No limits in the Fremantle International Portrait Prize

Most photography awards place time limit of one or two years on when the entry was taken.

However, in the Fremantle International Portrait Prize 2013 there is NO time limit whatsoever.

From a Kodachrome transparency 1960. Shot on a Hanimex C35 camera

As the entry deadline gets close, there is no excuse for saying 'I haven't got enough time to take a photograph for the competition'.

In your albums, archives, slides, negatives, digital files there must be one great portrait that you have taken at some time in your life.

We would love to see it. You could be in with a chance to win AU$10,000 in cash and prizes in Western Australia's most exciting, truly international photographic event.

ENTRIES CLOSE 8 JULY2013

Click HERE for details.

Stress and Creativity

Can a photographer with enormous creative potential still be creative when stressed to the max?

Some photographers excel when the pressure is on, with deadlines to meet and budgets tighter than  a Botero girdle. They're the high octane brigade.

Over 20 years of photography teaching and tour leading I've noticed photographers seriously stressed with work, family or relationship issues struggle to produce artistic images.

Photography is usually a major interest. Their day job is in middle or senior management; long hours, pressures and low job satisfaction. 

They often join a tour with a head cold or extreme  tiredness. 

On tour, they spend the first week sleeping and recharging; week two they are back to shooting and by week three they are back to  creating and enjoying life.

Everyone, including photographers, need sufficient time to think, dream, create and play. 

Photography is more than buying an expensive camera. Its more than pushing a button or playing Photoshop. 

Photography is a love affair with life. 

Time is running out. For your last chance to win AU$10,000 in cash and prizes enter the Fremantle International Portrait Prize by 8 July.

 Click HERE for details.

Pharaoh's approach to Better Portraits

Music

Splash of red

Shoot odd hours

Choose amazing angles

Seek challenging locations

Let your image tell a narrative

Atmospherics – use fog, rain, smog

Interaction between a person and animal

Match subject to lighting. Harsh subject – harsh lighting

Fremantle International Portrait Prize 2013

With  AU$10,000  in  cash and prizes

Proceeds to Arthritis Foundation

ENTRIES CLOSE 8 JULY

ENTER HERE

Arthroblog No 13 - Reactive Arthritis

This form of arthritis originally bore the name “Reiter’s syndrome” after the German physician Hans Conrad Julius Reiter [1920-1944], who first identified the triad of arthritis, eye inflammation, and genital inflammation. However, his name is slowly being detached from the diagnosis because of his history of membership of the Nazi party, and forced human experimentation at Buchenwald concentration camp. Reiter died on the Western Front and was prosecuted (posthumously) as a war criminal at Nuremburg.

Dont forget to submit your entries to the Fremantle International Portrait Prize: www.fremantleportraitprize.org.au

Photo Tip No 16 - Use an interesting angle

If you are comfortable using a conventional, conservative approach to you portraiture maybe its time to consider a change.

If your camera is always at about eye level; your camera's aspect ratio is always in 3:2 portrait mode and you use a spirit level to make sure the horizon is horizontal think again.

Consider your location, the vantage points, the angles and the lighting. The same subject may look a lot different with an interesting angle.

Enter your best photograph in the 2013 Fremantle International Portrait Prize for your chance to share in AU$10,000 in cash and prizes.
Entries close on 8 July

Five Things to add Punch to Portraits

1. Photograph two people instead of one
As soon as you introduce a second person into the frame you are not only photographing a second person but also the relationship between the two people. For example a grandfather and granddaughter.

2. Capture Emotion
Its relatively easy to photograph a posed person with a smile or a bland look on their face. However, if you can capture real joy, sorrow, anticipation or surprise these could add a powerful element to your image.

3. Capture Animation
Animated portraits develop a life of their own. One or two people reacting to a dog or cat may do it. Often a person's hidden personality will be revealed in the presence of a pet. Alternatively, it could be the reaction from a person to another element such as a vehicle or the reaction to an incident in sport.


4. Try using Monochrome
Colour is an extremely powerful tool in portraiture. However, in some cases, colour can also be b distraction. Consider treating your image as a monochrome.  You may find that shape and texture have more emphasis and the image impact increases.

5. Make sure Key Features are Sharp
Sharpness is a critical issue in portraiture. That doesn't mean that the entire image has to be pin-sharp. However, it usually requires the yes to be sharp along with any other critical features you are trying to emphasise. The viewer will always be drawn to the sharp areas of the image.

The Fremantle International Portrait prize offers more thanAU$10,000 in prizes including a AU$5,000 cash First Prize and aNikon D800 with 50mm lens as Second Prize. Entries close on 8 July 2013. For more information and entry details click HERE.

