Portrait: Self, Others

Juror's Statement

I was honored to jury the 2023 “Portrait” exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery. Portraits are endlessly fascinating to me. We are drawn into the subject’s personal world through facial expression, action, or maybe simply by the style of the photograph itself. It is always a challenge to familiarize myself, as the juror, with the thousands of images entered. To choose the relatively few that will be exhibited in the Exhibition and Online Galleries is a difficult and subjective task. In the end I chose images that captured my attention for a wide variety of reasons. I hope my choices inspire and/or or amuse you as well.

The Juror’s Award went to Allison Plass. In “Boy with Lyre,” Plass captures her teenage son’s expression in a contemplative moment. As I look at his face, his hair, the details of his instrument, all nestled among the swirl of flowers and green behind him, I have to wonder what he is thinking about. The Director’s Award is given to Laurie Freitag for an image from her series The Lost Years, which captures “the ephemeral magic of childhood” as a young girl flies on a swing, her gaze upside down and glued on the photographer.

Honorable Mentions were awarded to three outstanding works, all with differing photographic points of view. Paul Kessel shows us the artist’s ultimate selfie, as he captures an image of himself sitting in front of other images of himself on the wall. In Richard Greene’s “Monroe, LA,” a group of teenagers are caught in a moment of self-conscious joy. And Michele Zousmer’s moving portrait of an elderly woman living alone in a rural village in Bulgaria makes us wonder about the woman’s emotional state: Is she content in that starkly beautiful simplicity? Is she lonely? What does she see out that window? As Zousmer states, “Photographs hold the power to connect people and create understanding.” 

I chose for the Online Gallery an eclectic mix of creative portraits that range from the dream-like to very realistic—all of which I found arresting for one reason or another.

Many thanks to all of you who entered the show. Your work was seen and admired.

                 – Elizabeth Avedon

Call For Entries

A great portrait reveals something of the depth, history, and emotional state of the subject, at least as captured in a single moment in time. Although many portraits zero in on the face, many fine images don't show the face at all, instead using light, gesture, context, and other nuances of expression to create an informative portrait.

For this exhibit we seek portraits, self- or otherwise, that go beyond the surface to explore a deeper vision of the subject and, hopefully, draw an emotional response from the viewer.

All capture methods and processes are welcome

We are very pleased that Elizabeth Avedon will jury and curate this exhibition. She will select approximately 35 images for exhibition in the gallery, and 40 for our Online Gallery. All 75 selected images will be promoted on social media, 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.

Thumbnail image: Curtis Salonik
Banner image: Tracey Richvalsky

About the Juror

"I work with photographers at all stages of their career, emerging to established, to help edit and shape their work for exhibitions, books, presentations and photography events."