Neal Lauron (U246)
Professional Photographer - Staff Photographer at Columbus Dispatch
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/multimedia/audio_slideshows/photographers/Lauron/index.html
Judge's Remarks
Fong – I love the little girl sitting all by herself, while everyone else is watching the game. Composition wise, it’s very firm. It’s very squared up. I love the body language. As part of summer…it’s about baseball…it’s about family. I enjoy the lovely soccer picture of the boys sitting on the soccer balls. One of them seems to be adjusting his undergarment, while the coach is explaining the fundamentals of soccer. The kids are out playing soccer all the time. It’s just a nice moment.
Komenich – It’s got a story. That’s a very important thing. Pictures tell stories. Every one of these pictures has little gifts. You get an initial hit of humor, the split second nature of the image. But if you start looking around, there are little gifts for you, like what it’s like being run over by a sheep. Or what it’s like for a kid who really doesn’t want to be at a baseball game. Every one of these has a nice little story to tell.
Kennedy – They’re extremely seen, in the sense that the photographer is directing us to focus on what’s key to the humor of the situation. The choice of composition and lens usage is great.
Komenich - Lens use, good example in the soccer picture. When you have a picture with a lot of sharp edges, it’s important to use a lens at a wide enough aperture, and a long enough lens, to throw that background out of focus. The background doesn’t distract you from what you really want to see. The plane of focus is the sharp picture of those kids.
Kennedy – But at the same time, I think the fact that the background helps give a sense of placement and the completeness in the physical sense of the moment. If this background were not included, it wouldn’t be much of a picture.
Komenich - It’s very well balanced. Even if you look at the rule of thirds, it’s in good effect. The coach is over where he needs to be. There are various levels of horizontal lines in the frame that allow us to see well.
2nd Place HM A
Neal Lauron is a hustling package of talent. I laughed when I saw the baseball shot, but please, can't a guy have some privacy on the soccer field. Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me. Neal, youdaman. I agree with the judges comments, of course. Gary Fong's understatement on the soccer shot is almost as funny as the photo. Jim Mendenhall, long time Pittsburgh fan of Lauron; mendenhall.jim@gmail.com