Published: June 6, 2014

I’m deeply honored to win PDN’s The Curator Award for Fine Art Photography of Urban Scenes by Photo District News for my series of photographs from Haiti.

This is the third major photography award for the series which earlier this year won in the PDN Annual Awards 2014 and was chosen for American Photography 30.

The photographs were part of a series that I shot last fall when I was given a chance to revisit my roots in photojournalism, returning to Haiti to capture images of life in Port-au-Prince using the Sony A7R camera. Since my days as a photographer at the Miami Herald, I’ve always felt a special affinity for the Haitian people. I hope these images capture the enduring spirit of the Haitian people, the beauty that exists in the chaos, and my wishes for a better tomorrow.

Check it out here: PDN Curator Awards 2014

PDN’s The Curator Contest was judged by:

Deborah Willis, Ph.D is a university professor and chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Africana Studies. She was a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow and Fletcher Fellow, and a 2000 MacArthur Fellow, as well as the 1996 recipient of the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation award. She has pursued a dual professional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation’s leading historians of African-American photography and curator of African-American culture. Professor Willis has just received the honored educator award at the Society for Photographic Education. She has exhibited her own work around the country and continues to curate exhibitions at the Tisch School and with other institutions, such as the International Center of Photography and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Patricia Lanza is the director of talent and content at the Annenberg Foundation. She develops programming for the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, which produces print exhibitions and a film production created for each show. Lanza worked on the development of the photographic center from its inception to its opening in 2009. It has been host to 13 exhibitions, including “Helmut Newton,” “National Geographic 125 Years,” “WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY” and “Who Shot Rock & Roll.” The Annenberg Space for Photography was awarded the Julius Shulman Award for Excellence in Communication in 2011 and the Lucie Foundation Exhibition of the Year award for Beauty Culture, along with recognition from multiple domestic and international film festivals for the institution’s original films.

Ariel Shanberg is the executive director of The Center for Photography at Woodstock in New York, where he has worked since 1999. A not-for-profit artist-centered space, CPW’s year-round programs include exhibitions, workshops, lectures, residencies, access to workspace and more. In addition to his work at CPW, he has guest-curated exhibitions at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, the Houston Center for Photography and at the Light Factory. Additionally, he has contributed writings on various artists, which have been published in exhibition catalogs such as ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art, Contact Sheet, European Photography, Nueva Luz and Photograph.

Yossi Milo is the owner of Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City, which he established in 2000. The gallery is dedicated to exhibiting the work of international contemporary artists specializing in photography and works on paper, and is known for showcasing a diverse group of emerging and established artists. The gallery’s program includes Marco Breuer, Matthew Brandt, Chris McCaw, Pieter Hugo, Tim Hetherington, Alison Rossiter, Mark Ruwedel, Mike Brodie and Ezra Stoller. The gallery presented the premiere New York City exhibitions of artists Takuma Nakahira, Kohei Yoshiyuki, Simen Johan, Loretta Lux and Sze Tsung Leong, among others.

W.M. Hunt is a champion of photography: a collector, curator and consultant who lives and works in New York City. He is a professor at the School of Visual Arts and has produced and moderated the “Your Picture”¦” series for 20 years. Hunt is on the Board of Directors of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and The Center for Photography at Woodstock.

Exhibit Opening Reception will be held Wednesday, June 25, 7:00 – 10:00 pm Industrial Color, 32 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10013.

EQUIPMENT:

• Sony A7R camera
• Sony FE 35mm F2.8 Zeiss lens
• Zeiss 18mm F4 Distagon T* ZM lens

SEE MORE:

• Haiti Portfolio
• Brian Smith Wins PDN Annual Award 2014
• Chosen for American Photography 30
• Field Test: Sony A7R
• Sony/American Photo Party at Museum of Natural History