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| A panel of judges selected Air Force Staff
Sgt. Gary Coppage as the military’s best photographer of the year for 1997, during
the annual Military Photographer of the Year competition held in March at Fort Meade, Md. Gary competed with photographers from each of the four military services and captured top honors in the still photography category. The judges, a group of photojournalists and photo editors from several national magazines including Time and National Geographic, selected Gary’s portfolio as best of 185 entries received from military photographers around the world. |
Gary is a feature photojournalist with the
Army and Air Force Hometown News Service, based at Kelly AFB, Texas. He regularly travels
the world taking photos of service members on duty in exotic locations like Australia,
Kazakstan, Guam, Guyana and Korea. "I couldn’t feel any higher than I do – winning this award is the peak of my achievements as a professional photographer. It’s been my dream ever since I was an airman first class and first heard about the award," said Coppage, a 12-year Air Force veteran. |
 "I’ve placed in previous competitions in individual categories, winning second place, third place and honorable mention awards. But his time, I managed to put everything together and win the whole shooting match." |
Approaching this year’s competition, he decided to change his strategy, a decision he feels was the key to winning the top award. "Of the thousands of photos I took last year, I selected the best of those portraying strong emotion and human interest. I made a deliberate effort to get away from graphic depiction’s of aircraft, missiles or the latest in military hardware. This year, my portfolio had a good, human element to it." |