There was a lot of discussion about these winners and losers. Good
portraits are difficult for most of us to make. Too straight forward and
the viewer has no interest. Too artsy and the viewer may not
understand. Light and composition are vital. That said, we felt these
three touched a good balance of those elements.
First place was a surprise in the end. We liked it from the start
because of it's simplicity, but as we read the caption, we understood
how the photographer skillfully combined the difficult elements to
make it a simple photo. Great light and toning, composition and
expressions, and a moment that has a commercial appeal make it a
very comfortable, catalog-quality portrait.
Second place is weird and unsettling and that made us want to know
more. We liked how the photographer made a clean photo with only a
couple meaningful elements, and a couple odd, out-of-place elements
that gave us reason to spend a little extra time with it and helped us
understand the unusual personality of the subject.
Third place has nice color and expressions on all five subjects, and
that drew us to it. The composition was slightly off and the electrical
conduit coming out of the middle subject's head hurt the photo in the
end, but it was obvious the subjects were comfortable and that is
commendable.
Judges:
John Starks/Daily Herald, Rick West/Daily Herald, Paul Valade/Daily Herald
Judges Comments
There was a lot of discussion about these winners and losers. Good portraits are difficult for most of us to make. Too straight forward and the viewer has no interest. Too artsy and the viewer may not understand. Light and composition are vital. That said, we felt these three touched a good balance of those elements. First place was a surprise in the end. We liked it from the start because of it's simplicity, but as we read the caption, we understood how the photographer skillfully combined the difficult elements to make it a simple photo. Great light and toning, composition and expressions, and a moment that has a commercial appeal make it a very comfortable, catalog-quality portrait. Second place is weird and unsettling and that made us want to know more. We liked how the photographer made a clean photo with only a couple meaningful elements, and a couple odd, out-of-place elements that gave us reason to spend a little extra time with it and helped us understand the unusual personality of the subject. Third place has nice color and expressions on all five subjects, and that drew us to it. The composition was slightly off and the electrical conduit coming out of the middle subject's head hurt the photo in the end, but it was obvious the subjects were comfortable and that is commendable.