PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Shoes submissions
- At July 07, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In Projects
2
Unfortunately this project was a bit of a fizzler. Due to real life circumstances beyond my control, the previous project ran late, which when combined with the amount of work it takes to pull together a project post, led me to put it off till late in the month. Naturally people didn’t have enough time to get out and take a photo for the project, so we only had a few entries.
My sincere apologies to those who went to the effort of taking and submitting a photo. You are to be commended, and thank you for supporting the project. You can see the seven cool photos that were submitted below, but this time there won’t be any voting or judging of the submissions. You can just enjoy them all as they are.
I’ll be putting together a new project post tomorrow :)
PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Shoes
- At June 14, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In Projects
6
Photo: gilles chiroleu – CC
Photo: Olivier Bareau – CC
Photo: celinet – CC
Photo: striatic – CC
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.
PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Results
- At April 10, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In Projects
12
Congratulations to the Winners
Public Choice : Angela Alston |
Judge’s Choice : Arlo C. Bates |
The first Iron Chef Photography project was a very interesting and surprising experience, both in terms of the submissions and the way in which the project was run. For the first time submissions were anonymous, and perhaps more importantly, a panel of independent judges helped to choose the judges’ choice winner.
My initial concept for the project was to use a mundane object to convey an artistic message. The majority of the entries, however, were more artistic renderings of a fork, as a fork. With a handful of inspired exceptions, most photographers chose to take the most beautiful photo of a fork possible. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, and it’s allowed by the rules, and I think we saw a remarkable variety and creativity with these kinds of shots. Various kinds of lighting, colour, backdrop, setting and arrangements were used to show striking images of forks. I was, however hoping for more “reinterpretation”. Perhaps next time, I’ll make the project rules a little more directed.
Having said all that, the quality of the images submitted was outstanding. The judges had a difficult time with their selections, and there was surprisingly little agreement with only two photos receiving points from more than one judge. There was even a tie for first place! As outlined in the project rules, that left it to me to decide the overall winner.
Below you can see all the photos the judges awarded points to in descending point order, along with the comments the judges gave. Given how difficult it was for the judges to make their choices, you should be very proud of yourself if you were awarded even one point.
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Photo by: Arlo C. Bates | |
Andrew 3 points |
A strong, graphic design with powerful colour. Simple yet effective. | |
Brian 1 point |
Simple, well executed, and bold. The background color is the first thing that jumps out at me on this one. It’s very strong, and it contains a certain level of imperfection in the upper right and lower left corners – much better than a solid background. The out of proportion shadow is the next thing that grabs me. The fork and its shadow exhibit a certain level of symmetry, but at the same time they are completely different from each other. Very bold! And a real eye-catcher! | |
Neil tie-breaker |
Good composition, vivid, bold colour, unique fork, but most impressive of all is the fact that the fork isn’t the real subject, its shadow is. The extreme contrast in the photo gives the shadow a presence of its own, even stronger than the thing casting it. The shadow is such a strong element, it has its own character and seems to be expecting an interpretation by the viewer. |
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Photo by: Chica | |
Andreas 3 points |
This image combines great use of complementary color, lighting and shallow DOF, and it’s a striking composition as well. | |
Andrew 1 point |
Beautiful use of light. I’d love to see this in black and white. What’s up with the marble? |
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Photo by: the_wolf_brigade | |
Brian 3 points |
This photo is right up my alley. For starters, it’s black and white. This is very suiting for this photo since there probably wasn’t a lot of color to begin with. In addition to that, the photos on the plate are what really make this image shine. The scene is so well composed and thought-out, I can seriously imagine this as a framed print hanging in a gallery from a famous artist. Well done! And very creative! |
