Reed wins international photography award.

Ludington-based photojournalist Ryan Spencer Reed has been announced as the winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Public Award 2015. Now in its second year, the Public Award is organized in conjunction with the photo-competition platform www.i-shot-it.com. Visitors to the website were able to vote for their favourite submission from a pool of pre-selected finalists.

Reed won by a large margin with his reportage on the lives of American soldiers in foreign deployment. The photographer stands to receive a cash prize of 2,500 euros ($2,821).

Ryan Spencer Reed

“In addition to any tangible prizes, the validation helps me reach additional audiences with the issues raised by the work,” Reed said. “My aim here is to bridge the gap of understanding between those who have been through war and those who haven’t.  It is about raising the level of debate that our veterans need all the help we can offer them when they return home to identify avenues to a life of fulfilling purpose after combat.”

The most recent work also took second in the World Understanding Award, placed in Pictures of the Year International as well as finished as a finalist in the 2014 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. It has also been featured in the LUMIX Festival for Young Photojournalism.