SIX OUTSTANDING colour prints, five black and white, two slides and two manipulated prints were awarded gold medals in the 2004 National Photography competition organised by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).
Twenty-four silver medals and 39 bronzes were also awarded, along with 185 certificates of merits.
Gold medallists were Julian Dadag (two), Krishna Desai (three), Tanya Webster (two), Alfred Maragh (two), Milton Williams, Phillip Chung, Stuart Reeves, Muna Issa, Jill Roberts, and William Potopsingh.
Captive Blooms (manipulated) by Alfred Maragh was named 'Best Manipulated' print.Silver medallists were Julian Dadag (six), Krishna Desai (two), Muna Issa (two), William Potopsingh (two), Tricia Williamson, Nadaia Davidson, Colin Hamilton, Milton Williams, Rosa Lym, Paula Gunter, Phillip Chung, Zein Nakash, Trevor McCain, Arlene Brown, Jill Roberts, and Godfrey Gregory.
Bronze medals were awarded to Milton Williams (five), Jill Roberts (four), William Potopsingh (three), Bryan Cummings (three), Tanya Webster (two), Krishna Desai (two), Shanti Persaud (two), Winston Young, O'Neil Lawrence, Amanda Gibson, Paula Gunter, Thalia Maragh, Patricia Desai, Richard Johnson, Phillip Chung, Winsome Gordon, Zein Nakash, Jermaine Barnaby, Colin Hamilton, Garfield Robinson, Jeffrey Carlyle, Arlene Brown, Trevor McCain, Julian Dadag, and Godfrey Gregory.
Many of these top winners went on to collect multiple certificates of merits, along with other amateur and professional photographers who entered the competition.
RECORD ENTRIES
This year, a record 849 entries were submitted, compared to 735 last year. Of these 263 entries from 60 photographers were selected for the exhibition. Last year, 305 awards were made, inclusive of 15 silver medals, 50 bronze and 240 certificates of merit.
The competition had attracted black and white and colour prints, slides, manipulated prints and entries from youth in 12 classes. The classes are landscape/seascape, flora/fauna, architecture/engineering, adult portraiture, child photography, still life/table top, photo-journalism, abstract/creative, figure/study, fashion/glamour, sports/games, and Jamaican culture.
According to the judges' report, the majority of entries were received in the colour prints category (403), followed by slides (237), black and white prints (172), manipulated prints (27), and the youth category (10).
Chief Judge Peter Ferguson praised some entrants for their "stalwart efforts", but was critical of the technical faults of others.
"There were some categories where a single image worthy of gracing these walls was elusive," he said in the report delivered on behalf of fellow judges Franz Marzouca and Dr. Kenneth Richards. "Several images, although conceptually and aesthetically brilliant, were a bit out of focus, and it was difficult to determine if the photographers did this intentionally or if they were in fact technical flaws."
The lack of detail in processing, and the non-representation in some categories (figure study, portraiture, fashion fauna, etc.) were other weaknesses highlighted.
"It is crucial that judges indicate weaknesses so that entrants may strive for perfection," Mr. Ferguson said. "Our challenge to photographers is that they determine their areas of interest and start creating images now so that they can be amply prepared for next year's exhibition."
POINTS OF INTEREST
Some points of interest about some of the entrants:
