Juror's Statement 

Quiet Landscape is a journey through many topographies. Uniting these photographs is an attentiveness to our surroundings (light, atmosphere, and stillness) and also to the act of making photographic art: composition, timing, and post-production.

Narrowing thousands of submitted photographs to just 35 on the gallery walls and another 40 on the screen was a daunting task, and a privilege. In the spirit of the exhibition, I made my selections in the quiet; selecting artists who demonstrated an ability to transform something seen into something felt.

In searching for quiet landscapes, I was reminded that scale does not determine significance. A sense of awe can be found as readily in a sweeping mountain vista or glass-like sea as in a snowy backyard or roadside scrub. The intimate and the expansive can hold equal gravitas.

I was also delighted by the unexpected landscapes found in window views from inside a home, a ferry, a pause at a stoplight. These photographs show us that landscape does not always announce itself, sometimes it emerges at the edges of our attention.

Ultimately, this exhibition reminds us that one of the most powerful ways to view the world is simply to become still within it. 

• Kat Kiernan

Director's Award

I was immediately drawn to the quiet atmosphere of this image and the way the composition continually moves my eye through the landscape. The centered tree provides an anchor, while the creek, snow, and surrounding forms create a gentle visual rhythm that encourages exploration throughout the frame. What ultimately held my attention was the subtle golden glow near the top of the image and its reflection in the water—a small moment of warmth within the cool, misty landscape. The light and time of day give the photograph a wonderful sense of stillness and calm, embodying much of what I hoped to find in Quiet Landscape.

-Zach Hoffman 

Call for Entries

PhotoPlace Gallery invites photographers to submit work for Quiet Landscape, a juried exhibition celebrating the beauty, stillness, and quiet power of the landscape. From sweeping vistas to intimate details, untouched wilderness to cultivated fields, this exhibition seeks photographs that encourage reflection and reveal the subtle relationships between people, place, light, and time. Rather than dramatic spectacle, we are drawn to landscapes that invite us to slow down, observe, and connect more deeply with the world around us.

We welcome photographs exploring natural, rural, urban, and cultivated landscapes through traditional, documentary, conceptual, and fine art approaches. Images may celebrate solitude, atmosphere, changing seasons, or the quiet moments that often go unnoticed. Whether expansive or intimate, we encourage work that reflects a personal vision and demonstrates the enduring ability of landscape photography to inspire contemplation and discovery.

We are honored to welcome Kat Kiernan as juror for Quiet Landscape. She will select up to 35 photographs for exhibition in PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont, along with approximately 40 additional photographs for our Online Gallery. All selected work will be reproduced in the exhibition catalog, remain permanently on our website, and be promoted through PhotoPlace Gallery's publications and social media channels.

About the Juror

Kat Kiernan is an artist and writer in Brooklyn, NY. Often using herself as her subject, her photographs explore mythologies of womanhood and feelings of uncertainty. She has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the United States and been featured in publications including China Life, Lenscratch, and The Woven Tale Press. In 2012, she was named one of Artpil’s “30 under 30” women photographers to watch.

Kat is the Manager of Public Programs at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. From 2013 to 2021, she published and served as Editor-in-Chief of the photography magazine, Don’t Take Pictures. In 2015, she received the Griffin Museum’s Rising Star Award for her contributions to the photographic community. Kat’s writings on photography have been published in journals and blogs including Photograph, Art New England, Feature Shoot, and Big, Red, and Shiny, as well as in books, including Crossing (2024), Agnieszka Sosnowska: Myth of a Woman (The National Museum of Iceland, 2019), and The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life (Intellect, 2017). She holds a BFA in photography from Lesley University College of Art and Design and an MA in Art Market Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology.