More Worldwide Photo Walk Images Honored
Today I’m going to give my personal favorites in a bunch of different categories, from images that didn’t become one of the finalists or the Grand Prize winner, but I felt were so great that they deserved some recognition as well.
Here’s what so amazing to me about all this. If the winning images you saw yesterday, and here today, were entered in a regular photo contest, none of us would blink an eye—-a great image is a great image. But most contest allow you to choose any photo from your entire lifetime of shooting, or perhaps any photo taken in the last year, or any photo in a particular category. But in this case, here’s what the photographers were up against.
- They were not able to choose the location (it was chosen for them).
- They were not able to choose the time of day (it was chosen for them).
- They were only able to shoot for two hours.
- They shot in the light that was there. They couldn’t go back later (or earlier) in better light.
Yet they came away that images that are inspiring, creative, and in many cases, breathtaking! That’s what makes this so special. Two hours. That’s it. And look what they came up with! To me, that makes these images, and the ones chosen yesterday, all the more amazing.
Before we get to seeing some images, there were some recurring themes in the types of photos that where picked by local winners, and went into judging to become finalists. For example, there were:
- Lots of HDR shots
- Lots of shots of other Photo Walk photographers
- Lots of shots of reflections
- Lots of shots of homeless people
- Lots of shots of children
- Lots of bees landing on flowers
- Lots of people seen through store windows
- Lots of Bridges
- Lots of Churches (inside and out)
- Lots of shots of statues and art
- Lots of shots of stairs
- Lots of train shots
Anyway, it gives you an broad view of what people wound up shooting a lot of.
The images that follow are my favorites that didn’t make their way into the prize category, but are nonetheless deserving of recognition:
BEST REFLECTION SHOT
“Reflection of Thai”
by Jakkrit Koompaisawad (Muang, Thailand)
BEST USE OF HDR
“Punta Gorda Gas Station”
by Bill Conway (Punta Gorda, Florida)
BEST SHOT WITH TOO MUCH HDR BUT I LIKED IT ANYWAY
“Steeplechase Face”
by Brian Matiash (Brooklyn-Coney Island, New York)
BEST HDR SHOT THAT DOESN’T SCREAM “IT’S AN HDR SHOT!”
“The Arcade”
By Tom Bower (Cleveland, Ohio)
BEST B&W
“Windows”
by Les Doerfler (Washington, DC)
BEST MACRO SHOT
Flower with Bee’
by Don Tredinnick (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
BEST LANDSCAPE SHOT THAT NEEDS A LEVELS ADJUSTMENT
Vermillion Lake Sunrise
By Peter Carroll (Banff, Alberta, Canada)
BEST USE OF COLOR
‘Faz’
by Andrew Morley (London Southbank, England)
BEST DUOTONE
“Waiting for Water”
by Shamir Karim (Dhaka Gulistan, Bangladesh)
BEST SHOT I LOVE BUT CAN’T EXPLAIN WHY
“Day by Day”
by Jacek Glogowski (Krakow, Poland)
BEST CAR SHOT
‘Thunderbirds’
by Shelly Wynecoop (Spokane, Washington)
BEST REALLY BLURRY SHOT OF A COUPLE IN A TUNNEL WITH GRAFFITI
‘Tunnel Vision’ (above)
by Eric Parks (Blue Ridge, North Carolina)
BEST SHOT OF SOMEBODY’S FEET
‘Wading’
by Fred Moses (Boston, Massachusetts)
BEST SHADOWY SHOT
“No, It Is Not A Gun!”
