DSLR Photography Forum

As a direct result of the advice and assistance I've received here in the past, I'm in the "Photographer of the Year" competition on the little Olympus forum that I visit. Now I'm looking for a little more advice and assistance on my contest entry. So even though this is in the Photo Stories forum, please feel free to mercilessly critique any, ANY, aspect of the series.

The requirement for the competition is to create an essay on the theme "My Town". The final format is a set of six 8x10" pages that will form double-page spread in a book. Page one is across from page two, overleaf is page three next to page four, and so on.

- page 1&2





- pages 3&4





- pages 5&6

I think piece is very journalistic and very professional. Congratulations.

Excellent work!

Just one thing: On page 5&6 shouldn't that read "boundary" instead of "boundry"?

Something else bothered me (but just very slightly): I'd like the "picture date" info to be less prominent, I think it shouldn't be in the paragraph heading. IMO it would be better just underneath the picture, or not given at all as it is not really relevant to the story. As the pictures are not ordered chronologically, it sort of introduces an element of chaos into an otherwise nicely flowing story. Well, this might just be me...

As I said, excellent work. I cross my fingers for you to win.

Don, guerito, thank you both very much.

Guerito, good catch. (Why doesn't photoshop include a spell checker?) I'll take another look at how the text flows; I hadn't thought of the dates as being disruptive before. There's still some work to do -- I've changed "tourists and visitors" to a less redundant "tourists and shoppers" on page three, and some of the other text will probably be re-written tomorrow. It's due on the 20th, so I need to wrap it up soon.

One other question about the captions: sometimes they say "looking north at" and sometimes it's "looking north on". (Page 2, page 4) Does that make sense?

Great work. It looks extremely professional. Good luck!

Awesome stuff. I friended you on flickr also.

Thank you both. I'm getting a little nervous about this one. There are over 40 photographers competing, and all have won or placed in one of the year's contests. There are also some pretty significant prizes involved, with the top prize being a new camera. It's one that I'd really like to do well in, and I know I'm not alone in that.

wonderfully done, Matt!
Brings great memories of Toronto...
used to stay ard Finch Ave...

Do not fret nor worry... what you have created is your piece of art...
i'm sure you will do well!

I love it Matthew. Hope you do well.

matthew Wrote:One other question about the captions: sometimes they say "looking north at" and sometimes it's "looking north on". (Page 2, page 4) Does that make sense?

No good asking me, mate, prepositions in English are my nemesis... :|

Looking north at would mean you are standing to the south of the subject, looking northwards toward it.

Looking north on would mean that you're pretty much already on the subject (in most cases a street or something), photographing towards the north.

RP, thanks, I'm glad that makes sense. I used that distinction to show when I was on a street other than Spadina, which mattered until I decided to add the map. I still like it for breaking up the monotony.

Guerito, as long as it isn't a distraction, that's good. And you can't be that bad -- I'd have never thought to call them prepositions. In fact, I had to look it up.

I'm off to the zoo with my club this morning, and when I get back I'll need to finalize and submit the finished pages. I've re-written most of pages 3&4, and there's still more that I want to do. It might be a late night. :/

Great stuff Matthew.
Looking northwards/southwards along/up/down, is one way of putting it.
It does not really matter, where it is is more important than the direction. If the reader really wants to know then he can get on a bus and.......find it.

Well, today is the deadline. Do we get to see the final release?

NT73 Wrote:If the reader really wants to know then he can get on a bus and.......find it.

That's how I feel too -- there's enough information in the captions that it's quite easy to place on a map. As always, Google is our friend -- a map search for "720 spadina ave toronto" turns up this map. Using the combined map and satellite images, it's easy to find the buildings on the first page, the thimble on the second page, and so on. And the maps' green arrow at #720 is where I live. It's the building on the west (picture left) side of the street with the swimming pool and garden on the low roof.

