Prints that Win: The Mechanic

The Mechanic by Jeff Gulle

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.

Though it has the appearance of an HDR capture, Gulle says in situations like this where there is a lot of clutter he “cranks up the clarity and sharpness.” And, during processing, he did some cloning to clear out some of the distractions, like hoses, shelving and the cinderblock background, and shaded the edges.

“There’s really nothing in this photo that’s new and it works together in telling the story,” says Gulle.

Gulle used three lights to illuminate the image: one placed in the hinge of the pickup hood to illuminate the subject, one behind him and one illuminating the background.

“It was a little embarrassing, because my remote flash system wasn’t working and I spent 15-20 minutes fiddling with it in front of my students before I went back to using Nikon’s built-in wireless system to set off the flashes,” recalls Gulle. “I used a 24mm wide-angle lens at a 5.6 f-stop and dragged the shutter to 1/30 second.”

Gulle printed the image on Sunset Metallic Photo Paper. Gulle adds, “I’m addicted to the Sunset Metallic paper.”

Get Your Photos Ready for the International Photographic Competition

 

Images declared merit-worthy at the IPC then get a chance to earn a spot in the Loan Collection book. The 2013 cover features the work of Sunset Print Award winner Ann Naugher, M. Photog., CP.
Images declared merit-worthy at the IPC then get a chance to earn a spot in the Loan Collection book. The 2013 cover features the work of Sunset Print Award winner Ann Naugher, M. Photog., CP.

Professional Photographers of America (PPA) announced that it will begin accepting entries for the International Photographic Competition (IPC) on May 26. Entries for the annual competition will be due by July 10, though you get a break on the entry fee if you enter by June 26.

The judging will take place at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, Ga., August 4-7. Judging is open to the public and there is no RSVP or no cost to attend. Photographers are encouraged to attend since the judging is an excellent learning opportunity so you can find out how to maximize your chances of understanding and processing successfully the criteria evaluated during the competition.

At IPC photographers may submit individual prints or digital images, and/or physical or digital photo albums. The judging panels are made up of experienced and qualified experts who undergo a rigorous and methodical training. IPC offers participants the possibility to enter their work in up to four image categories: Portrait, Illustrative, Event Album and Non-Event Album.

Submissions are judged against PPA’s industry-wide recognized standard of excellence using the 12 Elements of a Merit Image. The 12 elements are: Impact, Technical Excellence, Creativity, Style, Composition, Presentation, Color Balance, Center of Interest, Lighting, Subject Matter Technique and Story Telling.

Images that score high in all 12 elements are declared merit-worthy and will move on to a second round of judging, for a chance to earn a place in the PPA Loan Collection. These images are published in the Loan Collection book published by Marathon Press and are also exhibited in print and on screen at Imaging USA, PPA’s annual photography convention and expo, which will be held Feb. 1-3, 2015, in Nashville.

The cost to enter is $95 for PPA members who register before midnight on June 26, and $160 for non-members. For PPA members who register through midnight on July 10, it’s $130 and $220 for non-members. No registrations will be accepted after July 10. For rules and complete details go to ppa.com/ipc.

Prints that Win: William

Cat Photograph

You don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy this portrait of William the cat by Sherie Dowsett. This striking close-up of William won the LexJet Sunset Award for Outstanding Print & Presentation at the Plymouth Center for the Arts competition in February.

Take any random group of people – say, print competition judges – and you’re sure to have a mix of cat lovers and those who are, at best, ambivalent about them. The recognition of this cat capture as an award-winner has less to do with the subject and much more about how the capture brings out the subject’s character.

When asked if she was surprised by the award, Dowsett replied: “Yes, absolutely. You’re always surprised, right? But I spent a lot of time thinking of the presentation. I used a rustic frame in an attempt to bring out that wild cat feel. I have a local framer I work with closely and we spent a lot of time discussing how to frame it. It captures a lot of attention, and not just cat lovers.”

The key to this capture, like most captures, is the lighting. Taken indoors on a winter day with the sun low on the horizon the interplay of shadow and light creates a depth that brings out William’s dual nature as he looks out the window.

“I was playing with this macro lens and was very close to William. He’s so used to me taking shots of him that he completely ignores me,” Dowsett recalls. “I love this shot because you can see the wild cat in this image and the softer side of him; it just depends on how you look at it. I see it differently than other people might because I know what he’s like as a cat. He’s always faithfully at my side looking for attention, never catches anything and can only clumsily climb trees, but someone else may just see his wild side.”

Dowsett is a part-time photographer who lives in Amherst, N.H. A native of England, she moved from the Midwest a few years ago to take advantage of the great outdoors that surround her home in Amherst. Since most of her photography is nature-focused using only natural light, it was the perfect fit.

For more information about Dowsett’s photography, go to: http://sheriedowsettphotography.com/Home.html

Next Level Photography Workshop at Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Photography workshop in the Great Smoky Mountains

Winners of the past four Photographer of the Year titles in Ohio (PPA of Ohio), and with more than 40 years of professional experience between them, Darrell Moll and Rod Brown are hosting a Next Level Workshop at Great Smoky Mountain National Park, April 11-14.

Geared toward advanced amateurs and professionals looking to take their landscape photography to the next level, the workshop will take place mostly in the field capturing the best landscape shots possible.

“Rod and I are both very familiar with the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We know where all the iconic images are, but we also know where the quieter areas of the park where you can get just as good, if not better images, than the iconic spots,” explains Moll. “We keep it flexible based on the conditions: based on the light we’ll know where to go that will be the best spot for the best chance to get good images. We teach what techniques the professionals use in the field to guarantee they get the best results before they move onto the next spot, as well as what they may have missed.”

Moll adds that he shoots Canon and prefers to process in Photoshop while Brown shoots Nikon and prefers to use Lightroom.

“If you’re shooting Canon, I’ve got you covered, and if you’re shooting Nikon, Rod’s got you covered, and the same with Photoshop and Lightroom,” says Moll. “But beyond that we both use the same tools right down the line, including LexJet paper for our studio printing.”

The workshop is $795 while spots last, and for more information go to www.ddnlw.com.