Spotlight – 2017
© Andrew French
The American Photography Archives Group (APAG) is 501(c)(3) non-profit that is a resource organization for individuals who own or manage a privately held photography archive. Collectively, the group has dealt with everything from archival supplies and copyright infringement to working with photo dealers. Mary Engel will accept the award for APAG. APAG began when founder and president, Mary Engel, assumed responsibility for the archive of her mother, photographer and filmmaker Ruth Orkin. It was a difficult task, with much to learn about intellectual property rights, conservation and preservation, promotion, and the world of photography galleries and dealers. Mary has gained a wealth of knowledge and know-how, and when her father, photojournalist and filmmaker Morris Engel, passed away in 2005, she inherited his archive as well. Over the years, Mary reached out to others who were in a similar situation and became an informal consultant. As her network of fledgling archive managers grew, so did the demands on her time. She realized that everyone could benefit from each other’s experience, so she started organizing meetings. At first the group was small enough to meet over dinner in a restaurant. Soon, however, more people joined, and a larger, quieter meeting space was needed. Mary arranged for the group to meet at ICP, and the organization has became more structured, holding meetings three or four times a year.
www.apag.us
Presented by: Judith Thompson
The New England Beacon – 2017
Photo by Jon Atherton, Yale
Paul Messier is a photograph conservator working at Yale and in private practice in Boston. He is the founder and Pritzker Director of the Lens Media Lab at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Established in 2015, the focus of the LML is the creation, dissemination, and interpretation of large datasets derived from museum and reference collections of artist materials. Notable among these is the LML’s collection of historic photographic papers which is the largest of its kind in the world and was assembled by Paul over the course of decades. Paul’s Boston-based private conservation practice was founded in 1994. The practice serves collectors, galleries, auctions houses as well as public institutions included leading museums, libraries, and archives worldwide. This practice has served as a training platform for numerous pre- and post-graduate interns all of whom have filled photograph conservation positions within prestigious cultural intuitions, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. Paul has published widely, holds two patents covering innovative techniques for the characterization of cultural materials, served elected terms to the Board of Directors of the American Institute for Conservation, and recently completed a multiyear Mellon-funded initiative to establish a department of photograph conservation at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
ipch.yale.edu/people/paul-messier
Presented by: Melissa Banta
Melissa Banta is Projects Curator at the Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard Library, where she works to preserve, exhibit, and publish photograph collections throughout Harvard’s museums, libraries, and archives. Ms. Banta was formerly Director of the Photographic Archives at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard. She also serves as consulting curator at Baker Library, Harvard Business School and at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Her exhibitions and publications include From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery; A Timely Encounter: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Japan; The Invention of Photography and Its Impact on Learning; A Curious and Ingenious Art: Reflections on Daguerreotypes at Harvard; and At the Intersection of Science and Art: Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Collection, The Formative Years.
Lifetime – 2017
© Jerry Atnip
Elizabeth Avedon is an independent curator and writer, photography book and exhibition designer. She is a sought after consultant for photographers; editing, sequencing, and advising towards their exhibition, book, and portfolio projects. She is the former Director of Photo-Eye Gallery, Santa Fe; Creative Director for The Gere Foundation; and received numerous awards and recognition for her exhibition design and publishing projects, including the fashion retrospective book and exhibition, “Avedon: 1949–1979” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, among others; and “Richard Avedon: In the American West” for the Amon Carter Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago; and exhibition designs for the Estate of Diane Arbus, the Menil Collection,Texas and the Leica Gallery, New York. In conjunction with Random House, she co-published the series “Elizabeth Alvedon Editions/Vintage Contemporary Artists”, working with distinguished art critics such as Donald Kuspit and Peter Schjeldahl, and contemporary artists Francesco Clemente, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rauschenberg and others.
www.elizabethavedon.com
Presented by: Sean Perry
Sean Perry is a fine-art photographer based in Austin, Texas and New York City. His photographs and books center on architecture, space and light – the ambiance felt within built and temporary environments. Perry currently serves as Associate Professor of Photography at Austin Community College where he founded a mentoring program and lecture series titled, The Picture Review.
