Judging the Myrtle Street 2011 Pinhole Photography Competition
Over the last few days we’ve been involved in the judging of a new and unique photography award – The Myrtle Street 2011 Pinhole Photography Competition. Initiated and organised by artist and gallerist Jay Dee Dearness of Myrtle Street Studio this is a new and exciting opportunity for pinhole photographers to present their best works.
Our comments on the judging were:
‘It was a great pleasure to judge this competition for Jay Dee and the Myrtle Street Gallery. We enjoyed the variety and quality of the images presented.
We approached the judging of this work from the point of view that, as there are endless devices, methods and materials for the capture and production of pinhole photographs the image had to utilize the qualities of the pinhole in support of a visual concept. These image qualities include; long exposure subject movement, maximum depth of field and a softness of image that evokes mystery and an appearance like a memory. These elements are characteristic of lensless photography and form the basic ‘language’ of the pinhole image.
The image, for the pinhole photographer in the landscape, encapsulates the experience and the ‘feeling’ of ‘being there’ during the extended time of exposure. For other pinholers the image evokes a kind of romantic softness and sometimes a mystical immanance within rather than precise detail of the subject’s features. With this in mind we chose the images that satisfied these criteria, although all of the images entered have many of these qualities.’
The winners can be viewed at http://www.myrtlestreetstudio.com/blog. An exhibition will open from Saturday 9th of April. You can also vote for a People’s Choice Award.
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Vicky+Doug
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wotwedid 
Thanks again Vicky & Doug for your help with this competition! Much appreciated and looking forward to catching up in person after the sojourn.
Jay Dee
April 17, 2011 at 11:03 pm