It’s kind of a Salon des Refusés.

The idea came to me a few years back when the Capture Photography Festival excluded a major Vancouver photographer from its annual celebration of photography.

So many photographers; so few walls to hang their pictures.

A story:

A number of years ago Andrea Collins had a gallery on Salt Spring Island devoted to photography.

When I visited soon after it opened Andrea recognized me but couldn’t remember the where, or the what, so I reminded her that she had seen some of my pictures in a group show and she’d said, during a long conversation, she liked them very much.

Even though it was obvious Andrea didn’t remember my pictures, she immediately asked me to submit something to the gallery.

I tried to dissuade her by saying I didn’t think my pictures were what she wanted, but she insisted.

So I told her the name of my website.

She quickly found it on her laptop, and said, “Clearcuts! You’re the guy who takes pictures of clearcuts. I don’t want clearcuts in my gallery.”

She liked my pictures in someone else’s gallery, but not hers.

So I know about “Refusés”.

Here’s to “Refusés”.

John Denniston / April, 2021