Category: Awards

When a list of finalists or award winners comes out from a group that I respect the first thing I do is go down the list and find all the photographers who’s names I don’t recognize and ~~steal~~ discover them. I made them all bold, so it’s easier for you. There are plenty to cherry pick between all the usual suspects. Enjoy.

PHOTO: COVER
Bon Appétit, Matthew Lenning, Design Director, Liz Mathews, Photo Editor, Kenji Toma, Photographer; August 2008, “Ice Cream Cone”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Ruven Afanador, Photographer; June 1, 2008, “Tyra Banks”
Rolling Stone, Joseph Hutchinson, Art Director, Jodi Peckman, Director of Photography, Peter Yang, Photographer; July 10, 2008, “Barack Obama”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Photographer; March 9, 2008, “Men’s Fashion Spring”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Raymond Meier, Photographer; November 16, 2008, “Travel Winter”

PHOTO: ENTIRE ISSUE
Bon Appétit, Matthew Lenning, Design Director, Bailey Franklin, Photo Editor; October 2008, “Fall Feasts”
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography; December 2008, “Men of the Year”
LOOK New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography; Fall 2008, “Spring 2009 Fashion”
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography; October 6, 2008, “40th Anniversary Issue”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography; February 10, 2008, “Breakthrough Performances in Film”

PHOTO: SECTION (single/spread)
Bon Appétit, Matthew Lenning, Design Director, Liz Mathews, Photo Editor, James Wojcik, Photographer; June 2008, “At the Market: Cucumbers”
ESPN the Magazine, Siung Tjia, Creative Director, Catriona Ni Aolain, Director of Photography, Rob Tringali, Photographer; “Foam Over / Jessica Subido”
Fortune, Robert Perino, Design Director, Greg Pond, Director of Photography, Gregg Segal, Photographer; May 12, 2008, “Bag Revolution”
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Martin Schoeller, Photographer; May 2008, “Marc Jacobs Doesn’t Give a F**k”
Spin, Devin Pedzwater, Design Director, Michelle Egiziano, Director of Photography, Rebecca Smeyne, Photographer; January 2008, “Soundcheck: PRE”

PHOTO: SECTION (story)
Blender, Dirk Barnett, Creative Director, David Carthas, Director of Photography; June 2008, “Collect Call: Mötley Crüe”
Dwell, Kyle Blue, Design Director, Kate Stone Foss, Director of Photography, Beate Gütschow, Photographer; June 2008, “Second Nature”
Dwell, Kyle Blue, Design Director, Kate Stone Foss, Director of Photography, Edward Burtynsky, Photographer; November 2008, “Edward Burtynsky Quarries”
MADRIZ, Louis-Charles Tiar, Creative Director, Fernando Maselli, Photographer; Fall 2008/Winter 2009, “Los Andamios”
W, Edward Leida, Design Director, Toby McFarland Pond, Photographer; May 2008, “Irresistible”

PHOTO: FEATURE, SERVICE (single/spread)
Best Life, Brandon Kavulla, Design Director, Ryan Cadiz, Director of Photography, Dan Forbes, Photographer; August 2008, “Your Brain at 40”
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Horacio Salinas, Photographer; July 2008, “You Can’t Save the Planet”
Men’s Health, George Karabotsos, Design Director, Brenda Millis, Director of Photography, Mike Powell, Photographer; May 2008, “Yes, You Were Born to Run”
Popular Mechanics, Michael Lawton, Design Director, Allyson Torrisi, Director of Photography, Gregor Hatenda, Photographer; December 2008, “So You Want to Buy a Digital SLR”
Psychology Today, Edward Levine, Creative Director, Claudia Stefezius, Director of Photography, Fredrik Broden, Photographer; March/April 2008, “Magical Thinking”

