APOY 2013 Round Six – People at Work
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS, and the disclaimers that must be copied and pasted into an email entry.
Entries must be received by 5pm on 26 July 2013
Round 6 of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year competition is People at Work (a single frame to tell a story). Documentary photography is a diverse genre. It is also one of the most difficult to get right. It isn’t enough simply to point and shoot – you have to be able to identify a story, understand how to represent it through a single image or series and then shoot it in an interesting way. In this round we want you to photograph people at work. What that work entails is up to you.
We have thousands of pounds’ worth of fantastic Panasonic camera equipment up for grabs, as well as the chance to be crowned Amateur Photographer of the Year 2013.. The closing date for round 6 is 26 July 2013. First prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6, plus Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS and Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 Asph lenses, worth a total of £1,179.98. Second prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS lens, worth £499.99. Third prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1 worth £379.99. That’s a prize package worth more than £2,000! The top 30 photographs will be published in our 31 August issue, while the scores from the top 50 images will be posted on our website.
How to enter
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page for information explaining how to enter. Please use your full name as the file name and paste
the disclaimer into the body of your email if you are sending your entry to us
electronically. We also need to know where and how you took your image, plus
the camera and lens used with aperture and focal-length details. Remember to
include a telephone number and your postal address so we can contact you if you
win.
Photo by Chris Dixon
At its inception, photography was seen as a truth-telling device. Finally, people could see images of the world as it was rather than through the subjective representations of the day’s painters. Of course, now we are not so trusting of photography’s capacity to offer us a slice of reality. Yet what we can all be sure of is that photography allows us to, at the very least, tell a story through a single frame. For round 6 of APOY we want you to get out into the world and show us people at work. There are a few things to consider here. The first is, what constitutes work? Work can take many forms, such as sport, business, retail and dance. Any of these things can be a viable subject. The next step is to think about how you want to go about telling your story. Do you do it through portraiture, action or detail? Any one of these methods can be employed as a story-telling device. The important thing is to make it clear what we are seeing. The viewer needs context in order to get a grasp on what they’re supposed to take away from the shot. But don’t forget, you only have a single shot in which to tell your story. Take a look at some of the great documentary photographers. Work out how they told their stories and then show us what you can do.
First Prize
The first-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS and Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 Asph lenses, worth a total of £1,179.98.
The G6 is a digital single-lens mirrorless camera with a 16.05-million-pixel, micro four thirds, Live MOS sensor. It has 7fps high-speed continuous shooting, a 3in, 1.036-million-dot TFT LCD with Touch monitor, and a 1.44-million-dot OLED EVF.
Other features include full HD (1920×1080) video at 50p (50Hz) in AVCHD Progressive and MP4 format, plus Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC technology. The compact and lightweight Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 Asph lens features a wide maximum aperture that allows a beautiful soft focus for both photography and video, plus Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating to minimise reflection.
Second Prize
The second-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS lens worth £499.99. The 16-million-pixel GF6 has a Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine featuring an advanced noise-reduction system.
It also boasts quick start-up and Light Speed AF, making it possible to capture fast-moving subjects clearly. Other features include creative panorama and creative control with 19 filter effects, Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC technology and full HD (1920×1080) video with stereo sound.
Third Prize
The third-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1 worth £379.99. The pocket-sized LF1 compact has a 1/1.7in, 12.1.-million-pixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor and 28mm wideangle Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens with 7.1x optical zoom (35mm equivalent of 28-200mm).
It also boasts a 0.2in EVF with 200,000-dot resolution and 100% field of view, Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC technology and a 3in, 920,000-dot TFT LCD. Other features include an ISO range of 80-12,800, full HD video and 10fps burst mode.
Here are some
tips and suggestions to help you get started
Why not try…
Photo by Filipe Sarmento
The Elements of the Story
When creating a photo essay (telling a story through a series of images), you will often look to include a number of elements. Environmental and establishing shot – where does the story take place? Portrait – who is involved? Detail shot – getting a little closer in to the story. Action shot – events unfold in front of the camera. Of course these elements are malleable in the final product, but it just goes to show that there are many ways to tell a story. But then you may even find yourself combining all these things into one image. Take a look at Filipe Sarmento’s photograph from APOY 2012’s On the Streets round. Here we have portrait, context and action all in one. It’s a more than successful shot and tells you everything you need to know about the story.
Photo by Ian Webb
Colour and Composition
Ian Webb’s image from our 2012 On the Streets round is a quiet and gentle look at a street vendor in Hanoi, Vietnam. What’s notable about this shot is that Ian has exploited the arrangement of objects and vivid colours of the scene to create an engaging portrait. The use of space on the left-hand side draws us in. What Ian’s intriguing image demonstrates is that composition and colour can be used to hold the viewer’s attention in order to take them further into the story.
Photo by James Standley
What to Show
The name of this round is People at Work, but what do we mean by that? Work can take many different forms. You’ll find people beavering away in an office, on the street, in a shop or, in the case of James Standley’s entry for APOY 2010 in the boxing ring. James’s image took third place in the Everyday People round and is clear demonstration of what you can achieve in your entry for round 6. It’s a powerful image and communicates just enough to make its narrative clear. For another dramatic example see the first picture of the policemen above. Chris Dixon’s entry took first place in our APOY 2012 On the Streets round. It’s an image that is full of action and one that tells a very exciting story.
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS, and the disclaimers that must be copied and pasted into an email entry.
Entries must be received by 5pm on 26 July 2013