by Nemanja Jovanovic (Belgrade, Serbia)
BEST ‘CUTSIE’ SHOT THAT MAKES YOU SMILE
‘Hitchhiking On A Mural’
by Hugh Smith (Burnsville, North Carolina)
BEST SHOT OF THING I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
‘Augers’
by Jerry Ranch (Des Moines, Iowa)
BEST PHOTO WITH PAINTING EFFECT
‘Photowalk Tugs’
by Landya McCafferty (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)
BEST PATTERN SHOT
‘The Stairs On Mirror Lake’
by Trenton Moore (Lakeland, FL)
BEST SHOT OF ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER FROM THE PHOTO WALK
‘Sunset’
by Panot Tangsucharit (Khon Kaen Provine, Thailand)
BEST SHOT THAT LOOKS LIKE IT WOULD BE HANGING IN A REALLY NICE HOTEL LOBBY
‘Sinuousity’
by Nick Heaphy (Christchurch, New Zealand)
BEST FLOATING PEOPLE SHOT
‘Dancing on Air’
by Nicola Corboy (Cashel, Ireland)
BEST USE OF PHOTOSHOP EFFECT SHOT
“Paradise Lost”
by Don Johnson (Boise City, Idaho)
BEST STILL LIFE
“Glasses”
by Ernesto Campana Jr. (San Pedro, Philippines)
BEST SHOT THAT DROVE BY
“Passing Smiles”
By Adrian Bailey (Brisbane City, Australia)
BEST MOODY SHOT
“Dreary Day”
by Chris Lazzery (Ogunquit, Maine)
BEST SHOT THROUGH A WINDOW
“Al Faisaliah Tower”
By Thamer Altassan (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
BEST HAPPY SHOT
“Terrazza Mascagni”
by Franco Catalucci (Livorno, Italy)
BEST WARM COLORS SHOT
“Both Sides of the Track”
by Mike Toth (Bridgetown, Western Australia)
BEST SHOT I CAN’T STOP LOOKING AT
“After Hours Apothecary”
by William Palank (San Francisco, Chinatown, California)
My sincere congratulations to all these fantastic photographers whose work I really felt deserved some extra recognition.
Love these photos! Makes me wish I had gone on a photo walk! Love the Arcade shot the best, looks like a travel mag ad. Captions are great, too.
… best photo captions. Too funny! Great shots too!
For the BEST LANDSCAPE SHOT THAT NEEDS A LEVELS ADJUSTMENT, you should have Peter send you the full res version of his shot…make the adjustments…and sned it back as the opds file so he learns
I agree – please show the photographer what you or Matt K. would have done to this photo!
I’ll play devil’s advocate here and dare to disagree. I think my first instinct would have been to adjust the levels too (heck, it’s what I do with 95% of my photos), to be honest. But after taking a closer look, I really like it as is. The photo has a soft atmospheric effect that is a bit dream like and mysterious. I say leave it as is.
I agree w/ Mark D too.
One of the problems with a lot of the photography we see, that we think we like, tends to be pushed too much for contrast and saturation. Sometimes it’s lovely to settle for a more Mother Nature “as it was” look. The shot needed nothing.
First of all a big thank you to the Banff walk leader Darwin Wiggett for picking my shot and to Scott for posting it in the deserve to be honoured gallery.
As I like to say this photography thing is not the land of 1+1=2. It’s all subjective. I purposely worked the muted, or lack of levels punch effect, in post. Some will like it some will not. My thinking was that taking the image that way in post gave the shot a bit of a dreamy feeling which is a bit different from my other work (www.PeterCarroll.ca). I appreciate everybody’s feedback. The learning never stops. Pete
This was soooo much fun I cant wait to take part in next years photo walk. There were some really beautiful images shot this year. I cant imagine how hard it must have been to select the winners. Congrats to all that won and all that were mentioned above. That in and of itself is an honor.
Great stuff…but the best macro, “Flower with bee” is actually flower with a fly–a hover fly.
this is very cool. Scott you are a marketing genius..and a great teacher!
Hi Scott,
Thanks for acknowledging these other folks! I can’t imagine what you guys went through to select the winner or winners. Just an amazing opportunity for us share our talent! The Photo Walk idea is just fantastic! My wife and I had a wonderful time. Oh, and we have our shirts to wear when out shooting!
Congratulations to all the winners and those above!
Thanks Scott … you’re awesome!
Dennis
Wow! That is all I can say. If these are the shots that didn’t make the cut, it most have been incredibly inspiring to go through all 900. I feel like a couple of these shots could have one the grand prize themselves. Again it makes me realize how hard this must have been for you Scott. Great job and thanks for including this second post of pictures!
Hi Bill:
I feel the same way—-you could make a case for all of these to be prize winners (in fact, these were all in the running at one point in my judging). The quality of the entries made this an impossible job, and that’s why I felt they needed to be recognized.
Thanks for the kind words, and for being a part of the Photo Walk.
-Scott
Cool, I’m one of the “best random caption” honors!
(mine’s the Best Moody Shot one in Ogunquit)
Thanks Scott!
Definitely looking forward to next year.
WOW, very nice shots and thanks for sharing those Scott. I sure hope that next year I will be available to do the walk.
As mention before, it would be nice if the Banff photog would send you the photo and you could show what you would do to it and see the before/after.
Great photos! Makes ME wish I was a better photographer!
I love the “needs levels adjustment” shot just as it is. However, I’d like the chance to learn what improvement you had in mind with that label, and how you’d do it. Maybe a future blog topic, or PSTV demo?
