Croydon Culture Click Photographic Competition

[Mike Farley]

There is another local photography competition which has just been announced and is being run by Croydon Commitment and the Mayor. The organisers are looking for an image which displays the essence of Croydon in one photograph and captures the vibrancy of the town. The top 14 shots will feature in a 2014 calendar which will be sold in aid of charity. There will also be prizes, a public exhibition and the best five photographs will be put on display in Bernard Weatherill House. Full details are in the attached PDF files.

At present some of the online publicity states that the closing date is 31 August, although the flyers included with the post give the final date as 20 September. I have checked with the organisers and it is the latter which is correct.

The possibility of including people in the shot is mentioned, although Rule 5 of the competition states that any photos must have been taken with the permission of the subject. This possibly rules out candid shots, especially if a number of individuals feature, but you might find it helpful to print off a copy of the competition poster to show anyone you wish to approach.

This competition is being held in a good cause and I encourage everyone to support it. Entry is free and there is the possibility of getting some publicity for the club if any members are successful.

[Mike Farley]

When looking at the competition details on the Croydon Commitment wedsite, I saw some information about how to submit entries which I have not seen elsewhere:

"All entries should be submitted with your name, age, email address, contact number and a caption to give the picture context and some insight into the story behind the photograph. The deadline for submissions is Friday 20th September, 2013."

It would be prudent to provide some additional information with your entry, if only to make sure that the judges are aware of what is being shown. This might not always be obvious, especially if the photo is more than a straight record shot and has creative aspects to it.

http://www.croydoncommitment.co.uk/

[Simon Clarkson]

I entered the Competition. I was fortunate enough to come as a runner up.

Were you the Michael Farley that won it??

Regards

Simon

[Mike Farley]

I entered the Competition. I was fortunate enough to come as a runner up.

Were you the Michael Farley that won it??

Regards

Simon

Hi Simon

Yes, that was me. Unfortunately I could not get to the reception where the winners were announced and my son went in my place. I did ask him to keep an eye out for you, but he thinks that you left soon after the presentation? Congratulations on getting your shot into the calendar. According to this announcement from the organisers, they are now on sale and I am planning to buy mine today.

http://www.whitelabelconsultants.org.uk ... 21-10-2013

[Simon Clarkson]

I did see your son, but we didn't speak. I liked your photo, did you use that Luminosity technique I showed you to get that result as it looked a little HDR..

I didn't leave early as I enjoyed sinking the free champagne .

I understand my photo will also be displayed in the new offices... Do you know whereabouts?

Nick should have a copy of the Calendar as we were all given one..

Regards

Simon

[Mike Farley]

Hi Simon

Yes, I did use the "Clarkson Method" on my image. I find it very useful for giving images a bit of an edge, although the Surrey Street Market shot has more of an HDR effect than I usually go for. The competition organisers said they wanted something vibrant, so that's what they got.

I use Silver Efex Pro 2 for my mono conversions and find that its Structure controls are are very good for bringing out textures. There is some more information in this post.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=625&p=3163&hilit=sep2#p3163

When I go into Croydon, I'll pop into Bernard Weatherill House to see if the pictures have been put up yet. I am expecting them to be somewhere in the foyer rather than in someone's office. I'll provide an update when I know more.

Thanks for the info about the calendars. I will need more than one, so I'll make a purchase anyway.

Very upset that I missed out on the free champagne!

[davidc]

Congratulations. I imagine winning it tastes even sweeter considering you used an image that only scored 7 in the DPI competition

Judges! *sigh*

[Mike Farley]

Congratulations. I imagine winning it tastes even sweeter considering you used an image that only scored 7 in the DPI competition

Judges! *sigh*

7? That would have been an achievement. It actually got 6½! I thought that was going to be the lowest score of the evening until another image was awarded a 6!

In the judge's defence, the image is very busy and I used it as I thought that it would work well on the large screen. Unfortunately, it did not project very well and did not look as impressive as I had hoped. If I had been judging, I would not have scored it very highly either.

[Mike Farley]

I popped into BWH this morning. No sign of the pictures at either the Croydon Access or Corporate Reception entrances and no one knew anything about them. I'll drop an e-mail to the organisers to find out what is happening.

[Peter Boughton]

There are five photos on the wall in the coridoor to the left of the "Community Space", of which one is yours, Mike.

Looking at the page linked above, I guess three of the others might be the ones mentioned here:

Michael’s work will be hung permanently in Croydon Council’s new home, Bernard Weatherill House, alongside three other shots – Rosalind Conti’s ‘A Busy Day at Surrey Street Market; John Morgan’s ‘A Touch of Nature’; and Will Armstrong’s ‘Iconic Ikea at Sundown’.

If that's the case I don't know what the fifth one might have been - unless all the pictures are currently displayed with the other nine being out of sight around the corner or somewhere else.