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Photo by: Angela Alston | |
Andrew 2 points |
Nice colours. Interesting use of technique combined with a close up view to create a colourful abstract image. |
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Photo by: Therese |
|
Andreas 2 points |
For the mystery that it creates. This image may not be technically perfect, but it makes me wonder, and that’s one of the most important things photography is about. |
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Photo by: Anthea Brown | |
Brian 2 points |
Besides black and white, I’m a real sucker for gritty photos. The colors in this image just scream “gritty” to me. The harsh contrast serves to magnify that grit, and the background is very well chosen. The other thing I love about this photo is the shadow from the second fork – it adds an extra dimension to the composition and helps balance out the strong verticals with some horizontal. Great composition! And great post-processing! |
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Photo by: Janice | |
Andreas 1 point |
I love the strange effect of this unusual configuration of forks. I’d really like to see a variation where the row of forks extends to infinity (well, at least completely through the upper right corner). |
Public Vote Results
![]() Angela Alston |
![]() Philip Sharman |
![]() Janice |
![]() David Mackie |
![]() Anthea Brown |
![]() Arlo C. Bates |
![]() Matt Parker |
![]() the_wolf_brigade |
![]() Katie Nelson |
![]() Amy |
![]() April Siegfried |
![]() Iain |
![]() Chris Hayes |
![]() Lynn Koellermeier |
![]() Cyler Parent |
![]() Georgy Bykov |
![]() kukolka2008 |
![]() Chica |
![]() Oleg Kurapov |
![]() Royston Kane |
![]() Darren |
![]() Bob Stothfang |
![]() Chris/Aperture Image |
![]() Mandy |
![]() Pauline Riederer |
![]() Antoine Khater |
![]() Therese |
![]() Andrew Smith |
Thank you to everyone who participated in the project. Thank you also to everyone who voted in the public choice poll, and especially thank you to the three judges. Please have a look at their bios below and visit their sites to check out their fantastic photography.
My apologies for making you all wait for so long for the results for this project. It’s been a challenging couple of weeks (see previous posts on this blog for details). As a result of the delay, I have decided to postpone the project I was planning for April until May. Don’t worry though, we’ll still be doing a project this month, but it will be a lot more relaxed, with no voting and no winners, it will simply be a participation project.
Make sure to check back in the next day or so for more information about April’s project: Share the Love.
The judges
Brian Auer is a photographer currently residing in the San Diego area. He’s been actively pursuing the art of photography since 2003, and his daily quest is to become a better photographer. The Fine Art Photoblog is Brian’s creation and he has selected some of the finest and most enthusiastic photographers to participate in this website. He also blogs about photography at the Epic Edits Weblog and shares his work at Flickr.
Andrew Gibson is a photographer who was born in the UK and graduated from the Blackpool & Fylde College with a BA (Hons) Photography in 1999. One region he’s been drawn back to time and time again is South America, in particular Argentina and the Andean regions of Boliva and Peru. It’s for this reason that he’s moved to Argentina to focus on photographing and writing about these countries.
Andreas Manessinger is a photographer working in Vienna, Austria who spends his weekends in Carinthia, Austria’s most southern, sunny province. Since autumn 2006 he has a photoblog where he posts one image per day, and that means shot, processed and posted at the same day. His work is mostly street photography when he is in Vienna, and landscapes and rural environments on weekends, but these are no hard rules.
PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Fork: Voting
- At March 25, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In Projects
7
This project has concluded. You can see the results here.
Public Choice
PUBLIC CHOICE Voting on the “Iron Chef Photography – Fork” photography project is now open!
When voting, please keep in mind the purpose of this project, which is to reinterpret an everyday object with an artistic message, to make the mundane compelling. Vote for up to THREE photos you like best. You may vote for fewer than three if you wish. If you are undecided between two or more photos, I encourage you to lean towards giving your vote to those which were more creative with the artistic message and interpretation of the subject. Having said that, if you have three definite favourites, vote for those without hesitation! Make sure you click on the thumbnails to see the full sized version of all photos! Some of them have details that aren’t visible in the thumbnails.