By the way, if that were my photo, I’d have it printed on aluminium as you and Matt demonstrated two or three weeks ago on PSTV. I’m still looking for a good candidate among my shots for that treatment.
Hmmm, there’s an idea for a self-assignment.
Steve
BEST USE OF PHOTOSHOP EFFECT SHOT
“Paradise Lost” by Don Johnson (Boise City, Idaho)
This looks more like a shot that was done in-camera with selective color program mode. Could be Photoshop too, though.
I agree with Dave, I wish I was better. I have a year to make my wish a reality. All of these are fantastic.
Heheh love the categories, and the captions. Really lovely images – must have been sooo difficult to narrow them down at all! Great work everyone, and well done Scott!
Hey Scott,
Great selection on the photos and these are all great photos!
One comment on your post — for the lines below.. shouldn’t there be a ‘not’ there?
They were ‘not’ able to choose the location (it was chosen for them).
They were ‘not’ able to choose the time of day (it was chosen for them).
Thanks!
Hi Mike:
Thanks SOOOOOOO much for catching that. I just updated it!
-Scott
Wow, great shots!
So do you dislike HDR or is it something that has to be done just right for it to work for you?
I like HDR when it’s not over the top.
-Scott
Stunning shots! All of them! I couldn’t stop looking at the man in the shop shot either
Like you almost said, the both the restrictions and the openness made this an incredibly tough competition.
Thanks for the recognition Scott. Mine was the “Best Shot I Can’t Stop Looking At”.
Frederick Van Johnson had shown me that shot.. and I was like “Wow..” It sat on my desktop for DAYS.
Great shot man!
RC
Thanks RC. Frederick was great and the walk was a blast!
I haven’t seen this mentioned, but I really appreciate the spirit of community that the Photowalk has generated. Not only did we get to shoot together, we had a meal together and I met another photographer whom I am staying in contact with since the Photowalk. The social aspect of this needs a little championing! Being able to talk shop as it were with others of like mind makes the whole thing worthwhile. Kudos to the Walk leaders in that regard, they did a great job ‘herding cats’ so to speak.
Hi Christopher.
I totally agree—–I think it’s one of the best aspects of all of this, and you’re right—-we don’t champion it enough (luckily, there’s always next year).
Thanks again for being a part of the Photo Walk.
-Scott
Thank you, Scott, for selecting my shot as an Honorable Mention in the ‘Best Shot With Too Much HDR But I Liked It Anyway’ category. It’s a great honor to be selected amongst such talented photographers.
Congrats Brian. It’s really a great shot, and deserved the recognition! I really liked the angle of composition and how you framed the shot!
-Scott
Thanks, Scott! I really appreciate the very kind words.
If I could ask (to help improve my HDR work flow), do you think that the heavy use of vignetting gives the impression of haloing or are there other facets that give the impression of heavy HDR use? As a note – this shot used a combo of Photomatix Pro and the Tonal Contrast action via Nik Color Efex Pro to bust out some of the texture.
BEST SHOT THROUGH A WINDOW
“Al Faisaliah Tower”
By Thamer Altassan (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
I’m so happy for you Thamer.
Jamal Albadia – Photo walk leader – Riyadh – Saudi Arabia
There is just something about that shot. I kept coming back to it again and again. Maybe it’s the juxtoposition of old and new, or the way the colors work together—I’m not sure, but when a shot works—it works!
Thanks for leading the Photo Walk Jamal. You led some really great photographers!
-Scott
Scott thanks a lot for organizing this worldwide event! and I’m glad you liked my photo, its an honor since I’m a fan of your books!
Thanks a lot Jamal for organizing this successful walk! and thanks for picking my photo
Glad to see a few more that made your radar screen Scott. There were several in this round of photos that grabbed me as well. Can’t imagine having to judge on the scale you did for this walk, it was tough enough sorting the local photos! And I definitely had more than one favorite in my group too!
All good picks, thanks again for sharing them.
Scott only rest take the best top 10 photos on photowalk flickr site….
is a really hard in 12.436 elements…. You can try??
maybe next year… may be next year win….(I think teh same allway)
From El Salvador Central America
All I can say is that it makes me want to:
a) Strive to be a better photographer.
b) Throw all of my camera equipment in the garbage.
I think I’ll go with a)
I second those thoughts….might just go with option A too.
Brian
Very cool, I knew I should have taken a tripod with me. Doh!
