Simply B&W Contest Winner

The final voting was extermely close but congrats to Christian Becerra (swornallegiance) for the winning entry, Man of Berkeley!!!


A big thanks to all that were involved with this contest and I hope that you will all continue to share with the Simply B&W flickr group.

Simply B&W Contest Finalists

Thanks again to all of those who submitted entries. There were a lot of great shots and all of the judges expressed that they had great diffuculty selecting just one favorite. I think it's a real testament to the strength of the pool of entries that none of the judges selected the same favorite. Here are the finalists (listed in alphabetical order) along with the judges selection comments:

Man of Berkeley - "There's something incredibly raw and honest about this portrait. It's exactly the type of photo that I hoped Simply B&W would help create when I first started developing it. Well done and thanks for sharing this one"

Peony Tears - "Well, this was a tough call. I had to narrow down somehow, so I looked for sharpness, texture, detail, composition. Although several shots made my final cut, I like this one the best. Fantastic detail and texture, and taken with an iPhone no less!"

Rye, New York. 5.26.12 - Love the simplicity of this striking landscape. The rocks lead you to the horizon from where your eyes meet the sun. The various colours of grey and black dots (birds) make you wanna go to the spot and explore it more. It totally relaxes me!"

Skipping Between The Lines. - "Not the easiest of decisions this, but I've selected the following as my favourite. Reason: I like the composition, the wide tonal range from the blacks to the whites, the shadows and the strong lines."

Untitled - "The emotion of the two smiles covering generations of a family is joyous in what seems to be such a casual shot. I immediately wanted to know the full story of the family, what are they doing together in the cafe, what is the event, etc. The two faces show great contrast in black, white, age, and youth. The faces really stand out with the cafe structure and lines to give a good feel of depth."

I will now be sharing these links with my friends and family for final selection and will announce the canvas print winner Friday night. Thanks,
-Brian

Contest Honorable Mentions

As I mentioned above, the pool of images to select from was incredibly deep and here are a few other images that almost made the cut:

icecream - I feel really bad about this one and almost bent the rules to add a sixth finalist. This photo was mentioned by three different judges. The comments for this shot include:
"...choose the first because I think the moment coud have been captured better. Bit more to the right,more overview, etcetera. It is a nice photo though and all the colours of the icecreams really show in B&W"
"The ice cream flavors have a great range of shades and the person is bathed in light from the "showroom." Nice contrast from the backdrop and I also love the contrast of the case that splits the photo right down the middle. The separation of mind and body (or stomach!)."
"A magical shot. The light contrast gives the shot a dreamy feel and the light in the center just pulls you in. I wish I had written the contest rules differently :-)"

Milan. Underground station - "So many nice things in the shot. My eye was immediately drawn to the structure, and then I started looking at the other aspects of the 'single moment in time' shot. I get the feeling that humanity is just a small slice of time in the structured world. Great rule of thirds example as well. A shot I'll remember next time I'm in a subway."

Untitled - "This one gets my honorable mention, just because I love the rusty vs. chrome contrast and the detail in this image."

If you participated in the contest and have a momment, please spend some time to comment on some of the other images in the group.

Contest Rules

To celebrate my recent nomination to the UK Macworld Awards 2012 in the "Best iOS video and photography" category (a category that includes PhotoShop Touch, Snapseed and Avid Studio), I'm pleased to announce a Simply B&W photo contest. The winner of the contest will receive their winning photo printed on canvas. Additionally, Simply B&W will be free Friday, May 25 so that no purchase is necessary. The contest is open to everyone(other than my friends, family, and the judges) and the contest rules are:

Photos must be taken with an iPhone and should be taken during the contest window (Friday May 25 to Monday May 28). No photos older than one week please.

Photos can be edited with any app, although final processing must be done with Simply B&W.

To enter the contest, upload your favorite photo (limit one entry per day) to the Simply B&W Flickr group by the evening of Monday, May 28.

A small panel of judges will select the finalists on Tuesday. The panel currently consists of Glyn Evans (iphoneography.com), Jeff Phillips (writer for MacWorld and tech blogger), Raman (iosphotoapps.com/), Robert-Paul Jansen(mobile photographer extrordinaire) and one judge yet to be named (there will be a maximum of 5 finalists). If the final judge I have selected is not able to assist, I will fill that role.

Finalists will be announced Tuesday evening and then my friends and family will do the final judging.

The winner (along with the selection feedback/comments) will be announced Friday, June 1 and they will have their choice of an 8x10, 12x12, 12x16 or 12x18 print from CanvasPop.

Thanks for all your support,
Brian (Mr. B Ware)