Competitions
Francois W. Nel 149

It’s time to vote for the July 2013 Photo of the Month! Choose from five great photos and tell us which one is your favourite.

Update: Friday 26 July 11:45AM

And the winner is… Arisha Singh!

It was a close call between the top three, but Arisha’s great photo turned out to be the community’s favourite – well done! Again, thanks to all that submitted photos and voted – keep an eye out for next month album on Facebook next week.

It’s time to choose the winning Photo of the Month for July 2013! We received 329 valid photo submissions in July, making it the biggest month ever! View the entries on Facebook.

We’ve listed our five finalists below, and now it’s up to you to decide which photo is the winner. Let us know which one you like the most by leaving a comment! The winning photo will be announced on Friday 26 July and will be featured in the August newsletter (subscribe here), as well as the cover photos on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Details on how to submit your photos for next month are included at the bottom of this post.

Each photo is followed by the name of the photographer, in alphabetical order. Remember to click on the image to enlarge.

Photo above: 01 Arisha Singh

Photo above: 02 Daniel Grebe

Photo above: 03 Konrad Blum

Photo above: 04 Otto Whitehead

Photo above: 05 Willem Law

How to enter next month’s competition:

E-mail your photos through to francois@orms.co.za with the subject: Facebook Photo Submissions. Please rename the files to include your own name.

Alternatively, upload your photographs to the official Orms group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/orms.

The next Photo of the Month draw will take place during the week of 19-23 August 2013.

Please note:

Please keep in mind that we do check for duplicate comments. Keep it honest: One person, one vote. If you really like one of the finalist photographs (or you took the photo) and you would like to see it win, please share the post with your friends via the share buttons to the side of the post! This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. Our finalist selection process does not involve using Facebook likes or comments as “votes” – we select our finalists from the collection of photos that were submitted to us via email or via the Flickr group.

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Categories: Competitions Digital Photography

Author: Francois W. Nel

149 Comments

Vote For The Photo Of The Month: July 2013

      1. Tough? To critique some crummy picture does not necessarily mean one wants to pick a fight, Louw, you caveman. I am stating how baffled I am that people would want to vote for that picture. Free anonymous commenting ‘init? Democracy, Louw. I don’t know Mr Law, although I’m sure he’s a reasonably nice guy in person, I’m hesitant to proclaim him half the photographer these other comments says he is, my 4 year-old could have taken that picture. In my honest goddamn opinion, I hope it comes in at last place. I hope Otto’s pic wins.

        1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with critiquing Uriah99. It’s your hateful, lack of respect, aggressive & angry way in which you are doing it…that’s all. No need to pick an internet word fight with a total stranger behind a free anonymous commenting name, Uriah99

          But since you are so good at critiquing, Uriah99, please tell us WHY this shot is such a “crummy, horrible quality photo that has been taken with a ham sandwich” in your honest expert opinion.

          And if you have so much to say, reveal your true identity and take ownership for your words.

          Hope to hear from you soon Uriah99

    2. Hi there Uriah. That is my photo of the paraglider. I’m not here to have an argument with you and I actually agree that critique is important for any work from any photographer. However, I’m rather selective on whose critique I would actually listen to. If you are either a professional photographer or knowledgable on the topic let me know. Even if you are not I would love to hear what you dislike about the image in question. Even better, if you have any of your own images openly available drop a link and let’s have a look.

      1. I’m not a photographer.

        Subject is taller than it is wide, and the glider thing implies flight, so I would have shot portrait orientation with a lot of sky. the ground is messy and weird looking, and I get stuck there being mad at it rather than looking at your subject. Also, the detail in the glider (What’s the word for that thing? Sorry I don’t know) seems really… off. Did you miss focus, or use a terrible lens or something?

        It’s really tough with the sun in the shot, but I would have brightened up the exposure just a bit, so that the ground doesn’t look so bad. Maybe do a post-production HDR with a pulled-back exposure for the top half and mixed with a pushed one for the bottom half.

        Also not quite centered, and the tree on the left is throwing off the balance. Portrait crop would eliminate that though.

        As always, get closer. You’re shooting 10mm supposedly, so shooting from ground level up at the people and getting the glider thing (Damn it) in the background way above them would be super cool, especially with that lighting.

        1. I’d consider finding ways to clone out all the people in the image, outside the main subjects.

          I would’ve angled myself so that the sun was more centered under the parachute and cropped it tighter.

          1. What you mention does make sense if you want the digitally retouched end product. I am a photojournalist and with that comes a certain style of shooting where we only work with basics like levels, shadows and contrast before finalizing an image.

            I have enormous respect for what the majority is calling digital artists (see the work of Erik Johannson and CJ Burton) however I am a photographer. If the image is flawed because of differing light conditions or asymmetry it forms part of what was happening at that exact moment.

            It is called a tandem paraglider (Google has a lot of material on the subject) and if you have a look at the images section I doubt it would be easy to find a photo similar to mine. It is something different from the usual paragliders in flight.

          2. I think your symmetry, composition, and moment of capture is pretty perfect. Sure the photo could do with a bit better image quality, but photography isnt about the equipment you have or dont have or what you do in post production. Its mostly what you make out of what you have, and telling a story the way you see things from your perspective as a photographer.

            I respect Uriahs point of view, and he does make a lot sense in his opinion. All aside, I think you have a great shot there Willem.

            And yes, I am a photographer: https://www.facebook.com/grebephoto

          3. HI Willem it seems like you have been singled out in this thread and Uriah99 has been really harsh towards you. However I went to check out your other work online and this seems to be your only great photograph.
            On another note:What does a photojournalist like you do? From your work I can only see a travel set and the rest is pretty much just your friends who are musicians.
            It seems to me like these days children born in upper middle class environments get a fancy camera from their parents and take fancy black and white photos of their in friends on stage. Looking cool as fuck but not really doing anything worth the name photography or journalism.

          4. Hi Herman. I am assuming you looked at Panoram Photography on Facebook? I must admit I haven’t done the best job in managing the page so it is understandable that you might have been mislead. Yes I do a lot of work for Sons of Settlers and yes they are my friends. It’s a hobby of mine to photograph live bands in my spare time. I also travel quite a bit and find photography is a great way of documenting the experiences to enjoy later.

            On the other hand: I am currently employed at Independent Newspapers as an actual photojournalist. We go out and shoot the stories you read about the next day. I have had my images published on multiple front pages concerning a wide spectrum of interests and events. For a better definition of photojournalism/t I would refer you to a dictionary or our good friend Google.

        2. Uriah

          There is a difference between giving good criticism and just being nasty. Firstly I’ve worked and studied photography with Willem and he is very talented but I think what you not seeing here is that not all photographers follow the beaten path…that is the beauty in alot of Willem’s work…he doesn’t photoshop and edit the flaws away like many would do and it can be refreshing as we always see these perfectly manipulated images. As a working photographer myself…I know that is what the public usually wants but as a person passionate about photography I sometimes find that going back to the basics and just seeing an image for the moment in time it captured reminds us why photography is important to us. Ps. You have only seen 1 image of his …you have no place to critique his abilities as a photographer…and considering it is in the top 5 …well enough said.

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