The word came down yesterday that five journalists at my paper, myself included, placed in the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors 2016 contest. The Rockford Register Star competes in Division III with the largest papers in the state. I took third place in the feature photo category for my back to school photo. I also took a first place award for my sports feature photo of a volleyball player reacting after a point. The full list of contest winners can be […]
I never know what to expect during contest season. I always spend too much time agonizing over which photos to enter. While waiting for the results, I convince myself that everything I shot the previous year was awful. I would be humbled to come away with nothing more then knowing that my images were in competition with some of the best in the business. This year, I had a better showing than I could have imagined. The first results to come in were […]
If you’ve spent any time around me while I’m looking at my work, you know I’m a self loathing photographer. It’s rare that I get excited about making an image. I usually see all the flaws in my work. Recently, I’ve made a few frames that I enjoyed. There was something that made them stand out to me. And for the most part, the flaws that I saw were tolerable. The first was a basketball portrait. The player, Hunter Hill of […]
At the end of the year, many “best of” contests roll around. This year has been no different. It requires you to go back through all of your work to find those few images that stand out from the crowd. The problem with this is that some images are personally significant because of challenges and problems that were overcome to make the photograph. Those don’t win contests. The judges don’t see the back story. Here are a handful of images […]