Lucie Grows Up

It was just two years ago that I made my first acquaintance with Lucie, the fledgling awards show founded with the grand ambition to become the Oscars of the photo industry. Then only in its second year and first time in New York City, the whole concept seemed half-baked and the production lacking in professionalism, and I let em have it with a pretty scathing review.

Now, two years later, either I'm getting soft in my old age or the Lucies have grown up. The 2006 awards show, held Monday at the American Airlines Theatre in Times Square, was a pleasant affair that seems to have grown by leaps and bounds in two short years.

From our vantage point the show was largely free of the production gaffes that plagued the 2004 production, despite a preemptive apology from Lucie founder Hossein Farmani that the high-definition slideshows and videos had been lost by FedEx, and despite complaints from our friends over at PDN who thought the photos looked "pixilated." Hostess Caroline Rhea of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" fame was actually quite charming and funny, which helped keep the nearly three-hour show moving at a brisk pace.

The idea of an awards show based largely on lifetime achievements still seems a bit odd. (Neil Leifer, at a spry 64, was among the youngest of those honored.) But it's hard to argue against recognizing largely unheralded talents like Sarah Moon, Willy Ronis, Eikoh Hosoe and Roger Mayne.

And unlike some expensive photo awards shows we've attended, which often award photographers who either don't show up or have shockingly little to say, everyone on stage Monday night seemed genuinely happy to be there.

Duane Michals, accepting the portraiture award, stole the show with an acceptance speech as bawdy as it was witty. In introducing fashion award-winner David Bailey, GQ editor Jim Nelson offered an intelligent argument against the too casual use of the word "iconic" in describing photography, and then he went ahead and used it to describe Bailey's work anyway. One of our favorite presenters was Sports Illustrated writer and NPR correspondent Frank Deford (no relation, unfortunately), who introduced his friend Leifer as "Mozart with a Nikon."

Bailey, in his acceptance speech, got some of the wildest cheers. "I'd like to thank my assistants, those poor fuckers," he said. "And the darkroom technicians. They make us look great and never get any credit."

Other presenters included Elliot Erwitt, Bruce Weber, Mark Seliger and Antonin Kratochvil.

One doesn't generally expect much news to be made at an awards show, but America Society of Media Photographers executive director Eugene Mopsik announced a new environmental portraiture prize to honor lifetime ASMP member Arnold Newman, who died earlier this year. The $10,000 IPA Photographer of the Year award went to Gerd Ludwig, who joked that his nominated book, already out for a couple of years, just gets better with age. The $5,000 Discovery of the Year award went to Ghada Khunji for her portraits of people in Africa the Dominican Republic.

Other winners included our very own American Photo for best photographic magazine,  Life magazine's George Pitts for picture editor of the year, and SFMOMA's Sandra S. Philips won photography curator of the year honors for "Mexico as Muse: Tina Modotti and Edward Weston." Ad agency 180 Amsterdam won best print ad campaign for its "Impossible Field" series for Adidas, Harper's Bazaar won fashion layout of the year for Mario Sorrenti's "Paris," and Taschen took the prize for best photo book for William Claxton's Jazz Life.

--Jay DeFoore

Comments

[Cassandra Tiensivu]

I'm glad to see this article as I've been wondering who won the IPA portions of the awards. Though I didn't have the opportunity to attend this year, I really hope to be there in 2007!

In 2002 I knew nothing about photography. I credit your forums and its posters on helping to shape me into the photographer I am today. Thus far I've won 18 honorable mentions over the past 3 years from the IPA Lucie Awards. I think that speaks rather highly of the PopPhoto community.

[Jonathan]

The only bigger joke in the Photo community than the Lucie Awards might be this magazine and this blog.

[Jay DeFoore]

wow jonathan, thanks for the great insight.

[Ghada Khunji]

Thank you for feeling that the Lucie Awards have grown up... although they are only in their 4th year, they have done a fabulous job... instead of negative comments like how this was done wrong or the other, we should commend them for making an event recognizing photographers that deserve the credit for sharing their brilliant vision.
All that said, I wish that others would also try to not make mistakes like assuming my photographs were taken in Africa, but rather, The Dominican Republic.
I apologize for sounding a bit harsh, Mr. DeFoore but I had to clarify this issue, out of Respect for all the people that I have allowed me to photograph them, Ghada Khunji, Discovery of the year

[Raechel Legakes]

David Bailey provided some comic relief, it's true. However, the "wildest cheers" were definitely during the announcement for Discovery of the Year, Ms. Ghada Khunji.
By the way, people with dark complexions who live in poverty can be found in numerous other countries around the world. One need not assume that depictions of this prevalent affliction are photographed only in Africa.

[Jay DeFoore]

Ghada, no need to apologize. I assumed Africa and I got it wrong. I stand corrected. And yes, Raechel, Ghada did have quite the cheering section. I look forward to seeing more of her work. (Hint: American Photo readers can see more of her photos in the Jan/Feb issue.)

[Kallfuffestaf]

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