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The Theme:
People. The first Photographer of the Year competition of 2008 is all about capturing the human condition. Whether it's an environmental portrait of a person at work, a fashion shoot, a detailed close-up of your loved one or an innovative image of your local footie team, getting the best from a human face (or faces) is extremely difficult.
We ask that you submit a portfolio of up to five images. They can be multiple images of the same person, or a range of photographs designed to show your understanding of portraiture in general. Be warned though, portraiture is a deceptively hard topic, spanning everything from classical art to the snapshot aesthetic, from sophisticated lighting arrangements seen in 1930s Hollywood film star portraits to the naturally-lit documentary portraits of Mary Ellen Mark or the deceptive simplicity of Bailey or Richard Avedon. You could draw on anyone from Julia-Margaret Cameron to Karsh of Ottawa; Horst P Horst to Alec Soth; August Sander to Nan Goldin. You could even look to the Dutch Masters, to Rembrandt and Vermeer and how their work still resonates to this day.
You have until the end of the March, 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 corker...
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First place:
The winning picture by members' votes will earn its photographer a brand new Nikon D300 DSLR camera body, from London's premier camera supplier Kingsley Photographic, the top choice for photography on the camera-filled Tottenham Court Road. With its stunning 12.3 megapixel CMOS sensor (capable or producing high-quality images at ISO 3200 and beyond), three inch VGA resolution LCD screen and built-in sensor cleaning, this is Nikon's ultimate DX camera and the dream of many pros and advanced amateurs. It's perfect for any portrait photographer, and retails for more than £1,100 - but you can win one for free! So, get snapping!
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What Do You Mean "People"?
Exactly what you think it means. We want you to show off your best people pictures. They could be in the studio, they could be outdoors. They could be of just one person, or they could be of hundreds. They could be straight out of the camera or heavily manipulated. The choice is yours.
You need to consider that there is a world of difference between an image with a human face in it - any decent face recognition camera will comfortably do this - and an image that brings out the inherent character of the 'sitter' and your reaction to that person. How you do this is up to you, because each of us approaches 'people' photographs very differently.
A word or two of warning, though. People are very protective of their own image, or those of their loved ones. Whoever you photograph - GET PERMISSION BEFORE YOU POST. If you have a photograph of six people, get permission from all six before posting (unless the photograph is taken candidly, of course). If you have photographed children, get permission from their legal guardians before posting. If they say no - do not post their image.
Also, please try to stay within the boundaries of taste and decency, as laid out in Magicalia's general posting terms. Use your own judgment before posting - glamour images are acceptable, but if your images would be considered 'top shelf' in the average newsagent, please post them elsewhere. If your interests lie in more 'specialist' forms of erotica, the same applies. If nothing else, such images are unlikely to prove popular with a wide enough voting community to count.
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 genre altogether for one or two submissions. Studio photographers… go on location. Environmental portraitists… try candids, and so on.
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 you plan on replicating Nicholas Nixon's 31-year-long project known as The Brown Sisters in the time frame, 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.
People photography is a broad church; if a specific type of people pictures are not for you, skip over that genre rather than mark it down. Just because you don't like candid photos for example, doesn't mean you should make every candid image 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:
The ThinkCamera Photographer of the Year 2008 competition is open to UK entrants only.
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'!
Your photograph or photographs must have been taken by you. 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.
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 Portrait Photographer of the Year. The Editor's decision in the adjudication process is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Magicalia Terms & Conditions