A Culture of Legacy Award – 2017
Beuford Smith photo by Cydnii Jones Cesaire Agency
Beuford Smith was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. A self-taught photographer, he began freelancing in the late 1970s. His clients include Black Star, AT&T, Emory University, Merrill Lynch, Avon, and GE. Smith is the founder of Cesaire Photo Agency and a founder and chief photo editor of the Black Photographers Annual (1973-1981). He has taught photography at Cooper Union, Hunter College, and the Brooklyn Museum. Smith served as staff photographer for Emmanuel Baptist Church from 1995-2007. Smith is a former President (1997-2003) and member (1965-2005)and now president emeritus of Kamoinge, Inc. Smith spearheaded the group’s effort to achieve 501(c)3 status and facilitated collecting photos for Kamoinge’s book, The Sweet Breath of Life edited by Frank Stewart. Smith served on the curatorial committee for the Committed to the Image exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 2001. He served on NYFA’s photography panel in 2002. He is also a former Advisory Board member of En Foco, Inc. (2005-2012). Smith received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in 1990 and 2000, a LightWork Artist-in Residence Fellowship in 1999 and an Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship in 1998 among other awards. Smith has collected over 360 photographs in the past 30 years and he is organizing his archives and editing his photographs for a book. Keith DeLellis Gallery represents a selection of Beuford Smith’s photographs.
Presented by: Bill Gaskins
From a professional base in photography and arts writing, an academic foundation in fine art, the history of photography, American Studies and the perspective of a citizen of the United States, the work of Bill Gaskins explores questions about photography and the portrait in the 21st century. A critical entry point for the viewer is his fascination with the myths of photography and American culture and representations of African American people. His approach to photography as both producer and critical spectator has garnered attention through commissions, artist residencies, grants, public lectures, solo and group exhibitions, exhibition catalogs and books.
As a professor of art, Bill Gaskins has taught at The Ohio State University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Missouri, the College of Art, Media & Technology and the College of Art and Design Theory and History at Parsons School of Design, and the graduate program in Media Studies in The New School for Public Engagement. Presently he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art with a faculty appointment in the American Studies Program at Cornell University.
Scribe – 2016
Teju Cole
Author and Photography Critic of the New York Times Magazine, and column “On Photography.”
www.tejucole.com/
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2016
Karen Haas
The Lane Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Presented by: Lifetime – 2016
Barbara Norfleet
Renowned documentary photographer, retired senior lecturer in Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard, and retired curator of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard.
Presented by: Spotlight – 2015
Brian Storm
MediaStorm is an award winning film production and interactive design studio whose work gives voice and meaning to the most pressing issues of our time. MediaStorm has led a paradigm shift in digital storytelling.
mediastorm.com/
Presented by: Rising Star – 2015
Kat Kiernan
Kat Kiernan is the Editor-in-Chief of Don’t Take Pictures, a print and online photography publication.
katkiernan.com/
Presented by: Lifetime – 2015
Karen Sinsheimer- Photo Kimberly Kavish
Karen Sinsheimer was the Curator of Photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
www.sbma.net
Presented by: Spotlight – 2014
Larissa Leclair
Larissa Leclair founder of Indie Photobook Library. The Indie Photobook Library is a U.S. based archive that collects and showcases self-published and indie published photobooks, and facilitates discourse on trends in contemporary publishing and scholarly research now and in the future.
www.indiephotobooklibrary.org/
Presented by: Scribe – 2014
Elin Spring
Dr. Elin Spring is the author of “What Makes It Great?” photography exhibit reviews, “Meet The Artist” interviews, “Who Said It?” photography quote quizzes and various book reviews.
elinspringphotography.com/blog/
Presented by: Rising Star – 2014
Rebecca Senf
Dr. Rebecca Senf is the Norton Family Curator of Photography, a joint appointment at the Center for Creative Photography and the Phoenix Art Museum.
www.creativephotography.org/contact-us/rebecca-becky-senf
Presented by: Lifetime – 2014
Jim Dow
Jim Dow is an educator and photographer. He lives in Boston and teaches at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
jimdowphotography.com/
Presented by: Commonwealth – 2013
Pictured left to right are:Betsy Boyle, Nichole Shea, Tom Blake, Danny Pucci, Jake Sadow, Monica Shin, Bahadir Kavlakli, and Justin Goodstein-Aue
Boston Public Library Digital Projects for Digital Commonwealth the BPL has been digitizing photo archives, books, maps, manuscripts, prints, and other library materials so that they may be accessible online. The goal of this project is to grow and support Digital Commonwealth, a consolidated statewide digital library system.
www.digitalcommonwealth.org/
Presented by: Bob Cullum
Bob Cullum will present the award to Boston Public Library Digital Projects for Digital Commonwealth
Spotlight – 2013
James Estrin, David Gonzales and Matthew McCann.
