Houstonist’s “600 sq mi: Hidden” Launches

This is a cool one; I’d missed it last time out, but apparently the folks at Houstonist are doing a followup photography show to 2007’s 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston exhibit, and the idea this time is to get local photogs here in our fair city to come up with pictures of the “hidden Houston” — the stuff that people might overlook but that is really, truly the best part, to my mind, of this city.

I’ve always maintained that Houston’s a city that goes misunderstood because it’s not an accessible place, a place where people can easily jump from one cool thing to another; it sucks to be a tourist here, unless you’ve got somebody who knows the city showing you around, because the really good things about H-town are the ones that lurk beneath the surface, where a casual glance can’t uncover it.

I think the Houstonist’s idea of getting Houstonians to expose some of that unknown beauty is excellent, something that needs to happen more often. They’re calling this exhibit, appropriately enough, 600 sq mi: Hidden, and here’s the gist of it from the Website:

It’s a juried exhibition of photographs showing the hidden side of Houston. What does that mean to you? Maybe it’s a corner of the city that only you know. One of those glimpses of nature that makes us forget, even for a second, that we live amid a tangle of asphalt and glass. It could be a festival that people don’t really know about, or perhaps one of those things that’s hidden in plain sight — something wonderful that we usually speed past on the freeway or an architectural detail most people never notice. Big or small, literal or figurative, these are the things that make Houston a great city, and we want to see your take on them.

Entering the show is easy. Just check out the official rules, then get your photos together and submit them using our online entry form. You can submit up to three photos with a flat $15 entry fee, which you send to us via PayPal. Entries are due by the end of the day Monday, July 13, 2009. If you have any questions about the process, the show in general or anything else, read through our FAQ. If you don’t find the answer you need there, drop us a line and we’ll be happy to help. The show will open in October at Xnihilo Gallery in the Montrose — more details on that later.

Our 2007 show, 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston, featured the work of 39 local photographers and was (we say modestly) a great success. This year’s show will be even better. So enter already!

See? Cool deal. If I can get my photographic shit together, I’m tempted to fork over the $15 and give it a shot, myself…