June 08, 2013 through July 06, 2013

Plastic Fantastic Show IV

FIRST PLACE: Bob Gervais – Canal St. NYC
Capturing gritty and occasionally humorous images in street photography is a rare talent. Thus, coupling this approach with the use of an unpredictable toy camera results in a series of marvelous images created by Bob Gervais. Selecting just one winning image from his submitted images was a challenge. In the end, the piercing stare from a man on Canal Street continued to haunt and engage.

SECOND PLACE: Greg Kemp – Last Days of Winter
Greg Kemp’s magical pinhole image Last Day of Winter proves remarkable in many ways. Perhaps the most notable aspect is the exceptional length of time he takes to harvest his memorable works. Kemp leaves his cameras outside for weeks, even months at a time. External influences such as rain, humidity, heat, cold and even living creatures that crawl into his cameras making the final results all the more fantastic.

THIRD PLACE: John Bridges – Shelter
John Bridges’ beguiling image Shelter infuses metaphor, mystery and fantasy to transform the seemingly ordinary into an evocative, dreamlike vision.

HONORABLE MENTION: Chris Cranford – Palms
Chris Cranford’s Palms transforms a cloudy Southern California sky, mere telephone wires and palm trees into a wonderfully composed visual delight.

HONORABLE MENTION: Suzanne Revy – Fishing Pole
Suzanne Revy’s Fishing Pole is a breath of fresh air on a warm summer day that captures the complexity of childhood wonder by effortlessly infusing potential of the unknown with remembrance of the past.

Juror’s Statement

For the past three years, it has been my great honor to juror Plastic Fantastic. I’m always inspired to view work by fellow photographers who break boundaries to yield fresh and exciting imagery with imperfect, rudimentary tools. This year, selecting fifty final images from over three hundred submissions proved to be a great challenge. Thus, I applaud all the photographers who entered and made my decision process extremely difficult.

When considering descriptions for memorable toy camera images, a common phrase that comes to mind is “happy accident”. One-time lucky successes can be a magical gift from the muses. But transforming what may have been a lone success into a consistent and unique vision is an admirable gift that deserves further praise. It is a pleasure to honor Bob Gervais. Greg Kemp, John Bridges, Chris Cranford and Suzanne Revy for sharing their talents.

Congratulations to all the photographers accepted into the Plastic Fantastic Show IV

Alexey Krupin – Moscow, Russia • Amy Fichter – Menomonie, Wi. • Becky Romotowski – Tijeras, N.M.
Betti Rippentrop-Pridmore – Little Rock, Ak. • Bob Gervais – Portland, Or. • Britt Aximom – Varberg, Sweden
C. Gary Moyer – Maywood, N.J • Carol Dass – Colorado Springs, Co. • Celine Downen – Salt Lake City, Ut.
Chris Cranford – Little Rock, Ar. • Cody Swanson – Anchorage, Ak. • Daniel Polidori – Portland, Or.
David Cory – South Bend, In. • David Ondrik – Albuquerque, N.M. • Elissa Wanke – Long Beach, Wa.
Erin McGuire – Palmdale, Ca. • Gregg Kemp – Durham, N.C. • Jacqueline Walters – San Francisco, Ca.
Janice Parsley – Anchorage. Ak. • Jeff Merlet – Santa Cruz, Ca. • Jill Gewirtz – N.Y. N.Y. • Jim Rohan – Wakefield, Ma.
Jody Miller – Astoria , Or. • John Bridges – Little Rock, Ar. • Ky Lewis – London, England • Lori Bell – Santa Maria, Ca.
Lorraine Healy – Freeland, Wa. • Marita Gootee – Starkville Ms. • Mark Eifert – Portland, Or. • Megan Green – Astoria. N.Y.
Michael Kirchoff – L.A. Ca. • Patty Lemke – L.A. Ca. • Peter Wiklund – Hagersten, Sweden • Raina Stinson – Portland, Or.
Robert Schneider – Lexington, MA • Sharon Shero – Dallas , Tx. • Anne So – Victoria B.C • Stacie Turner – West Hartford, Ct.
Suzanne Revy – Carlisle, Ma. • Yelena Zhavoronkova – San Francisco, Ca.

Featuring photographic images made with plastic “toy” cameras, with this exhibit we celebrate the gallery’s anniversary every year!
The Plastic Fantastic Show IV stays true to pure film photography and the use of plastic, pinhole, box or homemade cameras.
No digital photography is considered.

LightBox is very honored to have Susan Burnstine as juror once again for the Plastic Fantastic Show. Susan is an award winning professional fine art photographer based in Los Angeles who builds homemade cameras and lenses primarily made out of plastic, vintage camera parts and random household objects. Susan is represented in galleries across the world, her images are mesmerizing and dreamlike, using film with the purity of the process as a vital element, without relying on digital processing.

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