How do you
describe a father? The way most of you answered that question was to
define a father through his children. Can a man be defined as a
father without reference to his offspring? Can you communicate
fatherhood in a photo without including his children as reference?
Most of you felt that it didn't make sense. So as a result, we only
got a few entries of portraits of men who were the photographer's
father. Apparently that essential role could not be communicated
with just the sole individual, even if it were an environmental
portrait of the man. For nearly everyone, the environment was not
enough.
With very few
exceptions (one we have included here) the sense of legacy or
lineage did not enter into it either. So for the most part we got
images of men with their children. And this was very telling.
Especially in a culture that has devalued fatherhood and rights of
fathers, it is significant that we received so many images of men
fulfilling the important role as fathers to their children. We saw
nurturing, caring, mentoring and companionship. All values that we
are oft to forget are part of being a strong father. And, why
children need fathers.
For Grand Prize
we chose
"Priorities
Change" by Norma Warden.
This image with its title visually communicates the changes men
go through when they accept the responsibilities of being a father.
It is a powerful image because it makes that statement so well. It
may be a sad commentary on how we label people, but the caring and
gentleness of the muscular, tattooed arms cradling the helpless
infant challenges our assumptions as well as confirms the power of
fatherly love.
First Runner-up went to
"Hold Me"
by Janice Reitzell. This was another well composed image showing
the connection between a man and his child. The pose of the boy who
looks into the camera as he lies sleepily on his father's shoulder,
together with expression on the father of pride and joy makes this a
very effective image.
For Second Runner-up, we chose
Popa
Codrut's "I Try to Remember". We chose this
image because it was one of the few images we received that spoke to
the issue of lineage and legacy as mentioned above. And we
felt that this was as important a part of "Fathers" in the many
meanings of the word. The brown toned image and the setting brings
up the feeling of a previous time, a time in the past. When we think
of our own fathers and our father's father perhaps this is the kind
of scene we might image.
Congratulations to the Honorable Mentions in this
contest. All of the images made clear statements about the nature of
fatherhood, and were excellent photographs as well.
Click on each image to see larger version.
All images
copyrighted by the individual photographers. All Rights Reserved.
These images are for your viewing pleasure only and not to be downloaded
for any other purpose.
