TO MASTER
Sony World Photography Awards - Student Competition
https://www.worldphoto.org/about-us
The purpose of these awards is to raise the level of conversation around photography worldwide, through a year-round programme of exhibitions, awards and competitions. They aim to support photographers around the world, to celebrate and show their work, as well as nurture the medium of photography on a global scale.
In this unit we have been given the chance to apply to the Sony Photography Awards Student competition. The current Brief is titled: Connections. I think working on this brief at this stage is perfect for me, as it is an open book, allowing us to interpret the theme personally with our choice of genre approach.
The current brief:
Providing a platform for photography students worldwide - first prize is top Sony digital imaging equipment.
The competition is divided into four categories: Professional, Open, Youth and Student. There is also the Alpha Female Award and the Latin America Professional Award.
Student Competition
The Student competition is open to academic institutions worldwide and free to enter for anyone aged from 18 to 30 years old undertaking a full-time photography program taught at a higher education level.
The professional competition has ten categories that can be applied for:
These are the categories:
Open Competition
The Open competition rewards outstanding single images across 10 categories. If entering the Open competition you cannot enter the Professional or Youth competitions.
Youth Competition
The Youth competition is for 12-19 year olds and will have seven monthly competitions from June - December with each focused on a particular theme.
Alpha Female Award
All women photographers entering any of the 10 categories in the Sony World Photography Awards Open competition will be considered for the Alpha Female Award.
Latin America Professional Award
All photographers from Latin American countries* entering bodies of work (5-10 images) to any of the 10 categories in the Sony World Photography Awards’ Professional competition will be considered for the Latin America Professional Award.
https://alphauniverse.com/stories/2022-sony-world-photography-awards-now-open-for-entries/
Previous briefs and winners (Student competition)
https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-galleries
In 2019 competition, Students were asked to submit a body of work responding to the topics ‘Evolution’ and ‘Belong’, a selection of which you see here.
First Brief: Belong
Second Brief: Evolution
The 2019 Student Photographer of the Year was awarded to Sergi Villanueva, from Valencia, with his series La Terreta.
This series of images is based at an orange farm in Spain, capturing the daily life around the trees. I love the vibrant colour of the oranges along with the raw capture of the people. Images like these uplifts the mood and gets you inspired to explore the different cultures around the world. The images together really shows a unique story and responded well to the topic of evolution.
This year students were asked to submit a body of work responding to the inspiring theme ‘Invisible Lines.’ A shortlist of ten were then given a final brief: to create a series relating to ‘Sustainability Now’.
First Brief: Invisible Lines
Second Brief: Sustainability Now
In this competition, Students were asked to submit a body of work responding to the theme ‘Building a better future’ and ‘Our Time’. For the first brief they were challenged to show a story connected to building a better future. The second brief was to show a story describing the way you and your contemporaries see the world and how you plan to change it for the better.
First Brief: Building a Better Future
Second Brief: Our Time
From viewing all the previous works submitted to the competition, I now have a better knowledge about the award competition and was able to see how photographer's interpreted the brief they were given. It also helped me understand better about how I can write my own Sony text and to be clear and to the point with what I want to say related to the images, as it will be 150 words only.
Other similar competitions:
I had a look at other competitions, preferably ones that are within England. All these are great opportunities to showcase work and participate in. Some are free of charge and others have a set fee.
Week 1
In the first week as a group we brainstormed on the word 'connections'. This session allowed me and my group to hear different ideas and perspective on the word itself. It also helped me to start thinking about what i want to shoot on. I liked the idea of human connection with nature and wanted to expand on this idea further.
Panos Pomonis - Guest Speaker/Judge Panel (Sony Student Photography Awards)
Today we had a guested speaker Panos Pomonis who spoke to us about the Sony awards. Panos Pomonis is a Digital Project Manager at World Photography Organisation, with 10+ years of experience. During his talk we gained an insight into the award and learnt about the other many competitions that we can participate in. We also had the chance to ask questions and from this I had better knowledge to what the judges look for in the submission. To have an interesting storyline and the importance of it, suiting the brief given.
