FILM Photographer of the year

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cowasaki

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Well I'm organising the photographer of the year competition and I though I would add a twist for you lot in the dark room :)

So here is the deal...........

We would like you all to join the photographer of the year competition and as such we are adding a special category of FILM ONLY. The rules this year allow minimal post production for the digital lot for 8 months, virtually none for 2 months and anything for the other two months. To qualify for your FILM photographer of the year your complete annual portfolio of competition entries MUST be taking on film although you do not have to process or print them, they may be scanned.

So the rules are:

  • You enter the competition as normal
  • You include "FILM SECTION" in the entry
  • You must take your images on film in any format.
  • You may mess with the images using traditional film techniques post development ie to create a print from negative then scan print.
  • In the poster and december months you may take your scanned print or negative into the digital domain and carry out digital post production work to create a poster etc BUT any images used must be your own and taken on film.
Joe from Redsnapper is a big film fan mainly shooting in film himself and has agreed to provide the end of year prize for our film section which will consist of a tripod and head PLUS the film section entrants will be included in the normal photographer of the year competition so will be eligible for the monthly and annual prizes.

There will be 2 scoreboards "Everyone" and "Film only" so film shooters will appear in both.
 
How is the judging situation working? Are there going to be judges as per the tester rounds and, if so, who are they going to be? Ultimately what I'm trying to say is, are myself, jollyjack and Canon togger (+ who ever else if asked) exempt from entering? :)
 
Interesting...
 
How is the judging situation working? Are there going to be judges as per the tester rounds and, if so, who are they going to be? Ultimately what I'm trying to say is, are myself, jollyjack and Canon togger (+ who ever else if asked) exempt from entering? :)

I was hoping that you would all continue on as judges for the next year if that is ok. The film section images will be included with the normal images exactly like the digital ones. The ONLY difference will be that I will pick out the film only members and insert their points into the film category score board so no extra work other than that.
 
Yep, more than happy to help :) I was going to say I was considering stepping down next year (2014) so as to take part again, but I'll be in the final year of my Ph.D, so will have even less time to take photos!
 
The rules this year allow minimal post production for the digital lot for 8 months, virtually none for 2 months and anything for the other two months. To qualify for your FILM photographer of the year your complete annual portfolio of competition entries MUST be taking on film although you do not have to process or print them, they may be scanned.

So the rules are:

  • You enter the competition as normal
  • You include "FILM SECTION" in the entry
  • You must take your images on film in any format.
  • You may mess with the images using traditional film techniques post development ie to create a print from negative then scan print.
  • In the poster and december months you may take your scanned print or negative into the digital domain and carry out digital post production work to create a poster etc BUT any images used must be your own and taken on film.

This looks interesting and a lot less scary than entering the full competition (although I guess there might be a wider audience than we get with the normal "monthly" competitions here). I'm just not quite certain I understand the rules yet, though. I understand with the poster and December months I can do anything digitally. And presumably in the "no PP" months it's pretty much as processed and scanned.

My query is the combination of the "minimal post production" months and bullet 4 above, which presumably allows for normal wet printing and then scanning the print. However, I don't have those capabilities, and get my processing done in a lab, either scanned by the lab or at home. Once scanned, I presume it's OK to apply whatever the digital "minimal post production" rules are to the scan?

BTW scanning with a package like Silverfast (and I presume Vuescan) involves a certain amount of "post-processing-like" capabilities (de-skewing negatives and especially mounted slides, cropping edges, compensating for over or under-exposure etc) so I guess we all have to use our own judgement on how much we do. Presumably you have the backstop of asking for the actual "hard copy" original if suspicious!

Oh, and finally... there's no sign up required right? Enter by emailing the first entry?
 
If you are taking your images by film then ALL months become:

  1. Take shot on film
  2. Develop yourself OR Have developed
  3. Scan negative and submit OR Print image, scan image and submit.

BUT in the poster and december months you may then use the scans digitally to make a montage or otherwise mess them them.

