2020 Diamond Photographers

Skill, creativity, consistency. These are just some of the qualities a photographer needs to go four-for-four in PPA’s International Photographic Competition. This year, 20 talented individuals did just that by having their case of four images judged as worthy to enter the Loan Collection and thereby being named Diamond Photographers of 2020.A mainstay of PPA history, the competition has long had two categories into which participants could enter a case of four images each: photographic open and artist. Brand new in 2019 was the wedding category, which was added concurrently with the introduction of PPA’s newest photographic credential: the master of wedding photography degree.Photographic Open images are judged against PPA’s 12 Elements of a Merit Image benchmark, which considers impact, technical excellence, creativity, style, composition, presentation, color balance, center of interest, lighting, subject matter, technique, and storytelling. Merits earned in this category go toward the PPA master of photography degree. Artist images have been altered significantly in post-production through digital enhancements, traditional techniques, or a combination of the two. They are judged not just by the finished work but also by the complexity of the process used to achieve the final outcome. Merits earned in this category go toward the PPA master artist degree. Wedding images are nuptials-related photographs made in connection with actual weddings. Wedding category images are judged against PPA’s 12 Elements of a Merit Image benchmarks by wedding-specialized jurors. Merits earned in this category go toward the PPA master of wedding photography degree.Take a look at each photographer's four winning images: