EXHIBIT Closed on March 30th 2014

Juror: Robert Hirsch 

Light is that which compels a photograph into being: shifting, glowing, luminous, obscure or brilliant.

The medium of photography brazenly defined: How our tools, environs and subjects respond to light.  Sometimes the light plays a more prominent role in a photograph, sometimes as a supporting actor and sometimes as the protagonist itself. 

Exhibit Calendar (Subject to Change)
Exhibit Opens:	6 March 14
Artists' Reception:	30 March 14 15:30
Exhibit Closes:	30 March 14
Illumine Exhibit Catalog now available at PrestoPhoto The Darkroom Gallery Difference

Juror Robert Hirsch explains his thinking behind 'The Thingness of Light': "Every photograph is about light. Light, which is a plastic medium capable of being physically manipulated, is the key ingredient shared by all photographs and the determinant in the look of every photograph you make. Light’s primal authority defines the essence of a subject. The powerful glue that holds your image together, light makes known the emotional and physical contents within your visual space and activates vision and meaning. Every image provides a different set of conditions in which we can experience light. If the light does not inhabit and reveal the perceived nature of the subject, the picture will not communicate the content you wish to transmit to a viewer. In that sense, pictures are about what others are able to see in them."  -Excerpt from Light and Lens, Second Edition by Robert Hirsch.

For Illumine we looked for works that explore the vast languages of light. Low light, bright light and every stop in between. Light can be luminous & rich, or a stark spotlight, it can wildly dance, or softly edge darkness and cast shadows. Light can reflect and sparkle or be blinding and disarming. Natural light vs. man-made light sources: sunrises and sunsets, moonlight and neon light! Photographs are steeped in emotive qualities that go well beyond the work's subject and content, an almost indecipherable layer is em-parted through the usage of light. 

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Juror's Statement: I extend my thanks to all the photographers for sharing their work with me.  Bear in mind that all juried shows only reflect the viewpoint of the judge.  That said, the photographs I responded to were ones in which the photographer expressionistically utilized light to interpret their subject matter. While I respect photography’s ability to secure a two-dimensional representation of outer reality, I strongly favor images that get beneath the surface of a subject by linking the visible with the invisible as a means of looking inside an experience. This approach asserts that a photograph is only authentic when it evokes an interior state of consciousness that is capable of grappling with a subject beyond its external physical structure, allowing one to see it in a fresh way. Robert Hirsch

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• All selected entries are exhibited in our gallery and included in a full color exhibit catalog.
• Juror's Choice receives a 30x48" vinyl exhibit banner featuring their image, free entry into a future exhibition, and a free exhibition catalog.
  
• Honorable Mentions receive free exhibition catalogs and free entry in a future exhibition. 
  
• People's Choice gains free entry into a future exhibit.
• We offer free matting and framing of accepted entries for the duration of each of our exhibition, subject to standard sizes. Photographers set their own prices if they wish to sell their work and retain all rights to their photographs.

Juror: Robert Hirsch Artist, curator, educator, historian and author of Seizing the Light: A Social History of Photography; Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age; Photographic Possibilities: The Expressive Use of Equipment, Ideas, Materials, and Processes; and Exploring Color Photography: From Film to Pixels. Also, Chinese and German editions of Light and Lens have been published. His latest book, Transformational Imaging: Handmade Photography Since 1960 will be launched in March 2014 at the National Society for Photographic Education Conference in Baltimore. Hirsch has been the Associate Editor of Photovision and Digital Camera (UK) as well as a contributing writer for Afterimage, CEPA Journal, Contact Sheet, Digital Camera, exposure, The Encyclopedia of 19th Photography, The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, Fotophile, History of Photography, Photo Ed (Canada), The Photo Review, Photovision, Photo Technique, World Book Encyclopedia and numerous regional publications including Buffalo Spree and FY. For over the past decade Hirsch has lead Light Research, a consulting firm providing professional services to the photographic arts field. He is the former Executive Director and Chief Curator of CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY, and has curated numerous solo and group exhibitions. Hirsch’s projects have been shown at: The Weeks Gallery, Jamestown Community College; Jamestown, NY; Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, NY; Indigo Art & CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Bruce Gallery, Edinboro University; Rockefeller Fine Arts Center, SUNY Fredonia; The Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen; The Netherlands, Penn Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; Camera Club of New York; Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo; Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh, PA; 9th Annual Sociology Conference at Buffalo State College; the Gallery at the Creative Center for Photography, Los Angeles, CA; The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC; Center for Photography at Woodstock; the Thompson Art Gallery at San Jose State University; Brooklyn Arts Council; Parsons School of Design, New York, NY; Big Orbit Gallery, Buffalo, NY; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT; Artspace, New Haven, CT; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD; and Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NY.