We're happy to announce the winner of February’s competition “Visual Metaphors.”
For those who don't know, the Light Stalking Monthly Photography Competition carries a $100 People's Choice Award and a $250 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 “Visual Metaphors” Photo Contest
Visual metaphors in photography is used to convey visual representations of something, or to associate similarities. It can also be used to convey abstract emotions, or other visual stories.
The “Visual Metaphors” photo contest had varied images and the participants had come up with their own interpretation of the theme. Images submitted to the contest included varied genre like, still life, nature, landscape and abstract where some natural scenes were very beautifully captured as a visual metaphor, while others came up with stories they set to capture a visual metaphor.
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 / thought, etc. The results are entirely subjective and there are no losers in any competition as we all know.
Here are February’s winners:
First Place: “Light As A Feather” by Robert Apple
This photo by Robert really stood out in terms of light, composition, the monochromatic conversion and then the contest’s theme, for a visual metaphor. The light falling on the feather is just so soft, yet enough to illuminate just the feather so beautifully while also revealing the intricate textures and patterns.
Robert’s decision to keep the colors monochromatic, so the tonal range in the image stands out while also keeping the focus on the feather was a great decision. The light and the feather are the most important elements in the image and they both stand out to deliver the message.
Congratulations on the win Robert and a very thoughtful and well executed image.
Second Place: “Perseverance” by Emily K
This image by Emily is a great find and capture for the visual metaphor theme. The delicate plant juxtaposed against the rocky terrain while still growing and flowering with very little resources, is a great example for perseverance.
Emily has captured the image with the story instantly evident. The soft light and the perfect depth of field, makes the subject stand out while at the same time giving great context to the environment where the plant is growing through the harsh, less then ideal conditions.
A great choice for a visual metaphor Emily and congratulations.
Third Place: “Soft Landing” by Pat Garrett
Pat has chosen to post a slightly humorous photo of a bird landing on a thick layer of snow. Not sure if the bird seems happy but the look on its face seems like it made a wrong decision. Pat may be able to explain the situation, and, I am also curious if Pat got to witness the landing scene.
Pat has put in creative thought into this photo and added a very beautiful title that suits the visual metaphor theme. The colors chosen have a cold theme that suit the season and the mood in the image.
Congratulations Pat on a well thought image.
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 Lightstalking which they can spend as they please on our blueprints, drills, courses or Presets.
The most popular photo for February, voted by the contestants was “Hope / Faith” by Frogdaily, which has won the people's choice award. Frogdaily has set this visual scene to represent hope and having faith in something. She describes this image as “The Cross, nails that nailed Jesus to the cross pointing to the Empty Tomb with stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb.” The light for the scene has been wisely chosen to represent the atmosphere that is quite mellow. Congratulations Frogdaily..
We're already into the last 10 days of March and our monthly contest has already seen some entries with interesting submissions already. This month our theme is “Surrealism and Dreamscapes.”
If you would like to join and enter some images into our monthly contest then take a look at your options here.
