Blue" photo competition - these are the winners
To coincide with the upcoming issue of Schnappschuss magazine, we have once again launched a photo competition. This time, we would like to dedicate this issue to one color in particular. After all, color is an important tool in photography. Focusing on one color in particular is something very special. Our first Color Edition is 'Blue', which is also the theme of the photo competition.
We received over 4,500 pictures! Whether landscape, portrait or architecture, you were able to surprise us with everyday but also unusual motifs and give free rein to your wealth of ideas, making it particularly difficult for us with your variety of motifs, creativity and extremely high quality. After all, this time we were able to award ten places instead of the previous five. We would like to say a big "Thank you!" to all 1,780 participants! That was truly outstanding. We would like to congratulate the winners and say THANK YOU!
1. Place Robert SchlesingerThe winning photo - "Blue hour"
First place went to Robert Schlesinger with his fantastic drone shot of the morning blue hour over the rooftops of Berlin. He had been planning the shot for some time and was able to take it in October 2020 thanks to some lucky coincidences. Due to several special weather parameters, there was ground fog that morning that did not rise higher than 75 meters and a weather alert for flying weather notified him of the appropriate circumstances. So at 06:00 in the morning he moved to an office roof to overcome the cloud cover and capture the rare weather event in Berlin. We think: a justified 1st place, congratulations!
About Robert Schlesinger:
Robert Schlesinger has been a freelance photographer specializing in lifestyle, people and arial shots since 2017 and had previously worked as a photojournalist for dpa for 10 years.
2. Place Benny Kasper2nd place - Magical Milky Way
Second place goes to Benny Kasper, whose magical photo of the Milky Way particularly captivated us. He chose his motif because of the symmetry of the two benches, which he discovered on the promenade of Laziese on Lake Garda during one of his Lost Places tours through Italy. In contrast to this straight and harmonious composition, the wavy lines of the striped ground of the promenade flow like vanishing points into the center of the picture, creating a unique shot with the dark blue night sky. As the sky was fortunately cloud-free that night, he was able to capture the best view of the Milky Way with the right timing. Congratulations on second place!
About Benny Kasper
The 39-year-old from Allg?u has been working in the field of lost places and landscape photography since 2006 and loves to be out in nature with his camera equipment to capture special motifs like this one. You can see more here:
Instagram of Benny Kasper
3. Place Ute Schm?cker3rd place - "Hit the blue"
Third place went to Ute Schm?cker, whose interpretation of the theme hit the "blue" with her submitted motif. The photo was taken in July 2019 during a day trip through Uetrecht. She writes to us: "[...] I was traveling with the EOS 70D at the time, only had a wide-angle lens and the 85mm fixed focal length with me and little to no idea about architectural photography. I mean, it was a student house and this red cloth immediately caught my eye. Unfortunately, I couldn't zoom in as close as I wanted without a proper telephoto lens. The picture is therefore only a detail. I always have very fond memories of this tour [...] ."
Ute Schm?cker impressed us with her eye for detail and color contrasts and we are delighted with her for a great third place.
About Ute Schm?cker
The 59-year-old has "worked her way up" in the course of her photographic career since 2012 with her camera equipment from an EOS 550D to the two-digit models and currently to the 5D Mark IV and is happy to be able to expand it and capture new motifs.
4. Place Sven Hallmann4. Place - Shopping cart queue
Sven Hallmann's minimalist photo on the theme of "blue" was taken rather by chance, but no less fittingly, in the parking lot of a furniture store. The neatly lined up shopping carts in front of the large blue wall caught his eye and he photographed the motif with his Olympus EM10II and the 17mm Lens from Olympus. The motif is still one of his favorites to this day and we couldn't agree more. Congratulations on your fourth place!
About Sven Hallmann:
Sven Hallmann from Bremen is a street photographer with heart and soul. "Street photography is relaxation for me, that's my biggest goal. But of course I want to introduce other people to street photography and get them excited about it." In his social media, however, you can also find some portraits and architectural shots, which he also enjoys taking.
5. Place Frank Seltmann5th place - Change of perspective
Frank Seltmann impressed us with his photograph of a staircase in a Dresden hotel. By experimenting a little with the white balance, he achieved the bluish coloration of the finished photo in post-processing. The motif captivates us with its spiraling, ascending perspective of flight into the heights of the stairwell and the interplay of the angular and round shapes of the lamps and stairs.
About Frank Seltmann:
Frank Seltmann has been a photographer of special staircases since 2008.
The Dresden native shares these images on his social media channel and has made it his mission to "show the good and beautiful sides of this city, but also not to hide the less good and unsightly corners".
6th place Daniel Geisbauer6th place - Contrasts under water
Sixth place on the theme of "Blue" goes to Daniel Geisbauer, who sent in a photo of his family trip to the vivarium at the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe. What particularly appealed to him about the motif was the "contrast between the transparent jellyfish and the beautiful blue aquarium". The fascinating photo was taken with a focal length of 17mm at 1/60 second and aperture 5 at ISO 400. Out of consideration for other visitors and in order to capture the perfect position and optimum posture of the jellyfish, a lot of patience was required during the photo, which he took without a tripod.
However, we think this effort was well worth it!
