Congratulations to the winners of our 2024 “Anything Goes” Community Photography Show! This show was wholly open with the theme – any topic at all could be shown, as long as it was done with photography. We had both digital and film photography represented.
The judge for this show was Stephen DiRado.
First Place: Sarah Lemansky “Mother May I”
The judge felt an incredible, overwhelming sense of peering into a very private moment of an individual. It was a wonderfully sensitive and well-seen photograph. The execution was beautiful, everything from the face and eyes and pose, the juxtaposition of the household blanket in a natural field setting. It drew you in to wonder what was going on.
Sarah runs a portrait studio which specializes in inclusive photography. Take a look! https://www.facebook.com/foxandcrowphotos/
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Second Place: Francesca Tramboulakis “Wrong Turn”
The judge enjoyed that this was refreshing, whimsical, playful, and with a skilled eye it elevated up out of what could have been cliché. Its well-done composition can work well at all sizes and in all formats.
From Francesca: “I have loved photography since I was a little girl. I’m very amateur and my photos are taken with just my iPhone. I love being able to organically catch little moments while being out in nature. Because of some health issues my memory has significantly faded so each photo on my roll is precious. This photo was taken in Fall of 2022 after my nieces excitedly took me on a hunt to show me the “treasure” they discovered in the woods behind their house. The car sat for decades so it was quite something to see the vines and branches grow around and make their way up into the car. I would love to get back to the site again to take more photos and capture this as a series!”
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Third Place: Gene St. Pierre “Taliesin #1”
Taliesin is a Frank Lloyd Wright home. The judge felt the image was composed very well, intriguing, it draws you in to examine it in further detail to figure out what it is. The beauty of this image is the love of pure design – a deliberate construction of color and shape.
From Gene: “Most of my abstract photographic work is an examination of shape, colors and textures. I often work with a wide angle lens as I observe the bigger picture and then move in closer to extract a smaller part of what I find to be more interesting on a macro level.”
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Honorable Mention: Lisa Shea with Bob See “Gone”
The judge was drawn to the strong emotion felt from this image. He liked the composition, the diagonal line in the snow, the contrast between the white snow and dark figure. The viewer’s eye moves through the image in clear ways, with the car adding scale and a sense of place. He appreciated the sense that we were watching a very private moment from a respectful distance.
From Lisa: “My father has been struggling with worsening tremors and balance issues for over a decade. On December 25th, Christmas Day, 2023, he chose to end the struggles by driving his car into a tree. My photo was created on January 9th, 2024 with help from Bob See, my partner. While we own more technical cameras, we shot this with my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra because I wanted to craft the feeling that it was an intimate moment. I wanted the vehicles there, the lines that resembled tire tracks but were clearly hand-made, and how I was collapsed in the wake. I wanted the deep black dress against all of the white.”
Lisa’s artwork and writings can be found at https://lisashea.com.
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Honorable Mention: James Hunt “Blackstone Canal, Plummer’s Corner, No. 2 Infrared Photography”
The judge enjoyed the atmosphere of the image. He liked how the image drew the viewer to move their eye through the scene, creating shapes with the branches. Very nicely composed.
You can find James’s photography here: https://jameshuntphotography.com/
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Honorable Mention: Linda Bonaccorsi “Checking You Out”
The judge was immediately drawn to this image. It was more than a photo of a generic bird – it was like a portrait done of this specific bird showcasing this bird’s unique personality. It draws you in to think about the bird and its associated symbolism. In addition the exposure and details of the image are great.
From Linda: “I am self-taught through experimentation. I don’t use a tripod, even with my newer 500mm lens. I’m pretty basic with my settings, keeping a faster speed as a starting point for birds, insects…other settings work around that. I think the thing to do is to learn what your camera does well and work with what you have. I take a lot of pictures. Because of my astigmatism and the fact that I don’t wear my glasses when I shoot, everything is slightly blurry so I’m never 100% sure of clarity until I pull things up on my pictures. For me, one of the biggest rules in birds and other animals is to have their eye/s in focus. Every rule, of course, has its exceptions. There are some exceptional bird photographers out there with more sophisticated equipment and techniques than me.”
You can enjoy many of Linda’s amazing photos here: https://linda-bonaccorsi.pixels.com/
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For all the details about the community photo show visit: