PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Shoes

Secret ingredient:

Shoes

The first Iron Chef Photography project, run in March, was very popular, and a lot of fun. I’ve decided that I’ll run an Iron Chef project every three months, each time with a new secret ingredient. This time it’s “shoes”.

Your submissions must be a photo of a shoe or shoes. By this I mean that it must be the main subject, or the focus of the image. It can be a single shoe, a pair of shoes, or many shoes. It can be people shoes, horseshoes, or any other kind of literal shoes. Something to be worn on the feet.

I want to see a MESSAGE

Last time, we saw a lot of beautiful photos of forks, and I loved them! However, I want to push you in a specific direction with this project. I want the photo to have some kind of message. I’m not looking for beautiful photos of shoes. I want there to be something more.

Why are the shoes the subject of the photo? What do they tell the viewer? What are they doing? How do you feel when you look at them? Maybe you can make an obvious message, like stomping on a cigarette, or be more subtle by maybe implying oppression or freedom. Perhaps you could document an event from the shoes-eye-view, or make an avant garde artwork with footwear.

Whatever you decide to do, I want to see a message, and I’ll be instructing the judges to make their choices based on this. Of course, a beautiful photo with a message is still going to be better than an ugly one with a message :)

Project rules

• The photo must contain a clearly visible shoe or shoes as the subject or focus of the composition.
• This must be a physical and literal shoe, or its impression.
• The subject of the photo must be appropriate for a general audience. Implied artistic nudity is acceptable, but not more than that. The final decision about entry appropriateness is mine.
• Use any camera that you like.
• The photo must be taken within the period of the project.
• I will be accepting ONE and only one entry per person, so pick your best shot.
• Upload the photo to your preferred photo sharing service or blog.
• All submissions must be on publicly accessible pages – no myspace or facebook accounts please.
• Flickr entries must allow access to “All Sizes”, otherwise I have to use a workaround to save the image.
• Submissions will be identified and linked, there are no anonymous submissions to this project.
• The vote will determine the winner of the Public Choice.
• The Judge’s choice and honorable mentions will be chosen by an as-yet undetermined judge or judges.
• Submit your entry by filling out the form below
• You agree to the Terms of Entry
• These rules may change at any stage during the project if I feel that it is necessary.

Whether a photograph is appropriate is finally up to my discretion. If I reject an entry, I’ll give a full explanation why. You may take another photo and submit that in its place. It pays to submit your entry early!

Judging

Once the due date has passed, I’ll collate the entries and make a voting page where the photos can be seen by everyone. Readers will choose their favourite entry and place a vote for it. Voting will close on JUNE 29th (midnight AEST) and the results will be posted to the blog the next day.

Make sure you read and agree to the Terms before submitting your entry.

This project has concluded.

Terms: Any photo that you submit remains your sole property. I (Neil Creek) make no claims of ownership or copyright. By submitting a link to your photo, you grant me the right to include a copy of the photo, or a thumbnail of the photo in future posts on the blog (Neil Creek – Photographer) for the purposes of conducting the project, or to be used as an illustrative example in other future blog posts, or for the promotion of this project elsewhere on the blog or on other sites not controlled by me. In all cases all photos displayed for any purpose will be properly attributed and links will be provided to the creator where possible. The exception to the attribution obligation is on the submissions and voting pages, where the images are displayed anonymously for the purpose of conducting a fair vote. You also agree to allow me to place advertising on pages on this blog where your photo appears for the purposes of promoting a prize sponsor, or general advertising on the site, without any compensation. Judges’ decisions are final. The information collected as part of this project (including name, email, postal address etc) will be used only for the purposes of running the competition, and for the promotion of future projects. Your information will never be sold or given to third parties. By clicking submit on the form above, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to these terms.