FEBRUARY NJPPA CLIP RESULTS

This Contest was judged by: Sam Morris, Steve Marcus, Tiffany Brown and Richard Brian of the Las Vegas Sun

News
1st Peter Monsees, The Record, Salvaging Memories
2nd Peter Monsees, The Record, Mets Jersey
3rd Tyson Trish, The Record, Glen Rock Memorial

Comments: Nice look of exasperation on the woman burned out of her house coupled with a sense of place.

Feature Single
1st Thomas Franklin, The Record, The Rink
2nd Kevin Wexler, Herald News, Taking the Plunge
3rd Jennifer Brown, The Star-Ledger, Valentine’s Day Mess

Comments: First place was a nice moment, a little more context would have helped. Second place you could feel the chill and third was a nice find for a weather feature with the added benefit of being topical.

Sports
1st Tyson Trish, The Record, Bergen Champs
2nd Tyson Trish, The Record, Hockey Check
3rd Bryan Littel, The Bridgeton News, Wrestling

Comments: Nice jube on the winner with students and players meeting at a peak. Second was a good reaction on a check and third place had nice dramatic lighting but needed some breathing room on the sides and better exposure on the coach.

Portrait
1st Thomas Franklin, The Record, Winter Formal
2nd Peters Monsees, The Record, Ice Damage
3rd Ed Murray, The Star-Ledger, Johnson Basketball

Comments: Overall a weak category. First place captured a nice moment between the kids and second place was helped by the contrasting colors of the shattered glass and vest. Third was an okay group portrait but we need to know why they are in a restaurant to give it some meaning.

Feature Multiple
1st Tony Kurdzuk, The Star-Ledger, Ancient Artifacts
2nd Elizabeth Lara, Herald News, Teacher’s Disability
3rd Leslie Barbaro, Herald News, Cheerleaders

Comments: First place did a nice job with a potentially horrible assignment, good variety of shots. Second was nice but it would have been better to have some more interation. Third had a lot of the same photo. Both second and third could have been helped by varying the subject to camera distance and having more variety, tight medium and wide shots.

January 2007 Clip Results

This Contest was judged by: The Charlotte News and Observer

News
1st Noah Murray, The Star-Ledger, After-School Horror
2nd Jose Moreno, Courier-Post, Candlelight Vigil
3rd Tariq Zehawi, The Record, Eaton Sentencing
HM Noah Murray, The Star-Ledger, Afternoon Tragedy

Comments: First Place: The individual faces bring it all together with strong emotions. Clear winner. Second Place: Composed well. Great moment of static event. All the elements of candlelight vigil with the added moment of emotion. Third Place: Best face of all pics, but photog knew where to look taking away from spontaneity. HM: Good information in pic. It would have placed higher if cropped left student out, came up at bottom.

Feature Single
1st Jennifer Brown, The Star-Ledger, Fog over the Hudson
2nd Michael Karas, Herald News, Animal for Eid ul-Adah Holiday
3rd John Munson, The Star-Ledger, Hellrazors

Comments: First Place: Nice serendipity. Clouds dip at right moment for umbrella to peak interest. Photog did not over dodge and all the elements came together for a timeless photo. Second Place: Painterly. It draws you into the moment, yet I am taken away to the old world. I see energy but the moment is still. The photog thought about composition. Third Place: I feel like I am there in the moment. Lit very well!

Sports
1st Jeff Granit, Tri-Town News, Wrestling Jubo
2nd Frank Wojciechowski, Princeton Packet, Wrestling
3rd Michael Karas, Herald News, Basketball

Comments: First Place: It is a peak moment of victory that is lit well. Second Place: Great expression. Wish the crop was tighter on the left. Third Place: Clean, peak action that was cropped/framed well.

Portrait
1st Mitsu Yasukawa, The Star-Ledger, Thinking Big
2nd Tom Franklin, The Record, The Proud Paparazzo
3rd None Awarded

Comments: First Place: We could not find something wrong. Enough said. Nice location shooting. Second Place: So close! Should have cropped top down to top of color “photo.” A lower cleaner crop would have won. We love the composition and concept. Third Place: NA

Feature Multiple
1st Ed Murray, The Star-Ledger, Jersey Band
2nd Amy Newman, Herald News, Blind Wrestler
3rd Leslie Barbaro, Herald News, Funeral

Comments: First Place: Looks like the photog enjoyed this shoot. Nice variation of moments, places, emotion. Good, different story. Second Place: Repetitive photos/edit. Needs better cropping. Nice moments, and we like that you followed the subject but need to edit. Third Place: Strong individual photos. Great daily work, but does not rise to the level of story telling.

NJPPA POY judging this Saturday 3/24

This Saturday March 24 will be the judging for the NJPPA Pictures of the Year competition. It will take place beginning 9am at The Star-Ledger, University Av. & Court St. in Newark. The judging is open to anyone and will most likely go through to about 7pm. If you would like to attend just come by any time, no need to let us know first. The building entrance is up the ramp on University by the overhang. Just tell the guard inside you are going to the NJPPA judging on floor 2R. The judging room is just to the right off the elevator.

Results of the contest will be posted on the NJPPA.org web site Saturday evening at the conclusion of the judging. The Photographer of the Year and Best in Show winners will be kept secret and announced at the upcoming awards dinner later this year. I look forward to seeing some of you there and wish everyone good luck!

Tony Kurdzuk
NJPPA President

The Next Two Years

As your new president I am honored to serve the New Jersey Press Photographer's Association and its members. I would like to congratulate or new Vice President, Kevin Wexler, Secretary/Treasurer, Reena Rose Sibayan, as well as thank our Webmaster Cie Stroud, Clip Contest Chair Tyson Trish and Contest Chair Jennifer Brown for their continued hard work.

Over the next two years I plan to increase the membership of the organization, provide members with information and support and make the NJPPA a more active community. Here are some of the things we will be working on:

Increase Membership - We have seen a steady decline in membership over the last several years even though there seems to be just as many, if not more, news photographers out on the street. When I first joined this organization in 1984 as an intern at The Trenton Times it was something of a requirement if you wanted to work as a photojournalist in New Jersey. I remember staff photographer Tom Herde pestering me until I finally filled out an application and sent in my check. In those first months of working I didn't realize how important membership was but quickly caught on because of how active and involved the NJPPA members were at the time. There was a camaraderie that went beyond the contests and dinner that made you feel you were a part of something. I would like to get some of that back by giving current members more of a reason to join than just being able to participate in the contests and dinner.

I have heard from several members that right now there is not much point in joining beyond that. I also plan on doing whatever I can to get more members enrolled from the central and southern areas of our state. Despite our current enrollment we are NOT the North Jersey Press Photographers Association and stand to benefit greatly by having more of our membership from outside of that area.

Provide Information and Support - Current events in the last six years have dramatically affected our ability to do many aspects of our jobs as news photographers. The days when we had almost unfettered access and freedom at spot news and large events are seemingly gone. Every day there are more restrictions on us and more officials who take no pause in putting their own interpretation on the laws when it comes to our rights in gathering the news.

In the coming months I plan on creating a page on the njppa.org web site that is a central location for members to find information on all the laws and rights we have as photojournalists including information specific to county courthouses. Much of the latter information will be coming from our membership in all areas of the state so please feel free to contact me with specific information on your county's procedures. As NJPPA President I am also hoping to establish relationships with state and local police superintendents and chiefs. My goal is to help develop an understanding with law enforcement officers that will allow us all to do our jobs effectively without impedance on either part.

Become a more active community - In the coming months you will see some additions to the web and contests that I hope will make our community stronger and more active. First is the immediate launch of the NJPPA blog at http://njppa.blogspot.com/ This is a forum open to all for reading, and members for posting, any and all information on photojournalism here in New Jersey. Members are encouraged to post thoughts, ideas and hopefully start discussions on what's going on with them and others in our profession. Along with the njppa.org web site it will also be a clearing house for information and messages from the NJPPA and it's officers.

Beginning in March we will be adding a multimedia category to the clip contest. It will be judged quarterly and is open to still photographs presented on the web in multimedia form (no full motion video just yet). Look for details in the Clip Contest section of njppa.org on how to enter in the coming weeks. In addition to these we also plan on organizing informal meetings and get-togethers for all members and guests as a way to stay connected on a more personal level. Most will be in the evenings and may have a theme or guest speaker. Contact Jennifer Brown (jbrown@starledger.com) if you have an idea or would like to host an evening.

Lastly, we all know any organization's strength comes from its members. All of the officers ran unopposed in this past election and if we had not run the NJPPA would have been disbanded. This is not a guilt trip, it's the truth. I want to see our community grow in its interests and diversity as well as be a group our members feel interested in and proud to belong to. I am calling on all our current members to please do whatever you can to help out.

The NJPPA By Laws call for a Board of Trustees. These are five members who would normally have been elected along with the other officers, and whose responsibilities included formulating policies and interpreting the by laws. I can't remember the last time I voted for a trustee member, so in an attempt to comply with the by laws I am implementing the following. I would like to divide the state into five regions with one person in each region replacing the traditional role of trustee. These new trustees will not be responsible for interpreting the by laws and such, but will act as officers who help increase and maintain membership in that region. They will help members statewide form and maintain a more cohesive group and will be invited to participate in all meetings of the NJPPA officers. Please contact me (tkurdzuk@starledger.com) if you are interested or know of anyone who may be interested in becoming a new trustee.

I am very concerned by members telling me they currently feel disenfranchised and that there is no point in being an NJPPA member beyond the contests. We have some great ideas and lots of room for improvement. The officers of the NJPPA want to hear from you with your ideas and suggestions as well. Either by sending us an email directly or using the new blog space, I am sending out an open invitation to all members to let us know what you would like to see the NJPPA do and become, so here's your chance.

I am looking forward to the next two years as an opportunity to make the NJPPA all I know it can be. In so many ways New Jersey plays the role of stepchild to New York and Philadelphia. I would hate to see the news photographers in this state become included in that group and have nowhere else to turn for a professional organization. With your help we can prevent that and at the same time help ourselves by working together.

Tony Kurdzuk
President, NJPPA
Staff Photographer,The Star-LedgerNewark, NJ