Joe Buissink seminars with Graphistudio
January 27th, 2011
30 key points about stock photography | dPhotoexpert
January 2nd, 2011Master Photography Dec/Jan 10/11
December 31st, 2010The ‘Yearbook 2011′ edition of the maagazine can now be read on-line at YUDU:
€10,000 prize in French photo contest
November 3rd, 2010The Agency for the Promotion of Professional Photography in France (APPPF or A3PF), launches the 3rd edition of “The Photograph of the Year”. This contest is exclusively reserved for professional photographers living in Europe.
18 trophies will be awarded in March 2011, during a ceremony which will gather the 48 finalists (three per subject) of the sixteen categories awarded, plus the photograph of the year and a trophy of honour. For this third edition of the competition, there will be sixteen categories : that is to say four more than in 2010.
The first of the new categories will be reserved for photography students and the theme will be free. The second will reward humanistic photography, a way of honouring our distinguished elders. The third will distinguish the best digital creation, limited only by the imagination of photographers. Finally, a returning category, still life.
Once the winners are known, the winning photographs will be compiled into a traveling exhibition. It will criss-cross France, initially among the sponsors, and then in the biggest French festivals of photographs. “Photographs of the Year” will also be compiled in a book as in previous years. The 48 winning photos plus a portfolio of some pages on the photographer will be honored at this event.
For each category, the winner will receive a statuette worth 150 to 200 € and royalties on books, postcards, posters published by the APPPF, whose terms will be determined by contract with the APPPF, or the equivalent in books and postcards. The winner of the Photograph of the Year will receive € 10 000 of Nikon equipment. Other sponsors will offer prizes or material benefits.
Selection of winners of “Photographs of the Year” is made by a jury of experienced professional photographers, festival directors and journalists, only recognized professionals.
The photograph of the year in each category is the work of professional photographers during the calendar year. The photographs must be taken between January 1 and December 31, 2010. Photographs must be submitted no later than January 15, 2011. All professional photographers are invited to participate in this unique competition in Europe.
For further information or to download the complete contest rules, see: http://www.photographiesdelannee.com
Manufacturing Industry photo competition
October 11th, 2010EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation has launched a national competition to find the most visually striking photography from the UK manufacturing sector and help dispel its outdated image.
The competition, ‘Capturing the Spirit of Modern Manufacturing’ is being launched with the support of Manufacturing Insight, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and The Digital Asset Lab.
It is aimed at professionals and amateurs from within manufacturing companies and elsewhere, as well as young people aged 14-19. It is intended to showcase the excellence of UK industry, through high end visually striking technology, processes and people.
The competition will culminate in awards for the winning entry in each of the three categories of professional, amateur and young people aged 14-19. They will be presented at the prestigious EEF Future Manufacturing Awards in January 2011 and used to promote EEF’s Manufacturing Week in Spring 2011.
Commenting, EEF Chief Executive, Terry Scuoler, said: “For too long there has been a stereotypical image of our sector which is way out of line with reality. Modern manufacturing is a vibrant arena in which to operate with the potential for striking imagery of technology, processes and people. This is the chance for manufacturing companies and their workforce to help do something about this image and change way people think by capturing its spirit.“
Giving his support to the competition, Business Minister, Mark Prisk MP, said: “Many people have an outdated image of manufacturing, which means that too many people don’t realise how modern industry works. This Government is committed to promoting manufacturing so that we can attract the talent which will make us more competitive on the world stage and generate growth. I fully support this competition which will encourage young people to discover and capture the true innovative spirit of manufacturing in this country.”
Entry is via the EEF website www.eef.org.uk/photo with entries closing at the end of this year.
Cherubs first quarterly winners
September 1st, 2010The Master Photographer Association (MPA) has announced the first quarterly winners in its inaugural ‘Cherub of the Year’ baby photography competition.
The winners can be seen at: www.cherubs.uk.com/cheruboftheyear-winners.php
The successful photographers are: Greg Cameron Day (2 awards), Jennifer Robertson, D & M Loney Photography (4), Elmcroft Studios (2), Ian Crowe, Panikos Hajistilly, Melvin Sillcock, Collin Davies (3), Lynne Brereton (2), Tim Spiers, Nigel Milligan and The Astbury Studio. Each of these photographers now move forward to the final judging that takes place in February 2011, which culminates in the ultimate prize: Cherubs Photographer of the Year.
The Awards form part of the Cherubs programme, a major consumer promotion run by the MPA, that recognises the UK’s very best baby photography. Cherub of the Year is open to members of the public who have their babies photographed by their local MPA Cherubs photographer. Each customer who wins a quarterly prize receives a £25 shopping voucher but more importantly goes forward to the final judging when a massive £10,000 will be presented to the parents of the ‘Cherub of the Year’!
“Cherubs has been the backbone of many photographers’ businesses for several years and this year we’ve really ‘upped the game’ by offering a huge prize to the winning consumer,” says Colin Buck, MPA chief executive. “Congratulations to all our first quarter’s winners, one of their customers could be walking away with a cool £10,000 in a few months! This is a great incentive and it really seems to have captured the imagination of the general public.”
In addition to entry into the competition, each parent who books a Cherubs sitting receives three complimentary portraits to record their baby’s first year presented in an Art Leather triple Folio.
