Have you ever entered a photography contest?
That's what I did recently. It was the Westland Library Photography Contest 2019.
I entered five photos, one in each of five categories. The rules required that all entries must be taken in 2017 to 2019. It was fun looking back at several dozens in the photo library on my iMac.
Of course, the vast majority were not 'contest' quality. I quickly selected several without much forethought. Then I got to thinking. What is a good photo? So I entered that question in Google. Lots of hits flashed on the screen. After reading several, I liked the one:
The most important element of a good photograph is the ability of the photo to communicate with the viewer. It should tell a story through its composition, lighting, and most importantly its subject matter.
Dario Endara
Professional photographer, Netherlands
This process was a lot of fun. Looking at many, many photos and wishing there were more photos to select. Also I was motivated to improve my photography skills.
Would you help me? It's easy. Just give me some feedback when looking at the photos. You could use the definition by Dario Endara (see above) or you may have your own eye for a good photo. Either way I would appreciate your ideas by either leaving a comment at the end of the blog post or send an email to bobfrank11[at]gmail.com
By the way, two of the photos were award winners.
Venice Canal
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| #1 Venice Canal Category: Travel or Landscape |
This photo was taken from a bridge on June 30, 2018. There are over 390 bridges in Venice! Two days later I took another photo from the same bridge but from a different angle. I must have liked the view. We, my daughter, Maria, grandson Austin, and granddaughter Maya were on a Road Scholar Intergenerational educational program. Four days in each city, Rome, Florence and Venice.
Joyful Mary
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| #2 Joyful Mary Category: People or Portrait |
Train Station
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| #3 Train Station Category: Architecture - Buildings, Bridges, Structures |
Nancy and I were on the Amtrak Wolverine 351 train heading for Chicago. It was January 10, 2019. We were meeting our friends Bob and Becky to see the musical play "Hamilton" that evening. As usual the Amtrak train makes a few stops on its trek to the windy city. Fortunately I sat next to a very clean window. With my iPhone on my lap ready to snap something of interest, the train stopped at the Kalamazzo station to pickup and drop off passengers. What caught my eye, as I peered out the window was the sign hanging from the roof. My thought was 'hey we've got 138 miles to go'. So I got this photo.
Fast forward to my search for a photo for this category. That's when I found the train station image. I liked the building's old design and the sign of course. But what I saw, perhaps for the first time, was the man listening to his music while trudging past the station as I snapped the photo. I'm sure it wasn't intentional to have him in the photo because the sign was my point of interest.
This train station seemed to tell a story. Of course. it's the viewer who actually reads the story from their experience. The story is personal and subjective.
Nancy and I heard a very interesting story about the train station. About a month ago, We went to the FedEx store on State St. in Ann Arbor to have 8"X10" prints of our photos for the contest. Dre, the Customer Salesperson, did an expert job in printing our photos.
As Dre was about to pull out my flash drive from his computer, I asked him if he would take another look at my photos and give me some feedback? He said sure. When the Train Station showed on the screen. He paused. His eyes narrowed as he studied the image. Then with a quiet, soft voice he said, "I went to school there [Western Michigan University]....the homeless hangout there....the bus terminal nearby too....I was the president of the Black Student Union....one Saturday we [the students] served box lunches to them [the homeless] there and the bus terminal....there's a park nearby with a sign showing the same mileage to Detroit and to Chicago."
By the sound of his voice, the soft smile, I got the feeling the photo initiated a memory, a sense of pride in helping others.
From his story, I knew the photo communicated. It aroused an emotion. It was a good photograph.
Woodpecker
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#4 Woodpecker
Category: Animals
This woodpecker is about to eat some bird seed. It's on the corner of an observation deck that overlooks Kent Lake, in Kensington Metro Park, about 40 miles NW of Detroit.
Well you might wonder how the bird seed got on the deck on this chilly, April morning. One of our hiker/sailors left the bird seed after feeding some little chickadees from their hand. I belong to the American Sailing Institute (ASI) we have most of our sailboats at Kent Lake during the sailing season. When the boats are in storage, we go hiking every Tuesday morning, weather permitting.
There are an abundance of wild animals in the park. We often see white tail deer, sandhill cranes, blue herons, and lots of smaller birds such as the woodpecker.
The woodpeckers hang around watching the little chickadees eat from the outstretched sailor's hand. As I was about to return to the hiking trail, this woodpecker landed on the deck. Pulling the iPhone out of winter parka pocket, I snapped off a half dozen shots. The one above was the best of them. It would be a better photo with its peak in the bird seed. Better luck next time.
Challah Bread
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| #5 Challah Bread Category: Still Life
Baking bread is a fun thing to do. For these two loaves I made the dough and Nancy braided them. I often take photos of my bread, muffins and cookies without anything else near the baked goods. But this time I got one of my favorite cookbooks to add some interest. While you might think the bread recipe is in the cookbook, it's not.
Challah is Jewish bread that is braided for special occasions. However I found a great a recipe in "The Village Baker: Classic Regional Breads from Europe and America", by Joe Ortiz. I use the recipe from this cookbook for all occasions. Summary All of the photos were taken with my iPhone 8 Plus. All of them except Joyful Mary and Challah Bread images were taken spontaneously. It was a lot of fun looking at my photo library for these five photos. Award Winners Challah Bread took first place ($50) in the Still Life category. Venice Canal took second place ($25) in the Travel category. What a delightful surprise when I got the phone call informing me of the awards! |
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