Everyone had a great time at our annual awards banquet hosted by Cafe Lily in Decatur, GA the evening of December 10, 2015. Thirty-plus members and guests enjoyed great food, festive drink and fabulous fellowship as we celebrated our members’ 2015 accomplishments.
Masters “Best in Show” Images
First, here are the winners of “Best of the Year” ribbons for Color, Mono, and Digital images. These are the three best from almost 600 images entered by our members throughout 2015.
Best of the Year Color Print: Clown Fish at Home by Janerio Morgan
Best of the Year Monochrome Print: Sunrise at the Boneyard by Stan Greenberg
Best of the Year Digital Image: Under the Bridge by Stan Greenberg
Please be sure to admire all twenty-six Masters Competition ribbon winning images (11 digital, 9 color and 6 monochrome) in our Winners Gallery. Every image is outstanding, representing the top 4.5% of all images entered in our monthly competitions throughout the year. Pictures of all the ribbon-winning members will soon be available in the Holiday Party portion of the Winners Gallery.
Photographers of the Year Trophies
Next, congratulations to the Atlanta Photographic Society’s Photographers of the Year!
Creative Photographer of the Year - Janerio Morgan
Monochrome Photographer of the Year - Janerio Morgan
Digital Photographer of the Year - Brad Bartee
Color Photographer(s) of the Year - Jim Harrison and Janerio Morgan (tie).
The Photographer of the Year awards recognize the club’s cumulative highest scorers for all their ribbon-winning images entered during the year.
Medals
New member Brad Bartee also received our Rookie of the Year Medal as the highest scorer among our first time 2015 members.
Chris Handley was awarded the Assignment Zone Medal for his array of excellent images from the Society’s field trip to Zoo Atlanta. This is Chris’s third Assignment Zone Medal, and his second in a row!
The Presentation Medal for the year’s outstanding program went to Mike Shaefer. Mike has received this honor three years in a row!
Special Awards
The Helene Mewborn Service Award was very special this year! This award originated during 1992 to recognize meritorious service to our photography club. That first Service Award went to Helene Mewborn, and this year’s Service Award, 23 years later, also goes to Helene Mewborn, our club’s founder. Her citation reads:
For her outstanding work as club Treasurer for the past 10 years; her excellent leadership welcoming and transitioning to a new Treasurer during 2015; her always sage advice and counsel for the club’s officers and volunteer leaders; and her superb work over many years archiving and organizing the club’s records and history.
Thank you Helene!
The Greulich Lifetime Achievement Award for long-term contributions to photography and to the Society was also bestowed on two of our outstanding members!
Ruth Gogel - For outstanding contributions to photography and to the Society through: her decades long active membership, her photographic and artistic creativity as recipient of numerous Best In Show honors for both her photographs and other art works, her several decades of outstanding curation of the Society’s annual Salon Exhibition, and her service to the Society as an officer, including Past President of the Society.
Mario Digirolamo - For outstanding contributions to photography and to the Society through: his decades long active membership, his photographic creativity as five-time consecutive creative photographer of the year, his sharing of his photography with the world through publication of three books highlighting his creative photography, and his always generous spirit in presenting outstanding programs and providing expert judging for Society competitions.
Big thank-yous go to Al McLeod, our Competition Chair, for his superb organization of all the awards; to Don Stephens for providing the beautiful posters for the auction; to Darryl Neill for donating several fine books for door prizes and his photos of our award winners; and to Helene Mewborn and Denise Stein for their great assistance with the banquet arrangements.
I’m looking forward to another super year for the Atlanta Photographic Society during 2016! See you in January.
Jim Harrison, President