Cherubs is still open to new participating photographers, for further information go to www.cherubs.uk.com/leads or to find out more about the MPA, visit www.thempa.com
Latest Master editions on YUDU
September 1st, 2010We have recent editions available to view on YUDU including the latest September one published today, and mailing for next week.
July/August edition:
June edition:
May edition:
All are free for full on-line reading, just open to full size.
Loxley sponsored Family Portrait bizbooster
August 18th, 2010Mark Cleghorn’s latest roadshow – Monkey Business 5 kicks off on the 2nd of September in Cardiff followed on by Southampton, Twickenham, Grangemouth, Pontefract, Stockport, Coventry and Cambridge. This whistle-stop tour of the UK will see Mark tackle the business of Family Portraits.
Loxley Colour are sponsors of Monkey Business 5 and will be attending all of the venues showing the latest products and services on offer. We look forward to seeing you there!
• Learn how to maximise your sales using face-to-face selling techniques and grasp how to run a successful promotion and make it work.
• Photoshop retouching techniques, image enhancement, creative presentation and workflow from shoot to print.
• Creative family groups, posing solutions and shooting to sell.
These are just some of the subjects covered by Mark on the day.
Ticket cost is £35 which includes a free DVD worth £60!
Please click here to book and click here for further information.
Loxley ‘Art of Wedding’ lecture day
August 17th, 2010Trevor and Faye Yerbury will be hosting an inspirational day on the Art of Wedding Photography at the new Loxley lecture theatre in Glasgow on Monday 25th October.
The day will be split into 2 sections, the first being by far the most important “BE THE DIFFERENCE” will be all about setting yourself apart from the competition and how to create an individual identity in this vastly and increasingly oversaturated market. This will be accompanied by a Power Point presentation, which will cover marketing & branding.
There will be a delicious buffett served at lunchtime followed by a lab tour and resume on the latest products and services offered by Loxley Colour.
In the afternoon Trevor & Faye will present a spectacular demonstration with 2 stunning bridal models in fabulous designer wedding gowns accompanied by their handsome groom. The Yerbury’s will demonstrate how they work with bride & groom to create their signature images. Delegates are welcome to take record shots at the side from where either Faye or Trevor are shooting.
The cost for the workshop is £85 including lunch. All delegates will receive a £35.00 voucher from Loxley Colour to be used against any of our product range. Delegates will also receive a £30.00 discount voucher off a future Yerbury Seminar, a 10% discount of KUBOTA DASHBOARD and for 1 lucky delegate a $100US discount voucher from KUBOTA.
To book your place now please email trevor@yerburystudio.com or telephone 01501 744 909.
MPA Judges’ Training Day 2010
July 12th, 2010Report and photographs by Richard Kilpatrick
Following the success of last year’s Judges’ training day, June 2010 saw the Coventry Hilton Hotel again playing host to a panel of MPA Fellows eager to hone the skills of members ‘rising through the ranks’ and assist the qualifications and awards processes. Introduced once again by Eric Jenkins, compared to the inaugural event the programme was very focused on refining the process of judging and the criteria on which images are assessed.
With a much faster introduction, few changes have been made to this year’s requirements for Awards, and only minor changes to the Qualifications – excellence is excellence, after all – and the Qualifications process was addressed in detail by Kevin Wilson prior to the Awards process. At the second training day members were able to give a little more feedback, both on their own qualifications experiences and on the process in general.
Dennis Hylander delivers one of his famous critiques
For MPA members looking to submit panels or images, the crucial thing is as ever to consider the entire panel as a whole. Mentors and judges alike are looking for very similar things, with many years of accumulated experience throughout the MPA’s history contributing to a detailed, consistent and fair assessment. Your mentor’s advice is valuable and combines with content such as this in the magazine to hopefully guide you to success; coming straight from the Judging committee you ignore this sort of information at your peril!
Most importantly, your panel as a whole can be affected by one or two flawed images as Kevin demonstrated with a rejected submission – later revealed to be from one of the judges who successfully qualified with a different panel. Even at this stage, the feedback and comments about the images were consistent, and agreement was reached very quickly.
Using your mentor is key to improving your scores in this process. Submit raw images (not raw files, but uncropped, unretouched prints) to give them a true impression of your capabilities as a photographer and remember, the advice you get about post-production will benefit from this. You’re not being judged at this stage, you’re being assessed for the best information and advice to go forwards.
Kevin Wilson engages an attentive Ewen Forsyth
This year the submissions process for Qualifications has been slightly revised, with profiles and portfolios being sent directly to the MPA and the workbooks being forwarded to the judges in advance. Working on your print quality requires at the very least attention to the finished results as much as the final image; Lisa Visser’s Fellowship panel went through several stages before she was happy, as she explained to the delegates.
“When I decided to do the Fellowship, my mentor told me I was ready to do it – I thought I was really rubbish, I wasn’t well in the awards. Being told that one picture was Fellowship standard was encouragement to just go with it, I felt I could run with it and focused on doing that.
“To create the panel, I had about four images that matched the requirements – the rest were produced between April and July; the images were reprinted, testing different papers, nothing was going to go that wasn’t perfect”.
The standards for assessing the images remain with lighting measured with an exposure meter to be 1 second @ ISO 100 and f/16.
