Google Photography Prize winner – Viktor Johansson

I must use google 20 or 30 times a day and although I am there more than I am at home I had never heard of the google photography prize until it announced a winner.

Grand Prize – Viktor Johansson

“Viktor is a 24-year-old student at the Swedish photography school, Nordens Fotoskola Biskops-Arnö. The judges were impressed and captivated with his series that focused on Christoffer Eskilsson, Sweden’s best male diver from 10 metres. Viktor has chosen to show us an alternative view, one that we are not used to seeing from sport photography in the media. Instead of glamorous action shots of an athlete in competition, he has produced arresting and unexpected photographs that focus on the long, lonely hours of repetitive training and practice that it takes to excel in your field.”

I have searched for a web site for Viktor without luck so although there is much media coverage of his win and his winning portfolio you may have to wait for further information.

I think that the competition is open to students, but if I am honest I haven’t looked at the rules, and I also assume there is a competition running through the next 12 months but again I struggle to find the information, seems to me that for an information company google are not doing well in this instance.

Here is the link to the google photography prize page

All images © Viktor Johansson

Other links of interest

The Telegraph

The Independent

The BBC

Design Week

Win a place on a sports photography workshop

This action shot of Thierry Henry is by Reuters photographer Eddie Keogh, who has shot seven World Cups and several sports photography prizes. He’s running a sports photography workshop in Barcelona in May, and one lucky BJP reader can win a place for free. Image © Eddie Keogh/Reuters.

“This summer the Olympics comes to the UK – which makes it a great time to brush up on your sports photography skills. BJP has teamed up with the Eyes in Progress workshop to give one reader a free place on its sports photography masterclass, which takes place from 23-26 May in Barcelona.

The workshop will be led by Reuters photographer Eddie Keogh, who has shot seven World Cup finals and won many awards for his work. Nine participants in total will get hands-on practice at football, hockey, athletics and BMX events plus photograph a diving session at the Montjuic swimming pool in Barcelona’s former Olympic park. Participants will also be given group critiques, tips on editing and portfolio reviews.”

Read more: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2153407/win-sports-photography-workshop#ixzz1mvZmyXbT
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Lucy Nicholson – photo-journalist

From The Guardian

“London-born photographer Lucy Nicholson has worked in Northern Ireland, Chile and Mexico and is now based in Los Angeles working as a senior staff photographer for Reuters. In January, Lucy photographed the women and children living at Hope Gardens Family Centre, a homeless shelter run by Union Rescue Mission on the outskirts of Los Angeles”

See the slide show here

Lucy Nicholson is an unusual mix of hard hitting photo journalism from some of the most war ravaged places in the world and a top sports photographer. Her work is continually of the highest order and there is much to be admired, this is a link to her website

Lucy also has a blog which has galleries of recent photo essays, excellent stuff if you are interested in photo journalism, here is a link to the blog

A Comprehensive Guide to Photographing Youth Sport

If you have kids who do sport or even if you just like watching amateur sport and photographing it this tutorial will give you some valuable tips. On the Lightstalking site By Pam you will find all sorts of advice that makes good sense.

“The soccer ball being dribbled down the field, the baseball being hit, the puck flying across the ice all help tell a story.  The shots tend to happen in a fraction of a second and require knowledge of the sport, anticipation of the play … and a lot of luck!  High speed burst mode really helps the cause as well.  Action can be shown with motion blur, the capture of the kicked up dust or by composition.

Most sports don’t have action that can easily be followed by panning, so you might have to depend on one focus point and let the action happen around it.”

Click Here: A Comprehensive Guide to Photographing Youth Sport

and don’t forget the team picture

How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography

Capturing movement in images is something that many photographers only think to do when they are photographing sports or other fast moving subjects.

While there is an obvious opportunity in sports photography to emphasize the movement of participants – almost every type of photography can benefit from the emphasis of movement in a shot – even when the movement is very small, slow and/or subtle. more here from Digital Photo School

I photographed this beautiful launch with bridal party at a wedding In Henley some years ago. This was pre-digital so no chance to take a shot and review it, as often with film, seat of the pants stuff. In general you can make some assumptions and something moving about the speed of a boat on the river probably needs a shutter speed of between 1/30 to 1/60 and car doing 30mph would probably need 1/60 to 1/125  Read the tutorial from digital photo school and give it a try

We teach this technique in our Understanding Your Digital SLR camera courses