Winning Small Victories At Above Second Photography Competition


My 'Small Victories' Entry That Made The Final Cut! 

It was a standard Thursday night in Hong Kong, and my usual pre-cursor to the weekend's upcoming drinking and socialising. I was getting ready to go to a local exhibition around the corner from where I live. I love going to these events, meeting local artists and being able to share my interests in the creative side of life. And there on the walls of the Above Second Gallery, tonight my entry was on show, amongst 100 other entries that had made the final cut for the exhibition. 

The gallery was showcasing a collection of photographs titled Small Victories, a concept created by Jeff Hamada, a Japanese Canadian artist from Vancouver, BC. He came up with the brilliant concept of getting photographers of all levels from all corners of the world to send him copies of standard 4 × 6 prints of photographs capturing "quietly beautiful, unintentionally funny, people and things all around us". Jeff's friends Jasper Wong and May Wong hosted the Small Victories show at their gallery 'Above Second', a small art space that had opened earlier in the year. From the thousands of photos submitted Jeff had narrowed down 100 entries for the exhibition, and on the day I walked into the gallery, while they were starting to set up the exhibition a few days ago, Jeff added one of my photos as the final 101st entry photo for the walls. Obviously I was ecstatic, despite the name of the show, this was a large victory in my heart. My tiny window of fame. I had gotten an email from Jasper a few weeks before the opening night giving details of the requirements to enter, and I had thought "what the heck, why not", so I jumped immediately on my stock pile of photos and got a few printed out. I am so glad I did. Thanks Jasper for inspiring me to try!

The exhibition was a blast and the selection of photos were amazing. Shamefully to my embarrassment I realised that I hadn't read the concept details correctly (typical), and instead of only looking at small victories of HK, I could have actually submitted pictures from anywhere around the globe. So of course, throughout the night I was constantly thinking about other, much better and more suitable photos I had racked up on my hard drive. But all the same, they liked what I showed so I was still hugely appreciative for the opportunity to be a part of such a collaboration of talent.

You can check out the final 101 here: http://www.booooooom.com/2010/05/21/small-victories-101-photos-by-101-photographers/

Note: The fella in my entry photo is actually snoozing with his fishing line in hand, perfectly still for as long as I stood there watching him have his nap! ᐂ
Location: Hong Kong

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