The verdict is in

Our special guest judge, Hans Lignell, President of the Mosman Camera Club, has given us the envelope and we’re very pleased to announce the winners of the Lens of Youth photography competition.

But first, our sincere thanks to Hans for giving of his time and expertise so generously; to Morgan at Flickr who, having heard about the competition, gave us Flickr swag to give to you; and most of all, the photographers who shared their work with us.

So, here are the winners, and the judge’s comments…

First place

I don’t want to feel no more by considerthings

I was very impressed with the fact that from the notes attached to this image on her Flickr site, it appears that the photographer has placed herself in such a pose, so as to create a character that’s full of despair and anguish at the world in which she lives.

This image is full of emotion as the subject is on just one knee with bare feet in a pool of water. There is no need to show us any more, as we are all too aware of her plight as she holds her head and stares forlornly.

It has been excellently composed with the slightly acute shooting angle and looks ideal in monochrome.

This is an outstanding image that’s full of drama and has been very well executed. Congratulations Jocelyn.

Second place

Taking the love by Eva Kiss

From the moment I saw this image I loved it, and I must admit that I deliberated for well over two weeks as to whether this one should be the winner or not.

Unfortunately I had to make a choice, but in my opinion, they should both be in 1st place.

This particular image works beautifully as it’s so simple but yet tells us a great deal about the photographer as we see her sitting on the edge of her bed “taking the love” from the rays of sunshine at the end of the day. She has allowed us into her private sanctuary with her drawings, photographs, paper clippings etc all around her. This is her world.

The composition is excellent and technically it works very well especially the lovely halo effect around her face.

Eva, this is a beautiful setting and has been well thought out, well done.

Third place

A Motionless Dragonfly Awaiting Its Journey by Tristan Bartik

Whilst this image doesn’t have quite the same drama or story as the others, it is
nevertheless and excellent “nature shot” that is technically perfect.

The colours are wonderful and the depth of field is spot on so as to have the
background slightly out of focus thereby ensuring that our point of interest is the
beautiful dragonfly. The head of the subject is pin sharp and the angle at which it’s been shot takes into consideration the stunning gossamer wings.

Keep up the excellent work, you have some wonderful ideas.

Highly commended

It would be extremely remiss of me if I were not to mention two other photographers whose work I found to be excellent.

• crazycrayola – Her work is beautiful as she can make such a simple scene into a wonderful image that tells a story.
• jaackmason1 – His work on Flickr is terrific as he takes photographs of virtually everything insight.

Viewers’ choice

dunbar and cam by sam cousins

Judge’s comments

Overall I felt that the standard of the images was outstanding and it was refreshing to see a totally different perspective on what could have been some simple shots.

Without wishing to name them, several photographers had a unique style and quality about their work and this was more evident when I viewed their respective Flickr sites.

These young people were not afraid to break some traditional rules and they seemed to experiment a great deal which in most cases paid off. Technically speaking they were very advanced and there was hardly an image that failed in this regard.

Unfortunately in all judging, the view of the judge is totally subjective and what may appeal to them may not to others. This is also reflected in the same way as there are so many different votes in the People Choice Award

It’s simply not possible to please everyone in this type of competition.

There were so many images that appealed to me and several of them were good enough to take first place, however in the end, the decision came down to the top two as they were more (and I would like you to remember this phrase) “a photograph about, as opposed to a photograph of”.

The essence of a good photograph is that it has the ability to make the viewer think about it. They want to know what the story is behind the image and think as to why the photographer took it in the first place.

This is what I mean when I say it should be “about” and not just “of”.

However, that’s not to say that every image must fit into this category, on the contrary, there are many outstanding photographs that are of objects and they work fine.

Congratulations to all the photographers who took part, in the main your work is terrific and it’s been my absolute pleasure to critique it.

Hans Lignell
President, Mosman Camera Club
www.mosmancameraclub.org.au

Prizewinners Loot

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