by Martin Bailey | Jul 15, 2009 | Announcement, Assignment, Competition, Podcast
Just a quick post to accompany the 199th Podcast in which we take a look at the three images that received the most votes from their peers in the June 2009 photography assignment, on the theme of Everything in Focus. This was an interesting assignment again, following on from the Nothing in Focus assignment in May.
So, here are the top three images, voted so by your peers:
(Note that this week’s Podcast blog post is not a full transcript. To hear my ad-lib critiques/comments on these images listen to the audio Podcast linked at the bottom of this post or check out the Enhanced Podcast in iTunes.)
Third Place:
Edwin C’s “Slam Dunk”
Second Place:
bksecret’s “Next Thunderstorm”
First Place:
Mr Nikon’s “Drought”
All Images © Copyright of contributing members
The June assignment was the start of a series of six monthly assignments until the end of November, and the prizes for this have been made possible by our sponsors WebSpy. There’s a post on my blog with details of the prizes, but to quickly recap, the third place winner will receive every issue of LensWork Extended up until December this year, when the prize winners will be decided. That’s 29 issues of LensWork extended, which is an incredible prize. Thanks to the kind folks at LensWork for arranging such a great prize for us. The second place winner will receive a Lensbaby Composer. Again, this is just amazing, and will open many creative doors for the winner. The first place winner will receive an incredible Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM Lens! If the winner already has this lens or simply does not want it, you can exchange it for a $500 B&H gift voucher.
Podcast show-notes:
Here are the details of the photography assignment prizes that WebSpy has kindly sponsored too: https://martinbaileyphotography.com/2009/06/09/competition-prizes/
This episode is sponsored by WebSpy, the Internet Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Specialists.
The music in this episode is from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network at http://music.podshow.com/
Audio
Subscribe in iTunes for Enhanced Podcasts delivered automatically to your computer.
Download this Podcast in MP3 format (Audio Only).
Download this Podcast in Enhanced Podcast M4A format. This requires Apple iTunes or Quicktime to view/listen.
by Martin Bailey | Jun 15, 2009 | Assignment, Competition, Podcast
Today we take a look at the winners of the May Assignment with the theme “Nothing in Focus”, and congratulate the winner of the first Accumulated vote Grand Prize of 2009.
Unfortunately, before recording this episode, I didn’t notice that the third and second place had the same number of votes, meaning they were both actually joint second place. Sorry about that Craig!
Joint Second Place:
“A Blurred” by Craig Halp
Joint Second Place:
“I finally found my reading glasses!” by Milt Lyerly
First Place:
“Tibetan Monk creating Long Life Buddha Sand Mandala” by Paul Davis
All Images © Copyright of contributing members
First Half of 2009 Grand Prize!
Remember that this assignment was the last assignment for the first half of 2009, which we’ll be grouping together for the first accumulate vote prize. The prize for this first half of the year is a cheeky rain-check prize. I’m working on a project to product small fine art print folios, that I’m hoping to make available in the next few months, and the winner of this first accumulated vote assignment will receive edition #1 of that first folio once it’s available.
And now that the votes are in, I am able to congratulate Forrest Tanaka for amassing over 100 votes in the five assignments that make up this first batch of 2009. He always puts so much into the Assignment, and it really shows. Forrest won the Lowepro bag when we were sponsored by Lowepro too. You’re certainly doing everything right Forrest, so please accept my rain-check prize, and I’ll be in touch in the coming months to make sure that your postal address hasn’t changed.
With that, we start a new series of six monthly assignments from the one currently in progress for June, until the end of November, and the prizes for this have been made possible by our sponsors WebSpy. There’s a blog post with details of the prizes, but to quickly recap, the third place winner will receive every issue of LensWork Extended up until December this year, when the prize winners will be decided. That’s 29 issues of LensWork extended, which is an incredible prize. Thanks to the kind folks at LensWork for arranging such a great prize for us. The second place winner will receive a Lensbaby Composer. Again, this is just amazing, and will open many creative doors for the winner. The first place winner will receive an incredible Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM Lens! If the winner already has this lens or simply does not want it, you can exchange it for a $500 B&H gift voucher. How cool is that!?
So, if you haven’t already, please do get out and start shooting for the June assignment, on the theme of Everything in Focus.
Podcast show-notes:
Here are the details of the photography assignment prizes that WebSpy has kindly sponsored too: https://martinbaileyphotography.com/2009/06/09/competition-prizes/
This episode is sponsored by WebSpy, the Internet Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Specialists.
