March 09th, 2018

 For those of you that missed the lecture this week, we invited self proclaimed 'Competition Addict' Robert Millin MFIAP, FBPE, EFIAP/p, MPSA, SPSA, DPAGB, GPU Hermes (and breathe...) to talk about the world of photography competitions at PPS.  As you can tell from the length of his 'letters' he has spent a lot of years building up his impressive competition portfolio.

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Robert started entering competitions in 2010, and for his first entry got a little 'photoshop happy' with himself. Adorned in a kilt to represent his Scottish heritage he entered a collage of images in an array of different locations...  

After a few 'learning curves' and the passion to succeed in competitions he quickly adapted to the world of photography competitions on a global scale.  His main advice?  Keep things quirky, think outside the box, submit images that other people wouldn't necessarily see in another part of the world.  One example was a picture of three donkeys on Blackpool Beach - completely normal for us 'sandgrownun's' but a spectacle for judges in other countries. If you can...travel... capture as many different cultures and creeds as you can.  

Maybe someone flossing the teeth of a camel / donkey...or an array of fruit/veg that aren't familiar to you when you do your weekly food shop at Sainsbury's, or Aldi (or any other reputable food store!).  When shooting sports/culture his advice was to capture vibrant colours i.e. red football kits, orange table tennis shirts etc. Be bold!  

One of his most successful shots is 'Playing OK'.  His advice was to not just edit to mono.  Work on darkening the shadows and lightening the whites (dodge and burn to your life's content) it creates an almost 3d effect and  can be successful when submitting comp pictures. 

Whether you value letters after your name or not most of the advice given was useful in everyday photography as well as thinking about competition entries.  Ultimately, to get that 'shot' our own president Stephen Riley summarised the lecture, "the thread of this lecture was about planning and preparing the shot.  Think about the result you want and go for it" .  Don't miss next week at PPS it's '3 Way Battle'!