Good Show! - The York Society Photographic Exhibition

Well, I scored a plum job this last weekend - I was asked to be the judge for the York Society Inc.'s annual photographic exhibition. And as Saml. Pepys and I are wont to say in respect to entertainments - I did goe and was greatly amused. The connection is one that comes through Camera Electronic - they, like other photographic and cultural firms, sponsored a prize for one of the entry categories - and the York Society Inc. kindly invited me to be their guest on Friday and Saturday to do the job. The exhibition was held in the Sandalwood Gallery on the main commercial street of the town - you may not have seen it on a casual visit to York as it is a little away from the shops but it is there with a historic school-house and well repays a bit of exploring. I had no idea what I'd find when I rocked up at the door. What I found was a work of art in the process of being constructed...out of other works of art. Let me explain; many club and society competitions are held throughout the year that have standardised presentation rules - size of entry and matting, etc. But some of them stop there and don't encourage the photographers to think outside the image - to design a presentation including glazing and framing. In short, to create an entire piece. This works for monthly competitions, but the York Society Inc. wanted the next stage - a full exhibition. Each entry, therefore, had to be a presentation that could hang on a gallery wall - not just sit on a table. And they provided dedicated canvas wall units to do this - hanging each piece with strong line and some rather fierce salmon hooks. I was told not to try to take any of the pictures from the frame, and the look of the hooks convinced me to listen to the warning! Respect to Ken, the curator, who wrangled through them and made a cogent and pleasing arrangement in spite of the danger. And that is the crux of it all - the exhibition was not just a jumble of snaps - it was a deliberately designed experience for the viewer as they moved around the aisles...and a bit of an achievement when you consider that the disparate elements that arrived for entry meant that Ken and the rest of the volunteer workers had a changed set of possibilities with each image through the door. It was not like the sort of exhibit that one artist might make of their own work - this was art coping with art. I coped pretty well with the judging - 4 clear category winners and 7 Highly Commended. The process took all afternoon and required 14 circuits of the gallery, 5 furious writing sessions, and 4 mathematical exercises. The process of hunting the winners was divided into technical, artistic, commercial, and mechanical rounds and the winning spread of scores was quite small in several instances. The winners can congratulate themselves on their achievements because the Highly Commended gave them such a close run for the money. And two things I can fairly say:

1. All I saw was the front and sides of the works of art - the backs that contained the details of who had shot what was entirely hidden from me. The pictures spoke for themselves. I did not even consult the captions list until the third round of calculations.
2. There were entries from all levels of the trade, art, science, or sport of photography. No-one was excluded, nor needed to be - if they made their picture of the appropriate size, framed and protected, it was hung. From those dangerous hooks.

So why don't you enter next year? It doesn't cost much - this year it was only $ 16.50 per image - and the price of a visit to York is just the petrol and the time. There are enough other things to do in this historic town to well repay that visit. ( Read the column tomorrow...) The challenge of making a complete work rather than just another computer picture on your screen at home might bring out the latent artist in you. Every year there will be entry forms for this Society's exhibition on the counter at Camera Electronic. You can shoot all year long and frame things until you are dizzy but they'll want to have them delivered around the second or third week in March - you'll get plenty of notice looking at the brochure. Oh and not to be too venal - there is a good round prize pool and a great afternoon tea - this year it was $ 2300 sponsored by York Health Pharmacy, N.J. Humphrey Photography, Fitzgerald Photo Imaging, and us - Camera Electronic. It's nice to hand out envelopes with money inside to people! Thank you to the gentleman in the audience who captured my good side...