fotofoto gallery's 20th National Photography Competition Zoom Reception скачать в хорошем качестве

fotofoto gallery's 20th National Photography Competition Zoom Reception

Zoom reception for the fotofoto gallery 2025 National Photography competition. Juror Andrea Rentsch discusses his decision-making process for choosing 30 images out of the over 400 submitted. Andreas Bio: "Andreas Rentsch received a B.F.A. from Les Ecoles d’Arts Appliqués in Vevey, Switzerland, and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from Stony Brook University. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including a solo exhibition at the Musée de l’Elysée in Switzerland, and is in many museum collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, the Musée de l’Elysée in Switzerland, the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium, the Museet for Fotokunst in Odense, Denmark, the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY, the Swiss Foundation of Photography, and the Polaroid Collection. He is a recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships and two grants from the Polaroid Corporation. The photography magazine Aperture published one of his portfolios. In addition, numerous books and magazines have published his work, including “The Polaroid Project,” a book published as part of a world-wide nine-museum exhibition of artists who have used Polaroid film in their work. He taught at the International Center of Photography, Stony Brook University and St. John's University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Photography at Lycoming College and the Chair of the Art Department." Juror Statement: I was amazed by the high visual and technical quality of the submitted work. Many photographers submitted cohesive series, and I wish I could have chosen more than one image per participant. It was difficult selecting just 30 images from the 401 submitted. Participants have high expectations of being included in the exhibition, and accepting a rejection of their work is never easy. As a juror, the challenge lies in striving to be objective (an impossible task) and not letting personal preferences guide my judgment. So, what am I looking for when I judge a photo competition? The big challenge for all of us photographers is how our work stands out from the zillions of pictures produced each day. First and foremost, I am interested in how someone's mind (imagination) rearranges, perceives, and interprets the world in front of them. While a painter starts with a blank canvas, photographers need to make sense of any given environment they encounter. I am intrigued by what they choose to include, but equally important, what they choose to exclude from an image. I am drawn to the experience and ambiguity of seeing the world through their own, unique prism, expressing moods and thoughts. It’s not about beauty, but about asking questions and challenging us to think outside the box. It is about curiosity and the desire to discover new ways to express ideas visually. I understand photography as a means of communication that articulates our ideas, memories, and desires. It is a language. Just as we express ourselves orally in unique ways, we do the same visually. When reviewing work, I want to be challenged, piqued with curiosity, and intrigued by a photographer's ability to make the ordinary look extraordinary, capturing something in a new light. I appreciate images where meaning is found beyond the surface of the photographic print—where it hides as much as it reveals—forcing me to engage with the art on a deeper intellectual level. I have no preconceived notion of what a good photograph should look like. All I know is that the primary premise of photography involves working with light, time, composition, and forms. Choosing the right technical approach that fits the imagery compounds the complexity of the medium. There are infinite ways to approach a subject matter. How a photographer successfully manages all these variables determines whether an image will make the cut. Andreas Rentsch