diptych # 181 ~ complexity / simplicity and a big surprise

fence + vine / glass of pinot grigio ~ Keeseville, NY / Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

FYI, the picture of the pinot grigio is not a pinhole picture. It is a straight picture with a very narrow DOF. With that made clear, moving on to the big surprise ...

It is worth noting that I never seek out photo exhibit / contest submission opportunities. Those events come to me either through email notifications or, on occasion, just while cruising the interweb. My recent submissions to the Alternative Cameras: Pinholes to Plastic exhibit selection process is one that came to me in an email notice.

And, the subsequent submissions were very atypical of my participation in such events inasmuch as I have never submitted pictures to an event unless I have already-made pictures which are appropriate for the exhibit theme. Whereas for this exhibition opportunity I undertook the making of new pictures specifically for this event.

FYI, the gallery for that exhibition opportunity is the PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, VT., a gallery in which I have had work on exhibit in a past juried show. It is one of the only juried show galleries to which I submit pictures and even then on only rare occasions. I do so because the gallery owner / director has created an interesting format for exhibit events which does NOT require a significant expense to participate if your picture(s) are accepted for an exhibit.

To wit, printing, matting and framing a picture for an exhibit can be a costly expense but PhotoPlace Gallery provides FREE matting and framing (for duration of the exhibit) for your selected picture(s). And, they can even print your picture(s) for the exhibit to professional-quality standards (2 paper choices) for a modest $25.00USD (you can supply your own prints). Both of those cost saving features are a great deal. Especially so in those cases where the exhibitor is responsible for all of the costs of matting, framing and shipping to the gallery.

That endorsement written, the big surprise, relative to the theme of the next call for entries - In Celbration of Trees - is that while a handful of my tree pictures (already-made) came to mind as potential submissions, I was surprised - or, more accurately, stunned - that, as I went to my archive to cull out some tree pictures, I ended up with 88 pictures (edited down from 115) in which a tree or trees were the central referent. That is, trees which pricked my eye and sensibilities to the point I was compelled to make a picture of them.

aside: Why that came as a surprise to me is somewhat of a surprise in and of itself inasmuch as the fact of the matter is that I live in the largest forest preserve east of the Mississippi, aka: the Adirondack PARK. The rational question is, why wouldn't I have a lot of pictures of trees? Seriously. end of aside

That being as it is, I am now left with a monumental editing task. That is, selecting 5 tree pictures (up to 5 pictures for the $30.00USD submission fee) or so (more pictures - no limit - can be submitted at $7.00USD per) to submit to the juried exhibition process. It ain't gonna be easy.

And one of the first tasks to be decided is whether to include only pictures of trees which are in their natural environment or to also include tree pictures made in an urban or similar environment. The edited collection is divided almost equally in half, natural vs. urban settings, and each environmental setting creates its own unique visual paradigm / signature.

The juror for the exhibition, Tom Zetterstrom, has his own body of tree picture work in which all of the trees are in their natural environment. Don't know if I should use that bias (not meant as a negative) in my editing / decision process. My initial thought is to just pick my best tree pictures and let the environmental component fall where it may.

This "discovery" of a new body of work also leads me to the making of new POD book. In that endeavor, the pictures will be divided into separate environment categories. The chief question I am pondering, re: the POD book making, is whether to make a single book of 60 (or possibly more) pictures, divided into 2 separate environment sections, or whether to make 2 separate books - that is, a book for each tree environment.

Wish me luck. I'll need it. Fortunately, the submission deadline is December 7th which can be a good thing - more time to live with the pictures and make selections - or a bad thing - more to time equivocate and agonize over making selections (in ... out ... out ... in ... in ... out ... out ... in ................................. ad infinitum ...)