Michelle Sank wins the single image IPA

Dogs bark ...

"... surreal and disturbing ..."

Could be used to describe the judging - so I've been told.

Wait, what?

This is about as powerful as my pinky finger.

Is this a joke/hoax?

says nothing at all

ditto ditto

did you post the wrong pic by mistake?

Drunk?

The guy is well-dressed and has a magazine and a bag of juice.
I think he looks like he's sleeping off a drunk and looks nothing like the pictures of the poor in Africa that I have seen.
This photo does not depict poverty.

Nothing special

It's actually a loaf of bread... This image is nothing new

me too

"The more I look at it, the more powerful it becomes"

me too............
...............hahahahahahahahahaha

Joke

Is this some sort of joke? I'm afraid this is a terrible picture of poverty. You people really do need a reality check. What planet are you on?

The end

If that photo won a prize then photography is over end of

There was a time.....

...... when Jon Tarrant, Chris Dickie Geoffrey Crawley et al edited this magazine when it was the journal of record and when the opinions published really mattered. There was a time when it looked good, was authoritative and worth buying every week. For that matter it was available every week! Now days all you can say it there was a time.....

A rich man sleep

Compared that to what I photograph almost every week down here in a large city in Brazil this photo is a joke. I would love to have some support or help from those who care and can to continue may um-payed work which I have done for the past 2 years. Unfortunately the fact that I must eat and pay my simple bills my time with the camera is about 1 day a week - to little
If I had the time and the resources I probably could do much more. So please check it out
www.flickr.com/photos/wilson_bacelar
on the the set " The Forgotten Ones "
Thanks

What is it?

A single reportage image should surely tell the whole story but I had to read the blurb to find out what I was looking at. It could have been taken here on the UK south coast, in a park, showing a youngster still in his grubby working clothes having a nap in the sun before going home with a loaf of bread for his tea and something to read. There is not enough information in the shot to tell me otherwise.

........

There's no social context in this picture. In my opinion there is nothing at all but just a man sleeping in a park. It represents nothing.

Your little world

This picture serves only to devalue whatever the competition was. And along with that the BJP, photographers seeing this will scoff at the naivety of any so called judge selecting this ad
as a winner,it really is just soooooo bad

Against which images was it competing ?

Like all other comments, I do not feel that it is a good picture, let alone a powerful one.

"single image IPA" would mean that the winner would be an image that don't need a comment or to be part of a series.

Typically the perfect image for such a price would be Koudelka's famous picture of Wenceslas Square in Prague just before the invation (when he show his watch in the lower part)

Now back to this image, without any context, we cannot locate this image, we cannot tell if this person is a tramp, a drunk, a junkie, or someone needing medical assistance.

Worse, knowing the context, any tourist could have taken that picture, it didn't need any specific implication.

Finally, the framing is anything but powerful. The photograph was standing dominating the scene, he haven't made any particular effort to frame his picture (subject in the center)

This picture may have some value in a reportage or in a book, but certainly not as a standalone.

And to conlude, what's original with a photography of misery in Africa. It is very very cliché.

Did the jury wanted to confort their own prejudice ?

this is a winning photo?

Is this really a winning entry? It just looks like a drunk man having a kip! ..

Who were the judges

I'm not gonna beat around the bush. The image is rubbish and says nothing at all about poverty.
If this is what is judged to be a great photograph then one has to ask who the hell was doing the judging?
Considering the thousands of breath taking photos, taken this shouldn't even be on the list.
Like most photographers, who make a living selling their work that photo would not even be downloaded from my card had I taken it.
Utter crap.

April Fool!!!

Ha Ha Ha Ha you had me going then for a while. Until I checked the calendar and noticed it was April 1st. Oh dear, how I laughed.

OH NO! silly me the calendar says 18/10/10 WTF, are you guys serious!??

You can not be serious....

If the judges thought this was so outstanding, I really would like to see what it was being judged against.