PHOTO: FEATURE, SERVICE (story)
Dwell, Kyle Blue, Design Director, Kate Foss Stone, Director of Photography, Gregg Segal, Photographer; November 2008, “iT House: Joshua Tree”
Martha Stewart Living, Eric Pike, Creative Director, James Dunlinson, Design Director, Heloise Goodman, Director of Photography, Hans Gissinger, Photographer; April 2008, “Exemplary Eggs”
Minnesota Monthly, Brian Johnson, Art Director, David Boroman, Photographer; June 2008, “Liquid Assets”
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Tom Schierlitz, Photographer; April 28, 2008, “You Walk Wrong”

PHOTO: FEATURE, PROFILE, NON-CELEBRITY (single/spread)
ESPN the Magazine, Siung Tjia, Creative Director, Catriona Ni Aolain, Director of Photography, Martin Schoeller, Photographer; “Strongman”
MADRIZ, Louis-Charles Tiar, Creative Director, Alberto García-Alix, Photographer; Fall 2007/Winter 2008, “Contra la Realidad”
The New Yorker, Elisabeth Biondi, Director of Photography, Martin Schoeller, Photographer; August 11-18, 2008, “Ryan Hall”
Sports Illustrated, Steve Hoffman, Creative Director, Gerard Rancinan, Photographer; July 28, 2008, “Faces of China”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Nobuyoshi Araki, Photographer; February 24, 2008, “Kusama”

PHOTO: FEATURE, PROFILE, NON-CELEBRITY (story)
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Dan Winters, Photographer; October 6, 2008, “Head-Liners”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Robbie Cooper, Photographer; November 23, 2008, “My Game Face”
Play, The New York Times Sports Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Rob Hewitt, Jeff Glendenning, Art Directors, Kira Pollack, Director of Photography, Paolo Pellegrin, Photographer; August 2008, “Swifter, Higher and All That”
Rolling Stone, Joseph Hutchinson, Art Director, Jodi Peckman, Director of Photography, Sebastião Salgado, Photographer; October 30, 2008, “Ethiopia’s Nomad Warriors”
Texas Monthly, T.J. Tucker, Art Director, Leslie Baldwin, Photo Editor, Peter Yang, Photographer; July 2008, “True Grit”

PHOTO: FEATURE, PROFILE, CELEBRITY/ENTERTAINMENT (single/spread)
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Mark Seliger, Photographer; December 2008, “John Malkovich”
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Brigitte Lacombe, Photographer; December 15, 2008, “Kate Winslet”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Robert Maxwell, Photographer; October 5, 2008, “Queen Latifah”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Photographers; November 30, 2008, “Mickey Rourke”
WIRED, Scott Dadich, Creative Director, Zana Woods, Photo Editor, James Day, Photographer; November 2008, “Radiohead”

PHOTO: FEATURE, PROFILE, CELEBRITY/ENTERTAINMENT (story)
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Mark Seliger, Photographer; December 2008, “Men of the Year Portfolio”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Ryan McGinley, Photographer; February 10, 2008, “Breakthroughs in Film”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Solve Sundsbo, Photographer; December 7, 2008, “Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise”
Vanity Fair, David Harris, Design Director, Susan White, Director of Photography; March 2008, “Hitchcock Hollywood Portfolio”
W, Edward Leida, Design Director, Brad Pitt, Photographer; November 2008, “Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt”

PHOTO: FEATURE, NEWS/REPORTAGE (single/spread)
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Jill Greenberg, Photographer; February 2008, “Violence of the Lambs”
Newsweek, Amid Capeci, Design Director, Simon Barnett, Director of Photography, Alex Majoli — Magnum for Newsweek, Photographer; September 8, 2008, “New Model Army”
Sports Illustrated, Steve Hoffman, Creative Director, Heinz Kluetmeier, Photographer; August 25, 2008, “He Got Him”
TIME, Arthur Hochstein, Art Director, Alice Gabriner, Chief Picture Editor, Callie Shell — Aurora, Photographer; March 17, 2008, “The Long Way Home”
TIME, Arthur Hochstein, Art Director, Alice Gabriner, Chief Picture Editor, Danny Wilcox Frazier — Redux, Photographer; June 30, 2008, “Deep Down In Iowa”

