What Makes a Winning Image

Today's two images show the high ISO images produced by the Samsung EX1. The likeable in-camera vignetting effect aside, the nicely balanced noise adds a great film-like quality to the final images. They are as good as the GRD III's in my opinion, if not better.

The reason to show the two photos -- there is something in them I really wish to show you -- sort of echos a recent post on Mike's TheOnlinePhotographer featuring a disturbing winning photo of a British photo contest. It is disturbing because the photo is a very casual, and actually awful, shot which no one would even think about it otherwise. Long story short, Mike later concludes from his experience that as judges of past photo contests, he would pick the ones as winners in which there was something he really wished to show the viewers.

Talking about that "man on the grass" winning photo, a similar story immediately sprang to mind: this year's Hong Kong Ricoh Photo Contest. Since GX Garnerings had asked readers to vote for the winners as a show of support (well, lots of us are Ricoh camera fans), we hoped to follow up and bring back the news of the result for the voters. But when we went over to the organiser's page, what we found were comments of frustrated participants to protest against the result.

The result poses a challenge to the usual understanding of what makes a winning image. Surely, there are rules for different contests. In this case, maybe the rule just overrode photographic considerations. But for those who agree with the conclusion of "something in an image the judge really wants to show viewers" as the judging criteria, the "man on the grass" shot and the winning trios really shed new light on the matter.

Comments

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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