Competitions
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You’ve judged the competition previously, how does the judging process work? There are five judges overall, all from very different backgrounds. We have a team with expertise in architecture, science, photography and art. The judges include myself, writer and broadcaster Tom Dyckhoff, daylight expert and professor of circadian neuroscience Dr Russell Foster, artist Sarah Butterfield and VELUX marketing manager Charlotte Chapman. Specialising in different areas, we all complement one another and help to decide on what makes a photograph interesting. First and foremost, the entries are whittled down by members of the Blip community who vote on the best entries. We meet in London to look at the shortlisted entries and collectively choose a winner. Because of our different backgrounds and interests, we all have very different perspectives on daylight, but it’s a great way to break down the entries into a top ten and finally a top three. We then decide on first place, second place and third place. Is it difficult to agree on the winner? Every judge has their own interpretation of daylight but it’s fantastic to hear different opinions and sometimes you can change your own perspective of a photo because of the way someone else understands it. That said, it can be difficult to agree on a winner due to the number of fantastic entries. I imagine that this year it’ll be much the same and we’ll be presented with the pleasant problem of having too many standout images to choose from. The competition brief is broad and open to interpretation, does that make it more challenging to select just one winner? It makes it more interesting. From previous years, we’ve learned that daylight can be interpreted in
images of the sun bouncing off shimmery surfaces, creating different dynamics of daylight. It can rain a lot here in Scotland, where I’m from, but sometimes that can leave you with great picture options such as catching a rainbow after a heavy shower. Equally in the spring, we can use the longer days to make the most of daylight, red skies and golden light which always create some fantastic pictures. We created some top tips to help entrants this year in a series of short photography masterclasses. These videos are made to help some of our entrants understand how to take great photographs and use natural daylight to your advantage. For tips on how to take great daylight photographs, you can watch my first video Joe Tree – Making the Most of Winter Light 1 on the VELUX YouTube channel. Absolutely. Over the last couple of years working with VELUX, we’ve done something remarkable., taking an idea and turning it into one of the most popular photography competitions around. I’m sure the brief will develop over time, but really we would like to give as many people as possible around the world the opportunity to take part. Daylight is one of the few natural resources we all share that nobody can bottle up and take away from us. I’d love for Lovers of Light to become one of the ways the world celebrates that, every year. Will Blipfoto continue to be involved with the competition in the future?
a lot of different ways. The brief allows entrants to be creative, as long as it reflects daylight it will be in with a chance of winning. There’s not just one interpretation of daylight and this actually gives us a better opportunity to see more exciting and inspiring pictures. How do you go about judging an image, what do you first look for and where do you start? It’s a subtle mix of objectivity and subjectivity. You need to make sure each image meets the brief and stands up technically, then it’s down to the aesthetic and what it does to your emotions. That’s where things start to get a bit more interesting among the group of judges! Quite often it’s not about what’s in the image, but what isn’t. If the image suggests something else, something deeper, that can make you look again, then it’s got a great chance of catching the attention of the judges. I think last year’s winning shot by Graham Colling does exactly that. Your eye is led along the path, and to somewhere that you can’t see. Are there some obvious and common pitfalls and mistakes that entrants make that could easily be avoided? Lovers of Light is about celebrating natural daylight, but I think there can be a tendency for some entrants to use light in an overly dark or ominous way. Over the last couple of years, the photographs which get shortlisted have all been much more uplifting. So think about the ‘celebration’ aspect of daylight. What will it take to make you take a second glance at an image? Can you give our readers any tips on how to make the most of daylight in their photos? Don’t be afraid of the weather! The competition is launched towards the second half of the year, so it’s not always perfect sunshine. We’re lucky enough in Britain to have crisp days which can sometimes include snow: this is great for photographic purposes as it can enable photographers to capture
π To find out more, go to www.velux.co.uk/ loversoflight.
ABOVE LEFT Graham Colling was the 2013 overall winner with his image Early Light. TOP RIGHT Martin Dawe’s winning image from the 2012 competition. ABOVE RIGHT Third place in last year’s mobile competition was Julia Denning’s Firelight.
There’s still time to enter the competition and be in with a chance of winning the top prize of a trip for two to Lemmenjoki National Park, Finland and three nights in a glass igloo. Creatively capture daylight and submit your image via the above website before 20 February 2015; winners will be announced in March. Capture the light
The brief allows entrants to be creative, as long as it reflects daylight it will be inwith a chance of winning
www.absolutephoto.com
Issue 16 | Photography News
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