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136 IN FOCUS BY CATHERINE D. ANSPON. PHOTOGRAPHY ROSWITHA VOGLER. I t was a photo finish when Houston Center for Photography presented its annual print auction. The seated dinner at The Briar Club lured staunch collectors of the medium, as well as curators, artists, and the curious. For the first time in memory, a gallerist chaired alongside a pair of artists: Foto Relevance's Bryn Larsen (also a keen collector) and artists Libbie Masterson and Karen Chiao presided over the evening that established HCP's new scholarship fund for promising talents. Executive director Ashlyn Davis enjoined the packed room to "bid high and bid often," while auctioneer Sarah Krueger — in from NYC, where she helms the photo department at Phillips — deftly hammered down 43 live-auction lots. The top three: Daniel Gordon's eye-popping Still Life with Lemons, 2019, realized $9,500; Elliott Erwitt's vintage image, Valencia, Spain (Robert and Mary Frank), 1952, brought $11,000; and Roger Ballen's avian-themed Chicken Wings, 2012, went for $4,500. PHOTO FANS: Curators Anne Tucker and Clint Willour; FotoFest's Steven Evans; Mark Sullivan with Kathy Masterson and Tiffany Masterson; architect Robert Morris; collectors Jereann Chaney, Krista and Mike Dumas, Mary and Bernard Arocha, Meg and Nelson Murray, Frazier King, Philip Alter, HCP board chair Stuart Nelson, Bevin and Dan Dubrowski, Kath Blanco, and Sarah Bray; gallerists Catherine Couturier, Geoffrey Koslov, Betty Moody, Debra Barrera and Jonathan Hopson, Barbara Davis, and Heidi Vaughan; and artist headliners Keith Carter, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Avisheh Mohsenin, collaborators Mary Magsamen and Stephan Hillerbrand, Shelley Calton Nelson, in-from-Canada Torrie Groening, and Bucky Miller, whose surreal print of a leaf pile was acquired by Houston Symphony's Molly Simpson and husband Patrice Abivin. LOTS OF IMPORTANCE AT HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY PRINT AUCTION Claire Brunner, Lacey Brunner Ellen & Frank Donnelly Caroline Harrell Devon Liedtke Avisheh Mohsenin, Heidi Vaughan, Ali Naraghi Jessica Meyer, Michel Mullett Tennessee Ott, Brittany Cassin, Caroline Billipp Ashlyn Davis, Luke Burns Marcel & Mary Barone, Jereann Chaney Dan Dubrowski, Stephanie Fleck Molly Simpson, Debra Barrera Chair trio Karen Chiao, Bryn Larsen, Libbie Masterson Frazier King, Kath Blanco Bevin Bering Dubrowski Julie Blackmon