Where to begin in discussing this year`s photo contest?
Perhaps with sunrises and babies, which is where many entrants chose to start–some quite successfully, as our winning photos attest. (Then again, maybe with sunsets, which even more of you selected: The beginning of evening, of course.)
In the end the theme ”Beginnings” drew everything from travelers departing on ships to copulating turtles and rhinoceroses. Children–perhaps the single most popular subject–were shown learning to play an instrument
(the beginnings of another Paganini?), forming friendships and beginning life itself (delivery rooms were the setting for dozens of photos).
Hand-holding, kissing and other embraces documented the beginnings of romance. One somber entry showed a graveyard in the foreground, the cooling towers of a nuclear reactor in the background. Title: ”The Beginning of the End.” One entrant sent his photo complete with frame, another hand-colored. A third snuck in a resume seeking employment at The Tribune (nice try).
Color photos outnumberd black and white by almost 10 to 1–2,521 to 265, respectively, of 2,786 total entries. Entrants came from all eligible states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. One submission made its way from the Dominican Republic (the entrant, who was in the Peace Corps, said the Midwest still was her legal residence).
The judges were impressed: ”It gets tougher every year to choose the winners,” Dan Jursa, SUNDAY, Magazine`s art director, said. ”I was amazed at the variety of pictures,” commented Charles Borst, The Tribune`s Sunday photo editor. ”Once we got down to the last 20 shots, it was agonizing to pick some, to make others outright losers.”
Said Marilyn Gartman, owner of the Chicago photo agency that bears her name: ”There was one photo I kept telling the other judges that I could sell in my agency today.”
FIRST
First Prize, Color, $500
”Reach for the Stars”
Phil Sommerville, 27
Bike trip coordinator
Upland, Ind.
”I was in Titusville, Fla., on a bike trip. It was the first launch of the space shuttle Columbia (in 1981), and we were just sitting by the water looking for a shot. I didn`t want just a picture of the rocket, seven miles away. There was a breakwater with people lined up. I thought it would make a nice photograph. To me, what makes the picture is the person in the bottom left with his arms up. That I didn`t know about until I got the pictures back. His gesture kind of matched the plume of smoke going up. It set up the rocket.”
SECOND
Second Prize, Color, $250
”My Part Start”
Mark DeMarte, 34
Advertising manager
Berwyn
”It`s my daughter; she`s 2 1/2. We took it one day in front of the Civic Opera House. We set up the shot. That`s her music book of Broadway tunes. She likes those songs. Her grandmother plays them for her on the piano. I was looking to show a young hopeful for the world of theater. It`s always hard to take pictures of children, to get them to do what you think you want. I usually shoot a lot of pictures. Actually this turned out to be the third shot. I usually end up taking two rolls before I get anything.”
THIRD
Third Prize, Color, $100
Untitled
Harrel Harris, 37
Armored car company employee
Chicago
”I was invited to a wedding; the bride was a close friend. She wanted me to come even though I wasn`t the official photographer. This shot was taken at the back of the church, when one or two of the bridesmaids had already marched down the aisle. I was back with the bride, trying to keep her calm. It was just minutes before she was supposed to march in. She was in a trance. I said, ”Wow, that`s the shot I want.” I called to her, she looked, and, pow, I had it.”
FIRST
First Prize, Black & White
$500
Sequoia Seedlings, Yosemite `86”
Mike Gallo, 42
Project engineer
Hickory Hills
”I was on vacation in Yosemite National Park. We were at Mariposa Grove, an area of giant sequoia trees. For about 100 years the government had followed a policy of fire control; they didn`t allow any fires to spread in there. That prevented seedlings from starting, they recently discovered. Debris fell, and it never burned. Seedlings needed the sunlight and the soil to germinate. Now they`ve started controlled burning, and that has allowed seedlings to sprout. This shot told a story, if you know a little about that grove and its history. There`s an old tree in the background, kind of burnt; this is how the seedlings got their beginning. But I think without the sunlight shining on the seedlings, it would have been just another forest shot. The lighting kind of set it off.”
