Friday, December 17, 2010

On Entering Juried Competitions


Some reflections on entering Juried Competitions --

I come to the professional practice of fine art photography a bit late in life, but nontheless with great enthusiasm and commitment. One of the things I resolved to do as a step in career development a couple of years ago was to enter at least 2 juried shows out of my local region every month.

I did this for a variety of reasons, one of which of course was that Mary Virginia Swanson, who knows everything about career development in fine art photography, told me to.

As a result, I've been successful sometimes. I've had work in shows from Vermont to Florida, from Texas to California, from New York to Georgia, and a number of stops in between. I won first prize in in one show (see the image above), and placed in others. I've had my work reviewed by a number of distinguished photographers. The same Juror accepted work for one show that he turned down for another. I was told to expect about a 20% acceptance rate and I'm running a bit ahead of that right now, which I take as good news.

I've learned that entering shows is valuable, its worth doing, in part for what one learns from the process when one has to make decisions about one's work, choosing this or that image, assessing what is strong as a stand-alone image and what really is part of a series, and so forth. The best advice I've gotten about entering is to tell oneself that what one is really doing is collecting rejection notices. One therefore is not disappointed when the rejection comes. One actually enters more shows than one otherwise would, and thus stands in more lines, thus increasing the possibility that one of those lines is the right one to be in.

I'm getting better at reading the prospectus to gauge my chances -- researching the juror to find out what kind of work s/he does, appreciates, etc, reading the description of the show's parameters to evaluate whether I have work that seems to fit, etc, evaluating the entry fee to decide whether the gamble is worth it, etc.

But I've also had frustrating experiences. And I'm also aware that the process of running a juried show is getting to be a BIG BUSINESS. The ease of submission by electronic means, the spread of communication about shows through the Internet, and the explosion in the number of folks who aspire to careers in fine art photography have all added up to far more entries for shows than in the old days when entries came through the mail in the form of slides or prints of real work.

Thanks to all this, and to entry fees that can easily run up to $100 per show in some cases, we are beginning to talk about Real Money. I recently did not get into a show in which the average entry fee was about $50, a fairly typical number. My over-polite email of rejection tried to soften the pain by telling me that there were entries by over 600 photographers. This means the income for the gallery with this show exceeded $30,000.

I know there are expenses in setting up and running an event like this. It costs something to put up a website, to handle the entries, to pay the juror's travel expenses and fee, and to stage the show itself. But I have to believe that this show was a major money-maker for the gallery. Galleries and centers that do a juried show a month are probably looking at income from such activities of $350,000 a year from this source alone.

Similar kinds of numbers probably apply to photography festivals and other events that include Portfolio Reviews, where aspiring artists pay significant fees to meet with arts professionals who tell them, in a variety of ways, that the are not the next Ansel Adams or Sally Mann.

Of course, arts organizations need all the money they can get, and I don't begrudge them the opportunity to fund their organization and their programming in this way. This is a case of artists supporting the arts in return for moments of glory and pain, and for the exceptionally rare possibility that something will actually come from the exposure.

At the very least, however, organizations that sponsor these events should, in exchange for the entry fees, treat aspirants with dignity, respect, and courtesy. Often this is the case, but not always.

Here are some things that people organizing juried competitions could do that would improve life for those who look to them for recognition, validation, etc.

1. Standardize on one format for digital submissions. Many shows specify 72 dpi jpegs; others want 300 dpi jpegs. In either case, there is no standard size. In fact, folks ask for sizes all over the map. I spend far too much time resizing images. It would be so good to be able to create a submission file for an image in the knowledge that it was ready to go when the opportunity appeared.

2. Standardize one process for digital submissions. Most folks are going to online submissions, rather than files on CD, which is great. Except that the specific process is never the same from show to show. Some folks want email attachments. Others have portals for entry, each one of which has quirky specifications (see #1 above).

3. Communicate promptly via email with entrants.

3.1. When the entry is submitted, to indicate that the entry is successfully submitted, or, if there are problems with the submission, what those problems might be and how to fix them. This would seem to be a simple courtesy. After all one has sent real money and would like to know that one's work is actually going to be reviewed.

3.2. When the date for reporting on the juror's selections arrives, either report on time or announce a delay and specify when the (delayed) announcement will be made. I have been in shows in which only the winners were notified, so those of us who were not chosen had to wait for the opening of the show to know we weren't in. I've entered shows in which there was a delay in announcing the results but no announcement of the delay, so that days went by in which I felt in a kind of limbo about whether to get the work ready to go or not.

4. Report the results of the jury process to ALL entrants, at the same time.

5. Post an on-line gallery of the winning images so that the rest of us can see if our work was worthy competition for the winners, or if we still have work to do, or if we should never have been in this competition in the first place.

6. Cut out the saccharine rejection notices. No, I don't think you will seriously keep my images around for further consideration. No, I don't need to know the competition was rigorous and the gallery space limited so that many worthy pieces had to be excluded. All I need to know is, is my work in or out, and, maybe, when the next opportunity to submit might come up.

