Another Photographic Society-associated circuit has returned its results, three judgings of four categories (that I entered) that returned a total of ten acceptances. That's 10 out of 48 possibilities, a 21% acceptance rate, below average; and only one of the ten accepted images was a figurative piece. The salon in question is the Boishakhi Photo Awards Circuit in Bangladesh.

I make this distinction between figurative and non-figurative photographs mostly because a lot of my non-figurative work includes images of minors. In this case, accepted pieces included "Suspense," an image from a high school women's basketball game, accepted twice; "Yer out,"  a photo from a high school men's baseball game, accepted three times; "Frozen freestyle," from a high school women's swimming match, accepted twice; "Veterans Day Parade," a black and white image featuring a child holding a flag in the rain along side the parade route; and "Nostalgia," a sunset image from the Oregon Coast taken with an iPhone and treated with a filter. I am immensely proud of all of my images, but in the current political climate here in the United States, I hesitate to post photographs of children alongside nudes, even though the vast majority of those nude images are not sexual in any way. It pains me greatly to admit that I am intimidated by the aggressive self-righteousness of some people in America today. I disagree with it vehemently, but it's not a battle I want to take on--not in that way, at least.

So for now, here is the sole figurative photo accepted at Boishakhi, along with the non-threatening sunset:

1. "Hidden Figure," Zi Gattina, Seattle, June 2017
2. "Nostalgia," Cannon Beach, Oregon, April 2016 (captured with an iPhone 6)

Hidden figure (Portrait-Street-Architecture PIDM) (Accepted)Hidden Figure
6I8A4015 (4-11-2019)
6-21-2017
Zi Gattina
Seattle, Washington

2021-11-19 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival (Rochester, New York): Exhibited digitally