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Winners of the December 'Toys' contest
Brian McCarty, a professional toy photographer, has made his choices for the Top 10 photos in our December "Toys" contest. He had an interesting thought process as he set about picking the winners:
"For the purposes of judging, I placed most entries into three broad categories:
- Narrative-based (the photograph is primarily focused on depicting the toy as a character)
- Still-life-based (the photograph is exploring the toy primarily as an object in a composition)
- Documentary-based (the photograph is primarily exploring the captured moment of real and imagined worlds blending)
"Clichéd as this may sound, it was truly difficult to pick just 10 photographs to acknowledge; even more so to choose the Top 3. My final choices are:
FIRST PLACE - $100
"Kermit Snow Angel" by David Lee TillerBrian's comment:
"As mentioned above, I believe that the most successful toy photographs combine elements from a variety of approaches. The winning entry does just that, and it does it very well.
"Kermit is captured in an imagined moment of play in the snow. He's clearly been placed into a manufactured scene, but it is so successful that it feels like a recorded moment of an actual character in the process of making a snow angel. The shot is simultaneously narrative and documentary while featuring a strong, stark compositional perspective often found in still-life.
"My only critique is that I would have liked the composition to be a bit more balanced. I believe that the shot would have benefited from cropping or more negative space on the bottom. Regardless, the concept is executed extremely well, and the finished result speaks for itself."
SECOND PLACE - $50
Brian's comment:
"There have been countless photos of crayons shot before, but it's something deceptively difficult to pull off well. When a photographer chooses to focus on still-life scenes, it's only a very high standard of technique and composition that makes the shot a success.
"The purposeful use of low depth of field, lighting, and arrangement of crayons make this photograph worthy of recognition. While the composition is very strong, I feel there is always room for improvement and further development of a unique, still-life technique and vision. However, the photographer has done an excellent job with a difficult-to-master approach."
THIRD PLACE - $25
Brian's comment:
"A strong composition and captured moment of a child at play won me over on this shot. The blur of the train and purposeful focus draw your eye across the frame and connect you to the crouched child. My only real critique is over the lighting. The hotspot on the track is a little distracting to me and it competes with the rest of the frame.
"Overall, though, a great shot."
Here's a gallery of all Top 10 winners. Congratulations to all!
Here's a look back at the Top 25 finalists.
Don't forget to enter the January "What's That?" contest.
"As mentioned above, I believe that the most successful toy photographs combine elements from a variety of approaches. The winning entry does just that, and it does it very well.
"Kermit is captured in an imagined moment of play in the snow. He's clearly been placed into a manufactured scene, but it is so successful that it feels like a recorded moment of an actual character in the process of making a snow angel. The shot is simultaneously narrative and documentary while featuring a strong, stark compositional perspective often found in still-life.
"My only critique is that I would have liked the composition to be a bit more balanced. I believe that the shot would have benefited from cropping or more negative space on the bottom. Regardless, the concept is executed extremely well, and the finished result speaks for itself."
SECOND PLACE - $50
"Brian's comment:
"There have been countless photos of crayons shot before, but it's something deceptively difficult to pull off well. When a photographer chooses to focus on still-life scenes, it's only a very high standard of technique and composition that makes the shot a success.
"The purposeful use of low depth of field, lighting, and arrangement of crayons make this photograph worthy of recognition. While the composition is very strong, I feel there is always room for improvement and further development of a unique, still-life technique and vision. However, the photographer has done an excellent job with a difficult-to-master approach."
THIRD PLACE - $25
"Brian's comment:
"A strong composition and captured moment of a child at play won me over on this shot. The blur of the train and purposeful focus draw your eye across the frame and connect you to the crouched child. My only real critique is over the lighting. The hotspot on the track is a little distracting to me and it competes with the rest of the frame.
"Overall, though, a great shot."
Here's a gallery of all Top 10 winners. Congratulations to all!
Here's a look back at the Top 25 finalists.
Don't forget to enter the January "What's That?" contest.
Congratulations to the winners! I really love Kermit and the joy he is expressing making a snow angel. My personal favorite was the two toys and the Ouija Board. There were lots of good entries in December to choose from.
I knew the moment I saw it (it was only the third or so photo in the gallery of all entries I came across) that Kermit was win worthy.
Great choices from the judge in my opinion.
Congratulations to all.
Kermit was my favorite, too. And there were lots of great toy shots to choose from, for sure. I really enjoyed these photos!
This was a great contest; photos were truly enjoyable.
Congratulations to the final 3 winners and top 10, and a well deserved Thanks to Brian McCarty for a fantastic job as judge.
A big thanks to Brian McCarty for his thoughtful, articulate perspectives on toy photography. More than simply judge a contest, he provided us with a valuable learning opportunity and some tools for evaluating and approaching our own work. Very much appreciated!
very well done, congrats to all...
We LOVE the Kermit picture! Captures the green joy of winter!
I agree with the cropping for Kermit being a tad off centered. Brian has a sharp eye for his constructive critique. David Lee Tiller, the photographer, may have had an UPbeat step when he captured Kermit playing in the snow. WHO WOULDN'T? SMILES and CONGRATULATIONS!
Congrats to the winners and to the almost winners. Kermit was a great shot... I appreciated Brian's take on the contest, and while some pix are not my cup of tea, I understand why he chose them, and that matters. Well done!
I knew Kermit would be the winner when I saw it. So simple, joyful, colorful and fun! Congrats. Excellent judge with wonderful skills.
A big thank you to Brian McCarty for judging this contest. A big thank you to all the amateurs out there who have inspired me and helped me along the way to see truly. A little of Kermit & Jim Henson lives in us all. Let it out. Peace, Namaste, and be well.
David, Kermit & Jim
Great choices! I LOVE that Kermy photo. It's a classic.
Love this judge's explanations!
This was the best contest to date. It was so much fun to look at all the photos. It was great how they used the toys in such creative ways. I loved the kermit photo also, how could you not!
Congratulations to all the winners. You made me smile during this bleak, cold winter.
Brian did an excellent job in explaining how his critiques are based on three categories of approaches. I would add the following:
- The same approaches are not limited to toys, but are applicable to just about any subject.
- The same approaches are not only important for critiquing, but are also for photographing. Before releasing each shutter, a photographer should mentally walk through all three approaches and determine what role each will play (or will not play) in the captured image. This process will reduce the number of less successful images with singular elements, and will increase the number of more successful images including multiple elements.
It's a nice shot, but I don't think Crayons are toys.
Just wanted to say, it's all good really.
Thanks a million for posting this.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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