NATIONAL AWARDS

The words “international competition” are a misnomer.  There is no constraint on the number of awards.  Instead the selected images on the say of the judges satisfy twelve criteria.  Key criteria are: impact, technical excellence, lighting, composition, color balance, creativity,  subject matter, and story-telling.  You will see from the images below that my images tell a good story. 

AWARDS FROM PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA

Each year I submit four images to the International Photographic Competition held by PPA. The PPA judging process is tough and the judges are highly experienced photographers who have judged for a long time.  There are at least 5 judges per panel. I always learn from the judging which anyone can watch live-streamed on their computers.

The judges are professional photographers.  The meat of their business is portraits.  As such, the taste of the judges is not avant garde, or abstract.  I for one feel comfortable with PPA’s conservative recognition of  what is art.  The focus of much of my work after all is with clients who want portraits or realistic pictures of their property.  My award-winning prints would past muster at many an art venue. 

Sometimes all four of my images are accepted into one or more of the PPA Collections.  In 2014, the second year I entered, my medal was Silver, meaning that one of the four images went into the Loan Collection while three went to the General Collection.  For 2015-16 the medals were Gold, with two images in the Loan Collection. 2017 saw another Silver and 2020 Bronze, with all four submissions in General.  Having all four images accepted by the judges is tough and when it happens I am really proud.  As a former academic, I love having my images in one of the PPA books representing the best of photography for the year.  Sometimes images in the General Collection get into the Showcase Book, and all Loan images go into the book of that title.  Marathon Press, who publishes the art books, does a beautiful job.  I have a total of twelve prints in the books.* 

*Professional Photographers of America:
     Loan Collection Marathon Press, NE. Volume XVI (2013)-Volume XXI (2018).
     Showcase Collection, Marathon Press, NE. Volumes XX (2017), XXII          (2019), XXIII (2020) forthcoming. 

AN AWARD FROM AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PHOTOGRAPHERS

PPA members who are PPA-Masters may join the American Society of Photographers. In January 2018 ASP gave me a Medallion Award because I received the highest score of any ASP member in the Northeast in the category of General Portrait.

The image is “Addict” that you see to the left and more clearly in the gallery below. The local paper as you see in the newslip below made a note of the ASP Medallion Award. 

THE MASTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The way one gets the Degree of Master of Photography is to do well in the PPA International Competition.   The quickest one can become a Master of Photography is two years.   I got my degree in 2016, after just three years.  Not bad going!

MY MAIN SUBJECT-MATTER

Much of my art-work falls in the New York tradition of street photography.  As a teenager, I often visited the photography collection at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art.  The Museum was one of the first to recognize photography as an art-form.  Most of the early work was black-and-white street photography.  Most of my work I do in Manhattan.   It differs from classical street photography because I do formal portraits.  I check the light that falls on a potential subject.  For example, if the light is  flat on the faces, then I do not shoot.  Classical street photography is candid.  In contrast, most of my street portraits are done with the subject’s knowledge and consent.   

DOWN AND OUT

I had a show in 2018 at the Vestal Museum.  Most of  the portraits at the show were of down-and-outs. Some of the visitors turned their noses up at my choice of subjects.  That’s just it:  I take pictures of people whom others do not want to notice.  Indeed, my imagery has a social edge to it.  By circumstance the faces provide great character-studies.  Impact is what I go for.  And my portraits have the technical attributes that PPA requires of  formal portraits.  What a good combination!  

BUYING

Do contact me if you would like a print of any of the images.  The prints look good on fine-art paper, metal, canvas, or glass.