Chere Pafford :: Photographer

Big Mack Daddy

2012-01-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

Our friend - Billy Mack - died this last summer. He is missed. He left two wonderful young women behind; his daughters Leisha and Lauren. And I have to think that in his life they were what he was most proud of. They were a testament to, and a record of, the best of him. He was, to use a cliche; larger than life. To walk into a room and be greeted by his hollers of "Oh, oh, be still my heart" was always a thrill and I loved it. I loved him. He was my daughter's god-father and her dad's best friend.
A poet, a lover of wine and food and life and most of all music. He would send you his favorites. He would write a poem about you and lose it. He drove like a mad man and smelled like cigars. I have a photo on our wall that is a collage of old rodeo postcards that was his and I had to clean what must have been 20 years of cigar smoke off the glass. Okay there might have been some other substance mixed in there too. This photo of him sits above the light switch that turned on his dining room lights. We ate there and played poker there and loved his little girls there. We talked through marriage and divorce and back again. I like that I can see his finger prints on the switch. I have his hat and his rodeo picture. I miss him. When I look at his girls I see his smile. What a lovely thing to have given your children.

San Francisco doorway

2012-01-23T16:45:00.001-08:00

Merry Merry! Greetings from Uncle Chuck and Uncle Rube.

2011-12-19T11:15:00.001-08:00

WOW! I Won 2nd Place in The Master's Cup - Winner beware...

2011-11-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying that I am simply telling my story so that the next photographer has this information before they decide whether or not to enter this competition. I have documented this every step of the way. So while I may not include the emails and screenshots in this post, be assured that they exist. I have not reached a conclusion myself as to whether these people were lazy or whether this was all calculated. What I do know is there was a lot that was untrue. And if you are winning an award and claiming a prize (in this case the jury is the prize) then it matters.

I will try to make this short:
I entered The Color Awards (Master's Cup) last year sometime. And this year I entered The Spider Awards. They are owned by the same two people: Basil and Michelle O'Brien. I realized the two competitions were associated when I noticed my passwords (a series of numbers) were identical.
Initially, I received an odd email saying I had missed the big, live, online show, the night before but I could catch it again the coming Saturday, and to have my acceptance speech ready. ??? Did I win? If they had the show last night, why would they do it again, live, on Saturday? Clicked on list of winners and nominees and I am very pleased to see I had won 2nd place in their People category.
But I am still confused. Why didn't they notify me? How do you give a speech and where...
I look to see who else won and I decide to contact the photographer of the year to see if she knew, she had not been notified either.
So I Google 'The Master's Cup scam' and see a few posts that mention a jury pool that is falsified and a magazine that you can subscribe to, but never seems to go to print. Also a claim of affiliation with certain organizations where there is none.
My next step was to go to the biggest names on their list of jurors and begin calling them directly. I started with Getty - no, National Geographic - no, FOX - no. Looked at The Spider Awards and pulled out Lenswork - no. Went back to The Master's Cup and when I searched names paired with companies, the person had worked there but not for a few years. To be honest I did run across three people who said yes they were a juror; Christie's of London - looked at a few images from about 5 categories. David and Goliath - yes. Hasted-Hunt - no then yes.

Their Suite in Beverly Hills is a Mailbox Express. Their phone is disconnected. Their magazine does not exist in paper form.
That was enough for me. I emailed my findings and stated that I wanted my money refunded for both competitions. They did that immediately, assuring me that they were a reputable organization and I was mistaken. I sent them another email reiterating that I had contacted jurors and that they were listing jurors who did not participate and that I expected them to edit that to reflect an accurate list or I intended to warn people. They did nothing. So I sent out a few emails and let Michelle and Basil know. The next day there were 21 jurors removed from their list, the voting criteria link was removed (assuring you that all jurors looked at, and rated, every image), and the lead paragraph in the jury section had been changed (that said essentially the same thing). They took down the link to the winners. But the URL was still active. So I have a screenshot of the People's category with my name removed and then they did the oddest thing; instead of moving 3rd place to 2nd place, they picked an Honorable Mention winner and put that person in 2nd place.
They also left two jurors listed that had specifically told me they did not jury the competition this year.
They never removed those two big names. Now they are on the list but we are on to the next competition and I would assume those two have committed to being jurors this year.
I was also shocked to see that they moved my 'winning' image to Nominee status which makes me look like someone who had a problem with not winning. On the contrary, I had a problem with winning and not being able to honestly say that it was authentic.
I notified them that they were using my image without a copyright release -they removed it promptly. However, to do that, I had to create a fake email to notify them because they quit taking my emails.

