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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2006-08-20

Have you won something lately? Here's your chance.
Prizes, prizes everywhere in the Nikon-sponsored SportsShooter.com Student Portfolio of the Year contest.

By Brad Mangin, SportsShooter.com

Six Nikon Coolpix S5 cameras have already been given to students since the start of the year, and a total of 36 months of free PhotoShelter services have already been awarded to members who have reviewed student work submitted in the Nikon-sponsored SportsShooter.com Student Portfolio of the Year Contest.

Halfway through the year, and there's a lot of prizes left to give out. If you want to win it, you got to be in it!

This section was designed to give our student-members quality feedback in two critical areas: Their daily shooting and their portfolios.

Based on feedback and reviews from the SportsShooter.com members, students who have participated in this new contest have had the opportunity to get honest, direct, and productive feedback about their images. (And the rest of us can read along and learn some things too.)

I remember when I was a college student at San Jose State back in the late 1980's we had to wait for the annual Flying Short Course to come to town to get hard-core portfolio critiques. Today, thanks to the support of Nikon, we're able to offer this section, where students are able to have some of their photojournalism heroes review their work, so they can learn from the best photographers in the business.

We're half-way through the 2006 version of the contest, and have six winners so far: Dustin Snipes from Eastern Washington University; Alyssa Schukar from University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Josh Birnbaum from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign; Melissa Golden from University of Georgia; Travis Haughton from Michigan State University; and Nick Adams from Western Kentucky University.

Each month during the year-long contest, student shooters submit "One Week's Work" of images from the previous month to be reviewed by the any member of SportsShooter.com. The winner is the entrant with the highest number of votes by fellow SportsShooter.com members. As an incentive for members to review student work, each month, Nikon is offering one randomly selected reviewer 10GB of space on PhotoShelter for 6 months.

When it's all done, the top three finishers, and the member comments, are displayed in a public area where everyone can see, and learn from.

The winning student then receives an expert review of his or her portfolio by a well-respected photographer of their choice, and is also rewarded with a Coolpix S5 camera and variety of other Nikon goodies.

At the end of the year, each of the monthly winners will be invited to enter their portfolio in the final round of the contest, where a panel of distinguished photographers and editors will choose the best portfolio, and award the title of SportsShooter.com Student Photographer Of The Year. The grand-prize winner gets a Nikon D200 camera with a 50mm f1/4 lens. Last year's winner was Chris Detrick from the University of Missouri.

We asked some of the winners to talk about their experiences with the contest thus far and what they have learned through their participation in the process.

Photo by Dustin Snipes with Nikon Coolpix S5

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Dustin Snipes, Eastern Washington University
Winner, January 2006

Wow, what a great contest! I have learned so much from other students' work as well as my own with this fantastic opportunity over the past two years of the contest. My portfolio has grown tremendously since my first review from Jim McNay and Chip Litherland. Thanks to their initial critiques I have looked at photography in a whole new way ever since. Stacking on top of that, thanks to Melissa Lyttle's comments from this year I have changed my portfolio, flopped around pictures, and even corrected small mistakes like spelling (that can make a HUGE difference in the way your portfolio is looked at) to help polish it up.

Being able to have photographers you look up to and admire review and critique my portfolio has been a great experience, and also a unique opportunity.

Not only do you get priceless information from great well-established photographers but also you get a sweet Nikon Coolpix S5 camera and other Nikon goodies. But wait that's not all! It's also a very good way to market yourself and get your name out there to potential editors and clients. Over the last two years since I first entered the contest I have gotten two internships, multiple jobs, and some great feedback from photographers I have admired. If these things aren't reason enough to do this contest I don't know what is. Oh wait. There is also a chance to win a Nikon D200!

I would also like to thank the creators of SportsShooter.com, Nikon, and everyone who has participated for this fantastic opportunity.

See Dustin's portfolio: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/student_portfolio_start.html?id=18

Alyssa Schukar, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Winner, February 2006

Photo by Alyssa Schukar with Nikon Coolpix S5

Alyssa's good pal Kris Kolden enjoys the waning daylight of Sunday, July 23, 2006 as his time in Lincoln, Neb. draws to an end. Kolden left the follow day for a two-year Peace Corps stint in Niamey, Niger. He will be dearly missed.

First of all, thanks, SportsShooter.com and Nikon for developing and sponsoring the student contest. It's been an incredibly beneficial experience, in which I am honored to participate.

The request for a write-up on the student competition is timely, as I attempt to reorganize my portfolio and prepare to start applying for my first job at the end of the year. In this process, I have looked back to my portfolio review by Rod Mar and Jim McNay from March for inspiration. I've found that each extra set of eyes I can get on my photographs invariably teaches me something. I've looked at all of the pictures in my portfolio so much that I'm not even sure I see them for what they are, so having two professionals give me their impartial thoughts is invaluable.

Through their words and others' reviews, I will do my best to take advantage of the next few months to fill in the gaps in my portfolio. I know I have a lot of work to do, but having someone meticulously critique the work, as did McNay and Mar, is a huge head start.

