Jurors' Statement
After over a year stuck at home in Maine teaching photography courses online, it was an absolute delight to tour the world through so many photographer’s unique perspectives. We were blown away by the work submitted. The caliber of work far exceeded any previous photography competitions we’ve curated in the past.
It was incredibly difficult to whittle it down to just 79 images and we agonized over the final selection. Our decisions were guiding by our love of visual riddles, magic found in mundane, mastery of light, strong use of composition, and interesting work that demonstrated a style/singular voice without feeling overly picture postcard. In our decade of teaching contemporary landscape photography, we continue to remind students to take 'interesting photos, not just photos of interesting things’ and there were so many images that fell into that category - having that something “extra” that gives an image real stopping power.
This was truly a joy to curate and we hope these images offer a visual vacation for everyone who has been stuck at home the last year and unable to explore as much as they might be used to. Thank you to everyone who submitted. We loved so many images and this is just a tiny snapshot of all of the incredible work that we reviewed.
— Alissa & Jacob Hessler
Call for Entries
This is a call for all genres of landscape: natural, urban, industrial, and abstract. Show us how you see the world, while embracing the quiet and minimal.
All capture and processing methods are welcome.
We are very pleased that Jacob and Alissa Hessler will curate this exhibit. They will select up to 35 images for exhibition in the Middlebury, Vermont gallery, and another 35 images for the Online gallery. All 70 images will appear in the exhibit catalog.
Information about our printing service and free matting and framing here.
Banner image: Jessica Cantlin
Click to enlarge image.
About the Jurors
Jacob Hessler is a contemporary fine art photographer, known for his expansive and meditative landscapes. Hessler’s work has explored rising seas, industrialized farming, borders and boundaries, invasive species, extinction, and more broadly, mankind's relationship with, and impact on, the natural world.
Jacob is a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, and pursued his master’s degree in graphic design at Parsons, The New School for Design. Hessler left New York and moved back to his childhood hometown in mid-coast Maine to focus on fine art landscape photography. Jacob’s work is widely collected and displayed throughout the world. He is a represented artist at Dowling Walsh Gallery, Corey Daniels Gallery and Soapbox Arts.
With a diverse background in art direction, photography, and film production management, Alissa Hessler has worked as both the director for creative talent and as the creative talent. She has shot and produced content for international publications and brands, art directed and produced commercial shoots, managed global launch events, and orchestrated rebrands of international corporations. In her free time she continues to champion young farmers and rural small business owners through her Urban Exodus project.
Jacob and Alissa jointly teach workshops at Maine Media, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and other institutions across the country. They also operate their own destination workshops on Cumberland Island and the Lost Coast of California.
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