This years Canon Photo5 competition brought many challenges. One of those being the pair of cardboard spectacles. Andrew Foo submitted the below image to Canon and has kindly shared his insight to the creation and thought process behind it. Enjoy
Thinking up an idea that is both original and witty for a creative portrait is hard. Well, actually I lie. Neither isn’t terribly difficult, it’s executing on the idea where the hard yards are.
The inaugural competition Canon Photo5 competition came and went again this year and there’s nothing better than a good competition to bring out the best in your creative side.
The “portraiture” brief commanded the use of a supplied black spectacles made from thin piece of cardboard paper. How you used it in the shot, was open to the photographer’s interpretation. In keeping with the competition’s judging brief I wanted to create an image that would engage and probe more questions from the viewer. In “Think it’s time for a new pair…”, I played with the idea of a different kind of portrait and uniting fake with reality. Having worn the spectacles, the main subject could not see any better and proceeds to attempt to clean the cardboard spectacles with a lens cloth. This somewhat felt like a surreal moment, so I thought a ‘dreamy’ cast to the image would be a neat idea.
Having had the opportunity to attend one of SPW’s recent Shots @ The Arthouse (Flash Dance night) I felt more equipped to introduce some off-camera flash in getting a bit more creative. Shot inside one of my rooms in my house later in the day I didn’t have much ambient light to play with. I started by exposing for the ambient lighting for the room’s background. The idea was to keep the foreground pin sharp and in focus, so I dialed in a higher ISO to maintain a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second to eliminate camera shake. Using a wide aperture of f/2.8 allowed me to keep the foreground sharp and throw the background out of focus in emphasizing the action and the object in hand.
A radio remote trigger fired off a flashgun placed left of camera through an umbrella for a softer light. Needless to say I had a lot of fun doing this and comps are a great way to focus on a specific theme and get your creative juices flowing!
Camera and Lens: Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Off-Camera Flash: Canon Speedlite 430EX II attached to stand and shot through umbrella @ ¼ power
Remote triggered by Speedlite Radio Kit
Exposure: Shot handheld at f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO800, Flash WB
Who’s been to the Blender Gallery in paddington? If you havent already you should really check it out. The Blender Gallery provides a cool exhibition space as well as a shop to satisy all your Lomo and toy camera needs!
They have just announced that the NEW and much desired Diana Mini is now in stock!
Enter the Self Portrait Comp to win a crazy Diana Mini Super Pack valued at over $300.00!
Entries are $20 per photo submission and you can submit as many photos as you like!
Blender Gallery accepts Mastercard, Visa, Cash, Cheque and EFT for submission fees.
All cheques to be made payable to Blender Gallery.
Please contact the gallery if you need more details.
If you want to brush up on all things Lomo you can also check out the Lomography website
Have iPhone will click. Let’s face it if you have an iphone chances are you have taken 100′s of photos! I was only looking through my camera roll last night thinking to myself how did I manage to take 850 photos in only the short period that I have owned an iPhone!
Here are some details of a competition that Seven Snaps are holding, exclusively for iPhone users. The contest challenges you to be creative and share the fun of telling a story in a sequence of seven images.
The winning entries will be chosen around Christmas 2009 by a jury made up of diverse creative backgrounds including the writer Paulo Coelho, composer Max Richter and sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor. The winning entries will be used for publication and may be required to take part in an exhibition.
For more information please visit the Seven Snaps website
A few weeks back we posted a link announcing the Finalists and Winners of the 2009 Lucie awards, which we hope you’ve had a chance to check out. Well here are the best of show selections, curated by Miss Rosen. Enjoy!
With a prize pool of USD$88,000, $23,000USD of which is for the Amateur Section, this contest might just live up to it’s claim of being “the world’s most prestigious international online photography competition”. Although prestige isn’t purely measured by prize money, the quality of the 2008 entries and the calibre of the judging panel definitely make this one worth a look.
The entry fees are a little bit steep at $39USD per image for the Open, and $9USD for the Amateur so make sure you chose your entries VERY carefully.
Interesting to note that the 2008 Awards were dominated by Australian photographers. Have a look at the images here.
Open Categories:
People and Portrait
Sport
Landscape
Science and Nature
Commercial, Advertising & Fashion
Abstract/Illustrative
Photo Journalism
Wedding
Amateur Categories:
People and Portrait
Landscape
Abstract/Illustrative
FasterLouder are pleased to announce the return of the ‘Best Published Festival Shot’ category to the Festival Awards Program for 2009, recognising the contribution of photography to Australia’s vibrant festival culture.
Publishers, editors and photographers are invited to submit a published photograph taken at any Australian Music Festival in between the dates of September 2008 to August 2009.
Last year our top five shots added more than a touch of nostalgia to our lavish awards ceremony at the Oxford Art Factory.
This year, the challenge of impressing our panel of industry heavy-weights including; Dan Boud from Time Out, Joe Ferrara of Rolling Stone, Sarah Smith and Deanna Coleman of FasterLouder, Bronwyn Rennex from Stills Gallery and Julie Sundberg from the Australian Centre for Photography cannot be underestimated. Success will no doubt herald our finalists’ amongst the finest photographers within the Australian music industry.
Submitted photographs will be published and hosted in a gallery on the Festival Awards website, where punters will be able to view photographs as they are entered and reminisce.
The top five photographs will again be showcased at the official awards ceremony on October 15th, in Sydney where the winner to be announced.
Submission Details:
Submit your best published festival photograph taken between 7th September 2008 and 1st September 2009
It must be a low-res image – 15cm wide at 72 DPI.
The Photo must be sent as a jpeg saved in the following format : NameofTheFestival_Dateofphoto_Nameofthepublication_Photographersname
Submissions meeting these requirements should be email to: festivalawards@staff.fasterlouder.com.au
For more information & details please contact:
Deanna Coleman: deanna.coleman@team.fasterlouder.com.au
Or Ryan Winter: 0439 688 465 or festivalawards@staff.fasterlouder.com.au
Did you know over 99% of all animal species are invertebrates (animals without a backbone) and that invertebrates comprise over 30 major animal groups and over 5 million species? To raise awareness of the wonderful world of invertebrates, the Australian Museum is holding an invertebrate photographic competition, Up Close & Spineless.
This invertebrate photography competition has gone through a metamorphosis and now has online registration.
Choose your best photo of an animal without a backbone and head to their site. Entries close on Friday 25 September.
Hi everyone, well it’s back for another year – the Canon EOS Photo 5 creative photography competition.
You will need to register to enter the competition to receive you’re brown box. Inside this box there are 5 separate photographic briefs to challenge you, follow the detailed briefs provided for each. For some briefs you will have to use the exact item provided, whereas for other briefs you will be able to source additional items.
To give you an indication, the previous years box contents are listed below
Although the prizes won’t send you running for your safety deposit box, the cause is definitely a good one! Plus it’s a great way to cut your teeth on a smaller local contest rather than a faceless online money grab.
The contest is being judged by Verity Cambers, Photo Editor, SMH