Quite frankly it has no merit whatsoever, no context, no technical ability, and absolutely no aesthetic or pictorial worth.

As others have said, this would have been deleted from my memory card or dumped in the bin as an extremely WEAK image.

just saying.

Amazing

What are the merits of this photograph?
Is it the South African connection? Or would the same photograph taken in Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds or Bradford be considered? Its an every day scene around the world, A guy taking forty winks or recovering from a hang over. It could be Mumbai, Somalia, Hyde Park. An award winner? I have seen better street photography in beginners forums!

onnowaais

please tell me you're pushing my leg? yes?

come on!

It's not a matter of not being the winner, but in my humble opinion this picture looks far from being an award winning one...

utter

Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Utter Carp.

British Junk Photography

I see what BJP means now!
I tried to see this banal photograph in a surreal light, but you gotta be pretty stoned to get 'there'!
Let's see more thought provoking imagery please!

hats off

dear me, never though people would get so workedup. Hats off to the judges as they picked something a little different instead of the usual B/W shot of starving kid/ wailing woman.

Lame

This is lame. Images such as this are by no means "both surreal and disturbing". It's a guy sleeping in public, not an uncommon occurrence in South Africa.

In fact, you'd be hard pressed not to see a scene like this when driving through a South African city.

powerful my a**

this is as ridiculous as it gets. the winner must have laughed his guts out knowing how a silly pic like this wins an award.

this picture wasn't an accident

I just checked out the website of the winner (out of curiosity to check if this pic was an accident) - well, guess what, it wasn't. legs of her subjects were ruthlessly chopped out, DOF was ill-conceived...well, less said the better.

if there will ever be a serial killer in London who cuts the legs off her victims, you know who it is going to be.

On poverty

Poverty..........Go to India <g

Please show us some other images entered in this category

Having grown up in South Africa myself, I cannot begin to see the point of this image......surely it must be a set-up !

when I first saw the winning image I was shocked by the poor approach of subject matter ... added to this the image is very flat & poorly lit from a technical perspective ....

What Next ....

Do go ahead & publish a selection of images that never won in this category...

Scary

Mmmm ... The archivist at Magnum London, the director of Self Publish, Be Happy, and the deputy editor of the British Journal of Photography ... and they select this image as meritorious?

Judges? please ... a serious subject matter is worthy of much greater imagery. Begs the question, what was the criteria for selection? Unless I'm missing something here, this is .... embarassing

Not good

Looks like a Flickr "pro" image to me!
No wonder the business is going west..The public perception must be (in reality) "hey is that a winning image?..
Geee I can do that" And thus one more six inch nail gets rammed into the coffin of professional photography...
Makes me seeth :-)

...?

Looks like someone's passed out after a night on the drink...
Not impressed.
But think I'll go in for it next year :-D

Says it all...

This picture, although just another photograph amongst millions shot everyday by hopeful photographers, has for me now come to symbolize a very important factor in post film photography.
And that is the quality of editing and judging of photography...
Clearly the art and real skill of understanding and judging a photograph whether for a newspaper, magazine or competition is on the f**** rocks isnt it !!??
Lets face it.
All that has happened here is the BJP, have made themselves look like grade 1 idiots to most of the professional photographic community in the UK, and no doubt elsewhere, whilst simultaneously getting a few more hits on your website..well done!
well..at least you clowns will have something good to show the investors.
Dont worry about the photography tho...its already broken.

photojournalism

In my opinion technical perfection it's not so important if you have something to say.
Are we talking about Photojournalism? What's the story of this man represented in the photograph? We've a lack of information about this man's life. Can this picture be a representative example of this man's daily life? Sorry but this picture only reflects our common prejudice on poverty and leads the viewer to judge this guy's life: "My god, a poor man that sleeps in the streets". This is opportunism, in my modest opinion.

Quality Item? Hmmmm...... No!

This is a truly crap photograph which, by winning first place, degrades photography.
Let me know when you have a genuinely good shot to display, not talentless pap.