PHOTO: FEATURE, NEWS/REPORTAGE (story)
National Geographic, David Whitmore, Design Director, David Griffin, Director of Photography, Eugene Richards, Photographer; January 2008, “The Emptied Prairie”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Stephanie Sinclair, Photographer; January 20, 2008, “Female Circumcision”
The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Arem Duplessis, Art Director, Kathy Ryan, Director of Photography, Stephanie Sinclair, Photographer; July 21, 2008, “Children of God”
TIME, Arthur Hochstein, Art Director, Alice Gabriner, Chief Picture Editor, James Nachtwey — VII, Photographer; October 13, 2008, “The Forgotten Plague”
WIRED, Scott Dadich, Creative Director, Zana Woods, Photo Editor, Nick Waplington, Photographer; April 2008, “Eureka!”

PHOTO: FEATURE, TRAVEL/FOOD/STILL LIFE (single/spread)
Bon Appétit, Matthew Lenning, Design Director, Liz Mathews, Photo Editor, Mitchell Feinberg, Photographer; June 2008, “Pasta In a New Light”
Garden & Gun, Marshall McKinney, Art Director, Maggie Brett Kennedy, Photo Editor, Peter Frank Edwards, Photographer; September/October 2008, “The Pork Is In the Mail”
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, James Wojcik, Photographer; May 5, 2008, “To Die For”
New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Tom Schierlitz, Photographer; June 23, 2008, “Strategist: Herbal Armor”
Newsweek, Amid Capeci, Design Director, Simon Barnett, Director of Photography, Ambroise Tezenas for Newsweek, Photographer; April 21-28, 2008, “Beyond the Glitz”

PHOTO: FEATURE, TRAVEL/FOOD/STILL LIFE (story)
GQ, Fred Woodward, Design Director, Dora Somosi, Director of Photography, Mitchell Feinberg, Photographer; July 2008, “My Sweet Life”
T, The New York Times Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Olaf Otto Becker, Photographer; September 21, 2008, “Day of Ascension”
Texas Monthly, T.J. Tucker, Art Director, Leslie Baldwin, Photo Editor, Dan Winters, Photographer; October 2008, “Flying Away”
(t)here, Christopher Wieliczko, Creative Director, Jason Makowski, Design Director, Marcus Brooks, Photographer; Spring 2008, “Eat This”
W, Edward Leida, Design Director, Philip-Lorca DiCorca, Photographer; May 2008, “Cairo”

PHOTO: FEATURE, FASHION/BEAUTY (single/spread)
Atlanta, Hector Sanchez, Creative Director, Alex Martinez, Photographer; June 2008, “Pool Fashion”
People, Sara Williams, Design Director, Chris Dougherty, Director of Photography, Robert Trachtenberg, Photographer; May 12, 2008, “World’s Most Beautiful: Sarah Silverman”
Shufti, Sean Kennedy Santos, Art Director and Photographer; October 2008, “Void #2”
Shufti, Sean Kennedy Santos, Art Director and Photographer; October 2008, “Void #4”

PHOTO: FEATURE, FASHION/BEAUTY (story)
Barcelona, Louis-Charles Tiar, Creative Director, Kenji Toma, Photographer; Fall 2008/Winter 2009, “Océano de Bolsillo”
LOOK New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Christopher Anderson, Photographer; Spring 2008, “Sideshows”
LOOK New York, Chris Dixon, Design Director, Jody Quon, Director of Photography, Benjamin Lowy, Photographer; Fall 2008, “Sideshows”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, Janet Froelich, Creative Director, David Sebbah, Sr. Art Director, Coppi Barbieri, Photographer; August 17, 2008, “Dream States”
W, Edward Leida, Design Director, Mert Alas, Marcus Piggott, Photographers; August 2008, “Kiss the Sky”

PHOTO: FEATURE, TRADE/CORPORATE (single/spread/story)
Earnshaw’s, Nancy Campbell, Creative Director, Michael Brian, Photographer; April 2008, “Pinewood Academy”
Golf Digest Index, Ken DeLago, Design Director, Christian Iooss, Kerry Brady, Photo Editors, Art Streiber, Photographer; Spring 2008, “Legends”
Golf Digest Index, Ken DeLago, Design Director, Ryan Cline, Photo Editors, Massimo Gammacurta, Photographer; Fall 2008, “Genuine Articles”
Interior Design Magazine, Cindy Allen, Creative Director, Helene Oberman, Photo Editor, Eric Laignel, Photographer; May 2008, “First-Aid Kit”