Colin Czerwin from NOICE Magazine will be judging this year's competition. I decided to do research and view some his work to learn more about him as a photographer.
https://colinczerwinski.com
https://www.worldphoto.org/blogs/17-10-21/under-review-colin-czerwinski
Colin is a contemporary photographer in the United States. He is also the founder of NOICE Magazine, a photography publication and community for photographers that show attention to form, beauty, symmetry, novelty, and humour.
iGNANT, Slanted Publishers, Aint-Bad, C-41 Magazine, NOICE, Exceptional Alien, Trend Land, Kiwii Magazine, Phroom, Baron Mag, Telegram Gallery, Airtable, Audiotree, Alternative Press, AV Club, Noisey, New Noise Magazine, Under The Gun Review, DIY Photography, Camera Luv, Fujifeed Magazine, No Echo, Appreciation Society, Majestigal, Not Entirely Unlike Books
I really admire his style of work, each images shows uniqueness within itself and they also fit well together strangely. I can see his aim in documenting places, objects and people in the moment. This is what makes the images captivating to the eye, showing the audience, the raw beauty of our world.
On the worldphoto website Colin answered questions in regards to the current competition which will be useful to know.
The brief for this year’s Student competition is ‘Connections’. What key criteria will you keep in mind while looking through the submissions?
Honestly, I don’t really consider things like that when I look at a photograph. If it evokes a feeling inside of me that makes me laugh or makes me go ‘Oh, nice,’ then it's something worthwhile to me. But keeping a photograph limited to what is necessary to make it work is a key element.
Entrants are required to submit five to 10 images interpreting the theme ‘Connections.’ What six pieces of advice would you give to students thinking about entering?
-Pick what you feel is your best work.
-Don’t think too hard about it.
-Use photos that have good use of color.
-Use photos that have interesting light.
-Humour is always good, try to use it.
-Don’t get upset if your work isn’t selected. As long as you’re happy with the work, that’s all that matters.
Other guest speakers we had during this unit are:
Sabela Peinado - spoke about her photography career and her employability She shared and talked about her projects and how she likes to keep it ongoing. This became interesting to me and I feel this is a good way to not 'completely shut down' a piece of work that has been given time and dedication to.
Ellie Tsatsou-Palmer - spoke about her upcoming exhibition that she is working on and discussed in depth about her past work and jobs she had done. She is also a lecturer at the tow universities. It was inspiring as always to have a voice talking about creativity and how to go forward with it.
Jenny Lewis - spoke about her work from her published book, One Day Young, Hackney Studios and One Hundred Years. She explained about her photographs and the background information when on shoot, which was interesting to hear.
Initial ideas and Final Idea
When given the brief 'Connection' I immediately knew I wanted to show a connection between nature and another element. This was inspired by our time during the pandemic and the restriction, making us connect and to give more time to appreciate the outside world.
My first idea - to capture people and their connection with their jobs. This involves portraiture photography along with environmental. To photograph them in their true self: capturing real emotions. I thought to involve my community/friends&family as those who could be more comfortable around the camera whilst staying true to themselves. For this shoot I would have five individuals = five images.
My second idea - to explore the connection between nature and architecture. This idea became interesting to me, with the interest in both element, I feel this will give me an opportunity to explore this style of photography. I would like to experiment with different lighting and compositions within the images. I wanted to capture sites around me, which is London and shoot five locations = total of five images.
Final Idea - I've decided to go with my second idea; to photograph the connection of people with nature through architecture and design. Buildings are now being created to be more friendly to the environment which can be adaptable to the surroundings. My approach with this idea will be environmental. To be able to capture and document the realness of each locations. I will shoot on location and it will be in colour. I"ve decided to look into places within London such as workplaces, buildings, restaurants etc.
History of Architectural photography
I wanted to do some research into architectural photography and the history to give me a general understanding of this genre.
Architectural photographers take photographs of buildings and other built structures in a professional capacity. Their photographs are often proposed for commercial purposes, for the developer to publish online or in brochures, or for the portfolios of the project team.
The history - https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Architectural_photography
Architecture has been one of the main subjects for photography since the technology first emerged.
At first architectural photographs were mainly taken as record images, with little creative ambition. Now, more artists are approaching a more complex and stylised style for their images. The digital era has also increased the prevalence of landscaperather than portrait formats, as these can be more suited to viewing on screen.
