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Big thanks to Kathleen Shepherd for the following commentary and the selection of Winner.


Top Ten of ‘Portraits at Work’ Competition
Because of the many great images, and we are in a competition for a winner,  I have had to get really picky on the tiniest thing/things I could see in my view that could be better that has narrowed down all these great 27 images to one winner.
I do realise that images can be adjusted or cropped by the buyer of any images for the exact content they want from that image, but I have judged on the whole image you have presented to me.

You may not be able to see on the smaller thumbnails what I commented on, but if it is your own image you will be able to bring it up 100% and see what I have mentioned.
I sincerely hope I do not offend anyone, that is not my aim.

I love that you have all got out there and given me these great images to judge and your visions as photographers on how you see the subject of ‘Portraits at Work’, and that you were not going to make it an easy decision on a winner. Competition spirit, you just got to love it!
Also please know that if it does not make a winner in this competition because 27 has to come to one, it will still be a great benefit to the mychillybin image library for the category of people at work. It might not have just made the winner for this competition, but there are many prospective buyers out there that could be looking for just that particular image and you have it, you’re a winner.

 

Work portrait A - At work, a photographer recording a public event
Great composition and sharp as a tack, love the sky space behind him/her, makes the model really stand out, but I’m left wondering though what exactly is this person using. You say a photographer recording an event, but there is not enough content in the image connecting me to the person and the person to their job for the requirements of this competition. Here we needed to see that face behind their equipment.
If your model was facing around towards you looking out past you from the left to the right then that would have connected me to the work the person is doing as I would then be able to see the tools of the job.  Beautiful lighting in your image, taking photos looking up-wards sometimes throws the exposure but you have handled it great with perfect clarity and detail. A quality image that I’m sure is going to be a benefit to the mychillybin library.  

Work portrait D - Woman supermarket worker at a checkout
Lovely sharp image, lighting with the flash is nice, the composition with her off to the right side slightly so we can see her working on the check-out makes a strong image and she has a nice smile which gives the feeling of a friendly checkout lady.
The dominant door-way or window frame in the image behind her should really be straight so the vertical upright is not on a lean, some don’t worry about it, but sometimes just something as small as that can benefit your image, especially when we are looking at the environment also for this competition. Of course it is different if it’s an image you have tilted when taking the photo to get a particular effect, but here I think it is something that you have not seen in your viewfinder while concentrating on your model.

Work portrait L - Attractive business woman working outside with a laptop
There are three images submitted with this lovely lady in them, but I am not feeling the connection to her work. Relaxation is more the feeling I’m getting. She is well dressed in a suit and is using a laptop, but I am left wondering what does she do. All your images have beautiful light; they are pin sharp with great detail. I did choose this one that it is a bit different from the other two as she is smiling which starts making that connection I am looking for. Love the nice lower angle shot, soft focus in front to her being pin sharp and nothing much but the sky for background, really brings all attention to her, but now wondering what she is smiling at.


Work portrait N - Man inspects car on hoist
Love the low angle you have taken here for your composition. This image has the connection elements to his work by having him looking up under the car with the torch, grubby overalls tell me he’s getting the job done. Unfortunately the bright red lit hoist beam is distracting where the flash has lit up the red lines, this keeps distracting my eye from the workers portrait as they are both at the same height in the image. A slight crop off the left side back into the roller door so the eye stays within that frame of the hoist beam would help for a stronger image. Great entry.


Work portrait O - Man fits wheel onto car
Title of your image, I could have been given the wrong one, as there is another image called ‘Man repairs tyre’ which I think fits this image, not ‘Man fits wheel onto car’ (Edited - Kathleen is right the chillys put the wrong title when creating the non identified images for her to judge).
Very quirky, well thought up and taken. A totally different angle of view that draws you straight into the portrait of this man, his face framed with his work. The tyre is quite dominant though, I think a bit tighter zoom in so you could not see past the left & right sides of the tyre could have made it stronger on the connection between the man and his work. Flash lighting has been used well for great detail in the man’s face.


Work portrait Q - Tutor instructs a young man climbing "Racing in the Streets" on the Wonderwall at Charleston, West Coast, New Zealand
From your title I am not seeing the tutor’s portrait at work, I am seeing the student’s portrait. The stand of the man/tutor with his hand on his hip to the side of the activity does give us a clue that he might be directing the student. Because of the way you have taken it, I connect to it as an activity or adventure sport for the student, not a Portrait at Work. Sharp image though, great content, detail and light.

Work portrait R - Farm cadet milking cows in a herringbone shed
Great image of this young man working in the cow shed on the job. I can see this image fitting in perfectly under agricultural or farming studies/students, just did not have enough portrait connection, maybe zooming in for a closer shot would have given that connection. It will be a fantastic image for the mychillybin library in the dairy farming.

