(This article originally appeared as an "Editor's Notebook" in the November 2005 issue of News Photographer magazine)

By Donald R. Winslow

As the dramatic photographs of the last few months linger in my mind, images from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Wilma, scenes from Pakistan’s earthquake, and pictures from the seemingly never-ending war in Iraq, I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s more going on than what we’re seeing, that there are pictures out there that should be seen but aren’t being seen on front pages. Maybe it’s just a feeling fueled by my own fear of how things generally seem to be coming unglued on a global scale, both politically and environmentally (starting with the tsunami). I’m beginning to think that Fox Mulder on “The X-Files” television show maybe wasn’t far from wrong on at least one count, that possibly “the truth is out there.” But where?

For me “out there” has become, to some extent, the Internet. The pictures that have been the most important to me recently are ones that I saw first online. And now there’s a new source of images for those interested in conflict photography who want to read photojournalists’ first-hand experiences, a place for pictures and stories that bypasses the “filter” of news meetings and Page One editors’ personal predilections. It’s the new Web site www.WarShooter.com, created and produced by a respected conflict journalist, Kit R. Roane, who currently writes forU.S. News & World Report.

Roane says he created the site “to provide photojournalists covering conflict and disaster with a voice beyond the editor or the magazine.” In other words, this is where war photographers can tell the whole story, including their personal stories, unfiltered by “the process.”

Roane told me, “My hope is that WarShooter.com will give photojournalists who specialize in this area a specific outlet where they can beat the drum for things they find important, as well as promote their work and exchange ideas. I’m particularly interested in providing a forum for information coming directly from the field, unedited and raw dispatches from those who are on the ground and witnessing the events as they unfold.

“The Web site came about because of my great and general frustration with the state of the news business and where it is headed, the driving force of celebrity, and the constant squeezing of the news hole at many papers. I was also pretty shocked when I came back from Iraq following the invasion and found that many publications had failed to show a full picture of war. … While the Internet provides opportunity for photojournalists covering the important stories of the day, the ability of photojournalists to get those stories out through traditional media outlets becomes more difficult every day. I mean Life magazine used to be about, well, life. Now it features ‘the sexiest cars of 2006.’ Even if WarShooter fails to do anything more, it will at least give good dedicated photographers a place to note their work and have a few people take a look at it.

“I am a writer and photojournalist. But this portal is a personal endeavor, unaffiliated with my work. It’s really not about me at all. I am just providing a means for others to get their words and their work out.”

Covering conflict is something he knows well. For more than a decade Roane has worked as a photojournalist and writer covering Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as investigating folks who’ve been called “mobsters and corporate thieves.” A Texas native, he was a journalist at The New York Times before joining U.S. News; his photography is represented by SIPA Press. New stories are now appearing on WarShooter and it’s worth checking out.

By Jenn Fields

COLUMBIA, MO – As the four judges gathered around thumbnail images of five portfolios, 20 college photographers closed in on them like paparazzi.

The sound of their shutters nearly drowned out the hushed discussion of the judges. But the judges weren’t debating the winning portfolio for the 60th College Photographer of the Year – their silence made the winner obvious. Second and third place were still up for grabs; the debate was over the singles, stories, and subjects in the other four portfolios.

Chris Detrick, a 22-year-old Missouri graduate, held his breath in the middle of the melee of cameras. His portfolio was one of the remaining four.

The judges chose second, then third, then an honorable mention. Detrick’s was the last one left: honorable mention, the judges said.

Detrick exhaled. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered in relief under his breath.

It was over. After viewing more than 3,000 images, the judges had chosen the 60th College Photographer of the Year. RitaReed, the director of the competition hosted by the Missouri School of Journalism, called up the winner and turned on the speakerphone so the audience could hear him.

“Is this Casey Templeton?” Reed asked the voice on the other end.

“Yes, this is Casey,” Templeton said.

