Axel’s Shoot-Out contest seeks new photographic talent
September 7, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiOct. 15 UPDATE: All contest entries are on exhibit and voting has begun (in person at the gallery). Winners will be announced on Nov. 11 at 5 p.m.
Raindrops photo by Kimberly Hargis
Axel’s Gallery & Frame Shop is looking for its next photographer to showcase with the 2023 Photography Shoot-Out contest.
The deadline for entries is Oct. 7 and the theme is “Texture.”
The gallery hosts the competition each fall with the help of the previous year’s winner to select the theme. The shooter of the first-place winning photograph also gets their work featured in a solo show at the gallery in January-February.
“Let your imagination run wild,” gallery owner Whitney Aldrich says in the contest announcement, suggesting that entrants capture images in their surroundings that fit the theme. “From the roughness of a rock face to the smoothness of a polished stone, from the intricate pattern of a leaf to the flowing lines on a piece of fabric, we want to see your best interpretations that capture the richness and depth of texture in all its forms.”
All methods of photography are allowed and entries need to be dropped off at the gallery at 10 Stowe St. by 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Axel’s Gallery and Frame Shop is open Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Entries will be on exhibit from Wednesday, Oct. 11, through Saturday, Nov. 11, with visitors to the gallery helping choose the winner along with several contest judges. Entry fee is $20 per submission with a limit of two entries per photographer.
In addition to the first-place prize of a solo show, the second-place entry and a people’s choice entry each receive a $200 gift certificate for picture framing at Axel’s. Other awards are still being procured, Aldrich said.
Entries are judged based on originality/creativity/imagination, composition, emotional impact/expressiveness, and presentation.
Aldrich explains that the competition began in 2018 as a way to highlight the ubiquitous nature of photography today with seemingly everyone having access to camera technology creating opportunities for both amateur and professional photographers.
“Oftentimes at Axel’s Gallery, a customer is browsing through a bin of photographs commenting how they have an even better photo of the subject they are reviewing,” she said.
Shoot-Out jurors this year are Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Kelly Holt, and last year’s shootout winner Kimberly Hargis.
Wallace-Brodeur’s work is familiar in Central Vermont where he has been the chief photographer at the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus for decades. A regular shooter for Seven Days weekly newspaper in Burlington, Wallace-Brodeur’s work appears regularly in Eating Well Magazine, Vermont Sports, Men's Journal, AMC Outdoors and other national outlets.
Holt is an artist and independent curator, engaged in creative collaborations and public art initiatives. An active member of Urban Nation in Berlin, Holt is part of the Vermont Curators Group and the Vermont Creative Network. Her work includes experimental photography, street photography, film, and mixed media.
Taking photographs since childhood, Hargis today is a fine art and wildlife photographer.
From borrowing her grandparents’ Polaroid camera to receiving her first 35mm, she has always been curious about interpreting life through her own lens, Aldrich said. Hargis’ work today is inspired by the outdoors as well as people, places, and things that are important in her life.