Poetry of the Ordinary
Prints of most of these images are available for purchase. Please inquire.
All photographs are the copyright of the individual artists and may not be reproduced without their permission.
Juror's Statement
I looked at hundreds of images that were truly lovely depictions of ordinary snippets of life. Many themes seemed to pop up and what I found myself the most drawn to were the images of the ordinary decisive moment with a little bit of poetic narrative. Photography to me is storytelling and I’ve always been fascinated with how this can be done so successfully with stills and simplicity.
As hard as it was, I pared down the images that spoke to me personally. We all know art is subjective so I guess this is a curated selection of poetic work I feel stands strong as individual images as well as a part of a whole. Six months from now, I may have selected a variety of different images because I’ve changed. We morph into new versions of ourselves constantly, the photographic journey is similar. Meaning, our tastes, our intuition, our stories evolve. The way and the why we make images ever layering.
Why? Because it’s a good photograph and it makes me feel some sort of way.
Thank you to all the artists that shared their work, you’ve inspired me. I think I’ll break out the Polaroid tomorrow and see what we see.
Blue
Call for Entries
As photographers, we have developed skill in seeing beneath the surface of our subjects, and often find in them the beauty, poignancy, and poetry that exist in ordinary moments. For this exhibition, we seek the simple poetic elegance of the ordinary.
All captures and processes are welcome.
We are very pleased that Blue Mitchell will be jurying and curating this exhibition. He will select approximately 35 images for the Exhibition Gallery, and 40 more for our Online Gallery. All 75 images will be featured on social media, displayed in the exhibit catalog, and remain permanently on our website with photographer's URL.
Information about our printing service and free matting and framing here.
Banner image and thumbnail: Jeff Schlegel
Click to enlarge
About the Juror
Blue Mitchell is an independent publisher, curator, educator, and photographer based in Portland, Oregon. He has been involved with many facets of photography in corporate and fine art environments. In 2005, after Mitchell received his BFA from Oregon College of Art & Craft, he founded One Twelve Publishing.
One Twelve Publishing is most notably known for its fine art photographic print annual Diffusion (est. 2009), which focuses on artfully crafted photo practices. One Twelve provides an extensive blog with articles, galleries, and special features. Mitchell also hosts and produces a podcast called the Diffusion Tapes where he chats with artists, curators, and writers in fine art photography.
Founder and Publisher, Diffusion Annual & One Twelve
Host and Producer, The Diffusion Tapes