You may, in any month that allows post production, do manual post production extended/retarded development, selection of developers, cross developing, burning etc etc IF you are printing yourself from your negatives or in creating the negatives. In a [no pp] month you can only mess with the negative/print globally by selection of developer and adjusting time etc so no cross processing, dodging, burning etc....
 
I have added this last post to the rules as clarification.

I am effectively giving film photographers a similar set of rules of digital. If a digital photographer takes an image in RAW they can make some adjustments to the RAW to JPG conversion and so can the film photographer in their selection of film, developer, time etc. There is much more skill involved in taking shots in film and I am hoping the kudos of "Film photographer of the year 2013" will drag the film photographers into the competition. I really want this section to be a winner!
 
Minimal post production is quite ambiguous though to be honest and no PP will make it almost impossible to get a proper scanned image - any scanned negatives or slides will need to have curves/levels and sharpening at the very least to get a viewable picture as the scanned image will come out low contrast and soft; it is a well known fact that anything scanned needs to have some work done on it. If a commercial lab scan it then they will do a similar thing and likewise if you wet print and scan it then you have to select a contrast filter the for multigrade paper unless you want it to be dead low contrast.
 
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That is fine so long as the negative is available should anyone complain that there was an exessive amount of work done. Even with the digital images colour correction and sharpening are acceptable.
 
This is amazing! Thank you for including this is in the competition. Doubly looking forward to it now!
 
Looks like there is going to be some stiff competition from the F&C section for this one then...
 
What does "photographer of the year 2013" mean? Shots taken in 2103 or old shots in the past?
 
Very good of you to get F&C involved Darren, top effort. I won't be taking part, but best of luck to all of you that will be, the quality should be good, judging from shots in the Show Us Your Film Shots thread that we have!
 
I hope the addition of the film photographer of the year continues as i probably wont have time this year, what with finishing my degree in 5 months and (hopefully) starting postgrad stuff in september
 
I love film photography, I was given so much help getting to the point where I can develop my films at home and I have even done my own prints too. I realised that we have some brilliant photographers hiding away in the film section with vast amounts of knowledge and some great ideas and so when I got the chance to organise the next two years photographer of the year I was always wanting to do this. The main sponsor is a very keen photographer who believes in getting images right in camera so having a film section is also good for him. Plus Joe and RedSnapper is a keen film photographer too so again his sponsorship of the film photographer of the year is brilliant too.
 
I hope the addition of the film photographer of the year continues as i probably wont have time this year, what with finishing my degree in 5 months and (hopefully) starting postgrad stuff in september

Won't have time :LOL::LOL::LOL:

We all know that students spend most of their time in ..
A) bed
B) the pub
C) the short distance between their bed and pub

I believe there may a small amount of time taken up with, lectures, essay writing and reading, usually squeezed in between student breakfast telly ie Doctors and Pointless.

So, stop your whinging and set at least one day a month aside for photography and enter the FPOTY comp:D
 
I would absolutely love the film photographer of the year to also win the main competition, it would be brilliant.
 
I really, really, REALLY hope that a few of you talented bunch actually get stuck in and enter the competition - as Darren says, there's some real talent in here, and I'd love to see it get a wider audience.

I've "served my time" so to speak with the competition - 4 years worth of doing the leader boards for the old-style voting, and 3.5 years worth of entries, but I'll be following the results with interest
 
Mmm, I shall give this some thought. I've entered in the past and even done quite well one year (top 10 I think) but i found it difficult to enter every month even with digital so film is even more of a challenge. But....you never know, it would give me some focus which at the moment is lacking.

Andy
 
I wouldn't underestimate the challenge - to actually come up with 12 ideas, execute them perfectly, then turn them into potentially competition winning photos AND do it all to a rigorous timescale (no "extra week for getting my roll of film back in the post" I'm afraid...) is very, very difficult. I think I usually managed maybe 3-4 shots on film at most per year of submissions - though in my final attempt in 2012, where I was seriously trying to win at least one month, as opposed to just making the numbers up I freely admit that film didn't really get a look in...

Thats why I think that getting the Film togger title would be a heck of an achievement...
 
