It seems only a moment ago I was boarding a plane for Bhutan and now here we are with our 2011 National Geographic Channel Worldnomad.com scholarship winner, Walid. Congratulations!

I’d like to congratulate Walid on his wonderful series featuring men working in a toxic sulphur mine. His images are a collection of wonderful compositions that strive to place the labourers within their environment whilst communicating their struggle and obvious dedication to their families. I was very pleased to see such a well-balanced mix of environmental portraiture and landscape within the set. I was also very happy to see Walid avoid the cliché mining image so common today, very well done!

Every year I marvel at all that I’ve had the privilege to experience and photograph and also all of the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. I feel that way about this Scholarship now, we’ve become somewhat of a family finding long lost cousins and making new friends every year.

For myself 2011 has been a little different, for a start I have been shooting but a lot less; I’ve been travelling but also a lot less. I lost four months to illness, possibly penance for my wayward lifestyle, and in between smaller photographic projects attempted with my wonderful assistant Katie to edit a couple of hundred thousand frames, about 27 shoot folders to be exact. And we’re still going…

I was also back in Washington meeting with Editors and friends at National Geographic so if it’s any consolation the harsh eye I’ve focussed on your entries has likewise been turned inwardly. The result was a mix of surprise, frustration, pride and pinch of self-loathing and flagellation.

The quality of entries rose again this year so the judging was even more cutthroat if that was at all possible. It was wonderful to see such a variety of stories told in so many ways and from so many countries. However, it still surprises me how few people focus the eye on their local community but there you have it, you all like to travel it seems!

Winning the Scholarship is not simply a matter of selecting the best imagery but in finding the individual we felt would benefit the most from time with me and in turn what they hoped to achieve through their photography. This year that element of the judging became more difficult as people chose to ignore the judging criteria in far larger numbers.

Many people seemed troubled talking about themselves wasting valuable words describing things that should have been in their captioning. So many people didn’t tell me what they wanted to gain from the experience or even what they hoped to learn. Some people chose not to even caption their images, a major omission… Ignore the judging process criteria at your own peril!

In closing congratulations to everyone that took the time to produce a portfolio and enter. This in itself is a great exercise and strengthens your photographic ability in ways you may not realise. Please remember, what is most important about your images is what you capture at the time, not what you do in postproduction. Enjoy your photography as a creative expression of who you are and your place in the world. I hope to see you all again next year!

Best Wishes

Jason