Work portrait S - Clarinet player with a horse mask playing in a pedestrian zone Queenstreet, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Different, I love it! Well seen, a great shot. Lovely use of light and angles with a great composition with him just poking out from the wall on that step and his money case placed out in front, so yes he would be working, but you have not quite captured the portrait element. You could have asked him to take off his horse mask, snap, thee portrait.  
Focus point is just on the wall before your model, as he is now just slightly moving out of the focus point.
I would have loved to have seen him pin sharp so his hands, clarinet, his mask down to his boots popped in the image with detail. The red mat at the right end of the image is a bit distracting, keeps taking my eye to it which means the eye moves from the subject which is not what you want; your image of the busker deserves full attention. For me, a slight crop on that end would make a difference; your wall line is perfectly straight to crop straight up the edge just before the red mat.


Work portrait X - Girl working on a piece of contemporary jewellery. WINNER
This ticks all the boxes; it has all the elements for environmental portraiture, that strong connection between the girl and her work. Even though some of the white objects in the background could have been moved and just a couple of tools and her coffee cup maybe left, the fill the frame image has worked beautifully. Nice use of depth of field for the background, and the Tungsten lighting effect has given a nice ambiance in the environment fitting in well.
Congratulations, well done!

Work portrait Z – no caption yet - entry rushed in
Captured in that ready to go motion, full of connection to their work, arm around the dog both looking in that one direction, fantastic! Love the back-up of using the car with only a part of the car that we immediately know as police, it’s a great use of content, and the dog tells us exactly that this person is a dog handler. Here we see the symbolic strength that the dog gives.
There is lovely detail in the black uniform showing all the shades of black, the creases, the portrait outline of the policeman’s face, but because of his uniform having a hood he has to wear we don’t get to see his face from this angle. If you had moved to your left a little more you might have been able to have captured a bit of his face or eyes so the image would fit perfectly with this competition of portrait at work.  A great image that surely will be a benefit to the mychillybin library.

Comments on some other images not in the Top Ten
I have really enjoyed viewing these images as much as our Top Ten I chose, but as I mentioned, 27 great shots had to come down to one and I have had to get really picky on the tiniest of things.
I have made some comments in-case you were interested or wondering how I have seen images to whittle them down to a winner. As I mentioned, my aim is not to offend anyone, but in the hope some critiques can help on your next ventures out there on environmental portraiture.   Kathleen.

Work portrait B - At work, a tradesman measuring for accurate installation of an electrical outlet
Great angles and content. I would have liked to have seen a sharper detail of the face. The use of a reflector would have been helpful here to have bounced a bit of light back onto his face, this would have helped for a bit of a faster shutter speed maybe and a more defined detail  in his face. By the shadow on the wall I see that the light is coming in from behind him, so a reflector held to your low right (out of the image) tilted towards him would have bounced back the light from slightly under onto his face and also this would have helped in lesser noise in those shadows.



Work portrait C - At work, an electrician installing wiring to a new electrical outlet
This has the connection element of the person at work, well done. The shadow though from using front on flash that’s on the wall behind him (which will happen when a subject is close to a wall, unless of course you use bounce flash from above to get light in behind) distracts me a little here. Maybe a slight move to your right would have helped.



Work portrait E - Supermarket worker checks over the produce display
Great colours in the fruit, and having it mirrored is a great composition filling up the left side of the frame with great colour.  It would have been great though if the model was looking along the produce towards us and not away from us to get that connection of portrait at work. She has sort of been lost there in the isle not being part of the produce display.

   


Work portrait I - A crew member uses hand signals to direct a truck onto the ferry at Rawene
Nice light here, that bit of sun coming through on a cloudy day. Pin sharp with great detail. Love that the hand that’s held up is against the sky background and not blended against the front of the truck he is guiding up onto the ferry. His hi vis vest really makes him stand out, but without seeing his face it is just a great shot of a person at work, not the portrait connection we need for this competition.
A big distraction here is the car in front of him, that keeps taking the eye away from what you want us to view, a crop off the right side of the image just behind the tall light on a pole is it, straight down the back door of the car would make the car not quite so prominent in the image and would slightly bring your model back into the right third.  

   

Work portrait J - Self-employed woman working with a laptop on top of Mt Victoria (Rangitoto in the background)
Beautiful light in this image and in the surroundings.  Pin sharp with great detail. The red toadstool is a huge distraction for this shot, my eye keeps going to it which means it is not on what you want me to view and that’s this lovely lady working on her laptop. Something different giving viewers self-employment though, but I am not really feeling the connection to her work, for me the laptop is not enough. She is well dressed in a suit and is using a laptop, but I am left wondering what does she do.



