Igor Doncov

Discussions
21

Congrats to @Igor_Doncov, @Bonnie_Lampley, @Doug_Koepsel and @Cameron_Miller! Well deserved as the images were quite stunning.

22

Congrats Igor! Well done.

1 Like
23

Igor, you have been holding out on us. Awesome and congrats to all…Jim

24

Congrats @Igor_Doncov and @Bonnie_Lampley . Well deserved. As far as I am concerned your awards mean a lot more than most of the other Landscape photo contests. It seem like only experts at Photoshop manipulation have a chance at winning them. I would call most of them “Photo Art”

25

Yes I had thoughts related to that. I suspect mine would have done better had they that ‘polished’ look that processing can give. The desert shot was virtually right out of the camera. The big winners had images that looked well processed. They didn’t look fake but they have that enhanced look.

26

Fantastic news congratulations @Igor_Doncov Is the winning image posted here? I’d love to have a look.

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27

Thanks, everyone!

Well, I thought your photo was lovely as is. And I don’t know what you could have done processing-wise to make it look like the “polished” ones. Your forest and desert scenes (usually) are different than what is popular at the moment in the small scenes genre. They are inherently untidy (vs. graphic and bold), but you manage to wrangle coherent compositions out of the choas. I admire that and your attention to light, so that a lot of processing isn’t needed.

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Thanks Bonnie. I think it’s just old-school. A time when you had to get the light right and you couldn’t rework an image you made. These days I find most of my ‘mistakes’ when it’s time to print. The image of those roots was really incorrectly processed and it became evident when I tried to print it. I now have a copy that I like much better than what I submitted to that competition.

I think fractals have become popular in the small scene genre. Do you agree? And by the way your work isn’t exactly mainstream. In my case I’m moving in a different direction (or trying to) and they will be even less popular. Many of the images I post here I don’t even like that much because they’re of the ‘been there done that’ type. But the new stuff just isn’t coming along very easily.

29

Congratulation!!! Deserved award

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30

Just getting around to the Discussions page but wanted to give you congratulations, Igor, a beautiful desert image…could have easily been first. Way to go.

31

Hmm. Hadn’t thought about or noticed that. I’ll have to keep it in mind.

Well, I’m interested to see your new stuff. :grinning:

32

Congratulations @Igor_Doncov , @Bonnie_Lampley and the others - an inspiration to us all!

2 Likes
33

CONGRATULATIONS Igor! Well deserved!

34

You should have seen the RAW files :wink: Not much editing was done.

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35

First: Congratulations to @Igor_Doncov and @Bonnie_Lampley . Both are nice images and both seem a bit out of place with the winners, in the sense that the winners seem to be a result of software skills - not photography vision. I had thought of entering some images based upon info on the website, but couldn’t find a satisfactory explanation of what they planned on doing with the images, and no statement that they would/wouldn’t retain copyrights etc. Usually contests would have this in their T&C’s. So the lack of such made me wary. The deciding factor was them not responding to my inquiry.

@Igor_Doncov , What do you mean by fractals?

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36

Happy to answer your questions, @Guy_Manning , but they are probably all answered on our website.

And, sorry to say, but you’re not correct in your assessment of the winners at all. How do I know this? Because I have the RAW files.

Also, sorry you feel your questions were not answered. The four of us answered every single email we received, so I’m curious where you sent the question… anyways, feel free to shoot me any questions you might have!

37

@Matt_Payne
Respectfully, your website states: “The entry or entries are wholly their original work and under their sole ownership.” Copyright and ownership (possession) are two different points of law as I understand it.
And every competition I have ever entered has had a firm statement on copyright.

You may have answered emails but whomever deleted my question on Facebook within a day of my posing it. There is still no explanation of what your group plans on doing with the winning images on your naturallandscapeawards website. The question remains.

The fact you have raw files proves nothing to me. It is all subjective.

If you wish to argue this further lets take it offline so as not to bore the others.

38

@Guy_Manning, thanks.

I’ll say that I had no qualms about entering the competition. I read their terms & conditions and watched/read many of their discussions (in various places), and felt that they were very clear and forthright regarding what the competition was about. Their T&C clearly state that “The photographer retains full copyright of each entry to the contest” (item 6 on the T&C list). And I understand that they eventually hope to publish a book with the winners (and others, I presume).

1 Like
39

Happy to discuss. I just sent you a PM! =)

For everyone else’s edification, here’s what our T&C states on our website, and has from day 1 in regards to what we are allowed to do with your photographs. We value image rights:

  1. All entrants understand that any image submitted to the competition may be used by the Natural Landscape Photography Awards for marketing and promotional purposes for the competition as well for our book(s). You hereby grant The Natural Landscape Photography Awards a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual license for each entry throughout the world in all media for any use in connection with the Competition, including, but not limited to:
  • Judging the competition
  • Displaying at public exhibitions showing the Natural Landscape Photography Awards in perpetuity
  • Inclusion within our website and or Awards catalog in perpetuity
  • Inclusion in a fine-art book or e-book to be published by the competition
  • Inclusion within any materials promoting of the Competition and / or any exhibition organized by the Natural Landscape Photography Awards in the promotion of the competition
  • Sub-licensing the entries to the press for reproduction in connection with the Competition and any exhibition for a period of 3 years
  • Allowing viewers of the website to view images on a computer screen, PDA, tablet, or mobile telephone, in perpetuity
40

Actually I would not like to be in a position to decide which image had gone past the boundary of being processed. Every jpeg image that I take along with the raw file is a processed image. Every time I add a profile in ACR to my image I end up with a processed image. Yet I’m sure that none of this processing invalidates the image as being processed. I thought I knew what they were after so I just submitted what I thought was appropriate.

I actually didn’t read the fine print on what happens to the images. It’s my first time. One thing that surprised me is that I could only submit an image that had never been submitted anywhere before. That seems pretty restrictive because it means I can only have a go once with an image? I guess that if they decide to publish it they don’t want a reader saying ‘hey I’ve seen that before’. I guess you have to think all these things out before creating a competition. It’s been interesting.