Bombshell Award: Jennifer Aniston

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Worst Dressed Award: Julianne Moore

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Publicist Award: Jennifer Garner

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Inexcusable Award: Heidi Klum

Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Too Cool Award: Robert Downey Jr.

VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images

Fun Award: Sandra Bullock

Steve Granitz/WireImage/ Getty Images

Did Well w/ Her Situation Award: Amy Adams

Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Classy Award: Meryl Streep

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Sassy Award: Kate Hudson

Steve Granitz/WireImage/ Getty Images

Funny (outfit) Award: Tina Fey

Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Prom Dress Awards: Fergie, Lauren Graham, Leona Lewis

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

Steve Granitz/WireImage/ Getty Images

Rockin Her Age Award: Glenn Close

Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Best Red Carpet Kiss: Drew Barrymore & Justin Long

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

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Christopher Polk/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Last night at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards singer Kanye West ’shoulda put a lid on it’ – referring to  his red carpet bottle of Hennessy as well as his offensively big mouth.  Jumping on stage and grabbing the microphone during Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video acceptance speech, Kanye interrupted, “I’m sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos [Single Ladies] of all time”.  His outburst ended in boos from the audience and Swift walking silently off stage.  The mood of the show was slow to recover and Kanye was soon asked to leave the venue.   Like a true class act however, Beyoncé made it very clear she didn’t need Kanye’s public (intox) defense by delivering an awesome performance, taking home the award for Video of the Year and during her acceptance speech she invited Swift back onstage so she could have her moment.

You booze you lose Kanye.

Uh uh oh….

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images

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Recently, photographer Sue Flood was awarded two first place wins at the prestigious 2009 International Photography Awards.  She won first place for the Special Finalist Pro category and first place for the Travel/Tourism Pro category. The International Photography Awards conducts an annual competition for professional, non-professional and student photographers on a global scale, creating one of the most ambitious and formidable competitions in the photography world today.  Her first place wins gives her the opportunity to compete in IPA’s top award of International Photographer of the Year.  Sue is one of eight finalist that will be competing for this award, which will be announced in October 2009. We had a chance to catch up with Sue and hear her story behind her images, what she has been up to, and how she became a photographer.

Before joining Getty Images I spent 11 years as a wildlife filmmaker with the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, England.  In 2005 I moved from producer to freelance photography, and my life as a wildlife and travel photographer now takes me all over the world on assignment.  Along with some wonderful trips to Africa in the last few years, I’ve spent lots of time in the polar regions – a combination of filming trips for the BBC, Disneynature’s Earth movie, and working as a lecturer for Quark Expeditions, who run adventure travel trips to the poles.  It’s just as well that I like the cold!

Last fall I spent three months on board the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, on an incredible trip to the emperor penguin colonies of Snow Hill Island, and then on to the Ross Sea.  This included the awesome experience of standing on the world’s largest ice barrier – the Ross Ice Shelf, and visiting the historic huts used by Shackleton and Scott.

I was thrilled to hear last week that a portfolio of images from my Ross Sea voyage has been selected as one of the eight finalists for the title of International Photographer of the Year – The Lucie Awards, which will be announced in New York in October 2009.   My favorite shot was the image of passengers standing on top of the Ross Ice Shelf – like tiny ants on the vast icescape – that I managed to grab as the helicopter flew out to pick them up.  However, my favourite subject from the entire three month trip had to be the emperor penguins – the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life (apart from George Clooney!).

I’m looking forward to another three months in the Antarctic starting in October, but I’ll have a chance to thaw out on a three week shoot to Tahiti and Easter Island in September – I can’t wait!  It will be great to be able to pack for a trip and not include thermal underwear in my pack…

- Sue Flood

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There is the age old question of photo journalistic integrity… at what point is an image’s integrity compromised by doctoring and where do the lines of doctoring fall?

Clearly when you manipulate an image in Photoshop after the image has been captured, that is clear doctoring and therefore unethical.   However, what about the question of posing and lighting your subjects in the realm of photo journalism?  Clearly the photographer no longer is an observer but rather a participant  – the effects of playing a more active role in a journalistic setting could pose a number of ethical questions… is the photographer manipulating the story to tell his story?  Is the photographer exploiting the subject?  How far is too far?  …

Yet with the advancement of technology (and therefore the influx of user-generated imagery saturating the market) and the shifts in the photography industry as a whole, how far will we allow the boundaries of creativity and artistry in photo journalism to be pushed?  There are a number of awards in the industry for photo journalists, how does this added factor of competition affect a photo journalist’s need to stand out and how far are we saying they can go?

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There is the age old question of photo journalistic integrity… at what point is an image’s integrity compromised by doctoring and where do the lines of doctoring fall?

Clearly when you manipulate an image in Photoshop after the image has been captured, that is clear doctoring and therefore unethical.   However, what about the question of posing and lighting your subjects in the realm of photo journalism?  Clearly the photographer no longer is an observer but rather a participant - the effects of playing a more active role in a journalistic setting could pose a number of ethical questions… is the photographer manipulating the story to tell his story? Is the photographer exploiting the subject? How far is too far? …

Yet with the advancement of technology (and therefore the influx of user-generated imagery saturating the market) and the shifts in the photography industry as a whole, where do the boundaries of creativity and artistry in photo journalism come to play? There are a number of awards in the industry for photo journalists, how does this added factor of competition affect a photo journalist’s need to stand out and how far are we saying they can go?

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Motoyuki Kobayashi, a Getty Images contributing photographer in Tokyo, is included in the 2007 Art + Commerce Peek Festival, which recognizes outstanding emerging photographers.
The Peek website has video clips relating to each of the selected artists’ work. On the Peek site, click on this part of the collage of images to see the video for Motoyuki:

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In the 2007 PDN Photography Annual awards (notice Getty Images contributor Tim Flach’s bat photos, animated on the cover) 8 of the 24 winners in the stock photography category are from Getty Images, all seen below

Joe Baran / AD: Joe Baran

Mark Richards / Nikolaevich / AD: Andrew Delaney

Greg Ceo / AD: “Ceo’s entire crew”

Chris Strong / AD: Adam Sternin & Sarah Foster

Gary John Norman / AD: Sarah Foster

Matthias Clamer / AD: Rolf Sjogren

Michael Duva / AD: Adam Sternin

Philipp Nemenz / AD: Anita Bechloch

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