Selected Excellence: All Get Free Ricohs

First of all, readers, don't get jealous (or upset). Today, we'll check out the winners in the photo contest I mentioned in a previous post. The contest was a collaborated effort of Greenpeace, Jurlique and the Ricoh camera dealer (Laikok) in Hong Kong.

The theme of the photo contest was Climate Hero. Entries were the photographers' visual interpretation of the theme.

Grand Prize

Topic: Simplicity and Frugal

Description: Walking not driving. Lead a simple an frugal living for the benefit of the environment.

Prize: Free flight to Adelaide plus two-night 4-star hotal accommodation for two persons, plus a Ricoh GX200 completed with a full set of accessories

Two First Runners-up

Topic: Little Environmental Heroin Makes It

Description: Have you?

Prize: A free GX200 with a full set of accessories and a free CX1

Topic: Up We March

Description: To right the climate changes requires no expertise. Use less lifts, save more power. A penny saved is a penny gained. Together we climate heros and heroins march for the environment.

Prize: A free GX200 with a full set of accessories and a free CX1

Three Second Runners-up

Topic: Fan Away the Mist

Description: The heat island effect brings down the air quality of Hong Kong, which adversely affects the business environment and our health. We must tickle the problem if we are to see the blue sky.

Prize: A free CX1

Topic: Start Environment Protection from Daily Life

Description: A small step for the environment in your daily life, a gaint step for protection the Earth.

Prize: A free CX1

Topic: Thick Mist

Description: If pollution worsens, we'll see thick smog in Hong Kong instead. Is that what we want?

Particpants are restricted to Hong Kong residents. Now, fancy to move to Hong Kong?

---------- Postscript: The winner did a good job even though to my eye the colours are too visually explosive (bit uncomfortable to my taste), probably a result of post processing (the shadow of the shoe heel suggests the time being around midday but the treetops are just way too bright in this case).

The two first runners-up did justice to the theme. The image of the little girl is brisk and simple, verging on outdoing the winner's. The other image of the staircase is visually classical and intriguing. I like it too. As far as I'm concerned, the second runners-up's works are more controversial. The two misty images are with too extensive a death space in the photo, and bear little relation to the them. The lampshade one is relatively better but casual, and presumably a drastic cutout from the original image which is much bigger as evidenced by the grains. Of course, the official judgement is final. Congrats to all winners.

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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