In recognition of their excellent work, the 2012 Yousuf Karsh Prize in Photography was awarded to Laura Beth Reese (first prize); Linda Pagani (second prize) and Robert Chamberlin (third prize). Their work will be exhibited in "Medium without Measure," opening at SMFA on May 19.

Laura Beth Reese's series, Homestudy, is one component of an ongoing project that addresses her status as an adopted child, focusing on her identity and the ways in which it has been shaped by her adopted family and the spaces in which she spent her childhood.

Within an interior space that is void of its inhabitants, there exists a stillness. Amidst the solitude of walls, light travels without human intervention—sun comes in and out, light shifts, shadows form. As Linda Pagani searches for this silence within her own home, she uses the analog photographic process to discover the quiet and the unseen amidst the overlooked angles and corners.

Robert Chamberlin's images are part of a larger investigation into the human ability to sense when you are being stared at. This experiment was conducted by carrying a 35mm disposable camera with him at all times. Whenever he felt he was being stared at, he charged the flash and took a picture from wherever he perceived the gaze to be coming from, without looking.

The recipients were selected on March 21 by Anne Havinga, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Kristen Gresh, MFA, Prints, Drawings and Photographs; Stephen Tourlentes, photographer and Josh Winer, photographer.

Image: Laura Beth Reese, Me in Mom's Wedding Dress, 2012. Archival inkjet print. 16x20 inches.