Reed asked him to guess who had won the 60th CPOY. Templeton couldn’t believe he was it!

“I think I’m going to wake up and be pissed,” he said.

Templeton, 22 (at right, in self portrait), an NPPA member since 2003 and a member of Sportsshooter.com, is a senior at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., majoring in media arts and design. The school does not have a photojournalism program, but Templeton says he doesn’t regret going to JMU.

“It motivates me to go out and do my own work,” he said.

Scott Strazzante, a CPOY judge and photojournalist for the Chicago Tribune, who has been an NPPA member since 1987, said the judges were looking for a photographer with a strong vision who is comfortable with documentary style and lighter photo essays. He cited the versatility of the winning portfolio.

“It comes down to style, very strong style,” Strazzante said. “They definitely have something to say about the world.”

As the winner of the portfolio competition, Templeton will receive a digital SLR from Nikon, a 14-week internship at National Geographic magazine and a $1,000 scholarship from the National Press Photographers Foundation. National Geographic and Nikon both returned to CPOY as sponsors this year. In addition to awarding cameras to the top three portfolios, Nikon also provided an educational grant that covered students’ entry fees for the contest.

The runner-up CPOY winning Silver in Portfolio is Yoon Byun of Ohio University in Athens, OH, and Justin Cook of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won Bronze in Portfolio. Benjamin Sklar of the University of Texas won Gold in Spot News, Katie Falkenberg of Ohio University won Gold in General News, and Matt Eich of Ohio University won Gold in Feature.

Jason Hunter of the Brooks Institute of Photography won Gold for Sports Action, and Chris Bergin of Ball State University won Gold for Sports Feature. Chris Detrick of the University of Missouri won Gold for Sports Portfolio.

Byun won Gold for Portrait, and Matt Mallams of the Brooks Institute of Photography won Gold for Pictorial. Allison Lazard of Ohio University won Gold for Illustration, and Ramsay De Give of the Brooks Intstitute of Photography won Gold for Personal Vision. Byun also won Gold for Domestic Picture Story, and Samkit Shah of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won Gold for International Picture Story. And Javier Manzano of the Brooks Institute for Photography won Gold for Documentary.

Cliff and Vi Edom founded the competition in 1945. The annual contest is sponsored by the University of Missouri, Nikon, National Geographic magazine, the National Press Photographers Foundation, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and the Missouri Photo Workshop. UM administers the contest with the help of Kappa Alpha Mu. NPPF administers the Colonel William J. Lookadoo and the Milton Freier Memorial Awards in conjunction with the contest.

In addition to Strazzante, the other CPOY judges were Manny Crisostomo, a senior photographer at the Sacramento Bee; Judy Siviglia, formerly with the Raleigh News & Observer; and Mary Vignoles, the deputy director of photography at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

For a complete list of this year’s winners in each category please see www.cpoy.org. Winners and their winning images will go live on the CPOY Web site very soon.

A profile of Casey Templeton, as well as a story about the CPOY judging, both by Jenn Fields, will appear in the January 2006 issue of News Photographer magazine.

DURHAM, NC - The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham, NC, reminds photojournalists that the deadlines for their two major annual competitions are approaching: The Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and the 25 UNDER 25competition.

CDS will be accepting applications for the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, a $20,000 USD award given annually, during the month of January only, and with all required materials submitted only under one cover, up until the competition's deadline of January 31, 2006.

The deadline for the third annual 25 UNDER 25 competition, which is only held every five years, is April 28, 2006, and is for photographers who were born on or after April 28, 1981. The selected photographers and their work will be published in a book, 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, and this time the competition's theme is "transitions," or what CDS says it means to be "in-between, in flux, or at odds."

The Lange-Taylor Prize is awarded to a writer and photographer who are in the early stages of a documentary project, and was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of photographer Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor, a social scientist and writer. Together they published An American Exodus in 1941, the story in words and photographs of the mass migration of agricultural workers and farmers in America in the 1930s that was caused by changes in society, the economy, and an extended drought, documenting a relationship between Americans of that era and the land.

