Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

The winners were honored at the San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographers Association's 29th Annual Newspaper and Television News Photography Competition event on April 13. More than 170 students and professional photographers and reporters from the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area participated in the 2002 competition.

Kashinsky and Gachet said they like to tell stories with their pictures that have simple as well as complex meaning.

"I think photography is intuitive, where you focus more on the right moment," Kashinsky said. "I like to tell stories and find all the different aspects, like writing a film or a screenplay, and then putting all the different parts together to tell the story."

Gachet said photographers and writers work with story concepts that are similar but different.

"You can have a beautiful picture that doesn't say a lot, but it can still be good," Gachet said. "I don't think it's much different for writers and photographers. They both do the same thing."

Kashinsky said he is taking digital photography to a different level by integrating new media into his work. Currently, he is working on a photo documentary with digitized sound in the SJSU photojournalism program.

"You can take it to the next level with audio," he said. "The meaning has to do with similar concepts and with a different medium."

Dennis Dunleavy, the coordinator for the SJSU photography program, said he was pleased their hard work and advanced abilities were being recognized.

The winners submitted their portfolios with a selection of their best work.

"We're teaching new things," Dunleavy said. "For photojournalism students to compete in a digital environment, they must have skills that go beyond still photography in a variety of areas from audio to digital video."

Dunleavy said he is working toward a more synergistic approach to teaching the skills and the qualities required of photojournalism as an occupation.

"They are great. I love my students, and I love it when they win - for them. It is payback for hard, hard work."

Dunleavy said they are competing with the best students who also have more resources.

"It's all their energy," he said. "All we do is guide them."