Tuesday evening, December 5, 2017, at the Vista Civic Center Gallery, the winners for the New Work 2017, A Photographic Juried Show competition were announced. The artists, their families and art lovers gathered to view and appreciate the fabulous and extremely talented photographers works on display.
Don Bartletti, Vista resident, Pulitzer Prize Winner, and Kelly Moncure, Photo Educator, Vice Chair of the Vista Public Arts Commission Photography teacher at Rancho Buena Vista High School performed the very different tasks of jurying. Kevin La Rue, VP of Skylum, awarded Ana Phelps with a Digital Darkroom Imaging Program. Imelda Huerta, representing the City of Vista – Recreation & Community Services Department, presented the awards to the finalists.
There were fifty entries that entered this competition and the top three winners were named on Tuesday, including three Honorable Mentions.
First Place Winner is Rick Gauthreaux, Oceanside, CA.
Rick has been a photographer for about 5 years. His journey as taken him from a snapshot hobbyist to a place where he has some award winning images. His genres of photography include landscape and wildlife. He is an active member of North County Photographic Society (NCPS), as well as the Fallbrook Camera Club. He is always looking for that next great adventure.
The image “Thru early morning fog” was taken on Coronado Island at sunrise. The graceful curves of the bridge contrasted with the strength of the structure; the fog gave the scene a dreamy feel. With the sun muted behind the grey blanket, it still cast a golden light that enhanced the scene.
Website currently under construction. He can be followed on Instagram @rickgauthreaux.
Second Place Winner is Peter Politanoff, Carson, CA
Peter Politanoff is a Photographer and Production Designer (TV). He has been shooting since 16. Well versed in film and darkroom techniques. Photography took a back seat when his career as a Designer took off. He started transitioning back to Photography in 2011 when he began shooting pro-boxing. He shoots primarily with digital Leica cameras, “manual settings and focus give me greater control of how I portray the subject matter”.
Squatters Village – Fiji
When a group of farmers lost their land leases, land that they had been farming for generations, they had little options and settled on this flood plain outside of the city Nadi.
A village (I use the term lightly) of 12-15 structures, has running water (although I was warned not to drink it), and open trench sewage. In light rain the trenches overflow, in heavy rain the entire area is under 3-4 feet of water. Fiji itself is a poor third world country, and these villagers lead an even more precarious existence. Yet they are proud, kind, happy, and enjoy life. They were thrilled that I was photographing them and their homes, and very appreciative when I gave them prints.
www.redstarimage.com www.instagram.com/peterpolitanoff
Third Place Winner is Geoff Scott, Carlsbad, CA
I’ve been a photographer to some extent since elementary school, but more seriously since about 2005 or so. My website mentions that I’ve worked at GoPro and Adobe, but I have also worked as an adjunct professor at Santa Monica City college and The School of Visual Arts, New York.
The inspiration was really Britney’s. I’m part of a group called the Britney Henry Project, who have been helping her with media related things for a few years. My part has usually been photo related, but I also did a video and introduced her to GoPro marketing, who made a short film about her. A few weeks ago at her birthday party, she told me she wanted to do an underwater shoot with her hammer. She and I tend to do some different kinds of portraits. I had looked at the weather forecast, saw that the next week it was supposed to get very hot, and figured we should try to cool off in the hot weather at a friend’s pool. I’ve done some underwater photography because of my playing with GoPro Cameras. So I knew we could do something and play and experiment and hopefully get something really good. This particular photo did not look very good on the back of the GoPro. Something seemed off. It was the refracted light from the surface of the pool, which had projected a rainbow on her face and added the magic to make the portrait really stand out. We’ve been calling it the “Ziggy Stardust”.
www.geoffscott.com
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Don Bartletti joined the Los Angeles Times in 1984 and retired in 2015. His series of photo essays about young Central American migrants won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. He was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his series on Mexican farmworkers. He remains especially dedicated to the causes and effects of economic migration across the southern border of the U.S. and within nearly every state in Mexico. Other documentary subjects have taken him to 23 countries around the globe. He has won over 40 prestigious awards in addition to the Pulitzer Prize, including the Unicef Picture of the Year, a two time winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Photojournalism award, a National Press Award and the George Polk award for photojournalism.
