We're happy to announce the winner of September's competition, “Decisive Moments.”
For those who don't know, the Light Stalking Monthly Photography Competition carries a $100 People's Choice Award and a $100 Overall Winner Award. The People's Choice Winner is selected by a vote of the community, whereas our guest judge selects the overall winner.
The “Decisive Moments” Photo Contest
Decisive moments in photography are instants or times when all the elements in the scene work together to create a powerful story. These moments lend perfect stories, emotions, actions and also make use of great light and compositions most of the time.
In order to capture perfect moments in photography, the photographer needs to be decisive with both the camera settings, the right moment and press the shutter at the right time. This requires a lot of patience in observing the scene and anticipating the moment and being ready to capture the perfect moment.
Here are some ways in which decisive moments can be captured effectively – focusing on decisive moments, where timing and composition converge to tell a complete story in a single frame, exploring street photography and candid portraiture to capture fleeting moments of everyday life, capturing peak action moments in sports or dynamic environments, focusing on high-speed shutter techniques to freeze motion or using patience and timing in wildlife photography to capture nature's most decisive and compelling moments.
September's photo competition had very few submissions but ranging from sports, to wildlife, street and simple backyard moments. When choosing the winning photos, we wanted to make sure that the decision process was based on a good interpretation of the theme, followed by other factors like light, composition, story, details, creative vision, etc. The results are entirely subjective and there are no losers in any competition as we all know.
Here are September's Winners:
First Place: “Clear” by Stefanie Markham
Stefanie's submission of an action shot of a horse from an equestrian event has won the first place. Stefanie made sure to capture the right show jump moment lending curiosity in the viewers. The image has been composed well with the flowers on either side and the obstacles framing the horse and the background, providing context to the location where the event is happening.
Stefanie has also used the right choice of shutter speed to freeze the action and get all the important elements and the subjects in focus. The colours add some pop and interest to the photo besides the neutral textures that add to the story.
Congratulations Stefanie on this winning shot.
Second Place: “Oops” by Pat Garrett
Pat submitted this beautiful photo of the birds in action at the feeder. The birds look surprised by something happening in the surrounding and their eyes are focused on the moment even when trying to fly away.
Pat caught the action perfectly using the right choice of shutter speed and aperture. The bird's eyes are in sharp focus and what caught the eye is the colour theme. The warm and cool colours on the bird (blue and orange) also are the colours in the background, making this a very engaging and interesting shot.
Congratulations on this beautiful shot Pat.
Third Place: “Bubble Girl” by John Dailey
John had a different take on this theme by photographing a statue blowing a bubble. Although this is not a moment caught in real life, John's unique point of view makes this a very interesting submission for this theme.
The composition is interesting where John has filled the frame with the moment and used the right settings to capture sharp details on the girl and the bubble. The light falling on the statue adds depth and interest to the photo.
Congratulations on this interesting shot John.
People's Choice Award Winner
Our monthly photo contests also come with a People's Choice Award. The winner of this part of the contest receives $100 worth of store credit on Light Stalking which they can spend as they please on our blueprints, drills, courses or Presets.
The most popular photo for September, voted by the contestants was “Bubble Girl” by John Dailey, which also won the third place in the contest. Congratulations on this award John.
We are almost halfway into this month's photo contest and still have about two weeks left to submit photos to our October's monthly contest. This month, our theme is, “The Art of the Detail” in photography.
If you would like to join and enter some images into our monthly contest then take a look at your options here.