The music in this Podcast was created and produced by UniqueTracks.
Audio
Subscribe in iTunes for Enhanced Podcasts delivered automatically to your computer.
Download this Podcast in MP3 format (Audio Only).
Download this Podcast in Enhanced Podcast M4A format. This requires Apple iTunes or Quicktime to view/listen.
by Martin Bailey | Jan 12, 2009 | Art Talk, Assignment, Podcast
Today we will hear who won the Portraits assignment, and set the stage for our next assignment. There are a few changes from this month, so please do listen on after the announcement of the winners. Hopefully you’ll like the changes we’re making.
In Third place, an image called Sorrow, from Pixelated:
Sorrow
In Second place, an image called Nadine from Super Digital Girl
Nadine
In First place, This image doesn’t have a title, but it’s from Maruf
Portrait-MM
Well, now, I have an important announcement to make. Following a discussion in the forum, as a community we have decided to change the frequency of the assignments to one month. Basically from now on, the assignment will run in line with the calendar month, so it will be easier from now on to remember when the current assignment finishes. A few other things need to change to accommodate this. Voting will still take two weeks, to give everyone time to vote, but this will be in parallel with the currently running assignment for that month. I’ll do a Podcast once a month to announce the winners, pretty much like I’ve done today, but then we won’t kick off the next assignment until the last Podcast of the month, a few weeks later. I’ll let you know what the next theme is at the end of the episode. Note that there may be a few days left in the month when I tell you the next theme, and that will give you a few more days to think about it and start planning, but your images should not be shot before the start of the month of the assignment, and must be shot before that month finishes. If for any reason I am a little late doing that last podcast of the month with the announcement, the assignment will start late, but we’ll still finish at the end of the month.
As we are now twelve days into January, it’s a bit late to be starting a new assignment, but we’re going to do a short one this month, to get on track for the new schedule. The theme, also from a recent discussion in the community started by Marisa, is going to be Composite. Now, this is a tough one to lay down rules for. Of course, composite images are not allowed for our assignments usually, and that rule will remain, but in the spirit of change, it is allowed this month. Well, it’s not just allowed, it’s mandatory for this month, but with a few guidelines as follows. I’ll upload these guidelines to the Assignment forum too, so you don’t need to worry about noting this down. Anyway, here we go.
- The base image, or the background for your composite has to have been shot in January 2009. This can be any images that you’ve shot since January 1st, not the 12th, today.
- You must use the background as the base image, so that the exif data shows that it was shot in January 2009. If you shoot film, this is not required. We’ll use the honour system. I know that you’re good for it.
- All other components of the image can come from your archives, or can also be new, shot for the assignment with a mind to merge them into your composite.
- All images used must be your own work. You cannot grab images from the Internet or anywhere else and sneak them into your composite. Again, we’ll have to trust you here, so please stick to this.
- No animated graphics can be used. The image should be a single still image.
- The composite can be created in any photo editing tool you choose, but it must be saved as a JPEG for upload.
As we only have just over two weeks left in January, the theme itself can be anything you want. Get inventive. I suggest you take the time to make your composite look as good as you can. This is pretty much a first for me too, and I intend to try and learn something from this along the way. I’m actually not a big fan of composites, and I’ve never done it in my photography. I may never do it again, but I’m game for anything as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Remember you will have until the 31st of January 2009 to upload your image to the Composite Assignment gallery at mbpgalleries.com. I’ll turn on voting from the 1st of February for two weeks, and then announce the winner in the following Podcast episode.
There is something else that I want to put to you today, for your consideration. We also discussed possibly using flickr to upload our images instead of mbpgalleries.com, which we currently use. We’d have to use a different voting system, but flickr supports this, and will also enable us to limit uploads per month to one, so the infrastructure is pretty much there. The problem is, not everyone had a flickr account, and not everybody wants to get involved in flickr. In favour of this is that many listeners do have a flickr account, and it could possibly help us to increase participation in the assignment, and therefore increase comments on the images and in turn the usefulness of the exercise. I personally don’t mind either way. Both are not difficult and won’t take me much more time. In the usual democratic style of the MBP community, I really want to decide what to do together. I’ve created a poll in the forum, and I’d like anyone that has an opinion to vote. I’ll put a link in the show-notes, but you can find the poll in the Assignment forum at martinbaileyphotography.com. We’ll go with what the majority wants, so please do cast your vote if you have an opinion. For now, we’ll continue to use the mbpgalleries.com assignment albums.
