Photo Contest & Light and Form Photo Winners

"Light and Form" is a favorite assignment of fine art photography instructors everywhere. It teaches the student to look past "things" and see how objects and lighting interact. This generally results in the student dramatically increasing the quality of his or her compositions. This exercise is often missing in many photographers' education when there is an over-emphasis on technical aspects. During the learning process of other artists, students learn very quickly that they must see how light plays on an object. They must be able to draw or paint the effects of the lighting - shadows, highlights - the intensity, color and direction of the light itself.. Many photographers, on the other hand, take these effects for granted. Because they have never had the experience of having to draw shadows, highlights and other lighting effects, they may overlook the impact these elements have on their composition.

Take shadows, for example. I can't tell you how many times I have seen an otherwise excellent composition severely weakened because the photographer simply did not see a shadow. It is a very easy mistake to make! Because a shadow is not a tangible object, we forget that it will have weight within a composition. It actually becomes an element that must be placed and dealt with just like any other element of the photograph.

Another factor is that your eyes are able to deal with changes in light much better than film. What doesn't seem to be a significant difference in light to our eyes becomes a very dense shadow on someone's face! So not only must we pay attention to how light effects our composition, but we must learn how our film records it. We are often surprised that film does not really record how we see!

The "Light and Form" exercise often results in more abstract compositions. It is very common for black and white to be the medium of choice. Submissions for this contest ran the gamut from color to black and white, from very abstract images to snapshots of "things." The images I have chosen here, as you will see, transcend the photography of "things" and present studies of how light and objects interact. You will see that often it is light itself that makes a dramatic picture.

Dong Jia Han's image of a church in Greece takes Grand Prize. It is an excellent study of how light can create objects, shapes and form. Essentially monochromatic, the color of the image adds impact to the composition.

Janez Kukec - Mezek's black and white image is one of our runners-up. It is a wonderful example of the power of a shadow. In this image, the shadow of the lamp clearly has mass and becomes integral to the composition. You would be surprised how many beginning photographers would never have even seen the shadow and thus never considered this as a subject worth their time.

Malie Rich-Griffith not only used the values of light to create our next runner-up image, she also used color to accentuate the shapes and create even more drama. This is a common subject of black and white photographers. Malie's use of such vibrant colors makes this more than the common study of dunes.

The photographers in our honorable mention list have also used light and the quality of light to create their compositions. They are great examples of seeing the interaction I have talked about above. They are more than photos of "things" because they all involve a special attention to light and how it makes a composition.

All images copyrighted by the individual photographers. All Rights Reserved. These images are for your viewing pleasure only and not be downloaded for any other purpose. These images have been digitally watermarked with the photographers' names and copyrights.

	Grand Prize "Santorini, Greece" Dong Jia Han (Eric) Parsippany, New Jersey
	Runner-up "Lucerne, Switzerland" Janez Kukec - Mezek Slovenia
	Runner-up "Untitled" Malie Rich-Griffith Kailua, Hawaii
	Honorable Mention "Romania, Jan. 1990" Balazs Dibuz Mt Prospect, Illinois
	Honorable Mention "Mountain Shrouded Sunset" Larry Malvin Northbrook, Illinois
	Honorable Mention "Untitled" Andras Major Stuttgart, Germany
	Honorable Mention "Brandywine" Bernie Epstein Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
	Honorable Mention "Red Triangle" William J. O'Brien, Jr. Warwick, Rhode Island
	Honorable Mention "Kelly " Mathew Q Baume Boston, Massachusetts
	Honorable Mention "Park Bench" C. G. Arnold Pawhuska, Oklahoma
	Honorable Mention "Untitled" Brian Thomson Superior, Wisconsin