NO WAY

An image like this is as easy to take as a piece of cake...wonder what the judges were thinking... Both thumbs down!

say what ???

I havent seen a good picture like this for a while, really , amazing.... the composition, the light also struck me as unique... also the action, so many things going on, its almost surreal. Congratulations to the judges, I feel like sending them some expensive gifts to thank them for allowing the rest of human kind to enjoy such a powerful image. Well done.

please

please.........

A disservice to photography

Photos such as this mock photography, erode its credibility, and do a terrible disservice to those photographers who put real skill and effort into their work.

This is nothing more than a happy snap of a lunchtime sleeper, one of thousands you will find all around the world at midday. Disturbing? Gimme a break!

The Golden Mile, now safe? You've got to be joking, makes me wonder if the photo was even taken there?

Pathetic

First of all - its really a bad pic and secondly, please dont come with this poverty crap... If you want to see poverty give me a call next time you are in Durban and I will go show you...

joke

this gotta be a joke? ...right?

You're kidding, right?

Words escape me. This is the type of photo produced by a novice photographer. It has no merit whatsoever. I truly hope this is just some bad attempt at a joke. If not, then professional photography has become a joke itself.

Media?

Hmmm, maybe the image might look somehow stunning printed 40x60, but here on the screen, looks like a plain polaroid snapshot. Doesn't speak to me at all.

Embarrasing

Congratulations, your organization now has zero credibility. You should be embarrassed.

One word says it all.....

WTF!!!

This must be a joke

Well, the bookmark for this website is now gone.

Behold!

Michelle Sank is one very talented portraitist. Unfortunately, this photograph is a very severe "almost." Yes, there's something almost going on with the shape of his shirt- almost. There's something almost going on with the "disembodied" hand- almost. Then you got the muted pastel color palette, and the contrasting patches of grass- kinda. And the mysterious, extraterrestrial bread brick. Is he even alive? Can you feel the tension?!

Unfortunately, this photograph ascends from the depths of two of photography's laziest and most cliched beginner "genres," the sleeping student on the lawn, and/or the down and out wasted guy. Subgenre- the down and out brother. Sure, you've probably seen plenty of the latter in every visual media outlet imaginable- but not at the level of... Fine Art! A level mere mortals seemingly cannot comprehend or appreciate...

Hopefully, Ms. Swank will use the money to continue to take exceptional photographs, the kind she's capable of, the kind that does her and her subject matter justice.

Mine's better.

I have a BRILLIANT picture of a shoe that beats the heck out of the "winners pic", there's even an out of focus sock in the background.

Rubbish!!

How can this crap photo win a prize???? Who is the judge??? C'mon!!!!

Mot a "microcosm of South Africa"

In what way is this a "microcosm of South Africa"? Have any of the judges ever been to SA? SA is a complex multicultural society historically burdened with extremes of wealth and poverty. This image represents nothing of that, and certainly not "poverty" in African terms as the judges seem to think. It also has no sense of place or of personal history.

???

this has to be a joke, cop on bjp

stop and look

This picture made me stop and look. As simple as that.

It's not a peacock picture nor does it show blood, sex or anybody famous. It's neither beautiful nor aesthetic even, but what I do know for sure is that it made me stop and look and think about what I'm seeing.

To me that's a lot.

Photographer

You guys don't get it.
Its a PHOTOGRAPHER on the grass - stale bread and no where else to sleep -
Sorry to say - but if this is the kind of image that wins competitions then its no wonder real photographers are out of work (and therefor lying on the grass with a loaf of bread)

Actually....

The more I look at it, the more I think about it, the more I like it. The uproar in the comments just amuses me. The point of a photo like this isn't how its lit, whether it follows the rule of thirds, whether the legs are cut off or not, if its in focus - I think its more about making us think about the scenario, the people, society, and more importantly, our own reaction to it and why we love/hate it. Had a look at Sank's website - love the first pic of Bye-Bye Baby. I admire her work here - she's got the guts to plan, go out, speak to people, and put projects together. There's the old joke "how many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 10. 1 to change it, and 9 to say 'I could have done that'".

