National Press Photographers Association

Best Use of Photography: 1st Quarter 2010 Results

 

2010 1st Quarter BUP Results

First quarter entries were judged at the Rochester Institute of Technology by visiting professor James Rajotte, professor William D. Snyder, professor Loret Steinberg, the Advanced Picture Editing Class, and the Photojournalism Portfolio Class.

 

Judges’ overall comments:


Winning entries were often singled out for “simplicity.”

We were pleasantly surprised by the number of multi-page projects still being done during these “tough times”.

The BIG PICTURE is being used and more but many times to lesser effect. Just running big photos on a page doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good design or editing. Many stories are more complex and require more than one photo to tell the story adequately.

Quite a few entries fell quickly because the editing of the smaller images on the page was weak. Other entries that exited quickly had nice photos or nice design but the entire page – or package – failed to achieve effective story-telling; things didn’t nothing work together – they were just nice, individual parts.

Honorable mentions were often selected because one or more characteristics were exceptional and worthy of recognition, but didn’t quite stack up as a complete “package.” Sometimes there was one too many photos or the tertiary photos didn’t hold up to the main images. Many sports and news pages suffered from poor editing of secondary images. Some pages were just over designed – too many bells, whistles and tricks.

We also included a few pages that didn’t completely work, but we felt they were worthy of recognition because the designer/editor tried something new to tell a story in an unconventional way.

 

NEWS:

1st: Los Angeles Times, January 16
“A tough, long road to recovery”
Carolyn Cole, Rick Loomis, Kelli Sullivan and the photo editing staff.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, January 15
“50,000 Estimated Dead; Devastation Delays Aid”
Team.

3rd: The Denver Post, January 24
“Devastation in Haiti, Road to Ruin”
Tim Rasmussen, Ken Lyons, Matt Swaney, Damon Winter (NY Times) and John Prieto.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Dallas Morning News, January 17
“Haiti's humanity holds lesson for us” 
Brad Loper with wire photos.

Los Angeles Times, January 15
“Many are left to cope on their own”
Carolyn Cole, Rick Loomis, Kelli Sullivan and the photo editing staff.

Los Angeles Times, February 7
“Residents caught off guard”
Mary Vignoles, Bob Chamberlain, Irfan Khan, Anne Cusack and Mark Yemma.

The Virginian-Pilot, January 14
“Haiti Reels Amid Ruin”
Team.

The Palm Beach Post/La Palma, March 5
“Estremecimientos no cesan”
Mark Edelson and Em Mendez with A.P. and Getty photos.

The Bergen Record, January 28
“Stacking Tin at Teterboro”
Robert S. Townsend, Dave Adornato, Jon Naso and David Bergeland.

 

Judges’ comments: Overall, a very strong category. Many of the same images were used by many entries and it was interesting to see the variety of approaches/edits. The top three winners were clear, concise and generally focused on the human cost of the earthquake as opposed to the actual devastation.

 

 

FEATURE:

1st: The Palm Beach Post, January 24
“Cry of a Nation”
Mark Edelson, Mike Perkins and Jan Tuckwood with A.P. and Getty photos.
Judges’ comments: Simplicity and an eye-catching design were the keys to this page. The text and photos were allowed to “breathe” and work together.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, March 14
“Fashion Fest”
Martin Smith-Rodden and the design team with A.P. photos.
Judges’ comments: A simple concept delivered exceptionally well.

3rd: The St. Petersburg Times, January 20
“TASTE”
Scott Keeler and Jennifer DeCamp.
Judges’ comments: One of the most visually striking pages. The choice of colors and layout with the text was pleasing and communicated the idea in a simple and “delicious” way.

 

Honorable mention:

The Denver Post, February 28
“The end of the high-rise shortfall”
Tim Rasmussen, Reza Marvashti and Cyrus McCrimmon.

The St. Petersburg Times, March 17
“TASTE”
Lara Cerri and Jennifer DeCamp.

Los Angeles Times, March 8
“The 82nd Academy Awards”
Team.