The 2005 Lange-Taylor Prize was awarded to photographer Peter Brown and writer Kent Haruf for their project "High Plains," which they say will document "the people, land, and small towns of the High Plains: a part of the country that dips eastward from the Rockies and rolls south from Saskatchewan and Alberta to the Texas Panhandle."

The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) guidelines prohibit individual applications as the award is intended to support collaborative efforts, but more than two people may apply as long as one of the participants is a writer and one is a photographer, and the work is being done in black and white or color still photography. Winners will be picked and notified by mid-summer 2006.

Other past winners include Keith Carter, Donna DeCesare, Luis Rodriguez, Reagan Louie, River Houston, Ernesto Bazan, Deborah Luster, Rob Amberg, C. D. Wright, Jason Eskenazi, Dona Ann McAdams, Brad Kessler, Misty Keasler, Katherine Dunn, and Jim Lommasson. Full details about the award and materials required for submitting an entry for the Lange-Taylor Prize are online here.

The 25 UNDER 25 competition issues an open call for submissions and the selection process will take place during 2006 with an announcement of the winners. The book is planned for publication in 2008. Photographers who want to enter the competition must put together 25 photographs that explore the theme and submitted digitally on CD-ROM. 

The CDS says that previous winners include Alex Ambrose, Tracey Chiang, Reuben Cox, Ken Fandell, Wyatt Gallery, Eric Gottesman, Greg Halpern, Colby Katz, Misty Keasler, Kate Lacey, Carrie Levy, Thom Lussier, Malerie Marder, Brian McKee, Laurel Nakadate, Brad Richman, Andrew Rogers, Alex Tehrani, Hank Thomas, Carla Williams, and Jessica Wynne.

Casey Kelbaugh wants to remind all NPPA members and interested photojournalists that Slideluck Potshow V will be held this Saturday, November 12, at Eddie Adams’s Bathhouse Studios in the East Village in New York City, where more than 40 artists will present their work across two floors of display space.

The event will be emceed by Ian Webster and dee-jay Neil Stevenson will provide audio entertainment. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the slide shows begin at 9:30 p.m. The theme for Slideluck Potshow V is “Anticipation.”

“Please remember to bring good food and drink. Spirits are encouraged. We look forward to a bountiful feast and a cornucopia of slide presentations,” Kelbaugh says. “We are anticipating a real zinger and we hope to see you there.”

Slideluck Potshow V is the fifth such event Kelbaugh, an advertising and editorial photographer, has presented since he founded the first gathering in 2000.

"Slideluck Potshow is a slideshow and a potluck to which members of NYC's arts, photography, and media communities bring food, drink, and a maximum of 5 minutes worth of slides," Kelbaugh writes about the event on his Web site. "The evening begins with a couple hours of dining on the home-cooked delights of participants, while drinking and mingling.

"There is no entrance fee or guest list; one's admission is a full-bodied bottle of wine, some vegetable samosas, Thai green curry, pumpkin ravioli, or some rosemary lamb chops. All guests are asked to contribute as there is no corporate sponsorship, arts, or professional organization sponsoring the event. It is entirely independent and participation-based. Following the potluck, the lights are dimmed, the crowd is hushed, and a spectacular slideshow commences."

See www.slideluckpotshow.com for more information.

There are new rules for the NPPA Television Quarterly Editing Clip Contest and they’ve been approved by the NPPA executive committee, TVQECC chairperson Jeramy Rosenberg has announced. There are new categories, rewritten general rules, and other changes that will take effect beginning with Fourth Quarter 2005. “The quarter currently in the judging process (Third Quarter 2005) is not affected by these rule changes," Rosenberg said.

