National Press Photographers Association

Best Use of Photography: 2nd Quarter 2010 Results

2010 2nd Quarter BUP Results

Second quarter entries were judged at the The Commercial Appeal by picture editors Jeff McAdory, Dave Darnell, and John Sale.

 

NEWS:

1st: The St. Petersburg Times, June 24
“Oil blankets Pensacola Beach”
Patti Yablonski and Edmund D. Fountain.
Judges’ comments: Edmund Fountain of the St. Petersburg Times caught the emotional reaction of a Pensacola Beach man seeing oil blanket the beach where he learned to swim and where he taught his son to swim. Patty Yablonski played it big on A1 and the Times design, copy editing and picture editing team somehow kept other elements on the page from getting in the way of an impact picture despite the fact that the oil spill was not the lead story of the day, there is a rail with a cutout picture, colorized clip art of tennis balls, tint boxes and three mug shots on the page. It sounds like a “thousand entry points of light” mess. But the photo deservedly dominates to make a very successful page.

2nd: The Denver Post, April 21
“House rolls out pot rules”
Tim Rasmussen, Ken Lyons and John Sunderland with photos by Joe Amon and Mark Leffingwell (Daily Camera)

3rd: The Oregonian, April 22
“War zone to home zone”
Jamie Francis, Rob Finch, Lisa Cowan and Faith Cathcart.

 

 

FEATURE:

1st: The Palm Beach Post, May 30
“Saluting Our Soldiers: At 20, he had just begun to live his life””
Mark Edelson, Gary Coronado and Staci Sturrock.
Judges’ comments: For Saluting our Soliders The Palm Beach Post’s Gary Coronado found the grave markers for local war casualties and shot moody, interesting photographs that encourage viewers to feel the scene, not just see it. The photos are good, but they don’t stand on their own. Picture editor Mark Edelson’s combination of these photos with mug shots and short text blocks about the lives of the war dead and how they are remembered through these monuments combines to make a much more powerful statement. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, May 23
“Time Frames”
Bill Kelley III, Preston Gannaway and Lori Kelley.

3rd: The Los Angeles Times, June 27
“High Desert Hopes, In the end, a suburban mirage”
Rob St. John, Katie Falkenberg and Kelli Sullivan.

 

 

PICTURE PAGE:

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, April 4
“Redeemed”
Martin Smith-Rodden and Ross Taylor.
Judges’ comments: Redeemed, a Passion Play picture story shot by The Virginian-Pilot’s Ross Taylor and edited by Martin Smith-Rodden, is a clever Russian nesting doll of a tale done succinctly in four photos. Like most good picture stories, it succeeds by allowing the viewer to bring his or her own perspective while being gently guided by the picture editing and design. Redeemed is resplendent in Christian iconography that is nicely seen by Taylor. But there’s something all too human – like boredom – on the face of one of the “angels” in the opening photo. The story ends with a bloody Jesus heading for the showers. So you’ve got the spirit and emotional punch of the crucifixion inside a smugly humorous behind the scenes look at the Passion inside straight forward documentation. The viewer assigns the meaning. The editor is invisible. Great stuff, deftly accomplished.

2nd: The Palm Beach Post, April 22
“In pursuit of pythons”
Mark Edelson, Brandon Kruse and Greg Lovett.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, June 13
“Flag Day”
Martin Smith-Rodden and Bill Tiernan.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Palm Beach Post, April 18
“Earth Day 2010”
Mark Edelson

 

SPORTS:

1st: The Palm Beach Post, April 10
“Inauspicious Opening”
Mark Edelson, Allen Eyestone, Ron Falch and Tom Elia.
Judges’ comments: A composite four-photo grid of same-sized pictures from the Florida Marlins’ opening day told the story of the spring rite in broad strokes that balanced the scene, behind-the-scenes and the sport equally. The photo grid is often used by picture editors as a crutch to prop up bad photography and/or indecisive editing (mea culpa!). But with the right situation and in the right hands – like those of the Palm Beach Post team – the grid approach can deliver much more information to readers than a single, large, “impact” photo. It’s also a challenge to get the right mix of pictures, the right crops, and the right face sizes to make the grid flow smoothly on the page. This one works.

2nd: The Los Angeles Times, June 4
“NBA Finals, Setting a ring tone”
George Wilhelm, Calvin Hom, Derek Simmons and Wally Skalij.

3rd: The Denver Post, April 25
“NHL Playoffs, Jaws of Defeat”
Reza Marvashti and Andy Cross.

 

Honorable Mentions:

The Palm Beach Post, April 27
“Winning without”
Mark Edelson, Brandon Kruse and Chris Burt.

 

 

MULTIPLE PAGE:

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, May 23
“Time frames”
Bill Kelley III, Preston Gannaway and Lori Kelley.
Judges’ comments: Photojournalist Preston Gannaway took pictures of her hand holding historical photos up in front of the present day scenes the pictures depict (note to Preston: stop chewing your nails!). She managed to get the angles and lenses to make the scenes from both time periods match seamlessly. The difference in the photos is fascinating. Bill Kelley III and The Virginian-Pilot played them well across three pages. Devoting big, expensive space to good work in the print product is worthy of recognition.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, April 11
“The Cripplers”
Bill Kelley III, Preston Gannaway and Lori Kelley.

3rd: The Los Angeles Times, June 13
“Remembering John Wooden”
Colin Crawford, Rob St. John, Calvin Hom and Kelli Sullivan.

 

 

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

 

 

 

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