PHOTO: FEATURE, EDUCATIONAL/INSTITUTIONAL (single/spread/story)
Intelligence Report, Russell Estes, Creative Director; Fall 2008, “Ready for War”
Proto, Charlene Benson, Creative Director, Ann deSaussure, Director of Photography, Nigel Cox, Photographer; Winter 2008, “Claire’s Knee”
Stanford Magazine, Amy Shroads, Art Director, Michael Sugrue, Photographer; January/February 2008, “I Died 40 Years Ago”
Stanford Magazine, Amy Shroads, Art Director, Manuello Paganelli & Glenn Matsumura, Photographers; July/August 2008, “Stanford Olympians”

1000 Votes Can Get You A Shot At $50,000 To Shoot A Story

This Name Your Dream Assignment contest is pretty interesting and has been written about quite a bit. The biggest problem with the concept is that you can’t see the portfolio of the photographer to decide if you want to vote on their idea. As we all know a good idea is one thing pulling it off with pictures is a whole different ballgame. I was thinking we could fix that and if some of you have ideas posted over there you could drop a link in the comments and then a link to your portfolio as well. I will move them up here to make a list, so we can all go vote to try to get some of our fellow photographers into the final consideration (top 20 vote earners will be judged).

I will start off with my friend Ace Kvale who has this project submitted:
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/acekvale/shattered-dreams-the-world-of-child-labor/
His portfolio can be seen here:
http://acekvale.com/

I know he can pull off something great. I sent him once to shoot the cataract eye clinic in the Himalaya and he did an amazing job. I also like the part about him touring with the work to teach kids about child labor. This is a really good assignment for Ace.

The contest ends at midnight tonight EST so lets get voting if we want to send people to the finals.

Ian MacLellan:

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/imaclellan/simple-innovation-as-the-power-to-change-the-developing-world/
And portfolios: http://maclellanimages.com/blog1/galleries/

Chad McClarnon

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/chadmcclarnon/

And a link to my web portfolio – http://www.cwmphoto.com

Steveen Laxton

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/stevenlaxton/effects-of-war-in-cambodia/

And my website: http://www.stevenlaxton.com

Steve Simon

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/stevesimon1/the-grandmother-spirit/

You can see some preliminary work on my website under Projects @

http://www.stevesimonphoto.com

Serge Giachetti

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/giachett/growing-from-the-root-a-youthful-renaissance-of-native-american-culture/

sergegiachetti.com

look under ‘young blackfoot’ in the projects section to see the work I’ve done thus far.

Andrew Sullivan

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/andrewsullivan/the-forgotten-plague/

And here’s my book: http://www.andrew-sullivan.com

James Jones

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/jamjon/bouldering-taking-climbing-to-a-new-place/

And if you scroll down in the blog you can see some recent shots in the same line:

http://www.photographyri.com/index.php

Carey Kirkella

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/careykirkella/americas-visionary-changemakers/

http://www.careykirkella.com/

gale zucker

http://www.tiny.cc/RgHyO

One Goat at a Time: Showing the Heifer Project Change Lives & Better the World

David Paul Morris

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/dpm888/the-labor-of-children/

http://www.davidpaulmorris.com –> Stories –> Payatas Dumpsite – child labor

Nick Hall

Mine is a dream about empowering real people, facing the realities of climate change to document their own stories and share with the world.

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/Nickhallphoto/i-see-climate-change/

My website:

http://www.nickhallphotography.com

What Advertising Agencies Spend for Awards

In all, there were 9,795 entries for the ad awards, at a total cost to the agencies of $3,507,860. The average cost of an entry was $358. The database does not account for the interactive or design entries to the One Show, just the advertising entries. Last year the One Show had 26,000 entries from 60 countries. Based on the average price for an entry, the One Show received about $10 million in entry fees, though the organization said the figure was far lower.