Hi Scott
You know, Scott, your on to something with Photowalk. A few posts yesterday asked for you to do a book from the images and I can see all the problems that could generate. Now only you guys know if its possible to do a book with the images submitted, but if it is possible, wouldnt it be great to do a book that all the profits went to your Spring of Hope charity? That would take away any negativity from people wanting paying for their image, you enter the contest (obviously next year’s) and your image might be used in a charity book F.O.C. I’m sure loads of Photowalker’s would support it the way they did the tee shirts and your very generous CS4 and Lightroom book offers for Spring of Hope. Again, I’m 100% positive photographers, pro or am, want to see there image published and would buy the book, heck, why not add the book price into the price of attending the walk then you have a solid number sold straight away! All you’d need to do to get a wider audience interested is to link it to something, say all walks take place between 4-5pm and call the book One Hour in the World? Marketing guys will find something better I’m sure, but I can feel there’s some mileage in it! Heck, you must have done most of the work editing the contest anyway!
Best regards
John
I’ve seen this idea pop up a few times and I for one would love to see/buy the book if published. As a city winner (Glasgow) I’d happily donate use of this years image even if uncredited for this special charity.
As we say here “gaun yirsel big man”
Brian
Great, I used to think my photowalk pictures were pretty good. Now I think they suck! Thanks for making me realize I still have so much farther to go…
Karl,
Thanks for the comment. I needed a good laugh and your comment really made me chuckle. By the way, I don’t know any photographer who isn’t their own toughest critic. Remember, you are seeing the 1% of the pictures that were taken on the photowalk. There were probably a few stinkers taken that day too. If you don’t believe me, let me send you a few of mine
Awesome! Thanks for putting these up for us to look at. I love the titles to each page…you are quite creative in how you came up with “best” shots. Very good stuff….man, there are some talented photographers out there!
Thanks for helping us be the best we can with the equipment we have!!!
Wonderful inspiration and upbeat energy/humor with the titling. Are the top 900 available anywhere to peruse? It’d be fascinating to see the trends you noticed through the images!
You can look at all the local winners here:
http://worldwidephotowalk.com/2009-photos/
And you can vote for the People’s Choice, voting closes August 25 11:59EST.
Note to self – “Participate in next years event!”
Lots of inspiring photos.
“Best Shot Of Thing I Don’t Know What It Is” Come on Scott. Round disc in the corn capitol of the world, Des Moines. And named Augers!
)))
YAY! Thanks guys! You just made my month!
…and glad to see some of the other images that stood out for me recognized here.
(thunderbirds in spokane)
The Coney Island photo caught my eye from the first day i started skimming through the different photowalks city by city but when i ran across the “After Hours Apothecary” from San Francisco I also looked and looked. I would love to see the full sized shot. I imagine it would be like one of those “find Waldo” kind of pictures.. so much going on.. I do know this though.. I don’t want to work in that room..LOL
Todd,
Thanks for the compliment (I think);) If you got to the Official Cities page of the Photowalk and go to California>San Francisco-Chinatown and click on it (the winning image) it’s pretty large there and looks much better in my eye.
WOW, thanks so much Scott for choosing my image, I’m so chuffed to be in the same post as all those other entries, it’s very overwhelming! Congratulations to all the other winners and honorable mentions, a very good bunch this year!
Andrew
I have to say that I’m “chuffed” as well to be in the same group as Andrew, Shelly, and the others. Just an amazing group of shots.
Thanks to you Scott for putting this together and taking on the unbelievable task of having to pick winners from such a strong pool. Thanks to Jeff Revell as well for being the leader on my walk.
Scott – I did have some thoughts for next year. Maybe you could offer a consolation prize of an evaluation critique from you for the photos at this level . I would love to know what you liked about my shot and more importantly, what elements might have kept it from being one of the winners. Also it would be nice if the group pool of the city winners had a slideshow option. It was a tough slog to have to click on each different image to move to the next.
I was going to ask for the same, thanks for bringing this up. Most of us, specially those that live outside the US don’t have a chance to get a critique of our photography. If Scott and/or his team could give every photograph a critique that would be priceless. We would learn from your expert advise and hopefully improve our skills.
Thanks for organizing the photowalk each year and already looking forward to next year’s.
Hi Les:
I really thought of awarding a consolation prize for this 2nd set of images, but I know from experience, no good deed goes unpunished, and this would just make everybody else mad.
They would claim, “This isn’t fair; You didn’t say there were going to be awards in these other categories. If you had said that, I would have submitted my HDR/Black & White/Blurry Photo/Painted Photo/shot through a window/ and so on,” and it would have created a big mess and lots of ill will because I wanted to do something nice (take a look at my “Shooting on the Sidelines with Scott & Mike” contest for a great example).
