Premium Photo Competition 2013 Q2 : Results

Competition Winner : First Prize
$2,205.00 plus a Leica X2 Camera worth $2000

Judges Comment
Two sides of romance perhaps? A good catch that put wedding and life in perspective. This image grows on us every time we look at it. It is so surreal a meeting of two events. Well captured with great storytelling composition. It's our winner.
Photographers Comment
What a wonderful surprise! I hesitated a long time before posting this photo. I was not sure but at the same time it always came back to haunt me. It is the first time I win a prize for one of my photos so it is great to be recognized by professionals. I was lounging on a beach in Thailand when I saw the Russian couple being photographed with great hype (more than 15 people around them). When they moved to the waves in front of my seat my Leica M9 was ready. I took a few shots until I saw the gentleman. I immediately visualised the photo and ran behind him to shoot. Lens was 35mm Summilux at 1.4 and 1/1000s with ND filter. Minimal post processing and some cropping on Lightroom. Thanks again for this nice summer gift! Younes Kabbaj Hong Kong

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
A well told story in three layers, technically well done with the reflections of the trees adding extra force to the boys emotions. Great photo.
Photographers Comment
Shot on a cloudy day at a colleagues’ reunion. This handsome little guy named Warre had to go to bed and already said goodnight to all guests in a ‘Sound-of-Music’ kind of way. Entering the house he saw his chance to stall his bedtime moment, surprised his mom, ran back to the window and waved ‘goodbye’ to us again. It was an adorable moment on a cozy evening, captured as a ‘snapshot’ as I only had a fraction to focus manually. What I like in this picture are the waving hands of Warre and my colleague Bas. The posture of both hands are similar but mirrored and show the essence of this photo. Taken with a Leica M9 + 35mm f 2.0 Summicron III lens. Besides cute little Warre the main credit of this picture goes to ‘the Leica’ and it’s manual focus; I just love how the M9 makes me look at things differently. Many thanks to the Premium Photo Competition Jury for rating my picture with a 'Mark Of Excellence'-star, I feel honoured and really proud! Chris Vissers, Belgium
www.flickr.com/photos/chrisvissers/sets/

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
This may be staged, we don't know. But it does make you think. Lovely picture.
Photographers Comment
First of all: Thank you for seing my photo :-) Then: The picture is ( I´m sad to say) NOT staged! I never stage my photoes. It was taken in Villa Borghese in Rome. I sat beside and saw this "scene" for over half an hour, before I took the picture. The parents were preoccupied with their own life and computers. The kids tried to get the parents' attention all the time. Eventually the little girl gave up and started playing for herself, while the boy kept trying to get the adults' attention. For me it is a very sad picture and I was very unsure if I should publish it, but I agreed with myself, that the story was too strong, so that it was worth showing. The camera was an old Canon 40D. About me: Please visit my website.
www.theolyngby.dk

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
An almost filmic moment. Nature and landscape photography with an element of action. Very well carried out.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
A unique moment captured perfectly. Well done.
Photographers Comment
"Sea kiss" was the title I gave to this picture taken in Praia da Vitória, Terceira Island, Azores. Although not very common sea climb this wall and get on the road, especially in spring, happened on this day. This moment is the proof that it is worth having the camera always ready. I could not believe when I noticed those guys cycling through that area. This photo was taken with a Nikon D4. Thank you for such a distinction, Rui Caria.
ruicaria.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Very exotic photo with very good positioning of the main subject and almost infinite depth of field. Very dramatic.
Photographers Comment
Wish to win the Premium Again...hahaha. Thank you very much for the judges for this "Mark Of Excellent". My name is Suryo Ongkowidjaja from Surabaya-Indonesia. I used Olympus OMD-EM5 with 75mmF1.8 lens, not much on post processing, just turn the original image to Black&White and adjust the shadow highlight and also cropping the original image for unnecessary object. Location of this Photo was taken from Mount Bromo-East java-Indonesia. Cheers

