POY Judging - Issue Reporting Picture Story

After spending a few hours watching the POYi judging this year I was as surprised as always to see what sorts of pictures and subjects the judges chose to award. I certainly don’t envy them the difficult job of sorting through the mounds of material to find the real gems, but many of the selections in this year’s Issue Reporting category seemed mediocre at best.

The first place winner, “Love Me,” was pretty good, but the second place winner really seemed pretty average to me. “For Better or Worse” tells the story of an elderly couple in rural Ohio and, while it is touching to see the husband taking care of his Alzheimer-inflicted wife, the story just seemed very tired to me. It didn’t break any new ground visually or even seem particularly effective upon repeated viewings. It is not my intention to tear down the project as I am sure the photographer worked very hard on it, but I was just puzzled that out of all the hundreds of topics submitted, the judges chose to recognize that story so highly.

I was even more taken aback by the choice of the third place winner: “Moldova - The Outsiders.” Again, I have no doubt that a lot of work went into the project, but in my opinion it represented the definition of “a parking lot of pictures.” There were several nice frames, but no storyline at all, not even a compelling explanation of why we were being shown certain things. It reminded me of the video we watched in class that talked about Eugene Smith’s project on Pittsburg. The photographer could have strengthened the piece considerably by focusing on one noteworthy aspect of the culture rather than showing an array of disparate images.

A couple of the award of excellence winners were nice, though the one entitled “Faded Tulips” about the aftermath of a revolution in Kyrgyzstan seemed very similar to the Moldova story, and in my opinion should have taken third in its place.

Visit the POY site to view the gallery of winners.

One Day Story/Five Points of View

 

Vancouver-born olympic hopeful Lauren Lavigna prepares to launch herself into the 200m Backstroke at the Missouri Grand Prix swim meet on February 13, 2010.

 Lavigna recently won 12th in the World Championships for the backstroke, and she hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London.

 Lavigna surveys the competition as she practices in the diving well before the race.

   

Lavigna listens to coach Brian Hoffer as he gives her advice after the race.

Lavigna placed 2nd in the heat, but she didn't seem disappointed in the result. "I'll race again tomorrow, and just try to improve my times to get ready for the bigger meets."

Week 3 Readings

"Photojournalists...are more than just spectators in an historical grandstand. Being there is important, being an eyewitness is significant, but the crux of the matter is bearing witness. To bear witness is to make known, to confirm, to give testimony to others. The distribution and publication of the pictures make visible the unseen, the unknown, and the forgotten." -Marianne Fulton

The above quote was by far my favorite part of the readings this week, though I really enjoyed the Chapnick piece on great photo essays. It is always instructive to look back on those groundbreaking stories to see how the ideas developed and what techniques they were still trying to master. It is humbling to see the work of the masters, but encouraging as well to find that they had to start from the ground up, too.

Week 2 Readings Response

After listening to the podcast and reading the chapters assigned for this week I feel much better about my skill level and technical proficiency. I especially liked the observation in the podcast that to really gain mastery in any subject you must spend 10,000+ hours studying, thinking about and practicing the necessary skills.  I like to be good at things immediately just like anyone else, but I really appreciate the idea that I can become great at almost anything if I put in the required time and effort.

I also am a big fan of Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." Many years ago I tried my hand at writing and her practical advice on writing and life definitely fits with my experience. I think her suggestions will translate very well to photographic ideas, and make the process of brainstorming and story selection much easier.

Great Ideas = Great Journalism

I think it is only fitting that the first entry on this, my capstone photo blog, should point to some truly great photojournalism. Our first assignment is to find examples of great ideas that subsequently became great stories, and the story featured below is certainly one of the best I've ever seen.

Many of you may already be familiar with Mediastorm.org, but if you haven't seen the "Black Market" piece by Patrick Brown I think you're missing one of the real gems of the site. Take a look:

Black Market