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There's no question Photographer of the Year 2006 was the best competition we've hosted yet. We even managed to wrangle backstage access at New York 's biggest shows: Beth Orton at Webster Hall, the Blue Man Group, and the Bodies Exhibit at South Street Seaport. Those are major venues, but the competition itself wasn't nearly as challenging to set up as it was to experience by our big three competitors: Roberto Soares Gomes, Paul Kline, and Henry Fernando. The truly difficult part for us, as you can imagine, came at the end, when it was time to pick one out of three amazing finalists to be named Photographer of the Year.
Ultimately, Roberto Soares Gomes of Rio de Janeiro rose to the top spot, but it was more than a close call. Roberto's classic artistic spirit won our hearts, but our minds really leaned towards Paul Kline's outstanding technical capabilities and Henry's quick eye for action. The emotion Roberto instills within each picture renders his style both memorable and beautiful. We couldn't get enough of his shots, and, to be frank, we loved his personality, even though we couldn't really understand everything he said. Of course, the language barrier is a completely moot point when you take a glimpse at his art. Roberto proved photography is a universal language, as we certainly needed no interpretation to be struck by his amazing compositions.
But when we get right down to it, what pushed Roberto over the edge to the top position was his work documenting the Bodies Exhibition at the South Street Seaport. You can't tell from his photos, but it was almost completely dark inside the exhibition, and yet Roberto managed to photograph some of the most striking images we've ever seen. Without a tripod. Paul Kline's photography documenting Beth Orton's show at Webster Hall was more than tough to beat, as his light painting techniques and overall compositions came out flawless. Henry's model and goldfish photos were also spectacular. Unfortunately, however, we couldn't have a three-way tie, so to Roberto go the spoils.
If you'd like to see the heart and soul of photography at its most challenging, click on any of the coverage links in the box to the right for galleries of each artist's work over the past three days. We also have video and behind-the-scenes photos, all shot by PopPhoto.com's Russell Brock, Adrienne Ziluca, and Jack Howard. We're proud of our work, but more importantly, we're proud of our finalists for doing such an incredible job.
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