Work portrait K - Self-employed woman working with a laptop on a raft (with Rangitoto Island in the background)
Again, beautiful light in this image, pin sharp with great detail and added impact with those clouds spreading out above the island. I love the composition of her in the right third with wonderful light making her stand out from the scenery, but the environment does dominate this image. I think here the ole saying less is more would fit for portrait. Attention does go straight to her because of the light on her and the scenery light has slightly faded out, but the eye quickly moves of your model to look around the scenery.




Work portrait M - Man fits tyre to car
Pin sharp with nice lighting and detail on the job, right down to the slightly strained look on your models face lifting that tyre up onto the hub
I think I see you may have used the back of the car as in content to what he is putting the tyre on here, but for me that bright red tail light totally distracts the eye from going to what you want us to see straight away and that’s your portrait of a man fitting the tyre on the car. Your image I feel would have been stronger if you had zoomed in or walked into the image a bit more and concentrated just on your model fitting that tyre on the hub.



Work portrait P - Happy New Zealand worker in overalls and hard hat
Very happy worker, captured well. He has a symbolic strength of a worker with having his hard hat and overalls on for a single portrait, but with-out his environment what is his work. It’s a great composition bringing him out of the bottom right third to leaning into the middle of the image, eyes in the top third, great portrait pose. I see some fill flash here which is great to get up under the shadow from the hard-had, unfortunately the flash is a bit strong on the face with what looks like a sunny day also, there are some white patches there on his face that is burnt out and does not have any detail.



Work portrait T - Man hammering a nail on a building site
Quirky shot making a portrait of the work and not the person, love the shot. But for me for this competition, I would have loved to have seen pin sharp detail in the builders face with those nails in his mouth with that concentration of hammering in that nail. If the image was taken reversed and the hammer and nail were out of focus and not the builder you would have nailed it.
The composition is great with the hand and nail in the right third of the image and the builder looking into it, very well done. Fantastic photo for the mychillybin library on a trade.



Work portrait U - Christina Cowan, owner of Movie Magic Video Rental Store, Gulf Harbour, joyfully throwing videos into the air.
Lovely light in this image through-out the whole image, though I’m finding the boxes on the right are a distraction from the portrait of Christina. Moving in closer to crop the right of the image out so your model was prominent on the right would then have the eye go straight to her and the videos which is what you are wanting us to see. I see a very happy person but no connection that she is the owner or it is her place of work. Maybe an arm full of returned videos and she is stocking the shelves back up would tell us she works there or is the owner. Great thought though and still a great shot, its what a lot of us do, go and get a vid for the evening.



Work portrait V - Two hairdressers working in salon
Lighting and detail are great. It would have been a stronger image by just using one hairdresser though to get that connection of a person to their work. My eye goes from one hairdresser to the other like they are competing against each other, not sure who I am to be looking at. Love the composition of the girl sitting looking back at you through the mirror in the background. A suggestion here would be to crop out the man hairdresser and just leave his reflection in the mirror background, that way he is still there, connection then goes straight to the lady hairdresser. Just put your hand over that left side of the photo and you will see what I am meaning.



Work portrait W - Contemporary jewellers working on pieces in workshop
This image has not quite worked for me, I keep looking from one model to the other trying to find something that tells me about each one. The back model has her hands over what she is doing so I can’t quite make the connection to the slight grin on her face. I think I can see what you are trying to show the viewer as it being a workplace and people working in a workshop environment, which will have a place in the mychillybin images for sure but has not quite worked for this competition.



Portraits at Work ZB Market Cheese Salesman at Work
Love the tungsten lighting giving an ambiance to this environment, seems to fit perfectly with the subject of cheese. That extra lighting on what I take to be the sample of cheese on a plate there in front of him he is maybe doing tastings from is a great thought to take the eye to it straight away but just slightly overpowered detail in the cheese. You could select the plate and cheese in photoshop and bring down the curves very slightly from the light end of the graph, that will bring back a little detail and not such a white colour but still lit up ( I did try it and it works lovely).
He seems to be very relaxed in his job, I take that from the arm resting up on the cabinet and looking out at?. Maybe if you had waited for the moment of him putting a tasting onto a cracker/bread (whatever he was using) from that plate might have made me see him more connected to his work.
Composition of all the cheeses in the front with a very shallow depth of field is great, as with background in shallow depth of field, this just leaving the middle with the cheese salesman for the eye to go straight too, well done.  



A few other entries could not be accepted for the library for one reason or another, and hence are not mentioned here.

Congratulations to Scene Strealer New Zealand i.e. Pippa - for a winning image with tough competition. 

Thanks again to everyone for giving Portraits at Work a try.  And to Kathleen again for her many hours work to provide superb written feedback.  

 

cheers for now
the mychillybin team   
admin@mychillybin.co.nz 
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