The following text is from George Steinmetz’s award presentation:
There is no greater honor than to be recognized by ones peers, especially in a crowd like this. The award is for the photographer who has most inspired us by expanding the possibilities of our medium. This definition is purposely vague, as what inspires is always the unexpected.
Past winners are:
Bill Allard
Carsten Peter
Lynn Johnson
Nick Nichols
Jim Richardson
Brent Stirton
In this room today, I think it’s fair to say, is the largest assembly of great photographic talent in the world. Take a look around… it’s pretty impressive. So I know what you’re thinking… they give this thing out every year, and a lot of people have had their turn… Maybe, just maybe, this year it’s me?
Well, the mathematical probability of that continues to get smaller. Over the past few years there have been a lot of new photographers publishing feature stories in NGM every year. This year there were 10 photographers who had their first feature story in NGM and the number of photographers in the The Photo Society has grown from about 80 a few years ago to over 168.
Another factor reducing the chances of winning is that to qualify you had to have published a story in the U.S. edition of NGM in 2016, and with the magazine only having four feature stories each month, that reduces the winning opportunities to just 48. With no by-lines in the April issue on Yellowstone, that number of slots went down to just 44, and one photographer, who shall remain nameless, took three of them.
This year there were 17 vote-getters, mostly American, but included two Brits, a Kiwi, a German, and a Russian.
Like many of us, our winner went through his college years dreaming of being a photographer, for magazines like National Geographic. But without any connections in the publishing world, he had to be practical, and got his first job in the factory of a packaging company, and eventually became a salesman.
He did his photography on the side, during weekends and vacations.
He began his career at National Geographic as an intern and his first assignments involved archaeology, but he gradually moved into stories involving natural history. This photographer gives back tirelessly in support of the conservation issues that he covers, whether by granting photo use, giving talks, donating prints. His editor told me that he never truly finishes a story because he stays involved with the researchers and the institutions; he builds trust and friendships and is passionate about the topics he believes we should cover.
This photographer has spent most of his professional life working in what you might call The Blue Room.
Great White Sharks (Carcharodon charcharias) in the waters off the South Neptune Islands, Australia.
I remember the first time I met our winner, at a seminar many years ago, and he had this amazing handshake… and I felt like I was the wimp from the Air Force who was meeting a hero from the Navy SEALs.
Most of us landlubbers don’t realize it, but climate change is all about water, and to understand the marine ecosystem you have go to the front lines of the greatest environmental issue of our time. That is exactly where our winner thrives.
Taking pictures underwater is probably the most challenging specialty that one can have in photography. If you’ve never done it, well, imagine, that you only have about 45 minutes to take your picture and it’s pissing down rain. And then there’s the fact that you can barely see 100 ft. in a fog so thick that you have to get within a few feet of your subject to get a picture. Meanwhile, your floating hotel room is eating up your expense budget at the rate of a few thousand dollars a day. And on top of all that, it’s so cold your hands are numb, and you can’t talk to anybody, and your subject just might want to eat you. Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it?
Oceanic Whitetip Sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus) in the waters off Cat Island in The Bahamas. Considered the fourth most dangerous species of shark, Oceanic Whitetips have been seriously over fished and their stocks have been dramatically reduced worldwide. They are a pelagic animal, living in the open ocean.
But this guy lives for this stuff. Topside, he’s on a first name basis with famous people like Leonardo di Caprio, and Jackson Browne, and even that guy with the big ears, Barack O’Something, who lives down the street. His idea of the perfect evening is Chinese take-out and a Three Stooges video marathon, finished off with a glass of whiskey and a decent cigar. Now that’s what my twin boys would call a fire on the poop deck.
He can quote dialog from any movie you can think of but he is particularly fond of Jaws and Caddyshack. His all-time favorite is said to be Bill Murray describing being a caddy for the Dalai Lama.
“So we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say,
“Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.”
And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.”
So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.”
Well, it’s not quite the same as total consciousness, but we do have an award for this year’s winner, BRIAN SKERRY!
