Kutsuphoto

Slowly catching back up with the posts. A nice big yay for that. Ironic though, to get this week’s theme around the same time tsuyu (rainy season) starts in Japan,which just makes everything feel all mushy and kind of sad.

Well week 14′s theme was Blue. The reason blue was chosen as the theme was because we haven’t really done a color theme yet. There is a lot that is associated with colors like feelings or characteristics.

Well, here are the photos. Like last week, the third guy had to take a break to take care of some other projects and work so there are only two this week.

Interesting this week, the theme of this weeks falls back to back with Week 11′s “self-portrait.”
The theme for this week is Portrait. I haven’t received a reasoning for picking portrait but I find it interesting to have the theme self-portrait without us in it to anything that would be classified a portrait. Definitely a broad category to say the least. Once I get a reasoning for picking portrait I’ll append this paragraph with that update. Until then the three photos are:

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    13
Jordan  11
Luis        12

This week I’m a little late on posting the blog post, mainly because I’ve been chilling out in Beijing for the past 5 days. Now that I’m in Shanghai, I have a little bit better internet so I can finally post the theme and even before the upcoming week is over, thank goodness.

This week’s theme was Food which I was oh so happy to pick. The reason I picked food because coming over to China I was being reminded of how much food infiltrates a culture. I see it in Japan, now in China and when I’m in America. It’s something that we have to use (or well eat) to survive. So I was happy to see what I and my friends come up.

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    10
Jordan  3
Luis        8

This week’s theme of genuine was chosen because of the challenge associated with capturing something genuine. It was separates the boys from the men. And that when it is done, it tends to be done well.

On a personal site note, this was probably the hardest theme yet for myself and even at that I don’t feel like I really captured it but I tried to capture a moment that is associated with it. Surprisingly, finding an actual genuine moment is not something you can usually plan for, it happens without really thinking about it. With that I feel like I have a lot to learn in capturing it. Given the week deadline though these are the pictures captured:

As judged by Steve Johnson of Florida.
Photo comments.

In order of rank.

1) Photo 3 I love the genuine reaction in this photo. The only issues about this photo are technical. It is underexposed, but I am so glad you used natural light instead of a color-sucking flash. This captured a moment, and that is exactly what photography is about. Might I suggest a lens with a lower aperture, 50mm f/1.4 is a personal favorite, to work in lower light.

2) Photo 2 Love the depth of field in this shot. The bubbles give a great sense of foreground and background without distracting the eyes from your subject. This is something that is very hard to do. I ranked it second because of the theme. This picture does show how genuinely happy or bubbly (no pun intended) the person is, but I feel like this was a posed situation. If this was in a park with the sunlight shining through the bubbles it would be a more genuine moment. A very close number two.

3) Photo 1 This is a fantastic portrait that is very well lit. You show a perfect amount of contrast with your light on your subject, and his expression is very genuine. I would have liked the surrounding to better reflect who this person is. The whole reason why we take our subjects out of the studio for environmental portraits is to let the environment help tell the story. Maybe this would have helped express why this person is so genuine if you would have done this.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.

- Steve

——UPDATE——–
Brent 10
Jordan 1
Luis 7

Five weeks down… some more to go, maybe like 18 more to go.

The theme this weekend was Camera Phone Photography, more specifically the photo had to be taken with a camera phone! The reason Brent chose this theme was because people complain about the gear. As photographers we are judged on what gear we are shooting with. Is it Canon or Nikon. Do we have L or N glass or are we shooting with a Tamaron, or Sigma. People use the basis of gear to judge you on your overall skill and the visual quality of the image. I don’t know how many people I have heard say something like, “you must have a really expensive camera” because they liked my pictures, or “The only way I could get a good is if I buy a 1D [or something compliment].” But what if the idea of “higher-end” gear is stripped away… Then no one can have any excuses. Hence the idea of using the camera on your phone.

I’m happy to say that this week the photos will be judged by Shawn Rocco, a News & Observer (Raleigh-Charlotte Newspaper) photographer and published cellphone photographer. About a year ago, he came to N.C. State to talk to us about the importance of the best camera is the one you have with you. Don’t let the idea of not having an SLR get you down from not capturing a moment.
Please got visit Shawn’s site and check out his photography and cellular obscura work.  

Here are the submissions for this week. Fell free to leave your thoughts as Brent Jordan and I are trying to approve our photographer while having some fun.

 —-UPDATE—–

Thanks for asking me to judge. Photo 1 is first, 2 is second, 3 is third. Why? Photo 1 is the cleanest of the compositions. The frame feels balanced, not awkward.

Photo 2 has much better light and subject matter (and not because it’s a girl in a bathing suit) and an “almost” moment, but it needs a different crop or a different composition. If the photographer moved so the girl was on the left it would feel more balanced. Or if they moved so there was nothing but water (or forest or mountains) behind her, that would have helped too. Moving a few feet in either direction would have moved this to first place.

I like the angle of Photo 3. I applaud the photographer for using an “extreme” angle by getting above the subject matter. But this needs something more to it. The composition feels okay, but it needs a better moment, or something more graphic to elevate it to a higher placing in the competition.

So, I like the idea, but (after seeing your work in the other categories) I’ll be honest, these don’t hold up. I hate to say that, but I can see the talent (of ideas and execution) in the previous themes and these aren’t on the same level.

