Seasons

The brief:

To capture, in any visual medium, the current season as you perceive it. The winning image will be used for OCA's Spring mailing, so if you are using a non-digital medium, please ensure that the digital photograph or scan is of a high quality.

Open to current OCA students only, all entrants retain rights to their work but grant us a license to use on the OCA website and in promotional materials.

To enter this competition, go to your MyOCA area, and go to upload an image through your gallery. Select your chosen image and in the 'Medium' area, select 'Seasons' competition before uploading your work. Your work will then be viewable, along with all other entrants' work through the 'Seasons competition' area of the gallery (select 'View by Medium' in the gallery).

The competition will be judged by OCA Chief Executive, Gareth Dent.

Prize £50 Amazon voucher

Closes 29 February '08

The winner will be announced within this forum post on Monday 3rd March.

Thank you,

Paul Vincent.

Just to mention that in addition to Amazon voucher the winner will get 100 A5 prints of their work.

Good luck

Gareth

Are we allowed only one entry? or more.. Thanks

Are there any requirements for images sizes for the uploads (e.g. image dimensions, dpi, file size etc.)?

I know there was guidance on the old gallery but I can't find anything on the new one.

Thanks,

Simon

Hi

We are happy for you to put in as many entries as you like. There is no specific requirements on size to enter so you could upload a relatively small image to the gallery - to be printed to a high standard the winning postacards will need to be at least A5 at 300 dpi - which is approximately 1748 by 2480 pixels - but this should not put people off entering as often smaller images can be resized

Seasons Competition

After an exciting month watching over 150 entries to the Seasons competition come in, we are very pleased to announce that the winner is Shirley Plowright (shrli) with her piece 'Fog'. shirley is a student on The Art of Photography course.

'Fog' is a stunning image. Technically very accomplished with carefully muted colours, it has a real sense of narrative. On one level it could simply capture that sense of isolation that fog brings down on the landscape, and yet other readings are possible. Personally it made me recall the cataclysmic terrors of Cormac McCathy's 'The Road'.

Shirley receives a £50 Amazon voucher and 100 A5 postcards of her work. A copy of the  postcard will also be mailed to the 20,000 people on the OCA's mailing list.

The standard of entries was so high that we have decided it would be invidious not to highlight at least two other images as highly commended.

'I can see the sea' by Stephanie Vincent, also a student on The Art of Photography, is a shot full of dynamism, that captures the sense of each new season being an adventure for the young. By contrast, 'Winter Shadows' by Heather Withers, a student on Painting 2: Relating to Other Artists, is an altogether more contemplative piece. Both Stephanie and Heather will receive 20 standard size postcards of their work.

We hope you have enjoyed this competition and will be tempted to enter again. The next theme is Textures.

OMG! I hope Shirley reads this coz I'd love to know how this was achieved. 

 I'm also doing TAoP but wouldn't have a clue how to even begin to capture an image like this and I am now totally intimidated and any confidence I was gaining has been completely squashed.

Anyway, well done Shirley. Its an amazing image.

Well done to shirley Your fog image is amazing, Full of atmosphere, and mystery.. I'd also love to know how you did it..

And thanks to OCA for recognising my image as highly commended it has really made my day! I can't stop jumping up and down!

Don't worry plasticduck, we will ask Shirley to tell us how it was done and post a answer in this thread. Please don't lose confidence, and don't be intimidated - the reason we selected three images for commendation in the end was to emphasise that there is not a single standard to aim for - it is the personal vision that makes the 3 images stand out.

Congratulations Stephanie - a great photo.

Gareth

I reckon it has something to do with New South Wales in summer LOL

I just wanted to congratulate Shirley - Fog was my favourite entry. I actually thought it was a painting though so am also keen to hear how she achieved it!

Wow!  What a wonderful surprise.   I truly had no idea that my photograph would be received so positively.  Thank you for your kind words.

There is nothing to be intimidated about regarding the process of the photo.   It is very time consuming but following the procedure is  easy.     I scanned 'mould' on glass and and spent quite a bit of time matching the colour to the original photograph.    I then  'painted' it over in photoshop using the clone tool,  rubbing out sections to create depth etc.

peterjh,  living in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales does give me plenty of opportunity to take misty photos!!

Shirley

shrli - I love that image, a very deserving win
congrats to the runners up too

Shirley,

Well done a well seen and executed, atmospheric (in all senses) image.  Goes to show what I know, I'd never have associated NSW with fog!

Simon

shrli - just like here in Old North Wales LOL