SlowExposures Celebrating Photography of the Rural South “‘SlowExposures 2011’ welcomed the public, photographers and collectors from across the United States to discover emerging talent, take part in cutting-edge seminars with world-renowned experts and visit with old friends and colleagues.”– Co-Director Chris Curry
The ninth annual SlowExposures PhotoFestival, located in Pike County, Georgia, wrapped this past week. The SlowExposures 2011 Exhibition was juried by curator Elisabeth Biondi, formerly of The New Yorker, and photographer Peter Essick, National Geographic Magazine. Out of 700 entries, the juror’s selected seventy photographs for the exhibition, with three winners and fifteen honorable mention recipients.
The First Place Award went to Vicki Hunt from Roswell, Georgia, for her photograph “Seeker”; Second Place was awarded to Magdalena Solé from New York City, for “Young Ladies” and Third Place went to Eliot Dudik from Savannah, Georgia, for his photograph “Anthony, North Edisto River.”
Discussing their selection process during a Jurors Talk, Ms. Biondi, who served as Visuals Director at the New Yorker Magazine since 1996, said, “I prefer images that don’t have all the answers; images that pose a question, make me think about it and make me take a closer look.” Ms. Biondi curated the current exhibition, Beyond Words: Photography in The New Yorker, at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York.
Mr. Essick, recently named one of the 40 most influential nature photographers in the world, also likes images where “there’s some ambiguity in how it feels.” About Magdalena Sole’s photograph, he said, “These are the type of photographs that photographers look up to. A professor said, ‘Do nothing and something wonderful will happen.’ It’s this idea of being a fly on the wall. It takes time. You have to get to know the people, you have to earn their trust for them to just let you be there. That’s one aspect of what makes this a good picture. It takes skill and experience to learn to capture that.” Mr. Essick’s work can be seen in the upcoming National Geographic, Oct. 2011: A Portfolio by Peter Essick pays tribute to Ansel Adams.
Other SlowExposures Photo Festival Events:
Satellite Exhibition: “Southern Memories Part Two,” is an exceptional show curated by private collector, John A. Bennette. “I wanted it to have the quality of a New York show, but not the attitude of a New York show,” Bennette explained about this second part of his trilogy shown at the historic 1870 Whiskey Bonding Barn. He said the show, a selection of portraits taken in the region by local and national artists, is autobiographical, “Portraits are revealing. The photograph of the little boy sticking his tongue out is actually me. I’m still a kid who hides behind being cool and classical – in reality I’m the devil.”
2011 SlowExposures Portfolio Review: Reviewers included Alex Novak, collector and photographer with 35 years of experience, Anna Walker-Skillman, an owner, director and curator of the Jackson Fine Art Gallery in Atlanta, Kevin Miller, director of the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Florida, Jerry Atnip, professional photographer and designer, and Brenda Massie, Director of Hagedorn Foundation Gallery in Atlanta.
Photographer Sylvia Plachy, gave a moving slide presentation, “Dancing With Ghosts,” and discussed her work and life starting in Hungary, in a Sunday afternoon salon. Ms. Plachy, often called “a photographer’s photographer,” has been photographing since 1965. From 1974-2004 she was a staff photographer and picture editor for the Village Voice. More recently she was a staff photographer and now a contributing photographer at the New Yorker Magazine, and has published six photography books. This evocative showing was followed by a book signing.
An informative Collector’s Seminar and Discussion by photography dealer, Alex Novak, of Vintage Works in Philadelphia. I gave a “Self-Publishing Your Photography Book Workshop” to help photographers fearlessly create a first photo book. Both events took place in the historic Zebulon Train Depot. Another satellite photography exhibition, “David Simonton: Selections from “The Ellis Island Portfolio,” was held at A Novel Experience in Zebulon, Georgia. Everyone celebrated the complexity, beauty and contradictions of the rural South.
Elizabeth Avedon
