Photography Week
on Art & Art Deadlines
Installment 3:
Black and White Photography
I live in an area with a long-standing artisan crafts tradition, and I overhear a lot of conversation about how digital and “new-fangled” media will be the end of art as we know it. As you might imagine, as a Xerographist, I couldn’t disagree more. Artist Jerry Portelli and I even went so far as to create a series of square pieces in celebration of the pixel. So, I find this call from the MPLS Photo Center fascinating. Take a look…
Here is a great call for the photographer in us all…
Black & White Photgraphy Call for Entries from the MPLS Photo Center
“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.” – Robert Frank
What does “black and white” mean to contemporary photographers in the digital age? When Robert Frank made this observation, black-and-white film and silver prints were photography’s most commonly used materials. Nearly a half century later they are approaching “alternative media” status. Or are they? Are the implications and meanings of black and white still central to photography’s unique nature as a visual medium?
Submissions to this juried exhibition are limited only by your imagination and your photographic eye. Portraits, fashion, editorial, landscapes, documentary, conceptual – all of these genres, and others not named, are open for consideration.
Prints should take whatever form they need to in order to represent the continuum of tones, including gray tone, warm tone, cool tone, sepia, or other monochromes that comprise your photographs. Whether the initial recording was made on film or pixels is immaterial. However, in the final assessment, prints will be judged on their merits. Qualities of form, content, and relation to traditions of black-and-white printing and visualization will be sought in the pool of submissions.
About the Juror: As the founder, principal, and sole employee of re:photographica, George Slade has delved into matters related to the photographic arts for nearly thirty years. Although he started these inquiries as a photographer, his work over the past twenty years has been focused on curating, consulting, and commenting on others’ images. He was the artistic director of Minnesota Center for Photography (2003-2008) and the director of the McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships for Photographers Program (1998-2008). His writings have been published widely; he received a 2007 award from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers grant program. Web sites like Flickr and Facebook, and digital imaging in general, are drawing him back into the making side of photography. On Quodlibetica, his photographs accompany Kristin Makholm’s “Five Memos on a New Museum.”
Juror: George Slade, Principal at re:photographica
Entry Fee: $35 up to 5 images; $10 each additional (no limit on number that may be submitted)
Prizes: $300 for 1st; $200 for 2nd; $100 for 3rd
Entries Due: July 23, 2010
Notice of Acceptance: August 2, 2010
Exhibition Dates: September 10 – October 25, 2010
Reception: September 10, 2010
MPLS Photo Center, 2400 North Second Street, Minneapolis, MN 55411, 612-643-3511, http://www.mplsphotocenter.com/exhibits/callforentriesBW
Contact: Clare O’Neill, clare@mplsphotocenter.com