AzAP March Madness Portfolio Challenge #1: "Aviation in Arizona"

[Joe Copalman]

As the Monty Python folks used to say, "And now for something completely different."

This month's challenge is something we've been working on for a while.  With so many aviation-related events taking place in Arizona during the month of March, we thought this would be a great time to run a portfolio-building challenge.   This will be similar to the AzAP Photo Challenges, but instead of having a single subject, theme, or technique to focus on, you have several to choose from, with the end result being a collection of 8 images that cover different subjects and/or techniques, all in support of a unifying theme.  The goal is to get shooters thinking beyond individual shots and focusing on a body of work with a common theme, the theme for this challenge being "Aviation in Arizona."  We figured going as broad as possible our first time around with this would be better than a narrow focus.  

Here's how this challenge will work:

1.  All photos submitted must be taken between March 1st, 2012, and March 31st, 2012.

2. Participating photographers must submit eight photos with each one representing at least one of the eighteen subject themes below.  Images may represent more than one subject theme (i.e. a photo of a 737 crossing the tower at PHX would cover both the "airport" and "airliner" themes), but covering multiple themes in a single shot does not reduce the number of overall photos that must be submitted.
Subject themes are as follows:

    1. Warbird

    2. Airliner

    3. Modern Military

    4. General Aviation

    5. Business/Corporate Aviation (including bizjets, sport charters, tour companies like Papillon or Scenic up at the Grand Canyon)

    6. Emergency services & law enforcement – If shooting medical aircraft, DO NOT photograph patients.  Some law enforcement agents are touchy about being photographed.  It's not illegal to do so, but use discretion if they are present.

    7. Helicopters

    8. Airshow/Fly-In – This means shots that show that you are actually at an airshow.  Stands, announcers, vendor booths, spectators, aircraft on static display – anything that clearly places you, the shooter, at the event.  While the overall theme is "Aviation in Arizona," those attending the El Centro airshow may post photos from that show to cover this subject.

    9. Flight School – Arizona is home to several flight schools – photos of aircraft operated by them, of students briefing or pre-flighting would work in this category.

    10. Museums/Monuments – Photos of aircraft taken at museums or "planes on sticks" are what we're looking for here.

    11. Formation Flying – Multiple opportunities for that this month.

    12. Arizona Landmarks – Any shot of an aircraft with some kind of identifiable landmark in the background that makes it virtually impossible for a local to not know where the shot was taken.  These can be natural landmarks like Camelback Mountain or Red Mountain, or man-made landmarks like the downtown skyline, Tovrea castle, etc.  

    13. Stored aircraft/Scrapyards

    14. Sunrise/Sunset

    15. Candid Air/Ground Crew

    16. Interior/Cockpit shots.

    17. Ultralights/Gliders/Unpowered Flight/Lighter-Than-Air
   
    18. Airports

3. Participating photographers must submit eight photos with no less than four representing at least one of the thirteen technique/setting themes below.  "f/8 and be there" is great, but in addition to thinking about a body of work instead of individual shots, we want to challenge you on technique as well.  Some of these have been covered in previous challenge threads, so a lot of these are opportunities to revisit them.

    A - Panning

    B - Prop blur

    C - Macro (parts is parts)

    D - Black and White

    E - Night/Low Light

    F - Air-to-Air

    G - Panoramic Framing

    H - Air-to-Ground

    I - Portrait Orientation

    J - Wide angle

    K - Film

    L - Artistic post-processing

    M - Backlit/Silhouette


4. Portfolios must be posted in a to-be-establish Portfolio Challenge between 12:00am on Sunday, April 1st and 11:59pm on Saturday, April 7th.  

5. Judging will start at 12:00am on Sunday, April 8th, and must be complete by 11:59pm on Saturday, April 14th.

6. Judging will be done by a panel of three judges: José M. Ramos (http://www.ramosaviationphotos.com/), Mark Kilian (http://www.sixgunphoto.com/), and our own James O'Rear (http://www.jamesorear.com/), who is currently living in Japan, and thus not eligible to participate. 

7. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place are, repectively, $50, $30, and $20 gift certificates to Tempe Camera.

8. Regular photo challenge will resume on April 1st, with the theme to be chosen by the winner of the "50mm" challenge.  Existing deadline and voting timeframe of previous challenge still stand.

Hopefully we'll see some good participation with this, and if it's well-received and participants feel it was worthwhile, we'll do it again next year.  

Please ask any questions in this thread, and check back periodically for updates on the judges and the prizes.

Have fun, and good shooting!

[Joe Copalman]

To clarify, any photos taken in the contest period are valid.  For those of you who shot Heritage Conference arrivals and want to include those shots, you are good to go.

[bilwor]

Joe, does that mean a total of 16 photos for 2 & 3 (ie 8 for 2 and 8 for 3)
bill word

[Dave S.]

