Individual Photograph

2010 Circle of Excellence Awards Program

Judges Report

Gold Award:

(Paula Burch-Celentano, Tulane University, Spitzer Portrait)

Loved the repetition of colors, lighting, pose, perspective. Real sense of personality. Used nicely in the publication, too. Nice balance of lighting and ambient light. Great choice of location. Great art direction. Tilts don't always work, but it adds to the whimsy and points to the center.

Silver Awards:

(Nicholas Benner, Univ. of Missouri, Fidler)

Very classy photograph. Wonderful texture and light. Soft, warm light quality. Very calm, natural. He seems contemplative and comfortable. The photographer brings the viewer intimately into his world. The color palette is lovely, with wood tones. The light is very appropriate for the subject matter.

(Stephen Salpukas, William & Mary, Plato)

Great conceptual image with good, simple, effective composition. The photographer shows a playfulness in creativity in making something interesting. Not seeing the subject's eyes adds interest. Interesting use of color, with the red on the book's cover. The lighting is appropriate, but could have been better. The background light falls off just a little too much. More precision in lighting would have elevated the image. Judges were shocked and saddened by the terrible cropping of this really nice image on the site. We're hoping the full frame appears somewhere else.

(Cary Edmondson, Cal State Stanislaus, rain)

Beautiful light and texture. Good composition. Good repetition of shape. Good eye catching the red umbrella which really makes the picture stand out. The light bouncing off the umbrella adds interest. Good execution on a fleeting moment. Too bad to see heavy handed use of type on the printed cover really overshadowing the photo's quiet moment.

Bronze Award:

(Stephen Salpukas, College of William & Mary, harmonica player)

Beautiful light and composition. Interesting use of focus and detail in the shallow depth of field. It was well-chosen and used effectively. Well executed photo from start to finish with a strong sense of natural personality coming through.

Photographer of the Year

Overall portfolio: No one portfolio was miles ahead of others. A lot lacked depth in content. The finalists were consistently, not always high reaching. Too many predictable, contrived academic pictures and generic landscapes of university icons. Many needed tighter editing. In previous years, a grand gold rose to the top, but we didn't see that this year.

Gold Award:

(Perry Smith, University of New Hampshire)

As a collection of images, it was very polished, technically outstanding. Collectively, the images gave us a sense of the photographer's vision and they were executed with precision. The photographer used a good thought process to conceptualize the ideas behind the images. All of the lighting is spot-on.

Silver Awards:

(Cary Edmondson, Cal State, Stanislaus)

Good diversity of content. Technically well-executed with a strong sense of color.  The photographer does a good job of shooting a wide variety of university situations. Well-rounded. Some stunning images in the portfolio, but some could been edited tighter that felt more predictable.

(Jeff Miller, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Really great collection of images that speaks to the lifestyle of the community. Many images show a range of good moments and human interest. Pictures show a journalistic, natural nature rather than a contrived, set-up feel.

(Kevin Colton, Hobart and William Smith Colleges)

Some wonderful, natural moments in this photographer's portfolio showing vitality. Great sports shots, great human emotion in the work. Good connection to nature and surroundings. It left us wanting to see more.

Bronze Award:

(Matt Cashore, University of Notre Dame)

The portfolio needed a tighter edit, but includes a diverse range of content from sports, to lifestyle to international photographs. Good moments in many of the images.