The new categories include Editor’s Feature, Under Deadline, In Depth, Feature – 24 Hours, and Feature – No Limit. Winners accumulate points in the contest, getting 11 points for first place, 8 points for second place, 5 points for third place, and 1 point for an honorable mention. Changing the old point system, points will no longer be awarded for each quarter that an eligible entry is submitted. The new rules and categories can be downloaded as an Acrobat .PDF form here.

“Coming soon, I will have a new, standardized entry form available for you (which coincides with the new categories),” Rosenberg told the executive committee. “I want to thank you all for your patience and encouragement as we move forward with our contest. It is an opportunity for us to grow and raise the level of our profession to an exceptional level. I am thankful to be involved.”

Please contact Rosenberg at [email protected] with questions.

LONDON - The exhibit “Great Frontline Photos: Pictures of War and Protest” curated by photojournalism author and editor John G. Morris opens November 11, America’s Veteran’s Day, at The Frontline Club in London.

“For me this is an opportunity to pay tribute to my dear colleagues of World War II in London, Robert Capa and Larry Burrows, both of whom died in Vietnam,” Morris wrote to News Photographer magazine.

Frontline is London’s new press club, at 13 Norfolk Place. The opening of the exhibit includes a press conference and then a panel discussion featuring speakers Christiane Amanpour and Morris, moderated by BBC diplomatic editor Brian Hanrahan.

The photographic exhibit includes classic war and protest images provided by the Associated Press, Laura Beilby, Heidi Bradner, Bobbi and Russell Burrows, Cornell Capa, Christie’s, Horst Faas, Martine Franck, Philip Jones Griffiths, Mark Grosset, Suzanne Hodgart, Gary Knight, Getty Images, Life, Magnum Photos, Steven Macleod, Don McCullin, James Nachtwey, Potosi, Michael Rand, Marc Riboud, Jinx Rodger, Joe Rosenthal, Agency VII, Marjorie Silk, Kevin Smith, David Turnley, Jeff Wedener, Richard Whelan, and Shogo Yamahata.

Many of the photographic prints were made by traditional methods by “the best” printers in New York, San Francisco, and Paris, Frontline said in their press release, but some of the new prints were made by Potosi Ldt. in London using a combination of conventional printing techniques and new digital technology, including high resolution drum scans of original prints.

“The club's ground floor restaurant is public; roughly half of the show can be seen without going upstairs,” Morris says. For more information please see www.thefrontlineclub.com.

DURHAM, NC – The National Press Photographers Association has joined with the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in opposition of a proposed ban of photography on New Jersey public transportation and its property by the New Jersey Transit Corporation, a ban that excepts members of the press and other authorized individuals only under certain special conditions.

NPPA’s pro bono legal counsel in First Amendment matters, Kurt Wimmer, of the law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, has filed a legal brief with the agency on behalf of NPPA opposing the adoption of the New Jersey Transit Corporation’s proposed new photography ban.

In a letter to George D. Warrington, the executive director of New Jersey Transit Corporation, commenting on the proposed new rules, NPPA and the other press groups expressed opposition to the ban because it would, in counsels’ opinion, violate the First Amendment rights of photojournalists and other photographers; the ban would not achieve New Jersey Transit’s goal of enhancing national security or passenger safety by preventing intelligence gathering activities on New Jersey Transit property; and it would impair the ability of photojournalists to perform their job effectively. 

In opposing the photography ban, Wimmer and attorneys for the other organizations point out that the proposed change in rules would not leave open any alternative means for photographing on New Jersey Transit’s property, and that the proposed ban by itself is unconstitutional.

DURHAM, NC – NPPA members in Regions 3, 5, 9 and 11 can vote during the entire month of November, 2005, for Regional officers as directed in the organization’s Standing Rules, NPPA national secretary Sean D. Elliot announced at the beginning of the month.

“Elections for officers in Regions 1 and 7 have been postponed, because at this time the minimum number of candidates required by the NPPA’s Standing Rules have not been nominated to run for those offices,” Elliot reports.

