Five judges stare at an image that just materialized on the carefully colour calibrated monitor. In the dark room behind them, a silent audience of hopeful photographers watch their backs.
Zoom was sharing this image and the faces of the five highly decorated, national print judges.
56% of all the images judged today, would not be accepted. This is the national print contest for professional photographers in Canada and the standards are high.
The image getting all the scrutiny had an unconventional layout, on a white background a skinny rectangle, created with a thin purple outline showcased a young woman. Dressed in bright purples, effortless hanging onto a strip of purple fabric, she smiled at the image’s viewers.
After few moments of it appearing, breaking the silence was two words.
“Scores please.”
A pause, then,
“It scores a merit, next image.”
And that was it, Mark’s image just scored the second highest score possible.
It was an unusual entry for the portrait class. The girl in the image is a circus trapeze artist, you can image how thrilled she was too.
Later a blonde aviator image would come up.
The judges would not know her back story.
It was originally commissioned as book cover art for Terry Grove’s story “The Aviatrix”. There was a model Mark had photographed who looked just like the pilot in Terry’s story. Mark worked with AI imaging to create the WW2 style jacket and helmet look. Not as easy as the movies would have you believe! He added the aged look at the end by hand.
The original photo was of Carolyn posing with an old steam engine in the process of being restored. It captured the vibe of the era.
The last image was one we think Mark had the most fun with, both in creating the shot and doing the art.
It is on location at Henriette’s acreage. She loves her Ferrari! With the help of her daughter-in-law she picked these way-out of character dominatrix outfits. She even brought the rope to “tie up the car.”
Mark stuffed a 12 foot ladder into his van with this gear.
After lashing Henriette to the car hood and placing the whip he brought, he climbed up the ladder. Perfect angle. Barely in the shadows the light was soft and glamourous.
She is not a model, but her expression could not have been better. Her whole series was spectacular we must say.
The original shot was taken with the car on a black gravel road surrounded by naked October trees. (Yes, it was chilly shoot) Nice, but not the inspired vision.
In Photoshop Mark blended both live flames and some stylized art flames.
We have to say though, as cool as the art and car are, Henriette’s expression is what makes this image work so well.
We think it says a lot that Mark is still winning contests after 45 years of photography. He oten gets the trophies over all the up-and-coming talent.
The professional photographers that enter these contests are good. Most grew up with Photoshop and mirrorless cameras along with all the tech and vision of the day.
It is Mark’s mastery of his craft and his story that elevates his work above the rest.
Of course, he is the first to mention it’s his team that makes him look so good. From makeup artists to Fran (who many of you know) who retouches his work and gives each image competition level polish.
We couldn’t be more pleased with the results! Which one is your favourite?