The annual “Through the Eye of the Camera” competitive photo exhibition at Fort Pierce’s A.E. Backus Gallery is known for its quality and diversity, and the 2016 selection is no exception. Not to boast, but photos from Indian River County make a solid contribution to the show’s excellence; a third of the works currently on display are from Vero alone. Overall the competition received 237 entries this year, 105 of which were selected for exhibition.
This year’s crop comes from artists in Brevard, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties as well as Indian River. The competition is not limited to photographers within Florida’s borders. The present offering includes two works from South Dakota.
The competition awards first-, second- and third-place ribbons in six categories, as well as merit awards and a grand prize. Seven photos from Vero won ribbons, including a first place for Linda Leonard’s “City Watcher,” a black-and-white portrait of an aging man hunkered on a curbside.
Mary Lou Christy’s color portrait “Pastel Princess” also took a blue ribbon. Cana Bamberg took second place for “Ring of Fire,” a color photograph. “Pears” by David Bence, “Night in Bologna” by Jim Cohoe and “Layers” by Phil Reid won third-place ribbons, respectively, for a color still life, a black-and-white photo, and a digitally manipulated photograph.
Three professional photographers judged the show. Retired photojournalist Paul J. Milette of Jensen Beach had a 26-year career with the Palm Beach Post. He was also a judge for last year’s “Eye of the Camera” competition. The other two judges are photographers with their own wedding and portrait businesses: Mitch Kloorfain of Port Saint Lucie has 30 years’ professional experience, while Ric Rumley of Fort Pierce has 35.
Displayed along with the art this year is a bullet list of pointers from the judges. In it, how-to tips are interspersed with caveats that let those who aspire to enter the “Eye of the Camera” know what is expected of them. First and foremost, an exhibition-ready print must demonstrate the artist’s mastery of photographic basics (focus, depth of field and exposure). Almost as important, the print must be well-presented. Photos can be “actually disqualified due to poor framing,” the judges warn.
Most of the comments that follow are elaborations on those two cardinal rules. The judges’ final caution sums up their emphasis on professionalism: “If it looks like a nice vacation photo, odds are it isn’t going to get into the show.”
As far as presentation goes, there is not a brazen offender in the lineup. With an exception or two that made this visitor scratch her head, mats and frames do not battle with their images for supremacy.
There are no vacation photos in the show, but there are plenty of pictures from places that, judging by their photogenic qualities, you might want to visit.
“Dueling Perspectives” by Quinn Hiaasen was one of these. His color photo of a street in Havana sets a shiny, red mid-1950s Chevrolet against the backdrop of a crumbling neo-Renaissance style building. Jim Cohoe’s equally romantic “Barcelona Rainy Evening” focuses on the retreating silhouettes of two strolling lovers on a wetly reflective street.
J. Patrick Rice has two prints in the show that are the result of a photographic field trip to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife Barbara, who also has prints in the show. “The Bridge” is Rice’s abstract black-and-white study of the pylons and cables of Charleston’s Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. His “Blacksmith” shows a historic reenactor working before a blazing forge at Middleton Place Plantation.
Charleston’s ancient Angel Oak and the Ravenel Bridge at dusk are the subjects of two of Barbara Rice’s pictures. Her third is a portrait in black and white of a defunct grain truck parked somewhere in the Palouse region of southeastern Washington state.
A harvested wheat field in Palouse is the subject of Charles Kellington’s minimalist composition, “Palouse Hay Bale.” It received an award of merit.
The manipulated imagery of commercial and portrait photographer Phil Reid takes the viewer to places that exist only in the artist’s imagination. “Waiting” is a color portrait of a smiling girl perched on suitcases stacked between two sets of train tracks. As disconcertingly real as the image looks, the girl posed for the picture in the safety of the photographer’s studio. Reid later combined her carefree image with that of some separately photographed tracks in his computer’s photo editor.
Reid’s award-winning “Layers” shows a prettily pouting pre-teen holding a Venetian Carnival mask next to her face. A second mask floats in mid-air nearby. This print also combines multiple layers of imagery via Photoshop.
“Layers” is “a surreal thing,” says Reid. “People should take away whatever they want to from it.”
The special effects in Cana Bamberg’s “Ring of Fire” have a less technical origin. Opening her camera’s aperture for a long exposure, Bamberg photographed her brother swinging a firework on a string above his head on the beach after dark (he happens to be standing atop a lifeguard station, but you didn’t hear it from this writer). The result is a looping lariat of light from which countless luminous arcs fall to the ground. It’s quite a show.
Bamberg’s other print in the exhibition features a breathtaking view of Bixby Creek Bridge on California’s Big Sur coastline.
The animals of faraway places have a strong presence in the exhibition; in fact, the best-in-show winner, “Kept, Kept Safe” by Port Saint Lucie’s Larry Novotny, is a portrait of a captive African elephant whose head is crisscrossed by the shadows of his enclosure.
Vero photographer Susan Kasven has two prints featuring jewel-like rainforest frogs; her “Curves and Reflections” – an undulating snake on a mirrored surface – won an award of merit.
Although it did not win a prize, one of the most intriguing animal photos in the show is “Swirls and Petals” by Anne Malsbary. It is a textural close-up of a chameleon’s tightly curled tail; next to it are the finger-like petals of a fleshy plant. It is mesmerizing.
Sometimes the eye of the camera focuses closer to home, and Mary Lou Christy’s “Pastel Princess” does just that. The first-place-winning photo shows a dainty baby girl embracing one of a series of white balusters in her effort to stand tall for the photographer, who happens to be her grandmother.
“This was a quick shot, not posed,” says Christy. “Sometimes those work out the best.”
“Through the Eye of the Camera” is on view through June 17. The Backus Museum is at 500 N. Indian River Drive in Fort Pierce. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
