Jerry Rawlings, assistant professor of mass communication, has had two photographs juried into the 2016 International Krappy Kamera Competition at the SoHo Gallery in New York City. The two images are “Painted Hills” and “The Corrals.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity to exhibit in such a prominent gallery in New York’s SoHo district,” says Rawlings. “I think it is also significant because the exhibition demonstrates that the power of photography lies within the photographer and not with the equipment they use.”

Rawlings used a Lomography camera which has four plastic lenses and uses film. The lenses each snap at a different, fraction of a second. This allows for a panoramic view in one exposure and one frame of film, without moving the camera. The camera has no view finder operates on a pull-string shutter.

Krappy cameras were described by the competition as having lousy lenses. Pictures could be taken with any type of camera, such as a Holga, a pinhole camera, or even a newer camera with a modified lens.

Fellow photographer and Professor of Mass Communication Steve Babbitt doesn’t think, krappy, is the right word, “When you’re photographing with a simple or toy camera, you cannot rely on technology. All you can rely on is your ability to see and your skill at composition and being able to translate a scene in to, in Jerry’s case, something extremely beautiful.”

The 18^th annual exhibition begins March 2 and run through April 2 and is sponsored by Fujifilm, Lomography, Lensbaby and Freestyle Photographic Supplies.