“The erroneous e-mail was an unfortunate mistake made by a junior member of our staff,” Mary Warlick, CEO of the One Club, told Ad Age. “The e-mail is not a current database and does not include accurate information.” Ms. Warlick further noted that the One Club is a nonprofit organization. “Any of the agencies that enter the One Club [awards show] realize that their entry fees support the industry.”

Hungriest for medals

BBDO seems to be by far the hungriest for medals. The network’s Brazilian office, Almap BBDO, had the most submissions according to the document, with 156. The second-most entries? That’d be another BBDO office, BBDO, New York, with 146 submissions.

via Advertising Age – News.

Thanks, Russell.

National Magazine Awards- Photography Nominees

The nominees for the National Magazine Awards were just announced (here). There are 3 categories for photography and never any surprises (National Geographic has won the most for photography – 7 times).

PHOTOGRAPHY: This category recognizes excellence in magazine photography. The award honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo illustration in enhancing a magazines unique mission and personality.

Bon Appétit; GQ; National Geographic; T, The New York Times Style Magazine; W

PHOTOJOURNALISM: This category recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject in real-time.

Harper’s Magazine; National Geographic; The New York Times Magazine (2 nominations); Time

PHOTO PORTFOLIO: This category honors creative photography and photo illustration (including portraiture or specially produced layouts on fashion, food, decorating, travel, design, the arts, etc.).

Bon Appétit; GQ; Gourmet; The New Yorker; W

Pictures Of The Year International- Magazine Photographer Of The Year

POYi Announced their Magazine Photographer of the year on Friday. You can see the other winners (here) and still more to come as the finish the judging process. You can actually watch and hear the judging live (link on the front page) which is an education in itself.

First Place goes to Uriel Sinai of Getty Images
Singles
“Cyclone Narcisse in Burma”
“Congo Unrest”
“Gaza Israel Conflict in 2008”
“War in Georgia”
“Post-Election Violence in Kenya”

Second Place goes to Anthony Suau of Freelance / TIME Magazine
Singles
“U.S. Economy in Crisis”
“U.S. / Mexican Border”
“Culiacan – Mexican Drug War”
“Untitled”

Third Place goes to David Burnett of Contact Press Images

Images Currently Being Posted 3/2
Singles
“2008 Beijing Olympics”
“Las Vegas Boom and Bust”
“Hillary Clinton for President”
“Senator John McCain, Republican Presidential Candidate”
“Barack Obama”

How to make a contest submission

I was talking with Heidi Volpe (former AD at LA Times Magazine) about some of the things she’s working on in the right now (we have projects we’re working on together so we talk a lot) and I asked if she would write about them from time to time to give people a different perspective on the industry. Here’s her first entry:

For the past four years I’ve been invited to attend speed dating reviews at Art Center of Design in LA which is basically a panel of professionals who look at student work (really fast) and this year I was also invited to look over the work of graduating 7th term photography students (it’s an 8 term program that take 2 years and 8 months to complete if you go nonstop.) This was a two-on-one for the students Dennis Keeley the Photo Chair and I. He ran the show and he gave some insightful feedback, it was amazing to hear him talk about the work. I managed to cough once and awhile *kidding.*

This is an opportunity for the students to get some industry feedback and forces them to articulate their work to a potential client and prepare them for the big bad world out there.

Most recently I was invited by Everard Williams, Associate Photo Chair at Art Center to help curate the work that goes into their student gallery. I spent the day with Everard, and Alexandra Tumbas, my former intern at the Times (also a terrific photographer and photo editor), who’s now the Assistant Photo Editor, at C Magazine. We looked at a lot of strong work for the upcoming show.

The work was strong but there’s an aspect to entering a contest or review that seems to be overlooked and this is the actual submission process so i thought I’d share with you a few tips on how to make a submission.

Typically very specific guidelines are given for any submission. This is a time consuming effort for the reviewers, so the selection process needs to be as efficient as possible.

