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BSoUP's
Best of British Portfolio Competition 1997
Winner
- Charles Hood
by
Colin Doeg
One
of the greatest tests of any photographer's skill is to produce
a good portfolio of work. The Society recognised this long
ago by introducing special competitions for the best six slides
from a beginner, the best selection of six taken in British
waters, the best set taken anywhere in the world and the best
portfolio of work on a specific theme.
All
of the slides in each portfolio are shown simultaneously by
a bank of projectors and the audience votes for their favourite
three, having seen all of the entries at least twice. Apart
from being a technical triumph, if all the projectors perform
efficiently, this type of competition demands special skills
from the photographers. It is not enough to produce one really
eye-catching shot, or even six stunning pictures. They all
have to "work" together.
Each
portfolio is usually shown on a giant screen for about twelve
seconds. In this brief moment the selection of slides has
to grab the audience's attention. They have to be generally
pleasing, the colours in harmony and the shapes balanced.
Remember, if six slides are shown over a period of twelve
seconds the audience has less than two seconds in which to
examine each one after their first impression of the entry.
CHARLES
HOOD,
from Wimbledon, South London, won the Best of British competition
in 1997. He has clear ideas of how to assemble a winning selection.
He says: "First and foremost, the portfolio must be eyecatching.
It must also contain a mixture of photographs, from close-up
to wide-angle. Each one must be punchy, simple and make a
statement in its own right. Macro shots do not work in this
competition, they are usually too confusing for the audience
to judge in the short time available".
You
must also pay attention to the colours of the subjects. This
is difficult in British waters because they are not as colourful
as tropical seas, but greens, yellows and reds mix well."
MALCOLM
HEY, who won the DIVER trophy for the Best Beginners Portfolio
in 1996, worked out that there were "84 different combinations
of layout in which six slides could be projected". This
allows for the fact that they are shown in two rows of three,
and that each slide can be shown as a horizontal or a vertical.
He
added: "to my eye, only 12 of those configurations work!
When you are choosing your vertical and horizontal slides,
their shapes, colours and interest levels must balance. A
blue-water shot of a great white shark in the top right hand
corner will not balance with a macro shot of something pink
and furry in the opposite corner - it needs something much
bolder and simpler. The portfolio must be an entity in itself.
The various images should hang together and give a total impression
of balance.
LINDA
DUNK, who has won the Society's coveted Open Portfolio
competition three times (1994, 1995 & 1996), finds that
she needs a long time to put together a winning entry. 'I
find it comparatively easy to select four or five slides,
but I usually have great difficulty in choosing the sixth".
What
does she look for when she is sitting in the audience judging
other people's portfolios? 'I want to see the use of different
lenses and a range of different subjects. Also, an understanding
of the use of natural light - like sunbursts and silhouettes
- as well as flash. Each picture should represent something
different and have different colours and textures. When put
together, the selection should give a broad picture of the
underwater world. Symmetry is also important".
All
three put an initial selection of slides on a light box at
home and keep on looking at them over the course of several
weeks, adding new pictures and taking away others until they
come up with their own Six of the Best. And the way they do
it bowls out the opposition.
Reproduced
(with some editing) from Dive International by kind
permission of Graeme Gourlay & in focus April 1998
by kind permission of Colin Doeg.
BSoUP
BEST OF BRITISH COMPETITION |
