Previous | Next :: Judging the British Press Photographers Year Competition : National Theater : London | May 5, 2010, 12:13 am

Well according to the clock on my computer it is 1-15AM...... thats the time in New York....... but here in London it is 6-15AM..... Im on the tube train to Heathrow ........ Yesterday's judging of the British Press Photographers Year was a pretty intense business beginning at 9 AM and running straight through until about 10PM....... with small breaks for lunch and dinner : -) . Pretty exhausting........ every image is projected so as to be viewed individually...... then all are viewed as a print too ...... all prints are set out with all the others in giant sets on the floor ........ it is very demanding and rigorous because the PPY process attempts to really give due process to every single image ....... yeah intense .... but It actually was great........ a fantastic standard of work ....... really very hard to judge............ but great to see and great to hang out with old friends like Neil Turner and a pile of other distinguished photographers on the judging panel and amongst the PPY organizers some of whom I have not seen for 20 years........ like good old Tim Bishop who looks exactly the same apart from just a tiny bit older....... hehehe ....... but hey lets face it none of us are getting any younger........... I finally got back to the place I am staying at about 11PM........ by the time I'd packed and fiddled with a few thing I needed to attend to....... it was 2-30AM ...... I know...... I know............. just time for 2 hours sleep...... as I set the alarms for 4-30AM........... got up.... quick shower and breakfast...... I am now on the train..... just about to arrive at London's Heathrow Airport to get the Continental flight direct to Houston Texas ........ if I keep this up people who meet me for the first time after a 20 year gap will not be claiming...... 'You look the same but a tiny smidge older'......... more like...... their mouths will hang open....... 'Wooow..... is that you Jez?....... Dude what have you been doing to yourself man?' ..... hehehehe...... :-))

This image shows a moment during the judging of the Arts section. At the center of it all Tim Bishop does appear to be getting a tiny bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task as the sun goes down on a long days judging........ hehehe....... Up on the left in his wheel chair is Phil Coburn.... finally succumbing to the temptation of his first beer....... after all..... its well into the 'after work hours'..... it has been very hard work..... and hey.... we are in Britain......... hehehe......... anyway he was certainly keen not to go mad before the judging was over ....... as he joked himself ... ' I don't want people to think I'm getting legless' :-)) ........ (Phil lost his legs on assignment in Afghanistan in an explosion that killed his college the writer Rupert Hamer and a US marine in January of this year ...... he shocked me by already being impressively mobile on his prosthetic legs....... his passion for reportage photography and journalism seems undiminished by his injuries....... a truly impressive fine bloke..... and amazing character :-)) ) On the right Rosie Hallam who's entry I think last year was overall image of the year if I remember rightly........ :-) Behind is Victoria Routlege who is reading out captions to judges that want more information about individual images. I think it might be Nic Dunlop of Panos Pictures who's hand is coming into the frame......

This image follows in a fine tradition of fairly ropey images of the judging process in photographic competitions....... I remember thinking years back..... how dodgy are these pictures of the judging of the World Press Awards........ and now here is a dodgy image of photo competition judging by yours truly...... the only excuse I can give is..... you just cannot spare the time........ if you step back from the process to observe rather than taking part for a minute ........ things start to happen you don't like...... you have to concentrate full time to advocate for images you love......... cos its not always a process by which we all agree all the time.............. consequently I only got to make about 8 frames....... :-))

For the same reason...... I also took no calls all day except for the odd one from Matt....... cos he would text to say he must urgently speak to me to arrange things for the Texas shoot tomorrow/today........ but even in those couple of calls I'd have to break off to defend the image of some dodgy world leader or another...... Im sure MI 5 would have been alerted to record the call by my speaking these names collectively into the phone....... Im no doubt gonna cop for it big time when I get to the airport........ :-)) XXXXXXX

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

PS...... I will put up a link when all is announced so you can see what we all collectively voted to be the winning images...... :-))

PPS..... In the end I was running through Heathrow and could not spare the time to actually stop and post to the blog........ having written the spiel on the tube train. Again I could not I could not even fi Wifi without hunting around at the International Airport Houston........ so I never got round to posting this till now........... now I am in Houston its midnight...... just downloading the stuff from todays shoot here in Texas......... :-)) XXXXXXXXX