AMPOTT Judges' Notes, 2006
12/08/07 16:57 Filed in: AMPOTT
Judges'
Notes
AMPOTT Photographic Competition, 2005-2006
A year ago, AMPOTT’s executive invited me to judge a collection of work and to comment on it at a gathering like this.
Then I could offer the assistance of a large corporation. Now I’m just another working guy in the business and all I can offer is my time and the resources I can afford to this worthy project.
Krishna and his team have entrusted me with the judging process for the stills category of the annual competition this year, and some worthy colleagues worked with me to evaluate the work submitted by working photojournalists this year.
William Aguiton, Noel Norton, Elmo Griffith and Garnet Ifill joined me in judging the submissions and picking the best of the work offered in each category.
My role this evening is to offer commentary on the images we viewed, but I may stray.
Some of my colleagues were alarmed by the graphic quality of some of the images we saw; the blood, the carnage, but I argue that photographer’s capture the news that happens, and if there is cruelty and wasted human life in our world, that’s what we will see in news photographs.
Some categories were weaker because of a lack of quality entries, and we encourage the nation’s photojournalists to refresh their efforts to support this competition with quality entries.
The work that was submitted was of almost uniformly competent quality. Today’s digital cameras make it difficult to make the type of technical errors that were common in the days of manual exposures, film processing and printing.
So with few exceptions, we were asked to judge pictures of good technical quality, properly exposed, with good tones and accurate colour.
I can’t help but feel, though, that all this automation has made of professional photojournalism a beautiful garden tended by machines.
In losing underexposures and misprints we have also lost the happy accidents that guided our learning process and helped us to develop a sense of individuality and style in our photography.
Now I’m not going to go old school on you. I really don’t miss the sharp tang of mixing fixer and getting developer stains on good clothes. I like the idea that I can see what I’m getting during a shoot and make adjustments as I go along.
I happen to be a big champion of technology and the ways it can make our work easier, opening horizons for creative potential.
I just worry, looking at the photographs that were submitted for this year’s competition, whether we are taking advantage of the way we can work today or settling for just getting the shot and hustling off to the next assignment.
Our equipment bags hold tools for making photographs, and we owe it to our craft and our profession to take control of them and challenge the imagination of newspaper readers.
Far too many images that get published in our nation’s newspapers are illustrations of a story, art to accompany the words. But among our winners are images that captured the story, visuals that needed words only to put names to the faces and locate the geography of the scene.
I put it to you that our goal with every assignment should be to capture an image that so completely encapsulates the story that the words are accompaniment, the rhythm section to our glorious solos.
We can choose to see each assignment as a chore or as a possibility, a new opportunity to engage our readers with a view of the world that they would not have seen otherwise.
We are the eyes of our publications and have a unique opportunity to add impact to the printed page and value to the companies that we work for.
We also have an opportunity to grow by sharing and this competition should be just one aspect of the work that we should be doing together as an association, but we can’t do it by expecting just a few people to realise the potential of AMPOTT.
In summary, I believe that media photographers can forge a stronger organisation if they work together in common purpose and with shared responsibility and that we can each do more to achieve that goal. I further believe that competitions such as this offer an opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the best our profession has to offer, and to emerge from the experience invigorated and enthusiastic, whether we win a place in the top three or not.
I had a chat last month with a young photographer who was consumed with anticipation about the results of this competition.
It wasn’t that long ago that I felt that gnawing anguish of uncertainty, but if age has guided me in any way, it has been to channel that competitiveness into every opportunity I have to work with a camera.
Now I treat every photo as a competition with myself, to better the work I’ve done before, with my colleagues, to create an image that will stand out in a world that’s flooded with visuals and younger, faster, better photographers are learning this trade even as we gather here.
To that end, I’ve put a little of my money into the pot to encourage black and white photography in the print media.
At least half of the photos that appear in our newspapers are printed on pages without colour assignments and as long as colour reproduction remains expensive and advertisers clamour for the colour pages that do exist, that’s likely to remain the case.
Now that digital photography is the standard for news photography, the images that appear on those pages are simply colour photos stripped of their vivid hues.
For a photo to work on those pages, it must fulfil the basics of good photography, strong contrast, good composition, a clear indication of the subject matter and impact that doesn’t depend on pretty colours.
Those qualities are the backbone of all good photography, and a photo that works well in black and white will only improve in colour.
In offering an award for best black and white photo this year, I am encouraging better work in the photos that appear on interior pages, but I am also inviting photographers to take a second look at their work and invest more time in getting the essentials right when they capture their images.
A great photo in black and white is always a great photo in colour. It isn’t always true when you go the other way.
Getting the photo is the job.
Getting the photo that is remembered is the vocation.
This evening we pay tribute to some exceptional photographs done by hardworking photographers on the job. Each of these images aspires to the excellence that is the hallmark of the best photojournalism.
On behalf of my fellow judges, Noel, William, Elmo and Garnett, I thank you for an opportunity to serve the craft and congratulate the winners on their work.
