Themes – Rules and Sections

The Rules

This is a pdi competition.

You may enter all six themes. One photograph only per theme.

The theme must be the focal point of the photograph.

All photographs must be taken after the date of the theme’s announcement. Your entries must not have been shown at the club or on any of KCC’s Internet pages before the night of the theme competition. 

Don’t be satisfied with the first picture you take, produce more and pick the best. Remember the first idea you have will probably be the same as other people think of, so try other ideas too. 

Each of the six categories will be judged separately with the judge marking each image out of 10. 

Each entrant’s top four image scores across all categories will be added together to produce an overall winner for the theme trophy.

The Themes

Bicycles

Your photograph can show a single bicycle or multiples thereof. The bicycles must be of the type powered by pedals only (no motors of any kind). I’m sure you don’t need ideas for this subject but here’s a few anyway; an abandoned rusty bicycle, someone enjoying a leisurely country ride, bicycles in sports, bicycles attached to the back of a motorhome, bicycles chained to posts, railings or on a rack. Think about colours to help draw the viewer’s attention to the subject. Lighting to make them sparkle, or throw them into silhouette. Close-ups can produce interesting images too.

The Colour Blue

Let your imagination run wild with this theme. Any subject will do as long as it’s blue and the focal point of the picture. A few ideas are; blue flowers, blue clothing, blue hair, blue vehicles, blue butterflies, blue glass. How about using blue lighting? Look for different shades of blue working together. Think about your composition, the light, your viewpoint, to produce an interesting image rather than a record of something that happens to be blue. 

Fruit

Your choice of subject is vast. Fruit lends itself to still-life photographs. Fruit still attached to the plant it grows on. Fruit laid out on market stalls. Someone eating fruit (but remember the fruit rather than the person needs to be the focal point) Close-ups can produce mouth-watering images. Think about the lighting to bring out shape and texture.

Machinery

The whole machine or part of. Both can produce interesting images. Pristine, rusty or covered in oil and grime. In use or dormant. Machinery lends itself to colour and black and white photography. Again, think about lighting to bring out shape and texture. 

A Shopkeeper

We’re looking for portraits of a shopkeeper either inside their place of business or outside. Try to include items within the picture so it’s obvious to the viewer what kind of goods they sell. For this theme we only want to see people who have a permanent shop so market stalls, ice-cream vans or other mobile venders and similar don’t count. 

A Street without People

Don’t just record an empty street, think about your viewpoint – a low angle can produce dramatic imagery for example. Light is important to create highlights and dark mysterious shadows especially in monochrome photographs. Strong light will bring out textures in the street’s surface (think cobblestones). Shafts of light coming out from between buildings can add interest to the road surface. Daytime or night-time; both offer ample opportunities. Sun or rain can produce very different looks to your photographs.