EDITOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

First Place: Eva Fazzari

Freeway

"Freeway" documents the journey of rescue animals along the eastern states. Accompanying canine freedom transport, Grateful Doggies, I photograph the emotional exchanges between dogs and humans. Traveling 3,000 miles per weekend, the transport stops at gas stations, vacant parking lots and freeway rest stops. At each location the dogs bark in anticipation as outside a group forms: fosters reluctantly facing goodbye and others with empty crates to fill. In one of my earliest images, a Golden Retriever approaches a red line in the pavement. Tail tucked and licking his lips, he and his adopted family await their first contact.


EDITOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

Second Place: Melissa Kaseman

Preschool Pocket Treasures

Preschool Pocket Treasures is a photographic archive of the tiny magical objects found stuffed in the pockets of my son, Calder, after each day at preschool. I have always been drawn to photography’s capacity to suspend moments of transition and change, often overlooked or forgotten, left only to be sensed when a memory is triggered. This project was born out of a desire to capture these magical moments of his boyhood and his development. I aim to create an archive of this fleeting episode through the use of color, object, and order printed at 16"x20".


EDITOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

Third Place: Eric Kayne

In The Path Of The Pipeline

This work is a photo essay documenting the landscape and people of Nebraska who live near the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.


EDITOR'S CHOICE: Juror's Statement

Chris McGonigal

Photo Editor, The Huffington Post

It's not easy going one-by-one through beautiful images and being the one to make the hard choices on who has to go and who has to get left behind, but we all know in editing you have to make those hard decisions. It was such a pleasure to go through these entries. I based my decisions on those submissions on which I would think to myself "This would be really great for our site." These images offer a view of something different, compelling and a series that just make us want to see more from their creator.

The first place prize goes to Eva Fazzari's images of a rescue dog group traveling the country uniting dogs with new owners. It is a really special piece and once I saw it, I knew it would end up at the top of the list. It's one thing to document a journey, it's another to document a life changing experience for an animal and a human. Both of these situations combined make this a wonderful winner.

In second place is Melissa Kaseman's adorable series where she photographs the objects left over from her son's pockets after a day at preschool. Without even seeing a photo of her son Calder, we can already get an image of this child in our minds. This project has such an innocence to it and is quite playful in its execution, I couldn't help but include it in our winners.

Third, but not at all least, are Eric Kayne's striking photos that show the people and landscapes in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline was definitely a divisive issue and Eric's photos are able to show us in perfectly framed images that there is beauty in these places that is at risk of being changed.

Thanks to CENTER for the opportunity and trusting me to judge all of these submissions.