June 15, 1998

"I am woman, hear me roar..."

...Ok, so it's only a muffled "Yesssss!!!"

Last Friday night, the New York Press Photographers Association held their annual awards dinner. My portrait of John Robinson won an Honorable Mention...and will be exhibited in the Forbes Gallery starting on July 9, then on to the Newseum in the fall & published in the NYPPA annual. Ok, so it was only an HM, but it's a tiny piece of the NY pie. Editors from the NY dailies were there to give out the awards and Mayor Giuliani presented the Portfolio of the Year award to Todd Maisel, a freelance photographer who works for The Daily News.

Todd ran away with the show, so to speak. He won several individual awards, and then the big one. With much of the competition coming from daily newspaper photographers, it turns out it was a good day for freelancers.

The NYPPA has a long history and illustrious membership... Pulitzer prize winners like Eddie Adams, Andy Lopez and Ozier Mohammed, World Press Prize photographers Gerald Herbert and Susan Watts. NYPPA is the oldest press photographer organization in the country. But until two or three years ago, only staff photographers were allowed membership. Photographers have to be nominated, and voted in by the membership, something that we're trying hard to change.

It was an evening way out of character for most of us...photographers who normally dress down, were in black tie. NYPPA had hired a shooter. After the category winners were announced, the winners all lined up for grip and grins with our plaques, something none of us would ever do in real life (or admit to it in any case!) I didn't take any pictures during the evening, but I did have my camera with me...

Nearly 1 am back in Riverdale, a few blocks from home, I hear sirens; Dutifully following the fire trucks, we arrive at the scene of what turns out to be a carfire, which apparently ignited spontaneously in the garage of a building nearby. (a BMW!---go figure!) I walk in with the firefighters...in high heels; they take one look at me and say: "Uh, how did you get here so fast??? Where are you going all dressed up...and can we go too?" I get a few good shots, get sprayed with the foam used to extinguish the fire, reek of smoke after only 15 minutes; and my husband jokes about how I maybe ought to walk home; my black silk dress and jacket are probably ruined, at the dry cleaners as we speak, but hey, anything for the picture!

Firefighters from Ladder 27 put out an electrical fire in a car parked in the garage at 2601 Henry Hudson Parkway early Saturday morning. As spot news goes, this wasn't big, but the firefighters indicated that another few minutes and they might have had to evacuate the building because of the smoke permeating the structure. © 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press

June 15, 1998

 

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< smarkisz@digitalstoryteller.com > Contributing Photographer The Riverdale Press, NY Freelance for the New York Times Other journals by Susan Markisz 334 November 10, 1999 I have a New Boss 328 Is Photojournalism Dead? Susan Markisz I am not a photojournalist here (at the U.N.) 322 September 20, 1999 The heavy artillery has arrived 321 September 21, 1999 My adrenaline was already running high when I was given today's schedule.   318 September 14, 1999 7:45 AM: I note as I arrive at St. Bartholomew's Church on East 51st Street for the Interfaith Prayer Service 317 September 13, 1999 Milton hands me two Nikon F4's and an assortment of lenses and assigns staff photographer Evan Schneider to accompany me on my first assignment in the GA 314 September 10,1999 Milton Grant, Chief of the Photo Unit, welcomes me to the department and takes me on an informal tour of the UN. 312 August 31, 1999 The Boy Who Fooled New York. 311 August 20, 1999 I Went Scuba Diving 310 August 16, 1999 The Junkie Priest 306 July 21, 1999 The relentless quest for (Kennedy) imagery 296 July 7, 1999 Hot Hot Hot 294 July 3, 1999 The Sleepovers 288 May 31, 1999 Bad Judgment / Good Judgment: The Picture That Never Was 285 May 27, 1999 Shut Out 281 May 17, 1999 I received a letter recently that reminded me that I'd been taking some things for granted lately. 278 May 7, 1999 A Mass for Littleton 250 March 15, 1999 It's been three months and I've finally developed the rest of my film. 245 March 11, 1999 The picture-taking took less than 10 minutes. 242 March 3, 1999 I don't want to get in a mudslinging contest about the future of photojournalism 235 February 24, 1999 Lately, I seem to be the queen of features and the environmental portrait. 219 February 9, 1999 Does Color Matter? 208 January 29, 1999 Let Me Take This Call 194 December 28, 1998 Last July on this website I wrote about an assignment I had had, to photograph a mother and her young son, both of whom were battling leukemia 193 December 27, 1998 Girls, curls and slipjigs 188 December 19, 1998 Around this time last year I wrote that one of my goals was to find out how photography fits into my life. 172 November 4, 1998 We've all had to do our share of one computer genius/computer programmer/computer innovator/computer geek photograph after another... and it begs the question: How many ways can you shoot a computer without taking out a double barreled shotgun? 165 October 28, 1998 Baseball legends 162 October 26, 1998 "Keep following the story, sounds like fun!" 149 September 17, 1998 Something about Harry 144 September 6, 1998 Photography enabled me to bring my own vision and interpretation to the canvas, at first fairly effortlessly, at least compared to what it had been like trying to eek out an image from a glob of burnt sienna to replicate a paper bag still-life. 136 August 21, 1998 A Day in the Life 134 August 17, 1998 What was startling was that one of the kids who used to play there not so long ago, now a young mother herself, was there with her 3 year old. 117 July 18, 1998 This story is not about a war on another continent. It's about a silent one being fought here...and in just about every corner of the world 113 July 15, 1998 I don't do wars... 112 July, 1998 Lighting 101 107 July 5, 1998 Hundreds of people would gather and watch as unscripted---and illegal---eye candy unfolded. 104 June 25, 1998 How many ways can you spell G-R-A-D-U-A-T-I-0-N ? 102 June 24, 1998 Simple Pleasures 99 June 22, 1998 Life Begins at 40 95 June 15, 1998 "I am woman, hear me roar..." ...Ok, so it's only a muffled "Yesssss!!!" 93 June 13, 1998 Pomp and Circumstance 88 June 9, 1998 Anything Goes... 86 June 3, 1998 Shooting for Stock 85 June 1, 1998 Baby, think it over... 79 May, 1998 Art.Rage.Us -- An Essay 64 April 19, 1998 Thursday I took the day off ... well, sort of. 60 April 14, 1998 Bernard L. Stein, Co-publisher of The Riverdale Press, wins Pulitzer prize. 57 April 10. 1998 A Homecoming of sorts 56 April 6, 1998 "I am not Julia Child" 54 April 5, 1998 The Photojournalism Roller coaster: Of Extremes and Insecurities 49 March 30, 1998 The dark side of humanity reared its head in one of our communities over the weekend. 48 March 29, 1998 A mitzvah is a good deed... 46 March 29, 1998 Today, it was over 80 degrees 45 March 28, 1998 "the (not really) begging phone call." 41 March 22, 1998 In Search of Art 36 March 12, 1998 And today's assignment is to photograph...real estate brokers. 26 February 23, 1998 I always breathe a sigh of relief when I edit my negatives after a basketball game. 19 February 18, 1998 Newsroom Decisions, Dilemmas and Cut Lines 15 February 10, 1998 These are the things about journalism that are truly joyful 4 January 23, 1998 One of the last photographs I took in 1997 was of firefighter John Usai. . . 2 January 14, 1998 My hope for 1998 is an ability to come to terms with what role photography plays in my life.

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