[dsmithhfx]

Shadows and stolen moments: street photography ?*in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian

[pathdoc]

The first place series winner is just a joke IMO. I think the judges were pulled in by his nihilistic faux-philosophical schtick more than the actual photograph, which says volumes to me about where street photography is currently heading. The dog picture was far better.

[dsmithhfx]

The first place series winner is just a joke IMO. I think the judges were pulled in by his nihilistic faux-philosophical schtick more than the actual photograph, which says volumes to me about where street photography is currently heading. The dog picture was far better.

Did you view all the shots in the series? Not just the three on the lensculture awards landing page, which is poorly laid out but the slide show (accessible by clicking on one of the images).

[dsmithhfx]

The first place series winner is just a joke IMO. I think the judges were pulled in by his nihilistic faux-philosophical schtick more than the actual photograph, which says volumes to me about where street photography is currently heading. The dog picture was far better.

Here's his web site:

Hakan Simsek - Home

[dsmithhfx]

I think I'll just delete this thread from my subscriptions...

[pathdoc]

I do enjoy a lot of the singles winners, though.

Agree; some of them were just fantastic.

This guy isn't even in the same class, and his poetry is no better.

[biz-engineer]

This guy isn't even in the same class, and his poetry is no better.

I do much better LoL

[dsmithhfx]

I do much better LoL

Let's see.

[biz-engineer]

Let's see.

Would you have a gallery of yours to share with us?

[dsmithhfx]

Would you have a gallery of yours to share with us?

I do much better LoL

So this was a joke?

[ffking]

Competitions of all sorts are a lottery - I regularly see better pics on Flickr than win competitions - I agree with earlier comments though - the series winner just isn't an interesting or engaging image, but there are some very strong and intelligent images below.

[Dartmoor Dave]

I think the newspaper chose to represent the winning series with the photo from the set that I personally find the weakest, and their chosen quotation from the photographer doesn't help. But after clicking through to look at the full set, I think it's a magnificent series of photographs and a worthy winner. There are some of the most memorable photographs in that set that I've seen for a long time.

Some of the others looked like frankly clichés though, of the sort that get to the top of Flickr explore. Asian person looking out of a vehicle window in the rain (Steve McCurry style)? Check. Geometric building shapes with a lone figure walking through a patch of sunlight (LFI Gallery anyone)? Check. Old person scaring up a flock of pigeons (we've ALL done that one)? Check.

The winning series is the one for me, and also Dougie Wallace's wonderful work in his trademark confrontational style.

[dsmithhfx]

I think the newspaper chose to represent the winning series with the photo from the set that I personally find the weakest, and their chosen quotation from the photographer doesn't help. But after clicking through to look at the full set, I think it's a magnificent series of photographs and a worthy winner. There are some of the most memorable photographs in that set that I've seen for a long time.

Some of the others looked like frankly clichés though, of the sort that get to the top of Flickr explore. Asian person looking out of a vehicle window in the rain (Steve McCurry style)? Check. Geometric building shapes with a lone figure walking through a patch of sunlight (LFI Gallery anyone)? Check. Old person scaring up a flock of pigeons (we've ALL done that one)? Check.

The winning series is the one for me, and also Dougie Wallace's wonderful work in his trademark confrontational style.

Well said. I personally think the photo they used in the Guardian article is brilliant, there are several in the series that strike me as less successful, and less original. I was frankly disappointed that a heavy-handed, high-contrast treatment was the only thing unifying this 'series', albeit on a shallow, stylistic basis (IMO). I've seen this treatment before, in particular by one or two Japanese photographers but used with more delicacy and discernment. For me the high point of this series was the elephant shot, and I would have liked to see a series built around a more engaging theme by this photographer.

Having said all that, I have to agree with the competition jurors that this was the best series of the finalists -- for all we know, there were many other submissions that we may or may not have preferred, such is the nature of these competitions. I think we need to respect the jurors (and they are an impressive lot), while recognizing the arbitrariness that can creep into having to sift through and rank many hundreds (or thousands) of images. This is the real hard work of photography, not mindlessly snapping way.

Those of us who are engaged in 'aspirational' creative pursuits need to watch ourselves and be open to other visions that we may be able to learn from. Egoism as a response to others' success can be quite an impediment to gaining insights that may contribute to personal growth in this very, very difficult field. The capacity to acquire expensive gear, and take technically perfect photographs is not something I personally find very interesting, or admirable. To each their own.

[biz-engineer]

The capacity to acquire expensive gear, and take technically perfect photographs is not something I personally find very interesting, or admirable. To each their own.

That statement is contradicting the OP, since the criticism seems to value more a standard framing. For example, there are a lot of photographs taken "hors cadre" which is considered an art practice also using for movie making, which seems not to be understood in this post. One of the photos that is not a hors cadre is the one with the elephant and that's the one you like most because it is closer to a normal photographer taken with "expensive" gear.

[dsmithhfx]

Many, highly unconventional photographs employ what you may consider 'standard framing'. But framing is just one aspect.