When I watched the first 15 minutes of the awards show it made me so sad. The artists were thrilled and here's the main thrust of the issue; most all of them thanked the esteemed jury for choosing their images. Now I can't say that the remaining jurors weren't esteemed - I had not personally heard of most of them.
But all the big names Getty, Eastman Kodak, National Geo., Fox, Vogue UK, Phaidon Publishing, Esquire, - not on the list now. Plus 14 others. These jurors had not seen one image entered in this competition.

That's it in a very big nutshell, except that I didn't mention that they edited the jury for The Spider Awards as well; they removed 24 jurors from that list (Sothebys, Lenswork, Magnum, CommunicationArts, PDN- to name a few). I did not, however, pay too much attention to that contest because it is in-progress. I think most people would not contact a juror because that seems unethical. Maybe we all should make a practice of doing just that.

A very important part of this story is that these jurors are not part of this facade. They either didn't know they were listed or in some cases had no luck in getting their name removed. And the photographers? Some of the best in our industry.

Did I mention the cost? $105 to enter 5 images in The Spider Awards. That was their half-off price I believe. I think I entered 3 images in The Master's Cup and that was $85. No cash prize for The Spider Awards. Master's Cup cash to first place winners $18,000 this year (unverified), next year - nothing.
Low overhead: 2 mailboxes, 3 websites, no phone. Nice profit!

http://www.worldphotoarts.com/

McCall, Idaho. Going into winter.

2011-10-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

While walking in the forest, I found these.

2011-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Photo Review

2011-09-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

These two images were chosen to be in The Photo Review Publication - Competition Issue. It's due out in 2012 so there's a little wait.
But they chose two of my favorite images from The Fair series:

B&W Magazine - September Issue

2011-09-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Back in May I was notified that I had been chosen, along with some other phenomenal photographers, to be featured in B&W Magazine. I was absolutely thrilled, number one, to be among those talented people, and number two, to have The Fair work recognized.

Camera Obscura - Abelardo Morell

2011-09-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

I came across this article in National Geographic the other day and was thoroughly fascinated by these images. The photos featured in Natl. Geo. are color and are stunning. His light bulb in a box is as thrilling to look at as the Brooklyn Bridge splashed across a room.

This image is titled: Light Bulb,1991

10 Lessons from Henri Cartier-Bresson

2011-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson 2: Be Patient

There are 9 more - check out Eric Kim's blog for the others. Lesson 2 just happened to feature one of my favorite images. And I originally found this on kottke.org.

Summer in Bodega Bay

2011-08-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

My friend 'T' and I decided to take a little holiday to Bodega Bay. She was hoping to escape the sweltering heat of the foothills; and that she did. As usual our Summer has been chilly, foggy and windy. But come Fall, everything heats up. I have been in Northern California for 29 years and every Summer this takes me by surprise.

Vivian Maier's self portraits

2011-06-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic image. I love everything about it. Click on the photo to see the rest and read the story about Vivian and how her images were discovered.

http://www.vivianmaier.com

Grandma

2011-06-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

My grandfather was an artist of sorts, and it obviously spilled over into his photography. He loved taking photos of flowers and of my grandmother when she dressed up for a special occasion. Here we have the two subjects combined! It looks a little like she's trying to extract some information from the sunflower, however the cosmos appear to be her friends. These two images together make me laugh. Originally I thought they were taken on the same day but she's wearing pants in the bottom photo. I just got lucky is all.
Wait 'til I post the photo of her with his prize oranges!

On another note; It is common to see images of Grandma with her feet missing. Not sure why, but I have noticed that.

Spring in Sonoma Valley

2011-05-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in the hood.

2011-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Some words of wisdom from Ira Glass.