Historically, photographers have tended to disregard people and traffic from their images. It was considered that the people would then become the subject, rather than the building, This is beginning to change, as increasingly, clients want to show their buildings full of life as desirable places to live/visit.
An architect that I have always admired is Zaha Hadid. She was an Iraqi architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I enjoy viewing her classic designs and her unique buildings. They give out the futuristic but modern look which I think is captivating to the eye. Her images really gets me thinking about the many ways to how our world is changing.
Inspirations
My concept was inspired from a video that I've seen on youtube. It shows around a building that an architect in Japan designed, known as, 'a tunnel of light'. Below are images from the video that caught my eyes. One element I like is the water feature which looks like a mirror reflection. They mentioned In the video how visitors enjoy playing with the water and the surrounding scenery. This is a great example of how nature was brought in by architecture and design to maintain that connection between the people and nature. The video inspired me and got me thinking about how I can capture interesting elements and compositions for my shoots.
I came across this article on BBC ‘picture’ section that shared pictures on the theme of 'connections'. This helped me to visually see how these people approached this theme and give me inspiration for my final images. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-48041564
Photographers inspiration
I wanted to research into photographers I knew of and introduce myself to new photographers too.
Iwan Baan - is a Dutch photographer, known for capturing and documenting images that narrate the life and interactions that occur within architecture. I like that he challenges the traditional approach and includes people alongside showing the building and its environment. This inspired me to appreciate and capture people and day to day life in the city when I shoot.
Candida Höfer- is a German photographer. She is known for her large-scale colour images of architectural interiors, She also explores the structure, presentation, and influence of space. Most of her images are straight angles but with symmetry. This perspective is unique and I will attempt to photograph an image from this viewpoint. She also uses daylight as her main source of lighting, which is my initial lighting for my images. I think it works well with the large space she captures in.
Ana Mello - is an architecture photographer, bases in Brazil. Her work consists of architecture, interior and landscapes photographs. I like how she cooperates nature with the buildings. I am very much inspired by these images and seeing an artist acknowledge the beauty of its surrounding.
Frederick H. Evans - was a British photographer, best known for his images of architectural subjects, such as English and French cathedrals. His images capture the complex details beautifully and shows their unique character.
Ezra Stoller - was an American architectural photographer. As a student, he began photographing buildings, models and sculpture. His work are mainly black and white and focuses on capturing line, form and texture. I like his use of high viewpoint and tilt lens . This is something I want to achieve with my images.
Other Inspirations
I have watched a few documentaries and series that are architecture-related and these shows gave me great inspirations along with being a learning tool.
The World's Most Extraordinary Homes
This documentary series shows British architect, Piers Taylor and actress Caroline Quentin who both travel the world, showcasing outstanding architect-designed houses. I enjoyed viewing the designs for the houses and each episode has been very inspiring for my idea. To appreciate every aspects of my chosen location and show that through my images.
Amazing Interiors
This is an American reality television show that shows remarkable interiors within ordinary exterior. I was able to see many beautiful designs and as most of my locations will be indoor I will be on the lookout for unique designs.
Abstract: The Art of Design (Neri Oxman: Bio-Architecture episode 2)
This episode shows how we should question the world around us. Neri Oxman is an American–Israeli designer and professor at the MIT Media Lab. It was interesting to hear about her design and her views on bio-architecture. She quoted that her "focus is designing new materials, for, with and by nature". Oxman also said "It is our job and our responsibility to mother the natural world".
Moodboard
Here are a few inspired images and paintings collected from Pinterest to form a moodboard. From looking at these I can see the use of bold colours from the greenery and began to think about the importance of colours that I will focus on too for my final images when editing.
Final treatment
We were told to do a Pecha Kucha style presentation for this treatment. This was a new and an interesting way to present our work. The feedback given was really helpful from both tutors and classmates. They suggested locations and advised me on lighting, to think about the style when photographing.
Reccies/ Test shoots
I started looking at possible locations that fits my idea and then went on to do reccies before I start shooting. This allowed me to get comfortable and really get to know each locations. Locations include indoor gardens, conservatory, a garden church and restaurants. Along with reccies I decided to research these locations beforehand using google maps, instagram and websites. From doing this I was able to understand where to find interesting compositions and lighting. Before shooting I also had to gain permission from a few of these locations which was fairly simple however some did have rules such as no tripod or public/staff. It didn't become a big issue as I tried to resolve it when on site.
