PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Paperclip

Secret ingredient:

Paperclip

It’s been a while since we last had a project here, so I thought it was about time. In the past, the Iron Chef Photographer projects have been very popular, and in the wake of the recent Australian Canon Photo5 competition with the same concept, I thought it would be fun to do another. For those who are new to the blog, the Iron Chef Photographer projects challenge everyone to take a creative or compelling photograph featuring a mystery subject. This time, the item is a paperclip.

Your submissions must be a photo of a paperclip or paperclips. By this I mean that it must be the main subject, or the focus of the image. It can be any kind of paperclip, the traditional kind, plastic coated or one of the new modern designs. It can be in its original form, or bent into an interesting shape. It can be by itself or combined with other objects, perhaps as a craft project.

You can go for any of a number of styles of photos too. You could simply take a beautiful photo of a paperclip, or you may want to use it in a clever way that conveys a powerful message. Maybe spell out a message directly by bending the paperclip into letters, or perhaps use the paperclip to demonstrate some amazing scientific principle. Its up to you.

The item, however, MUST be a paperclip. This excludes staples, pins, spring clips, clamps or any other kind of fasteners that one would not call a paperclip.

To participate in the project, simply take your photo, upload it to your Flickr account, and tag the image: lpncironchefpaperclip by the closing date of December 25th AEST

Project rules

• The photo must contain a clearly visible paperclip or paperclips as the subject or focus of the composition.
• This must be a physical and literal paperclip, 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: Dec 1st – Dec 25th AEST.
• I will be accepting ONE and only one entry per person, so pick your best shot.
• All photos are to be uploaded to Flickr – this is for practical reasons to allow me to easily display the images. Flickr accounts are free, and I highly recommend one to all photographers.
• Entries must allow access to “All Sizes” (set in your Flickr preferences by default), 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.
• Unlike previous projects, there will be no judges selecting winners this time.
• To submit your photo as an entry to the project, it MUST be uploaded to Flickr and given the tag: lpncironchefpaperclip
• 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 DECEMBER 30th (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.

Links

You can see the submissions as they are uploaded here.

You may discuss the project and share your photos or any alternatives you choose not to submit in the Learning Photography with Neil Creek Forum.

Have fun and good luck!

Terms: Any photo that you submit remains your sole property. I (Neil Creek) make no claims of ownership or copyright. By submitting 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. 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. Voting results are final. Any information collected as part of this project 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. You agree to allow Neil Creek or his representatives to contact you in future via your Flickr account to notify you about points of interest regarding this project, and to advise you of future projects. By clicking submit on the form above, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to these terms.