bono photography of their grantees for website, video and printed material
• Juror, Babylon Arts Council, 5th Annual LI Photography Competition & Exhibition
• Portfolio Day Presenter, North Shore High School
• Panel Member, Inspired Portraits, “Island to Island: A Photographers’ Panel Discussion,” Hillwood Art Museum
• Presentation to Little Flower Children’s Services, Learning for Life Program
• Presenter, The Round Table, SUNY Stony Brook
• Presentation/Judging, Huntington Camera Club
• Juror, Newsday, Act II, Photos that Click
• Presentation/Exhibitor representing fotofoto Gallery, Common Ground Day, Huntington Anti-Bias Taskforce
• Presentation to Nassau County Camera Club

A significant number of our members are educators in area high schools, community colleges and universities. Those members see the gallery as another venue to educate the public about all aspects of photography, and to promote photography as a fine art. All of our invitations and gallery guides have been distributed in the schools, and students are encouraged to attend all exhibitions and lectures that take place at the gallery. This emphasis on education and the dialogue that ensues creates a synergy that benefits both the artists and the community.
In March, 2004, we were invited to exhibit at the Hutchins Gallery at Long Island University in Brookville, NY.  Many of our members had fully embraced digital technology as part of their art-making, and we were asked to show work that would illustrate the dramatic changes taking place in photography at the time. The exhibit, entitled Darkroom to Digital, was the first held outside the gallery, and did much to educate the community about digital photography.
Our next off-site invitational exhibition, entitled Under the Influence, was held at Soho Photo Gallery. All of the educators in our group were asked to invite a student to participate with them in the show.  It was a way to recognize our exceptional photo students and give them the experience of exhibiting work in a New York City gallery.
The result of that experience led us to offer our gallery space to local schools for their end-of-year exhibit.  We have hosted the Knox School, a private high school, every year since 2006. We also held the Briarcliffe College Student Art Exhibition in 2006.
In November, 2007 we had a reprise of our student invitational exhibition at fotofoto gallery, entitled Under the Influence, Too. We had a wonderful review by the New York Times, with photos and interviews. The success of the student invitational has led us to make that a permanent exhibition on our yearly calendar

South Korea: In October, 2005 fotofoto was invited to exhibit work in an “International Exchange Exhibition: 18 Contemporary Photographers from New York” in Gangnung, South Korea. In exchange, fotofoto gallery hosted a Korean Artist Exhibition featuring “Whispering Lake”, photography by Young Moon Haam and also work of Song Ju-Hee and Choi Dol-Soon.
Italy: In February 2008 fotofoto gallery had an exhibition of the photographs of Luca Cini, an international photographic artist from Italy. Cini has extensively exhibited his work in Italy including: Arezzo, Florence, Gubbio and Siena. He has also shown his images at the International Festival of Contemporary Photography in Novosibirsk, Russia and at Uma Gallery in New York City.
Russia: “Different Dimension” was the 2nd Novosibirsk International Festival of Contemporary Photography held in July 2008 at the Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia. There were 56 artists from 11 countries with over 400 works exhibited. Andrey Martynov was the Art Director. Joan Powers curated the work from 13 members of fotofoto.
China: In September 2008 ten members of fotofoto were chosen to exhibit in the China Pingyao International Photography Festival. The United States Curator for the exhibition was Susan Dooley. A catalogue was produced from the exhibition and the work of our organization was featured in the book.
As a reciprocal exhibition, in January, 2009, Song Jing exhibited her images entitled: “Life is Beautiful: Song Jing’s 10-year China Journey”. Song Jing graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1989. After graduation she became a teacher there. Now she is the professor of Beijing Film Academy, tutor of Masters students, member of China Female Photographer Association and member of the China Photographer Association.[/acc_item]

