I was suprised and honored to have one of my entries appear on the front page of the Stars and Stripes insert this Wednesday. The feature of the insert was the photography contest hosted by the local Morale Welfare and Recreation office. Below is the article as Brandon wrote it in the March 20th edition of the Citizen. I pulled all of my entries off of my photostream, and you can see the rest here in the blog too.
Story by Brandon Beach
Behind every great photo is a story. Neal Schneider saw one unfold just outside his back door two years ago. It took place on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. He was stationed there as a lieutenant colonel with the U.S. military. As he stood at the window, he watched his children play games at the edge of the shoreline. The ocean waves raced up over the rocks and sand.
Behind the sand, rocks, kids and water loomed the Waianae mountains in the distant. The sun had just dropped behind the peaks, and in that instant, the most brilliant sunset spread out across the sky.
It was a moment that could have easily escaped into the caverns of one’s memory. But Schneider was one of the lucky ones. He had his camera within reach and clicked off a single frame.
The photo captures the kids in a sort of perpetual dance silhouetted beneath the sky’s radiant colors. Schneider titled the shot "Best Friends," and it was one of the many great photos that took top honors at the 2007 U.S. Army Stuttgart Photo Contest. This year 28 contestants submitted 358 photos across 18 different categories. "We’ve never had so many photos in one contest," said Kelly Sarles, director of Patch Arts and Crafts, who credits advances in digital photography for the boom. "It was just overwhelming."
The competition was separated into two divisions - active-duty service members and civilians - with each group eligible to enter color and black and white prints in five categories: People, Place, Object, Military Life and Experimental Processes.
First, second and third prizes and two honorable mentions were awarded on a category-by-category basis. The five winners from each category will compete at the Department of the Army level later this year. "The photos that won captured life from a different angle," said Sarles.
"They weren’t the kind of photos that you see day in and day out."
Several months ago, Sarles and her staff organized a gallery in the Kelley Community Club to view all the winning entries. The event was open to the community and recognized a cross-section of the talent captured through the lenses of both digital and traditional film cameras. The area’s top photographers were awarded gift certi.cates from Media Markt and the AAFES PowerZone. Others received photo accessories such as tripods, picture frames, memory sticks and photo albums. Nobody went home empty-handed, said Sarles.
While a majority of photographers lumped into the Place and Object categories, a small group ventured into experimental processes, adding effects and spin to their photos. Pascal Bernard, a graphic designer with MWR Marketing, placed .rst and third in the black-and-white category for entries "Chez Marie, St. Remy de Provence" and "Memorial Bridge," images that he said were captured during jaunts through cities with his camera searching for "unusual angles."
"Sometimes you just have to venture off the mainstream to and what you’re looking for," he said.
Both entries were created using a process called "Polaroid Image Transfer," in which the peel-apart film is removed prematurely, leaving the negative still wet. The .lm is placed on a high-quality watercolor paper, muting the colors and giving the image, explained Bernard, a "vintage look."
Some photographers layered photos on top of each other to create a single photo, as did Elizabeth Davidson in her photo, "Carpe Diem," which blends an image of an astronomical clock over a .eld of skulls. The photo took first place in the color category. She also earned second and third place for entries, "True Re.ection" and "Meltdown" to sweep the category.
Lt. Col. Charles Badalati of U.S. European Command won the contest’s "Best of Show," which is awarded to the top photo across all the five categories. He won a free trip to Paris from Enjoy Tours, the contest’s commercial sponsor, for his entry, "Sensual Flowers," a black and white photo that he said was taken under natural light using a 50-millimeter macro lens. Badalati said that a great photo must "always strike the heart when you encounter it."
And therein lies the power of photography.
