SEEN
a juried online exhibition that celebrates the work of emerging DIY/Punk photographers Living and working in Pensacola, FL.
On behalf of our juror, Julia Gorton, we are pleased to announce that Andrew Velasco, is the winner of the Julia Gorton Photography Award, including $1000 Cash Award & Solo Exhibition at 309 Punk Project in 2024! Julia also awarded five photographs an Honorable Mention. She wrote:
"In reviewing the submissions, I found myself returning to these five images again and again. The quiet and personal moments captured by these photographers are a perfect balance to Andrew's kinetic and dense club images, and I felt it was important to include and highlight them in some way."
The Honorable Mention winners are Kai Eckard, Seb Wynn, Natalie Allgyer, Heidi Woods, and Jamie Ross.
"In reviewing the submissions, I found myself returning to these five images again and again. The quiet and personal moments captured by these photographers are a perfect balance to Andrew's kinetic and dense club images, and I felt it was important to include and highlight them in some way."
The Honorable Mention winners are Kai Eckard, Seb Wynn, Natalie Allgyer, Heidi Woods, and Jamie Ross.
winner: andrew VelAsco
Andrew Velasco is a photographer based in Pensacola, FL who is documenting the revival of the local DIY/Punk music scene that was negatively impacted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew’s early work captures local favorites The Taints, Ego Death, Feed Lemon, and BONES at DIY venues Easy Going Gallery, American Legion 33, and Dixeyland Rocks. In 2022 he was voted runner-up for InWeekly’s Best of the Coast - Best Photographer category.
His body of work spans more than tens of thousands of photos of more than 100 artists/bands and the rise of the Pensacola music scene as well as assisting bands in promoting their music and growing their audiences. His work has been published in online articles and print newspapers, used for album art, and shared across social media. Andrew continues to support and photograph the local scene and works closely with bands Feed Lemon and Ego Death. His work can be found at andrewvelasco.com.
His body of work spans more than tens of thousands of photos of more than 100 artists/bands and the rise of the Pensacola music scene as well as assisting bands in promoting their music and growing their audiences. His work has been published in online articles and print newspapers, used for album art, and shared across social media. Andrew continues to support and photograph the local scene and works closely with bands Feed Lemon and Ego Death. His work can be found at andrewvelasco.com.
Angel Goldsby
Angel Goldsby, a Pensacola Native, is an artist who is highly interested in animation, digital art, video, photography, painting, and various other mediums. As she grew up on the white sunny beaches of Florida, the more infatuated she became with the beauty of the world and all its intricate details. Her interest varies widely from botany, robotics, and AI to even urban legends. Angel's passion for the arts has been strong ever since high school when the Pensacola Museum of Art exhibited her work for a contest. Besides Photography, Angel also demonstrates an innate talent for animation when she worked in UWF's Flock Dock Instagram Internship that advertises upcoming events. If you have an Instagram account, you might have seen her work advertising the annual "Club U-dub" event for the 2021-2022 school year. Angel now hopes to display an upcoming work in the BFA Exit Show titled "Synthesis," where she will display an animation called "The Day Became Wolves" for everyone to see.
sydney mcdaniel
The camera, the film, the chemicals, and the darkroom. These are the essential tools I use to create, explore, and experiment. Film photography is my medium of choice in constantly seeking to create and capture a unique otherworld. I rely on experimental, color, black and white 35mm, and 120mm films as well as double and multiple exposures to further investigate this world. I aim to use photography as a means to better understand myself, my community, and my environment. Embracing developmental mistakes and shooting whatever catches my eye, I am drawn toward movement, flow, and abstraction. Relying on these elements while exploring the familiar or known in a new way allows me to see the change and endless possibilities of the world around me. Working primarily with a Nikon f3, the camera gives me a new voice, new interests, and new questions to ask each time I shoot. To me, the camera is a beautifully addictive device of duality. I see the camera as an extension of myself, a second set of eyes for viewing in a new way. Without my camera I can feel uncomfortable or ancy, and regret for missing any potential shots. Yet, with my camera I can feel as if I am distancing myself from being actively involved in my own life. There is a delicate balance between observation and participation with a camera in hand. Each shot I take, and all of my work, is a reflection of my experiences of being. My work in film photography is an ever evolving visual narrative filled with gratitude, love, and intrigue for this being I am
Hunter morrison
Hunter Morrison is a journalist and photographer based in northwest Florida. This body of work, titled Juvenescence, focuses on the short-lived autonomy and self-determination associated with youth. More often than not, young people are robbed of these freedoms, forced to grow up before they’re ready. The “men” photographed here, who are in their early twenties, are not yet men, but boys who grew up too soon. Whether it be from societal pressures, familial pressures, financial pressures, or events that shaped their lives; these boys were coerced to mature before they were ready and take upon responsibilities they are not entirely equipped for. Internally, they are grappling with an unfamiliar sentiment, somewhere between child and adult. These photographs represent this fleeting time - one partially exempt from the responsibilities of adulthood, but totally devoid of the innocence of childhood - through an icon synonymous with youth culture: skateboarding.
