Let’s talk about the final look of your piece(s).
After printing and signing your photograph, it has to be prepared for presentation. Its important to remember that this is a Visual Arts Competition AND Exhibition, your photograph is being entered as an art piece, and the presentation of the piece is important, not only for the judging by the official judges, but by those viewing it at exhibition, for those of us who may be lucky enough to make it to exhibition.
As photographers, we probably have more options than most other aspects of the Visual Arts in terms of our final presentation; the basic thing is that whatever you submit must be ready to hang on a wall, there should be nothing left for the curator to do.
Whether you want it matted and framed behind glass, or framed without the matte, or even without the glass; or if you want it mounted on foam board, frameless with a mounting hook at the back; or sandwiched between two sheets of glass with polished studs in the corners; or mounted on a piece of plywood; it is an artistic decision in itself.
Whatever you decide, it should complement the photo and not detract from it; or you can choose one to be so innocuous that no one notices it.
For example, it is unlikely that a black and white portrait would look good in a red frame, so don’t do it; a fancy frame may work with an abstract image, but may or may not look garish on a landscape; and you probably wouldn’t want a four inch thick frame around a very small photo… these are not rules, you have to decide what may work best. Look around, see what frames or mounting options may appeal to your piece, ask opinions.
When all is said and done, you are presenting a finished piece to be judged and displayed, make it worthy of your name.
Let’s make this GVACE one to remember.
Michael C. Lam works in Graphic layout for a living, one of his images gained the Bronze medal in the 2012 GVACE, he was shortlisted for the 2014 GVACE, was an exhibiting artist in the Un | Fixed Homeland curated exhibition at Aljira, New Jersey in 2016, and an exhibiting artist at the 2016 VISIONS Curated Exhibition. Some of his work can be seen on his site The Michael Lam Collection