Photography Awards and Achievements
Andrew Bowen, M.Photog., CPP
Photography, like dance, is a career of life-long learning. Sometimes, along the way of learning, your peers bestow some honor and recognition upon your art. While it is nice to say that I am an award-winning photographer, the real honor is having worked with the many dance artists who have come to the studio over the years.
Master of Photography
Earning my Master of Photography (M.Photog) Degree from Professional Photographers of America (PPA) highlights my photography career. The multi-year effort required accumulating 12 PPA-approved education credits by attending numerous classes and earning 13 merits in International Print Competition (IPC). With the results of IPC 2020 (judged in October), I accumulated the required merits. I am thrilled and humbled to have the work that I create for clients be judged so favorably and amazed by how much I’ve learned in my journey. Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey thus far, and I look forward to seeing what new worlds we create together.
“So many people have taught, challenged, inspired, and provided reality checks along the way. I have been privileged to learn from amazing artists and business professionals throughout my career. I look forward to many more years of inspiration and challenge. Thank you, Emme, for being an honest and generous guide along the way, taking in a time-challenged neophyte, and making him feel worthy. Most of all, I want to thank my wife and daughter for their love and support throughout the time of success, doubt, expense and mental thrashing along the way”
-Andrew at 2021 Degree Ceremony
Pas de Deux Photography Competition
Pas de Deux is a photography organization dedicated solely to dance photography. To help further the goals of creativity and quality work, the Pas de Deux photo competition was introduced in 2020. Due to Covid, there was no competition in 2021.
2023:
- Preliminary judging is complete. The final results will be announced in late July.
- 2 of 2 images in the pre-teen category are finalists.
- 7 of 7 images in the teen category are finalists
- 6 of 7 images in the studio category are finalists
2022:
- 8 Place overall in the Grand Prize Judging
- First Place Teen Photo
- 4th Place Teen Photo
- Top 20 Teen Photo
- 9 of 10 Teen Photos were accepted as Finalists
- 8th Place Studio Photo
- 9th Place Studio Photo
- Top 20 Studio Photo
- 7 of 10 Studio Photos were accepted as Finalists. The remaining 3 were honorable mentions.
2020:
- Top 20 finish in fine art
- All submitted images were in the finalist category for studio work.
International Print Competition
Since 2016, I have participated in the Professional Photographers of America’s International Print Competition (IPC). IPC is a juried competition where images are judged against 12 factors, including impact, presentation, technical skill, and overall impression. Each year, only four images may be submitted for consideration. While not required by rules, all submitted images are work that I have done for clients.
The merit means that the judges have deemed the image to be of excellent quality and artistry. Some photos are considered to be exceptional and are selected to be part of the Imaging Excellence Collection (which was renamed from the Loan Collection in 2021). The official IPC presentations are then held at the Exhibition at the Imaging USA Conference held in January of the following year.
2023:
- A whole new system is in place, and entries have not been accepted yet.
2022:
- Three of four images were awarded Top-10 designations in the District Competition.
- Diamond Photographer of the Year for having all four images receive Image Excellence designation.
- “Defying Gravity” was nominated as a finalist in the Grand Imaging Awards in the Senior category.
2021:
- Top-10 District Award for “Heart of the Sunrise”
- Bronze Photographer of the Year again for having all four images receive merits.
2020:
- Received my first Image Excellence designations ever on two images.
- Earned enough points to qualify for my Master Photographer from PPA.
2019:
- First year submitting dance photography
- Bronze Photographer of the Year for having all four images receive merits.
Stage… Interrupted
I received an Artists Grant from Arts Greensboro and the NC Arts Council in 2022 that subsidized a project to give voice to the high school-aged dancers whose lives were upended by the pandemic. This project, Stage… Interrupted, now lives here:
We are now looking to collect stories of students’ loss of stage beyond the pandemic, professional retirement from the stage, and the creation of new lives after the stage. If you know someone with a story to tell, please have them fill out the contact form on the Stage… Interrupted website.
Innovation + Design Show
I received the People’s Choice Award in the Photography Competition at the 2021 I+D Show in High Point, NC. Innovation + Design is a furniture design competition under the hospices of the International Society of Funiture Design. The photography competition required taking a piece of furniture from the show and photographing it in an interesting way. This 6-foot pendant lamp by Ashoke Chhabra (ashokechhabra.com) was an obvious first choice, and incorporating a dancer into the design was a foregone conclusion.
During the Covid-19 crisis, I chose to do something I had been putting off: becoming a Certified Professional Photographer through PPA. The certification process includes a test that assesses the photographer’s knowledge of a range of technical skills, including lighting and light, color theory, camera operation, optics, lens behaviors, and editing tools. There is then an image submission that demonstrates the application of your technical skills. I am proud to say that I passed my exam on my first try with 96% and had my images accepted on my first submission.