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ZION NATIONAL PARK UTAH This image was made during the fall of 2015 in SW Utah. It was one of three parks that we visited on this tri...

Friday, July 23, 2010

B&W MAGAZINE Special Issue August 2010

Award Winning Portfolio

Last fall I told my wife that I was going to toss thirty bucks down the tube in the good name of photography. B&W was having a portfolio contest and just for the heck of it, I decided to submit several of my Appalachian images of the mountain people, plus several other interesting character studies.

About two months ago, I received an e-mail from the editors informing me that I was a winner and several of my images would be published in the forthcoming issue.

In the meantime, I made a quick calculation to see just how much money the magazine was making off the photographers. Thirty thousand dollars is a good round number based on the number of submissions. These folks do very well. If you have noticed lately, quite a few photography and multi media magazines have leaned in this direction. Heck, everyone wants to get published so there is a captive audience. But the only money makers are the promoters.

I was also curious to know just how many inquiries I might get since this was touted in the prospectus as a major plus. The answer to that is zero. Not surprising. I also did something else which was a last-minute decision, and that was to include one comic image which would most likely result in a negative reaction on the part of the "judges".

June arrived and I shelled out twelve bucks for a copy, and lo and behold, there were three of my images. Two were from the primary submissions and the third and full-page featured image was of my comic image of an old Blue Ridge out house. The out house was my way of giving the judges the old proverbial finger, and for whatever reason, they fell for my joke and obviously thought it was great. The print job in the magazine was terrible but that is likely because of the way the magazine copies were mass produced.

I have not entered a photography competition in decades and this will be the last. I have entered many multi-media competitions where I pitted my work against painters, sculptors, mixed media and so on, and I have a winning track record. In general, the judges in such shows were first rate.

Notice that I did not include the privy in this blog, but if anyone would like to view the old weathered Jonnie, just let me know via e-mail and I will share it with you. jack@jeffersfineart.com