APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Photo Contest & It Isn't Easy Being Green Photo Winners

The Photo Contest: "Texture"

The surface quality of an object is called Texture. Everything around us has texture. The term is often misused to refer only to rough surfaces, but this is not correct. All surfaces have texture.

We experience texture whenever we touch something and feel its surface. Is it rough, smooth or soft like rabbit’s fur? In the world around us, this experience of texture is tactile. That is, we experience it through our sense of touch. (Tactile texture) Sculptures and architecture materials are tactile in nature because they can be touched. This is a three-dimensional experience.

Yet, we can also see texture. This is important in the world around us as it helps us identify what we are touching. As we experience more and more textures, at some point, we are able to imagine or anticipate what a texture will feel like, even though we can’t or don’t touch it. (Visual texture) The textures you see in a photograph are visual textures. No matter how rough objects in the photograph look, the surface of the photograph is smooth and flat. Visual textures can be just as provocative or full of meaning as the actual textures we can touch. Visual texture is always a factor in a composition because everything has a surface and hence a texture.

For this contest, we receive the most amount of entries from countries outside of the US to date. This made the contest very interesting to judge as the variety of entries were rich because of the differences in our experiences and surroundings.

We chose one of Balogh Zoltán's aerial photos, "World From an Eagle Eye" Grand Prize winner. I was impressed by the colors and textures of this image. It represents a visual texture that supersedes our ability to actually experience this in real life. It gives another meaning to the phrase, "And I touched the earth..."

Zoltán will receive a copy of ACDSeePro 2.0 by ACDSystems, as well as the Shuttermom Gold Package from shuttermom.com, and Power Retouche. Photoshop plug-ins for high quality photo editing, retouching and image editing.

Runner-up was Jim Occi's "Gills". I am always a sucker for a good black and white image with full tones. In this image, the texture is apparent and is a good example of how texture can be made up of of more basic design elements such as lines and value.

Occi will also receive a copy of ACDSeePro 2.0 by ACDSystems,

Click on each image to see larger version.

Click Here to find out about our next contests.

	Grand Prize Winner "World From an Eagle Eye" Balogh Zoltán Hungary
	First Runner-up: "Gills" Jim Occi USA
	Honorable Mention: "Dune at Sunset" John Eaton USA
	Honorable Mention: "Knob on Fireplace" John C Lebherz USA
	Honorable Mention: "Regresso" Jose Carlos Sarmento Portugal
	Honorable Mention: "Glass" Oliver Peppmoeller Germany
	Honorable Mention: "Speaker Grill" Pete Nicholls USA
	Honorable Mention: "Canopy Floor" Jesse Whittle-Utter USA
	Honorable Mention: "The Old Grater" Ursula Stiglitz Austria
	Honorable Mention: "Abstract Elephant" Daniel Kohanski USA
	Honorable Mention: "Finger Tips" Charles Schinner USA
	Honorable Mention: "Wrinkles of Time" Joydeep Mukherjee India

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