"I have to wait a half an hour to get on the computer. Tell me why you can’t call my room when one is ready!" This testy exchange was far out of character for this event. I glanced behind me to see who was being so irritable. He had an East Coast accent, a receding hairline, dark glasses. I noted his appearance so I could avoid him later. What does he think he’s going to achieve by harassing this volunteer? A solution? A jump ahead in the queue? We’re all in the same boat—unfamiliar with the process of picking our reviewers on a computer screen, and it’s slow. So strike up a conversation with someone. Everyone here is a photographer, just like you, doing some interesting project, with a different life experience than your own. Find out what it is, and you won’t notice the wait.
The collegial tone of Photo Lucida is no accident. Chris Rauschenberg, who was key in starting the Photo Reviews here in Portland, reinforced the message in his orientation speech. "What I love about this community is that it’s really a team sport. Seeing each other’s work here is going to be the most interesting part of the experience. You’re going to help each other out, steer each other to people who need to know about you. Can you imagine this sort of thing happening at a ballet audition? ‘See that dancer over there, she’s really good, you should talk to her.’ We’re different."
Of all the photo review events in the country, this one really succeeds on creating a summer camp experience out of what can be a grueling, cutthroat, competitive event (think Houston’s Fotofest). There’s more socializing between reviewers and reviewees than at Santa Fe or Houston. I walked down to Guy Swanson’s gallery party with Jean Caslin, lately of Houston Center for Photography, chatted a long time with Roy Flukinger from the Harry Ranson Center, and met the woman from the Prague House of Photography. None of the conversations touched on anything that I wanted from them. We were all in this together, out to have a good time.
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