Oviedo Grand Contest 2017 Winners and Finalists

Y LOS GANADORES SON… / AND THE WINNERS ARE…

1st PRIZE – CHRIS THOMPSOM (Nottinghamshire, England) – 1er PREMIO

«I am honoured to have won the Oviedo competition, it’s made my day! My winning shot was inspired by a visit to a Cirque du Soleil performance; I’m not usually a big fan of circus but I was dragged along to see Alegria at the Royal Albert Hall in London and was amazed and inspired by the lighting and atmosphere they created.

My workflow for my shot was to use two lenses and two tripods and work out the exposure times and lighting for each element. I used a fisheye lens for the central figure and the trees in an unusual woodland full of sessile oak trees which are gnarly and twisted by the Peak District weather. The Sony Zeiss 16-35 was used to make the nebula and eye part of the shot. Once I had rehearsed the two main elements, I then started the exposure with the nebula and eye, then it’s lights off, swap lenses to the fisheye and swap tripods to the central figure and trees. The whole shot was created in one photographic exposure. With the rehearsal for each element, it’s possible to nail these kinds of images the first time as I did with this one!

Although he is only stood like a mannequin in this shot, I would like to particularly thank Tim Gamble for the help and assistance with some of my light painting shots over the years. We have collaborated quite a few times and we’ve stood in freezing rivers waving lights in the dark, half froze to death on a windy mountain and sustained many injuries falling over in the night! Sounds crazy but we’ve had a good laugh, thanks pal!

Thanks once again for the honour of winning the competition and my sincere congratulations to all the winning entries and finalists!»

Chris Thompson, 18/10/2017

2nd PRIZE – JASON RINEHART (Virginia, USA) – 2º PREMIO

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«I first would like to give my sincere appreciation for giving me the opportunity to share my image with so many for this years Oviedo grand contest 2017. It means so much to me to be among such talented inspiring light painters from around the world and so thankful for being in the position I am by winning 2nd place this year. Thank you for everyone’s hard work that put this together and all the sponsors support.

MY IMAGE INFO: My favorite part about light painting as an art form is how I get to express my creativity or how I envision something to be. There is all this beauty around us daily that most people never see, but through light painting I’m able to create this free formed beauty whether around something ordinary that most would never see that way or by creating some sort of magical mystery leaving the viewer of a created image engaged and captured within my mind.

Light painting is not just waving lights around. For me its this calculated form of timed precision through a dark canvas. My camera and light sources are nothing merely but objects helping me record light like a paint brush to a canvas, its a beautiful madness.

I sometimes sit back and think that something as simple as playing around with a cell phone as a light painting light source one day with my camera many years ago would captivate me so much to what it has become now. My image selected here tells that story about my journey. It shows you that space where once stood that black canvas and now from my mind I share with you, light that isn’t in any way just random but calculated. This madness is important to me. Not for recantation or reward but to show how vulnerable one can be when faced with this need to share his passion.

I am truly thankful for being selected by my peers around the world as a nominee and further more thankful for having my image selected within the winners circle. I thank you very much for such a opportunity and look forward seeing what the future holds for this wonderful world that is light painting. I dont want to just be a voice within it but make my mark within its history.

Sincerely»

Jason Rinehart (18/10/2017)

3rd PRIZE – GARETH NATHAN (Ireland) – 3er PREMIO

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«If i have a theme that I follow it’s around the subterranean eco system! Being an occasional scuba diver I’m heavily inspired to create light art images of sea creatures and underwater scenes – in particular i’m obsessed with bioluminescence (creatures that light paint!). This little hawksbill turtle came home from the Cayman Islands with me and sat on a shelf until i had figured out how to get him to appear underwater without looking too flat and stencil-like. The trick to the depth I wanted was placing the turtle on a frosted sheet of glass and with a single light painting tool – a fibre optic brush cycling through colours brushing the glass. A simple brush over the top surface of the turtle and a brush under the glass looking up and the misty, bioluminescent water effect was created. For a change it only took about 10 attempts to get the water flowing as I had pictured, and even more shocking was an exposure of less than 20 secs (i didn’t realise my camera shot that short an exposure!).

This has been a personal favourite of mine of recent but looking at the other submissions i’m blown away to reach the finalists let alone a prize winner – Chris and Jason, I’m honoured to be listed with your two amazing pieces.

Serious kudos to Frodo & DKL, Sergey, the judges and all involved – contests like these in the LP community encourage light artists to go above and beyond and to go out and produce something better than they have done before – constantly pushing boundaries and challenging our creative abilities. Thank you.»

Gareth Nathan 19/10/2019

BEST PHOTO SPECIAL OVIEDO – EDU CAJIGAL (Gijón, Spain) – MEJOR FOTO SPECIAL OVIEDO

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«Muy feliz por ganar este concurso que para mí además es un concurso especial al ser de la capital de mi tierra tiene un aliciente añadido. Para esta escena quise representar un sitio emblemático de Oviedo cómo es el parque San Francisco y sus estatuas. Me fijé en esta estatua porque hace un pequeño homenaje a la fotografía y de esta forma quise entre su cámara y la mía poder componer una escena representando 3 Lightman que en este caso están posando para la fotógrafa.

Quiero dar las gracias al Ayuntamiento de Oviedo y a Children of Darklight por organizar este concurso, y felicitar a todos los finalistas y ganadores de las distintas categorías que han presentado unos trabajos realmente fantásticos.»

Eduardo Cajigal 20/10/2017

BEST SERIES SPECIAL OVIEDO – LUIS MANUEL LAFUENTE MEDINA – MEJOR SERIE SPECIAL OVIEDO

«Las fotos fueron realizadas en 3 noches distintas y en cada una de ellas decidí poner en práctica algunas de las diferentes técnicas que había aprendido a lo largo del año observando los trabajos de otros grandes artistas como: Pala Teth, Chris Thompson, Phil Phisher, Eric Paré, Riders of Light o Frodo DKL entre otros.

Por último me gustaría dar las gracias al Ayuntamiento de Oviedo, Asociación Children of Darklight y LPWA por este premio. Tambien me gustaría dar las gracias a mi padre y a mi pareja por aguantarme durante esas interminables noches de lightpainting.»

Luis Manuel Lafuente Medina 21/10/2017

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!!! / ENHORABUENA A TODOS LOS PARTICIPANTES!

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The Contest is organized by Ayuntamiento de Oviedo with the collaboration of Children of Darklight and Light Painting World Alliance (LPWA), with kind support of Administration of City Oviedo, Herramientaslightpainting.com, Olympus, Fénix, Vanguard, Lightpaintingbrushes.com. and Nubia Technology (China).

El concurso OGC está organizado por el Ayuntamiento de Oviedo con la colaboración de Children of Darklight y Light Painting World Alliance (LPWA), con el apoyo de Administration of City Oviedo, Herramientaslightpainting.com, Olympus, Fénix, Vanguard, Lightpaintingbrushes.com. y Nubia Technology (China).