Exploring the power of press photography with Yorkshire's top shots in the running for prestigious UK Picture Editors' Guild Awards
Each one tells its own story, or marks a moment in history. There’s the last picture of a late Queen, the first of an incoming Prime Minister.
And for The Yorkshire Post, a spotlight on regional heritage. Tony Johnson, staff photographer, makes the shortlist for both Business and Regional Photographer.
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Hide AdThere’s his image of Dan Wilding in Harrogate, playing the last post for a Candlelit Christmas Remembrance. Then craftsman Steven Bulcock, of Yorkshire Rocking Horses, in his workshop in Hebden Bridge.
Picture editor Marisa Cashill is among those who sits on the national judging panel, assessing entries from across Fleet St, regional press, agencies and freelance photographers.
This is a “biggie”, she said, when it comes to awards. Taking in all the talent of UK press photographers, and with judges such as The Times’ picture editor Sam Stewart.
“We’re not artists but we can be artistic in execution,” she said. “Press photography is raw. It’s real, it’s not digitally altered in the way so much is on social media.
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Hide Ad“It’s authentic, and it is trusted. And that picture has to tell you something, it has to tell a story.
“It’s not about the assignment, it’s about the execution. About the imagination, and everything that goes on in the background with lighting and composition - to make one photograph.”
And competition is fierce - not least among Yorkshire’s talent. Also on the shortlist is Danny Lawson from the Press Association - with an incredible image of a vet at Yorkshire Wildlife Park gently operating on a lioness called Julie. Then beekeeper Joe Priestley, tending to the rooftop apiary at Ripon Cathedral.
James Glossop, from The Times, makes an entry with Portrait of the Year for an image of Wakefield’s Shabana Laher covered in rhubarb, ahead of the city’s annual festival. Then for Entertainment, with dancers from Northern Ballet at Leeds Grand.
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Hide AdNationwide, a high number of entries this year centred around the war in Ukraine and of the Queen’s funeral.
One entry, from the Daily Telegraph’s Julian Simmonds, sees Ukrainian soldiers in their foxhole defending the north of the city of Kharkiv on the second day of the war,
Another, from the Press Association’s Aaron Chown, features the ceremonial procession of the late Queen’s coffin as it arrives at Windsor Castle.
“These photographs are iconic,” said Ms Cashill. “These are images in history that without press photographers we would never see. It’s really important to capture that moment in time.”
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Hide AdCategories range across Business to Sport, Portrait, Royal and Arts and Entertainment. Photo of the Year will be decided by a public vote before an awards ceremony on October 16, and people can vote at imago.ws/IMAGOPhotographoftheyear.
A spokesman for the UK Picture Editors Guild Awards said: “Photographers working on behalf of the press risk their lives in war zones and bring us the news as it breaks. Their work fills the pages of the newspapers daily and so often their work goes unrecognised.”