It is permitted to vote for your own photo, but I encourage you to give your choices to other photographers. If you recognise a photo as being made by a friend, you are welcome to vote for them, but please remember this is a project about creative photography, not a popularity contest. Voting is anonymous. The final winner will be the photo with the most votes. In the event of a tie I will choose from the tied photos. Voting will remain open till 11:59pm March 30th, and the winner will be announced on March 31st (Australian Eastern Standard Time – Check the time in your own area).
Judge’s Choice
The three judges will be voting independently, without consultation. I will be giving them the same instructions as above for the public vote. However the judges will vote by giving three points to their first choice, two to their second and one point to their third choice. I will also be asking them to write a line or two about why they chose the particular photos. I will then tally the scores, and the highest scoring photo will be awarded Judges Choice. The next three highest scoring will be awarded honorable mentions. All photos given points by the judges will be displayed along with the comments. In the event of a tie, I will select the winner. This should be an interesting learning experience for us all!
Congratulations to all participants and good luck!
Submissions
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The judges
Brian Auer is a photographer currently residing in the San Diego area. He’s been actively pursuing the art of photography since 2003, and his daily quest is to become a better photographer. The Fine Art Photoblog is Brian’s creation and he has selected some of the finest and most enthusiastic photographers to participate in this website. He also blogs about photography at the Epic Edits Weblog and shares his work at Flickr.
Andrew Gibson is a photographer who was born in the UK and graduated from the Blackpool & Fylde College with a BA (Hons) Photography in 1999. One region he’s been drawn back to time and time again is South America, in particular Argentina and the Andean regions of Boliva and Peru. It’s for this reason that he’s moved to Argentina to focus on photographing and writing about these countries.
Andreas Manessinger is a photographer working in Vienna, Austria who spends his weekends in Carinthia, Austria’s most southern, sunny province. Since autumn 2006 he has a photoblog where he posts one image per day, and that means shot, processed and posted at the same day. His work is mostly street photography when he is in Vienna, and landscapes and rural environments on weekends, but these are no hard rules.
PROJECT: Iron Chef Photography – Fork: Submissions
- At March 13, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In Projects
3
This project has concluded. You can see the results here.
The atmosphere is intense, here in the Iron Chef Photography arena. When the secret ingredient was revealed, you could almost hear the ideas bouncing around inside the heads of the challengers. This is shaping up to be an epic battle, and it can only be a good thing for photography!
Also, we can now announce our panel of expert judges. Each one of them is an incredibly talented photographer with a creative eye and nose for talent. All three are members of the instant hit, Fine Art Photo Blog. They’ll be tough to impress, but I’m certain that they will be able to share some of their years of accumilated wisdom with the the successful challengers.
Let’s indroduce the judges
Brian Auer is a photographer currently residing in the San Diego area. He’s been actively pursuing the art of photography since 2003, and his daily quest is to become a better photographer. The Fine Art Photoblog is Brian’s creation and he has selected some of the finest and most enthusiastic photographers to participate in this website. He also blogs about photography at the Epic Edits Weblog and shares his work at Flickr.
Andrew Gibson is a photographer who was born in the UK and graduated from the Blackpool & Fylde College with a BA (Hons) Photography in 1999. One region he’s been drawn back to time and time again is South America, in particular Argentina and the Andean regions of Boliva and Peru. It’s for this reason that he’s moved to Argentina to focus on photographing and writing about these countries.
Andreas Manessinger is a photographer working in Vienna, Austria who spends his weekends in Carinthia, Austria’s most southern, sunny province. Since autumn 2006 he has a photoblog where he posts one image per day, and that means shot, processed and posted at the same day. His work is mostly street photography when he is in Vienna, and landscapes and rural environments on weekends, but these are no hard rules.
Now lets see how the battle is progressing by taking a look at the submissions so far.
Submissions
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What an outstanding selection of photographs, I’m sure you agree! Keep watching this page for more submissions, which will be added as they come in!
Don’t forget, the due date is MARCH 24th
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