I was honored and a bit surprised when Dave Bouskill of The Planet D nominated me for The Capture the Colour PhotoBlogging Travel Competition presented by TravelSupermarket.com.
After looking into the online photo contest, I found I respected the work of all the judges. The prizes are legit, multiple and substantial. £ 2000 for travel is the Grand Prize (that’s $3,118.23 US by today’s XE conversion rate), and the winner of each of the main color categories wins an iPad 3.
The travel competition requires me to publish a blog post that features photo images that feature each of the 5 colours: Blue, Green, Yellow, White, and Red.
*Yes! I’m spelling “colours” the British way because that is how this contest rolls. Feel free to read this post with a fake British accent a la Madonna. Or in cockney rhyming slang.
Here are the images I chose to enter. I hope you like them.
Blue: The Pool at the hotel Santorini, Greece
I shot this image on a bright but cold October day at resort in Santorini, Greece. It was at the tail end of the tourist season and last weekend this particular hotel was open before it closed down for winter. It was one of those romantic, honeymoon type resorts and I was traveling with my BFF, Zan. I had tried to get into the pool myself but the water temp was far too bracing for my taste. I remember lying on a chaise lounge next to Zan, soaking up the sun. When a man dove in, I picked up my camera and took a picture and told her it looked like a David Hockney painting. She agreed. We went back to eating delightful Greek food.
Green: Caterpillar Cocktail Hour, Punta Mita, Mexico
This was one the first mobile photography images I shot with my iPhone 4S. I had just arrived at a swanky resort in Punta Mita and I put my margarita down for a moment and this giant caterpillar type creepy crawly started inching towards it. I was stunned with the quality of the image (shot and edited on my iPhone) and I really liked how the bug matched the wood grain. I loved how the green of the margarita blended with the leaves of the Mexican jungle behind it.
Yellow: Free Range Chicken in Alexandria, Egypt
I was so very honored when I got invited to Egypt to speak at the IOETI conference on the topic of the Art of Travel Blogging in December. When we took a day trip to Alexandria, the great library was closed due to a revolutionary protest. So we went street shooting instead. I got some photos that day including this slightly bizarre one of free range chickens cooping themselves up against a yellow brick wall. It’s just one of those genuine, real things you see when you get off the beaten path. Perhaps that is why I adore it so very much. I hope to get back to Egypt again soon. It’s such an amazing country and I’d love to see more of it. Maybe, if I win the grand prize, I’ll use the money and go back to Egypt.
White: Rice Wallah in Pushkar, India
Environmental portraits are one of my favorite things to shoot. They are a combination of street shooting and portraiture and this rice wallah had the least colorful stand in the city of Pushkar. I loved the way the sun was hitting his face. It’s possibly the least colorful image I took while attending the Pushkar Camel Fair, but a personal favorite.
Red: Portrait of a Chinese Soldier in Beijing
For the color red, I had to go with China. This portrait of a young Chinese soldier standing among the red pillars in the Forbidden City says “red” on so many different levels. I love his small smile, and the proud way he wears his uniform.
Orange: Unfortunately this contest didn’t have “orange” category. So he’s my bonus picture!
The images of mine that I get multiple requests to purchase are from the few days I spent in Luang Prabang, Laos. Each morning I would get up early to watch the young monks line up in their saffron robes and bare feet to gather alms. I know this photo doesn’t count towards the contest, but I love it so much I decided to include it anyway. Maybe next year TravelSupermarket.com will add an orange as one of their main colours and let me be the judge?
I am nominating the following 5 bloggers to enter this contest:
Amber DeGrace, who is the best mobile food photographer slash home brewer slash travel blogger I know.
Paul Thompson, aka @flyingPhotog on twitter and instagram. He’s a great guy and an aviation geek of the highest order, and a great photographer.
Jonathan Khoo, a social-media-turned-real-life-friend. I love his Wanderlusty blog. He has a good eye and shoots with an Olympus 4/3 rds.
Vago Damitio, editor-in-chief of Vagobond (forgive me for calling you a blogger, Vago, it’s a technicality)
Updated info: While I orginally nominated Ralph Velasco ,who leads amazing photo culture tours and is a great photo instructor who gives great photo tips on his blog. (Download his app, My Shot Lists For Travel.) Ralph told me he’s swamped and most likely won’t be able to enter the contest.
So I am officially nominating an amazing lifestyle and travel photographer who has a blog, Rebecca Adler. I am sure Rebecca will have a great, fresh eye and some excellent images to enter in this contest.
I am looking forward to seeing all of their entries in the this photo competition, and curious who the winners will be. As an additional note, I try not to take photo contests too seriously. Good photos get lost in the shuffle. But all those I nominated are great shooters who would love the prizes and will submit interesting work.