Artists and photography aficionados packed the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery for the opening reception for the 30th annual Through the Eye of the Camera juried photography exhibition, which is on view through June 20.
In his welcome address, Marshall Adams, executive director, pointed out that 30 years ago, photography was still “trying to get the popular buy-in as an art form at a museum.”
They were fortunate that Janie and Mike Hinkle, then owners of a photography business, recognized its value.
“It is because of their original sponsorship and partnership in 1995 that we hosted our first annual juried photography exhibition 30 years ago this year,” said Adams.
“We are so grateful for their vision that inspired our work to continue. It’s something that must have been very popular because people have continued to support it year after year.”
The Fort Pierce museum received 196 submissions from their call to artists, requesting entries of what professional and amateur photographers considered to be their best examples of photography as an artform. The panel of three judges ultimately selected 58 works to be included.
Rather than looking at works online, every piece – which included a full range of sizes and surfaces, including aluminum, acetate, canvas and photo print paper – is reviewed by the jury in person. The application instructions stress that judges will consider each work’s “artistic merit, exceptional quality and craftsmanship, creative success and exemplary presentation.”
“These submissions are brought in physically and are judged physically, not digitally, but by the actual print and image that you see here tonight,” Adams explained.
Interestingly, while two less entries were submitted last year, the 2024 jury selected 74 works for that show. A different set of independent jurors is invited each year, which can make for very different opinions.
Or not. Twice in the show’s history, an artist has received two Best of Show awards. Adams said the first artist to receive two Best of Show awards was Susan Pantuso, who took the top award in 2009 and again in 2017.
In addition to earning Best of Show this year, professional photographer Joe Campanellie from Palm Coast won the award in 2023.
Campanellie’s winning piece this year was “Balancing Act,” which captured a magnificent roseate spoonbill precariously perched on the tip of branch, its pink feathers highlighted by the rosy hues of a sunset.
He also earned the First Place ribbon in the Flora and Landscape category for a completely different sort of photograph. The sepia tones of “Into the Fog” showcase a fog shrouded sun peeking out above a wet country road, its misty rays illuminating the branches of a leafless tree.
As in the past, submissions were broken down into four categories: Animals, Flora and Landscape, People and Portraits, and Open, which encompasses anything that doesn’t fit the other categories, such as still life, abstract or conceptual.
“Because artists are creative and sometimes they don’t like categories,” said Adams with a laugh.
In addition to selecting the exhibition entries, the jury also awarded a total of 22 ribbons to works they deemed to be outstanding in each category.
Awards included Best of Show as well as First, Second and Third Place in each category, Best Black and White Photograph, and Best Film or Traditional Raw Digital Photograph. There were also Awards of Merit given in the Flora and Landscape, and Open categories. Adams had the honor of selecting the Director’s Choice Award.
This year’s judges were Walter Lara, a photography professor at the Florida School of the Arts at St. Johns River State College, and author of two books on photographic techniques; Dana Niemeier, a professional portrait photographer and 2025 president of Florida Professional Photographers; and Robin O’Dell, executive curator at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa.
“It becomes a very interesting mix to see how they are bringing their different experiences and criteria to bear when they’re looking at something and then they have discussions if they disagree,” said Adams.
“So it is a long but fruitful day of judging where they’re looking at everything. And so the works here are what they agreed by consensus are the works that they felt were the best.”
As always there were a number of Vero artists, with several winning awards.
David Bence had four pieces selected, winning First Place in the Open category for his surrealistic looking “Time will Tell” and Third Place in Flora and Landscape for “Rodeo Beach Tree, Ca.”
Of Richard Knight’s two pieces, he received an award for Best Black and White Photography for “Grayscale Lily #2” – the backlit delicate petals of a simple white bloom set against a black background.
Gregory McIntosh received Third Place in the People/Portrait category for his “Gallery Stroll,” one of two photographs accepted.
Jennifer Jones had four photographs selected, earning an Award of Merit for her “Tree of Life,” Marjorie Siskel has two pieces in the show, and Amy Saville has one work.
To make the 30th anniversary of the exhibit even more special, they invited past winners to participate in a special Outdoor Mural exhibit.
“Outside, wrapping around the facade of the building on our outdoor mural plaza, are nine newly installed photographic murals that are contributed by some of the top artists over the years who participated in this jury photography exhibition. They have interpreted their imagery based on a popular Backus quote called ‘The Moods of Nature,’” said Adams.
“That exhibition is going to be up for, I imagine, three to five years, weather permitting. So there’ll be plenty of opportunity to enjoy that but they are freshly installed and we thought it would be a perfect time to install them in advance of our 30th anniversary of this jury photography show.”
Visitors can vote for their favorite Through the Eye of the Camera photograph through June 20 to determine the People’s Choice Award, which will be tallied and announced when the show closes.
For more information and a full list of winners and accepted works, visit BackusMuseum.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
