Sandrine Hermand-Grisel: November 2016

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Somewhere... in Mesa Verde, Colorado was selected by Michael Kenna for an exhibition at A Smith Gallery

Dear tree photographers,

THANK YOU all for allowing me the privilege to judge your magnificent works. It has been a delightfully rich, satisfying and enormously difficult process. The axiom, I like what I like, hardly seems the most sophisticated criteria to use when judging. However, perhaps that is ultimately the way it should be. Despite the many traditional ways to evaluate images based on visual esthetics, technical achievements, conceptual rigor, narrative content, etc., I believe that we all see in our own special, unique ways, through the tinted lenses of personal genetics and singular life experiences. My apologies therefore go to the many photographers whose works have not been chosen. Please do not be disheartened, the competition was fearsome with 67 images selected out of 1,357 submitted by 209 photographers. Certainly my choices are highly subjective and would most certainly be different from another judge who might not like what I like. I congratulate those photographers whose works have been chosen and I am confident that the upcoming A Smith Gallery exhibition will be a huge success. Kind regards to all,

Michael Kenna
November, 2016