Keck Contest Finalists

Here are the names of the finalists in the Keck Contest:

Michael Farrell

Jeff Johnston [no relation]

Sherrie Larimore (2)

David Boyce

David Jacobs (2)

Jamie Pillers

Bill Tyler

Melissa O'Shaughnessy (3)

Jakub Pitha

Rob Spring (2)

Nick Kiest

John van Rosendael (2)

Eli Burakian

Andre Yew

R.A. Krajnyak

Kristoffer Tripplaar

Don Ross

Neil Slater

George Barr

Elisabeth Spector

Larry Gebhardt

Markus Spring (2)

Thomas Paris

Ken Jensen (2)

Arne Cröll (2)

David Paterson

If you look in vain for your own name, take heart. The competition was fierce; there were many fine photographs and many fine prints submitted. I have had the devil of a time doing the judging. Many of the non-finalist entries were very fine.

Also, there were a number of people who submitted outstanding work that I just didn't think was exactly appropriate for a print sale, which is what we're aiming for here. Joseph E. Reid gets an Honorable Mention on this score, and so stands for a number of others as well.

I might add that it's been a great pleasure for me to see so much nice work "on the paper" so to speak.

I've already chosen the winner and first runner-up, who will be announced shortly. First I have to select a second runner-up, which I'm having trouble with (I need help; it's why there are often multiple judges for contests, to offer different perspectives and tastes and give all the judges others to push against—sometimes clarity comes from the cauldron of dispute).

Finally, I'll add that I could have gone any one of several ways with winning picks.

We'll have a sale of the three winning prints, with the grand prizewinner also being offered the free week at the luxury condo in Hawaii donated by an anonymous reader.

Two hundred and twenty-eight prints were submitted altogether. I'll offer a few random thoughts about entering contests, seen from a judge's perspective, soon.

More news soon.

Mike
(Thanks to everyone who entered)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Bill Mitchell: "Never heard of any of 'em."

Mike replies: Until now.

Rod Graham replies to Bill: "Haven't heard of George Barr? He does some beautiful, thoughtful work, and is an excellent writer and teacher. Might want to Google him. Several good photography books to his credit."

Comments

[Mark Hespenheide]

Could we put together an online gallery of the selected work, including those "not appropriate for a print sale"? I'd love to see some.

[Nigel Robinson]

Well done the finalists. I'm curious to see who wins...I'll bet we're in for a treat. Also thanks to Mike for the tough job of running such a contest.

[CharlieH]

Any chance we will get to see the all the submissions?

[No, I don't see how. --Mike]

[Ed]

Not see all the submissions? Why not, its not like it is hard to post a bunch of images online...

[Sal Santamaura]

Bill Mitchell: "Never heard of any of 'em."

Bill, you've been posting along with Arne at the Large Format Forum for ages!

[Joseph Reid]

Sad to see that I didn't make the cut but I thank you for the kind words. Very encouraging!
And good luck to the finalists!

[Nigel Robinson]

Ed, Mark and CharlieH

Mike received physical prints. (I know, I entered). To do an online gallery, he'd have to make or receive jpegs of the same and also get the author's permission to show them. That's a significant amount of work.