11.5.09

Hot Bot Shot..



As a regular avid reader of Manchester Photography I was directed to the Hey Hot Shot competition (now closed). I agree with everything Mark says on his blog (Sunday's entry) and have to admit to not paying much attention to the Hot Bot comp when it was launched. I don't care much for competitions as a whole as those of you that follow closely will know all too well, but I do enjoy going through the images often judging them for myself (much more fun).
In this particular batch of imagery there was one body of work that stood out.

The work of Richard Gilles and his 'The Sign Of The Times' (images above) could of been perfect. The content, the locations, the format. But simply put, BILLBOARDS ARE STRAIGHT. What is the deal with that crazy distortion. I am no technical wizard (genius maybe), and can deal with the odd angle somewhere but I find it hard to believe that this guy when out to purposefully bend those billboards. I have a few theories; Either they where all shot at once, the distortion not obvious through the viewer. They have been taken on a 'sweeping lens' camera like a Widelux, again the distortion not obvious. Or they where intentionally shot like that because there was no access to higher ground, or there was no room to step back with the wide angle..Could of been great....
Anyway check out all the hot shot entries, especially the work of James Griffioen and see how things should be shot..

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