“It’s an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 6,378 entries from 69 countries we received this year” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director.”

I just got word from the folks at the Spider Awards that I received recognition in their 2020 photo context, which is a contest for black & white entries.

There were many, many photos submitted…to be exact, the number was 6,378. And, it is an international competition, where entries came from 69 countries.

The Spider Awards is a juried competition, which means that it isn’t just one gal sitting at her computer making decisions. There’s a whole panel involved…and the judges are the photo industry’s biggest names, like these so-called ‘captains of the industry’:

Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne
Sotheby's, London
Travel/Discovery Channel, New York
Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland
Portuguese Center of Photography, Porto
Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels
The Guardian, London
Contrasto Galleria, Milan
ADK Creative One Inc., Tokyo
Hiroshima MOCA, Japan
MACBA, Barcelona
Pereira O'Dell in New York

The judges from these agencies viewed all of the photo entries, picked out ‘Nominations’ for further review, and then pared all down to the winners of 1st, 2nd & 3rd place, followed up by the ‘Honorable Mentions’. Unlike other contests, I didn’t have any photos in the top-three Winner’s categories (grrrrrr), but I did have a number of Honorable Mentions and Nominated photos.

So, here are the photos that made the Nominated and Honorable Mention recognition.

Nominated

Abstract Category

An afternoon walk in Venice after a rain shower was the time and place. This brushed aluminum tabletop caught my eye for its abstract quality, and where the accumulated rain drops seem to float above the metal surface.

Architecture Category

Driving from Jackson, Wyoming to West Yellowstone in January is definitely a chilly experience. This abandoned General Mills grain silo pulled me off the snow-covered highway to take this photo. Is it possible that the grain for my childhood Cheerios came from this very silo?

Fine Art Category

During a trip to Northern Ireland, we drove on a narrow strip of road through The Dark Hedges. These weren’t your between-your-house-and-your-neighbors type of hedges…these were ancient, gnarly trees. This was a dark, brooding, and moody place…so that’s what I work toward in this photo.

Coastal Maine is a fabulous place. I just love the whole culture of fishing and lobstering and the super-quaint fishing villages along the coast. Here, it was early morning…the tide was out…it was very, very quiet and peaceful. And this photos brings back treasured memories.

Still Life Category

Another thing I love to do is drive the back roads of Kentucky and Tennessee. Photo opportunities abound around every corner. In the spring, the dogwood are blooming in all of their glory. I seem to drive a herky-jerky path along these backroads as I constantly stop to take photos.

Honorable Mention

Aerial Category

Here we find a couple of aerial photos that you’ve seen in color from previous photo contests.

The first image was captured with my drone in the area of East Vail, right here in my home state of Colorado. It was springtime, and the sun was out, casting long, afternoon shadows.

Driving through central Nevada (which I absolutely love because of its geology and stark beauty), I noticed in my rearview mirror…well, nothing really…there wasn’t a car in sight…just a very long, straight stretch of nothing but highway. I just had to pull over to launch my drone to capture this image. It is arrow-straight all the way to the horizon, with nary a quiver.

Abstract Category

It’s back to Venice for another abstract photo. Canal steps like these are found along many of the canals of Venice. As the water level fluctuates with the tides, you may need to step down steps like these to gain access to an awaiting boat. Here, it seems that the tide was out…but would soon rise.

Well, my lips are a bit sore from tooting my horn, so I’ll rest them by having a glass of Italian DOCG wine. I hope you enjoyed seeing what the distinguished judges picked out from thousands of photo entries. Until next time…

Ciao for now,

Steve

Don’t want to miss a single article from Ital, Our Italy? Then click here!

Have you ever been going through your email, with the intention of cleaning up old emails, and then way down the list, you find a whole batch of emails that you had overlooked and they were never opened?

I did that recently. What I found was more good news about the results of photographic competitions I had entered. I want to present those decisions to you in this blog…a bit belated, I know. Also, I have had some photos accepted for gallery exhibition recently and I’ll show you those, too.

“‘...your work received a high percentage of votes overall. Certainly an achievement, well done!”

On July 13th, I filled you in on the 7th Annual International Pollux Awards in a blog titled, “The Results Are In”, so I’ll continue in that same heading for this an any future horn-tooting blogs. So that previous email was Part 1 -- so now you get Parts 2 thru 6 of recent accolades.

Note: Even though this web site is generally about things Italian, please don't be disappointed as you will see many recognition photos below which are not related to Italy.

Part 2: The Neutral Density (ND) Awards for 2014

This notification came from an email sent last November – I really need to try to keep up with emails, don’t I?

This is another one of those big contests, which they describe as follows: “The judges reviewed thousands of images submitted from 76 countries. The nominated photographers were selected by highly acclaimed industry professionals, including: gallery owners and curators (Greenaway Art Gallery, Valid Foto Gallery, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Emon Photo Gallery, Immagis, Gilman Contemporary, Tokyo Arts Gallery, Galeria Chroma, Strother Fine Art, McGaw Graphics, Editions Braun), publishers (Kehrer Verlag), editors (Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoBulletin, Soura Magazine, Asian Photography, Art World Magazine) and renowned photographers (Michael Levin, Hengki Koentjoro, Sudhir Shivaram, and Laura Zalenga).” As I look at the photos from the other competitors, I’m very pleased and humbled to be within their midst.

