Pictures Of The Year

With 119 total entries embodying a broad spectrum of talent, this year’s photo contest, sponsored by the Indian River Photo Club, lived up to the high standard we have come to expect from this annual event. Photographs were submitted in seven categories: People, Nature-Flora, Nature-Fauna, Still Life, Scapes, Special Techniques, and Open. The top 50 entries appeared in an exhibit at the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

A panel of three judges took on the daunting task of selecting the top four entries in each category: Louis Cizek, a retired local photographer; Joel Johnson of the VBMA, and Kim Hunt, who has an extensive background in photography education.

Mike Ricciardi, vice president of the photo club, was pleased with this year’s number of entries, as well as the high caliber of artistic quality. Each year, the contest is affected by advances in photographic technology. Just a few years ago, film was still a fairly common medium; today, photography at every level is almost exclusively digital. Also, photographic artists have at their disposal an increasingly wide variety of techniques for capturing and manipulating images. Each month, photo club members are encouraged to focus on a particular theme so that they can continue to develop new skills. It is inevitable that each photographer has a particular specialty or field of interest, but it is important to the art form that its practitioners continually explore fresh areas.

The annual contest is open to all, but this year, of the 50 finalists, about 90 percent are photo club members.
The Indian River Photo Club has 160 members and meets at the Vero Beach Community Center on the fourth Thursday of each month.

Read the entire article in the February 2009 issue