ARD 604 Creative Futures. International Photocross competition

Creative Futures

International Photocross competition

          One of the competitions that I have entered this year is the International Photocross competition. This competition is a joint effort between Russia, the host country, Italy and the U.K. The brief was to create 10 images on topics that would be e-mailed on the starting morning of the competition. The competition was to last for 30 hours, no editing of the images was allowed.

I found this really interesting because the first thing that I usually do is import my raw images straight into Adobe Lightroom and start editing, so I hoped I would find this brief nice and challenging.

The 10 topics were, 

 

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1)    Stylish University

2)   More than just sport

3)   The Magic of Theatre

4)   Smiles of out city

5)   Flame of Spring  

6)   Love Formula  

 

7)    Evolution of a student     

8)   Space near us      

9)   The Job of my Dream 

10) The future starts today 

      We received the topics at 9:00am and had 30 hours to complete the topics listed, which meant that the closing time would be 15:00 the following day. The problems that I ran into were that I didn't have chance to do them on the first day due to work commitments, so I was left with 4 hours to collect the images and to make sure that they were e-mailed correctly to the competition organiser.

      All of the images were taken at my home due to the fact I had my 2 children for the day which inhibited my ability to be a bit more mobile.

      Below are the 10 images I submitted and my feelings on each of them.

1. Stylish University.

          This image was probably the one I struggled with the most seeing as I was unable to travel to the university to get some alternative shots. I found a Glyndwr University prospectus in the draw and arranged the "junk' in the draw to give the shot a more balanced and interesting appearance. I took the shot in black and white to put more emphasis on the main text of the prospectus and to draw the eye to the centre of the image.

2. More than just sport.

 
          I was pleased with this image for more than just sport because I think that it portrays a link between the adult form of the sport with the larger football and the children's football shows that football is not just an adults game but also a form of learning for the child.

3. The magic of theatre.

 
          The initial idea I came up with for this category was a vision of the performance stage but on closer thought I decided to switch it around to an image of the operating theatre. I used one of my art scalpels as the main emphasis of the shot. I used red paint for the blood and arranged them both in the sink to give an idea of a surgical operating theatre from the hospital. I think this shot works well and also injects a blast of colour into the mix as most of the other images are in black and white.

4. Smiles out of city.

 
          This is one of two images that I had for this category. The other image was focused on the bush in the background and the man in the foreground was unfocused and blurred. I decided to go with this shot as I liked the stubble on the face of the man and the way that his hat covered his eyes. I also like that the man isn't smiling at all.





5. Flame of spring.

          I was really pleased with the outcome of this image. I changed lenses and used my 50mm f1.8 portrait lens. The effect that I achieved is a shallow depth of field that emphasis the clarity of the daffodil. I was initially pleased with the composition of this piece but on later evaluation I would have been happier if the daffodil was at the bottom of the frame pointing upwards. I believe this would of fitted in with the brief better as it would of looked more like a flame. I decided to keep it in colour format too so the colours would be more prominent in the frame.





6. The love formula.

          For this shot I wanted a textured background so used the hearth of the fire place to give that effect. I used a heart shaped box full of rings with hearts on them also. The placement of the box within the frame was carefully considered. I wanted the textured hearth to act as a chest and so the box is where the heart would be in relation to the body, i.e, up and to the left.





7. The evolution of a student.

          For this image I wanted to portray a sense of technological advancement that is evident within the artistic photographic student. I used the lens cap off my DSLR to focus on, and placed my mac book out of focus in the foreground to give the image a more pleasing compostion.






8. Space near us.

          This image was shot around the village where I live. I have many photo's of this type so felt confident in the correct capturing of the image. I shot in black and white to emphasise the textures of the clouds and under exposed the image to bring out more detail in the sky and to darken down the buildings. The contre jour style of this shot works well. With regards to composition I wanted the houses to only use up about an eighth of the frame as to make the sky the dominant feature of the shot. The only let down for me is part of a tree creeping into frame on the left hand side, but seeing as I wanted the three houses to appear symmetrical and the fact I was unable to crop the image I was still happy but would have liked a cleaner image.





9. The job of my dream.

          This is a shot of my pug called Iggy Pup. Again I swapped lenses and used my 50mm f1.8 portrait lens to throw the background well out of focus and to emphasise the eyes of the dog. I would have liked the focus point to be the eyes but on second evaluation of the image it is the mouth that is the focus point instead. I am happy with the composition and also like the tiny beads of morning dew on Iggy's chin. I used  this shot for this category because it is an area of photography I would like to develop in greater detail in my future career.





10. Future starts today.

 

          I found myself struggling with this category initially but I think I made a good effort with regards to fulfilling the brief. My wife is pregnant and I wanted to photograph her tummy in nice window light with maybe her hands making a heart shape, but she was unavailable on the day of the competition so opted for more of a still life image. All the aspects in the image point to the future with reference to the newborn.