pictures.

Sweet. G.J. McCarthy gets the prize. I have not received all the corporate support I was banking on for this contest, so your prize is yet to be determined. But, I am sure it will be great.

Scott is well known by most people who might read this daily brain spasm of mine. But, I was on the phone with him the other day and realized how long it has been since I had seen him. When I was back in Chicago we worked at the same company and lived the photo life. It was an special time, both wonderfully intense and unhealthy at the same time. I remember sitting with Scott in the basement photo area of the Beacon-News debating a crop on soccer photo for what seemed like hours. The crop was probably about an eighth of an inch and we were depriving ourselves of food and sleep in order to make the ‘right’ choice.

We now tend to see each other only once a year, but Scott has always been a big influence in my career. He can do something that very few people can – sustain motivation for newspaper photography all the while making images that have a life beyond the daily. Besides his high school sports blog, he is working on a series of diptychs. He has about 50 of these and let me have a few for the blog. Although he should really explain it, I will sum up what I know about the project. Scott photographed the Cagwin family for years back in the late 90’s. The family eventually sold the farm and now a subdivision exists there. So some of these photos could be up to a decade or so apart.

I am amazed and motivated at his tenacity to continue a project that has only seen limited publication. I hope in the future he will find an outlet for the rest of the work. We will all benefit from it.