Allyson Ely’s A Place Out of Time is one of four winning portfolios in Soho Photo Gallery’s International Portfolio Competition 2025. As a winner, Allyson’s portfolio will be exhibited in a solo show that will run from August 20 through September 14. In addition, Allyson was invited to become a member of the gallery.
A Place Out of Time comprises thirteen images from Allyson’s project photographing interior spaces of 135’-high working silos at a Northern California cement storage and distribution terminal. Her images mark the first time since the terminal’s construction in 1925 that these spaces have been photographed. They reveal a world inaccessible to the public and celebrate the uncommon beauty of the architecture and machinery of an industry that has been an essential building block for society since antiquity.
She says: Given unprecedented access, I have spent the past 2 ½ years photographing this plant, with almost exclusive attention given to the interior spaces. Paying homage to inanimate machines in poorly lit silos may seem odd, but the equipment and the cement distributed are the product of human ingenuity and labor; and I view these machines with a sense of reverence which I capture in my work.
Allyson Ely: Silo Cone
Soho Photo Gallery solicited submissions of ten to fifteen compositionally and technically strong images with a consistent theme or topic. Nine portfolios were selected based on digital images submitted by more than 1000 photographers. The finalists submitted matted prints; and the four winning portfolios were chosen based on print presentation and quality, as well as composition of the portfolio. Jurors were members of Soho Photo Gallery’s Portfolio Review Committee. The committee has reviewed thousands of portfolios since the gallery’s beginning in 1971.
Soho Photo Gallery was founded in 1971 by a group of New York Times photographers who believed that there was a need in the photographic community for a cooperative gallery where serious photographers could exhibit their personal work, exchange ideas, and learn and grow as artists.
Details:
Soho Photo Gallery:
https://www.sohophoto.com/
539 W. 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
212-226-8571
A Place Out of Time:
Soho Photo Gallery Solo Show:
August 20 – September 14