Communication Arts 2024 Photo Annual

I am very excited to announce that the image above of J.T. Hartman kayaking Lower Mesa Falls on the Henry’s Fork River in Idaho has been chosen for inclusion in the 2024 Communication Arts Photography Annual, which will be published in the July/August 2024 issue. The Communication Arts Photography Annual competition has been held for the last 65 years making this one of the oldest photography competitions in the World. From the Communications Arts press release, “Of the 2,210 entries to the 65th Photography Annual, only 129 projects were accepted, making the Photography Annual the most exclusive major photography competition in the world.” My congratulations to all of my peers who were also included in the Photo Annual this year as well. Overall, the quality of the work on display was quite impressive and very inspirational. I can’t wait to get the print version of the magazine and spend a little more time perusing all of the great images.

Below is the cover of the July/August issue of the Photo Annual and also the spread with my image shown along with other winners in the advertising category. Notably, the very next spread in the magazine is filled with images by Annie Leibovitz, also included in the Photo Annual for best advertising images–not bad company.

For those not familiar with Communication Arts, here is a description from the press release of the magazine, which is more like a high-end book than a magazine: “Communication Arts is a professional journal for designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, agencies, illustrators, photographers and everyone involved in visual communications. Through its editorials, feature articles and the annual competitions it sponsors, CA provides new ideas and information, while promoting the highest professional standards for the field. With a paid circulation of 25,000, Communication Arts has a rich tradition of representing the aspirations of a continually-growing and quality-conscious field of visual communications. Now in its 66th year, Communication Arts continues to showcase the current best—whether it’s from industry veterans or tomorrow’s stars—in design, advertising, photography, illustration, interactive and typography.” 

In the advertising industy there is no other competition that highlights the best images of the year. The Photo Annual isn’t just about advertising photography but those images, along with images created for editorial clients as well, make up the majority of the photo annual each year. The Photo Annual goes out to thousands of art buyers, photo editors and producers, which means that inclusion in the Photo Annual is not only a huge award in the industry, but it often leads to more work for those included in Annual. 

For me personally, getting the email that this image made it into the 2024 Photo Annual is a confirmation that we knocked it out of the park on this assignment for the FUJIFILM GFX100 II—a groundbreaking 102 MP medium format camera introduced last year. This is my fifth time being featured in the Communication Arts Photo Annual—and this is the second time one of my assignments for Fujifilm has produced images that have been included in the Photo Annual. Big props to Victor Ha, Varina Shaughnessy, Jackie Merry and the entire crew who worked on this gig for bringing this assignment to life and for all the hard work to help create these images. Also, my sincere thanks to Communication Arts and the jurors who chose the winning images: Kenji Aoki, Phil Copithorne, Ursula Damm, Christine Dewairy, Miles English, Jennifer Greenburg, Joe Karably, Sybren Kuiper, and Sacha Stejko.