My Top 10 Photos for 2008
- At January 05, 2009
- By Neil Creek
- In Feature
25
2008 was a hell of a year. It was dominated by Naomi’s string of terrible medical issues, one after another (she’s doing alright at the moment), which had a big impact on the time and motivation I had for photography. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying photography, and by the end of the year I had decided to pursue photography as my full-time career.
Last year, around this time, I wrote a post looking back over the year that had been and sharing my favourite photos. It has become one of the most popular posts on my blog. So here is my collection of the Top 10 Photos of 2008, in chronological order. I hope you enjoy them!
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Manifriends Chelsea Beach 080114
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Ever in love with strobist techniques, I had a bit of fun down at the beach with some of my Manifest friends. At first they were confused why I was asking them to “jump” in the dark, but once they saw some of the results on the back of the camera, they really got into it!
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Film Noir Matt
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Sometimes cliche, overly dramatic, Hollywood lighting effects can actually look pretty damned cool :) Matt visited one day and we had a lot of fun taking all kinds of over the top photos. This was my favourite by far, and reminds me of some 1930s detective movie.
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Washing Day
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Early in the year I had a lot of fun with a series of POV fisheye photographs, putting the camera in unusual places. One of my favourites, and most popular, was this one inside the washing machine. This image also made it into Strobist’s favourites on Flickr.
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Handsome in White
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Our beloved cat Chibi has always been handsome in our eyes, but this particular photo of him showed the rest of the world what a good looking fellow he really is. Naomi has a print of this framed on her desk at work.
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The Bridal Party in Cafe
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2008 really was a year of weddings, and I was the official photographer for three weddings of family and friends. This photo was taken at my sister-in-law’s wedding. After the ceremony we went outside for a few photos, and quickly took an outdoor table at a cafe. I had just enough time to drop my flash on a stand behind the party, squeeze off half a dozen shots, and make a run for it before we annoyed the cafe proprietor.
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Night Sky Over Country House
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I love fisheye photos of the night sky, for example, my most popular photo on Flickr, and Galaxy Rising in 2007’s top 10. I’m particularly fond of this photo because of the charming country house in the foreground, the fact that the galaxy is nice and high in the sky, and the strobist techniques I successfully used to illuminate the house.
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Siera and Annay as Freya and Kuja
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I’ve always loved photographing my friends in wonderful costumes as they attend anime conventions, but this year I went the extra mile and actually set up a studio on site. I took lots of photos I am proud of, but I chose this one for these reasons: the two shown here are two of my favourite and most skilled costumers, they’re also great friends, they look absolutely gorgeous, and Annie on the right provided the photo with some nice fan-service ;)
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Aspiring Angel
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I participated in the Canon Photo5 competition in 2008, and although I didn’t make the finalists, I was very happy with the photos I submitted, especially this one. Annie, who appears in the previous image, and also in last year’s Top10 list, was the wonderful model for this photo. I feel that this image was a big success for me – a staged and produced photo (the first I have really attempted) that went from vision to result without undergoing any significant change.
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Chandran Wedding
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This wedding, between two friends, was a lot of fun and I had a wonderful setting and great overcast light. I like this photo in particular, because the couple had forgotten about me entirely, and were lost in each others eyes. A print of this photo sits on the couple’s desk at home.
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Hibberd Tickler Wedding
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Finally, another wedding. This one was the most challenging one yet, due to the poor and unpredictable weather. In the end, the wild weather gave me this glorious sky, which I took advantage of as soon as I saw it. Once again I used strobist techniques to balance the exposure on the bridal party with the bright sky behind them. The dramatic photo really jumped out at me on the back of the camera, and I knew instantly that this was a special photo.
New Site Goes Live and First Flyer Revealed
- At December 12, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In business
- 14
I made a life decision a few weeks ago – I want to be a photographer. That may sound obvious to readers of this blog, but for years I have been a web developer who takes photographs. Now I have decided that I’ve had enough of web development, and I’m going to focus my attention on making a living from my photography. Of course, if the right web job comes along for the right money, I won’t turn it down. But this decision was all about changing how I saw myself.
Since making this decision I have been working hard to make it a reality. I have done a complete overhaul of my web site ( http://neil.creek.name ) which had only ever been a half-hearted effort, and have started brainstorming ideas to find work. One of those ideas has come from friends and family who have recently had children. They have often said “We love the photos you take of our children, and I’m sure you could sell your services to other parents we know.” With that thought in mind, Naomi and I have worked on creating my first promotional flyer.
New Web Site
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The new web site is built around a collection of six subject-specific folios of my work. Along with the collections of photos, for the first time I am promoting my services as a photographer for hire, with actual prices, and the facility to submit a quote request. The six folios on show at the moment are: portraits, nature, weddings, costuming, commercial and special effects. I may add other sections in the future, the next one to be added will probably be panoramic photography.
Writing marketing copy has never been something I enjoy, and I find it difficult to try to convince people to part with their money. However I am confident in my skills as a photographer, so I don’t feel that I am offering something that isn’t worth what I am asking.
I have received a lot of help with the site redevelopment, most importantly and most effectively from my darling wife Naomi. She has supported and encouraged me every step of the way, and that has helped me more than anything. The Twitter community have also helped me in various ways for which I am grateful. I am especially grateful to Glenn Murray (twitter: @divinewrite web: http://www.divinewrite.com) for the detailed thoughts he offered on both the “voice” of the copy and on making the site search-friendly. I still have some work to do on the site to polish it up and complete Glenn’s suggestions, but that should be completed in a week or two.
Please take the time to have a look through my new site. Enjoy the folios, send the link to friends, and please consider me if you live near Melbourne, Australia and are in need of a photographer.
Family Photos Flyer
This is the first tangible result of my new self-promotional push. This flyer design will soon be printed and handed in large bundles to everyone we know who knows people with families. Hopefully when the word gets out, the work will come in. I plan to do other flyers in the future, especially for weddings, but I’ll see how this one goes first, and learn from any mistakes we make this time around.
Feel free to download the PDF of the flyer yourself and print it off for yourself or friends, if you know someone who might be interested in my services! Who knows, I might even be able to think of some kind of referrer bonus or something. It’s early days!
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
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Public Choice : Angela Alston
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Judge’s Choice : Arlo C. Bates
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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? |
|
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 |
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| 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.
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