SECOND
Second Prize, Black & White
$250
Untitled
Suzanne Plunkett, 27
Theater company managing director
Chicago
”The parents are friends of mine, and they had a new baby named Nathaniel. He had been born just a few weeks before. They wanted a new family portrait. So I went to their house. I just brought some portable light stands, not very sophisticated at all. If anything, I was worried that the lighting would be too severe, that the baby wouldn`t really respond with lights all around. I tried to make things as casual as possible, and I snapped a few. I felt that I had some good ones because they were very comfortable, and the way the father was playing with Nathaniel, there was some good interaction, so I was pretty excited about it.”
THIRD
Third Prize, Black & White
$100
Marian Fuller, 37
Public affairs manager, Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services
Springfield
”The little girl`s name is Jade; she`s 4 years old. She was at the grand opening of a center in Springfield that serves children with disabilities. She was experimenting with her new walker that day. It was a really exciting time to be with her. I had taken a whole roll, but this one picture just caught the experience. It was really a special moment for everybody who was there. I`m certainly not a professional photographer by any means, but with Jade you couldn`t go wrong.”
HONORABLE MENTIONS (Color)
Right:”Chicago Sunrise”
George Barletta, 40
Corporate art consultant
Chicago
”My wife woke me up and told me to look out the window. The scene is right out my bedroom window, from State Street looking out toward the lake. I was just impressed by the silhouette shapes. Everything was dark against that beautiful sky. I thought the composition was beautiful. I took quite a few, and none of the others was as good. To me, one of the most important things is what the smoke was doing–framing the sun–and that was luck.”
Below: ”Hello, Son. I`m Your Dad”
Robert Steiger, 33
Engineer
Crown Point, Ind.
”It was the birth of my first son, and my wife and my son were in the recovery room. He was 45 minutes old, and he was just sort of waving his hand around in the air. I stuck my hand up, and he touched it and grabbed it. I had my camera in my other hand. I didn`t have time to focus or anything. I just snapped it. He`s 6 years old now. It had to be a good shot; it was the last one on the roll.”
Right: ”Trio”
Art E. Langner, 61
Retired governor inspector
Forest View
”Those are redwing blackbirds. There`s a strip along the Santa Fe railway tracks where there are several blocks of cattails. It`s a breeding ground for redwing blackbirds. They make a beautiful nest suspended between the stalks. It`s hard to get them feeding. So I wander around with my boots on and try to find a nice clean nest where I don`t have to brush anything away. The babies were all sleeping when I found this nest. All you have to do is tap one of the stalks. They think one of the parent birds is coming, and they rear up with mouths open.”
HONORABLE MENTIONS (Black & White)
Left: ”The Kiss”
Jeff Arsenault, 20
Student
LaGrange Park
”It`s a picture of myself and my girlfriend. I had an assignment for a photography class that day. I chose the idea of ”right before”–right before you strike a match, right before you pull a trigger, the instant before a kiss. It was supposed to show the beginning of a relationship. Relationships usually start with a kiss.”
Below: ”In the Beginning: There was a Seed”
John L. Switzer, 66
Physician
Winnetka
”I take my camera almost everywhere. I was riding my bicycle in a forest preserve in Skokie and noticed this pod was popping open. The sun and light were perfect. I knew right away I got a good shot.”
Left: ”A Gift”
Florene Darrell, 49
Housewife, amateur photographer
Evanston
”It`s my grandson, and he was at my house. He was 7 days old. That`s my daughter. They were down on the floor, and I just snapped it. It was a matter of communication between my daughter and her first child. How many babies smile at 7 days old? I always wait for the ”decisive moment.” At this early age, he was responding to his mother, and it was marvelous to record it. He`s been doing it every since.”
