Hub City Residents Show "New Brunswick, My City" in Photos

“The weather was starting to get nice after [days of] rain and cold. I took a picture of my classmates just having fun outside,” she said.

Cortez submitted the photo to the New Brunswick Free Public Library's "New Brunswick, My City" photo contest and ended up winning the "Youth" category, influencing her to pursue a path in photography. 

“I plan on minoring in photography in college,” said Cortez.

Librarian and coordinator of the annual photo contest, Kavita Pandey, hoped it would equalize the playing field.

“This is the first year that we decided to have separate categories for adults and youth. Last year we had an overwhelming number of entries from 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds … generally much younger people," Pandey said. "This year, we made sure that judges know who took which pictures, so it’s fair for both adults and youth. We’re not comparing an adult picture to one taken by a five-year-old,” said Pandey.

Andrew Darlow, a professional career photographer with 20 years of experience, served as a judge for the contest.

“Each of us  [judges] received a piece of paper that had separate categories for overall and youth. Under each category, we selected six submissions and listed them in order [of placement],” Darlow said.

Judges chose six photos from each division and each was scored anonymously by the judges, with the overall winner chosen based on the points they received, Darlow said. 

The winners for each category are as follows:

    General

• 1st: Mark Chernin, “Looking Down Easton Ave”

• 2nd: Thomas Maugham, “Sunset Over Boyd Park”

• 3rd: Anna Seawald, “Rainbow over New Brunswick”

• Popularity (chosen by library staff): William Paxton, “City Reflections”

• Julia Pavlova, “Boyd Park Bridge”

• Casey Balch, “Kissing Piglets”

Youth

• 1st: Cindy Cortez, “Zebra Jump”

Darlow said the top photos featured people, which gave them a winning edge.

“These are people that live or have lived in New Brunswick, or are in some other way just involved with the city,” Darlow said. “Because the theme of this competition was ‘New Brunswick, My City’ and not just ‘Best Photos of New Brunswick’, the winning photos had real personality."

Anna Seawald, a local artist and author of parenting blog www.authenticparent.org, won third place for photo taken from her balcony. 

“I live on the 15th floor and I have a very beautiful view of my favorite city, New Brunswick. After the rain, [my family] saw three rainbows in one day and my five-year-old daughter would scream every time, ‘Mommy! Bring the camera! Take a picture!’ and this was one of them,” she said. 

Seawald said her daughter's excitement made her win extra sweet. 

“Her excitement of me winning means more to me than the actual win.”

“Popularity” winner William Paxton discovered his inspiration on a bike ride in Highland Park. 

“I found this somewhat hidden path near South Adelaide in Highland Park. So I took it and I found this little park. The view was amazing," he said. "It shows the dynamic styling of New Brunswick."

Paxton said that in the past 10 years he has lived in the area, New Brunswick has changed a lot.  

"I wanted to capture that (in the photo) along with the (Raritan) river, which I think, makes New Brunswick a defining place,” he said. 

Contest submissions will be exhibited at the Heldrich Hotel in late July/early August.