And it’s not the technical quality. It’s the composition and/or subject matter that detracts from these photos. Because of those distractions, you’ve almost proven the point you were trying to dismiss with this theme.

A camera phone is still a camera. It’s still a tool to deliver your vision. And they’re all so good today in terms of quality and shutter delay, that for moments like the ones you’ve shown here, they’d be competitive against expensive SLRs.

Plus… because the content is all so different, it makes it harder to compare and contrast for judging purposes.

I say this was a practice run. Do it again. Pick a sub-theme, let’s say “blue”, or the idea of “heat”, whatever. Push it a little like you did in the prior contests, and shoot something that will make people question whether it was shot with a camera phone or a “professional” camera.

I look forward to seeing those results!

best,

Shawn

 Brent   9
Jordan 1
Luis      5

This past week’s them was chosen by Jordan and is “crop”
He says that we often forget such a useful tool in photoshop that can really bring our pictures together. He is completely right, the crop tool is definitely something that we can use to add tension or create a new meaning for a photo. Also it really helps getting those annoying bits that seem to jump in our frame RIGHT when you are to take the photo.
Personally this was a hard theme for me; especially in trying to figure out what sort of message I wanted to convey in my photo.
So without any more babbling here are this week’s submissions.

As written by photographer of Photo 1 on why he cropped the way he did.

This is my uncropped version for the photo contest. My idea was to focus on the details of the suit, and generate a strong male image. I found the eyes distracting, and didn’t like the light as much. I also feel like the chin is probably one of the most masculine features on a well dressed man. I did go back and forth about cropping vertical or horizontal, but ultimately felt like the extreme horizontal crop gave me a more edgy feel, which was what I was trying to accomplish.

As written by photographer of Photo 2 on why he cropped the way he did.

I chose to crop at the tip of the corner before the observation deck. This was because I wanted to block out a distracting white spot and keep your eyes in the complexity that is the structure of the tower. I was playing with the idea of simply and complex complete opposites but still can bring harmony to life. I used the base of the legs to kind of cut the photo and to back the black sky into a corner as if the complexity itself is domineering like the tower punctures the sky.

——-UPDATE——-

Here are the current standings

Brent –    5
Jordan – 1
Luis -       3

This week’s theme was
DARK

The idea was to counteract last’s week theme of light.

So without further adieu here are the photos.

 

—UPDATE—-

Rob Bradley, was our judge for this week. He is a former photographer at N.C. State and now does freelancing. He added this for his critique and for who won.

Wow, photo 1 is really dark in a twisted kinda way. I’m not sure whether I like it better than photo 3 or not, I like that one too. It’s dark, but not twisted; just dark and eerie. 3 is a very cool portrait and I like it a lot. Photo 2 doesn’t play to the dark theme, in my opinion. To me it actually plays to last week’s theme, “light.” With so much black in photo 2, the part about it that really grabs my eye, is the light being cast across the dog’s face. Kinda backwards, but I think it works better for “light”. As a final thought, I guess I do like photo 3 the best simply because it’s human. Her expression conveys more mystery than that of a teddy bear. Hope this helps.

After the first 2 weeks that brings the score too:

Brent -    3
Luis -       3
Jordan – 0

First week is over and the photos are in. I have to begin with that unfortunately there is only two photos this week, instead of three. But one of the guys has had a really busy with his job.

Anyways… the photos for this week are :

 

 

Once this week’s judge has picked the photo, I will update the post.

—UPDATE—-

The third member decided to give the photo today since he did end up taking so I thought I would go ahead and post it.

 

—UPDATE—

First Place: Photo 2 – Brent
Second Place: Photo 1 – Luis
Third Place: Photo 3 – Jordan

Today marks the start of my friend’s and I’s weekly photo contest. This week was my week to pick the category and as it being the first week and since photography is the capture of light, I decided to pick ”Light” as the theme. Next week I’ll post what we have submitted.

Today marks the finalizing of a simple photo contest among 2 fellow photogs and myself. It’s as simple as an 18 week long contest made up a contest each week. Each week will have a theme that is chosen among the three of us. Where the winner gets a nice free dinner out of the deal when I return to visit them in August.

The reason I’m starting this is because I feel like my photo skills are dropping and I need a friendly competition to get me going again. After numerous discussion with them it seems they are also not feeling challenged. So why not make it a little fun. Plus all of us have bought new things for our cameras that it feels we have not really been able to really use and test out it’s potential.

So now the pieces are set and the cogs will hopefully start turning!
We have put these few rules forth:

1. Must be taken that week (can not be an old photo) and by you (no asking someone to take the photo or hold the camera incase you are in the photo.)
2. The theme will be chosen on a rotating basis,(Luis, Brent, Jordan; comes out to be alphabetical after the first week)
3. Photoshopping kept down to a minimum, unless the theme calls for illustrations or photo manipulations.
4. A theme can’t be a place.
5. The week will run from Sunday night to the following Sunday.
6. The new weeks theme will also be announced on Sunday
7. You get one photo submission per week.
8. First place will get 2 points, second place will get 1, and third will get 0.
9. Judging will be by a third party person or group of people where no name is attached to the photos.

That keeps everyone pretty much on the same page. Every week I will post the submissions, the following weeks theme and the previous weeks winner.

Let’s see what we get!!!!