Different Strokes

or The Saga of a Panoramic Print



A few weeks back I decided to have this photographic art piece, Ron's Automotive 2, printed for submission to a Panoramic Prints contest. The rules of the contest included the following statements:
1) a Panorama print is considered to be a photographic print with an aspect ratio greater than 2:1 with no square inch limitation; and 2) Open contest, any subject, mode or process, color or Black & White.
So, although I knew mine was an unconventional entry, I decided to enter in the hopes it might be different enough to catch a judge’s eye.

Here are the results of the contest:

The print received a score of 31/45 (not bad, really) with all 3’s and 4’s from three different judges (5 is a top score; entries are evaluated on technique, composition, and impact/interest).
The judges’ comments were as follows: “It’s a collage. Disturbing that parts of the buildings are missing. Jarring. An abstract. But does make you look.”

Fair enough. Decent but not winning scores and an accurate description and explanation of them. Personally, I don’t find the missing parts disturbing, but I also completely understand that some would; and within the context of the piece and what I was trying to communicate, I actually take “disturbing” and “jarring” as compliments. I was not surprised, nor was I sorry I had entered. I had another, more traditional panorama ready, but I decided to take the risk and go with this one.

Now, what was I to do with the mounted print – it was 10” wide and over 30” long, and I had no place to put it in my home. So I decided to see whether I could give it away, and that’s when the fun began.

I live in a small town (maybe 20,000), the building is local, and I knew it had some historical significance. I belong to a Facebook group created to promote the town, so I decided to see whether someone here might want it. I posted the image and set up a drawing, saying I would keep the offer open for a couple of days; to be eligible, people were to Like my photography page (I provided a link) and tell me in the comments or a pm that they would like to have it. Much to my surprise, the post got 22 comments, 10 likes, and nine people saying they would love to have the image. Two of the respondents were the administrators of the local historical society and the county museum who also posted some very interesting information about the building. I said I would make smaller, unmounted prints for them and drew from among the other seven names.

When I announced the winner, I offered to have an additional large, unmounted copy made for anyone who might want to buy one, setting a very reasonable price. One person took me up on that.

So in the end I learned some things about my picture and town, the image will be seen at four different places in town, my Facebook page got new likes, my art site got a number of fresh hits (I put a link to it in the thread comments), and best of all I made a number of new friends. Not bad for a contest entry that did not impress the judges. Not bad at all.