Hats off to competition

By Rex Dolby

The Wassenberg Camera Club held its monthly competition in prints and slides on Thursday, Sept. 13, at the Wassenberg Art Center.  “Hats” was the theme, which produced some interesting images.

Jan Sorensen’s photo of her husband’s Stetson hat was picked as the best print. There was a two-way tie for first in the slide category. Cindy Pirani’s picture of her friend’s children won out. She said that she’d asked them to salute, but everybody knows a true cowboy just tips his hat. Rex Dolby’s shot of a stack of his Ohio hats on a map of Ohio for a background came out second.

Discussion centered on preparations for photo jurying for the upcoming 35th Annual Wassenberg Photography Exhibit.  It was announced that the final count was 301 pictures from 45 photographers. We appreciate all the work that was done getting the pictures ready. President Doug Heckler offered to calculate the percentages in each category to determine how many pictures would need to be kept and removed to keep that category proportionate to the total show.

This year’s jurors are Lynn Whitney, head of the Photography at the School of Art at Bowling Green State University since 1987, and Rob Ledwedge, Tiffin, who owns Picture Perfect Portrait Studio, which includes mini-lab/film processing, digital retouching and custom framing services.

On Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12:30 p.m. the jurors had decided which pictures would be exhibited then began selecting those pictures for recognition. They declined the offer to break for lunch and set to work determining the winners. It was nearly 3 p.m. when they completed their task, scattering awards and honorable mentions over 21 of the 45 photographers who entered.

Camera Club members who were selected for achievement were: LV Hollis won the Wilbur Hartman Color award, Jodi Hattery won the Katy Mounts Color award, Doug Heckler won the Wilbur Hartman and Katy Mounts black and white awards and a second and honorable mention in Photojournalism. Nataley Hattery won first in Still Life and second in the John Flagg youth award in black and white. Her brother Chris won an honorable mention in youth color.

One of the suggestions left by the judges was that there were so many good photographs, at some point in time there could be another photography exhibit featuring those pictures. It’s something to think about. There will be more judging results later.