AMPOTT Photographic Competition, 2005-2006
A year ago, AMPOTT’s executive invited me to judge a collection of work and to comment on it at a gathering like this.
Then I could offer the assistance of a large corporation. Now I’m just another working guy in the business and all I can offer is my time and the resources I can afford to this worthy project.
Krishna and his team have entrusted me with the judging process for the stills category of the annual competition this year, and some worthy colleagues worked with me to evaluate the work submitted by working photojournalists this year.
William Aguiton, Noel Norton, Elmo Griffith and Garnet Ifill joined me in judging the submissions and picking the best of the work offered in each category.
My role this evening is to offer commentary on the images we viewed, but I may stray.
Some of my colleagues were alarmed by the graphic quality of some of the images we saw; the blood, the carnage, but I argue that photographer’s capture the news that happens, and if there is cruelty and wasted human life in our world, that’s what we will see in news photographs.
Some categories were weaker because of a lack of quality entries, and we encourage the nation’s photojournalists to refresh their efforts to support this competition with quality entries.
The work that was submitted was of almost uniformly competent quality. Today’s digital cameras make it difficult to make the type of technical errors that were common in the days of manual exposures, film processing and printing.
So with few exceptions, we were asked to judge pictures of good technical quality, properly exposed, with good tones and accurate colour.
I can’t help but feel, though, that all this automation has made of professional photojournalism a beautiful garden tended by machines.
In losing underexposures and misprints we have also lost the happy accidents that guided our learning process and helped us to develop a sense of individuality and style in our photography.
Now I’m not going to go old school on you. I really don’t miss the sharp tang of mixing fixer and getting developer stains on good clothes. I like the idea that I can see what I’m getting during a shoot and make adjustments as I go along.
I happen to be a big champion of technology and the ways it can make our work easier, opening horizons for creative potential.
I just worry, looking at the photographs that were submitted for this year’s competition, whether we are taking advantage of the way we can work today or settling for just getting the shot and hustling off to the next assignment.
Our equipment bags hold tools for making photographs, and we owe it to our craft and our profession to take control of them and challenge the imagination of newspaper readers.
Far too many images that get published in our nation’s newspapers are illustrations of a story, art to accompany the words. But among our winners are images that captured the story, visuals that needed words only to put names to the faces and locate the geography of the scene.
I put it to you that our goal with every assignment should be to capture an image that so completely encapsulates the story that the words are accompaniment, the rhythm section to our glorious solos.
We can choose to see each assignment as a chore or as a possibility, a new opportunity to engage our readers with a view of the world that they would not have seen otherwise.
We are the eyes of our publications and have a unique opportunity to add impact to the printed page and value to the companies that we work for.
We also have an opportunity to grow by sharing and this competition should be just one aspect of the work that we should be doing together as an association, but we can’t do it by expecting just a few people to realise the potential of AMPOTT.
In summary, I believe that media photographers can forge a stronger organisation if they work together in common purpose and with shared responsibility and that we can each do more to achieve that goal. I further believe that competitions such as this offer an opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the best our profession has to offer, and to emerge from the experience invigorated and enthusiastic, whether we win a place in the top three or not.
I had a chat last month with a young photographer who was consumed with anticipation about the results of this competition.
It wasn’t that long ago that I felt that gnawing anguish of uncertainty, but if age has guided me in any way, it has been to channel that competitiveness into every opportunity I have to work with a camera.
Now I treat every photo as a competition with myself, to better the work I’ve done before, with my colleagues, to create an image that will stand out in a world that’s flooded with visuals and younger, faster, better photographers are learning this trade even as we gather here.
To that end, I’ve put a little of my money into the pot to encourage black and white photography in the print media.
At least half of the photos that appear in our newspapers are printed on pages without colour assignments and as long as colour reproduction remains expensive and advertisers clamour for the colour pages that do exist, that’s likely to remain the case.
Now that digital photography is the standard for news photography, the images that appear on those pages are simply colour photos stripped of their vivid hues.
For a photo to work on those pages, it must fulfil the basics of good photography, strong contrast, good composition, a clear indication of the subject matter and impact that doesn’t depend on pretty colours.
Those qualities are the backbone of all good photography, and a photo that works well in black and white will only improve in colour.
In offering an award for best black and white photo this year, I am encouraging better work in the photos that appear on interior pages, but I am also inviting photographers to take a second look at their work and invest more time in getting the essentials right when they capture their images.
A great photo in black and white is always a great photo in colour. It isn’t always true when you go the other way.
Getting the photo is the job.
Getting the photo that is remembered is the vocation.
This evening we pay tribute to some exceptional photographs done by hardworking photographers on the job. Each of these images aspires to the excellence that is the hallmark of the best photojournalism.
On behalf of my fellow judges, Noel, William, Elmo and Garnett, I thank you for an opportunity to serve the craft and congratulate the winners on their work.
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