Grand Prize winner Untitled by J.T. Ollett
So as not to subject herself and her staff to the anger that comes from not choosing your friends’ photos for prizes in the 2010 Just Out Pride Photo contest editor Marty Davis left the task to celebrity guest judges, including me. I was joined by Paul Fukui from Q Center, Artemis Chase, performer extraordinaire and Jeff Fisher of LogoMotives fame.
We didn’t have a tough time identifying some great shots but when it came down to placing them in order it got tougher. We ended up going with J.T. Ollett‘s Untitled as the People category and Grand Prize winner. Here’s the artist’s statement:
This photo was part of a shoot a friend and I were doing with Rio, the model, around the industrial area of Southeast Portland. Rio was pretty adventurous and started climbing on some old train cars that were parked next to the roadway. Immediately this took on the look of an adventure girl-type theme and we snapped off several exposures. I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Sometimes the best shots are those that aren’t planned but that you catch on the spur of the moment.
Self Portrait by Brian Patrick
As for my personal pick, that was much harder, even if it didn’t come with cash prizes. I gotta say the Nopo drag shots with Fannie Mae Darling were sitting right in front of me before I decided to go with the artsy self-portrait…cuz, you know I appreciate some classy narcissism. And then I wrote a cheesetastic justification:
There’s a haunting ennui that manages to envelope even the brightest white spots of the photo, even the child’s toy that should be merry. It’s almost as if the darkness is closing in on the last bits of humanity. It is a lovely photo, one that we can all identify with, in our queerness, in our otherness. I don’t want to follow him down, but I understand the sentiment
For a full list of category winners, 2nd and 3rd place and staff picks visit Just Out’s main story.
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