All proceeds from the Fremantle International Portrait Prize go to the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Foundation of Western Australia

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Arthroblog No 12 - Sciatica

Barbara

In 1764, Dominicus Cotunnius published a booklet wherein he distinguished two varieties of sciatica – ischia nervosa, a swelling or irritation of the sciatic nerve, and nervous hip gout arising from inflammation of the hip joint. According to Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), who suffered from the former type, ischia nervosa is one of the most acute pains known to mankind. It was thought due to “rheumatism of the cellular element of the great sciatic nerve” and is characterized by “an excruciating pain, extending from the loins down the back part of the thigh, particularly urgent during the night, and totally preventing sleep.”^* Some authorities attributed sciatica to “the combined influence of cold and moisture.” Although we still use the term sciatica, most cases are really due to lumbar nerve root irritation, usually in association with inter-vertebral disc prolapse.

^*George Gregory, Elements of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, 1839

Dont forget to submit your entries to the Fremantle International Portrait Prize: www.fremantleportraitprize.org.au

Photo Tip No 15 - Composite Images

We have received a few enquiries about the rules relating to composite images.

A composite image is one that has had other elements added to the original exposure. For example, a texture may have been added.

In the Fremantle International Portrait Prize a composite image is legal only if the entrant has personally shot each of the elements. In the case of a  texture layer, you can use it in your photograph if you actually shot the texture yourself. You are not permitted to simply find a texture on the internet.

A composite image could also have been created inside your camera by using the multiple-exposure facility (check your instruction manual).

If you become a finalist, the Fremantle International Portrait Prize may require you to send the RAW or ORIGINAL images for each of the elements in your image for verification.

The image shown here is a composite image with two elements.

1. The photograph of the person in the building.
2. The 'texture' is the subject's diary that I photographed and blended into the image.

In this hypothetical example, this image would be eligible because I actually photographed both components.

The Fremantle International Portrait prize offers more than AU$10,000 in prizes including a AU$5,000 cash First Prize and a Nikon D800 with 50mm lens as Second Prize. Entries close on 8 July 2013. For more information and entry details click HERE.

All proceeds from the Fremantle International Portrait Prize go to the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Foundation of Western Australia

Arthroblog No 11 - Rheumatic Fever (the 'most tedious of all the acute inflammations')

These days rheumatic fever tends to be an uncommon disease of children and adolescents, but can affect adults. Its importance was not fully understood until the end of the 18th century when Archibald Pitcairne (1652-1713), a distinguished Scottish physician, pointed out that it could “touch” the heart (particularly the valves) as well as the joints. It is “ushered in by a sudden attack of rigors, followed by the usual symptoms of pyrexia, and ... great pain and swelling which affect one of more joints, coupled with an utter inability to move them, and very commonly with considerable redness. Several joints are commonly affected at the same time but one of the most singular phenomena is its tendency to abate in one or two joints, often very suddenly, and to become as suddenly violent in another and a distant part.”^* A preceding infection with a microbe known as the beta-haemolytic streptococus, which can infect throat and skin, is known to have a great deal to do with the disease which, with the advent of antibiotics, is preventable.

^*George Gregory, Elements of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, 1839

Dont forget to submit your entries to the Fremantle International Portrait Prize: www.fremantleportraitprize.org.au

Last chance to see the 2012 winners

2012 Fremantle Portrait Prize Revisit

Epson Gallery

268 Lord St Perth

Closes 12 noon 15 July 9am - 4.30pm Mon - Fri

Did you miss out on seeing the 2012 Fremantle Portrait Prize at the Moores Building?  Here is your chance to see the winners and a selection of the very best entries.

The Epson Gallery is located inside Team Digital* 268 Lord St Perth.  Free parking is available.

* Team Digital are proud sponsors of the 2013 Fremantle International Portrait Prize

The closing date for the 2013 Fremantle International Portrait Prize is 8 July 2013. This year there is more than AU$10,000 in cash and prizes with a AU$5,000 cash First Prize. For entry details click HERE.

Left: 2012 winning entry by Louise Cooke

Arthroblog No 10 - Polymyalgia Rheumatica

You are sailing through your seventies or eighties without a care in the world and ... wham! You wake up feeling miserable, with severe pain and stiffness in your shoulders and hips. You can’t even dress yourself. Polymyalgia means “pain in many muscles” and rheumatica is a vestige from mediaeval times and refers to the changing flow of the noxious substance called rheuma. The good news is that a modest dose of prednisolone (a form of cortisone) works magically within a day or so. For many sufferers, the condition resolves in a year or two, during which time you may need to take a small daily dose of prednisolone. 

