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Singular Image Publisher's Choice
Juror: Michael Mack, Publisher, SteidlMack, London, England
The prospect of viewing over 2,000 photographs and choosing ‘the
best’ filled me with gloom. Surely it was going to be nigh on
impossible to choose between single images of quite different subjects
and styles, and proclaim one as THE consummate image. The
premise that one image can encompass awhole world, or offer a touchstone
to a multitude of stories beyond its subject, is far more
difficult that it seems.The finest work was quickly apparent, though of
course the selection process was entirely subjective, by which I
mean that my inherent flaws are undoubtedly reflected in my choices.
Interestingly there were a few subjects which arose repeatedly: guns,
text in images, the patent use of digital technology where this
became the subject, abstract photographs, and the Friedrich stance –
a romantic view of the back of a person facing an uncertain or
grand vista.
Whilst most of the photographers seem to have understood the notion that
this was a competition for a single image, not a series or
body of work whereby the narrative is built through the interchange and
connection between the images, I must admit that I did often
think that I would like to have seen more images. Sometimes that was precisely
the success of that particular image, the fact that it opened my mind
to other visual possibilities.
First
Prize
Vicki and Antonio, Veronica and Sabine © Lydia
Panas, Kutztown, PA
Second Prize
i
Alema Rose, Aler IDP Camp, Uganda, 2006 © Heather
McClintock, Boone, NC
Third Prize
Planets © Elizabeth
Fleming, Maplewood, NJ
Honorable Mention
(3)
i
White River, AZ © Aaron Huey, Seattle, WA
©
Andrea Land, San Francisco, CA
Outside Worlds © Kristin
Schmid Schurter, Springfield, IL
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