Round 1 of the club’s POTY (Photographer of the Year) competition took place in October 2022.
The Judge was very kind and said up front that any image is one in which the author liked it, and no matter what they said, if the author liked it then great.
They seemed to award a minimum of 7/10 with the odd one or two getting a lower mark.
The theme for this round was ‘Urban Life’ and was one which immediately took me out of my comfort zone.
Preparation and obtaining some images
After watching some YouTube videos of street photographers, I had a wander around Norwich with my wife Kathryn as we both aimed to capture shots in this style.
I got a couple of shots while on holiday in North Wales but we were there for landscapes and coastal visits not towns or cities.
I had another wander around Norwich with my daughter Chloe and got some good shots.
Read my Street Photography Newbie blog to see how I got on taking images of this genre, and to see the range of shots I got.
A New Camera
I have really enjoyed shooting street images, and have bought another camera. I’ve bought a small Fuji walk about camera, what it’s hip to call an EDC (Every Day Camera).
The Fuji has a fixed 23mm lens (equivalent to the popular film days camera lens of 35mm) so it’s perfect for street shots or just general photography.
The fixed lens forces you to move around or adapt to getting the shot with what you’ve got.
It has a electronic viewfinder but can also switch to a more traditional optical viewfinder.
There’s a built in ND filter to help reduce light when shooting in very bright conditions (e.g. middle of the day, harsh sunlight street).
It’s got a built-in flash for lighting up a scene in the moment and a flip up screen for discreet street shooting.
It’s the analogue dials though which is what makes it fun. The shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation dials are all on the top via tactile dials. And aperture can be changes via a dial on the back of the lens.
Not that shooting landscapes and seascapes with all my other gear isn’t fun, but with the Fuji, it’s more fun and frictionless.
You don’t know you’re carrying the camera, it fits into a jacket pocket and the manual dials give you that retro feel.
So, back to it… how did I get on in round one of the club competition?
‘Urban Life’ Themed Image
I entered the shot below and titled it ‘Reflecting the Old in the New’
The judge gave it a score of 7/10 and gave the following feedback:
They said it was well seen by the author and they liked the tones in it, the blacks, the greys and the mid tones. Really, really nice image.
They said it’s important to try different crops when preparing to present your image to the viewer.
They said a square crop would’ve been better as the top of the images doesn’t add to it.
They said the person intruding into the image sort of takes away from it. It blocks into the old into the new. They recommended that I look at this image again with a square crop and recognised the difficulty in the person already being in the shot.
Their final comment was that it was well seen, and well captured., and awarded it 7/10 with a ‘Well Done’ to the author.
These are fair points and I’ve gone back to the image to see if I could apply those improvements.
I’ve cropped not quite square but tighter to eliminate the sky and rooftop. I’ve also used Lightroom’s new content-aware removal tool to take out the person.
I had to go back to the image again as I then noticed the person’s reflection in the glass window, so I used the same tool to remove that.
On the point of the person walking into the shot, I personally think it does add something to the image.
Without the person, the image is just the reflection, and given the person is in bottom left, I don’t think they’re intruding enough to lose any of the story of the image.
It’s also a person in present day, and therefore another ‘New’ element.
I’ve lined the shots up side-by-side below for comparison.
Free Choice Image
For my free choice, I entered the following shot from the Isle of Harris.
The judge said this was a nice image and that sunsets are difficult to handle. You have to use filters or really control your exposures.
They liked the foreground, mid ground and background elements and a really nice sky. A nice image and well seen, and they awarded it 7/10.
There wasn’t a lot of critique to go on here, and I’m guessing that this is most likely a good, rather than a great image.
On reflection, I think I have better shots but I probably rushed to pick something in a hurry because I spent far too much time procrastinating over the urban life image.
So, overall 14/20 ~ 70% isn’t all that bad!
Onwards and upwards…