Juror's Statement:

Images are what I do.  I see them, I create them and I help countless others realize their own. Imaging pays my bills and feeds my children.  I take imaging and artistic photography very seriously. So when I was asked to be a juror for this exhibition I was honored and stressed about judging not only images, but images of people just beginning the process of not only photography, but life.

There were two ways for me to approach judging these images, the way I know how, blunt and disconnected from the artist or empathetic and nurturing of young people’s perspective.  I initially used the methods that I had learned through many years of having my own work critiqued.  That is to be brutal and nitpick every out of place pixel and de-focused subject within the frame.  I did judge the entries three different times before allowing my blinders to widen a bit.  Eventually, along with my ridged critique guidelines I did allow my selections to be tinted with a new value, the quality of youth - this young artistic vocabulary is a blend of excitement, novelty and optimism.

My selections were not taken lightly. I expected every image that was entered to respect the rules of photography and art.  I wanted each image to have substance and to be enjoyable to look at.   I not only looked for overall composition, but use of the entire working space.  I wanted blank space to have a purpose within the image.  I looked for and put high merit in multiple compositions within the singular showing.  If the space around a subject is vacant because of poor cropping and not to strengthen the image, I discarded the image.  I also put high value on basic photographic skills.  I checked the focus of the image and had to make the distinction between selective focus and just being out of focus.  If there was use of shadows, I looked for details within those shadows or the intentional lack of detail creating a silhouette.  Lastly, I looked for the emotional connection. How does this image make me feel?  Is the photographer allowing me a sincere look into the artist’s life or are the photographs just an exercise in sentimentality?  Obviously the main goal of selection is to reward the strongest images according to me. I feel I have done this and I wish all of the students the best of luck and continued success in photography.