#kgsinclair

New Post has been published on https://kgsinclair.com/2021/07/project-feedback-appreciated/

Project Feedback Appreciated

Since my last post, LensCulture has reviewed my submission to their Critic’s Choice competition and provided feedback. As usual, their comments and suggestions are constructive and insightful. My project statement was too brief, and I would have been better served to go into more detail to help viewers understand what I was trying to achieve with my images.

My reviewer said a project statement is a good opportunity to relate some of my visual strategies. For example, why do I only photograph beachside rocks and what is the significance of this? What do I hope viewers might glean from my work? Almost always, the more information that is provided to viewers, the greater the chance that they will arrive at a fully informed appreciation of my vision.

Human Condition 3 – Creative Growth

The reviewer identified the above image as one of the more engaging photos in my submission. They commented that this depicts the illusion of spatial depth in an engaging manner. They were drawn to the subtle color contrast afforded by the warmer hues of the rocks with the cooler areas that populate the middle of the frame.

Human Condition 7 – Hope

This image was seen as an outlier in my submission regarding the overall luminosity and the depiction of the subject matter. The main visual thrust of this picture is upon the juxtaposition between rather disparate formal elements. They were drawn to the general rising angle engendered by the lines of the rock. This image is different from all the other pictures; it carries great visual weight and stands out in relief.

Overall, some key things I learned from the review are:

Spend more time and effort on my project statement as it is an essential part of a series submission.

There is a need to have greater variety in subject scale and placement within the image frame. This will instil visual rhythm and pacing across my pictures, adding to the interest of the series.

New Post has been published on https://www.kgsinclair.com/2020/05/keeping-the-creative-juices-flowing/

Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing

In these times of working from home, and with the recent relaxation of the rules regarding COVID19, there has been a real temptation to go out more on the weekends. However, we have exercised restraint as both Marie and I don’t want to have the virus as we are older and therefore more suspect to being hit harder.

So how have we been maintaining our interest in photography? We have had limited trips into the city on the last couple of weekends to do some street photography. I have also been practicing compositing using Photoshop to create altered reality images. This has been a lot of fun.

Here is a sampling of the images:

This one is really quite simple. The cranes and the circus rider sculpture with a texture overlay. The texture was some spider web in the corner of one of the windows at home.

Again, this is a simple image. The background and the woman walking through. The woman was taken from a street photography image. A texture was applied again created from spider web taken at home and manipulated in Photoshop.

The great part about having many images in my library that I haven’t used is it gives me a great selection to choose from for composites. The background scene was taken in Melbourne and the flying fish was taken up near Redcliffe. The texture was created by manipulating an image of water in Photoshop.

This image features a lot of manipulation. However, it is still only a composite of three images. This works for me as the window says “Smith & Daughters” and in the foreground are two young women who may well be sisters. The texture is an image of purple light onto a wall and manipulated in Photoshop.

Another three image composite. The texture was an image of the back deck at home manipulated in Photoshop.

This is a simpler composite being only two images combined. The background building has been posterized in Photoshop and the curves adjusted to get the effect. The bicycle wheels and pavement were placed on top using the hard light blending mode to achieve this effect.

New Post has been published on http://www.kgsinclair.com/2020/03/2020-vision/

2020 Vision

2020 started in Melbourne after watching the fireworks on New Years Eve at Docklands. Marie and I had a wonderful time and what a way to start the year. A spur of the moment decision to go to Melbourne but it proved to be inspired. We both enjoyed the photography opportunities Melbourne offers.

From visiting art galleries, seeing shows and savoring the dining opportunities, we had no need to venture too far from the CBD area.

In fact we enjoyed our Melbourne visit so much we decided to change our February wedding anniversary holiday week from the Gold Coast to Melbourne.

We returned to Melbourne and one of our first experiences was a photo walk conducted by Melbourne Camera Club. We were made very welcome and enjoyed the walk. It was really well organised and we enjoyed photographing parts of South Melbourne before joining our fellow attendees for dinner at a local hotel.

Another highlight of our Melbourne visit was to see War Horse at the Regent Theater. It was a moving experience in a stunning theater. I would definitely see it again.

Other highlights were visiting the State Library (a truly beautiful building) and the Exhibition building for the Russian festival.

Here are some images from the visit:

20-Off

Image 1 of 21

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The first competition month at Brisbane Camera Group was February and the topic was a song or film title. The definition was: “The image must bring to mind the title of a song or film which is in the public domain, either recent or historical. This can be achieved either by word association or scene association with elements of the image providing clear clues as to the title of a valid song or film.“

February was my first competition submission as an A Grade member at the club. I was pleasantly surprised to receive one acceptance and two Merits.

Here are the images I submitted:

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is – Acceptance

Searching for a Heart – Merit

New Post has been published on http://www.kgsinclair.com/2019/12/2019-the-year-that-was/

2019 – The Year that Was

Well, the Brisbane Camera Group Annual Competition has finished, and it was very much an anticlimax for me. I was the only member to compete in the print section of my grade, so I received awards for first, second and third in each section I competed in. In the sections where grades did not apply, my images didn’t get close to a win.

To see the photos I submitted into the Annual Competition, please visit my Gallery. All my images were submitted as prints.

The club celebrated its 70th Anniversary as well as the annual awards at a dinner function earlier this month. As part of the celebrations a photobook was produced. I am very proud that a couple of my images were chosen for inclusion within the book. You can view a sample of the photobook here.

In the awards section of the evening, I was recognised for scoring the most points in my grade for the monthly competitions. I received a medallion for this achievement. Also, I received the Patron’s book prize for my service to the club in 2019. This award was a big surprise as I didn’t think I would receive anything other than the medallion.

At the start of the year I set the target of becoming an A Grade member for 2020. This was achieved even though I experienced a couple of rocky months with my entries. Over the Christmas break I will reassess and set a new goal for 2020.