Rebirth of top photographers

Chapter 116 "It hasn't been published yet, Mr. Chairman" (4K must-see for those with color)

In the silent conference room, apart from the occasional click of a mouse, there were only the small sounds of photographers swallowing saliva and muttering to themselves.

The selection for the competition has begun in full swing.

As judges, they have ten days to select nominees for various awards.

Yes, the final winner is not chosen now.Instead, you have to wait until the invitation letter is sent out and on the eve of the award ceremony, and then a team of professional judges will give unified scores to determine the award winner.

However, this does not include category awards. Categories such as landscape, humanities, portraits, news, etc. will be directly scored by the judges of the category, and then the top three will be selected and announced on the website before the awards are given.

This is both for publicity and to prevent the award ceremony from being too long and losing its visibility.

In addition, there are some hidden considerations. A large proportion of the photographers invited are male, and their age is generally over 4 or 50 years old.Middle-aged people at this age tend to fall asleep as quickly as babies.They also don't take care of themselves as much as the entertainment industry. If the ceremony is too long, the audience may see people sleeping with their heads up and hear their low snoring from time to time through the live broadcast.

This will undoubtedly become a laughing stock.

In addition, there are too many categories of awards and not much attention is paid to them, so invitations are sent directly to the top three.

Even in the on-site award ceremony, the top three were presented together, focusing on simplicity and speed.

Putting aside the category awards, there are a total of 7 awards this time that are truly worthy of attention both inside and outside the circle.

They are the Best Single Photo of the Year, Best Photographer of the Year, Best Album of the Year, Most Creative Photo of the Year, Best Breakthrough Photo of the Year, Most Influential Photo of the Year and New Photographer of the Year.

Among them, there is only one best single photo of the year, and the rest are group photos or albums.

Therefore, the judges of these awards are often very tired, because there are so many photographers submitting submissions every year, and they not only have to read them, but also write comments.The photos that make it to the judges' selection stage are all selected after several rounds of screening and should not be taken lightly.

As for the Best Photographer of the Year and the New Photographer of the Year, the organizing committee will make their own closed selections.They will select photographers from around the world who have published photo albums or who have had a great impact on countries and regions through their photos for comparison.

Of course, awards such as the Best Photographer of the Year often take into account the photographer's previous works and rankings. On the one hand, this is to compensate for accompanying him every year, and on the other hand, it is actually a kind of implicit favoritism.

Only photographers from the Western world who reach a certain age can have a chance to win this award.It is impossible for East Asian and Third World countries to win this award unless they have made great contributions or proven their strength.

At this moment, compared to the hard-working atmosphere of other judging panels, the most relaxed one is undoubtedly the Best Film Series of the Year judging panel.

The number of photo albums published each year is very limited, and the number of entries is even more limited. Basically, only twenty or thirty photo albums can be shortlisted for selection a year.In addition, names cannot be hidden in these physical photo albums, so the judges are holding huge portfolios, sitting on the sofa, crossing their legs and reading page after page.

"Tom's photo album this year is good. African children are a good subject." Ryan, who wears glasses and has some gray hair on his temples, chatted with his friends and showed him the album in his hand while talking.

"Really?" The friend raised his eyebrows and looked at it, his beards rubbing together with the movements of his mouth: "I think Nakamura's work this year is very good, the name is Confusion, oh, look at these buildings and these snapshots His expression is awesome.”

"It's indeed good." Ryan nodded in agreement, and then felt the sofa next to him sink.

He turned around and found that it was James, a well-known master of landscape and animal photography in the circle.He is 1.8 meters tall, with bulging muscles in his upper limbs and arms, and his lower limbs are thicker than Ryan's head. It is said that he usually exercises every day in order to take photos of dangerous scenery.He even participated in a bodybuilding competition and won third prize.

"What's wrong? Why are you holding a computer?" Ryan looked at James curiously. The computer was like a toy in the hands of this giant, and it looked very funny.

