Headshot

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Tom Zimberoff, United States
• Date of Photograph
  2023
• Website
  https://www.aphotographicmemory.substack.com

Inspired by Mike Tyson’s quip, “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face, ”HEADSHOT explores the moment between violence and reflection—when pugilists step out of the ring, bloodied and adrenalized, yet entirely present. Within minutes of the final bell, they enter a portable studio. HEADSHOT is not about the spectacle of combat but the psychological aftermath: vulnerability, endurance, and self-possession painted in strokes of celadon, mauve, and puce.

Prizefighting is a ritual of courage. Headshot illustrates philosophers of the squared ring, not brutes.

Zimberoff is an American photographer shaped by the last great era of print magazines and a renewed contemporary practice. Classically trained as a musician, he pivoted from clarinet to camera and, with the Sygma Photo Agency, covered hundreds of historical and breaking news stories worldwide. After a long hiatus, he returned to photography with a sharpened focus on portraiture and cultural memory. His career archive is housed at the Briscoe Center for American History at UT Austin. His prints are included in a number of museums and private colections. He lives and works in San Francisco.

Awards several