How to win a photography contest

A first-time contest judge found himself wondering, "What can you, as a photographer, do to maximise your chances in the battle of shutter times and lighting, against the rest of the pack?"

He illustrates his answers with photos from the contest, sponsored by stock house Crestock, whose theme is The Meaning of Life. If you point and shoot, his thoughts may add another layer to your framing.

At photocritic.org, blog of Haje Jan Kamps of Bristol, England.

The actual winners of Round 1 were announced yesterday. The Meaning of Life seems to be found in groups, if these winners are a clue.

First place, and why:

friends by chandande
The winner, with an unrivalled number of votes from the jury, is this enigmatic and very genuine-looking photo of Indian children. Perhaps the judges felt that it sums up some of the apparent coincidences and chance encounters that could be said to characterise life. Who are the kids on the other side of the wall? What are they doing there? What is the relationship between the kids?

Newsrooms need programmers: Nothing screams this more than the announcement that Adrian Holovaty has been awarded $1.1 million by Knight News Challenge to found a startup to make tools. He's been doing that from Boulder, Colo. Chicago, for the Washington Post. He's just quit that gig, and will be hiring. Other winners include a grant to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism to offers journalism scholarships to programmer/developers.

Adrian first showed journalism what a Google mashup could do with chicagocrime.org.

Later: Adrian just emailed to say he's never even been to Boulder. Oy. When the fingers have a mind of their own...