Book Week Video Competition!

How do bridges bring people and places together? How do stories act as bridges between people, the past and new ideas?

This year for Book Week, Mosman Library is having a video competition for Shorelink members aged between 13 and 18 years old. Entries are due on 20 August 2010 and winners will be announced on 26 August 2010 during Book Week.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Write a short story that features a bridge
OR
Review a story that connected you to something or someone you would have never known otherwise.
2. Make a video of yourself telling your story/review and upload it to the web
3. Fill out an entry form and send your video to us!

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
• This competition is strictly for Shorelink library members aged between 13-18 years..
• Entries must be received by 5.30pm on the 20 August 2010.
• Entries will be judged during book week.
• Winners will be announced on the Teen Blog on 26 August 2010 and contacted by telephone.
• There will be 2 prizes, one for 12-15 years and one for 16-18 years.

THEME
• Each video should relate to the Children’s Book Week theme of “Crossing the Story Bridge”.
• Videos will be judged on creative interpretation of the theme and will not be penalised for limitations in equipment or software.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
• Video must be posted on YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr (90 second maximum) or Animoto and the URL provided on your entry form.
• Video must comply with the Terms and Conditions of the sharing service used.
• Each video should be no longer than 2 minutes

Entries are due on 20 August 2010

24/7 Youth Film Festival

This August Mosman, Warringah, Pittwater and Manly Councils are teaming up again for the 8th Annual 24/7 Youth Film Festival where young people, aged between 12 & 24 years make a 7 minute film in 24 hours over one grueling weekend.

I had the honour of being in one of the competing teams in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and it was a pretty fantastic experience. I made friends I still keep in touch with even now that I’m way too old to enter, and some of those people I made friends with have gone on to careers in film and television.

The competition will launch 12 midday on Saturday 21st August and you’ll have 24 hours to make, edit and hand in a short film of up to 7 minutes.

In the lead up to the competition there will be some special workshops

• Editing – Monday 2 August
• Directing – Tuesday 3 August
• Acting for screen – Monday 16 August
• Cinematography – Tuesday 17 August

All workshops run from 6.00pm – 8.0pm and are held at the Warringah Mall Community Rooms and are free of charge.

Check out the 24/7 website, 247youthfilmfestival.tumblr.com or contact the organisers on 9978 4144

Mosman Youth Awards in Literature

Don’t forget to put in your entries for the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature!

These fantastic awards encourage excellence in writing amongst youth in the community. School children from Kindergarten to Year 12 are eligible to enter a piece of original prose of not more than 1,000 words or a piece of original poetry of at least 20 lines, both on a theme of the writer’s own choice.

Prizes are between $50 and $350 depending on category.

Youth Awards in Literature 2010 – entry form

Entries close Monday 31st May 2010, so don’t miss out on this great opportunity!

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

Lens of Youth: shortlisted entries

Hans Lignell of the Mosman Camera Club has kindly agreed to judge the competition and has shortlisted 25 entries.

View the shortlisted entries along with the judge’s comments in these two galleries: shortlist #1 and shortlist #2.

(Flickr only allows 18 photos per gallery, which is why there are two galleries.)

Now we want you to choose your favourite.

The viewers’ choice, along with three prizewinners selected by Hans Lignell, will be announced on this blog during Library & Information Week, on 25 May 2010. The shortlisted photos will also be displayed in the Library, where you can pick up a paper voting form.