The Southern Short Course in News Photography is America's longest running photojournalism seminar, and the 59th seminar was held in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this year. I was invited to judge the annual photo contest. I wanted to share with you a package created by Scott Strazzante of the Chicago Tribune. It was titled 'Echoes of the Past.' It recently was announced that it very deservedly was voted as Best of Show.

Scott documented the lives of Harlow and Jean Cagwin in 2002 on their 118 acre cattle farm in Lockport, Illinois. This was the same year that the Cagwins left their farm to make room for the Willow Walk subdivision. Five years later, Scott returned to Willow Walk to document the Grabenhofer family, who now live in the new development just yards from the spot of his original photo shoot.

The moments in each photograph are tender and beautifully captured. However by pairing the photos from 2007 with the first set of photos shot in 2002, Scott creates a most stunning tale of our changing landscape. It is a remarkable juxtaposition of time and life. This is one of the strongest works of photojournalism I have seen recently, showing very clearly the demise of one way of life, and the creation of a new way of life. This is not your usual dramatic set of photos of a catastrophic event; it is a slice of life photographed at the same spot that captures two very distinct eras.



Great job, Scott.