IBEW Photo Contest Winners Announced
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Blaine Logan’s picture of a fellow Electrical Workers (IBEW) member clad in a fire retardant suit and face shield as he reaches into a tight spot to place a weld on a carbon steel refinery conduit was the runaway winner in the 2010 IBEW Photo of the Year contest.
Logan, a member of IBEW Local 545 in St. Joseph, Mo., was working with Jim Amos from IBEW Local 177 of Jacksonville, Fla., at a Conoco refinery in Alton, Ill., on a blazing summer day as Amos began work on the tricky weld.
You’re in really tight environments and you almost have to stand on your head sometimes to get the weld. Then you’ve got the heat on top of that. I took this picture to show my dad and fellow IBEW brothers how hard it was.
We don’t usually do a whole lot of welding in the trade. But when that work falls in our jurisdiction, we want to show that we’re capable of doing an excellent job.
Canadian Farm Workers March Wins LabourStart Photo Contest
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LabourStart subscribers from around the world selected Gerardo Correa’s photo of a Canadian farm workers’ march as the winner in the news service’s 2010 Labor Photo of the Year contest.
Correa’s submission depicts migrant farm workers as they embark early Thanksgiving morning for a “Pilgrimage for Freedom.” The 50-kilometer walk from Leamington to Windsor in Ontario highlighted their demands for basic workers’ rights. There are more than 25,000 workers who spend up to eight months a year on temporary visas working and harvesting on farms across Canada.
This was LabourStart’s third annual global photo contest, and it drew hundreds of entries that were narrowed down to five finalists (click here to view). LabourStart’s Stuart Elliot says the contest:
recognizes the talents of worker-photographers around the world, and at the same time encourages them to tell the stories of our struggles in photos.
Vote for Top Pix in IBEW Photo Contest
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The 2010 Electrical Workers (IBEW) Photo Contest drew more than 400 entries, and those have been narrowed to 15 finalists. Now you can vote for the top three. The voting closes Jan. 2 and the winners will be announced shortly after. There is no stuffing the ballot box because each visitor is only permitted to vote only once.
We’re posting two of the finalists here. IBEW Local 6 member Allan Smorra shot this incredible sweaty palms photo of Local 595 member Del West high above the Golden Gate bridge as he “re-lamps” the iconic bridge’s cable lamps.
Winners Picked in IBEW Photo Contest
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The image of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 369 apprentice Sam Simms climbing to the top of an electrical pole, as a cloud-breaking sun provides a ragged pink halo above, was the top vote-getter in the 2009 IBEW Photo Contest.
Nearly 4,000 online votes were cast for the 15 finalists—out of more than 300 submissions.
The first place winner—shot with an iPhone by Danny Doss of IBEW Local 317 in Huntington, W.Va.—captures the Louisville, Ky., apprentice as he is earning his Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wood pole certification. Says Doss, who trains new workers:
“I was in the right place at the right time. I never expected to win.”
Dave Gable of IBEW Local 160 in Minneapolis nabbed second place with his colorful shot of windmills at sunrise on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Voters awarded third place to Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 member Don Porter for his photo of the Fort Churchill power plant in Mason Valley, Nev., at sunset.
Cast Your Vote for Best Photo by an Electrical Worker
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Here’s your chance to take a look at the work world as seen through the lenses of 15 members of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) and choose what you think are the top photographs in the IBEW’s 2009 Photo Contest.
The finalists—out of more than 300 submissions—offer a fascinating and, at times, stunning perspective of the varied work IBEW members perform every day. Among the photos are:
* A dizzying look down past the feet of a worker perched high above the ground in a lattice framed electrical tower;
* A spectacular sunrise over a power plant in the Nevada high desert;
* An abstract wall of heavy-duty yellow linesmen’s gloves; and
* Four workers balanced atop two power poles directing a helicopter delivery of a large crossbeam.
Click here to check out the other 11 photographs and vote for your top three. After you pick, you can see the results from the voting thus far. Each visitor is only permitted to vote once, so choose carefully. The vote closes Jan. 10.
Winners will be announced later this month. The winners and honorable mentions will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Electrical Worker and we’ll showcase the winner here as well.
LabourStart’s Photo of the Year: Child Labor in Bangladesh
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Subscribers to the global online labor news service LabourStart selected K.M. Asad’s striking photo of a Bangladeshi boy working in a shipbuilding plant as the Labor Photo of the Year. These factories employ young boys as apprentices without pay for the first few years. They work in extreme conditions without safety tools or other protective gears.
The photo contest is designed to encourage and recognize the talents of worker-photographers around the world while encouraging activists to tell the stories of workers’ struggles in photos. This is the group’s second photo contest. Click here to see the 2009 finalists.
The first prize is a two-year pro account on Flickr.com. The runners-up received a one-year pro account. The finalist photos also are displayed in the art gallery on the Union Island in Second Life.
One Week Left to Enter LabourStart Photo Contest
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There’s still time to enter LabourStart’s 2009 Labour Photo of the Year contest, but you’ll have to act fast: The deadline is Sept. 30. Click here for entry rules.
LabourStart, the global online labor news service, says the contest is designed to encourage and recognize the talents of worker-photographers around the world, and at the same time encourage them to tell the stories of workers’ struggles in photos.
The group’s first photo contest in 2008 drew several thousand entries. (See the winner accompanying this story and click here to see the 2008 finalists.)
First prize is a two-year pro account on Flickr.com. Four runners-up will receive a one-year pro account. The finalist photos will be featured on LabourStart and announced to news service’s 60,000 trade unionist subscribers. They also will be displayed in the art gallery on the Union Island in Second Life.
