Blog Exercise 1

In this blog exercise, I am supposed to browse through these photography competition websites: World Press Photo of the Year, International Photographic Art Prize “Arte Laguna” International Photography Contest (National Geographic Magazine), Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest, The Art of Photography Show and Digital Camera Photographer of the Year, and do the following tasks:

1. Select one winner and state briefly his/ her winning strategies
2. If I were one of the judges, state which picture I will select as an overall winner.
3. Give my comment to defend my judgement for the chosen winning photograph.


1. The Winner’s Winning Strategies

One of the winners I have selected from the above mentioned websites is Mr. Michael Kai, the winner of the First International Photographic Art Prize "Arte Laguna". He won because of his creative use of optical illusions, designed alternatives, the manipulation of room perceptions and objects as reference points to challenge viewers’ perspective on the construction of our perceived environment. In addition, his innovative way of using people’s interpretation of two-dimensional into three-dimensional images presents a different perceptive in visualizing our environment.


2. The Overall Winner

After browsing through the above mentioned websites, I felt that the overall winner is Mr. Tan Choon Wee from the site, Digital Camera Photographer of The Year 2009 with the photograph titled, Fun Bathing.


3. My Comments For The Winning Photograph

The photo illustrates the culture and the way of life led by the villagers in Bali, Indonesia. The photograph captures the movement of the children bathing and the water beautifully. The composition and colour is wonderful. I love the dark waterfall background because it serves as a good contrast for all the children and it brought out the movement of the children distinctly. The shot brought out the feelings of joy and magic, which were very refreshing to me.