Well done to the judges on picking a photo that makes people react.

taking the pass

how could BJP get it so wrong? this is a very ordinary pic which says nothing. even adding a spurious caption about poverty invests it with no more resonance since the picture is bereft of energy, insight, humanity etc. the judges insult the whole enterprise of photography with such a woodenheaded decision. or is this some elaborate post-modern joke at our expense?

Heads lodged?

With this 'winner' exemplifying the judges' extraordinary lack of competence, taste, or aesthetic appreciation, why would ANYONE BOTHER submitting work to next year's competition?

Methinks your heads are securely lodged in places where the sun never shines.

This really won the contest?

Who was the judge? Someone by the last name of Sank eventually?

You missed the point of the comments.

"Well done to the judges on picking a photo that makes people react."

You're missing the point of the comments. People are not reacting to the photo, they're reacting to the judges poor choice. You'd get the same reactions if the photo was completely blank and the judges chose it.

Deeply depressing

I am afraid I agree with the bulk of the comments. Dull in every sense.

Eh?

It beggars belief that this photo won this competition. It has absolutely no artistic merit and says absolutely nothing about anything at all. Just serves to remind me why I don't bother entering photography competitions anymore - my photographs are not nearly bland enough to win.

Interesting

Interesting that this has got so much interest.
Personally I am (reluctantly, as I'm also a contrarian by nature) in agreement with the general consensus. I don't see this as a IPA winning photograph.
However, playing Devil's Advocate, I haven't seen the rest of the submissions. It's a contest, maybe this was the best (or the only) entry.
It's a photo which needs a context so, to my mind, totally inappropriate as the winner of the IPA Single Image category.
It's a photo of a young (judging by the little bit of skin we can see) black guy (looks male but could be female), face down on a patch of scrub grass with a parcel (which on further inspection appears to be a loaf of bread but at first view looked like gift wrap) by his head. The overall colour is pretty bland with the only vibrant colour coming from the hand which lies on the lower third line.
Without a context we don't know if he is resting, sleeping/homeless, drunk or dead. Why is the parcel/loaf/brick wrapped up there? Is it his? Did it hit him?

Sorry, could waffle on like this for ages but if I saw this in a gallery I doubt I'd linger to look at it properly.

And a caption?

Despite their lack of chimneys Santa still delivers to the homeless.

Really?

There is no debate about this image. It stinks. Almost every comment is negative. It is like the curtain just fell on opening night, everyone in the audience is booing and walking out complaining how bad the play is... And the playwright turns and says "Well good show fellas, let's get'em tomorrow night." What world are you living in?

It´s one of those images...

...where obviously the caption has more content and information to it than the image itself. So much for "an image says more than a thousand words". Jeez.

Sack the judges!

I agree entirely with most previous comments. This photo does not convey a powerful story of poverty or have any sort of cultural resonance in itself as there is little or no context within the image to tell you about the man, where he is or why he is there. Added to this there is little to tease your imagination enough to make you want to find out so on a "mysterious" level I dont think it works either and aesthetically the image is quite boring. As previous people have said it could simply be a photo of a drunk person asleep in a London park (particularly as he has a magazine sticking out of his pocket). It seems that to win these sorts of competitions all you have to do is take a photo of anything you can constuct an 'interesting' or metaphorical narrative around, but with the proviso that the more visually unappealing it actually is on an aesthetic level the more judges are likely to praise it as some sort of high brow "fine art". In other words it usually seems to be terrible photographers who are quite good with words who win these competions. This is not to say that I dont have sympathy for the man if he is there because he has no choice but this photo does not illustrate his "plight" or anything about him, bar that he is black, tired and is in a country that sells sliced bread and magazines. Surely the WINNER of a SINGLE IMAGE CATEGORY should be an image that speaks volumes AS A COMPELLING IMAGE and requires little or no further explanation.

