It's That Time Again...

Once again, I'll be entering the Guardian's monthly travel photo competition and, once again, I'm having a hard time deciding which photo to enter. The theme this month is "Journey", and I have several travel photos that I think might fit the bill (below), but I can't decide which is most appropriate. As always, any thoughts/feedback are greatly appreciated!

Option 1: An old helicopter in the botanical gardens in Volta, Ghana.

Option 2: An airplane at the edge of the lake in Alaska.

Option 3: City directions from the Belfort in Bruges.

Option 4: On the boat ride to Ganvie stilt village in Benin.

Option 5: From the bus on a road through the Volta region in Ghana.

(In)decisions

Most of my time lately has been devoted to shooting portraits (see my previous post) and some new travel photos in Germany, France, and Belgium (below), but I also have some exciting news to share. In early March, I decided to enter the Guardian newspaper "Been There" travel photo competition. Much to my surprise and pleasure, I was selected as a finalist for the March competition, and my photo was published online (click here to view my photo, entitled Solitude on Stanley Lake). Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty motivated to enter the April competition, so I need to make some decisions.


Unfortunately, as usual, I'm having a hard time deciding which photo to enter, and the photo is due tomorrow (the 23rd). The theme for April is "Street Life"--anything which captures daily life in an urban setting. I think I have a few shots which capture urban life from my recent trip to Paris. While I'm drawn to the photos of the performer climbing the lamppost with a soccer ball, perhaps the Parisians lounging on the banks of the Seine does a better job of capturing daily life? I also feel that the film grain on the performer pictures is a little distracting--it was a very dreary day, and the ISO settings combined with the high humidity mean there's a lot of noise in those photos.

Suffice it to say I'd be grateful for some external opinions. Is there one that strikes you as fitting the theme particularly well (or badly)? One with more striking composition as compared to the others? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Facebook Friendzy

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what makes someone a great photographer.  Is it enough to shoot well-composed photographs?  To carefully and thoughtfully edit your photographs?  What role does having an audience play in making/shaping the photographer?  Personally, I think that anyone who has the drive to get out there with the camera and work to improve his/her craft is a photographer.  But, a great photographer?  How do you hone your skills, master your craft, to the point that you become "great"? 

I would argue that audience has a lot to do with it.  Getting constructive feedback, thinking about the implications for your work, and refining your approach are all, I believe, important steps in the process of artistic growth.  So, I return to a question that has been plaguing me for awhile: how do you find an audience for your work?  It seems easy enough, right?  There's plenty of advice to be found online, of course.  In a previous post, for example, I talked about an article which suggested selling photographs on stock photography websites.  After about two months of that, I decided that it just isn't for me--I didn't sell any work, I wasn't getting any feedback, and I have my doubts that anyone bothers to read the credits on a stock photo.  In another post, I discussed the possibility of entering photography contests as a means of self-promotion.  While this strikes me as a more promising avenue than stock photography (I'm at least getting some ratings on my photographs, even though I haven't received any comments yet), getting your work out and getting feedback obviously involves a lot more than just entering a few photography contests and selling some stock photos (if you're lucky). 

So, with that in mind, I've decided to give Facebook a try.  My grandmother, who does macro floral photography, suggested that we start up a joint venture, and Fledderbug Photography was born.  So far we have 18 followers, and I'm hoping for more every day.  We've both been uploading photos to the site.  Please stop by and have a look!  Of course, if you're inclined to like the page, your support and feedback are greatly appreciated!

And, lest I be accused of writing a photography blog devoid of photographs, here's a small sampling of the photographs I've uploaded so far.  More to come!

Some Healthy Competition

I recently posted about the importance of self-promotion for getting a little recognition for your work.  I then whined a bit about the advice to sell stock photography, which I have been following (albeit somewhat grudgingly).  One form of self-promotion I think gets less attention, however, is photography contests.  Now, I suspect that there are plenty of shady contests out there that are just fishing for information or photos.  However, there are plenty of reputable photography contests as well.  Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll win, or even get any recognition.  But, so long as I steer away from those which charge an entry fee and watermark my images, what's the harm, right?  And who knows?  Maybe I'll have a bit of luck and someone will really like my photos.  Plus, finding an image which epitomizes the sentiment of the contest or category forces you to think about your photos in a different way, and to get cracking on editing.  With that in mind, I've decided to enter an online contest.  There are a few categories I'm having trouble picking an image for, though.  I've shown the photos below, and I'd be very grateful for some feedback. I've listed the category name along with the photographs I'm considering below.  I can only enter one photograph into each category with the exception of the portfolio category, for which I get to pick three photographs.  Obviously I'm planning to do some watermark work before I submit.  Also, if you see anything in my gallery that I haven't considered but you think I should, please let me know.  Likewise, some of these images might fit into more than one category, so if you think an image would be for another category, I would appreciate the insight. 


The Wild World (nature)

On Location (urban, city, using surroundings to enhance image)

Still Life

Breaking the Mould (anything weird or wacky)

Portfolio (3 images)