Judges are not current club members, nor do judges have access to metadata, names or other information about entrants. Competition is open to members who have paid current year dues.
Judges are selected by the Competition Committee; 2023 members are Shawn Gibson, Ken Spencer, Roy O’Rear, Brian Fesko and Robert Chura.
June 2023: Tracy Allard
Entries are due June 1; awards and scores will be presented June 15.
Tracy is an escapee from the corporate world who threw herself into photography classes, workshops, and seminars for two years which led to the launch of Penny Whistle Photography in 2015 in Carrollton. She’s been photographing families, pets, and the people that love them since then.
In 2018 she earned the Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) designation from the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and is currently in pursuit of the Master of Photography degree. She has won numerous national, and international photography awards. View Tracy’s images
July 2023: Jay Miller
Entries are due July 6; awards will be presented July 20.
Jay photographs flying machines for a living. He has specialized in aviation photography for more than 60 years. His client list includes Airbus, Bell, Boeing, Ezell Aviation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Sikorsky and a host of others.
He has worked as a photojournalist and has authored some 36 books and well over 1,000 magazine and newspaper articles. For relaxation, he enjoys photographing birds and wildlife. He is a long-time Nikon shooter. View Jay’s images.
August 2023: George Hallmark
Entries are due Aug.3; awards will be presented Aug. 17.
Born and raised in Cleburne, George was an architectural designer and commercial artist before turning to easel painting. He created the logos for Billy Bob’s, Cowtown Coliseum and the Stockyards and Stockyards Rodeo. George was named the official Texas State Artist in 1988.
His work is in private and corporate collections, including those of Texas Instruments, the Texas and U.S. Capitols, MBNA, the Booth Western Art Museum, and the Eiteljorg Museum.
George’s art has been featured in “Art of the West,” “Western Art Collector,” “Southwest Art,” and “U.S. Art” magazines. He is an annual participant in major western art shows. View George’s art.
September 2023: Ian McVea
Entries are due Sept. 7; awards will be presented Sept. 21.
Ian McVea is a British-born, Texas-based photojournalist and photography educator. He was a photographer and photo editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for more than 20 years and photographed everything from junior high football to the Queen of England’s visit to Texas. His images have been distributed by Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters and Alamay.
He teaches commercial photography in the Arlington ISD and has been an adjunct professor of photojournalism at TCU and at UT Arlington. Ian is an accredited member of the Royal Photographic Society, the Texas Photographic Society, the National Press Photographers Association, the American Society of Magazine Photographers and the Association of Texas Photography Instructors. View Ian’s images.
October 2023: Jeff Grimm
Entries are due Oct. 5; awards will be presented Oct. 19.
Jeff Grimm regularly judges camera club and photography contests in Texas and around the country. He taught photography at Trinity High School in Euless, his alma mater, for 35 years. Jeff’s image, left, is a drawing by a former foreign exchange student Yanghyun Park.
His students won the state photography championship five times and almost 7,000 individual and school awards, including several top-10 Best of College awards beating most of the nation’s best college and university photo programs.
Jeff received Star of Texas awards for outstanding contributions to photo education from the Association of Texas Photography Instructors.
November 2023: Dwight Vasel
Entries are due Nov. 2; awards will be presented Nov. 16.
Dwight’s photography began with a family portrait business, but he spent most of his career in broadcast television where he earned 14 Emmy awards. He teaches digital photography courses for TCU Extended Education and private photography classes. He spends half the year in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks where he leads photography workshops for Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris. He earned a degree in radio-television from Southern Illinois University.
Fort Worth clients have included BNSF, TCU, Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Center, Fort Worth Symphony, Tarrant Area Food Bank and Cook Children’s Medical Center, among others. View Dwight’s images.
December 2023: Awards
There is no contest in December. We celebrate photography by announcing the awards to members who have accrued points from monthly competitions.
Previous Judges: 2023
January 2023: Malinda Julien
Malinda Julien is a Fort Worth photographer who specializes in architectural, food and product photography.
Recent publications include “Essential: The Heroes of the COVID19 Pandemic.” Images have appeared in Fort Worth Magazine, Fort Worth, Inc., Dream Homes Magazine, The Photographer Magazine and Professional Photographer Magazine PPA.
Malinda holds certifications from the Professional Photographer’s Association: certified Professional Photographer (CPP), PPA Master of Photography, (M. Photog) and Photographic Craftsman (Cr. Photog).
February 2023: Steve Kozak
Steve Kozak is an active member of the Professional Photographers of America and the Texas Professional Photographers Association. Steve has earned the Master of Photography and Craftsman degrees from PPA.
Steve has recorded over a dozen videos for the PPA EDU program. These videos include classes on the fundamentals of photography, manual flash photography, exposure and others.
He has taught at the Texas School of Professional Photography, Imaging USA, Mid-America Institute of Professional Photography and Image Explorations.
March 2023: John Bonewitz
John Bonewitz studied photography and densitometry at Sam Houston State University in 1976 before changing course and deciding to pursue photography as a hobby rather than a profession.
As a former member of the Fort Worth Camera Club, he co-chaired the Competition committee in 2007 and was president in 2008 and 2009. John competed in the Master Class and won Photographer of the Year for 2006 and 2007.
He is a recently retired American Airlines captain.
April 2023: Jodie Utter
Jodie Utter is Senior Conservator of Works on Paper for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. She holds a graduate degree from the Art Conservation Program at Winterthur/University of Delaware.
Jodie has taught classes and workshops and given lectures on conservation and preservation. She has conducted extensive research on materials and techniques of Charles M. Russell, including a study published in the book Charles M. Russell, Watercolors 1887-1926.
She is a fellow of the International Institute for Conservation and the American Institute for Conservation and is a member of Western Association for Art Conservation, Midwest Regional Conservation Guild and the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners.
May 2023: Ryan Moeller
Ryan Moeller is a north Texas photographer who was inspired by his past membership in Fort Worth Camera Club to turn his hobby into a business.
Says Ryan, a club meeting and workshop, and a friend’s request to photograph her wedding led to a Best in Show award for his first club competition entry. “I took my portrait and wedding photography career to a professional hobby … and loved every minute of it.”
He is an Arlington native and a graduate ofTexas A&M.