Too often this category is populated by collections of photos lacking either a clear narrative or strong thematic cohesion. There were a few examples of that in this field, collections of images from a general news event that, while not visually bad, lacked what it took to stand out in a category meant to recognize more long-form storytelling. First place simply jumped out at the judges for the impressive visuals and the scope and effort of capturing a very difficult topic. Every image was visually strong, but also storytelling. Environmental stories can be very difficult to tell as they often do not have a clear narrative and the pitfall of dwelling too much on showing process looms. This story captures images of process, but manages to tell the story through a wide variety of situations and moments with strong visuals. The judges could have seen a tighter edit, and yet did not necessarily want a tighter edit because every image was good enough to keep. The rodeo coverage in second stood out from the other general news collections for the variety of images, all of them strong in moment, light, composition, or two or three of those elements. The very simply shot, almost classic in the beginning-middle-end narrative style, first day of kindergarten was nicely composed with clean frames and nice moments. The photographer did rely a bit much on the wide angle, hence third place.
Judges:
Sean D. Elliot/The Day, Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel, Jim Evans/Morning Sentinel-retired
Judges Comments
Too often this category is populated by collections of photos lacking either a clear narrative or strong thematic cohesion. There were a few examples of that in this field, collections of images from a general news event that, while not visually bad, lacked what it took to stand out in a category meant to recognize more long-form storytelling. First place simply jumped out at the judges for the impressive visuals and the scope and effort of capturing a very difficult topic. Every image was visually strong, but also storytelling. Environmental stories can be very difficult to tell as they often do not have a clear narrative and the pitfall of dwelling too much on showing process looms. This story captures images of process, but manages to tell the story through a wide variety of situations and moments with strong visuals. The judges could have seen a tighter edit, and yet did not necessarily want a tighter edit because every image was good enough to keep. The rodeo coverage in second stood out from the other general news collections for the variety of images, all of them strong in moment, light, composition, or two or three of those elements. The very simply shot, almost classic in the beginning-middle-end narrative style, first day of kindergarten was nicely composed with clean frames and nice moments. The photographer did rely a bit much on the wide angle, hence third place.