Category: Street Photography

Competition success last weekend

By cpadmin

I had a success last weekend in a photography competition. This competition called for an interpretation of the word “open”. The exact brief from the judge was:

“I want to see your photographic interpretations of ‘open’. The dictionary definition is ‘not closed or blocked’ which means this is a wide-open subject so you should have no difficulty in finding something physically open or a metaphor for something open. In my judging I will be openly looking for unique and out-of-the-ordinary entries.”

The competition was judged in two ways. The people who entered the 1439 images voted for their favourites. In addition the person who created the competition judged the ones he thought best. I chose four images. The first was of Tower Bridge open and a Thames Barge passing through it. Secondly there was an image of an “open” barn door. Additionally a number of sheaves were visible within the barn. Thirdly, I entered a striking image of a fully “open” purple Allium. Finally I entered an image of two friends cutting the tape to “open” the Schoolroom café in Woodham Ferrers.

The results

My interpretation of the word “open” using the Tower Bridge in London came 132nd (top 9%) in the crowd judging. The the creator of the competition judged the image of Judith and Barbara opening the tea room as 7th in the whole competition! So I am well chuffed with the competition success last weekend! The two images and the judge’s feedback is shown below.

  • Photographic Angle 1st Prize in competition
    Cutting the tape. Barbara and Judith open the Schoolroom
  • Competition success last weekend
    Close up as Tower Bridge opens for Thames Barge Hydrogen

The stars of your completely different take are the two old ladies enjoying themselves cutting a ribbon to open a local community church café. In the best tradition of street photography you successfully took your one chance to capture the moment at precisely the right time. Your zoom lens has caught the action from the perfect standpoint in front of the pensioners. I love the reaction of the celebratory crowd behind the scissor wielding lady but I can’t help wondering what the photograph looked like taken by the lady in the centre of your composition – especially as it would have included you taking your top ten judged picture.

To look at other competition successes go to the main menu on our website

Looking out down river!

By cpadmin

Image of the week – Looking out down river!

Looking out down river is the statue of Lord Nelson. The statue is in Greenwich, outside the Trafalgar pub and well worth a visit. From this position Nelson gets to see all of the boats travelling up and down the Thames. It is as if he is watching over the comings and goings. The traffic on the river is much less than it used to be though. Less traffic does allow you to see the sweeps of the river as it snakes around and back again. In the distance you can see the Millennium Dome. On the left of the image is Canary Wharf.

The statue was erected in 2005 to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. The Nelson statue was created by sculptor Lesley Pover after being commissioned by Trafalgar owner Frank Dowling.

The pub has great views over the river from the bar. Lots of people like to have their photograph taken with Nelson and he usually obliges without a grumble! Find out more about the statue using this link

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V

Settings f6.3, 1/320, ISO 100

Looking out down river!

Night lights – Sydney Australia

By cpadmin

Sydney at night from the Opera House

Night lights – Sydney Australia. Captured under the lea of Sydney Opera House, this image has been cropped to portrait from landscape. The crop to portrait is important for two reasons. Firstly, it cut out a dark uninteresting area of harbour water. Secondly, the effect of the lamps and tall buildings is heightened and they are emphasised by the portrait format.

Night lights – Sydney Australia
Sydney at night from the Opera House

The view looks back toward the city from the promontory where the opera house is. It shows the tall offices and hotels, their lights and the smoky red coloured light pollution hanging over the city. A quick rain shower had cleared the quayside of people. Everyone had dived under the Opera House overhang to shelter. I nipped out with the tripod, camera and remote set up to capture the shot. Until I returned to the UK I didn’t realise what a nice shot this was.

Reflections and leading lines

The glowing orbs of the sentinel pavement lights form a line leading the eye back towards the city. The rain on the pavement additionally allows a glistening reflection of the lights to form another leading line. This complements the “dash-dash” line formed by the paving slabs.

This was a December night and one of my first attempts at night time photography. In the UK it would have been cold then. However, even with the rain a jumper was all you needed down under at that time of the year.

I have a version of this image as a 20” x 30” canvas and it looks great!

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F3.5 1/15 ISO 1600

Red Leicester?

By cpadmin

Red Leicester?

Red Leicester? The weekend before last we went to Leicester for a family event. Opposite the church this building caught my eye. Crescent cottages is an attractive house on the end of a row, it creates a corner all of its own. The building is named after an Georgian crescent of houses, set to the right hand side and just out of the image, in King Street. 

I’ve been past the buildings before but not noticed it. The distinctive way the railings have been painted, with the red matching the post box is attractive. Picking out elements of the railings themselves emphases the sweep

Red Leicester?
Red Leicester?

of the curves and the lines leading back to the building. 

Subtle beige colouring highlighted in brown with white is used to paint the building. The horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) and its candles confirms the time of year. Ubiquitous double yellow lines and the office block on the left of the image tell us we are in the city centre. You might also guess its Sunday morning by the absence of traffic!