POYi Issue Reporting Picture Story

I watched the POYi judging for the Issue Reporting Picture Story category. One of the first things that I noticed was that there were a lot of picture stories about war. I also noticed that there were many stories that incorporated religion into the story in some aspect. There were also a lot of photos that had their edges darkened or vignetted and quite a few people had actually commented on that. I liked being able to see the variety of stories that were entered. One story caught my eye because it reminded me of a story done once before. The story was about a doctor that did house visits. It was voted out but it made me think back to the famous picture story Country Doctor by Eugene Smith. I could start to see why some of the stories were voted out because I couldn't see the "thread" that held them together. It was hard to see how some pictures related to the theme of the story. The favorite part of the voting was the very end when we got to hear what the judges really felt about the stories and about photography in general. All the judges basically agreed by this point that photography was far from being objective. One of the judges specifically said that photography can make you feel and believe many things in any way. The judges also mentioned the common theme of war and violence and the different ways picture stories had showed them. There was a specific story that was being judged toward the end that was in black and white and expressed war in a very violent and rough way. It depicted a lot of visual violence where the judges felt that lacked a connection that they felt we were supposed to feel so they didn't vote it to the final round. I found it interesting that in the final round, all the judges agreed that the photography was amazing and that they focused on the issue and what they thought should be the most important issue that people should see. They were stuck for a while between the story "Love Me" and "For Better or Worse." They went back and forth for a while until they decided that the increasing problem of beauty on society was a more important issue, so "Love Me" won first place. Personally, I really enjoyed the story "For Better or Worse," which won second place, because I think that there were a lot of things going on in the story, but the photographer did a great job at piecing all of the events and problems into one great picture story that flowed. I think that the photography was amazing and I believe I would have voted that one first. The photographer showed great detail as well and personal moments that made you really feel what the story was about. Below is the first and second place for Issue Reporting Picture Story.

First Place

Second Place