Since the January/February 2013 issue is the first edition of the new year after the world was supposed to end last December, we decided to temporarily depart from our usual format. (I also think it’s better not to be too predictable.) This month, since we have all been spared from certain death, we are going to focus on new ideas and opportunities for new beginnings.
In fulfillment of one of my New Year’s resolutions, I am continuing to “nag” Poly folks about expanding their photo horizons. A key part of Poly’s charter is to help us all improve our photographic skills. The first pillar of that effort is the (mostly) objective feedback of our work that our monthly competitions provide. The second is the free sharing of knowledge about art, technology, technique, standards, and opportunities to help each of us grow. The expansion and updating of the photographic milieu in San Diego and the ever-growing capabilities provided by the internet offer many new prospects.
So I looked ahead to 2013 to see what our local scene has in store for us. There are some interesting juried exhibitions. The first thing I received was a reminder about the “San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography.” I know it’s still only January, but it’s not too early to be thinking about images that we could enter. This year’s theme is “Game On,” and there’s a short article on Page 4 about what we know so far. They hang over 1000 images, and your work is seen by at least 100,000 people.
The next thing I got was an invitation from Steven Churchill (the producer) to sign up for the “Art of Photography” show that will have its exhibition at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park. They moved to that venue last year, and it is a significant improvement over their previous exhibition space at the theater in Horton Plaza. The exhibition opens on September 29 and the image submission deadline is May 18. I know I have criticized their selections in past issues, but their awards are significant (from $2000 for first place to $400 for an HM); so maybe it’s worth while to figure out what they want to see. (See Page 5.)
The third of the big San Diego photo exhibitions is the “Best of Nature” in the Ordover Gallery at the Natural History Museum in the Park. We all take landscapes and/or nature images. No details have been published yet, but it is scheduled to run from September through December, 2013.
All these exhibitions are easy to enter, and entry fees are small. They all exhibit prints, but the selection of acceptances is from digital submissions via the internet. It’s not too early to start planning ahead and evaluating, picking, planning, and/or taking the images you might enter. Oh by-the-way, that’s another of my New Year’s goals, better planning ahead.