Winners were announced Saturday at the conclusion of the “Conversations about Photography ” conference at Lake Forest College. Sixty-two photographers entered. Awards were given for a body of work, rather than a single photograph, from the last three years. The photo judging process was made even more difficult this year by the large number of strong entries received. Many, many images deserved recognition for originality and visual impact. “There were no losers, and we unfortunately were limited to recognizing a mere five winners,” said one of the judges.
Second place and $300 went to Brian Plant, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. As third place winners, Bob Ratta, Madison, Wisconsin, and William Botkin, Centennial, Colorado, each received $100.
Thirteen received honorable mention: Hinrich Bruemmer, Berlin, Germany; Steve Crise, Los Angeles, California; Charles Dischinger, Springfield, Missouri; Chris Goepel, Novato, California; Matt Heeren, German Valley, Illinois; Sayre Kos, Mundelein, Illinois; George Kollar, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Elrond Lawrence, Salinas, California; David McLeod, Burlington, Vermont; Gordon Osmundson, Oakland, California; John Powers, Elyria, Ohio; Dean Sauvola, New Richmond, Wisconsin; and Arthur Skarin, Needham, Massachusetts.
Cashin says:
“My interest in photography began while I was in the U.S. Navy serving in the Far East. Photographing the faces of the Vietnamese people during Operation Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Vietnam) convinced me that my future was going to be behind a camera. Following active duty, I joined Newsweek magazine where I worked for 16 years in their photo lab, as well as photographing for their advertising special sections area. While still working for the magazine, I continued to travel and photograph worldwide on photo assignments first for the Naval Reserve and now for the Air National Guard.
“Currently, I am the photographer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the State of New York. The MTA oversees the New York City Transit Authority, Long Island Rail Road, Long Island Bus, Metro-North Railroad and Bridges and Tunnels. I produced the images for their annual reports, brochures, and corporate events. I have also documented the artists—and their artwork—for the MTA’s Arts For Transit program.
New MTA NYC transit station at 72nd and Broadway, by Patrick J. Cashin.