The BJP ran an article on the Hamdan International Photography Awards, a Dubai-based competition sponsored by the prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamden. I couldn't help but notice that while all of the winning images might be considered documentary in style, they don't feel like documents of reality. Were you standing in these scenes, it's hard to image they would appear to your eye as they appear in the photos. The color is too vivid, the light too dramatic, the detail too exact. In fact it is the overwhelming amount of detail that makes you feel these images are something more than minimally or mildly filtered reality. (All photography, of course, being a form of reality filtering.) The abundance of detail makes the images seem flat. Nothing stands out among all the other details. Everything calls for your attention. The only photo where this is not true is that of the boats. Your eye can rest on the boats because the background of fog and misty mountains gives them relief and allows them to stand out. The image of the pair of men and boys is less busy than the two school images, but even here the shadows have been over-developed. There is too much definition and consequently there is no definition of any one thing or group of things within the image.
HIPA announces prize winners at grand ceremony
Hamdan International Photography Awards (HIPA) announces the winners of its third competition, Creating the Future, in Dubai
Gemma Padley — 17 March 2014
http://www.bjp-online.com/2014/03/hipa-announces-prize-winners-at-grand-ceremony/
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Update: I see on the
BJP Facebook page that others also find these images unphotographic.
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