Multi-Club Competition, April 30, 2024
Boston, Gateway, Newton and Stony Brook Camera Clubs


 

All members of the Boston, Gateway, Newton and Stony Brook Camera Clubs are invited to participate in the friendly 5th Annual Multi-Club Competition to be hosted online on April 30, 2024, 7:00-9:30 PM. 

All images must be created within a one-year period beginning April 1, 2023 and ending March 31, 2024

For purposes of Multi-Club only, members from all clubs will be assigned to either Class A or B to give photographers a chance to compete fairly with others at a similar level of experience and skill.  Next April, each club will select a single final image in each category and class to compete in the event. Only one image per member may be submitted to the finals, allowing 16 members from each club (8 categories x 2 classes) to compete.

The Multi-Club Competition will be judged by a distinguished panel of three judges independent of the clubs.  The judges will offer their comments on all of the finalist images, stressing especially impact.  Awards will be given to the best image in each class/category. Club awards will be given for best total placement across all categories in Class B, Class A and Overall.  At the end of the competition, the judges will also each choose a Judge’s Favorite for each class, across all categories, for a total of up to 22 individual awards (16 category winners and up to 3 across all categories in both Class B and Class A).

Members may choose to submit digital photographic images in any or all of the eight categories detailed below.

Category

Definition

1. Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism is a style of photography that does not merely capture a scene but rather utilizes techniques often seen in paintings, such as composition, emotions, subtraction, balance, subtlety, zoom, blur, texture, and of course, lighting to create a non-representational photographic image expressing ideas and emotions. Typically, these images may be created with in-camera techniques (such as Intentional Camera Movement [ICM] and multiple exposures), as well as using post-processing techniques.

2. Complementary Colors

Colors are important in photography. They evoke and convey the feelings of both the artist and the observers. Pure complementary colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. They add depth to a scene because the warm color appears to come forward while the cooler color appears to recede. Any color with two adjacent colors on each side of its complement (referred to as being "split complementary") can have the same effect (for example, green with red-orange and red-violet). We’re not picky as long as the color combinations add “pop!"

3. Curves

Curves are all around us. Nature dislikes straight lines but contours, arcs, loops, circles, curlicues, whorls, turns, swirls, and twists can be found everywhere. Your image can be of anything — an animal, building, flower, landscape, person, road, or a river, for example. It doesn’t matter whether it’s natural or man-made; if a curve or curves is a critical element, then it’s fair game!

4. High Key/
Low Key

A high key image is one that is almost entirely bright with little or no dark shadows present. The tonal values are mainly in the brightest part of the tonal range (i.e., the right side of the histogram). This usually results from a creative decision made by the photographer to instill a certain mood, often evoking something airy, light and pleasant.

In contrast, low key imagery is typically dark and moody. It is usually underlit and has a strong contrast between the generally dark color of the scene and the few areas of the subject that are lit. It is dramatic and striking. Low key images have tonal values that are mainly dark (on the left side of the histogram).

These images can be in monochrome, black & white, or color.

5. Music

Photography of music can include musical instruments, musical performances, a vocalist at a music venue or concert, music score sheets, a musician with his/her instrument or a composite of several elements that evoke music.

6. Seasons

Photography of seasons is not just about scenic vistas, weather, or nature in general. It can be about interpreting the nuances of the season, and there can be many. Just take the time to look for them. Think about colors, activities, celebrations and events, or even a special day or month during this time of year. What you see and capture through the lens may not be the norm or obvious. It can be your subtle depiction and artistic appreciation that defines this category while not digressing from the subject matter.

7. Street Photography

Street photography is a reflection of everyday life – real, unaltered impressions of public places, places that everybody visits every day, the street where you live, the parking lot of your favorite grocery store, the subway.It’s the hunt for what Henri Cartier-Bresson dubbed “the decisive moment”— a split-second event when, amid the motion and chaos of everyday life, the photographer seizes upon his or her composition. It centers around spontaneous, chance occurrences in public spaces. It’s the documentation of ordinary people and the stories we tell.Street photographers document the truth and capture scenes that others may not notice in their daily grind.

Although street photography has evolved throughout the decades, the basic tenets remain the same.These moments are usually candid, though they don’t necessarily have to be, as the genre continues to expand. While people are a regular fixture in street photography, there’s no rule that says you must have a human presence in every shot. Photographers such as William Eggleston often produce street photography where there are no people in the frame, though their presence is suggested by the subject matter.Images can also focus on traces left by humanity that say something about life.

Motion blur is acceptable but composites are not.

8. Tender Moment(s)

A tender moment can be anything—a touch, a glance, a look, etc.—between people, animals, people and animals, plants, flowers. Basically, anything living can experience a tender moment. It can be staged or happenstance. Interpretation is up to you.

 


Updated 6/28/23


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