Lens Blog New York Times a blog featuring photography, video and visual journalism from Times photographers, other news organizations and around the Web. Its co-editors are James Estrin and David Gonzales. The producer of Lens is Matthew McCann.
lens.blogs.nytimes.com/
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2013
Phillip Prodger
Phillip Prodger, is an art historian, writer, curator and head of the photography department at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts
www.npg.org.uk/research/staff-research-profiles/phillip-prodger.php
Presented by: Rising Star – 2013
Shane Lavalette
Shane Lavalette, Founding Publisher and Editor of Lavalette and the Director of Light Work in Syracuse, NY
www.shanelavalette.com/
Presented by: Lifetime – 2013
Mary Virginia Swanson
Mary Virginia Swanson, is an author, educator and advisor to artists and arts organizations whose career includes exhibiting, collecting and licensing photography.
mvswanson.com/
Presented by: Quicksilver – 2012
Keith Jenkins
Keith Jenkins became the Supervising Senior Producer for Multimedia at NPR after a 13 year distinguished career at the Washington Post and Washington Post Magazine.
Presented by: Spotlight – 2012
Rixon Reed
Rixon Reed founded photo-eye a blend of Galleries, Auctions, Visual Server, Magazine and Newsletter, and a new venture called the Artist Photo Index.
Presented by: Crista Dix
Crista Dix will present the award to Rixon Reed.
Rising Star – 2012
Aline Smithson
Aline Smithson, began her career as a fashion editor and is now a widely published and exhibited photographer, educator and blogger.
alinesmithson.com/
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2012
Stephen Jareckie
Stephen Jareckie, is currently the Photographic Advisor for the Fitchburg Art Museum and Curator of Photography Emeritus for the Worcester Art Museum.
Presented by: Kristina Durocher
Kristina Durocher will present the award to Stephen Jareckie.
Lifetime – 2012
Eelco Wolf
Eelco Wolf, was in charge of Worldwide Marketing Communications for the Polaroid’s Corporation as well as Executive Director of Magnum Photos Worldwide, currently a member of the Photography Collection Committee of the Harvard Art Museums.
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2011
Susan Mosser
Susan Mosser, is Special Services VP of the New England Camera Club Council.
Presented by: Barbara Rozavsky
Barbara Rozavsky will present the award to Ms. Mosser.
Rising Star – 2011
Eileen Gittins
Eileen Gittins, is Founder, President, and CEO of Blurb.
Presented by: Lifetime – 2011
Dr. Alison Norström
Dr. Alison Nordström, is Curator of Photographs and Director of Exhibitions at George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film.
Presented by: W.M. Hunt
W.M. Hunt will present the award to Dr. Nordström.
Living Legend – 2011
Harold Feinstein
We are honoring Harold Feinstein for his sixty year career as a photographer.
www.haroldfeinstein.com/
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2010
Alan Taylor
Web developer Alan Taylor created the photo blog The Big Picture for The Boston Globe/Boston.com.
Presented by: Finbarr O’Reilly
Chief Photographer, West & Central Africa, Reuters O’Reilly will present the award to Taylor.
Rising Star – 2010
David Bram
Based in Albuquerque, NM, Bram is editor, curator, and founder of the popular and influential Fraction Magazine, now in its sixteenth issue.
www.fractionmagazine.com/david-bram/
Presented by: Mary Virginia Swanson
Marketing Consultant, Swanson makes it her goal to help photographers find the strengths in their work and identify appreciative audiences for their prints, exhibitions, editorial, and licensing placement. She will present the award to David Bram.
Lifetime – 2010
James K. Colton
Colton is currently the photography editor for Sports Illustrated.
