OK, here it is…the big one you’ve been wondering about.
The 17th Annual International Color Awards
This photo competition has been around for several years. You can tell by the “17th” in the title that has been here at least that long. I’ve won various levels of recognition in this photo contest over the years…all relatively minor compared to the one that I am announcing. With the exception of a Pulitzer Award for photography, this is probably the most prestigious award for photographers.
My Competition
Number of photos submitted by participants: 6373
Number of Countries Represented: 68
The Distinguished Panel of Judges:
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
The Washington Post, Washington DC
The Art Channel, London, England
Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
Kunstbroker, Switzerland
Serpentine Galleries, London, England
Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
MediaMonks, Berlin, Germany
Chung 24 Gallery, San Francisco
Accenture Song, Hamburg, Germany
FILA, New York
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio
Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, Germany
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin
Museo d'arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo), Bologna, Italy
Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr Auctions, Brussels, Belgium
The More Minor Recognition
1st Place in the Category of “Fine Art”
The winning photo for the “Fine Art” category was previously recognized in a very significant way…and my long-time readers have seen it before. Of significance, it is a photo from our very own Italy! Several years ago, the Vermont Photoplace Gallery had an exhibition titled, “The Art of Travel Photography”. The same photo that you will see below was selected for this showing by the Senior Editor of the National Geographic Magazine, Kurt Mutchler.
Not only was that photograph selected as the 17th International Color Awards 1st Place winner in the Fine Art category, it was selected as…[drum roll]
1st Place for the 2024…
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Along with the certificate down below, a check for $1,500 was my prize money. No need to hit me up, it’s already spent.
Yes [deep breath, as tooting my own horn leaves me a bit breathless and my lips are aching a bit], I was selected as the Photographer of the Year based on this photograph, and I presume the others submitted in my portfolio. Below the photo, I will tell you how the image was laboriously made.
I present the 1st Place in Fine Art and Photographer of the Year category winner…
“Busy Day on the Grand Canal”
[click on the photo for a full screen view]
Busy Day on the Grand Canal
How I did it, in case you’re interested…
First of all, I need to tell you what my wonderful wife Ellen did for me. In 2012, we traveled throughout Italy with our great friends Debbie and Scott Kennedy. Ellen knew of my passion for both photography and Venice, so she gifted me an extra 3 days there after she and the Kennedys returned to the USA from Venice. I was up before dawn, and then out late at night snapping hundreds of photos in our favorite city of Venice.
“Busy Day on the Grand Canal” was created from the Rialto Bridge that connects the sestiere of San Marco and San Polo. I stood on the Rialto Bridge for over one hour taking photos.
For those of you in the long-term-know of my Italy Our Italy blog articles, this was a “targeted” photo shoot. I define targeting as planning and then going after the image, doing whatever it takes to get the image that was envisioned. You have a goal in mind, an objective, and an intention to capture a certain final image. I knew before leaving the USA for Italy that this photo was in my future.
I did not have my tripod with me at the time, so I made sure to aim my camera at the same distant spot for every photo.
How many photos did I capture for this image? I took over 80 photos during my one hour of shooting. I needed to get lots of boats. And they needed to be in varying locations along the Grand Canal, both near and far into the distance. Using a Photoshop process of layering and masking, I masked in boats using their “as captured” location. This made the perspective of each boat correct. For instance, taking a photo of a boat in the foreground, reducing its size, and then placing it in the distance would look wonky…I should say very wonky.
All in all, after a good number of digital darkroom processing hours, I was able to place boats all along the Grand Canal to fill my image based on my imagination, as I had planned. Because I had to include each boat’s surrounding wake and their shadow in their separate photo, next came the process for blending each boat’s wake and shadow into the Grand Canal’s waters.
All told, I believe that there are over 70 boats in the final photo from distinct and obvious ones front-and-center, to itsy-bitsy ones way off at the bend of the Canale Grande (since we are in Italy on the Grand Canal).
Each boat is in its original “as captured” position on the Grand Canal. The three vaporetto (water bus) visible along the left edge are probably the same boat, at different points on the canal.
Finally, if you know me, you will recognize Ellen and me in the boat that is front-and-center as it is about to pass under the Rialto Bridge. Yes, that blissful looking couple is none other than the two of us. The photo of us that I Photoshopped in was taken with a cellphone by Debbie Kennedy at the Toronto airport before we boarded our plane for Italy. Luckily, she was standing while we were sitting so the perspective worked perfectly.
[By the way, those of you who are friends with Judy and Mike (you know who you are, I hope), you have noticed this photo in their home.]
A Final Word
In case you’re wondering, the Canale Grande0 is NEVER this busy. What you see above is an anomaly. During a week-long January visit, there were times when we saw no boat traffic at all in either direction as we waited for a vaporetto.
And there was nary a boat in one of my other favorite photos of Venice. It was taken on the extended stay that Ellen gifted me as explained above. I used a photographer’s app call “The Photographer’s Ephemeris” to determine exactly what time to be on the Accademia Bridge and where on the bridge I should be standing to capture “Sunrise on the Grand Canal”…shown below. The sun shining through the church of Santa Maria della Salute is just as promised by the app.
Sunrise on the Grand Canal
I will leave you with a Press Release and a certificate that the International Color Awards producers provided.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
17TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE BURKETT FROM THE UNITED STATES
LOS ANGELES - Photographer Steve Burkett of the United States of America was presented with the 17th Annual International Color Awards First Place in the category of Photographer of the Year at a prestigious Winners & Nominee Photoshow.
The live online gala was attended by industry leaders and the photography community from around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the world's premier event for color photography. 17th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The Washington Post, Washington DC; The Art Channel, London; Groninger Museum, Netherlands; Kunstbroker, Switzerland; Serpentine Galleries, London; Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York; MediaMonks, Berlin; Chung 24 Gallery, San Francisco; Accenture Song, Hamburg; FILA, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, Germany; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Museo d'arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo), Bologna; and Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr Auctions, Brussels who honored Color Masters with 606 coveted title awards and 668 nominees in 37 categories.
"It is an incredible achievement to be selected as the best from the 6,373 entries we received this year," said Basil O'Brien, the awards Creative Director. Steve's "Busy Day on the Grand Canal" is an exceptional image initially entered in the Fine Art category where it took First Place there, also. It represents contemporary color photography at its finest, and we're pleased to present him with the title of "Honorary Color Master for 1st Place - Outstanding Achievement in Photographer of the Year”.
INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in color photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in color photography. www.colorawards.com
So, as always I say, “Ciao for now”, and I’ll be back with you soon with more articles on something that we all love…Italy, Our Italy.
Steve
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