Juror's Statement
Color is a so powerful a communication device that the visual world of color has become part of our verbal world; we are green with envy, red with rage, or simply feeling blue. As we move the day, color can change our mood. And when we encounter color in a photograph, it can certainly change the way we perceive the image and how we unravel the story it tells.
It was with those thoughts in mind that I began working through the images submitted in response to the call for entries for Color. As I began the process of going through the many great images, I was always looking for photographs that caused me to stop and take in their nuances.
First, I looked for photographs where the color in the image helped tell the photograph’s story. In some cases, the color was the story, describing details about a place or person or object that could not have been expressed in any other way.
Second, I looked for images that were well composed, technically competent, and that said something about the both the maker of the image and its subject. Where luscious color, fantastic composition and solid technique came together, I found the photographs that I chose to select for the exhibition. As is always the case, many fine images could not be included in the final selection.
In the end, the subtle but dramatically dark colors of a dog, a puddle and a sunset-hued sky, and the striking composition and “knock-your-eye-out” color of a mysterious, silhouetted man in an alleyway, were for me the zenith of the power of color to tell a story, awarding them the Juror’s and Director’s awards.
Thank you to everyone who submitted work to this call; it was a delight to view your work.
Jeff Curto
Call for entries
Whenever color appears in a photograph, color becomes an essential element of the image. When used well, color can coalesce with the other elements of the image to create an atmosphere, an emotional response, a sense of place. When bold color is used in bold ways, the result becomes a celebration of light.
For this exhibit, we seek images that effectively use color, whether to enhance the image in subtle ways, or to create a bold color statement that is the centerpiece of the image. All capture methods and processes are welcome.
We are very pleased that Jeff Curto will be jurying and curating this exhibition. He will select approximately 35 images for exhibition in the gallery, and 40 for our Online Gallery. All 75 selected images will be reproduced in the exhibition print catalog and remain permanently on our website, with links to photographer’s URL.
Information about our printing service and free matting and framing here.
Banner image: Jeff Seltzer
Home page thumbnail: Doug Johnson
Click image below to enlarge
About the juror
Jeff Curto is Professor Emeritus of Photography at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he taught for 30 years. He was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1981 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Bennington College in 1983. He had the good fortune to attend Ansel Adams’ last workshop in Carmel, California in 1983. Inspired by that workshop and the potential for learning the workshop environment, in 2009, he began leading annual photography workshops in Italy.
An early adopter of podcasting as a form of instruction and communication, Curto recorded his History of Photography class sessions for online use. His Camera Position podcast, which discusses photography’s creative aspects, can be also be found online.
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