As it's Friday….here are some funnies……

The quickest way to make money at photography is to sell your camera.

Two photographers walking along a street and they pass a beggar sitting with his hat up-ended on the pavement, begging for money. One guy keeps walking. The other stops. Later when they catch up with each other the first guy says to the other. “Hey I saw you stop for that beggar. What did you give him?””Oh” says the first guy, “1/125th at f5.6″

“A group of artists are invited for dinner by a famous chef.
In greeting the photographer, the chef comments:
“I love your photos, they’re wonderful, you must have a very expensive camera”…the photographer doesn’t reply and walks into the dining room.
After dinner the photographer approaches the chef and says:
“Dinner was sensational, very exquisite flavours, a true work of art,
you must have a very sophisticated stove.”

If an old man asks a young girl for a date…
That’s his business.
If the young girl accepts…
That’s her business.
If the old man and the girl decide to marry…
That’s their business.
However, if they want great wedding photographs…
THAT’S MY BUSINESS!!!

You know when you are a photographer when….

You look at a desk full of tax returns and wonder how you could photograph the stack.

You’re somewhat troubled by the fact that you don’t know how to calculate the shutter speed of your eyes when you blink.

The sign “no flash photography” means nothing to you and makes you laugh, because YOU don’t need a flash.

You watch a movie and pay more attention to the aperture then what’s happening in the movie.

While wearing polarizing sunglasses, you rotate your head left and right to assess what impact your circular polarizing filter might have on a potential shot.

You pity, and judge, members of the public when you see them using their big, fancy DSLR in… automatic…

You’d rather buy the shirt that more closely resembles 18% grey.

You describe disgusting old dilapidated barns as “beautiful”.

Hope you like…….and have a great day…

Frosty day

Hylands House, Chelmsford, in winter

Humanity Photo Awards 2013 Call For Entries

 Since 1998, the China Folklore Photographic Association (CFPA) has started the international competition Humanity Photo Awards (HPA), the aim of which is to call upon photographers all over the world to record and preserve the heritage of folk culture.  HPA is supported greatly by the UNESCO.

HPA calls upon responsible photographers who respect life and love to take their cameras, in the form of special photo series：

• To explore and rescue the endangered folk cultures of worldwide nationalities by means of photography;
• To profoundly record the changes and evolution of various folk cultures in a genuine and vivid form;
• To record, spread and share the multicultural achievements of the world to enhance mutual understanding and exchanges of human beings and to promote the world peace and development;
• To contribute to the World Folklore Photo Museum with world culture records.

Eligibility:

The contest is open to everyone, with no restrictions on entrants in terms of profession, gender, age, nationality, country and region.

No entry fee for this contest.

Categories:

• Portrait & Costume
• Architecture
• Living and Production Custom
• Festivities
• Education, Recreation, Sports & Technology
• Traditional Rites

Judging criteria: 

The final prized photos will be selected according to a comprehensive evaluation of their photographic technique, documentary value and the difficulty in photographing and can best reveal the mission of the HPA contest.

Prizes:

• Humanity Photo Grand Awards: 6 prizes (one for each category) of: of US$2000; award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.
• Humanity Photo Documentary Awards: 60 award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition. In addition, photographs of Humanity Photo Documentary Awards will have the opportunities to win Jury’s Special Awards according to the photographer’s story-telling, interview and editing techniques.Each winner will receive photographic equipment or product which is equivalent to US$500.
• Humanity Photo Nomination Awards: 100 award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.
• Humanity Photo Performance Awards: 500 electronic award certificates; name of winners and their works listed in the book/CD; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”. Winners arrange their own travel and accommodation expenses and visa formalities for participating the Award Ceremony. The organizer will help them accordingly, but will not be responsible for any problems related to visa.
• Every participant except the winners for the aforementioned awards will: Get the electronic copy of a Commemoration Certificate of the HPA 2013 officially stamped by the two organizers — the CFPA and the UNESCO; Get a discount price to purchase the photo album of HPA 2013; Be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony and the Premiere Exhibition. Those who attend the ceremony could get the hard copy of the Commemoration Certificate together with the photo album of HPA 2013. All the travel expenses should be born by the participants.

Schedule:

Deadline: April 15th, 2013 (Beijing Time)

Selection: By mid-August, 2013, the photos granted with the Performance Awards, the Nomination Awards and the Documentary Awards will be announced after two rounds of evaluation. On September 14th and 15th, 2013, the final evaluation unveils the Grand Awards of the six categories.

Award Ceremony: September 16th, 2013. Humanity Photo Grand Awards and Jury’s Special Awards will be announced on the Award Ceremony.

Premiere Exhibition: The premiere exhibition of the HPA 2013 – Memories of Mankind VIII, which consists all the wining works with the Nomination Awards and the higher ones, will be held in the same period with the final selection and the award ceremony in the same city.

For more information visit http://www.hpa.org.cn/en/Constitution.aspx

Hasselblad Masters Awards: Evolution

Hasselblad-Masters

One of the most prestigious photographic awards programmes in the world – described by one Hasselblad Master as ‘like winning a Nobel prize’- is set for the next step in its evolution.

As the curtain comes down on the world-acclaimed Masters Awards Programme 2012 it is already rising again with a 2014 agenda that includes two new photo-categories – Project//21 and Underwater.  The competition is also now open to photographers shooting with cameras of 16MP and above, regardless of the camera’s brand or format.

What happened in 2012:

The names of the eleven 2012 winners (selected from 110 finalists and from over 2,500 submissions) were first revealed at the beginning of the year and their individual work projects for the special’Evoke’Masters book project began immediately. These highly accomplished photographers have been equipped with the latest Hasselblad equipment and focused on challenging their own creative boundaries for the project.

The biennial Masters Awards competition is organised to coincide withphotokinaand in September 2012, in the Boulevard of Competitions area at the Kölnmesse, tens of thousands of visitors to the world’s largest imaging trade fair, were entranced by the ultra large series of’Evoke’prints.

After photokina the 2012 three continents Masters Winners 2012 Tour was jam-packed at every venue; Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin and London – before its conclusion in Shanghai.

Photographers were invited to test Hasselblad cameras, shoot with a Master in a studio environment, engage in a seminar experience and chat with experts at social evening events.

What happens next:

Nearly four thousand photographers submitted images (by the August 31^st, 2012deadline) in a total of twelve categories: Fine Art, Landscapes/Nature, Wedding/Social, Portrait, Fashion/Beauty, Editorial, Products, Architectural, General, Wildlife, Project//21 and Underwater.

For the first time in the history of the competition Hasselblad has allowed entries from photographers who have been active professionals for more than three years and who use cameras of 16MP and above, regardless of brand or format.

Winners of the 2014 awards will have use of Hasselblad equipment for a period of approximately four months to create a new set of images for the fourth special Masters Commemorative Book and will receive a trophy at photokina 2014. All winning images will also be published on the Hasselblad global website and then presented at exhibitions around the world.

The internal Hasselblad jury has already begun the process of shortlisting 120 finalists – ten photographers in each category.

The finalists will be announced in January 2013 and the public has the chance to vote for their favourite image.

www.hasselblad.com/masters

Typewriter of Thrillers…

HI folks, Just another image I knocked up whilst being caught up in the excitement of the new James Bond film……

Hope you like..

Glyn