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Abandoned school with the spirits of the students still present? Very interesting photo.
Photographers Comment
Many thanks for the "Mark of Excellence"! I'm really happy about the recognition. My name is Michael Schoenrock and I'm a Rocker at heart, born 1962. For this picture I have used a Leica M 240 and a Leica 2/50mm Apo Summicron. I process all my pictures with Lightroom 5 and the Black & White pictures typically get a Nik Silver Efex Pro treatment. I'm a big fan of painting with the light that is already there and to use the Software actually only for developing the picture, like it was done in the film days.
schoenrockphotography.wordpress.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Simply well done composition and timing, showing the real height of the spot with the water way down behind. Excellent capture.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
A day in life well captured. The contrast is interesting, the timing perfect. We like it.
Photographers Comment
Thanks for considering this photo for the "Mark of Excellence". I am so proud! I took the photo during a trip to Kraków, Poland. It displays the so-called Pope Window, where the late Pope John Paul II appeared during his visits to his home city Kraków. It is a well-known spot in Kraków and I wanted an unusual photo, so I made my friends wait until a street car passed. I liked the color combination of the blue car against the yellow wall. It also puts the "shrine" in the window into an everyday and worldly setting. It was taken with a Sony Nex-7 and a Zeiss Biogon f2.8 ZM lens.
www.martin-stelbrink.de

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Many times we had to come back to revisit this photo - and every time we discovered something new within it. A very well presented photo with a strong message, and bringing this message across, without getting too graphic.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Hazy light and floating elements in the air suggest to the audience, that there was an outburst of celebration. Powerful expressions of the people involved make the observer feel involved.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Time to close the business for the day and go home and get some sleep. Funny capture, very charming and good timing.
Photographers Comment
Hi my name's Mike, I came across this entertaining scene in Newbury, UK, this car-park is near the canal and there are many water fowl in the area. I'm not sure if the Swan was waiting for an order or not! I shot this using my Panasonic GF1 with the classic 20mm f1.7 lens that has been my favorite pairing over the last few years.
fleetingphotons.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Beautiful capture, well composed and well executed. Well done.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Perfect timing and point of view. Well executed.
Photographers Comment
Aloha, My name is Jon Miyashiro. My friend, Kimo Vincent, in the picture, and I are aspiring wave photographers. This shot was taken during a summer sunrise in 2012 at a popular local bodysurfing/body boarding spot called Sandy Beach on Oahu. My gear consists of a Canon 7D, Tokina fishey and a SPL water housing. Kimo did the post processing using DXO to lighten the exposure a little to enhance the facial expression. Mahalo, Jon
jonmiyashiro.smugmug.com

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Great capture, well composed. Four scenes in one.
Photographers Comment
This photo was taken in Greenwich, London during the 2013 London Marathon. I looked up and spotted this scene and knew immediately that it would make a good photo. I used a Canon 600d with a Tamron 17-50 lens. Post processing was done in Lightroom 4.
500px.com/digitalgoldfish

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Simply elegant. Great composition and execution are part of the points that make this image a pleasure to look at, despite the unfortunate situation.

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Well-executed and well-balanced shot that shows the architecture and design.
Photographers Comment
Thank you very much for choosing my photo! My name is Achim Lammerts and photography is a great passion to me for more than 20 years. Beginning in the early 90's I've been much into architecture photography and portraits and nowadays I'm often working on that themes too. In November 2006 I made a tour through the subway system of Munich (Germany) and shot this image at station Westfriedhof. For me personally it is the most impressively designed station. This surreal and kafkaesque environment invites you to stay instead to catch the next train ... I used a Nikon D100 with a 28 mm manual shift lens on a tripod. Within the post processing workflow I did just some clean up and sharpening. Some other works from this session you'll find at the link below.
www.flickr.com/photos/syntaxys/tags/ubahnmuenchen/

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
Well executed photograph, beautiful eyes and soft colors. Love it.
Photographers Comment
This picture was made during a photo Shooting with a female soccer team in my studio. One of the girls has worn the grey scarf around her neck. I saw her impressive eyes and I pleased her to turn the scarf around like a muslim woman. I put a Strip light on the left and the right to get these 'cat eyes'.
www.stefanbalk.de

Mark Of Excellence

Judges Comment
A simple, well-composed silent moment. Very nice to view. Well done.
Photographers Comment
Wow, thank you for the recognition! My name is Erik Berg and I am from San Diego, California. This photo was taken in Carlsbad, California on the beach during a partly cloudy evening. I was shooting in the waves and couldn't find the shot I wanted, so I got out and relaxed for a bit. Shortly after I started shooting the sand in a very minimalist way, after thirty or so minutes into shooting I snapped this photo. This was taken with my best friend the Sony RX1, and edited with Silver Efex Pro 2 in Lightroom 4. " This is one of my favorite shots I have ever taken and is part of an ongoing project of mine titled "Coastal Serenity".
www.facebook.com/pages/Erik-Berg-Photography/125705290788832