We are extremely happy to announce the results of our 31st In-street Monthly Thematic Contest – August, 2020.
The Street Photography Contest Theme for August, 2020 was ‘No Tropes’.
We received lots of great images during August 01 – August 12, 2019 in our FB group. Thank you so much friends for your enthusiastic response and huge participation. We are very happy to see many images with some innovative interpretation of the monthly theme. It was a tough and exciting job for us to choose the best ones from so many great images.
It is with great pleasure that we announce our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners along with 6 other honorable mentions.
We also have 4 special winners this time – The Mentor’s Choice images have been chosen by our Guest Mentor Reuven Halevi.
So here is the result… The winner is – Yash Sheth !
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest 1st Place Winner
[In-Street Review] The aim of this month’s theme was to push the members to avoid the tropes that have come to define modern street photography (juxtaposition, illusions etc.) . Instead, we wanted our members to go back to what photography is about: capturing emotions moments, focusing less solely on the form but instead using form in service of the content. We saw many wonderful submissions out of which Yash’s image stood out. A flying bird by itself would not have been enough but the connection between the bird (caught at the right moment) with the shadows of the people in the background elevates this picture and brings out many interesting interpretations (of freedom, for example). The inclusion of the red chair also gives counterbalance and a nice touch of color to an otherwise almost monochromatic image. All-in-all, a great shot.
Second place goes to Md Enamul Kabir !
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest 2nd Place Winner
Third place goes to Ajeesh Puthiyadath !
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest 3rd Place Winner
And this time we have 4 Mentor’s Choice images !
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest Mentor’s Choice Winner – Image 1 by Manish Jaisi
[Guest Mentor’s Review] A very simpatico but on a deeper level also poignant photo. The clever composition puts us in the camel’s mental space, reversing the roles between humans and animals and making us imagine how it perceives us. We all look alike to the animal, like menacing polymorph silhouettes looming over and around it, growing out of the darkness. The lit up features in this portrait of the camel, stand out against the black and we focus on its features and most of all its gaze, which seems stoic but sad, inviting us, the human viewers, to reflect on our actions and how we treat other living creatures. We are forced to empathize with the camel. Simple, clever and very forceful composition that lets the story flow freely.
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest Mentor’s Choice Winner – Image 2 by Bijon Datta
[Guest Mentor’s Review] A mesmerising black and white. I do not know what the man is harvesting, or if he is even harvesting the same plants as those which cover the field he is walking through, but little does it matter to me, the viewer. What matters is that it looks otherworldly. The man moves through this endless field of luminous grain, with surreal kernels that, like tiny fireballs, explode upwards in celebration of life. Here the facial expression of the sole human figure works nicely. He looks very in tune with his surroundings, he is observing it but he is also immersed in it, awestruck by and slightly weary of the living, miniature fireworks. Two tiny personal considerations: would have been fabulous to see even more of the extension of the field, and second, in developing the photo I would look into ways of softening the whitest of the highlights just a tad (though admittedly I’m seeing a rendered and compressed photo on a screen so my view is hardly scientific). Great scene, great capture.
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest Mentor’s Choice Winner – Image 3 by Subhabrata Roy
[Guest Mentor’s Review] This is a very nice pre-renaissance approach to the canvas. Here you only have up-down and left-right, and it is all fishnet. Distance to the different objects is determined through variable object size (and a tad of out-of-focus in the upper right corner to remind us that this is photography). As everything happens within a net, this becomes a heavily deterministic view of existence. Bird or fish, predator or prey, you can swim in the sea or fly high in the skies, but there is no such thing as escape. The bird only thinks it is the predator, but ironically it is doomed to live and die in the same net as the fish. Nods to René Descartes and The Matrix. A somber black-and-white underscores the message. Recognition also goes to the nice circular movement in the frame and the linear intersections, and the surreal weightlessness of the fish.
August, 2020 Monthly Thematic Contest Mentor’s Choice Winner – Image 4 by Bhaskar Kundu
[Guest Mentor’s Review] A somber tableau of limits to human freedom of movement. This is an intelligent application of the divided frame, as it enhances the report and dialogue between the boy in the lower left and the bird upper right. The “grounded” boy’s gaze leads the viewer’s eyes from left to right towards the boats, representing how we humans have negotiated a way to travel the seas. Yet, though we have found similar technological compromises to fly, there is in the end nothing that symbolizes “freedom” more than the idea of freedom from gravity, the ability to spread one’s arms and fly. In this sense the central horizontal line becomes a literal dividing line between realms and levels of lightness. The choice of black and white seems like the right one. I believe the photo could gain more “oumph” with less spaces between the boy and the first boat, and the bird and right edge of frame, but overall this is very nicely conveyed.
Finally, here are other 6 Honorable Mentions !
Many congratulations to all the respective photographers! Cheers!
If you want to participate in In-Street Monthly Thematic Contest, please join our FB Group and look for the announcement of our next monthly theme..
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