Environmental Portraits

Juror: Elizabeth Avedon
Gallery exhibition: August 1 - September 1, 2018

Juror's Statement

“In a short story, environmental portraits are the setting, the part of the tale that establishes mood and creates a backdrop for the narrative to begin.”
     — Polly Gaillard, Arts Writer

The call for “Environmental Portraits” created a wide range of images entered; traditional, contemporary, young and old, ancient and modern, unique cultures presented from different perspectives. 

I want to thank every photographer who put themselves and their work out there for this call. There were almost two thousand images submitted and it was my honor to become very familiar with each of them. As I slowly began to see a “show” come together - some images moving the narrative along in a unique way - I believe in the end the images chosen are a compelling group, collectively taking each of us on a personal journey of our own.
     — Elizabeth Avedon

Call for Entries

An environmental portrait is an image made in a place where the subject lives, works, rests, or plays. This setting adds tremendously to the story of who the subject is—their trade, their passion, their fears, or simply how and where their time is spent.

We seek images in which an environment interacts with the subject to create a storied whole — images in which our interest is piqued and we are introduced to the unique world of the subject, enhancing our understanding of another being.

All methods of capture and processes are welcome.

We are very pleased that Elizabeth Avedon will be jurying and curating this exhibition. She will select approximately 35 images for exhibition in the gallery, and 35 for our Online Gallery Annex. The recipients of the Juror’s Award and the Director’s Award will each be entitled to a personal portfolio review by Ms. Avedon.

About the Juror

Elizabeth Avedon is an independent curator, photography book designer and writer. As former Director of Photo-Eye Gallery, Santa Fe, Art Director for Ralph Lauren Media, and Creative Director for The Gere Foundation, Elizabeth has received awards and recognition for her exhibition design and publishing projects, including; “Richard Avedon: In the American West” for the Amon Carter Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago; and curating several exhibitions at New York’s Leica Gallery. She has been a contributor to L’oeil de la Photographie / The Eye of Photograph since 2014, profiling events and notable leaders in the world of Photography.

Along with leading advanced photo-editing and book design workshops in Vermont, Chicago, and Santa Fe, Elizabeth continues to participate in many portfolio reviews including the New York Times Lens Review, Review Santa Fe, FilterPhoto Festival, Photolucida and both the Icelandic Photography Festival 2018 and Landskrona Foto Festival 2017 Review in Sweden. She was on the jury for the 8th Edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award in Paris in 2017, and juried the 22nd Annual Peter Urban Legacy Exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography. She is also an instructor in both the BFA Photography and Video and Masters in Digital Photography programs at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

In 2017, Elizabeth received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Griffin Museum of Photography’s Focus Awards.