"Damn it, there's an album that doesn't even have a physical book! Can you believe it? How did these people choose?" James complained mercilessly, spitting stars flying everywhere.

Ryan comforted: "Hey, old man, don't be angry. Maybe the photographer didn't have time to send the physical book. Maybe I still know him." He is a well-known social expert in the circle, whether young or old. , all have many friends.

"Let me see, Frank, I don't recognize it. Which country is this word for? China or Neon?" James turned the computer screen to Ryan.

Ryan squinted his eyes, raised his glasses slightly, and identified it carefully: "It seems to be...Chinese characters, so square, yes, yes."

There was some helplessness in his tone: "Okay, I'm not very familiar with Chinese photographers. Maybe you can ask Zhao."

"Zhao? Forget it, he's at the portrait." James was too lazy to look for other people, so he could only endure the small laptop screen and look at the photo.

At this time, Mr. Ericson walked in. He did not wear formal clothes today, but changed into a black training suit made of Chinese silk. With his long hair tied back, he looked like a fairy. the taste of.

"Oh! James, what are you doing? Let me guess, you are video chatting with your family?" He walked up to a few people and said in a joking tone with constant body movements.

"Of course not, Mr. Chairman, I'm looking at a work, a photo album without a physical book!" James couldn't help but complain when he saw the chairman coming.

"Huh?" Mr. Ericson looked stunned. Although he was the chairman, he didn't know which works were shortlisted. After all, his energy did not allow him to take care of other works while promoting Gesai. aspect.

"The work of a Chinese, Mr. Chairman." Ryan added.

"Huaxia? The best photo album of the year?" Mr. Erikson suddenly became interested: "It's cool and very challenging. But why is there no physical book?"

In order to clear up his doubts, he called the person in charge of the album selection.

"Ike, do you know there is a photo album from China?" He sat between Ryan and James and brought the computer over.

On the screen is an electronic photo album. The background color of the home page is pure white, and the central horizontal panel is lined with black simplified characters of uniform size: "Crow" Chen Pingsheng.

"I know, Mr. Chairman, that's exactly the entry I submitted myself." Ike didn't seem surprised by Erikson's inquiry.

"Oh? Why doesn't it have a physical book?" Mr. Erickson continued to ask.

Unexpectedly, Ike gave him an unexpected answer.

"Because it hasn't been published yet, Mr. Chairman."

"Not published?" Mr. Erikson's first feeling was that it was a little ridiculous, and then he was very curious.

"Ike, I believe that since you chose this album to recommend, you must have your own reasons, right?" Mr. Erickson reminded Ike.

"Of course, Mr. Chairman, I guarantee that this work will refresh the judges' understanding of animal photography." When Ike said this, his tone was already full of temptation.

"Refresh your mind, Ike, you'd better know what you're talking about."

"Don't worry, Mr. Chairman." Mr. Erickson hung up the phone, spread his hands and looked at the judges on the left and right, and said in a teasing tone: "James, Ryan, one piece of good news and one piece of bad news."

"Bad news, it's not out yet, so your wish for a physical copy is dashed."

James and Ryan were surprised, and then heard the second sentence of Mr. Chairman.

"The good news is that it hasn't been published yet and we will be the first audience to appreciate it."

This sentence suddenly aroused everyone's curiosity. Not far away, John the Beard, who had been tilting his ears, also came over. He put his arms on the sofa, leaned forward, and looked at the computer screen.

Seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Mr. Ericson shrugged: "Then let's start watching this work. John, please pull the curtains."

"No problem, Mr. Chairman." John quickly walked to the window and pulled up the curtains, leaving no light in the room and plunging it into gloomy darkness.

Then he quickly returned to the sofa, rubbing his chin while staring at the unintelligible album name on the screen.

For the photographers and Mr. Ericson present, they are very interested in every unpublished photographic work. Watching this kind of work is like going on an adventure, giving them a novel experience every time. .

