Category: Contests

Photos From Kodak’s Picture Contests in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s

An Amateur Snapshot of Kodak’s Early Days

It was, they said, “the largest prize contest in photographic history.” The Rush Rhees Library in Rochester, N.Y., houses a collection of photographs from the first-ever picture contest sponsored by the Eastman Kodak Company.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/an-amateur-snapshot-of-kodaks-early-days/?pagewanted=all

Kodak advertised aggressively for its 1929 picture contest, spending hundreds of thousands to encourage “fortunate amateurs” to take part. Nancy Martin, a University of Rochester archivist and Rochester Collections librarian, says she believes the first contest was the company’s effort to “start cameras working and keep them working.”

March 2, 2012
Justin Maxon, Katie Orlinsky Win 2011 Alexia Foundation Grants

Link: NPPA

SYRACUSE, NY (March 1, 2012) – Photojournalist Justin Maxon is the winner of the2011 Alexia Foundation $15,000 grant for professionals,and Katie Orlinsky is the first place winner in the student category, Tom Kennedy of the Alexia Foundation For World Peace And Cultural Understanding announced.

March 2, 2012
PDN’s 30 2012: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch

Link: PDN

March 1, 2012
Craig Walker’s POYi-Winning Photographs

POYi: Shooting Close to Home

Who says you have to go halfway around the world to find gripping images? Craig Walker spent a year covering assignments in Denver, and in between shot an award-winning series on an Marine vet grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/poyi-awards-shooting-close-to-home/?pagewanted=all

Despite the convulsions of the Arab spring, the Japanese Tsunami and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Denver Post photographer Craig Walker stayed home in 2011. He covered daily assignments — and in between produced a wrenching story on an Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

February 29, 2012
POYi: Yuri Kozyrev’s Photographs from the Arab Uprisings

At Home on Revolution’s Road

Yuri Kozyrev won four major awards in this year’s Pictures of the Year International competition for his coverage of the uprisings in the Middle East. It was, he said in something of an understatement, “a pretty busy year.”

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/at-home-on-revolutions-road/?pagewanted=all

Yuri Kozyrev, who thanked his editors at Time for handling so many of the logistical details, said the awards are an honor. But so was the chance to bear witness to the uprisings. “Lenin witnessed two revolutions,” he said. “I had a good chance to witness four.”

February 29, 2012
WHNPA Eyes of History Contest Winners 2012

Link: WHNPA Eyes of History

February 27, 2012
How do you learn from photojournalism contests?

Link: Mike Davis

How do you know which type of photography is being recognized by a given contest? The answer is the same one to the question of “Which contest do you most often agree with what wins? The answer will tell you as much about your approach to photography as it does about contests.

February 24, 2012
Wim Wenders: Eulogy for James Nachtwey at the occasion of the Dresden Prize

Wim Wenders – Eulogy for James Nachtwey at the occasion of the Dresden Prize

If a war photographer is awarded a Peace Prize, furthermore in a city once devastated by a war, then he must be a very special person and a truly extraordinary photographer. And he must have…

via burn magazine: http://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2012/02/wim-wenders/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+burnmag+%28burn+magazine%29

James Nachtwey’s images give us an accurate idea of how he “goes about it”, in the true sense of the word: where others “just want to get out of here”, that’s where he goes. He travels, in principle, in the direction of places that other people are only desperately leaving from, or have already left in a hurry, or can’t leave anymore.

It is with that first movement that he’s already opposing war: With himself. With his safety, his life, his affection, his conviction. All of the above are captured in his images…

February 23, 2012
Samuel Aranda Meets the Subjects of His Award-Winning Photo

Link: Lens

Last Thursday night, Mr. Aranda returned to Yemen to cover Tuesday’s presidential election, which ends the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. But first, he had another task on his plate. He wanted to meet with the subjects of the photograph, to put a face on the image that gained so much attention after the award was announced on Feb. 10.

February 22, 2012
Van Houtryve Wins at POYi, with Help from Crowd Funding

Van Houtryve Wins at POYi, with Help from Crowd Funding | PDNPulse

Tomas van Houtryve, whose “Behind the Curtains” photo essay has won this year’s World Understanding Award at POYi, completed the eight-year project with the help of money he raised through the crowd-funding site Emphas.is. We don’t know if this is the fir

via PDNPulse: http://pdnpulse.com/2012/02/van-houtryve-wins-at-poyi-with-help-from-crowd-funding.html

Van Houtryve is currently using Emphas.is again in hopes of raising enough money to turn his recent work on North Korea into a book and exhibition.