About Daniel Geisbauer
Daniel Geisbauer has been passionate about photography since his youth and has been a member of the Film- und Fotoclub Durmersheim und Umgebung e.V. since 2005. His photographic focus is on nature, animals and details with occasional detours to architecture, which he captures with a Canon EOS 7D and his Sigma 17-70mm, F2.0-4.
7th place Johannes Kowalewski7th place - Deserted volleyball court
A deserted beach with a volleyball court that would be full under normal circumstances. But not during a pandemic. Johannes Kowalewski documents this change in his submitted photo. The picture was taken "on a beautiful late summer day during Corona 2020 on the Curonian Spit in Latvia". Even in the most beautiful summer weather, no one is on the beach or playing volleyball - the feeling of loneliness and surreality is particularly emphasized and enhanced by the long exposure. A wonderful shot and documentary that is rightly in the top 10, congratulations!
About Johannes Kowalewski
The passionate landscape and nature photographer from the north of Germany has always enjoyed being in nature and found his passion for photography when he documented his hikes through New Zealand in 2017. In addition to large landscape panoramas, he is now particularly enthusiastic about smaller and quieter scenes: I particularly like places and moments that are detached from their actual surroundings and stand on their own - because this creates images that usually don't allow any conclusions to be drawn about the place of origin and are therefore particularly valuable to me. You can find more nature shots of different seasons by Johannes Kowalewski here:
8th place J?rgen Hanke8th place - Minimalism
J?rgen Hanke took eighth place with his minimalist image of a noise barrier on the B236 in Dortmund. The picture was taken in October 2019 on a sunny fall day with a cloudless sky and captures the theme of our competition in a nutshell. As less is often more, this motif won us over with its graphic forms and simplicity.
9th place - Christian Zink; Model: Natalie Sch?nberger9th place - Portrait underwater
Christian Zink took 9th place with his underwater portrait in the historic Gotha Art Nouveau swimming pool. The image is particularly characterized by the division of the picture into two parts by the water surface and the fact that both the remarkable architecture of the swimming pool and the events under water can be seen. The blue and cream tones as well as the play of light under water in combination with the fabulously styled model produce an enchanting overall result.
About Christian Zink
Christian Zink lives with his family in Weimar and has been a sports photographer for over 20 years. He has been diving since 1997 and started underwater photography over 15 years ago. "Photography is my passion. For many years I concentrated on sports photography, especially martial arts. I have also been taking underwater photos for over 20 years. For private clients, I offer baby belly shoots or wedding photos under and above water, for commercial clients professional advertising photos and setcard photos for underwater models. I regularly organize coaching sessions in underwater photography for other photographers at home and abroad (most recently in Bali). You can also book me above water for weddings and setcard shoots, e.g. for the wolfhound shoot in winter, which I developed and offer exclusively."
WebsiteYoutube
10th place Jochen Schmidt10th place - Balkan anemone
Last but not least: Jochen Schmidt is the 10th winner of the photo competition with his macro shot of the Balkan anemone (Anemone blanda). The final result is a stack of 80 shots, taken with the Sony A850 with an aperture of 5.6, 1/15 seconds and a focal length of 80 mm. The cold-warm contrast and the interesting exposure, which was achieved with LED lights, particularly emphasize the dew on the petals and their intense blue
About Jochen Schmidt
Jochen Schmidt from the Lahn-Dill Bergland mainly photographs in nature and has been working for the last 6 years mainly with the focus stacking technique in the macro-micro range.
Instagram
Conclusion of the Blue 2021 photo competition
With the pictures of the ten winners, we have only shown a small selection of unique and interesting variations of how the color 'blue' can be captured photographically. Many pictures just missed out on the top ten places because there was too much to choose from.
We would like to thank all participants and look forward to receiving interesting entries for future competitions. The next opportunities will soon be waiting at our online Fototage. Until then, we hope you continue to enjoy photography and all the moments that can be associated with it and captured!
Photo competition "Blue" - All picturesThe prizes
1st place: ?1,000 voucher for Canon
Canon offers excellent cameras and lenses as well as brilliant binoculars and printers.
Canonbrand store
2nd place: ?1,000 voucher for Tamron
The camera is one thing, the lens is another. Tamron has been one of the best manufacturers of lenses for decades.
Tamron brand store
3rd place: ?200 voucher for Benro
A sturdy tripod is an essential part of any camera equipment.
Benro overview
4th place: ?100 voucher for Moab
Benro overview
4th place: ?100 voucher for Moab Place: 100? voucher for Moab
Good photos deserve a perfect print - the paper comes from Moab.
Moab items
5. Place: 100? voucher for Tenba
Tenba offers the perfect bags and backpacks for your photo equipment.
Tenba items
6. Platz: 50? Gutschein for Nissin
Es werde Licht - mit den Blitzger?ten von Nissin.
Nissin items
7. Platz: 50? Gutschein for ZhongYi
Kompakte Objektive zum kleinen Preis.
ZhongYi items
8. Place: ?20 voucher for Berenstargh
Perhaps the most important accessory: batteries.
Berenstargh items
9. + 10th place: ?20 voucher each for Hoya
Filters: important protection and creative possibilities.
Hoya items
