Chester Fields is an initiative of The Polygon Gallery that encourages the development of visionary young photographers, giving them an opportunity to show their work on a professional platform. Teen artists from across the region are invited to submit original works of photographic art in response to a theme. All submittals are reviewed by a jury of artists and arts professionals, who select works to be shown in both virtual and onsite exhibitions. Our Spring exhibition at The Polygon Gallery was Cloud Album, which celebrated the contributions of photography to the development of modern meteorology. From the medium’s beginnings in the 1800s through to the mid- twentieth century, advancements in camera technology allowed researchers to document clouds more accurately, and to catalogue their forms, leading in turn to more accurate predictions of weather. These researchers depended on hundreds of photographers – many of whom were hobbyists or amateurs – to continually point their cameras skyward, capturing thousands of images that tracked subtle changes in atmospheric activity. This commitment to returning to a subject repeatedly inspired the 2022 Chester Fields theme, Look Again. Photography is so often an instantaneous process; what new possibilities can be discovered when we draw that process out? Rather than capturing an image instantly, photographers were challenged to choose a subject that they would revisit, again and again, over a period of time. Artists interpreted this theme, and took up this challenge, with incredible ingenuity. At a time when our attention is often scattered and diverted, themes of slowing down, looking closely, and contemplating carefully continued to arise among the rich variety of images submitted.
