The theme of the challenges turned out to be portraits representing The 7 Deadly Sins. 7 photos total. We had 7 locations spread around the Sydney CBD, and by the end of the day we had to submit 1 photo representing each sin, also being a photo from each location, and at least 1 photo from each team member (teams were 5 people). It was hard but an excellent way to push me out of my comfort zone.
Firstly, I'm shy about shooting people, especially strangers. Also, I tend to just shoot interesting things I see when I see them, and trying to fill an assignment feels very alien. Then imagine having a half hour to trim 5 enthusiastic photographer's pics down to just 7 photos in total, making sure we got each sin and each location. We tried to get enough coverage within the 4 hour race time to have lots to use, but as you can imagine, sometimes you had to be prepared to let a favourite be passed over if someone else has a better pic, or we already had a pic for that location.
Two of my pics made the final 7, Greed and Lust. [Click the pics below for a larger view.]
GREED
After checking with her boss, this young lady working at a jewellery stall in Paddy's Market let us all snap shots of her and her bling.
LUST
A candid pic of a woman sitting on the lawn at the Botanic Gardens with the word SEX in the background (part of an advertisement for the SEX + DEATH exhibition on at the Gardens, plant sex and death that is). I thought this was my 'get' of the day and my team liked it, but it didn't score so well unfortunately.
My much loved pic for Pride was culled due to having too many on the theme and location.
PRIDE
This was my first pic where I approached a bunch of strangers and asked for them to pose. A dad and his two sons were walking along by Central Station cradling these shiny mufflers like they were precious babies. They were quite happy to pose, proud of the fact that they were both getting new motorbikes.
Half way through the event we got an SMS to say that if we could make it to Martin Place in the CBD within half an hour, there was an additional challenge with extra points in the offing. We made it in time, and the challenge was to shoot a pic representing The Last Supper in a MacDonalds....
What a hoot. We only had a small bit of trouble when a guard in Central Station told us off for taking picturs (security issues apparently), and most people got into the spirit of it. Even MacDonalds didn't raise a fuss. I got to know the members of my team better, who had been chosen at random, and pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone.
Afterwards we had the presentations of the photos (each team had a laptop) on monitors for all to see and score, lots of laughs, some drinks, the handing out of excellent prizes given by sponsors, the wrap up and yet more laughs.
Oh, and we came 3rd - which was not too shabby.
My other pics from the day are here, and everyone else's (including the final submissions) are in this group.
A huge thanks to he organisers, and the corporate sponsors that came on board and donated prizes! We all had a blast.
7 comments:
Fantastic day byt he sounds of it, I am jelous as all hell. Having just had my wisom teeth ripped out I spent the day doing stoned chimpunk impersonations (my hed is still swollen bt he drugs arne't as strong now). Hopefully Ican make it next year.
That's no fun at all! I hope you're feeling better soon, Take care.
That sounds like you had a great time. What a fabulous concept.
Even with swallowing the bitter pill that is "No Phil", it sounds fabulous! I know it isn't yours, but I love that shot of that muscley mensch with a mouthful.
At first i had no idea what you were both up to with all the pics on Flickr and then i realised. What a fun idea - glad you had such a good time : )
you got so many good shots!and absolutely loving wing with blue hair - gorgeous!! pity i missed saturday but couldn't help it.
Michael, Yeah I know what you mean. When we were viewing and scoring the pics the muscle mensch came up on the screen and I was all "oh....kay....!"
DV & 60s Girl, yeah it was a hoot of a concept and it was cool to see what people caught and how they interpreted the brief.
Dani, thanks! It was a hoot once I got into the groove of it, and overcame the worst of my shyness.
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