Reviews |Three new judges join the CJPOTY panel

Three new judges join the CJPOTY panel

Three new judges join the CJPOTY panel
News

At the beginning of the year we announced the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition with a new platform, a new sponsor (MPB.com), a new format and a fabulous panel of judges to award the overall prizes at the end of the year. Today, on International Women’s Day (which this year has the theme #BreakTheBias), we’re proud to announce three superb additional judges, giving us better gender representation in the panel. The new judges are:

Donna Crous – Food photographer, author, Nikon Europe ambassador and Rotolight Master of Light
Dominique Shaw – Photographer, co-founder of York Place Studios and Fujifilm ambassador
Christina Vaughan – Founder of Cultura Creative, the home of inclusive stock photography

Here’s a little more about each of our new judges:

Donna Crous: Donna is an award winning professional food photographer based in Jersey, Channel Islands. From her home studio she works closely with brands and PR agencies developing recipes and creating strong photographic imagery for food campaigns, social media, websites and print publications.

Donna has worked on multiple cookery books and her work is regularly featured in photographic and cookery magazines around the world. She has recently released her own cookery book ‘A Healthier Family for Life‘ published by Little, Brown in London.

Donna is the first Nikon Europe Ambassador for food photography, and a Rotolight Master of Light. She loves sharing her food photography knowledge and skills through regular talks, workshops and camera clubs around the UK.

Dominique Shaw: Dominique is one half of renowned multi-award winning brother and sister photography duo York Place Studios. She has been a student of photography all her life, opening her Yorkshire studio at the age of 21 initially as a primarily family and portrait photographer. The York Place team have since become best known though for their candid work; blurring the boundaries between traditional documentary wedding photography and street photography to develop a unique voice and style and help reframe the narrative of what documentary wedding photography can look like.

That fresh approach and inquisitive eye has received international recognition and led to Dominique being invited to speak at photography events all over the world as well as receiving multiple accolades from ISPWP, WPJA, Fearless Photographers and This Is Reportage to name just a few.

Dominique’s work is all about people; celebrating personality, relationships and individuality with an uncanny knack for finding humour and connection in her photographs. With a love of embracing spontaneity it’s no surprise that children and family are a regular theme within her work and whether shooting weddings, street, family sessions or even candid Instax shots of her own family at home her approach remains the same: simply to search for truth, heart and humour wherever she happens to be.

Christina Vaughan: Christina is the founder and CEO of stock photo agencies Image Source and Cultura Creative. She was also recently elected President of CEPIC, the European Trade Body for Image Licensing and is the first woman in the role.

Prompted by the death of George Floyd in 2020, she decided to use her expertise in commercial photo licensing to create a new agency based around diversity – both in front of and behind the camera and so, Cultura launched in January 2021

Cultura celebrates creativity in photography, champions gender diversity and encourages diverse photographers from all backgrounds to work in the photography industry, understanding that different perspectives help us all innovate, celebrate gender and grow as humans united in cause, craft and commerce.

Christina has always sought to be inclusive in her work and family life – her mother was from the indigenous Hmar tribe of Mizoram in North East India and her father Anglo-Burmese. Christina was born in the North of England and has lived in London, New York, Paris and Argentina.

CJPOTY 2022/23 judging panel

The addition of the three new judges means are complete panel is as follows:

Ben Brain – Photographer, journalist & Sigma ambassador
Sophie Collins – Chief Marketing Office at MPB
Donna Crous – Food photographer, author, Nikon Europe ambassador and Rotolight Master of Light
Kate Hopewell-Smith – Wedding, portrait & boudoir photographer, Sony ambassador
Sanjay Jogia – Wedding photographer & Canon ambassador
Pete Reed OBE – Three times Olympic gold medal-winning rower and keen documentary photographer
Dominique Shaw – Photographer and co-founder of York Place Studios and Fujifilm ambassador
Craig Strong – Lensbaby founder
Christina Vaughan – Founder of Cultura Creative, the home of inclusive stock photography
Jeremy Walker – Landscape photographer, author & former Nikon ambassador

Entering Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY)

The CJPOTY competition takes place over 12 months with a different theme each month. Every month the Camera Jabber team will pick one winning image and nine runners up. The photographer of the winning image will receive a voucher from MPB.com to the value of £500 which can be spent on anything from a huge range of kit from the World’s biggest platform for used photographic gear.

All 10 images selected each month then go into the shortlist (of 120) that will be judged by an esteemed panel of judges who will select the first, second and third-placed images. The photographer of the first-placed image overall, as decided by the panel of judges, will receive a voucher to the value of £1000 from MPB.com as well as a trophy and the title ‘Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year 2023‘. The photographers who come second and third will receive vouchers worth £500 and £250 respectively.

This month the theme is ‘Spring Colour’. Colourful spring flowers and blossom are a welcome sight every year, but particularly so in recent times. We don’t mind if you shoot them close-up or use a wide-angle lens to put them in the context of the landscape, just make sure that spring flowers are a key element of your image. And don’t worry, we’re calling white a colour so images of snowdrops count as spring colour!

This round is open for submissions until 18:00 GMT (19:00 CET and 10:00 PST) on 31st March 2022. You don’t have to enter the competition every month but you are welcome to do so.

To submit your entry visit cjpoty.com. You can submit one image per entry but make up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26).