Over the weekend, I received my copy of the American Society of Photographers magazine, and my image from Venice, Italy, is on the cover. This year, I was awarded the ASD Fellowship for my photography and a paper on my life's journey in photography. Inside the magazine are the 25 images I submitted for my fellowship and the paper I wrote to accompany them. It was one of the hardest projects I have ever done.
In order to receive my fellowship, I had to submit 25 images related to my paper. When the photographs are judged, they are hung in three rows in the layout I had created. The photographs are evaluated individually and as a group of work by the judging committee.
Getting down to 25 images is a challenging task, and I received help from many people, but mainly from a past fellow recipient, Greg Daniels. Greg has helped others with their fellowships, and his first request after we talked was for me to send him 50 of my best images. Fifty may sound like a lot, but when you have been photographing as long as I have, you accumulate a large number of photographs. Luckily, I had been thinking of my fellowship for over a year before I started this process and only had to narrow it down from 179 images! The images I presented to the judging committee were printed on metal, which I believe enhanced the color, contrast, and detail of my architectural photos.
Before the judges even looked at my images, they had to read and approve the paper, or they wouldn't even look at the photographs. The paper was one of the hardest things I have done, but also one of the most enlightening at the same time. Looking back on over 45 years of my photographic life brings emotions and memories I had not thought about in a long time. Even harder is putting them into a compelling story that, in the end, relates to the images presented to the judging committee.
Looking back at all the people who helped me get to where I am today and how they influenced me, I became overwhelmed and humbled. I think about how I started with my brother Dan and building a darkroom or how I learned about "A Sence of Place" with David Plowden. My architectural photography beginnings started in southern California with Jeffrey Aron, but most important was the love and support of my wonderful wife, Lynn. When I started putting this paper together and looking back, I was told it could significantly impact you, and it did with me.
My fellowship was a culmination of my love for travel, architecture, and photography. The images are from my trips to Europe over the past ten years, trying to capture beautiful places. Here is a link to view the layout of the photos and read my paper.
Here is the link to the PDF of the paper:
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