Amateur Photographer Magazine

Amateur Photographer Monthly
Forum Photographic Competition 2009
Thanks to you, and the moderators (especially Siuya) this monthly forum competition goes from strength to strength. The quality and quantity of entries continues to rocket in an upward direction, and, far more importantly, so does level of enjoyment we are all deriving from it. So thanks for making it such a success and for taking part. Those that have yet to enter should do so at the earliest opportunity.

Thanks is also due to our wonderful sponsors – Nikon. The company very kindly supplies us with a delightful Nikon Coolpix S560 for the winning entry each month.

As you will also no doubt know, the second and third placed entrants win a top of the range, fully waterproof, ‘AP loves my pictures’ mug.

Please read the POSTING IMAGES – MAXIMUM SIZES etc sticky before posting for the first time as this contains important and useful information.

You can catch-up with all the chat about each round and see the entries and results in our monthly competition forum area

Best of luck to all of you, and I can’t wait to see your pictures.

Damien Demolder

• January –
  
The long night – pictures after dark
With winter’s short days the night is long – so make the most of it. Show us a picture taken outside at night that capitalises on those strange colours, the empty streets or some other unique aspect of the world after sunset.
See the January winners here


• February –
  
Food – eat your eyes out
Food tastes and smells, but it looks too. You know what it will taste like from the colour, the texture and the sheen – but there are always surprises. Shoot something to eat in a way we can taste it through our eyeballs. Use colour for taste, backlighting for texture, glistening for stickiness, steam for heat - and your imagination. It’s easier than you think.
See the February winners here


• March –
  
Looking up – a change of perspective
We spend our lives looking straight ahead seeing only what’s right in front of us, so get yourself a different view on the world. Look up. Inside or out there are new things to be seen, and surprising angles on that which we thought we knew. Get under the table, lie down in the street and make yourself see afresh.
See the March winners here


• April –
  
No bigger than my thumb – mini-world
I can’t measure my thumb because I don’t know where it starts – but you get the idea. Shoot something small, and show us the details we’d normally miss. Macro or not, I want to see good lighting, careful focus, a well-chosen subject and a thought-about backdrop.


• May –
  
Looking through – frame it
We feel depth because we can tell some things are closer than others. Our eyes understand perspective, so well we hardly think about it anymore, but that only makes it harder when we want to show depth in our pictures. For this round create a photograph with a beginning, a middle and an end. Shoot through a window, but show the frame – look through an open door, between the trees, beyond the pedestrians and use them to demonstrate the fact our world is in 3D.


• June –
  
Man-made landscape – the urban jungle
Cityscape, town planning, the heart of the village, industrial wasteland, shopping heaven. Photograph the man-made world as you would the hills, looking for the shapes, the textures and the undulations. Use the light and make Charlie cry.


• July –
  
An orange – just add boiling brain
How do you treat an orange? Do you drop it in a tank of goldfish to create a splash of saturated fireball on blue? Or do you idolise it as Edward Weston did with those peppers? Balance it on a stick, ice it in the freezer or suspend it from the moon. You’ll all start from the same place – an orange – so winning is about what you put in to make what’s common unique.


• August –
  
Natural graphics – God meets minimalism
The planet is made of lines, edges, borders and junctions. Shapes and forms, angles and curves show the structure of the landscape as fields touch the sky, hedges split the fields and rocks puncture the plains. Show us a landscape that emphasises the graphic qualities of the natural world.


• September –
  
Soft portraits – subtle and muted
Shoot a sensitive portrait using soft light and muted colours. Keep the mid-tone contrast low so we can see smooth shapes and delicate form, and maybe just use window light and a reflector. Close-up or distant, make it peaceful, relaxed, soft and natural. Venture away from the energy high street studio.


• October –
  
Step back – something old…
…something borrowed, something sepia toned? Find something old and photograph it in way fashioned to its era. Transport us to the warm-toned 1880’s with a window-lit wooden toy, or to the sixties with a muddy naked hippy in faded colour-print, rations and the blitz in black and white or the garish ’80 with Basildon-chic and over-sized electronics.


• November –
  
A good long look – open shutter
What’s the shutter speed of your eye? The lower the light the longer the ‘exposure’, and motion becomes blurred. Shoot a long exposure – longer than usual – and make it show in the picture. Combine the still and the moving, streak reality into art or create an effect to catch the eye.


• December –
  
Wet – fluid, drips and drops
Shot wet, in the rain or in a puddle. Reflect the world or magnify it. Saturate a colour, wash it away or soak it through. Take a picture that uses water or shows its powerful effects.

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