Kristi Elias’ fine art portrait photography transports her subjects through space and time to capture the essence of their personality or to emphasize their vocation or passion. The five-year-old subject of this Sunset Print Award winner is competitive in martial arts, so Elias sent him underground and created an image that exudes toughness. Entitled You Won’t Bully Me, the print scored a 91 at the Professional Photographers of California annual state competition. It’s a show-stopping image that grabbed the judges’ attention. “It has impact because it’s shocking. You don’t expect to see a kid looking that tough at that age in what is clearly a rough urban underground area,” says Elias. “I cropped into the top of his head to give it more of a forced perspective, which makes him look tougher. The overall color palette I used also portrays aggression and toughness, which is what I was going for.” Photographed in Kristi Sutton Elias Photography’s waterfront studio in Long Beach,...

Jeff Gulle has found photogenic locations to demonstrate photography techniques to his students at North Georgia Technical College in Clarksville, Ga. The garage featured in this Sunset Print Award winner at the Georgia Professional Photographers Association competition, The Mechanic, is one of those favored spots.

Melissa Thompson, owner of Pistachio Alley Photography in Cody, Wyo., is known far and wide for her stellar baby photography. Though it’s not all she does, it’s her specialty. Each year she highlights her specialty at competition. This image, She’s a Dream, was entered in both the Wyoming and Montana Professional Photographer competitions. At the Montana competition, She’s a Dream wowed the judges and she picked up a Sunset Print Award. Printed at Pistachio Alley on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag 315g with a Canon iPF8300, Thompson says, “The judges for both state competitions liked the presentation, the paper it was printed on and the print quality. The general consensus was how the image worked well with the Sunset Velvet paper and how the tones were muted, not showing a true black, giving it a dreamlike quality.” To create the image, Thompson started with a concept she came up with last year for competition, but says she shelved it because “it just wasn’t working out right.”...

Almost a year ago we profiled the surreal digital art of Elaine Hughes, who won a Sunset Print Award for Dream World. This year, Elaine’s husband, Robert, enters the fray with his Sunset Print Award-winning image entitled Playing Card.

Misunderstandings sometimes pay off. David Hyttsten, owner of David’s Photography in Monticello, Minn., thought that he needed to print on LexJet Sunset inkjet media to be eligible for the Sunset Print Award at the recent Northern Light PPA print competition.

At first glance, this Sunset Print Award winner is abstract art, but for Linda Dahlberg, owner of Creative Cards by Linda in Newburyport, Mass., it’s far more than that and atypical of her New England landscape and seascape photography. Dahlberg won the award for Best Print in Show – as well as a Sunset gift certificate, trophy and pin – at the recent Fine Art of Photography competition in Plymouth, Mass., for her print entitled Lowell’s Boat Shop Workroom Door, which is exactly what it is. Lowell’s Boat Shop, according to Dahlberg, is the oldest continually-running boat shop in the U.S., and is on the Merrimack River in Amesbury, Mass. “The building is so very special and it’s so neat to know that men and women are still making wooden boats. I’m attracted to the place because it’s all wood,” says Dahlberg. “The paint on that door is what the guys must do when they’re done painting to clean up their brushes. I’m not an abstract photographer; I’m a landscape photographer, but I...

If you’re familiar with DockDogs, you might be a dog lover, and particularly a lover of dog-oriented sporting events. DockDogs is a canine aquatics competition with a number of events including Big Air, Speed Retrieve, Extreme Vertical and Iron Dog.

Pete Wright’s photography is all about capturing and producing the tiniest details, from the initial setting all the way through to print. It was Wright’s attention to detail, in addition to his technical expertise, that made Temptress a Sunset Print Award winner at the recent PPA Southeast District competition. Wright pulled out all the stops for this photo shoot, which he did for a clothier and a jeweler. Both clients gave him free reign to produce images that would make them shine. Wright chose to render the images in his signature style, Film Noir. “I went to both of my clients and told them what era I was shooting, so they pulled out vintage clothing and jewelry. We had a hair and makeup artist come in and created the look we wanted for the models. Then I went on a hunt for a location and found a music studio that had created a speakeasy bar authentic to the era with the correct lighting and fixtures,” explains Wright. “My lighting style is different because I still shoot in...

Where does photography end and fine art begin? That’s the question the U.S. Copyright Office had for Wolfgang Jasper when he submitted his hybrid work for Copyright protection. It’s basically the same question judges at the recent Virginia Professional Photographers Association (VPPA) print competition.

Kelly Willis, owner of Modello Fine Portraits in Deer Park, Texas, made a deal with one her best clients who wanted a boudoir photo session. She gave the client and any friends who also wanted a boudoir session a special rate if they agreed to pose for photos she could use at competition.