So, that’s it for this week. Lots to think about and lots to do, and not a lot of time to do it, so let’s get our thinking caps on, and start to composite. For now, you have a great week, whatever you’re doing. Bye bye.
Show Notes
Music from Music Alley: www.musicalley.com/
Audio
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by Martin Bailey | Sep 22, 2008 | Art Talk, Fundamentals, Podcast
Today I announce the winners of the Shadows Assignment and kick-off the next Assignment on Agriculture. Just like last week this episode is also ad-lib.
3rd place hqsbud – Forrest Tanaka
A Breath of Light Before Nightfall
2nd place Aldrin – Hakan Aldrin
Glass
1st place Super Digital Girl – Leslie Granda Hill
Fuel Tank
Show Notes
The scores and forum pages are no longer available.
The music in this Podcast was created and produced by UniqueTracks.
The music in this episode is from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network at http://music.podshow.com/
Audio
Subscribe in iTunes for Enhanced Podcasts delivered automatically to your computer.
Download this Podcast in MP3 format (Audio Only).
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by Martin Bailey | May 2, 2007 | Assignment, Competition, Podcast
Today it gives me great pleasure to not only announce the winner of the Simplicity Assignment, but also to announce the winner of the Grand Prize for the year, which is a Lowepro Stealth Reporter D650 camera bag, kindly donated as a prize by top camera bag makers for 40 years, Lowepro. I need to also say a huge sorry for this episode being late. I’ve been dogged with technical problems for the last week or so that have sucked up all my free time, so I’m a little late making this announcement and getting things rolling.
There are also download and subscription options at the end of the post.
A line of trees and sky
So in usual form, let’s first take a look at the top three winners of the Simplicity Assignment, in reverse order. Firstly, in third place with the photo “A line of trees and sky” is member ChrisBMX, real name Chris Scheingraber. Please do let me know if I’m butchering your surname Chris. If you are typing in the image numbers on my site, this is image “m”, that’s “m” for “member” m4575. This is a really nice shot, just as the title describes, of a line of trees well placed along the bottom of the frame, with a sky that is kind of a graduation, going from a light pink colour to blue in the top half of the shot. There’s a kind of a strata in the sky made by some thin wispy clouds, and a couple of more defined small clouds to the right to break up the gradation a little. I really like the different tones in the hill on which the trees are standing too. Very nicely composed and executed image. Congratulations on third place Chris.
Stairway
In second place, with the image “Stairway” is member Super Digital Girl, real name Leslie Granda Hill. This is image m4315. To me this is an amazing, timeless, I’d even go so far as to say classic photograph. The composition and subject really is simplicity itself, yet the texture of that amazing black wall, with the front of each step and the handrail in white, adds an incredibly powerful contrast. The gap between the bottom bar of the handrail and the top of the steps, and the positioning of the only vertical bar is masterful. Exposure, composition, vision, all perfect in my opinion. Truly excellent work Leslie! Congratulations on second place.
And in first place, with another very memorable shot, is member Edwin C, real name Edwin Collingridge, with Simply Orange. This is image m4438. Here we see a rubber duck on a very similarly coloured orange background. Again we have a slight gradation working across the background, from almost yellow at the bottom, to true orange towards the top, and the duck positioned perfectly on the rule of thirds intersection in the bottom left quadrant. Edwin has lit this shot perfectly, and again, it really is simplicity itself. To me though, the thing that really makes the shot, in addition to all the other successful elements, is the angle of the duck. It’s looking into the shot diagonally across this sea of orange to the top right corner, and Edwin has positioned his camera so that we can just see the right eye of the duck as a thin black line as we look down on it. Again, a very masterful image! Well done indeed Edwin. Taking first prize entitles you to select any image from my online gallery on the paper of your choice. I’ll be mailing you later with instructions for getting me details of your selection.
Simply Orange
So, the Simplicity Assignment also marked the end of the first year of the MBP Photography Assignment, and the awarding of the yearly Grand Prize, based on the total votes accumulated from fellow members. I actually have a special page only viewable by the administrator at my Web site that shows me the votes as they come in, and I have to tell you that it was great fun watching you guys vote for this last assignment and watching the total votes change throughout the last few weeks. The running for the grand prize was very close, with Orchid, winner of the first assignment and runner up in another, having received a steady stream of votes throughout the year, keeping a very close second place. Also, hsisson or Holly Sisson, who came second in the Sound Assignment, has really given the two top runners a run for their money. Holly has been consistently producing vote winning images since the Reflections Assignment in which she actually came fourth, before jumping to second in the Sound Assignment. Holly was actually also in fifth place in the Silence Assignment too, although I usually only announce the top three placings. For the Simplicity Assignment, Holly was right there again in fourth place, so really giving the others a run for their money.