The judges of this competition should be ashamed of themselves! The only "surreal and distrubing" aspect of any of this is their employment status!!!

Emperor's new clothes

Nope. Can't see it. Photojournalism hijacked by the 'arty brigade' pontificating about some surreal bollocks that doesn't exist. Judges - you need to cut back on whatever you were smoking or snorting when you got together to pick this. Or were the other entries even worse?

Are you kidding

This is NOT a prize winning image. Any amature photographer could have done this. This contest is a joke

"Against which images was it competing ?"

to Guillume, it is your proghtive and opinion to disagree with the judges choice, but the reason's you gave contradicted themselves. you write of the context lacking but when you are presented with the context you find further reason to criticize.

Many photographs prove (as in this case) that the actual world constantly brings to the surface its own signals, and mysteries, and to quote out of context is the essence of the photographer's craft.

Michelle Sank is also a woman, not a 'he' as you referred to. thankyou please.

Good Photography

I think most of you should take some time to think about your own conditioned tastes and re-think your attitudes to photography and what you're getting from it - It seems that most of you are concerned with the aesthetic over content and are not looking to be challenged

As Nick Galvin said:

"those looking looking for the romantic ideal of a muscular photojournalism are unlikely to find it rewarding. "

Michelle Sank is my tutor at University and I respect her a lot - I think her work is fantastic and i think a lot of the comments on here are rude, non-informed, non-intelligent remarks that just echo the regurgitated, crowded and conforming world of photography today.

Haha,

look at all the angry modernists! You're decades behind lads, I'm sure we'd all love the winning image to be a HDR macro shot of the eye of a fly though. Or something equally conceptually enthralling.

Ordinary Image

A search on flickr for 'poverty' as a tag will yield many photographs that are actually powerful and disturbing.

Technically, the image is ordinary. Anyone with a camera could have shot it.
Subject wise, this image could have been taken anywhere - it is a man sleeping.

Very very poor judging. The judges cannot tell a good photo from an ordinary one to save their lives.

PS: When I saw the photo, I thought this was someone's poorly executed idea of a practical joke.

Poverty?

"i think a lot of the comments on here are rude, non-informed, non-intelligent remarks that just echo the regurgitated, crowded and conforming world of photography today."

If the photographer, the judges and those who are defending this as photojournalism are completely ignorant about poverty. I can speak with authority here - I come from a land where the poorest of poor (and some extremely rich folks too) live. Make a trip to India, it is inexpensive for most Western folks, apart from beauty of the land, you will also get to see poverty. I'll show you. Then we'll talk about 'photography capturing life and its problems' or 'poverty' or whatever depressing angles you want to force-fit to a juvenile photograph.

IPA doesn't only judge photojournalism

Hi Kailas

Just to confirm, the International Photography Award looks at all photography, not just photojournalism - the other judges and I are far from 'defending this image as photojournalism'.

Thanks

Diane

IPA doesn't only judge photojournalism

Whatever the context this is still an egregious image. Pure pseuds corner.

Emperor's new clothes

Perhaps it's just cynicism, but as I get older I find that the skills needed to win any large photographic (or art) competition are not necessarily the ones that you would think.

If you can write wonderfully enigmatic prose which conveys the image of a dedicated artist who rises above the normal bounds of others then you're instantly in the running.

As this photo proves, if you want to win prizes then concentrate on your writing skills - not your photography!

Here's why it won

If the judges had made a popular choice, people who liked the winning image would get the idea they could be a judge, too. By choosing a dull, pedestrian, poorly-composed snapshot, the judges announce that they are above and beyond us, becasue we cannot discern the superior qualities of their choice.

Say what?!

Uhm. I thought this is a joke. What has photography come to? Maybe I must sell my rig and get a point and shoot and take poorly composed images and submit it to British photographic competitions.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to you Michelle! =) More winning moments to come .