‘Life in the Country’ exhibition at MoD showcases talented photographers

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

The ‘Life in the Country' juried photography exhibition currently on display in the Silo Gallery at the Museum of Dufferin platformed the work of many talented photographers in the region.

The Museum held a well-attended opening reception and awards presentation at the gallery on Saturday, March 8.

A call went out for photographers to submit their best work for the show and the Museum received a huge response from people wanting to enter a photo.

“The application process started in late January,” explained exhibit curator Sarah Robinson. “We had over 500 submissions. We were really surprised – we were not expecting that many submissions. We had two local photographers who are exceptional in their field and exceptional in their careers, as jurors. They had the difficult task of narrowing it down to 30 entries.”

There were several categories in which to submit photos. The show featured categories like portraits, animals, landscapes, and farming. All submissions were based on a rural theme, showing life in the region.

“We wanted to show the nuances of life in the country,” Robinson said. “There's a lot of different ways to interpret it. Once we did the jury process, we printed out the photographs and everyone filled out their own description. That was equally important because they were talking about what inspired their photograph and why they felt their photograph reflected ‘Life in the Country.' The photographs were judged on quality, technique, and originality, and also the description and what inspired them.”

The photographs were all submitted digitally. The top 30 were printed out.

The photographs are all displayed in the Museum's Silo Gallery.

The Museum has held photo competitions in the past. The last competition was held in 2017 during the country's 150th anniversary, with the theme ‘My Canada.'

“Because we haven't held a photo competition for a few years, we decided to see what would happen and see if anyone is interested in it, and then we had most submissions we ever had,” Robinson said. “There was an emphasis on photography in Dufferin.”

The ‘Life the Country' exhibit will be in the MoD Silo Gallery until May 31.