It is being held on Saturday the 5th of May so unfortunately I can't take part as I am still at Uni in Southampton now. This is a huge shame as last year I entered it and managed to get second place.
So, what exactly is the photomarathon?
When I signed up for this last year, along with my family, we didn't expect the day to be as manic as it actually was, but I have to say it is definitely a competition with a difference!
You are given 6 hours to take 12 photographs on 12 different topics. This sounds easy... but trust me, its not!
The first twist is that you are only allowed to take one image on each theme, meaning no digital cameras! Instead, they provide you with a disposable camera with just 12 shots. We also had the choice to use a 35mm film with only 12 exposures if we had our own camera but I picked to use the disposable point-and-shoot as felt colour could be beneficial!
To complicate things further, you aren't given all the subjects at the morning registration.. instead only the first 4 are revealed. You then have two hours to go and shoot these (in order) and then return to get the next 4 and then finally, another 2 hours later, the last 4 can be collected.
It was a great family day out and even though we all entered it, my mum, dad and brother, we decided to participate individually. Even though 2 hours to take 4 photographs sounds like a while, when you have 4 people wanting to visit different locations around the island we soon ran out of time!
If you want to read more about this specific competition then here is the link to the photomarathon page.
Photomarathon 2011..
Ok, so I thought I would tell you a little bit about the topics from last year and show you a few shots that I took.
Topics
1 - Identity
2 - You Can't Live Without It
3 - Freedom
4 - Larger Than Life
5 - Confused
6 - There's No Place Like Home
7 - Favourite Thing
8 - Never Judge A Book By Its Cover
9 - Missing
10 - Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
11 - Movement
12 - Unique
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#3 Freedom Children on the beach letting go of helium balloons. |
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#4 Larger Than Life Worm alongside a tape measure (My favourite image) |
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#5 Confused My dad dressed as a female. |
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#6 There's No Place Like Home An abandoned building. |
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#7 My Favourite Thing My brother. |
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#8 Never Judge A Book By Its Cover My 7 year old cousin wearing old persons mask. |
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#9 Missing My mums old doll without any legs. |
After everyone's films were processed the events group exhibited each print in a small town gallery. Also as part of winning second prize I received a free photographic workshop with Jean-Christophe Godet (professional photographer and festival director).
Obviously my photographs weren't the best quality and I found it difficult not having the luxury of changing camera settings as I am used to. But overall it was such a fun day, seeing what ideas my family came up with and it was a great bonding session for us. I would love to take part again one year. Good luck to all contestants in 2012!!