Dont forget to submit your entries to the Fremantle International Portrait Prize: www.fremantleportraitprize.org.au

Arthroblog No 9 - Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)

Christine Steinier

The “spondylitis” bit refers to spinal inflammation. Ankylosing means that the moving parts of the spine stiffen up progressively. AS is one cause of low back pain and stiffness in young men, but women can also develop the condition. The sex ratio in favour of males is 3:1.

In the late 19th century, Vladimir von Bechterew, Adolph Strumpel and Pierre Marie provided descriptions of the disease, which allowed it to be adequately diagnosed. Apart from spinal involvement, AS can affect peripheral joints and the eye.

Conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, Reiter’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease can be associated with AS.

There is a high (90-95%) preponderance of a particular tissue type called HLA B27. About 7-8% of the general population have this tissue type but this does not necessarily mean that you will develop the disease - it is a definite risk factor. The cause of AS is not known but there is some good evidence that its onset may be linked to a bacterial trigger.

An old saying amongst doctors is that every patient with ankylosing spondylitis has a sad story to tell – a story of vague backache which has been treated for years with this, that and the other, all without benefit.

With the current emphasis on earlier and more accurate diagnosis and the availability of biological agents for treatment, the prognosis for sufferers has improved remarkably.The “spondylitis” bit refers to spinal inflammation. Ankylosing means that the moving parts of the spine stiffen up progressively. AS is one cause of low back pain and stiffness in young men, but women can also develop the condition. The sex ratio in favour of males is 3:1.

In the late 19th century, Vladimir von Bechterew, Adolph Strumpel and Pierre Marie provided descriptions of the disease, which allowed it to be adequately diagnosed. Apart from spinal involvement, AS can affect peripheral joints and the eye.

Conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, Reiter’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease can be associated with AS.

There is a high (90-95%) preponderance of a particular tissue type called HLA B27. About 7-8% of the general population have this tissue type but this does not necessarily mean that you will develop the disease - it is a definite risk factor. The cause of AS is not known but there is some good evidence that its onset may be linked to a bacterial trigger.

An old saying amongst doctors is that every patient with ankylosing spondylitis has a sad story to tell – a story of vague backache which has been treated for years with this, that and the other, all without benefit.

With the current emphasis on earlier and more accurate diagnosis and the availability of biological agents for treatment, the prognosis for sufferers has improved remarkably.

Dont forget to submit your entries to the Fremantle International Portrait Prize: www.fremantleportraitprize.org.au

Photo Tip No 14 - Rembrandt Short Lighting

Rembrandt lighting is achieved using light coming from the side of the face and body. The angle is usually somewhere between 6o and 90 degrees.

The effect is one side of the face is fully lit and the shadow side partly lit, ideally with a small triangular patch of light under the eye on the shadow side.

If the photographer positions himself and camera so that the lit side is towards the camera it makes the face look broader and plumper. This is called Rembrandt Broad lighting.

With exactly the same lighting, if the camera is now re-positioned to point at the shadow side of the face, the emphasis is on the dark side with the small triangle of light. This produces a far more theatrical, dramatic lighting effect and makes the face and body look narrower and slimmer. This is referred to as Rembrandt Short lighting.

The Fremantle Portrait Prize offer more than AU$10,000 in prizes including a AU$5000 cash First Prize for the best portrait. Entries are $15 each and close on 8 July 2013. All proceeds to the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Foundation of Western Australia. Click HERE for details.

Fremantle International Portrait Prize update

Entries received so far internationally

• Bangladesh
• Canada
• Croatia
• Hungary
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Israel
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Spain
• UK
• USA

In Australia from

• ACT
• Qld
• NSW
• NT
• Victoria
• WA

Photo Tip No 13 - Ten technical tips for competition entries

Technical Factors

1. Make sure the image is sharp, especially the eyes
2. Ensure correct exposure - with details in highlights and shadows
3. Attain correct colour - based on a calibrated computer screen
4. Avoid last minute entries - that's when mistakes creep in
5. Avoid choosing images that have been seen everywhere
6. Have original RAW or original JPEG images available for scrutiny
7. Avoid over-compressing images so file sizes are too small
8. NEVER oversharpen images - judges WILL notice
9. Don't over-manipulate imgaes so they look as though they have been subjected to a 'MAC' attack
10. If you have to upsize, ensure you click on 'bicubic smoother' in Photoshop

The Fremantle International Portrait Prize offers more than AU$10,000 in prizes including a AU$5000 cash first prize. Entries close on 8 July 2013. For more details and entry conditions click HERE.