Mmm, I shall give this some thought. I've entered in the past and even done quite well one year (top 10 I think) but i found it difficult to enter every month even with digital so film is even more of a challenge. But....you never know, it would give me some focus which at the moment is lacking.

Andy

Perfect excuse to go large format, Andy :D Only need to shoot a single frame then and then dev it straight away!
 
Or stick with MF and have 12 goes at the same image :). I suspect I'd need more than one roll let alone one frame!
 
Good to see some love for F&C. I won't be taking part as I don't really have the time to work within the constraints of the competition and quite frankly I don't really work too well with set themes!
 
It's strange really Jim - it seems that without someone else setting me themes, I've pretty much stopped shooting altogether... probably speaks volumes for the limited scope of my imagination :shrug:
 
Good to see some love for F&C. I won't be taking part as I don't really have the time to work within the constraints of the competition and quite frankly I don't really work too well with set themes!

I would love to take part, but like you Jim the rules of the competition mean that I am excluded, I cannot shot and process within the time limits given at an economical cost, its a shame, but there you go.(y)
 
How can you not - you could be shooting December 2013's entries as we speak...

From the rules...
Photos must be taken between the theme being released and the closing date.

Themes have been released - closing date is the end of the month for each month...

okay, January is a bit tight... but the rest of the year you have 2 to 11 months to get a roll through the camera...
 
How can you not - you could be shooting December 2013's entries as we speak...

okay, January is a bit tight... but the rest of the year you have 2 to 11 months to get a roll through the camera...

A very good point. We know the themes for the year so no need to rush and I think I may have taken a shot which would suit January's theme last week. (y)
 
How can you not - you could be shooting December 2013's entries as we speak...

From the rules...


Themes have been released - closing date is the end of the month for each month...

okay, January is a bit tight... but the rest of the year you have 2 to 11 months to get a roll through the camera...

Mark, I am sometimes a bit thick, but how or what do you mean, I shot about one or two rolls every 3 to 4 months and have them processed.

Do you mean I can shot what I want, when I want and post when I want?

I know the years subjects are available, but you still have to post in the month declared, if that not is the case, then please explain and I will certainly go for IT.
 
Mark,

Forget the above, just had a good read, I am in.
 
It's strange really Jim - it seems that without someone else setting me themes, I've pretty much stopped shooting altogether... probably speaks volumes for the limited scope of my imagination :shrug:

I think my problem is finding the time to shoot anything that isn't either my family or something I see when out with them!
 
the themes are out now, january must be shot between themes anouncement and 23:59 on 31st jan, and must be submitted by email between 0:0:01 on 1/1/2013 and 23:59 on 31/1/2013. Feb to be shot from anouncement to 23:59 on 28th Feb, submitted by mail from 1/2/2013 to 23:59 on 28/2/2013 and so on.

So, you have anything up to 11+ months to shoot the december image for instance, but it MUST NOT be shown on the forum or elsewhere before submission, which can only be from 1/12/2013 @ 00:01am

or at least, that's what I understand things to be...
 
I have to be honest, I'm tempted to take part anyway. What I mean by that is, try and get all 12 themes on film, and just show them once the 2013 comp is over. The down side is I wont be part of the running, but the up side is that I get all year to get all 12 entries :)

Judgeographer of the year...? :naughty:


Ok, that is just silly :D
 
I might have to enter a few into this, and it will force me to break out the film camera a bit more than I normally do! Might even set a reminder in my phone for each months subject :eek:
 
erm so what happens if you miss a month or two....are you disqualified?
 
I have to be honest, I'm tempted to take part anyway. What I mean by that is, try and get all 12 themes on film, and just show them once the 2013 comp is over. The down side is I wont be part of the running, but the up side is that I get all year to get all 12 entries :)

Judgeographer of the year...? :naughty:


Ok, that is just silly :D

Silly perhaps, but exactly the same thought HAD crossed my mind as well...
 
I'm still in two minds, looking back over last years i couldn't match most of the level of work on digital when I could try something over and over. At the same time I could really do with the push to try stuff and if I'm going to use the themes for inspiration I might as well enter the shot.
 
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