So, I decided to skip the prizes (and the drama that would have come with it), and just honor the images and look—-no one complained.
It’s sad because I really wanted to do something special for these photographers, but that’s the way things have become these days.
That being said: I don’t think I’ll get in too much trouble if I tell you what I liked about your shot. First, I love how you framed the shot. Your eye was already going to be drawn to the brightest thing in the photo, but where you placed the window made the composition even stronger. The shadows on the wall really gave the image a sense of depth, and plus I really liked the B&W conversion you did to the image. I love the way the clouds outside almost have an IR look to them (In fact, the whole image looks a little IR), and overall I just thought it was a very creative and well executed image. Very well done!
At the end of the day, here’s my litmus test; is this is an image I’d like to hang in my home? Absolutely! Very nicely done.
-Scott
Scott…thanks for that. It means a lot coming from you.
Your eyes do not deceive. The shot was done with an IR converted D70 and the much maligned 18-200 lens.
I really do feel for you. It seems like every time you do something nice, there is always some naysayer complaining that you didn’t do it right or that you did it for some personal gain etc. Just keep doing your thing Scott and know that there are plenty of us that appreciate it.
(Now if you could put in a good word with Mike Olivella for me, I would appreciate it. He’s got this contest I’m trying to win, see).
Congratulations to all the winners and those recognized!
I do wish that I was among the winners but then again there is always next year.
Thanks Scott for being so friendly and open with your choices…
I love the “extra” photo’s you put on here. The Photo’s are awesome and all very unique. Very classy thing to do Scott. Well done.
Scott,
Not sure what I liked more… the images on their own… or your titles “best shot of…” you crack me up, man!
All around great stuff, though!
Some really wonderful photography. Thanks for these “extra” photos and for all of the work you put into this. I can barely begin to imagine how difficult it was to winnow from all of these beautiful works of art. Though I would have loved to have “made the cut,” it was inspirational for all of the reasons that you mentioned and for the social aspects mentioned by others.
The more photos I take (I’ve been doing this for only about 4 years, unlike some of you old-timers
) the more I appreciate the beauty of good photography. I’m also developing my own set of likes/dislikes but, more importantly, the WHY of those reactions. These too will make me a better photographer.
Oh, and for those of us who didn’t even make the local cut, take heart. I didn’t make it either, but one of the shots that I submitted was named an outstanding exhibit in another contest. OK, that one didn’t have as big a payoff, but bragging rights are bragging rights! Beauty will be recognized. (Browse all of the “also ran” photos and I’m sure you’ll find at least a dozen or more that will inspire, or touch, or cause some reaction in your soul.)
Thanks again to not only Scott, his crew, and Coree Coppinger (our Milwaukee walk leader), but also to all of those photographers who have laid bare their souls by allowing us to view and judge their work. Thanks also to the wonderfully personable people I met and shared a communion with on Brady Street in Milwaukee. My life is richer for having participated and sharing time with you all.
Wow. Great work. I need to:
1) Stop throwing away my shots with limited dynamic range and buy Photomatix for HDR.
2) Look in new ways, at new angles, at new things, and at the same things at different times.
3) Carry my camera with me more often.
4) Get out and shoot with an attitude of pure enjoyment.
5) Participate in a Photo Walk!
Great choices! I’m sure everyone appreciates you recognizing these shots along with the winners. And I’m lovin’ those award titles!
I had a great time at the photowalk but it is clear that I must move from Cleveland if I want a chance of winning next year. This is a slam on Cleveland not the photowalk.
It was a treat to look through these inspiring images. What are the odds that the 2 photo walks were planned during the same time I would be on vacation 2 years in a row. Scott, please be sure to run the dates by me next year so I can plan things better.
Hate that I had to miss them.
Thanks Scott for making this all happen!
Amazing!
I am thrilled to have my Portsmouth, NH photo listed on this page as one that drew your attention, Scott. I can barely speak I am so tickled. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
And thanks to Ron Risman for being a fabulous Photowalk leader 2 years in a row (even if he is a Canon user).
I actually think this group of photos is much more interesting than the actual winners of the contest. Just my opinion, of course. (Had a great time on the photowalk in Boston, btw. What a great way to bring people together!)
Hey Scott, thanks for posting these photos. They are great, do you think you can have a top 100 somewhere on your page? I know what you’re thinking, more work.
Scott !!
Where is my image?
I know I have not sent
I do not know how
But you must find it
Look at my eyes @@
Do you steal?
(jest kidding)
Thank you always
Stunning shots over here!! Well done to all!