Here's the "Final" version. (I have a couple more hours before I submit it, so I'm going to sit and stare for a little while longer.) I've changed almost all of the text, from spelling and name corrections to complete re-writes. I've even swapped the order of the last two photos, but otherwise the images haven't changed. I really, really appreciate all of the feedback and suggestions I've received. Thanks very much, everyone.

Lovely work Matthew... looks just like a coffee table book / photo magazine.

Thanks Jules, that was exactly the feel that I wanted.

Some of the entries have been posted over at fourthirdsphoto.com, but it plays as a small flash slideshow in random order. A little experimental clicking brought me to the host gallery, which is here: 43photo.smugmug.com/gallery/4209808#P-1-15 (please copy and paste the link, I'd rather not have a direct URL that can be tracked back. It keeps our conversation relatively private.)

Seeing the different entries is very interesting. It's all at a high level, but I'm a little surprised by how many people went for the "collage" look. The administrator of the site asked for a "lenswork, not national geographic" approach to the essay, but the sample he put together was a two-page spread with little photos and text over big photos. Most people followed his lead rather than his instructions.

It really came up a treat Matt - well done.

G and I were talking the other day about your work Matt. We really liked it a lot, and I personally found it very inspiring, as I am not at all good at this kind of photography.

Good Luck!

and really look forward to hearing great news from your work...

Thanks Irma (and G.), I'm flattered.

It will be at least another week until I hear any official feedback or results, as apparently there's a camera trade-show going on soon that has the sysop distracted. This contest is also unusual in that it will only be judged by a few people, and the judging will be based on prints instead of monitor images. Like a friend of mine once said about predicting the winner of a soccer(football) tournament, "the ball is round, it can go either way..."

I have to admit that I got lucky with the theme, since it's something I'm very comfortable with. This series is a reprise of a set that I did in 2005, which is why so many of the photos are from then, but it's been broadened to build on my earlier photos and match the "my town" theme.

There are a couple of things that I'm proud of. One is that nearly every photo includes people. Toronto's a bustling city, and I think it comes across well. (I was really surprised at how few people are included in the other contest submissions -- mine alone probably accounts for half of the world's population. ) If I was a different kind of photographer, I would have loved to represent "my town" with a portrait series. Simple images of a city councillor, a chef, a student, a shop-keeper... I'm very disappointed that nobody took that approach.

The other thing that I'm proud of is somewhat cheeky: in a series that's supposed to be about the avenue, I never show the actual road. There's plenty of sidewalk, but any time there's actual asphalt it's a minor side-street. It's quite unintentional, but it makes me happy. I feel a little like the Alfred Hitchcock of urban documentary photography.

Well, the final results are in, and I took fourth place. I can't remember what medal that is at the Olympics -- Copper? Zinc? I'm still feeling a little ambivalent about the result, as it's too low for me to be thoroughly pleased, but too hight to be completely disappointed. I'm sure I'll feel better by the time the prizes are sorted out.

As always, the judging was interesting. Some entries that I would have expected to beat mine didn't even get an honourable mention, and others surprised me by their inclusion in the top few.

The specific comments on mine was that photo #9, the indoors shot, took the story away from the street and weakens the theme. I agree, but like the way the colours, textures, and shapes compliment photo #8 too much to remove it, and still feel that it adds a necessary element to the narrative. Conversely, the judge liked the two final photos, which I feel are a bit gimmicky and not really worth a full page. He also really liked the map. Good things to know if I qualify for the 2008 round.

Congratulations Matt...

What I like the most of all this experience is your enthusiasm to go for it again this year....
I admire you.

Congratulations Matt - the comments just show how subjective photography really can be.

Thank you both. I have a pretty thick skin and don't take anything that judges say as anything other than an individual's opinion -- frequently a well-reasoned and informed opinion, but never as an absolute.

I'm considerably happier with my ranking now that the prizes were sorted out. As fourth place finisher, I got my third choice (I didn't bother listing the main prize on my list of preferences) which was a lifetime smugmug account. That's certainly decent all on its own, but it turned out to be a pro account, making it the most valuable prize in the contest. Not too shabby for a Copper finish.