Coming into focus: Montgomery Photo Festival expands to three exhibits

Art is all around us, just waiting to be noticed — maybe even at a campus coffee maker. That's where Montgomery photographer Cheryl Johnson looked beyond to find something amazing.

"The title is called, 'It Stirs Me,'" said Johnson, whose photograph is one of eight from River Region photographers included in the Montgomery Photo Festival's international photography exhibit. 

What Johnson noticed and captured was an arrangement of coffee stirrers sitting.

"They're just in this perfect array of a swirl," she said. "You really have to look at it to figure out what it is."

This exhibit is in the community room of the Kress Building, 39 Dexter Ave. An opening reception will be held there Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., ahead of the festival's official run through Aug. 27. Johnson's work will be shown alongside hundreds of submissions from around the world.

"This year, we had 208 photographers submit 610 photographs," said Warren Simons, one of the festival's organizers, who also has a photo in the international exhibit. 

The exhibit includes $4,000 in cash prizes. The images are in four categories: color, black and white, manipulation, and alternative process. They'll have an honorable mention and best in category for all four categories, and an overall best in show. 

Last year — when the festival was still known as the Society of Arts & Crafts/Stonehenge Gallery Photo Competition — the festival received 660 images. They could only get 67 on the wall at Stonehenge Gallery, the festival's original host site for the past three years.

"We decided this year that we were going to shoot for a bigger venue," Simons said. "In the course of doing that, we decided to rebrand ourselves as the Montgomery Photo Festival, so that we could become more identified with Montgomery and the River Region."

Along with Johnson and Simons, local photographers in the International exhibit include four more from Montgomery —  Ellen Mertins, Sandra Polizos, William Fenn and Elizabeth Vinson — plus Vicki Hunt of Prattville and Rick Lewis of Pike Road. 

Exhibiters also include 59 other Alabamians from Birmingham, Mobile, Auburn, Hoover, Helena, Ozark and Florence. Photos also came in from 33 other U.S. states, and seven other countries: Belgium, Canada, Zimbabwe, India, England, Australia and Germany.

Simons said they plan to do a live video from the international exhibition reception, so that photographers who aren't able to attend can participate.

Besides the Kress showing, the festival will feature exhibits at two other Montgomery locations.

Stonehenge will display the Alabama camera clubs exhibit. They'll host a reception Saturday from noon to 1 p.m.

Photos from Alabama high school students will have an exhibit at The SAC's Gallery, 529 S. Perry St. Their Saturday reception is from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The international exhibit photos were judged for selection by Anna Skillman, who will give a talk at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in the Georgine Clark Alabama Artists Gallery in the RSA Tower, 201 Monroe St.

"Anna Walker Skillman is a well sought after juror and a very important Southern gallery owner (Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta), so I’m thrilled she liked my photo," Hunt said. "I am especially excited to be in the company of incredible work and stellar photographers."

Along with being a photo exhibit, Simons believes the festival will help boost Montgomery's tourism. For out of town guests, they've been promoting aspects of the city like the arts scene, dining options, and other points of interest. 

"I hope they get a flavor of Montgomery," Simons said. 

While all three exhibitions will run through Aug. 27, the individual venue days and hours are different. At Kress, the exhibit is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. The Stonehenge exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the SAC's Gallery exhibit is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 4 p.m.

"You can also make an appointment if you can't make those hours," Simons said.

After the international exhibition ends at Kress, the photos from it will be transported to Troy to go on display Sept. 6-30 at the International Art Center at Troy University. 

Johnson encouraged people to come and see photos at all three exhibits, which are free to attend. She'll definitely be out looking, and hopefully meeting some of the other exhibited photographers. 

"It helps my creative juices get flowing," Johnson said. "Even if you're not a photographer, it'll be a beautiful exhibit to see. But if you are a photographer and enjoy taking pictures, it can be inspiring."

Learn more online at montgomeryphotofestival.org.

Johnson inspired to look beyond her brain

Johnson's coffee stirrer photo seemed destined to bloom in the Montgomery Photo Festival. It was her first attempt at submitting her work in consideration for an exhibit. 

Gaining the inspiration to get the shot actually came from a class she took at Auburn Montgomery, taught by Simons.

"He teaches a class there called The Art of Seeing," Johnson said. "It's where you see beyond what your brain sees."

Simons: both organizer and photographer

"It’s a thrill to have one of my photos in the exhibit," Simmons said. "I’ve helped organize the shows from the very beginning, four years ago, and it’s the first time I’ve had a photo selected for the event."

Simmons' photo was submitted in the “manipulation” category. 

"Meaning that I worked with the image in the digital darkroom beyond what is considered a normal amount of tweaking," he said. "I taped shiny mylar paper to a piece of foam board, got a reflection in the paper of my kitchen counter, and took a photo of that reflection. I love it for its painterly and mysterious effect."

When Skillman selected the piece to be exhibited, she had no idea it was from Simmons.

"it’s a blind judging event," Simmons said. "The juror does not get to see any of the personal information associated with the photos."

Polizos' 'Midnight at the Agora'

The festival has a lot of international photography. But one in particular is unique because it's an international one shot by a Montgomery resident.

"My photo 'Midnight at the Agora' is a shot I took last November in Athens, Greece, in the old shopping district directly below the Parthenon," Polizos said. "I had seen the shopkeeper early that morning and was shocked to see her still there so late at night. Surrounded by her wares, her intense countenance stood out among the color and variety of the articles in her shop.”

Polizos said she's "beyond thrilled" to be a part of the international exhibit.

Lewis saw a shadow

Lewis said his black and white entry into the festival was a fleeting moment he happened to spot at home. 

"I was sitting on my living room couch and the sun had just come through our patio doors and hit a display of silk flowers," he said. "The silk flowers were absolutely lit up, and I looked on the wall and there was this really stark, dark shadow."

He grabbed his nearby camera. 

"I think I took three frames and in that time period the light was gone," Lewis said. "The shadow was gone. Everything was gone."

Hunt captures 'Mad Love'

Hunt's exhibited image "Mad Love" is a simple street photo printed in black and white. 

"Shooting every day life of people on the streets is one of my photographic passions, and I patiently shot many frames of this crazy-in-love couple with a 400-millimeter zoom lens."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.