Photography SUBMISSIONS
THE CONVICTION IN COURAGE: FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN FEAR AND RISK
JUDGES FEEDBACK:
JUDGE 1: The story you told is a very important one and its something very relatable that we all can sympathize with. you did a great job capturing the story with your photos. Keep it up!
JUDGE 2: SPEECHLESS, just wow! From idea to execution, just phenomenal! The first photo really took me and it represents so many other societal issues that we see in our culture like you mentioned in your essay. I love the spot light from above and black and white is a great choice as it shows timelessnes. My biggest concern are the borders, it changing everytime takes the focus away from the subject, it should always be same so focus is on the story, but since the story is so impactful, I didn't penalize too much for that! I also would love to see you use all 5 photo options although yes 3 did work but your photos should stand by itself without the essay so use them to enhance the series! You have an amazing natural talent with storytelling so please keep shooting as like anything its a skill that improves with practice! Your series reminds me of this "Carrie Mae Weems: The Kitchen Table Series", so maybe you can continue the series with more stories, I would love to see that!
JUDGE 3: Great work! I love the use of borders. I like how you used the border for the first one to portray the boundary and the tension with centering all the focus at one point. Second image the borders go all horizontal with the hands connecting your parents. And lastly, the last image showcasing the vertical border represents that someone is above us and we are just small beings. Great use of lighting with first and last image. A retake on the second image would have been better, removing the cup on the bottom left corner.
TRUSTING THE PROCESS: CONTENTMENT THROUGH ADVERSITY
Judges Feedback:
JUDGE 1: “Overall these are some of the great work I have seen this year. My only problem is with the third image. Rather than using an empty bottle and having a shirt on the model, you could have done it by asking the model to wear a vest and have tree leaves on their plates as this reflects strongly with the current situation going on. Some minor artistic work could have been done on the other two images, by adding little fake blood drops over the face to show they are being abused and treated like animals on the street. Keep up the great work and good luck with your future works!”
JUDGE 2: “MashAllah very well done, appreciate how you used the theme to shed light on current issues faced today in the Muslim world and how you used your skills to truly make a statement and get the viewer to think about each humanitarian crisis. I also love how you played with colors in lighting and with clothing to emphasize the plight of each crisis. I would only say that the portrait depicting the situation in Yemen doesn't fit the style of the portraits depicting the situations in China and Kashmir, it appears a bit out of place in this set perhaps because the subject isn't wearing any traditional Yemeni clothing and because the subject doesn't stand out in this portrait like the subjects do in the other two. Additionally, I felt that the portrait depicting the situation in China, although very well executed and photographed, is similar to many images spread on social media about the plight of the Uhiguyrs. As a young photographer, you are off to such a great start MashAllah and it's amazing to see such young talent use her God-given skills for the greater good. Going forward, I would urge you to push yourself further creatively, your mind is limitless and Allah has given you the endless potential to do so! Keep up the great work!”
JUDGE 3: “You did a great job, I love the photos! The theme, design, creativity, and technique was well executed. And the story behind the photos was really powerful. The written statement exceeded 500 words and it was more than one page so I had to take off two points there, but other than that it was a great submission, can't wait to see what else you create!”