C O N T E S T

This particular theme was inspired by a recent article in the March 2005 edition of Photo Life .

The following is a condensed version of what the article covered, and hopefully it will serve as a nice intro to the contest.

"With photography a new language has been created. Now for the first time it is possible to express reality by reality. We can look at an impression as long as we wish, we can delve into it and, so to speak, renew past experiences at will." -Ernst Hass

What Hass touched on is a problem often encountered by the creative photographer - abstract in their approach or not. A unique characteristic of photography is its perceived ability to capture a 'real' moment in time. As Richard Martin states in his Photo Life article, the image of a painting can be constructed through a pure mental process, but when a picture has been taken, it means that the subject represented by the image really existed. Therefore, the beauty of photography is derived from the existing world.

As photography has grown into an art form people have come to expect that this 'reality' will exist from one image to the next. This is what an abstract photographer must overcome - this notion is what they must prove to be false; that one can be creative and 'paint' with a camera. Photographer Keith A. Boas presents a perfect overview of the situation faced by the abstract photographer;

"Photography is the ideal medium in which to challenge assumptions, because of all art forms, it is the one people most expect to represent reality - the creative photographer grapples with these expectations, shaping or altering reality by the way he or she approaches a subject." - Keith A. Boas

So what is an abstract photo?

In reality it is hard to define - as with any type of artwork it must be treated subjectively as every individual concept of reality will differ from one person to the next. It is based on individual experiences, social interactions and cultural backgrounds. In essence an abstract photo presents a viewer with an image that is not immediately identifiable. It can be a collection of shapes, patterns, colours, or a play of light - natural or not. It will be something that can be interpreted a million different ways - something that will have a different meaning from one person to the next. Examples of good abstract photography include;



R U L E S

This contest will be open to all deviants - we encourage anyone with a camera to enter. This contest is not designed to reward photographers on their technical skills or experience in the field. This contest is also not about recognition or page views - it will simply be judged on artistic creativity - something that does not always come with photographic experience!

We would like this to be as pure as possible. Try to do as much manipulation on your camera first (White Balance, colour modes, inversions etc), but feel free to slightly adjust colours / contrast / crop in photoshop. Do not layer an image or combine multiple exposures together. One shutter release - one image!

Images that you have already posted in your gallery can be entered. For any image submitted to the contest just send `londonxpress a note with a link. For this contest there is a limit of one submission per artist.

The submission deadline will be May 1st.

P R I Z E S

1st Place : DA Prints Account (with 3 month DA subscription included) In the event that the contest winner already has a prints account, this prize will be replaced with a 1 year subscription to PhotoLife as well as a 3 month subscription to DeviantArt.

2nd Place : 1 Year subscription to PhotoLife:
www.photolife.com (International subscriptions are possible)

3rd Place : 3 Month subscription to DeviantArt

J U D G E S

`bigdavec
*livin-a-life
*flashtek
*lobegrinder
*bakerjake
*rugnetiac
*subotaj
*mnoo
*geostant
*coxi
*kshortt
`bookdiva
`zerocomplex
*anjules
~dlusion
*iamkatia
*fishyfishyfishy
*roy204
~facade-of-life
*geekster