Sky Garden
Crossrail Place Roof Garden
St Dunstan Church Garden
Restaurants ( Haugen & Flat iron )
Barbican Centre
Final shoots and edit/development
I began with sorting all images into a contact sheets and cutting down to the images that worked well most with my idea. i am happy with the outcome I have, although there is room for improvement. Certain shoots had less images than others however I was able to work with what I got.
Shoot 1:
Shoot 2:
Shoot 3:
Shoot 4:
Shoot 5:
Using capture one I edited the five images. Fixing the exposure and making changes with contrast, brightness and saturation to make the colour within the images stand out bit more.
Final selection raw (left) > edited version (right)
I am happy with the edited version of each images. I was able to bring out the colours that looked faded at first and managed to correct the white balance for the restaurant image through capture one. Overall I fam happy with the post production process with giving me the chance to make my images a step better.
Final Cost
Cost for travelling was £40
Cost for printing is £14 for 7x A3 prints premium satin
Analysis and PDF Portfolio
I had a look at examples of portfolios to get me thinking about how to do my own layout and it was interesting to see the different designs and the use of colour with the chosen images. Because my photographs are in colour, I feel it would be nice to show that too with my design for the portfolio.
Before starting on my PDF folio I used the adobe colour wheels to see the colours that are within each images and will use this method to decide on the colours I want to use on my portfolio. I decided to settle with using earthy tone; such as brown, green, gray, burnt orange. These colours all represent my images and nature itself.
Using Indesign I began with creating the pages in A3 size landscape. I played around with the design and positions till I was happy with it and lastly exported it as a PDF for the submission. At first I wanted to keep the front page blank with title but later I decided to add the continuous design of the grey box, which I feel worked better.
I decided to present my images with title page first, then description page, then the three portrait images following with the last two landscape images. This will be presented in the same format with the physical portfolio too.
What Went Well:
I enjoyed this unit overall as I was able to photograph about a topic that I admire. I was able to find locations that works well with my idea of buildings connecting us with the feel of nature. It also allowed me to enter an award which has built my confidence and I for sure will look forward to entering more in the future. It was interesting for me to think within the brief and figure out how to show my idea in the best form. I have also learned how to get work out there from useful tutorials and guest speakers. My understanding and skills for photography and researching have developed throughout the process. I had the opportunity to experiment with lighting, composition and capturing images from different perspectives. This unit also expanded my knowledge for physical and digital portfolio and the process of post production allowed me to better my images and I'm happy with what I was able to produce.
What Didn’t Go Well:
I think that I had a few worries and issues within this unit, one being that some locations didn’t give me access to photograph due to privacy. Also, limitation to not using standard tripod in certain places didn’t allow me to capture strong images as I would’ve wanted. But this issue was resolved as I carried a smaller compact tripod and made sure to not cause any disruption to my surroundings. I managed to Also having to work within a short time frame I didn't have much chance to doing more that one test shoot or reshooting, as booking was needed and availability was past my deadline period.
I also think that I could’ve added extra lighting to my shoots. My initial idea was to shoot with natural lighting however some places didn’t offer it as much, so I do feel I could’ve been prepared better for such outcomes. This did leave me with some poor-quality images, but I was able to resolve it through postproduction. I also had to be mindful with who and what I am photographing. This wasn’t a big issue, but it did restrict some opportunities and at certain times I had not many images to work with, however there were people who didn’t mind which put me at ease. Also, I believe I could’ve tested out the printed folio but with little time I didn’t manage to do this step however I am happy with the outcome.
What I’d Change Next Time:
There are a few things I would like to change from this unit if next time, such as looking back at my weakest images and giving time to reshoot properly till I am satisfied with it. I wasn't able to reshoot more tests in certain locations within the time given so therefore i would keep in mind to start testing as soon as possible. I do think my idea is consistent, but I would give more time to how I can present the images together as I do feel the collection lacks a similarity with them all. I would give myself more time to not rush my final week of printing and submitting. Overall, I am quite satisfied with the outcome of this unit and would look to continue this project.
Sony Submission : final description and images
Portfolio Review Presentation