Heart Gallery: In November, 2005, fotofoto gallery took the idea of community outreach to a new level. We teamed up with Departments of Social Services from both Nassau and Suffolk Counties in order to get the word out about adoption. The project was known as the Long Island Heart Gallery: A Photographic Journey of the Heart.
The gallery received a list of foster children who were considered hard to place with adoptive families, and fotofoto members met with the children for portrait sessions. We then had an exhibition of the portraits. County representatives were on hand to answer questions about adoption, and some of the older children and their foster families attended the reception. All the children were given a framed copy of their portrait. Not only was it gratifying for us to raise public awareness – to put a face on adoption – but we were thrilled to learn that several of the children were adopted as a result of the exhibition and press coverage.
The success of the project led us to repeat it the following year. Long Island Heart Gallery 2006: Photographers Spread the Message… After the gallery exhibition, we arranged to have the portraits exhibited in local synagogues in order to spread the message even further.
National Competition: Earlier in 2005, we launched our first national photo competition in an effort to bring a variety of photographic works to the Long Island area and to make the rest of the country aware of the large fine art photography community that exists here. It was a huge success, and as a result, we have held a national competition every year since then. The competitions are open to anyone over 18 years old, and we try to keep our fees as low as possible to encourage emerging photographers to compete. Many of the people accepted by the jurors are students, and several have won awards.
Gallery Guide: Besides reaching out to photographers across the country, we have worked hard to develop a sense of community with artists on Long Island. To that end, we designed and printed a local gallery guide…usually an eight-page brochure featuring the artist presently showing; a list of Huntington restaurants, cafes, and eateries; a list and map of all Huntington art and photo galleries; and a list of Long Island galleries and museums. As far as we know, it was the first public service guide to the arts in Huntington, and was privately funded and published without paid advertising. Publication of the guide continued until 2008 when we could no longer afford it. We also try to maintain ties with other galleries and artist by participating in the local ‘gallery walk’ hosted by the Huntington Arts Council.
Guest Artists: One of the other ways we reach out and support artists on Long Island is to host an exhibition of their work at our gallery. One of the first exhibitions we hosted was in September, 2006, for Lauren Terranzano, a Newsday reporter. It was a photo essay entitled The Women of Guatemala: Through the Lens, about the strength of Mayan women in villages ravaged by a hurricane and mudslides.
In April of 2007 we hosted local artist, Winn Rea, for an interactive exhibition about personal process and global art action, entitled Wrapping the Earth, One Stone at a Time. In May, 2009, Mathew Rufrano brought his heart-wrenching images of the traveling Vietnam War Memorial to our gallery.
In July of 2007, we decided that we would like to have local artists of all disciplines show work at our gallery, so we began a series of invitational exhibitions. The first was Pas de Deux Act l and Act ll,where each of our members invited an artist to collaborate with them. The results were fruitful in both artistic achievement and in a renewed respect for all art-making. The experience was revisited a year later with the exhibition, Capriccio, A Playful Dance for Two. In 2009, each member invited a guest artist to exhibit their work, resulting in a multi-media exhibition entitled By Invitation Only,highlighting the breadth and diversity of local artists.

