What are salons and why do we do them?
Wikipedia: “From the seventeenth century to the early part of the twentieth century, artistic production in France was controlled by artistic academies which organized official exhibitions called salons.”
To be able to exhibit your work on a salon, you had to obtain the approval of the judges.
Today it is still the same in photography that all entries received are evaluated by the jury and only those found acceptable will be exhibited.
And this is how we think of a photographic salon today – an exhibition of photography.
Photographers are invited to submit their images in various categories for possible inclusion in the salon exhibition. A panel of judges scores all the submitted images and chooses approximately 20% for exhibition. The images that are chosen are known as “acceptances” and these are the “salon acceptances” that are required for Club promotion.
The acceptance rate will be different for each event and is set by the jury but within the parameters set by the organisations which approved the exhibition (salon) and lend their name to it (patronage).
In South Africa, PSSA as the national organisation representing amateur photographers, uses a guideline for acceptances for PDI (projected digital images) salons at between 20 and 25% and up to 35% for prints and Audio Visuals. Overseas you may see rates between 25 – 45%!
The prime reason for presenting a salon is to see work that you would otherwise not see and share that with all our members and the public.
The entry fee is there to cover cost and if there is a surplus that is a bonus.
Salons are either National ones where only photographers from South Africa (as well as all members of PSSA worldwide) may enter or International ones where photographers from all over the world compete.
A list of salons is published on the PSSA website, in Club newsletters and entry for SA salons is generally via PhotoVaultOnline.
Conditions of Entry
The salon conditions of entry document (salon brochure) will provide all the detail of the event such as:
• Time table – Closing date, judging dates, when results will be available and exhibition dates.
• Awards – Medals and other awards which can be won.
• Categories of entry and their definitions.
• Names of the judges.
• Entry fees
• How to enter
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