Competition: PPSCV 2020 Year End Awards - Professional Photographers of Santa Clara Valley

HomeImage Competition: PPSCV 2020 Year End Awards

PPSCV 2020 Photographer of the Year - John Gayler

Points are earned from the top 10 scoring images from quarterly competitions through the year, with extra points for Best Of Show images, Image of the Year, and Year End competition category place winners, to establish the highest scoring photographer for the year.

Competition for this award highlights photographers who regularly participate with consistently high scoring work in multiple categories

First Place: John Gayler, 26.0 points
Second Place: Davide China, 19.0 points
Third Place: Rudy Pollack, 12.0 points

As a response to Covid-19 John lead the concept and implementation of the PPSCV Digital Image Competition allowing for remote judges from other states and enabled a large increase in submissions compared to recent print competitions at monthly meetings. John has also served on the PPSCV board and is the incoming Vice President and Image Competition Chairperson, and helps with the website content.

John's quarterly entries for 2020 included three Best Of Show winners and many place awards, which can be viewed in a gallery here and in the 2020 Quarterly Image Competition Awards.

An avid traveler and adventurer, John has provided inspirational programs on travel photography to photography clubs, bicycling clubs, and libraries in the area as well as for PPSCV Member Presentations. He also loves photographing portraits of creative people, and is looking forward to the time we can get back in the studio.

Image of the Year:

"Shapes Of Gray"

by Davide China, Score 99 (99.33)

Second place

"NYC Delivery Rain or Shine",

John Gayler, Score 98 (98.33)

Third place

"Brace For Impact",

John Gayler, Score 95 (95.00)

Animal Image Makers PPA Affiliate Trophy Award - Jim Skintauy

For the highest scoring animal image in the competition

The First Place and award winner for 2020 is: Jim Skintauy
For his image "Morning Meal" Score 94

Thanks to AIM, host of the Annual AIM Image Competition, for providing the trophy.

"Animal photographers often get frustrated when listening to a competition jury discuss animal images because many jurors don’t always understand how light reflects differently in an animal’s eyes, or how their snouts are different from a human nose in respect to blocking part of an eye or breaking the line of a cheek. This is your chance to take part in a competition made up of animal images only, and judged by a jury of trained professionals who KNOW animals! "

The First Place and award winner is:

Jim Skintauy

For his image "Morning Meal" Score

Second Place:

Jim Skintauy "Skimming" Score 92

Third Place:

Said Amir "White Tailed Kite" Score 92

The Certified Professional Photographer Award - John Gayler

For the highest scoring competition image by a PPA Certified Professional Photographer (CPP)

The First Place and award winner for 2020 is: John Gayler
For his image "NYC Delivery Rain or Shine" Score 98

Second place: John Gayler for his image "Brace For Impact" Score 95

Third place: John Gayler "Bridges, Barges and Lights, - That's Amsterdam." Score 92

The Certified Professional Photographer Award recognizes the highest-scoring Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) print, album or electronic submission in competition. Recipients will receive an award with the CPP-credential mark etched in a glass presentation piece. CPP award winners are also listed online under the CPP news section.

Learn more about the what and why of the CPP process at PPA, here.

PPSCV is delighted to welcome three highly credentialed and experienced judges for our 2020 Year-End competition

IPC's 80+ judges are volunteer members of PPA who come from a wide cross section of the professional photography industry. They've put in the time to understand the ins and outs of the many qualities that make up an image that stands out among all others.

They're also highly trained in competition adjudication, with many hours of training under their belts. Judges are trained to know exactly how to give constructive advice to help you improve your photography. So when you enter into competition, know that your image is being judged in a way designed to help you learn more about your skill set and improve your craft.

Pete Rezac, M.Photog, CR, CPP

Tim Meyer M.Photog, Cr., CPP, M.F.A, M.A.

Jim Doyle, President,Applied Photography LLC

PPSCV New Member Award - Alicia Piva

This award is given to the member who joined PPSCV in the current year with the highest scoring entry in the Year End Image Competition.

The prize is a free pass to ImagingUSA 2021, a great place to see and hear from a multitude of professionals on business, technique, equipment, style, and more.

We wish Alicia the best in her professional photography journey, and look forward to more competition entries in the future.

"Suspension in Sienna", Alicia Piva, Score 84

PPSCV 2020 Year End Image Competition Category Awards

Congratulations to the Image Competition Category Award winners, thanks to all participants for sharing their work, and the judges for sharing their time and experience.

This Image competition included 88 images, 49 of which were judged to be merit worthy.

Metal Print Prizes for First place images and annual affiliate sponsorship are generously provided by BayPhoto. See the wide variety of print formats at BayPhoto.com

Category winners:

A. Studio Portrait - Photographic image of a subject in a studio environment.

16 images judged

First Place: "Uncertain Times For The Veteran"

John Gayler, Score 90

Second Place: "The Secrets That We Keep"

John Gayler, Score 86

Second Place: "Simply Aidan"

Davide China, Score 85

B. Environmental Portrait - Photographic image of a subject other than in a studio.
14 images judged

First Place: "Duck-U-Ment Retrieval"

Ron Wheelan, Score 87

Second Place: "Autumn Repose"

Davide China, Score 84 (84.33)

Third Place: "Dancing Snowy"

Gary Rather, Score 84 (84.00)

C. Social / Special Event (Wedding) - Photographic image pertaining to Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Quinceañera, reunions, parties, or other social events are suggested use for this category.

6 images judged

First Place: "your tender touch",

Rudy Pollack, Score 87

Second Place: "A Moment Alone"

Rudy Pollack, Score 81

Third Place: "Under His Light"

Alicia Piva, Score 80

D. Unclassified / Illustrative - Creative, scenic, landscape, photographic art, photojournalism, etc. are suggested for this category.

49 images judged

First Place: "NYC Delivery Rain or Shine",

John Gayler, Score 98

Second Place: "Brace For Impact"

John Gayler, Score 98 (98.33)

Third Place: "Morning Meal"

Jim Skintauy, Score 94

E. Master Artist - This category is for images that are fundamentally altered from the original image(s) captured by the camera, including composite images and images that were never captured by a camera.
2 image judged (Insufficient entries for awards)