The judges said it was a weak category. Well thats not what one wants to read when receiving an award. But they are right. This picture won a third place in the October monthly clip contest in the NPPA Region 3 contest. Like the picture that won a first place for me in Feb. (See yesterday's entry). This photograph is all about timing. This girl picked up her flaming baton and without looking around just started to twirl it. A girl walking up behind got caught in the path of the baton and it caught her in the chest under her chin. No one was hurt in the mishap, though the girl was a little shaken briefly.
This winning a contest shows us a few things. 1. Always enter pictures because you never know what might win. 2. News photography is struggling in general in this day and age. For this picture to win, for the judges to call the category weak and seem reluctant to award the mandatory three awards, means less photographers are out getting the photographs that are meaningful to our communities. I've noticed that this is true as I pick up newspapers on road trips(a hazard among journalists, spending money at each stop on a handful of the local papers). Less news makes it in and many of the lead stories are either portraits or illustrated photographs for a story, not news or documentary work. Its a sad thing if we let solid news reportage go by the wayside in our communities. Honest journalism should always exist. Meadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer
This winning a contest shows us a few things. 1. Always enter pictures because you never know what might win. 2. News photography is struggling in general in this day and age. For this picture to win, for the judges to call the category weak and seem reluctant to award the mandatory three awards, means less photographers are out getting the photographs that are meaningful to our communities. I've noticed that this is true as I pick up newspapers on road trips(a hazard among journalists, spending money at each stop on a handful of the local papers). Less news makes it in and many of the lead stories are either portraits or illustrated photographs for a story, not news or documentary work. Its a sad thing if we let solid news reportage go by the wayside in our communities. Honest journalism should always exist. Meadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer