Short Description:
“Sir Gregory Dodgebourne presented a lecture at the Royal Anthropological Institute in January of 1842. As he stood up to the well-worn oak podium droplets of water fell from his ice encrusted side whiskers onto his offal and snow-stained brogans. Sir Gregory was also a fellow of the newly formed Billingsgate Perambulation Society. His friends all agreed that he was a Dickensian sort of fellow. He fancied himself a living Nicholas Nickleby, having also been deserted at an early age; eventually making his way in the world after much misfortune and the afflictions of the false conviviality of those wishing to do him pecuniary harm. His closest associates called him Nick. In ’89 he was briefly considered a suspect in the Ripper murders because of his habit of occasionally walking in Whitechapel. It was decided rather quickly that the then ninety-six-year-old Dodgebourne could not have wielded the knife with such power and dexterity.
Sir Gregory was knighted just a fortnight prior to the lecture, presently the subject of this writing, by the still young, yet droopy eyed Victoria. As a member of the staff of the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, an institution chartered by and of special interest to the Queen, Dodgebourne was making tremendous progress on the diagnosis of astigmatism of the eye. He studied under Sir George Biddell Airy, the foremost authority on the affliction. The Queen fancied herself plagued by a variety of eye disorders. Consequently, when Sir Gregory also diagnosed her with astigmatism, she was beside herself. The knighthood followed shortly thereafter.
As the last participant was being seated, Sir Gregory placed his pince-nez spectacles on the undulating bridge of his boxer’s nose. Then out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of color in the room of blacks and browns. Miss Jane Wemmick, the daughter of Sir Arthur Wemmick and a very accomplished amateur anthropologist, floated in, to the obvious disapproval of the seated men, on a cloud of blue and yellow taffeta and velvet surmounted by a heavy woolen cape. “Welcome Miss Wemmick,” said Sir Gregory, winking at her father seated in the front row, “Let us begin.”
“As is commonly known, animals can only see the world in black and white, therefore the new invention, photography, is positively fit only for animals. The photographer cannot possibly capture the world as it is in all its nuance and beauty with the same accuracy and splendor as the painter,” said Sir Gregory, setting out the premise of his current dissertation. Miss Wemmick, with her head down, smiled and jotted lines in the leather-bound diary on her lap, “My dear M. Daguerre I am here at the Society in your defense. Dodgebourne will now attempt to warn us off your creation. He has said it is only fit for animals. However, I deeply apprehend the depth and profundity of your child each time I gaze upon my love posed in the garden of our passion, seated next to his wonderful hound. The camera has truly unsheltered his inner beauty, made alive the wistful clouds above himself and even the proud wound on the flank of the beloved canine where the fox turned about on him…” From “The Scent of Mercury Vapor” by Franklin Cincinnatus
Application Requirements:
Digital images should be 1800 pixels on the longest side saved in JPEG format at 72 ppi. Each image should be labeled with consecutive numbers followed by your name, i.e. 1FirstName_LastName.jpg. The number should correspond with the number on the application form. Please do not watermark your images. If you need help sizing your images, please follow this link https://convert.town/image-dpi
SUBMISSION | Online: Fill out our online application to apply, send images, and make payment with Paypal. You will receive an email confirmation upon receiving the submission and payment. You can also fill and submit the online application, print out your confirmation email, and mail it with a check for your fees to the address below. Please note that gallery emails often end up in spam folders. Please check your spam if you did not receive a confirmation email.
Eligibility:
The competition is open to all photographers both professional and amateur working in all photographic mediums and styles. International entries are welcomed. Work that has been previously exhibited in an A Smith Gallery competition is not eligible. We prefer not to accept images created with Artificial Intelligence at the present time due to the lack of clarity concerning copyright issues and the ongoing litigation associated with them.
Entry Fee:
$40 for the first 5 images, $5 per each additional image. There is no limit to the number of images you may submit. Submission fees are not refundable.
Program Benefits or Awards:
The awards are as follows:
Jurors Award – a online solo exhibition, “The 27” exhibition book and feature story on the gallery blog
Directors Award – “The 27” exhibition book and a feature story on the gallery blog
Visitors Award (most Instagram likes) – $100
The solo exhibition awarded as the Juror and Director Awards will be scheduled at a mutually agreed time for the duration of a month.
Location: Texas, USA
Deadline: 15/September/2025
Website link:
https://asmithgallery.com/main-gallery-call-for-entry/