Bill,

No, it's a total of eight shots.  Each shot should fall within one of the 16 subjects.  These same eight shots in the portfolio need to be spread over at least four of the 13 techniques listed in Section 3.

For example, one should not have eight similar shots of a US Airways Dash-8 on final into Sky Harbor (or TIA).  This example repeats the same subject & technique (airliner & prop blur) eight times. Try to limit the number of repeats, especially on technique, to two.

The intent of this is to have people stretch their comfort zone.  We tried to not get too specific/detailed on the rules to provide freedom and latitude to let people get creative and push themselves a little further and allow them to 'do their thang'.

[Paul Dumm]

So we can pick what section we shoot from? It does not have to be both. Eather section 2 or 3 . Am I reading that right?

Never mind, my slow brain got it, scetion 2 useing a section 3.  I.E. warbird-panning or Airline-Prop blur or Flight School-Portrait Orientation.

[Jay Beckman]

The Mods might consider going back in and assigning a number to the Genres and a letter to the Techniques...

That way, submissions can be (fairly) easily labeled.

A Panned Warbird would be a 1-A, GA in B&W would be a 3-D or a Helo wide angle would be a 5-J.

Just a thought from the Peanut Gallery.

[bilwor]

Thanks everybody, Joe explained it to me in person today at the Heritage Conference.
bill word

[Joe Copalman]

The Mods might consider going back in and assigning a number to the Genres and a letter to the Techniques...

That way, submissions can be (fairly) easily labeled.

A Panned Warbird would be a 1-A, GA in B&W would be a 3-D or a Helo wide angle would be a 5-J.

Just a thought from the Peanut Gallery.

PHENOMENAL idea.  Will amend it shortly. 

[Joe Copalman]

Original post amdended per Jay's suggestion.  Also opened up the "ultralight/unpowered" category to lighter-than-air since balloons seem to be flying quite a bit still and blimps sometimes show up in the state.

[Jay Beckman]

Thanks for taking my suggestion and running with it!

I notice though that there is no numbered genre for Modern Military?

[Joe Copalman]

 ??

Um, oops.

Pretty big chunk of "Aviation in Arizona."

I'll fix that later today.  Definitely meant to be included.

[Joe Copalman]

Just noticed "Airports" is not included as well, which was intended from the get-go to be one of the subjects.  Off to the botanical gardens with the family right now, but will get this sorted out this afternoon.

[Joe Copalman]

Ten days left until the submission period opens.

I updated the original post to include the prizes, which will be a $50 gift certificate to Tempe Camera for 1st place, a $30 gift certificate for 2nd, and a $20 one for 3rd.

We are currently in the process of securing judges.  Our own James O'Rear - exempt from participating due to his being in Japan - has stepped up as our first judge.  James' familiarity with the subject and his experience and expertise as a photographer make him a solid choice for the panel.  Other judges will be announced once the panel is complete.

[Joe Copalman]

Alright, here's a sample of what a posted portfolio should look like.  These are all shots from March of last year (with one exception for the purpose of this sample being from April).  Eight images, each with an alphanumeric code identifying the theme and technique.  I have included the actual theme/technique combinations in parenthesis just to document them so you won't have to keep going back to the "cheat sheet."  The goal is to have the portfolio thread as uncluttered as possible, and to give the judges a uniform method of identifying theme/technique combinations.  While I have included eight techniques, keep in mind that only four separate ones are required.  When the portfolio thread goes live, please only use the codes to identify your shots, and if a theme or technique is repeated in one or more shots, please only label the image that best represents that theme or technique.   If you have any questions, please post them as replies to this message.  

1F (Warbird/Air-to-Air)


18H (Airports/Air-to-Ground)


7B (Helicopters/Prop Blur)


8J (Airshow/Wide Angle)


16C (Interior/Macro)


14M (Sunset/Backlit)


11I (Formation Flying/Portrait Orientation)


3A (Modern Military/Panning)

[Joe Copalman]

Original post amended to include our judges panel:

-James O'Rear (http://www.jamesorear.com/)

-Mark Kilian (http://www.sixgunphoto.com/)

-José M. Ramos (http://www.ramosaviationphotos.com/)

Pretty deep bench of experience and talent, and I cannot thank them enough for stepping up.

Just under 36 more hours to get your shots.  If you haven't done so, I recommend printing out the cheat sheet that Dave Shields put together and using it to check off any last-minute shots you want.  The Falcon Field open house is tomorrow, and it sounds like Willie may have some military visitors this evening and tomorrow. 

Scott Youmans had asked if it would be better to write out the full subject/technique combination with each shot (e.g. "Warbird/Panning) as opposed to the alphanumeric codes from the cheat sheet.  I have asked the judges what they would prefer and will update this thread once I hear back from them.