Meet the Judges

Colin Finlay is one of the foremost documentary photographers in the world. For more than seventeen years, Finlay has documented the human condition with passion, empathy, and dignity. In pursuit of his passion for capturing images of social importance, he has circled the globe nearly thirty times in search of the single photo that will be a testament to the depth of human will and compassion, of hope, and of an informed collective consciousness.

Colin Finlay was selected in 2006 as one of the charter members of the Microsoft Icons of Imaging program and has won numerous awards over his career, including the “Lucie” six times from the prestigious Picture of the Year International awards competition.

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/icons/finlay/bio.aspx

Deanne Fitzmaurice is a Pulitzer Prize winning freelance photojournalist based in San Francisco, CA. She has also received awards from Pictures of the Year International, Best of Photojournalism, UNICEF Photo of the Year, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, and Associated Press' Mark Twain Award. In 2007 Deanne was named one of a Microsoft’s Icons of Imaging recognizing her strong commitment to digital imaging and photojournalism excellence.

Her photographs have been published in numerous magazines including Time, Newsweek, NY Times Magazine, and Sports Illustrated and her work has also been shown at the Visa pour L'Image Photojournalism Festival in Perpignan, France. Deanne is also one of the co-founders of Think Tank Photo, which specializes in photographer-designed camera bags.

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/icons/fitzmaurice/bio.aspx

Jodi is the owner of MCP Actions, which provides resources for photographers worldwide who seek to improve their product and deliver more value for their customers.

MCP Actions offers original Photoshop Actions to customers internationally, which enable photographers, at the click of a button, to enhance and enrich their photos in a fast and efficient way.

Additionally, Friedman offers Photoshop training, via the Web, at various levels, to professional and hobbyist photographers across the globe. She is also the creator of a popular and growing blog that brings photographers together to improve their skills and expand their thinking about photography and photo editing.

An experienced photographer, her product and people shots appear across the Internet.  Raised in Georgia and a graduate of Syracuse University in Upstate New York, Friedman resides with her family in Michigan.

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog

Mark is an experienced professional photographer and website editor. He owns, runs and writes for PhotographyBLOG, one of the UK’s biggest digital photography websites, which offers informative new product reviews and original in-depth news from around the world.

He's also a regular contributor to the popular UK magazine Digital Camera Buyer. More personal photo projects include his Portfolio site and Everydayeye, an attempt to post a photo every day.

http://www.photographyblog.com

Reed is the Founder and Director of Education for Blue Pixel and has been a newspaper photographer for over 20 years working at papers in Indiana, Alabama and New York. In that time he's covered everything from Presidential elections to the Super Bowl.

Reed has won more than 50 awards in photo contests across the country including the prestigious National Press Photographer's Association Regional Photographer of the Year honors twice. In 2006 he was selected as one of the charter members of the Microsoft Icons of Imaging program.

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/icons/hoffmann/bio.aspx

Haje is a multiculturalist, journalist, artist, photographist, and mentalist who has been running his Photocritic blog for as long as he can remember.

He wrote a book on Macro Photography, worked as the editor for a gadget website for a bit, and is now a Senior Producer for UK television station Five.

In his spare time, Haje rides motorcycles, spends far too much time on the internet, and plots to take over the world.

http://www.photocritic.org

Darren is a blogger, speaker, consultant and founder of several blogs and blog networks, including b5media, ProBlogger.com and the Digital Photography School, an online community of hundreds of thousands of photographers who gather together around blogs and forums to improve their photography. 

Darren is a photography nut and loves getting out and about with his DSLR. He is also an avid reader; he enjoys good food, wine and loves movies. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com

Shreve Stockton is a writer and photographer currently living in Wyoming. She received her bachelor's degree in photography in 2001 from Brooks Institute of Photography. She is the author of two weblogs, Vespa Vagabond and The Daily Coyote.

http://www.dailycoyote.net