Elections will be held online with balloting taking place through the member’s only area of the NPPA Web site. A full page of the candidates’ statements, biographies, and pictures is also on the Web site. Voting may be done at any time starting the first of November through the end of the month. Results will be announced early in December.

Elliot says, “The NPPA’s Standing Rules require a minimum of two candidates for each office in each Region in order to hold a valid election. In the event the minimum number of candidates cannot be fielded, elections are postponed until one month after the candidates have been nominated and qualified to run for office.”

“To run for office in the NPPA an individual must be a News Division member in good standing for the year preceding candidacy and must be nominated by the nominating committee in the Region in which they reside.

“Regional directors serve as voting members of the NPPA’s board and meet annually to approve the organization’s budget, make other decisions regarding the governance of the NPPA, and hear reports from the various committee’s and programs. Associate directors serve as the regional membership officer, dealing with the day-to-day needs of the members in the Region and they are designated as the stand-in for the Regional director if needed. Associate directors are not required to attend the annual meeting and may only vote if they are in attendance as proxy for the regional director.”

Members interested in running for office should contact either one of their regional officers. Anyone with questions about the NPPA’s election process, or specific questions about this election, should contact Elliot via eMail at [email protected].

The candidates in this odd-numbered Regional election are:

• Region 3, candidates Tom Costello and Ron Soliman for director and Dylan Moore and Linda Epstein for associate director;
• Region 5, candidates Chris Birks and Mike Borland for director and Nathan Pier and Greg Morley for associate director; 
• Region 9, candidates Pete Soby and Mel Stone for director and Ray Meints and Craig Moore for associate director;
• Region 11, candidates Russ Kendall and Adam Amato for director and Kurt Austin and Bill Goetz for associate director.

If you’re an NPPA member in one of these Regions and you are signed in to the NPPA Web site members’ area, you’ll be able to vote for your candidates during the entire month of November.

Contact NPPA national secretary Sean D. Elliot at [email protected] with questions.

Photographer Jerry Cooke, the former director of photography for Sports Illustrated magazine whose work also graced 47 Sports Illustratedcovers over the years - as well as being published in Life, Time, Fortune, National Geographic and many other magazines - died October 27 at his home in East Hampton, NY.

Sports Illustrated director of photography Steve Fine told the magazine’s staff in an eMail the next day, “For more than half a century, you couldn’t attend a Kentucky Derby or an Olympics without running into Jerry at the finish line. Some of his more notable pictures include Cathy Rigby on the balance beam, Bobby Fischer pondering his next move, and Bob Hayes winning the 100 at the 1964 Olympics.”

Cooke came to New York City in 1939 from the Ukraine, where he was born in 1922, and started photography as a darkroom assistant the year after he arrived in America. A family member loaned him a camera and he became a photographer. By 1951 he had already shot assignments for Life magazine, and that year he was the president of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).

Sports Illustrated has posted an online gallery of Cooke’s pictures as a tribute here.

Shawn Montano, director of the NPPA Cutting Edge workshop, announced that the 2006 workshop will be held January 20 and 21, 2006, in Jacksonville, FL. Cutting Edge is an NPPA educational seminar with emphasis on the craft of editing.

Cutting Edge VII: The Chronicles Of Editing will feature as faculty Lou Davis, chief photojournalist for WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, NC;Matt Rafferty, the 2004 Cutting Edge Editor of the Year, a video editor for WJW-TV 8 in Cleveland, OH; and Montano. The 2005 Cutting Edge Editor of the Year, who will be named in December when the year's points are final, will also be there.

Last year's Cutting Edge was held January 29 in Raleigh-Durham, NC, and featured speakers Brian Weister of KMGH-TV in Denver, CO, and Vicki Hildner, special projects editor at KCNC-TV in Denver. Montano was the 2001 NPPA Television Editor of the Year and works at KCNC-TV.

For more information contact Montano at [email protected]