- News -

January 2007

Patrick Luke Wins Four Ribbons in the
Print Competition at the
Professional Photographers of New York State
Annual Conference 

Emerging From Hell

Colors of the Wind

Yeah...She's Fast

Timeless Commitment

NIAGARA FALLS, NY - In January of this year, I received four ribbons in a juried print competition competition of photographic prints at the annual convention of the Professional Photographers of New York State (PPSNYS).  This annual print competition attracts professional photographers from all over the state, who entered over 300 prints. The six judges at our state convention were nationally-known, trained and certified professionals from all over the country. Five judges at a time score each print on a scale from 1 to 100, and the entrants’ goal is to achieve an average score of 80 or above from the five judges, which indicates that the print is Deserving of Merit, and is awarded a blue ribbon.

My highest scoring print was entitled Emerging From Hell  and scored a 78.  This was from a self-assigned creative project that was the result of almost two years of planning.  It  depicts a friend of mine breaking through a metallic bronzed wall.   I originally photographed him breaking through a wall of paper, then digitally transformed the paper into a bronze-textured wall and added the fiery red background.  Oh, yeah…and his eyes...they really aren’t that red!

My second red ribbon was awarded for Colors of the Wind, which scored a 76 and was taken during an August 2006 wedding.  The image was captured on a pedestrian bridge over the Genesee River. In downtown Rochester.  Although it was captured in the middle of the day in full sunshine, which is the hardest situation to photograph in, the photograph worked so well because of the grace of the bride, the gently blowing breeze which played with the long veil, and the composition of the bright flags blowing in the wind.

A small amount of digital enhancement was added to give the photograph  some depth and  a little bit more drama.  The mother of the bride told me she arranged for the breeze and the sunshine, but I’m not so sure I believe her.  However, I was sure to thank her for all the dance lessons that the bride took as a young girl!

The third red ribbon print was from an image also captured in August 2006.  This image, entitled Yeah...She’s Fast (below), scored a 76 and was from a Senior Portrait session with a girl who is from a family of track stars.  Her two older brothers, who also came through my studio as seniors, won sectional track titles and she’s more than capable of keeping up with them.

 In the interest of safety, I decided not to set her shoes (or her) on fire.  I think her parents appreciated that, as did my insurance agent.  This image required several hours of digital retouching work to convert the image to black-and-white, introduce the vibrant red color back into the track shoes, and the add the flames and other design elements.  As a perfectionist, I am my own worst enemy, and this time was no exception.  While burning the midnight oil (sorry), I made at least four different versions of the flames on her shoes, until I found a version that looked realistic and one that I was happy with.

The last print was another personal project that I worked on over four years ago.  After the death of my first daughter, I wanted to have a photograph that showed the closeness and the love that I feel for my 2nd child, Holly.  I was planning on calling a photographer friend that I respected and trusted to capture the trust and emotion between the two of us.  Before I made the call, I decide to try it myself.  I made only seven images during this very short session, but I managed to come up with Timeless Commitment (right), which is a testament to my pride in fatherhood.

The original image was photographed in color, although I decided to convert it to black-and-white.  By removing the color, the viewer is left only to look at the faces of the subjects, and this helps make this a timeless image.   Although the print only scored a white ribbon in the competition, it succeeds in doing what I try to make all of my portraits do: tell an important story and portray something about the character of the person being photographed.