Jonathan Blaustein grew up at the Jersey Shore back in the day. He received a BA from Duke University in 1996, and an MFA with honors from the Pratt Institute in New York in 2004. While in Brooklyn, he ran the underground gallery BQE33 in Greenpoint from 2003-4. His photographs are in the permanent collections of Adobe Systems, Inc., the Albuquerque Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. Jonathan’s work has been exhibited extensively in the United States over the last decade. Photographs from his conceptual photo series, “The Value of a Dollar,” were recently included in the “International Exhibition” at the Center for Fine Art Photography, the “Biennial Southwest '08” at the Albuquerque Museum of Art, and the "Open Project Photography" exhibition at the Zane Bennett Gallery in Santa Fe, where he is currently represented. Jonathan was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography in 2009, and is a finalist for Critical Mass 2009 as well. He resides in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, just north of Taos, where he runs a studio and gallery called photographic, and teaches photography to at-risk youth through the University of New Mexico - Taos.

Email him at: jonathan@flash-flood.org

David Ondrik has lived in Albuquerque since the late 1970s. He was introduced to photography in high school and quickly appropriated his father’s Canon A-1 so that he could pursue this exciting artistic medium. In 1998 he received his BFA, with an emphasis in photography, from the University of New Mexico. His imagery explores the New Mexico landscape, and his process comfortably transitions between digital and analog, mixed media and traditional darkroom as needed. Ondrik’s photography is part of the permanent collection at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and the city of Albuquerque’s Public Art Program. He is the youngest of twenty-five photographers included in “Photography: New Mexico,” published in 2008 by Fresco Fine Art Publications. In 2009 he was nominated for Center’s Santa Fe Prize for Photography. Ondrik is also a high school art teacher.

Email him at david@flash-flood.org

Jennifer Schlesinger graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 1998 with a B.A. in Photography and Journalism. She has exhibited widely at regional as well as national venues including the Santa Fe Art Institute, Portland Northwest College of Art, Chelsea Art Museum and the Bridge Art Fair in Chicago. Her work has been published online and in print and is represented in public collections including the Huntington Botanical Art Collections (CA) and The New Mexico Museum of Art. She has received several honors in recognition of her work including a Golden Light Award in Landscape Photography (Maine Photographic Workshop 2005); a nominated finalist for the Willard Van Dyke Grant (NMCP 2005) and the Santa Fe Prize for Photography (Center 2007); and the Eliot Porter Fellowship (NMCP 2007). In 2007 she was awarded the CCA Photography Auction Award (Santa Fe 2007). Schlesinger has also held positions in various non-profit arts organizations such as being the Assistant Director of Santa Fe Art Institute (2002-2005). Her work is represented by Wallspace Gallery (Seattle, WA) and Verve Gallery of Photography (Santa Fe) where she is also the Gallery Director.

Email her at jennifer@flash-flood.org

Melanie McWhorter was born and raised in a small mill town in upstate South Carolina. She received her BA in History from Lander University, a modest liberal arts collage in Greenwood, SC. Soon after graduation, she found a job as a school photographer and later a brief stint as a dude ranch photographer in Jackson, WY. She is a regular contributor to the online magazines—Fraction and photo-eye—and maintains her own photo-related blog, melaniephotoblog.com. She manages photo-eye’s Book Division, curates exhibitions of local photographers in photo-eye Bookstore and organizes the monthly First Wednesday Salon. Recently her photography was exhibited in Through the Lens: Creating Santa Fe. She resides with her family in Santa Fe, NM.

Email her at melanie@flash-flood.org

Jesse Chehak (b. 1979, Tarzana, California) is an artist living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Best known for his large format photography, Chehak's wanderlust spirit and thirst for adventure propel him to spend long stretches of time on the road with his cameras. Born and raised in Hollywood, CA, his work continuously addresses themes related to the mythic iconography contained within the American West. He has exhibited his fine-art work in New York and Los Angeles and is currently represented by Bruce Silverstein in New York, NY. He regularly contributes photographs to numerous international publications and is represented in New York, London, and Sydney by M.A.P.