 

 

PICTURE PAGE:

1st: The Palm Beach Post, January 24
“Here, so many dead have no names”
Mark Edelson, Holly Baltz and Mike Perkins with wire photos.
Judges’ comments: Each photograph comments on a different aspect of the tragedy, and the sparse pairing with captions allows each photograph to be read individually.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, March 28
“For baseball fans, Florida's the Place to be”
Martin Smith-Rodden and the design team with A.P. and Getty photos.
Judges’ comments: The baseball page was successful because it was able to cover a huge event in a different way. Several interesting moments in the photographs, and the variety of perspectives gives it a dynamic appeal.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, January 24
“Amid the Ruins ... Life”
Martin Smithy-Rodden and Matthew McDermott(Americares/Polaris)
Judges’ comments: This page was considered to be a good use of a single storytelling moment, but it did not compare to the visual dynamics of the other winners.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Palm Beach Post, January 24
“Images of the Unimaginable”
Mark Edelson and Jan Tuckwood with staff and wire photos.

Los Angeles Times, February 22
“Vancouver 2010 Olympics, A City's Pageant”
George Wilhelm, Calvin Hom, Robert Gauthier, Wally Skalij and Tim Hubbard.

The Denver Post, January 31
“Xtreme Air Time”
Tim Rasmussen, Reza Marvashti and RJ Sangosti.

The Virginian-Pilot, March 7
“Toppled, Chile Splinters after massive quake”
Martin Smith-Rodden, Natacha Pisarenko (A.P.)

The Dallas Morning News, January 17
“Photographer must put emotions on hold” 
Brad Loper with photos by Damon Winter (NY Times)

 

 

SPORTS:

1st: 1st: The Virginian-Pilot, February 26
“Fat Chance”
Team.
Judges’ comments: We loved the way text, statistics, and images were used together. The wireless bar graphic sprouting out of the athlete’s head in “the buzz” was the subject of some discussion by the judges but, ultimately, it did not detract from the overall design.

2nd: Los Angeles Times, February 28
“Giant Sleighers”
George Wilhelm, Wally Skalij and Tim Hubbard.
Judges’ comments: All the images on the page were well-edited and strong – even the refer images at the top. Excellent picture choice and design

3rd: The Palm Beach Post, February 8
“Dat’s Incredible”
Mark Edelson, Greg Lovett, Ron Falch, Tom Elia, Dave Tepps and Lynne Sladky (A.P.)
Judges’ comments: The simplicity of one photo used well. A good storytelling image.

 

Honorable Mentions:

The Virginian-Pilot, February 13
“A stirring start”
Martin Smith-Rodden, Buddy Moore and Mark J. Terrill (A.P.).

The Virginian-Pilot, March 11
“Yes!”
Martin Smith-Rodden, Buddy Moore and Ross Taylor.

The Palm Beach Post, February 8
“Brees heeds right call”
Mark Edelson, Greg Lovett, Ron Falch, Tom Elia, Dave Tepps, Allen Eyestone and Gary Coronado.

 

 

MULTIPLE PAGE:

1st: The Palm Beach Post, January 24
“Cry of a Nation”
Mark Edelson, Holly Baltz, Mike Perkins and Jan Tuckwood with staff and wire photos.
Judges’ comments: What made this a winner was the variety of presentation, while still maintaining a strong overall visual theme. Each picture page was dominated by haunting imagery of the people of Haiti, and the stories all had strong personal narratives.

2nd: The Midland Daily News, February 7-14
“Hope for Haiti”
John Tully and Ryan Wood.
Judges’ comments: The storytelling is the strength of this multi-page entry. Because the details of these photographs are important to the photographer’s captions, it was good that they were given space to breathe and made larger for readability.

3rd: The Denver Post, March 28
“BEGIN”
Tim Rasmussen, Ken Lyons, Judy DeHaas and Matt Sweeney.
Judges’ comments: Again, effective storytelling drives the design of this package. Design details and picture selection are both carefully considered.


Honorable mentions:


The St. Petersburg Times, March 28
“The Swan Project”
Bruce Moyer, Kathleen Flynn and Holly Braford.

Los Angeles Times, March 8
“The Oscars”
Team.

The Virginian-Pilot, January 10
“Nightmare”
Hyunsoo Leo Kim, Sam Hundley and the editing team.

 

 

Comments? Corrections? More information? Next quarter's deadline? Contact BUP contest chair Mark Edelson at medelson@pbpost.com.

 

 

 

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