The member that no-one could catch though, having won the Assignment twice, with the Depicting Culture and the Silence Assignments, and steadily receiving votes in all but one of the other assignments, not an easy task in itself, is hqsbud, or Forrest Tanaka. Congratulations Forrest, I’m thrilled for you taking the Grand Prize. You really deserve it, with your excellent photography, not to mention commitment to getting that photo in as often as possible. Lowepro will be sending the Stealth Reporter D650 camera bag directly to you very shortly.
I’m going to add a link to the Gallery menu at martinbaileyphotography.com to jump to a page that will now become static, simply displaying the winners of all of the last seven assignments for the 2007 Grand Prize with a list of total accumulated votes at the bottom. And today, marks the start of the next assignment and the start of the accumulated votes for the 2008 Grand Prize, which we will hopefully be awarding around this time next year. I haven’t yet arranged anything with a sponsor, but trust me, I will start searching very soon, and line up something equally cool as a Grand Prize for 2008, so please do start to get your entries in for each Assignment.
So let’s talk a little about the next assignment before we wrap up for this week. You’ll have seen from the title, that the next Assignment is called “Low Perspective”. If you listened to episode 83 from a few weeks ago, you’ll have also hopefully taken a look at an image of a hill covered in baby blue-eyes flowers, which is image number 1388. When we looked at this image I mentioned how I set my camera very low on the tripod, and tilted it up at the hill, to emphasize the slope of the hill. I also mentioned getting down low when shooting, as many people tend to shoot from eye level, and all of their shots end up with the same perspective, or view on the world. What I want us to do for the next Assignment is to really concentrate on getting away from eye-level, and I thought the best thing to do would be to request images of anything shot from an extremely low angle, looking up at your subject to some degree. You’ll find that this works best if you are using a wide angle lens, but I’m not so sure this is 100% necessary, so whatever lenses you have, please do still give this a try.
Baby Blue Eyes Hill
Sunflower 2006 #1
You might not actually have to get down really low physically if you think you can still get that low perspective looking up kind of effect. There are lots of other examples on my Web site, but today we’ll just look at one more, to allow me to expand on this last statement. Let’s look at image number 1103. Here we can see a sunflower, again shot from below it looking up. I was almost standing up straight for this shot if I remember rightly, but I got down a little lower by doing two things. The first thing was to open my legs wide. Bending the legs at the knee will limit the length of time you can stand in that position to compose the shot, and you’ll end up rushing. The other thing I do sometimes as I did here is to fit an angle finder to my camera so that I can tilt the camera upwards without having to stoop down. This can really help to give us a different perspective on things than looking straight through the viewfinder. This is not a must though, so again, please do get involved even if you don’t have a wide angle lens or an angle finder. The importance is getting away from shooting straight across the scene from eye level. The subject matter is not important, as long as we can see in your shot that you’ve thought about the theme for the assignment, and are looking up at your subject or the scene.
Also remember that your images have to be shot no earlier than today, which May the 2nd, 2007. If possible, leave the EXIF data on your images so that I can check this, but if you are shooting film, no worries. I’ll trust you. There are a bunch of other guidelines too in a post on the MBP forum. I’ll put a link to a post with details of this assignment that also contains a link to the rules and guidelines in today’s show-notes, along with a link to a page with the results of all of the 2007 Assignment Winners. This current assignment by the way will run until June 10th, 2007. You’ll be able to upload your images to the mbpgalleries.com assignment album until the end of Sunday the 10th, anywhere in the world. I’ll then turn on the voting system, and you’ll be able to vote for your favourite for a further two weeks until the end of Sunday, June the 24th. Good luck!
So before we close, one last thing to say is a huge thank you to all of those that entered the Assignments and for those that took the time to view all the images and vote for your favourite. I know that this is not always an easy task, and I really appreciate you getting involved. It makes all the difference to the winners to know that their image has been chosen by their peers.
And with that, thanks for listening, and now let’s get out shooting from a low perspective. Have a great week. Bye-bye.
Show Notes
Music from Music Alley: www.musicalley.com/
Audio
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Download this Podcast in MP3 format (Audio Only).
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