Though a good number of photos were nominated for further consideration by the judges, I received the following four ‘Honorable Mentions’:

[click photos for larger image]

Honorable Mention for Fine Art: Abstract

Honorable Mention for The Environment

Honorable Mention Nature: Landscape 5-Photo Series - 'Beached Bergs'

Honorable Mention for Architecture

Part 3: Black & White Magazine’s 2015 Single Image Contest Issue

I am fortunate to have been published in this high-quality photography magazine a number of times, both for single image and portfolio submissions – and even once for a couple of color images when they use to have an occasional companion color issue. Two photos were recognized in this year's single image contest issue as follows,

Architecture/Interiors

Flowers/Plants/Fruits

Part 4: 9th Annual Black & White Spider Awards

Another interesting contest name. No idea how ‘spider’ creeps into the name (and that in itself sounds creepy, doesn’t it). But I did read on the internet recently that spiders have begun to take up photography – at least the black and white spiders are doing that. Everything on the internet is true, isn’t it?

This one was actually announced in October of last year and was in the same email batch as the Neutral Density Award email that I had missed – what was I doing last fall instead of reading my emails? I can’t remember, but I’m sure it was more fun than reading emails.

With 8,508 entries from 75 countries, this is another one of those huge contests. Their notification email said, ‘...your work received a high percentage of votes overall. Certainly an achievement, well done!’ Regarding the jury that judged the photos, they indicated that ‘the Jury represented the industry's biggest names and tastemakers’, including The Royal Photographic Society, FoMu Fotomuseum, Fratelli Alinari, Stockholm City Museum to Torch Gallery in Amsterdam and more. Nice to have tastemakers involved…I think maybe they were from the Food Network.

Three photographs either placed or got honorable mention and there were others that were nominated for judging. Here are the main three, and then I’ll just put the nominations in a gallery just in case you want to click them to see larger versions of those, which fell into the categories of Fine Art, Nature and Wildlife.

[Note: I just want to say about the first photo that I was particularly pleased about the recognition. This has been one of my all-time personal favorite photos (because of the texture and simple composition), and it’s really nice to see that someone else thought highly of it, also. You may not be able to tell because of the size of the photo, but the laundry on the line is kid’s clothing and bed linens, complete with bunnies on the sheets. You can see the color version of the photo, taken on the island of Burano in the Venetian lagoon, here.}

2nd Place - Merit of Excellence in Still Life

Honorable Mention in Nature

Honorable Mention in Architectural [a repeat from above]

Nominated Photos from the categories of Fine Art, Nature and Wildlife

Part 5: Vermont PhotoPlace Gallery

Your trivia question: In what state is the Vermont PhotoPlace Gallery? OK, you got it – I’ll have to think of a harder question next time. Earlier in the year I had a photo accepted for exhibition for their ‘Traces Left Behind’ show. Here is that photo, which I titled, ‘Education Might Help’ – I think you will get the irony. If not, then education might help.

In September, another of my photos will be shown in their ‘Black & White’ show. This is one of the beached icebergs that I photographed in Iceland last summer. I had not thought to convert the original color photo to black and white, because the colors in the original version are so vivid. But, I think it worked out quite well because of the brilliance of the crystal-clear ice. You be the judge.

Part 6: Carter Gallery’s North Valley Art League 2015 Photography Show

OK, here’s another trivia question: In what city and state is this gallery showing held? OK, you got it again!!! How did you know it is Redding, California!?

I think you will be intrigued (and if you aren’t intrigued, then amused) at what the judge said about this photo, which was a ‘Gold Award Winner’ and received a ‘Merit Award’ – I have the ribbon to prove it. Here is his quote:

“What we see, and how the camera records it, may be far off the mark, and it is up to the artist to render the medium to best effect. Forbidding and exquisite at the same time, Beached Berg #2 fully utilizes the range of colors available to photographers today. Careful framing and juxtaposition of near and far bring us in close contact with an aesthetic experience made from the elemental forces of air, water, earth and fire.”

— JUROR – Thom Sempere

Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I had no idea I was doing that…but I’m glad it worked out that way.

Here is the forbidding and exquisite 'air, water, earth and fire' photo, which I’m happy to say sold during the show.

The horn has been tooted and I’ll put it back in it’s case until some other form of recognition might fall my way. Until then…

Ciao for now,

Steve

BLOG

The Results Are In: Part 19

Nominated

Abstract Category

Architecture Category

Fine Art Category

Still Life Category

Honorable Mention

Aerial Category

Abstract Category

The Results Are In! Part 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

Part 2: The Neutral Density (ND) Awards for 2014

Part 3: Black & White Magazine’s 2015 Single Image Contest Issue

Part 4: 9th Annual Black & White Spider Awards

Part 5: Vermont PhotoPlace Gallery

Part 6: Carter Gallery’s North Valley Art League 2015 Photography Show