The Best Strategy on Laughters?

(Clown in Laughter: This picutre of the clown was taken at the Chime Long Hotel at Punyu, China. I should write some posts about the hotel cos it is unique place for a visit in this part of the world)

A reader left a message wondering if the theme of the 9th Ricoh Photo Contest was Laugther as said on the English site or Smile as on the Japanese site. In doubt, I searched for the contest site but in vain. I sent the question to the Ricoh's inquiry email account which was unreachable as Ricoh's returned message suggested. Let's me see how I can get an answer.

Either Smile or Laughter, the theme is, so to speak, more than meets the eye. To take picutres on this theme is one thing, but to win in the contest is a very different matter. A casual representation of the smiling faces in an image will not suffice. As far as I am concerned, the usual winning images in any contests are the one which are crisp and direct in composition with a focused but rich message.

So, before doing any photos for the contest, we need a strategy: How can a smile/ laughter be infective and impressive to look at in an image?

(Smiling Lion: The lion was caged right in the hotel. It was sitting right in front of my dining table at breakfast time)

Before thinking up the answer, we have to figure out the major ingredients in it:

First, we have to decide our subject: a person, an anminal or even something which you can associate with the theme. A group or individually? There are lots of elbowroom to work on the theme in terms of the subject. So even if you seldom take pictures of a face, you will stand a chance of winning some prize.

Second, the purpose: to give the viewers some food for thought; to move them; to entertain them; to amaze them; to make them smile/ laugh; to make hear the laughters; or you name it.

Third, the style: serious; formal; informal; contradictory; complementary; humourous.

What follows is the representation: the image format; the image colour; the white balance correction; the special continuous shooting mode. To make things easier, the composition could be determine at the time of shooting.

When we shoot a photo with a purpose an the strategy in mind, we will know exactly where, what and how to shoot. I think that will stand us a bigger chance to win.

Until I know for sure the theme, I will be an armchair contestant for the time being.