5. If my work is in, be clear about delivery of accepted work, including how to deliver it (framed or unframed, etc), how to pack it (if you don't want work packed in peanuts, let me know), and how to cover return shipment (cash, check, credit card number, prepaid mailing label, etc). I know its coming back. The chance of your selling it is absolutely miniscule, so I need to plan ahead.

These would seem to be basic matters of courtesy and professionalism. Of course, if they were widely adopted even more people would apply, the competition would get even more rigorous, and I would get even fewer pieces accepted.  But, hey, I'm in this not to show my work but to get the rejection notices.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Work in Biennial Show at East Carolina University

My piece, 30% Off (Bologna 2005), has been accepted for the Biennial Photography Show at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery at East Carolina University. The juror this year was Keith Carter. The show opens January 13th, 2011 and runs through February 19th, 2011.

Carter, who is the Walles Professor of Art at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, will give a Juror's Lecture at 5:00 pm on January 13th at the Gallery. The Exhibit's Opening Reception will follow.

Hope to see you at the opening! 

Monday, November 15, 2010

Work in This Year's High & Dry Show

My image Beggar Woman (Jaipur 2008) is in this year's High & Dry show at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, opening this Friday, November 19th, 2010. This is an annual show at Texas Tech, sponsored by the International Center for Arid and Semiarid Lands Studies (ICASALS).

The juror this year was Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator of Photography and former Department Head and Senior Curator of Photography and Film of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin.


I had work in this show in 2008 as well. That year, my image, Man with Cap (Mexico 2007) won first prize. 

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Meredith Show Ends November 14th

My show at Meredith College closes tomorrow and comes down on Monday. Anyone interested in hosting it? You can see all the images on my Flickr site here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnwallphoto/sets/72157624591947917/

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Review of Meredith Show

Max Halperen says some very nice things about my Meredith show in the current issue of Raleigh Downtowner Magazine, free at downtown venues, or you can read it online if you go here

http://tinyurl.com/2a5j9ss

and click on pages 12-13 at the bottom of the site. My review starts at the bottom of the middle column on page 12 and continues at the top of the right column on that page.

Or, you can read it here:

Max says,

At Meredith College's Rotunda, John Wall has mounted a massive show of photographs titled Living in the Gaze. It reveals a perceptive eye that often finds the world at its most ironic. One of the most arresting is "Shoe Merchant" where a lovely, well-rounded woman sits, looking pensively outward, but one learns quickly enough that she is a carefully-carved, well-rounded dummy. The joke is on the viewer. In "Penelope," an elderly woman, walking alone, stares at a tall advertising kiosk in Paris, where a huge poster advertises "Penelope!" and sports three very youthful and gleeful women. Men gaze at women and images of women, women gaze at dressy female image and dummies. In "Shoe Merchant," we are the gazers. Wall is as astute technically and creatively as his subjects appear, but the images are beautifully focused and composed.

"Perceptive eye," "astute technically and creatively," "beautifully focused and composed" -- I'll take that any day.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Meredith Show Now Open!

My show Living in the Gaze is now up in the Rotunda Gallery in Meredith College's Johnson Hall, through November 14th. Good, friendly crowd at the Reception yesterday. Shannon Johnstone, a professor of  photography at Meredith (and a Southern Photographer We Look Out For on my Southern Photography blog), just sent me this image she took at the Reception. Shows my wife Terry, and me, and my friend Carson Boone (also a photographer of great accomplishment).

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Living in the Gaze Show Forthcoming at Meredith College


I'm having a show of my work at Meredith College, opening with a reception from 2-4 pm on Sunday, September 12th, 2010, in the Rotunda of Johnson Hall. This will be a show of about 40 images that explore how we see and are seen by others and how we learn to present ourselves to be seen, performing before others both our desires for attention and our delight in our skill as performers.

 I'd make the case that we long for safety and companionship; we conceal ourselves within roles as well as costumes to cover the poor, bare forked animal with the garments of display. In a world rich in the technology of visual display, we are surrounded by images that provoke desire and model for us ways to express and achieve it. The dream world of beautiful images enables and confines, for it defines the cost of hope, the price of desire, the terms of solicitation. In the midst of it all, we make our own way, knowing that we may be freed or trapped by how we play the game.

As a photographer, I am implicated in the giving and taking of visions and revisions, of offering, of display, of performance or of self-definition. The artist sees, responds, frames, records, shapes, presents and therefore participates in the gaze.

 These images document my observations, even, sometimes, recording my own presence in the scene.  They make it possible for viewers to join in the gaze, to share in the delight or shame or annoyance. These photographs also distance us from what is before us, making the body – and the performance of its display – available for reflection as well as observation or participation.

You can check out the show in advance if you go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnwallphoto/sets/72157624591947917/


Hope to see you on September 12th, to see how all this works out.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Mexico Work at Blue Line Gallery



Work from my portfolio of images from Mexico, including Police Woman (Mexico City, 2008),  will be part of the 33rd Annual Open Show at the Blue Line Gallery of Roseville Arts!, in Roseville, CA, opening with a reception from 6:30-9:00 pm on Saturday, February 20th, 2010.

The show is up through April 9th, 2010. Blue Line Gallery is at 405 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA.

The juror was Shelly Willis, Public Art Administrator for the City and County of Sacramento, CA.