In 2014, my photo of an Icelandic pre-sheared sheep, The Jumbuck, became the first Chuck Miller photo to appear on the walls of the Capital District Photo Regionals, the premier annual photography show. I was so happy that day. For all intents and purposes, I had finally punched through that barrier that allowed my work to appear on the same gallery walls as the Capital Region’s top professional and amateur photographers.
That was 2014. We’re now in 2016.
February 10, 2016, to be exact. I was in the middle of an emotional depression, to the point where I wanted to spend the night with some munchies from Stewart’s and a binge-watch marathon of Mr. Robot episodes.
Maybe I’ll just check my e-mail and see if there’s anything good going on. It’s not like I have to worry about not seeing episodes of Mr. Robot. Wait a second, is that Christian Slater in the show – naw, it couldn’t be…
And that’s when I received the e-mailed news. The judge for the Photo Regionals made his choices. And although all entries were displayed at two locations, “salon” style – at Fulton Street Gallery and at the PhotoCenter, both in in Troy – the salon show was only a prelude for the pictures to make the coveted select show.
I received my e-mail. Five minutes before I had the courage to click the link and read the e-mail. Five minutes before I find out if any of my pieces made the cut. Would any of these pieces appear on the gallery walls as part of the Capital Region’s best photography output?
[hdnfactbox title=”PHOTO REGIONALS”]
- The Photo Regionals are in honor of Les Urbach, who founded Albany Center Gallery.
- This is the 38th edition of the Photo Regionals, and is hosted in various Capital District art galleries on a rotating basis.
- Chuck Miller’s The Jumbuck was shown at the 36th Photo Regionals in 2014.
[/hdnfactbox]It’s February 10. Ten days away from the show’s official opening.
And I found out that my two pieces – Fagbug and Vaudeville and Star Trails of Brown Tract Pond – missed the cut. I would need to pick them up from Fulton Street Gallery, as they would not be part of the Photo Regionals gallery show.
Urgh. I really hoped they would make the cut.
Sunday, February 14. I drove to Fulton Street Gallery and claimed my two photos. Bummed. I’m glad they got some love in the salon shows, but the fact that neither my star trails photo nor my color-changing Volkswagen photo made it to the finals… kinda sad about that. Guess I’ll take them back to my apartment in the Town and Village, and hang them on the walls of my own personal salon des refusés.
What’s that, you say?
Chuck, if memory serves correctly, didn’t you enter THREE images in the Photo Regionals?
Well, um, yeah I did. 🙂
And you only picked up two that were rejected?
Well, um, yeah that’s true. 😀
So by the process of elimination and mathematics, if you have three, and you take away two…
Well, let me tell, as Paul Harvey would say, the REST of the story.
See, back on February 10, I received this news in the e-mail…
“I am pleased to tell you that you have something included in the select show.“
Oh man, I got in! I got in I got in I got in!!!!
But the e-mail didn’t say WHICH piece got in.
It wasn’t until a few days later, that I found out… when I went to the Fulton Street Gallery to sign out my rejected artworks…
Of the three pictures I submitted for the Photo Regionals…
Star Trails of Brown Tract Pond didn’t make the cut.
Neither did Fagbug and Vaudeville.
The picture that becomes the second-ever Chuck Miller photo to be accepted into the Capital District Photo Regionals, and to hang in the gallery along with the best photos from the Capital Region’s fantastic photographers … is …
VIVALDI’S POND
That’s right, peeps…
Let me say this clearly…
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST, I MADE THE CUT WITH VIVALDI’S POND!!
Vivaldi’s Pond, my four-image lenticular photo of a secluded Adirondack pond in South Corinth, N.Y., a photo created over the span of a year with my Kodak Medalist II camera and Kodak Ektar film, now joins The Jumbuck as Photo Regionals acceptances!!
Oh man oh man oh man… I can’t wait to see Vivaldi’s Pond hanging on the walls of Fulton Street Gallery, along with the other amazing photos by the Capital Region’s most amazing photographers!
The 2016 Capital District Photo Regionals show begins Monday, February 22nd, and the awards presentations will take place on Friday, February 26, at Fulton Street Gallery in Troy as part of the monthly Troy Night Out.
So excited and stoked.
And the weird thing is… somehow I had a feeling that I should never give up on Vivaldi’s Pond, no matter what it took.
And now look what the picture took.
All good.
Chuck The Writer 
I’ve always been fond of Vivaldi, and so was my wife, when she saw it in Altamont..
I’ve said before that Fagbug’s problem may be the lack of context.
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Congratulations, sir. I have a soft spot in my heart for the star trails at Brown’s Tract because – 1. I (successfully) took some star trail photographs when I was in High School (50 years ago!) as an Earth Science project. (You would laugh if you saw how I had to jury rig my father’s camera, in the dark, to hold the shutter open). and 2. I am familiar with Brown’s Tract because I competed in a canoe race that went through there about 35 years ago.
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Bill – please, I’d love to hear how you rigged up your father’s camera in the dark. What camera was it, and how did you do it?
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Chuck – you’re asking me to remember something from approximately 52 years ago, when I was a sophomore in High School. I’ll do my best! First, I don’t know what kind of camera it was. It was a folding bellows camera that, for the era and budget, was fairly sophisticated for my Dad, but certainly not “professional grade”. The mechanism that activated the shutter was exposed along the side of the camera, which worked to my advantage. If I recall, there was very little that could be adjusted; there was only the fixed lens and I don’t think we could even adjust the shutter speed or aperture. I know for sure there was no “bulb” setting to hold the shutter open.
We lived in the country, so there were no city lights and as long as we kept our outdoor lights off it could be really dark at night. My Dad and I dragged our picnic table out into the back yard, and with scraps of wood and whatever else we could get our hands on managed to set the camera up so it was fairly stable and pointed skyward. But the problem of holding the shutter open for a long period of time. As we examined the shutter mechanism, we discovered that the last “link” was not fixed, but just pushed down on the lever that opened the shutter. This was probably to allow the camera to fold. If we opened the shutter and inserted a lead pencil between the shutter lever and the last link, the shutter would remain open. So in the pitch black darkness we set up the camera, hopefully nice and stable, very carefully opened the shutter, and stuck a pencil stub in the mechanism to hold it open, all without causing the camera to vibrate too much. I left it out there for an hour or so and we repositioned the picnic table and camera numerous times to get various areas of the night sky. I had reasonable success with a few acceptable prints, and got an “attaboy” from my Earth Science teacher. Unfortunately the prints, and the camera, have long since disappeared.
Sorry for the lengthy reply, but you asked! I wish I could remember more details.
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Congrats Chuck!! Fantastic!
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