Abstract nominee

Watermarks are photographs of creatures hidden in plain sight. These creatures form when small streams of liquid fold into cracks and contours of the sidewalk and street below. They are revealed when natural light brings them to life. Their lives are temporary, ephemeral, but forever captured by my camera. I use only traditional editing techniques such as variations in brightness, shading, color, cropping and spotting, but not photo manipulation.

For Wayne Palmer street photography and television news have been parallel paths of life in New York City. Wayne directed national news and public affairs programs such as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and Bill Moyers’ Journal for PBS and WNET/New York. At the same time he photographed streets, people and found objects in New York City with black and white film and digital color, which he continues today.


Wayne’s photographs have been exhibited and honored around the world, including a solo show in Lambertville New Jersey, and group shows: San Francisco Bay International Photography Show (2018 Silver Medal Award) Miami Street Photography Festival/Art Basel, Davis Orton Gallery (2021,2022), PH21 Gallery Budapest Hungary (2017), Praxis Photo Arts Center Minneapolis (2019), Los Angeles Center of Photography (2017), Awards: Fine Art Photography Awards London (2020), International Color Awards(2021 2022), Black and White Spider Awards (2021 2nd Place Merit of Excellence). Publications: Black & White Magazine #144 2021 and a Spotlight page December 2022 issue, The Photo Review 2020, BOKEH BOKEH San Francisco 2020, Places Journal 2015 and Neutral Density Magazine 2017. His portrait of Andre Kertesz was acquired by the Museum of the City of New York.