Starting in 2005, I began submitting entries to the Virginia Press Association's annual photo competition. For the past four years I have had a pretty good run of it, earning seven first places, three seconds, and three thirds (see them here), as well as having one selected Best in Show for non-daily publications. It's been a lot of fun, and it's been challenging, especially since there are additional requirements for freelancers that aren't placed on staff photographers.
One of those requirements is that you have to be published in at least half of a publication's issues during the course of the year. Unfortunately, thanks to the economy, the publication that I had been shooting for during the past four years decided that they couldn't afford to keep my weekly column going...which means that this year I won't be able to submit anything to the annual competition.
Ironically, I got a call from the VPA wanting to know if I could help them judge another state's photos (the different press associations reciprocate judging so they won't have to judge their own). When I asked them if it mattered that I personally wasn't a member of the association, they said no, that they knew me, and that they'd appreciate my participation. What a trip.
So, next Thursday I'll head down to their offices to judge maybe a couple thousand photos in about eight hours. Thanks to DPC, I think I'm pretty well prepared for the task! Thankfully, I don't have to comment on all of them...
(PS, they told me to bring an appetite, so I'm pretty looking forward to that as well!)
That sounds like fun, Skip. Process reminds me of PPA's annual contests. I've sat through judging before (as an observer) and was boggled by the hundreds and hundreds of images that pass by them in such a short amount of time.
I look forward to hearing how they do the judging and what the experience was like for you, and a special report (photo-essay?) on the quality of the buffet. ;-)
good work skip! I just judged Texas's newspapers in a similar contest for them a couple months ago. It definately takes time. Oregon just had theirs judged as well, and I brought home a "best features photo" first place award, as well as a "best lifestyles coverage" first place award, as well as several second and third place awards. Its a great thing! Have fun with it!
there were only 5 of us and we were set up in two panels. i had the great fortune to be paired up with james wallace, the director of photography for the richmond times-dispatch, one of the largest dailies in the state, and my being there was tantamount to being a full day short course in photo review. i'm still amazed at how much i learned sitting next to him.
this really was an unbelievable experience. we were judging a year's worth of images from nearly every publication in the state. every type of image (spot news, feature, sports, general), and not just stills! we also judged sound slideshows and multi-media videos. and it took us until about 6pm to finish.
one thing James told me a while back was to never submit anything that you didn’t want your name under, that if you only had two images and one of them wasn’t up to your standards, only turn in one, that you are under no obligation to give an editor the opportunity to chose your bad photo. well, as we scrolled through image after image, narrowing down to the ultimate winners, it was readily apparent the difference between getting the job done, and making the extra effort. we saw some absolutely outstanding photography, to say the least.
i am really psyched for the winners! the photo of the year is simply incredible!! (once they make the official announcement next month, i'll post a link here.)
Thanks for the follow up - looking forward to seeing the winners, too.
and now for the winners, debbie...
It's really cool that the HSPA puts together a complete commemorative package like this. It's a fairly large pdf, so be patient once you click the link.
The Photo of the Year is on page 9; scroll all the way through to see the other winners for different divisions and categories. All in all, some really good stuff.
Thanks for the follow up - looking forward to seeing the winners, too.
and now for the winners, debbie...
It's really cool that the HSPA puts together a complete commemorative package like this. It's a fairly large pdf, so be patient once you click the link.
The Photo of the Year is on page 9; scroll all the way through to see the other winners for different divisions and categories. All in all, some really good stuff.
Enjoy!
Whoa, Skip, have you got your eyeballs back yet?
that was an enormous amount of judging work and a wonderful distillation of what must have been a tremendous amount of excellent output from the submitters.
Oh, yes, the 1st place winner was a standout; so was the pie-in-the-face contest, and too many others to single out in this competition.
If anyone ever wanted the verification of truth to that adage, "a picture is worth a thousand words,"
well, this image proves it. In spades.
thanks for posting the easy link.
My only argument is with your comment "a half-second later ..." -- try a couple hundreths of a second earlier or later and you'd have a completely different photo ... I notice one guy already has his vote of "10" ready to go, even before he sees if there's a splash .. ;-)
