After the convention in Washington, D.C., 44 judges set to work looking over the 32 entries from 19 students in the on-site Shoot-out.
One judge wrote, “(The top images) were head and shoulders above the other entries. Absolutely stunning images.”
Indeed, perhaps for the first time in nearly 20 years, the top entry scored three times higher than any other entry. It was ranked by 77% of the judges and ranked first by 47% of them.
Wrote another judge: “(The top entry) tells a story and surroundings all relate to who the person is.”
The assignment included writing captions with the names of all identifiable people. Judges repeatedly said the quality (or absence) of captions reflected in their rankings.
B&H Photo Video provides prize for top photographer
It’s been two years since photographers were able to participate in a Shoot-out as part of a national College Media Association convention. Two years ago, the headline was, “11 photojournalists document city in crisis.” This year, the 18 students were assigned to create “an image — worthy of a postcard — showing what life is like in the city that never sleeps after two years of the pandemic.”
Some years, with the judges, a mixture of professional photographers, college photography instructors and media advisers as well as scholastic photography instructors and media advisers, the top entries are close. This year, 43 individuals judged the entries and all but 11 ranked the winning entries as one of their top entries. Nine of the judges said the winning entry was their choice for first place. No other single entry has scored so high in recent years. Continue reading “Shoot-out returns to NYC”
FIRST PLACE Jubenal Aguilar, Brookhaven College (Daniel Rodrigue, adviser) | Leonardo Garcia, a window washer with April Building Services, Inc., washes the skywalk outside the Sheraton while Christian Ortiz spots and holds the ladder. Garcia said he has been working in the window sashing business for over seven years. “I used to use to be afraid of going outside the tall buildings,” Garcia said. ”But it’s now more just fun than anything.”
Six student photographers earn shout-out during Shoot-out
In the week since, 22 judges including professional photojournalists, college media advisers and others went through the entires still available for viewing.
The judges chose to recognize six photographers.
FIRST PLACE Jubenal Aguilar, Brookhaven College (Daniel Rodrigue, adviser)
SECOND PLACE Megan Burke, Missouri State University (Jack Dimond, adviser)
THIRD PLACE Don M. Green, Southern University (Heather Freeman, adviser)
HONORABLE MENTION AND CLASS FAVORITE Ryan Weier, Central Washington University (Jennifer Green, adviser)
HONORABLE MENTION Ryan Welch, Missouri State University (Jack Dimond, adviser)
HONORABLE MENTION Alexander Fu, Central Washington University (Cynthia Mitchell, adviser)
The other judges included college media advisers, other professional photojournalists, freelance photojournalists, other photography instructors.
Aaron Babcock, Amber Billings, Becky Tate, Bretton Zinger, Carole Babineaux, Cary Conover, Clint Smith, Deanne Brown, Diane Bolinger, Edmund Low, Eric Thomas, Greg Cooper, Griff Singer, Ian McVea, Jane Blystone, Janis Hefley, Jed Palmer, Jim McNay, John Beale, John Skees, Kevin Kleine, Kingsley Burns, Kyle Phillips, Laurie Hansen, Lillie Schenk, Logan Aimone, Margaret Sorrows, Mark Murray, Matt Garnett, Matt Stamey, Mitchell Franz, Pat Gathright, Sherri Taylor, Stern Hatcher, Steve Dearinger, Tom Hallaq and Toni Mitchell.
Photographers given opportunity to reflect on conference attendees
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By Bradley Wilson CMR Managing Editor
I couldn’t be at the College Media Association convention in New York City this spring. It was just bad timing the week before our spring break. Yet I knew there would be an enthusiastic group of students wanting to participate in the Shoot-out. Jack Zibluk again stepped up to help with the administration.
Co-sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association
But I wanted to get a feel for what I was missing. So working with Brandon Stanton’s basic reporting concepts in Humans of New York, I tweaked the assignment to challenge the students so we could all have a little fun and learn a little more about our conference attendees as well.
Just based on the results, I’d say everyone had a little fun and learned something in the process. It was good to see that the students had time to get out of the hotel, visiting different parts of the city that never sleeps. The top entries made me feel like I was there.
But they went beyond that. The best entries also gave me some insight into the individuals who attended the convention. The write-ups didn’t take a shot-gun approach, telling me a little about a lot. They took an in-depth approach, as Stanton does, telling a lot about a tiny piece of the person’s life. If there was ever a time to exercise what a friend of mine used to say — “If you have five minutes to take a person’s photo, spend three minutes getting to know them and two minutes taking their picture. — this is it. Get to know them. Pick one interesting aspect of their life and tell me more about that. Continue reading “NYC Shoot-out: Students of CMA”