Rule #1: Read the guidelines

Rule #2: Read the guidelines

I was really surprised how much digital work did not follow the specs, when files were submitted as psd, at 85 megs, they took forever to open. When you are looking about 200+ images you can image how long 45 seconds feels.

While I was working at the Los Angeles Times Magazine we submitted a lot of our work to The Society of Publication Designers and the Society of News Design. SPD is organization that focuses primarily on the visual communication of print and online editorial professionals. SND is the same structure but focused on international Newspapers.

We spent an incredible amount of time getting our entries together. There was a team of people selected to oversee the assembly of the submissions, one person keyed in all the entries into an excel document, freelancers were hired to help and staff stayed as late as 1:00 am and worked weekends to make the deadlines and submit properly. At the end of the contest as a paper we had over 300 entries.

If an entry was not correctly filled out, it did not get considered. End of story. The kick in the pants here is not only did you lose your entry fee, you don’t even get a shot at losing.

Rule #3: Care about your presentation

I was really impressed with students that took the time to pull together a nice edit of matted images. Some submitted a loose box of images all different sizes and it make it a little harder to judge. When they had such a range of work, it made it more difficult to look at as a body because the viewing process was shattered by the varying sizes. It’s easier to compare things uniformly.

Rule #4
Include your best work always, and edit it.

Don’t overwhelm the judges, having a too large of a submission can hurt you more then help you.

Rule #5
Don’t include personal notes or attacks on the judging process. One girl had a hand written note in her submission on a piece of graph paper

FACT: I am graduating this term

FACT: I have submitted for gallery 9 times and never been selected

Um, that would go over really well when you are asking for a grant or a show.

Rule #5
Label your work with your name. I know simple but one CD had no information on it. Memorex CD-R doesn’t cut it.

The Student Gallery opens Dec 12. Art Center has a calendar and all their lectures are open to the public. www.artcenter.edu

UPDATE: Some images from the review (here).

American Photography 24

The American Photography – American Illustration party was last night (~~no, reports yet~~ report here). The American Photography book has always been a very prestigious publication to be in. Most Photo Editors and Creative Directors keep a reference copy above the desk. I would always thumb through the last couple copies with my other photo editors or the CD every once and awhile looking for ideas or inspiration. You can see the winners on the website (here). Chosen means they were picked but didn’t make the cut for the book and Selected means they made it into the book.

I know American Photography is all about the book, but they’ve got this website which is an amazing collection of all the past winners and it’s absolute shit to navigate. It could be such a useful tool for finding talent if only it were organized better, because the real gems are the photographers who made the cut but not into the book. Maybe someday they will fix that.

ASME Best Magazine Covers of the Year Award

American Society of Magazine Ediors has an award for magazine covers (here) and surprisingly the finalists barely have any coverlines. Maybe they should publish the newsstand numbers so we can see how these fare, compared to the normal slathering of bombastic coverlines.

That Texas Monthly cover Platon shot of Willie should go in the hall of fame it’s so effing good.

Via, PDN Pulse.

World Press Photo Winners Talk About Their Images

Incredible feature on the World Press Photo site where you can watch a video of the photographer describing the story behind their award winning shot (here).

The beauty of it all, in my mind, is the design. The video of the photographer occupies a small space in the lower left corner allowing the image to dominate the screen. There’s even a little magnifying glass feature on the right that allows you to closely inspect the image like you were holding a loupe, not that comparing the sharpness of Platon’s portrait of Putin to Tim Hetheringtons beautifully blurry photo of the year, will give you any added insight. It’s just cool

I haven’t explored all the photographer interviews but listening to Platon describe the chain of events that led to his award winning portrait of Vladimir Putin (possibly the only formal portrait he’s ever agreed to) reinforces my belief that great photographers will always deliver under any circumstance. I’ve not seen a picture of Putin where you can actually sit and contemplate his expression and facial features and while that may seem very trite sitting in your home or office in front of the computer under the circumstances presented I think it’s quite remarkable.

Regardless, hearing the stories behind the photos is an incredible addition to the World Press Photo event and certainly a huge step toward increasing the popularity in the future.

Via, Paul Melcher.