HCP’s 32nd annual juried membership exhibit

I was fortunate to attend the opening of the Houston Center for Photography’s 32nd annual juried membership exhibition recently. The annual event features the best that HCP has to offer and we were told this year’s exhibit was the biggest ever, with something like 287 individual entries.

Malcolm Daniel, the Curator in Charge of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, was chosen as this year’s juror. He’s the one who sifted through 10 images from about 287 photographers and boiled down the selection to 65 photographs from 37 individual artists, mostly across the U.S.

The three finalists were Anne Berry, from Atlanta; Geoffrey Ellis, from San Francisco;  and Jeanine Michna Bales, from Dallas, Texas. All of the chosen finalist had extensive artist’s background and I was impressed by the talent and training that went into the images.

The chosen works were the best from the diverse work of all artists who participated. I had a little time to sift through all of the images on display before he made his presentation and was struck by the diversity of work presented. Everything was on display: urban landscapes, traditional landscapes, suburbia, youth, horticulture, rural infrastructure… The list extends quite awhile and it occurred to me that there were few subjects that did not get explored.

Strangely, Malcolm said the same in his presentation only 15 minutes later. After 150 years of photography as an art, just about every idea has been explored at least once. To create a compelling image today requires a little thought, originality, creativity and a LOT of persistence. Let’s hope persistence pays off in the long run.

The exhibit is open to visitors at the Houston Center for Photography through September 7.