Canon Photomarathon 2009

I’ve had 20 mins on hand and managed to reply most of my emails and comments on my blog. I’m still away so replies will be slow till the end of the month. However, I will still check and reply whenever I can. =)

Sometime ago in 2009 I entered myself into the Canon Photomarathon. As some of you might know I only got my DSLR a few months back. So since I was new to handling such a powerful camera I thought it would be a good experience to test out its capabilities by entering a competition.

Last year had the largest number of participants in any photomarathon in the world. If I’m not wrong, it was a record breaking 1268 participants. My sister and her boyfriend entered the competition as well.

During the photomaraton, you are given a theme and about 2-3 hours to shoot a photograph that reflects the theme and summit it. Since it is a marathon, there is a total of 3 themes. Most of the participants were there at 7am or so to register and change into their official Canon Photomarathon T-shirt. I was there at 730am and they were out of small sizes so I  had to make do with an M size tee.

The first theme that was given out was ” Togetherness” . And all the photographers set out to shoot their version of togetherness. There were quite a few memorable ones for those that were shortlisted for possible winners of that category and it included you-tiaos and chopsticks or groups of people together.

The photo above was my submission for ” Togetherness”.  Louis and Emmie were my props! Taken with a tripod of course!

A mad rush back to Suntec to submit my work and I realized I was pretty early so I managed to squeeze in some time for a drink and some prata.

The 2nd theme we were given was ” Motion” . I had no idea where to start brainstorming for ideas! I ended up in the Singapore Botanical Gardens to see if I could get any inspiration.

It ended up being more of a walk for Louis and Emmie.

Then I came across the man made water fall and thought it would be a good subject for motion….

Yet after taking the picture I found it stereotypical and lackluster on the creative front. As it turns out the best ideas strike when you are least expecting it cause on our way back to Suntec to submit our entries, I was inspired by Louis ears flapping happily in the wind as he stuck his head out of the window.

And so, this photo below was the one submitted for the ” Motion” category.

After submission we milled around the area waiting for the last theme to be given.

As it turns out, while viewing of the works of others, I realized that my submission of the photo for “Motion” was shortlisted!

I was taken by surprise cause I didn’t expect to see my photo up there on the wall. After all I had my camera for only a month or so when I entered the competition so there was absolutely no expectations whatsoever.

The next theme we were given was ” Energy”. This was an ironic theme cause most of the participants were actually pretty much out of energy by now.

I thought of the concept for a little while and came up with 2 ideas. The first was to burn a leaf using a magnifying glass.

And the 2nd idea was to show how the sun represented energy in a very iconic layman’s understanding of that word.

The 2nd photo with the light bulb was the one I submitted for the theme ” Energy”.

It was back to the exhibition hall again waiting for the results. Some photographers have gone home… tired out by the whole exercise while the rest stayed behind to see the short listed photos as well as the winners of the competition.

It was pretty exciting when everyone crowded around the wall as the official Canon staff put up the short listed entries one by one. The submissions for ” Energy” was the best in my opinion. It almost seemed as if everyone out did themselves in this category and almost all the photos were spectacular.

As it turns out… my energy photo was short listed as well! That gave my heart a little jump. It was definitely not as good as some of the others on the board but it did give some encouragement that it was the better one out of thousands of entries.

I didn’t win anything if that was what you thought I was leading up to. LOL… but have 2 out of my 3 submissions short listed was exciting enough for an newbie like me and it did open my eyes out to the possibilities of photography through the photos of the other contestants.

Here’s the recap of my 3 entries for the competition.

“Togetherness”

“Motion”

” Energy”

For those interested, I was using a Canon 500D with the kit lens. And of course no editing was allowed for the competition. The photos here aren’t edited in anyway as well… all I did was add my watermark.