gregory park
I shot my first roll of film over a few days at the end of January, and these photos are all from that first roll. I shot on Kodak Gold 200 and made some slight exposure adjustments in Photoshop
Katie brabham
Hi my name is Katie Brabham, I grew up in Pensacola and have been shooting film photography for almost a year now. My intentions are to capture photos that express the human experience. I hope to portray the lonelier side of what it means to be human. Isolation can be peace or it can be war. Either way, it’s something beautiful.
Honorable Mention: seb wynn
My photography started, and remains, as an homage to my friends, my music scene, and the things I find joy in. I find it hard to sit down and shoot something that is still or posed for me, I'd rather capture a moment that will remain burned in my memory for the rest of my life and have that photograph show my affection for the memory through it. I tell everyone in my life that I am not sure I have ever been in love, but when I look at these photos and think of how much the people in them or the moment meant to me, I'm sure it's something akin to it that I feel.
chloe fox-edele
Motivated by a deep interest in psychology and a desire to people-watch, I concentrate on exploring the evolving dynamics of the human condition. I am inspired by experimenting with bold and dynamic compositions and cinematic aesthetics. Primarily, I work in photography, and videography because I enjoy the versatility and satisfaction of composing original images from new perspectives. My works are eerie, ambiguous, and introspective. I aim to create powerful, intimate, and thought-provoking images.
benjamin glass
Benjamin Glass is a 39 year old photographer wanna-be from Florida in general. He takes pictures with whatever is in his pocket, which is most always a cell phone. This is kinda lame and he knows it.
jennifer hendrix
This is a selection from a larger body of work, "Inside-Out". "Inside-Out" seeks to highlight the complexities of humanity and the facade that is erected to either mask or protect inner vulnerabilities. The juxtapositions in each image provide the viewer opportunities to look inside and determine for themselves the relationship between the exterior and what lies within, protected from the world "Inside-Out" is comprised of single capture images that rely on reflections and light to give the impression of a composited or multiple-exposure image.
HONORABLE MENTION: Kai eckard
My name is Kai Eckard and I have been doing photography for two and a half years now. My goal is to use my lens to capture the most vividly human parts of our world, seen through my eyes.
Kaylee Koether
My name is Kaylee Koether, and I am from Milton, FL. Photography is a recent form of art I have become interested in and I have found a joy in photographing people, above other subjects. When you look at a person, they can tell you an entire story based on their facial expressions and body language. I like to capture this and show it in my photographs, that way I can share a story of someone.
Raianna Vierkant
As a child, I couldn’t understand the concept of ‘memory’. Viewing family photos and files of objects saved from my childhood has become an obsession. This fixed interest has led me to create work that functions as an archive, an archive of memories, not only mine, but by using found objects, it includes the lost memories of strangers. Filmmaking and photography are my main media. Creating new narratives out of fragments, memories, and images fascinates me. Raw and visceral imagery is paired with a variety of persons, questioning the constructs of gender. Creating and capturing strong emotional responses is paramount in my work. The gaps and flaws create a space of rest to reflect on these emotions, questioning what is fear? What is hurt? and What is memory?
