Apogee Photo Magazine 

The Photo Contest: White on White

White on white is a favorite assignment of mine when teaching my beginning photography classes. The assignment represents a culmination of  weeks of work about exposure, metering, lighting, printing and developing. To the uninitiated it seems like an easy assignment. However, many students will need to repeat the assignment because the results are far from what they saw or had anticipated. It simply isn't as easy as it looks.

Here are our picks of the best "White on White" images we received:

The Grand prize goes to Malie Rich Griffith. Her image of the Sheathbills represents a great example of white on white as well as the use of similar textures and similar shapes as compositional elements. That combination, as well as having caught the center bird's foot raised in motion, contribute to making a striking, dynamic photo.

A close second was Matthew Hlubny's "White Wash." It reminds me very much of sumi painting for both its tones and its simplicity. The various values of white in sharp contrast to the black is striking. The photo captures the subtleties of the whites and yet was still exposed in such a way not to eliminate the black. This demonstrates skill and knowledge of his film and camera.

Click on each image to see larger version.

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