For the last three years, we have had the honor and pleasure to see the Brooklyn Navy Yard change through the eyes of hundreds of very, very talented photographers. Our Seasonal Photography Tour participants have chronicled this amazing landscape from season to season, from year to year, creating an incredible record of the Yard at this moment of transformation.
2015 was no different – over four tours, we received 143 submissions from 23 different photographers, and those were winnowed down to 12 finalist photos by a panel of insightful judges. These finalists were then put on display in the first floor of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 – they will remain up for the next several months, so please go check them out – and offered up for online voting by the public. And for the first time, this year we compiled the photos into a handsome wall calendar for Brooklyn Navy Yard staff, partners, and friends (if you’re still in the market for a 2016 calendar, there are a few left for sale at the BLDG 92 gift shop, open Wednesday–Sunday, 12–6pm.)
We are proud to announce the winners of our two prizes – the People’s Choice Award, selected by online voting and paper ballots submitted at BLDG 92, and the Photographers’ Choice Award, voted on by our judges TaraFawn Marek, Robin Michals, Natacha Mankowski, and John Bartelstone.
People’s Choice Award Winner: Larry Nicosia
Larry’s photo took this prize handily, lapping the field in online voting. Interestingly, for the second year in a row, one of the year-end winning photographs is of the same ship; in 2014 Yali Lewis also got a shot of the Alice Oldendorff.
As photographer Robin Michals said about it last fall when she selected it as a finalist, “Photographers tend to love the Yard for its ruins and certainly the old cranes and other abandoned structures make for some beautiful, romantic images. This shot by Larry Nicosia reminds us that the Yard is also a work place with an active maritime component. He uses the color contrast of the bright green hard hat to contrast with more muted colors of the Double Skin oil tank barge and the bulk carrier, the Alice Oldendorff to remind us of the vitality of the industry at the Yard in the present.”
Photographers’ Choice Award Winner: Farras Abdelnour
Farras submitted a wonderful selection of black and white photos to the contest, with this one of the marble-faced Naval Hospital building landing in the top 12 last winter. Judge TaraFawn Marek noted, “Beautiful black and white tone used in an affecting way. The contrasting shadows and fading snow disrupt the clean lines of the wall in a symmetrical yet emotional composition.”
Congratulations again to Larry and Farras. We look forward to hosting them on a private tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. And thank you to everyone who submitted and our wonderful panel of judges. There are still three more chances to get in on the 2016 photo contest – the next Seasonal Photography Tour will be on Saturday, April 30 at 11am.
Turnstile Tours offers the Seasonal Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard four times throughout the year. The next tour of the 2016 season will be Saturday, April 30 at 11am. Get more information here, and advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. We also offer our Past, Present & Future Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard every weekend 2-4pm, and other special themed tours of The Yard. All tours are offered in partnership with and begin at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, which offers free admission to three floors of exhibitions on the Yard’s past and present and a host of great special events and programs.