Presented by: Steve Fine
Director of Photography at Sports Illustrated for the past 14 years, Fine will present the award to Mr. Colton
Spotlight – 2009
Steve Hoffman (inset) Jim Toya-Brown
Photographers worldwide rely on Modern Postcard, a San Diego commercial printing company. Founded by Steve Hoffman and nurtured by Jim Toya-Brown, Modern Postcard provides small runs of high quality postcards at an affordable price. Modern Postcard is at the forefront of the postcard industry.
www.modernpostcard.com
Presented by: Howard Bernstein
Howard Bernstein is the CEO of Bernstein & Andriulli, NY, and publisher of Spread Artculture magazine
Scribe – 2009
Russell Hart
Hart is executive editor of American Photo magazine and editor of American Photo On Campus. In addition to editing and authoring numerous magazine stories and posts on the American Photo blog, State of the Art , Hart oversees many of its technical reviews and organizes the “Editor’s Choice” issue.
www.russellhartphoto.com
The New England Beacon – 2009
Rosalind Smith
Rosalind (Roz) Smith, a native of Newton, is a features writer for Shutterbug, Photographers Forum, View Camera, Black and White and Camera Arts. She has also written feature articles for the Robb Report, Photo District News, and the Boston Globe. She has written articles on scores of photographers including Richard Avedon, James Nachtwey, Ron Haviv, John Isaac, Jill Enfield and Duane Michals.
Presented by: Rising Star – 2009
Rob Haggart
Haggart is the former director of photography for Men’s Journal and Outside magazines. He has received photo editing recognition from Graphis, American Photography, Society of Publication Designers, Communication Arts, American Society of Magazine Editors and Photo District News, and was chosen as part of the creative team of the year by Ad Week. He currently freelances as a photography director and runs APhotoEditor.com, a blog on photography.
aphotoeditor.com
Presented by: Jill Enfield
Jill Enfield, a fine art photographer, author and educator will present the award to Rob Haggart.
Lifetime – 2009
Eliane Laffont
Eliane Laffont has been a leading creative and entrepreneurial force in the world of photojournalism. In 1968, she opened the first U.S. office of Gamma Press Images in collaboration with her husband, Jean-Pierre. In 1973, they co-founded Sygma Photo News Agency, where Laffont served as general manager, then president of North American operations, for nearly three decades (with a two-year hiatus at LOOK magazine). Under Laffont’s leadership, Sygma blossomed into the world’s largest photo news agency with more than 500 photographers in 50 countries. In 1999, Sygma was acquired by Bill Gates’ Corbis Images and Laffont was appointed U.S. operations general manager and later was promoted to global vice president of editorial content of Corbis-Sygma. In 2001, Laffont joined Hachette Filipacchi Media as editorial director, supervising the photographic production of the group in the U.S. and developing the photo division around three sectors: photojournalism, photo illustration and photo reportage.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliane_Laffont
Presented by: Jean François LeRoy
LeRoy is the founder of Visa pour L’image Festival in Perpignan, France.
Spotlight – 2008
Nikon Crew
Nikon is a world leader in digital imaging, precision optics, and photo imaging technology
www.nikonusa.com/en/index.page
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2008
Henry Horenstein
Henry Horenstein, Photographer, Author and Educator
www.honkytonkeditions.com
Presented by:
Award-winning hosts of Car Talk on National Public Radio
Rising Star – 2008
Jen Beckman
Jen Bekman is the Founder and Owner, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York
jenbekman.com
Presented by: Lifetime – 2008
Deborah Willis photo © Jennifer Samuels
Debora Willis is the Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, Curator, Author, Educator, Historian, and Photographer
debwillisphoto.com/home.html
Presented by: Anna Maria Horsford
Anna Maria Horsford is an American actress, known for her performances in television comedies. Horsford is best known for her roles as Thelma Frye on the NBC sitcom Amen, and as Dee Baxter on the WB sitcom The Wayans Bros.
Spotlight – 2007
Holly Stuart Hughes courtesy of PDN
Holly Stuart Hughes accepts award as the editor of Photo District News and PDNOnline.com, the monthly trade magazine and website for professional photographers.
www.pdnonline.com
The New England Beacon – 2007
Clifford Ackley
Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Curator of Prints and Drawings and Chair of the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the MFA, Boston
www.mfa.org
President of the Board of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Rising Star – 2007
Sara Terry
Founder, The Aftermath Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping photojournalists document the aftermath of conflict.
theaftermathproject.org
Presented by: Sherman Teichman
Director, Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University will present award to Sara.
Lifetime – 2007
Presented by: The New England Beacon – 2006
Barbara Hitchcock
Cultural Affairs Director, Polaroid Corporation and Curator, Polaroid Collection
www.fep-photo.org/curator/hitchcock/
Presented by: Rising Star – 2006
Brian Clamp
Owner, ClampArt, New York
Presented by: Lifetime – 2006
Anne Wilkes Tucker
Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
www.mfah.org/exhibitions/
Presented by: 
