Nighttime...

We received again a high number of entries for what I consider was a very hard theme.

We had many technical discussions regarding colour temperature of lights, stitching with wide angle lens and off camera lighting which was all very 'enlightening' considering the subject ;-)

The club president showed his darker side by presenting the above image of an attempted mugging.. you'll be relieved to know that he came to no harm by firing his flash into the eyes of the attacker, temporarily blinding him while making good his escape....

Also, Nico brought along this wonderful image of Segovia taken from a secret 'locals only' location that he has sworn not to disclose...

There are many more great images over on the gallery pages so head over there and enjoy. As always, comments and 'thumbs ups' are always appreciated, and if the authors of the images can leave a few lines on how and why they took the image it would be great as well.

Next theme is 'Reflections' another theme that at first glance appears to be trivial but in execution is not at all..

Until then.......

Sony World Photography Awards announced...

The winners for the second edition of the Sony World Photography Awards have been announced.
In total 44 photographers from 22 countries were selected, both in the amateur and professional categories.

The winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony in Cannes next month, where one will be named the recipient of the Iris d’Or – the Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year.
Check out all the images here.
(source BJP Online)

"when the famous start thinking of immortality, they call for Karsh of Ottawa."

Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) a Canadian Photographer of Armenian descent, is considered to be one of the most famous and accomplished portrait photographers of all time.

The title of this article was a quote that appeared in the 'Sunday Times' and gives you a clue of the significance that he has had on portrait photography and the respect that he commanded amongst the greatest icons of the world. During a career that spanned more than 60 years he had more than 15,000 portrait sittings producing more than 150,000 negatives, which is absolutely staggering !

He used almost exclusively an 8x10 large format camera and has photographed the likes of Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and George Bernard Shaw just to name a few.

Currently in Chicago, there is an exhibition of more than 300 of his prints at the Art Institute of Chicago, just in case you happen to be around that neck of the woods.

The OnlinePhotographer has a very interesting article thats well worth the read, and, an absolute must, is a visit to the Yousuf Karsh website itself where you can read a short comment of a number of his most famous portraits explaining what happened during the portrait sitting (absolutely fascinating), there is also a quite extensive wikipedia entry about him too.

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Tom Hoops, as you will see from the slideshow his Flickr account contains many beautiful portraits, which not only demonstrate his ability behind the camera, but also his skill in post processing as well.

If you'd like to know a bit more about Tom and what makes him tick you might want to read this interview on the '6 Million People' website. His personal webpage can be found here.

Previous featured photographers:
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima