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The Theme:
Open.
The last Photographer of the Year competition is the ultimate challenge for any photographer. Rather than pick a single subject or even a theme, it's all entirely up to you. Anything goes… well, almost!
This is a deceptively difficult task, because it's designed to show a broad palette of photographic skills. With a submitted maximum of five images per person, the 'Open' category gives you the chance to submit a portfolio of your best images. Perhaps you want show the depth of your knowledge with variations on a theme and images from the same photographic discipline. Or maybe you want to demonstrate your mastery of a diverse range of topics by showing five very different images. The choice is yours.
You have until the end of the year, so get thinking and get submitting - you may want to use the caption box when submitting an image to explain your ways of thinking and/or your technical process to achieve results.
The Prize:
There can be only one winner, so there's only one prize. But it's a real stunner...
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First place
The winning picture by members' votes will earn its photographer a brand new Sony DSLR-A700 DSLR, complete with matching 18-70 zoom, from superstar camera supplier Park Cameras. Forming the new pinnacle of the Sony Alpha range, this excellent 12.2 megapixel DSLR camera and lens together are worth £1,100 - but you can win one for free! So, get snapping!
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What Do You Mean "Open"?
We don't want to pin you down. The world is your oyster. Whatever your photographic passion, now's the chance to show it off to the world… and win!
You like sport photos… take sport photos. You live for still life… now's your chance to get those oranges on the pewter dish. Portrait photography is your bag… it's time to put people in the frame. If you are the next Yousuf Karsh, Ansel (or Eddie, or Robert) Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson or even the next Andreas Gursky or Cindy Sherman, it's time to show us.
A word of warning, though. Your photographic passion might not be shared by the greater community - you may be the world's best photographer of the underside of door handles, but it's unlikely such a niche will prove popular with a wider audience. Also, hugely popular subjects can get lost in a sea of similar images - it often seems as if everyone who has a camera has a pet too, so your cute kitty image has to be extremely good to rise above hundreds of cute cat photos.
We will pick the best of the best out for the final vote, but we want to see a range of images showing what you can do. In other words, make your five images count.
Some suggestions:
Go with what you are good at, but then try another field altogether for one or two submissions
If you feel confident in your photography, go back to basics and consider your images in terms of point, line, form and texture. Even if you are photographing portraits
Learn from the masters. Hit the library and seek out the photographs, the photographers and the artists that grab you. Then learn how to replicate that style. Of course, if NASA photos are your 'thing', you might have to set your sights a little lower.
Check out the competition. Experiment. Try to think outside your comfort zone before you submit
Guidelines for voting:
As usual, when voting on an image, one star is a low vote; five stars is a high vote.
Remember that you don't have to enter the competition to vote - any member can vote. However, if you didn't enter then you have no chance of winning.
Can you imagine why the photographer submitted that particular photograph? If not, then consider just not voting on this one.
As this is an 'open' competition, if a specific genre is not for you, skip over that genre rather than mark it down. Just because you don't like still life photos for example, doesn't mean you should make every still life suffer a one-star vote.
Look through the gallery for the 'wow' images that leap out at you. Give the best of the best of these five stars (you can give five-star awards to as many pictures as you like, but be economical with your stars).
Look at the rest and judge them by your own criteria. Do you demand that shots are perfectly exposed and razor sharp? Do you give more weight to the subject or what the photographer was trying to do? Hand out marks accordingly. Different people rate different attributes but if a large number of people vote, everything will balance out.
If you really think a picture has no merit whatsoever then give it one star. However, be constructive in your criticism - why not take the time to explain why you marked a photo down in the forum? That way, the poor mark can help a photographer improve their work subsequently.
Terms and Conditions:
Your photograph or photographs must have been taken by you, between October 25, 2007 and December 31, 2007 - please do not submit or resubmit any images taken before this time. Images can be derived from any photographic source - film, digital or scanned media - and post-processing is allowed. Please remember, though, scanned images are subject to copyright and you should not use artwork of others. Mixed media images are welcomed, but remember this competition will be judged on your photographic skills, not on your abilities as an illustrator.
Submissions to the Photographer of the Year competition are free of charge. Please submit no more than five entries.
If you have submitted more than five pictures under your ID after the competition closes, we will be reluctantly forced to disqualify ALL your entries. Don't worry if you submit too many images before the competition closes, as you can always delete the other pictures before the closing date (Any problems then contact the site admin). The use of multiple accounts will be met with automatic disqualification of ALL images from these accounts, so just say 'no'!
After the submission stage of the competition closes, there will be adjudication to produce a shortlist of the 20 best photographs from the 20 best photographers. These images will then go to a public vote for independent adjudication to find the ThinkCamera Photographer of the Year.
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