2008 PSA exchibition: a showcase of what is good in today's photography.

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The 2008 Exhibition of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) offered photographers the opportunity to compete in 28 different sections in the 7 divisions: 2 Color Projected Image (CPID), 2 Electronic Imaging (EID), 2 Nature (ND) Dual Projection, 2 Nature Prints, 2 Photo Travel (PTD) Electronic, 2 Photo Travel Prints, 2 Photo Travel Slides, 2 Photojournalism (PJD) Electronic, 2 Photojournalism Prints, 2 Photojournalism Slides, 4 Pictorial Prints (PPD), 2 Stereo (SD) Electronic and 2 Stereo Slides/Prints. And compete they did! More than 1,000 photographers from 54 countries, 42 American states and 5 Canadian Provinces submitted 3,500+ entries, which translates to nearly 15,000 photographic images. Fourteen panels of judges viewed the images and selected the very best to be shown at the 2008 PSA Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon. To give a sense of scale to the evolution of the PSA Exhibition, the exhibition is very proud that the entries have more than doubled in the five years between 2003 and 2008.

The award-winning images in all divisions and the accepted images from all of the digital sections are posted on www.psaexhibition.com.

Ever wonder if anyone ever goes to the website to see the winning images? Wonder no more: According to the visitor numbers from Google, during the late summer and early fall, the image pages were viewed more than 800 times a day and the website's visitors typically came from more than 70 different countries during an average month. During the quieter time of the year, the daily viewership slips to nearly 300 viewings per day. On an annual basis, the image pages are being viewed more than 150,000 times a year. The breadth and depth of the website's visitors, give an entirely new definition to the traditional concept of "a public exhibition."

The PSA Exhibition is too large and too diversified to be judged in a "local" area as most exhibitions are. Consequently willing photographers from across the nation volunteer to run a part of the exhibition: This year's volunteer staff were: CPID, Mike Prokosch of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; EID, Barbara Miller, FPSA, PPSA, of Boynton Beach, Florida; ND Dual Projection, Daniel Charbonnet, III FPSA, of Westwood, Massachusetts and Susan Mosser, FPSA, of North Reading, Massachusetts; ND Prints, Max Burke of Meridian, Idaho; PTD Electronic, Kathleen O'Donnell of St. Louis, Missouri; PTD Prints Eugene Brucker, FPSA, of St. Louis, Missouri; PTD Slides, John Dean, FPSA, of Spokane, Washington; PJD Electronic, Nancy Sams, FPSA, EPSA, of Mesa, Arizona; PJD Prints Tom Moorhead, APSA, of Emerson, New Jersey; PJD Slides, Lynn Troy Maniscalco, FPSA, EPSA, of Wilmington, Delaware; PPD Prints, Jan and Wally Lee of Edmond, Oklahoma; SD Electronic, David Thayer of Ipswich, Massachusetts; and SD Slides/Prints, Dr. Albert Sieg, Hon. PSA, FPSA, EPSA, of Rochester, New York. To each of these ladies and gentlemen, "Thanks for a job done with excellence."

If an exhibitor would like to say "thank you" to any of the section chairmen, go to www.psaexhibition.com and scroll down to the section and click on "wish to ask the chairman a question." Doing so will mean a lot to our hard working volunteer staff.

A special thanks goes to Kara Goodson and Jimmie King at PSA Headquarters. The tasks and efforts that these folks do behind the scenes to assist in making the exhibition one of the world's premier exhibitions represents an enormous year-around effort. There are many, many more individuals involved and making contributions, including many members of the Board of Directors and the PSA Journal Editor, Donna Brennan. But the real thanks go to the 1,000 plus exhibitors who have shared nearly 15,000 photographic images.

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Think of almost any business, or even one's own life: over a period of time things change because the world is ever-changing. And, this is very true for photographic exhibitions: they must change because the marketplace of photography changes, the marketplace of technology changes, and the marketplace of tastes, fads, and interests change. The PSA Exhibition has changed immensely during the last three or four years to keep up with the ever-changing world. For this reason a few sections have been discontinued and many sections have been established; today payment of entry fees is mostly electronic and the world of the Internet has allowed us to communicate with more ease and efficiency.

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A fundamental policy of the exhibition has been to listen to what customers are saying and to have the exhibition's operation reflect entrants thoughts. For instance, the print exhibitors complained about the high costs involved in print exhibiting. The response was to accept unmounted prints from all exhibitors and to offer the "no return print" option. The "no return" print option reduced the entry fee for an overseas exhibitor from $22 for 2 sections in 2007 to $5 in 2008. When was the last time a 75% reduction in fees was offered? More than half the pictorial print exhibitors signed up for the no-return policy. Up to 80% in one print section elected the no-return option. You spoke, we listened and you signaled your approval by signing up!

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Exhibitors said "digital section entry fees" should reflect the economics of running a digital section instead of the economics of running a slide section. The exhibition thought about it and agreed: this year digital exhibitors paid the "same entry fee" regardless of where they live in the world. And the change was sweetened a bit more by offering a single fee for submitting 4 images or 8 images. A roughly 70% reduction in digital entry fees produced a 70% entry increase in photojournalism and 105% increase in photo travel.

You, our valued member and customer spoke; the exhibition listened and responded affirmatively; and you responded affirmatively: truly, a win-win situation for which we must say thanks.

Accepted prints have always been exhibited at the PSA Conference. A couple of years ago a prominent printer made a casual comment, which might be translated to "there should be a better presentation of all this outstanding photography." The exhibit went to work on this challenge and the print co-chairmen Jan and Wally Lee developed a much-improved presentation using sheets of foam-core. The results were a much better presentation of the accepted prints. Traffic through the print display in 2008 was considerably higher than in past years and this would suggest "our customers" appreciated the presentation enhancements. Good inventions seem to have unexpected side benefits and these included a much faster and less stressful process for setting up and tearing down the show plus a much more efficient way of transporting the prints to and from the conference. In addition, the new system allowed many more prints to be hung.

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Again, you, the valued member and customer spoke; the exhibition listened and responded affirmatively; and you responded affirmatively: truly, a win-win situation for which we must again say thanks.

The 2009 PSA Exhibition will be conducted under the leadership of Daniel Charbonnet, III, FPSA. Dan has served as the nature digital chairman for three years. In 2006 he was chairman for the first digital nature section when there were 198 entries. Within two years the entry number grew to 537 and now it is the second largest section of the exhibition. And equally important, Dan has served as a de facto Assistant Chairman which means he will walk into this new position very well prepared.

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I assumed the leadership of our exhibition in 2004, and once again, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to all for your help, your suggestions and your support. It has been an incredible opportunity and personal learning experience!

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Wade W. Clutton, FPSA, EPSA 2008 PSA Exhibition General Chairman