Especially in such an occasion, anyone would be excited to be selected for the qualifying competition, defeat the works of many veteran photographers, and go all the way to the judges like them.

The first picture that catches my eye is the cover of this album.

It uses a very simple layout, with no redundant text and only the word "crow" in the middle.

"Crow." Mr. Ericson read the title of the work.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"It should be the abbreviation of crow. You know Chinese characters are very subtle."

"Okay, go ahead."

Mr. Erickson clicked on the next page, which was the page James had seen before.

"Crow, Chen Pingsheng." Mr. Ericson read these words in broken Chinese.

"Chen, author's name, I understand." James finally knew what he couldn't understand just now.

Mr. Ericson continued to click, and then a silhouette of a crow that occupied the entire page appeared in front of everyone.

The background color is pure white, and the huge crow silhouette seems to be an electronic image printed on it.But everyone can still see that the crow is surrounded by a faint cyan color, which should be a very weakened sky color, and the edges of the photo are clearly visible because of the boundary between black and white.

At the same time, they noticed the strange shape of the crow, with its three sharp claws spread out forcefully, as if it was catching some kind of prey.The reflective beak sets off the black luster and looks rich in texture.And the feathers are completely dark, without any details, as if they were drawn by fine art.

"Wow." James couldn't help but exclaimed. He himself photographed animals and birds.

He was not surprised that such a clear picture was taken. What really surprised him was the photographer's post-processing of the photo. Through the strong contrast between light and dark with the white paper, the figurative crow turned into an abstract form. symbol.

And the depressed dark parts completely match the impression given by the crow, giving people a gloomy and depressing feeling.

"Continue." The anticipation in his heart prompted him to urge Mr. Erikson to continue turning the pages.

Mr. Erickson showed a helpless expression to Ryan and the others, and then looked at each other and smiled. They all knew James' temper. Although he was a little irritable, as long as he was interested in your work, he would definitely do it. Make friends with you without any pretense.

He clicked the mouse and turned to the next page.

Then they saw a picture of a crow flying in the camera with its wings spread out. It was still a silhouette without details, a dark environment, and a blurry background.

It seems to be a random shot, but also like a random capture, just catching the moment of the crow taking off, and showing it like this.

But the people present did not speak, nor did they make any judgment easily. They just silently clicked on the next page.

There are more and more crows, standing on the branches, moving or still, but the photographer still discards all the details and chooses to use the effect of ink painting in fine art, retaining only the silhouettes to express these crows.

Click the next page and this time the crow flies.

A large number of crows took off from the branches in the dark sky, their wings folded together, and they flew in all directions in a chaotic and disorderly manner.The bottom of the picture is slightly blurry due to the movement, as if the photographer was chasing the fleeing crows and captured them at the last moment.

Seeing this, everyone has already initially felt the photographer's concept and shooting method.

"It's a very novel shooting method," said Ryan. "He abandoned stability and clear images, and chose to use black and white film. I have to say, it really looks like a painting. I like this idea."

"That's right, no one has ever photographed like this." Mr. Ericson recalled that in his experience, he had never seen similar works.

Others nodded, saying they had never seen this type before.

"So this work is to use this form to represent crows?" John Beard asked. He is not very interested in animals. Although it is cool to shoot like this, what is the specific connotation?

Art works must have their own expressive content, and this is especially true for photo albums. After looking at the first few photos, he felt that if he only photographed crows, they would not be enough to enter the selection.

"Ike said it will subvert our view of animal photography. Just keep reading and you will find out." Mr. Ericson clicked the mouse and looked at the next picture.

What comes into view is a blur of white dots, blurry bird shadows and blurry images.

Everything is blurry, as if the photographer was deliberately facing the camera and didn't want the audience to see clearly.

"Beautiful Eastern aesthetics." Mr. Ericson said with an admiring expression.

　It is recommended to wear headphones and watch quietly for the next Easter egg chapter.8k update tomorrow, watch the crow in one go

　　
　
(End of this chapter)