Heart Gallery: In November, 2005, fotofoto gallery took the idea of community outreach to a new level. We teamed up with Departments of Social Services from both Nassau and Suffolk Counties in order to get the word out about adoption. The project was known as the Long Island Heart Gallery: A Photographic Journey of the Heart.
The gallery received a list of foster children who were considered hard to place with adoptive families, and fotofoto members met with the children for portrait sessions. We then had an exhibition of the portraits. County representatives were on hand to answer questions about adoption, and some of the older children and their foster families attended the reception. All the children were given a framed copy of their portrait. Not only was it gratifying for us to raise public awareness – to put a face on adoption – but we were thrilled to learn that several of the children were adopted as a result of the exhibition and press coverage.
The success of the project led us to repeat it the following year. Long Island Heart Gallery 2006: Photographers Spread the Message… After the gallery exhibition, we arranged to have the portraits exhibited in local synagogues in order to spread the message even further.
National Competition: Earlier in 2005, we launched our first national photo competition in an effort to bring a variety of photographic works to the Long Island area and to make the rest of the country aware of the large fine art photography community that exists here. It was a huge success, and as a result, we have held a national competition every year since then. The competitions are open to anyone over 18 years old, and we try to keep our fees as low as possible to encourage emerging photographers to compete. Many of the people accepted by the jurors are students, and several have won awards.
Gallery Guide: Besides reaching out to photographers across the country, we have worked hard to develop a sense of community with artists on Long Island. To that end, we designed and printed a local gallery guide…usually an eight-page brochure featuring the artist presently showing; a list of Huntington restaurants, cafes, and eateries; a list and map of all Huntington art and photo galleries; and a list of Long Island galleries and museums. As far as we know, it was the first public service guide to the arts in Huntington, and was privately funded and published without paid advertising. Publication of the guide continued until 2008 when we could no longer afford it. We also try to maintain ties with other galleries and artist by participating in the local ‘gallery walk’ hosted by the Huntington Arts Council.
Guest Artists: One of the other ways we reach out and support artists on Long Island is to host an exhibition of their work at our gallery. One of the first exhibitions we hosted was in September, 2006, for Lauren Terranzano, a Newsday reporter. It was a photo essay entitled The Women of Guatemala: Through the Lens, about the strength of Mayan women in villages ravaged by a hurricane and mudslides.
In April of 2007 we hosted local artist, Winn Rea, for an interactive exhibition about personal process and global art action, entitled Wrapping the Earth, One Stone at a Time. In May, 2009, Mathew Rufrano brought his heart-wrenching images of the traveling Vietnam War Memorial to our gallery.
In July of 2007, we decided that we would like to have local artists of all disciplines show work at our gallery, so we began a series of invitational exhibitions. The first was Pas de Deux Act l and Act ll,where each of our members invited an artist to collaborate with them. The results were fruitful in both artistic achievement and in a renewed respect for all art-making. The experience was revisited a year later with the exhibition, Capriccio, A Playful Dance for Two. In 2009, each member invited a guest artist to exhibit their work, resulting in a multi-media exhibition entitled By Invitation Only,highlighting the breadth and diversity of local artists.

We are committed to provide a venue for interested photographers to attend our workshops. To date we have hosted the following :

The Art of Bookbinding (Lois Youmans)
Pinhole I (Sandra Carrion)
Digital Photography (Robert Neiman)
Pinhole II (Sandra Carrion)

Each event was held at the gallery and attended by local photographers and students.

In addition to several member solo exhibitions, our calendar includes the following exhibitions:

The Knox School
Invitational Student exhibition
Invitational Artist exhibition
National Competition exhibition

We are also focused on accomplishing the following initiatives, all of which are in progress:

Develop membership base – We are actively seeking new members and would like to increase membership by 30% in the next year.
We are now members of the Huntington and Freeport Art Councils and seek to strengthen our relationships with other Long Island art councils, museums, and art galleries that promote photography.
Broaden our presence within the Long Island community by expanding our use of website and other online venues to advertise our diverse exhibitions and informative workshops.
Develop a permanent ‘Member Gallery’ to promote the work of member artists– devoting a small portion of our space as a venue for current members to show work on a regular basis. We are in the process of designing the space and scheduling group exhibitions.

We anticipate the continuation of the above activities. In addition there are several initiatives that we look forward to implementing as a 501 (c) 3 organization. Seek funding through grant applications, corporate sponsorship, and donations of space, materials, equipment, and expertise so that we may expand our programming and development efforts.
Expand the scope of our charitable programming. Align our gallery with organizations, such as educational and cultural institutions, art councils, museums, and galleries so that we may better promote fine art photography on Long Island.
Develop a mentorship program for photography students, offering membership and workshops at little, or no cost to the student.
Find funds to start publishing the Gallery Guide once more. It will enhance our efforts to communicate with the general public, while performing a public service to the art community and local merchants.
Continue to offer workshops to the public.