Merit
Award, Black and White Magazine 2012 Portfolio Contest
I
have mixed feelings about submitting images for a contest. On one
hand I have never been one to strain my arm from patting my self on
the back. I create art as a personal expression of creativity. I do
not create art to be judged. Ironic as my images do sell. So in some
way the images are judged whether or not to be display on a
collectors wall. On the other hand I have a very odd style that does
not play well with judges. My style is very reminiscent of
pictorialism. That rather loose undefined style that somehow deviates
from the reality of an image. What is presented with pictorialism is
the interpretation of the image from the vision of the artist. In
simple terms pictorialism allows for the artist to manipulate the
image. And that is exactly what I do. All of my images have some type
of manipulation. Where I deviate slightly from straight pictorialism
is the razor sharp depth of field in my images. The large depth of
field is more of a hold out from the f64 group of the early to mid 20th Century. The f64 group is derived from the style of reducing the
aperture of the lens to the minimum opening of f64. This allows for
maximum depth of field. The end result is an image that is extremely
sharp.
By
combining the effects of maximum depth of field and pictorialism I
have limited my chances of even being considered for a winning entry
in a contest. Yet somehow I have managed not once yet twice to snag a
merit award from the portfolio contest held by Black and White
magazine. The odd were really against me. There were 1008 portfolios
containing 11,000 images. That is a staggering amount of images to
review. Somehow in all the images presented I managed to stand out
enough for a merit award. So for the second time now I will take
pause and at least acknowledge a job well done.
I
work hard to hand craft these images. The real work starts after the
image is recorded on film. My time spent in photoshop can get
ridiculous. The clock seems to blur as I obsess over getting each and
every detail right. The all time winner has to be the '53 Packard.
Over 60+ hours getting the details right. And the details are all
what the images are about for me. It's the details that make an image
stand out. So I shall continue to do what I do best. I'll keep
obsessing over those little details.
I submitted 6 images as part of my urban portfolio. Three of the images were selected as Merit Award Winners. The images were printed in the special edition magazine. The magazine is available in bookstores now.
I submitted 6 images as part of my urban portfolio. Three of the images were selected as Merit Award Winners. The images were printed in the special edition magazine. The magazine is available in bookstores now.
Black & White 2013 Portfolio Contest Winners Special Issue
GEM Motel - Gem, Indiana
Mason's Root Beer - Indianapolis, Indiana
R.H. Hulskamp Saw Works - Indianapolis, Indiana