JD
Hi! I’m JD (They/them), and I am a teenage Arabic artist from Florida! I have devoted my life to the study of sharks, while also creating colorful art with meaning. I’m a pretty loud punk, and you can often find me making art with friends, or attending local protests. During my life, I often struggled with the ideas surrounding death, and how if we have limited time, why do anything at all? But after years of thinking, I’ve slowly turned that mindset around, and am now a firm believer in living life to the fullest, because our time IS finite, so why waste it? These photos aim to exemplify this, these are times where for whatever reason, I was ecstatic. Maybe the sky was pretty, maybe it was my first punk concert, maybe I got to hangout with my vultures, my point is, these photos capture a time where stress was the farthest thing from my mind, and I think that’s something worth sharing.
alex love
Alex is a Pensacola photographer whose main focus is capturing people and things in moments that others might find mundane. Their goal is to embody a time forgotten while bringing forward the emotion of the present. You can find more of their work at https://almarie636.wixsite.com/aglimpsephotography?fbclid=PAAaae-qduvE-2BT2gRG33eiEfmdwcRS-VVJqYnR6OA_mq-HP6n92lnpzIUiw and instagram @a_glimpse_photography.
Ian Rockette
I'm Ian Rockette, and I'm from Pensacola, Florida. I've been fascinated by film photography for a few months, so I decided to invest in a few cameras. These pictures are from the third roll of film I had developed. Dealing with the intricacies of a film camera has made me slow down and absorb what I'm shooting. It's a really meditative and somewhat unforgiving process. After taking up this hobby, I feel more conscious of experiencing and seeing the small details of the world around me instead of just passing through it.
HONORABLE MENTION: Natalie Allgyer
Natalie Allgyer specializes in digital portrait photography and mixed media. She aspires to create a visual world that most accurately expresses her own finely-tuned brand of romanticism. Her personal journey towards complete self-discovery and acceptance has inspired a certain softness in the way that she approaches photographing her subjects. She takes care to draw special attention to the natural beauty of the Body. This fascination with the human form is a defining thread that can be seen throughout her entire body of work. However, not all of her images are rooted in realism. She is also greatly inspired by all things eccentric and fantastic. Natalie urges the viewer to notice and admire both the gentle beauty of the mundane and the magical whimsy of life.
HONORABLE MENTION: jamie ross
Jamie Ross is a lifelong Pensacola resident who aims to capture the cinematic feelings that come from scenes of her daily life. She picked up her first 35mm film camera in 2019 - the same time that she re-entered the local punk scene since straying away after the death of her older brother. Jamie believes that a picture is worth 1000 emotions.
Ian Larrieu
I am Ian Larrieu, and I've known nothing but this town for most of my life. When you don't get to go to far off places, it causes you to examine what's close to you more carefully. I have always been drawn towards abandoned structures. They remind me of what once was, what now is, and eventually, what will become of all. Something about nature taking over what is rightfully hers has intrigued me ever since I was little. From cars past their expiration date sagging on curbs to crumbling trailers in the woods, everything man makes will not last. So for me, watching vines creep up cracked side paneling has always been a fond pastime. I wanted to share a handful of photos from places close to me. Some are from a long abandoned church, a structure once deemed holy now sagging under the weight of rainwater bloated insulation foam. Others from a recently abandoned bar, one which has already had vandals wreck everything they can destroy without major consequence. I hope you find these images as oddly entrancing as I do.
Gabriel Grimm
Gabriel Grimm is a Pensacola Native Photographer who aims to capture a beautiful representation of the city, its people and the travelers who come through. Only recently adding Digital photography to his toolset, he has shot entirely on film for the last 3 years to push a statement that film can be be used as A valid option in the modern age
HONORABLE MENTION: heidi Woods
Heidi Danielle Woods is a multimedia artist with special focus in film photography and blacksmithing. Born in New Orleans, she has lived in Pensacola, Florida on and off for most of her life. In 2018 she began studying photography at Pensacola State College.This particular body of work is called “No Chronology”. It spans through various media, including photography, metal and clay sculpture, poetry, as well as illustration. The work began with no specific purpose other than simply groping to cope with the pain of existence; navigating love, loss, isolation, friendship, and community through the lens of someone living w chronic illness and ptsd.The images at hand, through first and third person perspectives; are a nod to the singularities and universalities of otherwise perfectly banal day to day experiences in a perpetual state of pain, fatigue, apprehension, general anxiety/fear, and frequent disassociation.