February 17, 2012
Brent Stirton on winning two World Press Photo awards

Link: British Journal of Photography

This year one photographer won two prizes – Brent Stirton, who picked up first prize in the Nature Stories and Contemporary Issues Singles categories.

February 17, 2012
The Problem with Western Press Photo updated

Link: Conscientious

I just updated my article The Problem with Western Press Photo (scroll down to the bottom) to respond to some criticism.

February 17, 2012
Why The Critics Of The World Press Photo Muslim Pietà Are Wrong – By The People Who Know Best

Link: The Russian Photos Blog

Who’d be a World Press Photo winner? Or even a juror? In recent times it’s become something of a tradition to attack both the winning photo and the contest: this year did not disappoint.

February 17, 2012
World Press Photo Contest 2012

World Press Photo Contest 2012

via The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/world-press-photo-contest-2012/100246/

World Press Photo, a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, recently announced the winners of its 2012 photojournalism contest. More than 5,000 photographers from 124 countries submitted over 100,000 pictures to the competition. Top honors this year went to Samuel Aranda for his image of a woman holding a wounded relative during protests in Yemen. The prize-winning photographs will be assembled into an exhibition that will travel to 45 countries over the next year. Below is just a sample of this year’s group of winners — please visit the World Press Photo website to see them all. (See also the winners from 2011.) [32 photos]

February 16, 2012
Yemeni Woman in World Press Photo of the Year Speaks Out

Yemeni Woman in World Press Photo of the Year Speaks Out | PDNPulse

In Samuel Aranda’s photo, named World Press Photo of the Year last week, she is an unidentified, veiled woman who symbolizes thousands who have suffered in the anti-government demonstrations that swept the Arab world this past year. Now the woman behind t

via PDNPulse: http://pdnpulse.com/2012/02/yemeni-woman-in-world-press-photo-of-the-year-speaks-out.html

Now the woman behind the veil has come forward, according to an article in the Yemen Times.

February 15, 2012
The Problem with Western Press Photo

Link: Conscientious

If you look through the series of winning photographs of World Press Photo (I’m talking about the main winning image here, not the many others in the various categories), pretty much every photograph expresses something very specifically seen through our, Western, eyes. Photographers, of course, do their best to take good photographs. But what we see in the news, in newspapers, magazines, and on websites, is a carefully selected number of photographs conforming to usually very specific messages.

February 12, 2012
Aranda’s World Press Photo of the Year: Pietàs and Burkas and Just Plain Obscurity, Oh My!

Aranda’s World Press Photo of the Year: Pietàs and Burkas and Just Plain Obscurity, Oh My! – Reading The Pictures

So, does does Samuel Aranda’s 2011 World Press Photo of the Year, honoring the Arab Spring, too much resemble the Pietà? Or, is that the only place where Western eyes can hang their hat?

via Reading The Pictures: http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2012/02/arandas-world-press-photo-of-the-year-pietas-and-burkas-and-just-plain-obscurity-oh-my/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bagnewsnotes+%28BAGnewsNotes%29

So, does it, or doesn’t it? Does Samuel Aranda’s 2011 World Press Photo of the Year, honoring the Arab Spring, too much resemble the Pietà?

February 11, 2012
POV: My Take On The World Press Photo Of 2012

POV: My Take On The World Press Photo Of 2012

travel photographer

Link: http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2012/02/pov-my-take-on-world-press-photo-of.html

Everyone has an opinion…and voiced it. NPR even compared the scene to the Pieta, writing “the image bears an uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo’s iconic (and religious) Pieta. Along those lines, The New York Times describes it as having “the mood of a Renaissance painting.”

Ah, well…is this perhaps too much artsy thinking?

Whatever.

But here’s my take

February 11, 2012
World Press Photo: Still image of injured Muammar Gaddafi receives Special Mention

Link: British Journal of Photography

A still image of a video showing Muammar Gaddafi being pulled onto a military vehicle after his capture has received a Special Mention at the 2012 World Press Photo

February 10, 2012
World Press Photo: “It was about the people,” says jury chair Aidan Sullivan

Link: British Journal of Photography

“2011 was a momentous year,” says Aidan Sullivan, the chair of this year’s World Press Photo jury. “In the end, we tried to distill it down to what was the most important thing – the people.” He speaks to BJP.

February 10, 2012