Welcome to NIGHTSCAPES — Nelson Photo’s exhibit for October 2018. This juried show features the inspiring work of 37 photographers from Light Chasers, a diverse learning community of photographers based in San Diego. With membership around the world representing many backgrounds and genres, photographers explore, share, and learn together about all aspects of photography. The leaders of Light Chasers have hosted photography meet-ups and workshops, including a landscape photography workshop at the San Diego County Fair’s International Exhibition of Photography, one of the largest and oldest photos shows in the U.S.

NIGHTSCAPES TEAM
Amethel Parel-Sewell has over 25 years of multidisciplinary experience as an award-winning editor-in-chief, creative director, photography editor, photographer, multimedia producer, graphic designer, curator, media archivist, educator, consultant, and mentor. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism from Western Kentucky University.

She is the founder of Light Chasers, a diverse photographic learning community based in San Diego County. Light Chasers fosters an encouraging, collaborative environment and hosts meet-ups, workshops, competitions, and group exhibits.

Amethel has served as a judge for Light Chasers, the San Diego County Fair International Exhibition of Photography,  Southern California Association of Camera Clubs (SCACC), and other art and media competitions. She is the Editor-in-Chief/Creative Director of Brilliant Star, an agency empowering youth around the globe, and promoting social justice, environmental stewardship, world citizenship, and use of the arts. She has led creative teams to win over 30 awards in communications, including Best in Class honors for print and digital media.

Stephen Bay, a Light Chasers co-founder and admin, was a cocurator and judge. A professional landscape and scenic photographer, Stephen was awarded first place in the large print category at the 2018 San Diego Fair’s photo show. He had a rewarding career as a computer scientist, then decided to focus on his love of travel and photography.

Evgeny Yorobe, a renowned San Diego landscape photographer with a gallery in La Jolla, California, was a guest judge. Evgeny has earned dozens of awards for his photography, and he has been named as one of the “20 Best Photographers You Need to Check Out Today” by PhotographyTalk.com.

Charmaine Gray, a co-founder and group admin, was a judge. She specializes in landscapes and premium pet photography and has served as the official photographer for dog surfing events in Southern California.

Gregory Asaro, a group admin, has a background in graphic arts and letterpress printing. He served as a judge and exhibit installer. As a meticulous, award-winning photographer, he specializes in landscapes, animals, minimalism and black & white.

San Diego architect Ken Parel-Sewell was a cocurator, chief teller, and the exhibit architect. He was in key in developing the the Light Chasers website. Special thanks to Chris Maust for his help with optimizing www.lightchasersworld.com.

Landscape photographer Linda Wright was instrumental in conceiving the exhibit and served as a teller for the competition. Linda specializes in seascapes and providing the Nightscapes team with the best Korean food.

Kai Parel-Sewell, who got his first camera at the age of five, also served as a teller. He’s the chief photographer and photo editor of the yearbook for Valhalla High School in San Diego’s East County.

COMPETITION & EXHIBIT
For the competition, the scoring rubric consisted of seven criteria: subject matter, impact, creativity, composition, color & tones, lighting, and technical quality. The winning entries featured a wide selection of night photography subjects, such as the Milky Way, the moon, star trails, lighting painting, auroras, and cityscapes.

A unique feature of NIGHTSCAPES is its interactive, educational element. Each image has a name plaque with a QR code. Exhibit visitors are invited to scan the code on each plaque to learn about the photographer, the story behind the image, and its related technical information. NIGHTSCAPES offers a great learning opportunity for photographers who are interested in landscape photography and astrophotography.

NIGHTSCAPES is also a showcase for the quality printing offered by the excellent printing lab at Nelson Photo. The winning images were printed and mounted by the skilled Nelson technicians.

This exhibit reflects a significant amount of effort and enthusiasm. We are grateful to Nancy and Larry Kuntz, the kind owners of Nelson Photo, for inviting us to show, and for their incredible support of the photo community in San Diego. We hope you enjoy it as much as Light Chasers delighted in producing this collection of photographs that celebrates the beauty of Earth and skies at night.