Fire Photographers Honored
Captain Donald Walpole M.F.P. of the Chicago Fire Department, and Captain Joseph F. Benyo M.F.P. of the Westland Michigan Fire Department were recently honored by the International Fire Photographers Association at the 17th annual training conference held at the Chicago Fire Academy. Both men received the very first degrees bestowed by the IFPA since its inception 17 years ago, the “Master Fire Photographer” from IFPA President Lt. William Reynolds of Elmhurst, Ill.
Both men have worked on the program several years in order to meet the requirements established by the board of directors and approved by the membership of the IFPA, which now numbers over 600 members.
To be considered for this award, a photographer must enter photographs in competition for five years, have a njinimum of 25 photographs submitted in four categories including arson, write a 500-word article on fire photography (published), must conduct or help to conduct an IFPA conference of mini-seminar, as well as other requirements, including a review by the board of admissions.
The conference held at the Chicago Fire Academy concentrated this year on “Public Education Photography” and was attended by 75 persons. It was deemed a tremendous success by all those participating.
At the dinner, the photographic awards were given, as were the “Master Fire Photographer” honors, and then a special multi-projector slide program by Captain Benyo who photographed and produced the “Tribute to Firefighters.” Some 240 slides were shown and put to the music of Neil Diamond. The program was directed by IFPA member Susanne Niemi.
The slide program had a great impact on the audience, and Benyo announced that the program was being made available for him to present at no charge for any group who would wish to view it, as a service from the IFPA.