Of course, I couldn't be happier with the other half of the student contest, which is the box of goodies. The Nikon S5 Coolpix pretty much makes me one of the coolest kids this side of the Missouri River. Okay, so maybe it doesn't make me that cool, but I am very impressed by its metering ability and file quality. The display is fantastic, and the camera is small enough that it truly can be slid in out and out my front pocket with ease and speed. My thanks go to Mike Corrado from Nikon for ensuring that we got such slick prizes.

See Alyssa's portfolio: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/student_portfolio_start.html?id=19

Photo by Josh Birnbaum with Nikon Coolpix S5

Christine Yang of Berkeley drinks a pineapple flavored Italian soda at a coffee shop in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA on July 29, 2006.

Josh Birnbaum, University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign
Winner, March 2006

The SportsShooter.com portfolio critique was a good kick in the ass for me. When I submitted my portfolio, I told Scott Strazzante and Jim McNay to be harsh because I wanted to learn, and they proceeded to rip me a new one. But, man, did it feel good.

They gave me honest, constructive feedback on every photo I submitted and on the portfolio as a whole. As a result, I have torn apart my portfolio and I am still in the process of reconstructing it so I can begin applying for internships again.

Most of all, I learned that I need to be more careful with captions, I need to edit tighter, and I need to start being even more nitpicky about the photos I shoot, especially those I am going to show to editors and potential employers.

As a student I need all the help I can get, so even though much of my work was publicly ripped apart, it was immensely helpful. Thanks to the reviewers for their assistance and to SportsShooter.com for the great opportunity. And the Nikon Coolpix S5 camera was nice, too.

See Josh's portfolio: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/student_portfolio_start.html?id=20

Melissa Golden, University of Georgia
Winner, April 2006

It was an unnerving experience to have my portfolio reviewed in front of the SportsShooter.com nation, especially without the back-and-forth exchange that usually goes along with an in-person critique, but it was well worth it.

Chip Litherland's advice of taking out the category style pictures and filling my portfolio with just the pictures that convey my personal vision definitely rung true with me. It almost seems like a dangerous thing to put oneself out there like that, but his suggestion, that it might "impress people that hand out paychecks and medical cards," is one to seriously consider. I sure could use a medical card.

Photo by Melissa Golden

Melissa Golden and her new Nikon Coolpix S5 that she won in the Student Portfolio Contest sponsored by Nikon.

All things considered, the critique was full of rock solid toning, shooting, and journalistic advice. I was genuinely flattered by some of the compliments that Litherland and Jim McNay had to offer.

Getting the Box o' Goodies in the mail was the highlight of my week. I tore open the Coolpix box and ran around the office taking pictures of anyone who got in my way. The S5 is a just great. It's so compact and now I have no excuse not to have a camera everywhere I go. Most impressively, the macro function really exceeds my expectations for a point and shoot.

I find I've been using it most as a good-times camera. It's perfect for a night on the town. Also, when I want a picture of me on the job, but I'm not willing to hand over the Mark II N, I know whoever takes the picture can just press a button and get sweet results.

Many thanks to SportsShooter.com for hosting the week's work contest and to Nikon for providing some serious incentive to enter. It was a great, career-furthering experience. Thanks for the camera!

See Melissa's portfolio: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/student_portfolio_start.html?id=21

Travis Haughton, Michigan State University;
Winner, May 2006

Photo by Travis Haughton with Nikon Coolpix S5

MSU roommate and now full-time Chicago resident Eric Bolf sits confused by the tinyness of his friend Travis' new Nikon S5 camera while riding the Blue Line into the city.

First off, critiques are the whole point of being a student and learning about this photojournalism stuff. Personally, they helped me knock out a couple of photos that were iffy, and solidified a few 'keepers.'

Just as important for me getting my stuff critiqued though, is being able to look at other student critiques. That's probably the best aspect of SportsShooter.com, the amount of work and feedback that gets tossed around. It's become a lot easier to get better and to learn because of all this digital stuff - both things like the SportsShooter.com website and being able to instantly tell if a picture 'turned out.' Seeing other students work on the site gives me something to work at, and challenge myself to see differently.

I owe a very big thank you to everyone in the SportsShooter.com community, especially Melissa Lyttle (who students pick often, for a reason) and Jim McNay for looking at all of our pictures. An additional thanks to the sponsors (Nikon) who continue donate awesome equipment to contests like these both online at SportsShooter.com and in many of other contests I'm aware of.

As for the Nikon S5 that I won, it smokes the other point and shoot I used to have. Actually it is on par with my first digital SLR in a lot of ways. Six million pixels is a lot, plenty for anything I'm doing. The navigation menus are SO MUCH easier to learn than my other camera was and the LCD is huge. No not for chimping, but because you have to look at the screen because there is no viewfinder to be found.

I bought my sister a Coolpix 2100 for a graduation present a few years back because it was smaller and cheaper than anything else. Lately she's been complaining that it's too slow and takes too long to take a picture. There isn't much delay of any kind with the S5. I guess I better make sure she doesn't get a hold of my new camera, or I'll never get it back!

See Travis' portfolio: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/student_portfolio_start.html?id=22