2011-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Information that is so relevant to those who create art. And I love Ira, so it's extra enjoyable to watch:

Life Support Japan

2011-04-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wall Space Gallery in Seattle is doing a wonderful job of raising money to help with Japan's recovery. Photographers have donated images which are being sold for $50 in issues of 10 each and all the proceeds are split between two non-profit groups. This is the image I have donated:

If you are interested in this piece or maybe one of the other wonderful images, check out this link:

http://www.wall-spacegallery.com/displayShow.php?showID=128&collection=3

I thought I would fill you in on the evolution of this particular image. I took this at the local nursery and originally it was in color. But I prefer B&W. So after some processing on the computer and adding a texture, I made a digital negative (thanks Dan Burkholder!) and printed it on hand coated paper with a Van Dyke solution. Then I had to make it accessible again for the computer so I scanned it and here it is! Talk about coming full circle. By the way, this image was also part of a juried exhibition in Vermont at Photo Place Gallery.

Sophie's photo shoot...

2010-10-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

I want to thank Sophie for being such a fantastic model. So much fun to work with and not only willing to do anything I had in mind, she had some great ideas of her own!

The Vandyke Process

2010-06-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, an English astronomer. It's old and wonderful and dreamlike. It's also done in a darkroom which is a wonderful thing. To expose, you can use the sun's UV rays. Each image is hand coated on watercolor paper then dried then exposed and developed and dried again.By the way, these were all taken in Sonoma.

The visual on California's water issues.

2010-05-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

2010-05-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Pearl Fryar from the movie; A Man Named Pearl.
My husband and I watched this movie before my trip to SC and I was thrilled with the chance to meet him in person. What a wonderful story and the man is a gem. Very gracious and welcoming. His yard is a treasure and a reason to visit, not only Bishopville, but South Carolina.

Pearl Fryar. One of the top five reasons to visit South Carolina.

2010-05-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

South Carolina, it's all about trees.

2010-05-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

2010-04-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

This is Helen and these images were taken at Anne Appleman's Flowers and Plants, in Sonoma.
Such a beautiful place that completely complimented such a sweet little girl.
I loved the shoot!

2010-04-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is my girl...and her guy.

2009-11-09T19:28:00.001-08:00

How difficult was it to not photograph my own daughter's wedding. I had so many ideas but really just wanted to be able to watch and be present for such a wonderful event. So I gave that honor to Kathrin Miller of GumGirl.com/. And I took some images of my own a few days later.

Ran out of light but took some I love. And here they are.

Our new son-in-law and our lovely daughter...

Jade and Jon got married!

2009-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

beautiful fall

2009-09-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

The night sky is in his eyes

2009-08-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

Pure sugar...

2009-08-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

Brady, Belle, & Lucy - cuter than cute!

2009-07-29T08:44:00.001-07:00

Parker and his mom.

2009-06-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Jenny and her baby Parker.

I just love this photo.

Robert and his mom.

2009-06-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ria

2009-06-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

The oldest of the two sisters. Ria has my favorite combination - red hair and freckles. She is just darling and likes the same color nail polish as I do. For some reason I imagine her on the beach with a surfboard but the truth is that she is an expert skier and she prefers her water frozen. At least in the winter!

Addi

2009-06-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Big blue eyes and the tiniest voice. My youngest niece. Apparently she can sell Girl Scout Cookies like nobody's business. Really, how could you say no?

Grace & Chris

2009-05-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite images from this session.

Grace eating a flower. And Chris' freckled face.

Thanks to Pam at Half Pint for helping us choose the clothes.

This was the most precious little dress.

If you click on the images you can see them a bit larger!

Amelia

2009-05-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well I just adore this image. I made it into a B&W then added a sepia tone and painted it. Then added a border that is ever so slight but really works with this photo. Between Beth and Jeff's beautiful girls and Half Pint's beautiful clothes, the images are just so sweet. Click on the photo to see it a bit larger.

soooo much fun

2009-04-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Alex and Amelia were my models for the Half Pint ad shoot. There were thousands of little leaves - just like confetti - and, well, the picture tells the story.

Jade at the beach

2009-04-15T12:08:00.001-07:00

This turned out so lovely. Jade, my favorite subject, at the beach. It was such a cold blustery day and the waves were wild. We took a few others but I liked this the best. Still have the film to develop. That should be interesting!

Sweet Natalie - She's Two Now!

2009-04-15T09:25:00.001-07:00

I first photographed Natalie when she was a little round butter ball of a baby. She's all grown up now (well almost!) She's all about running and climbing and that little girl has endless energy! Come back in a few weeks and you can see her super cute face!