This Saturday at the Oklahoma Press Association’s annual convention, I was honored and kind of surprised to find that I swept – got first, second, and third place – four photography categories. My newspaper also got first place in photography, which is all me. Here are the images.

News Photograph

In the comments, the judge said, “The only thing that could’ve improved it, in my opinion, would have been to choose a smaller group to focus on.”  I did, in fact, do exactly that, but with only so many pages in the Tuesday paper, not every photo had a place. That is the dance of newspaper photographers can sometimes forget, that we work at newspapers, not ego galleries.

Sports Photograph

Feature Photograph

Photo Essay

The contest judge said, “I would have liked to have seen a slower shutter speed used to capture some of the movement of the rides at night.” I have done the “blurred rides at night” shot for my entire career, and last August I wanted to mix it up a little differently. The comment seems insistent that we repeat ourselves, that there is only one “right way” to make certain photos.

Photography – Awarded to My Newspaper