Northwest – July 2020 – Sports Feature

Judges Comments

Just as in the action category, nice to have images to judge. And, just as in action, lots of routine images that simply didn't stand out. We ended up really liking images that strayed from the classic sports, and, really, away from the classic sports reaction moments. Some of us have photographed mutton busting before, so we were not swayed by some sense of that being unusual, the images were just well done. The first place reaction photo, the riders tears, the rodeo clown's dismay, all in a clean, well-composed, well-exposed package really did the trick. In second the young golfer's exuberance was great. The elevation, the facial expression, the body language all made for a great moment. We discussed cropping the photo into a vertical, taking out the kid on the left, and decided that even cropped it would not have won over our first place shot, but it would still be a better photo with the crop. Third, we really liked because we got away from the field of competition entirely. The details, not clutter but all meaningful contextual elements, really make the photo sing. We could spend time just picking out all the things the triathlete has done to make their workout space, work.

Judges: Sean D. Elliot/The Day, Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel, Jim Evans/Retired