Architecture

This contest is all about architecture. I’m looking for pictures of buildings of any sort – whether it’s a house, an office, a bridge or a shed – so long as it’s a built structure and it is interesting. Buildings are all around us so there is no shortage of subject matter, all you need to do is identify something interesting and then shoot it in a visually stimulating way.

All buildings begin as drawing on a piece of paper, and someone spends time deciding what it will look like and on all the little details lend it character. Your job is to appreciate that effort, or lack of effort, and to get a feel for the building before photographing it in a way that will help us to appreciate it too. You might decide to stand back to shoot the whole building, or get in close to show some important detail. You might like to show how it relates to the environment around it, or how people use it, but either way make sure the process is thoughtful.

Pay attention to light when you are shooting as the direction of the sun can play a critical role in making the subject look three dimensional. If the light is all coming from the direction of the camera there is a chance the building will look flat, so maybe work out at what time the shape and form of the building will be demonstrated best and plan to shoot then.

Buildings usually need to be photographed with the camera completely level, so press your Display button until the on-screen level can guide you. That’s just the rules of course, and they are made to be broken – feel free to look up or shoot from a dramatically wonky angle but only if you have a good reason to do so.

Best of luck.

The Prize

We have another fabulous Hähnel ProCube2 battery charger as the prize for the best picture. This super-fast charger can power-up two batteries simultaneously and gets the job done much more quickly than standard chargers – from flat to fully powered in about 50 minutes.

It comes with interchangeable plates so it can accept three different types of Panasonic battery, as well as a plate for 4 AA cells. It also has a USB socket so cameras that charge via USB, such as the GX80 and GX800, can benefit too. It will also do your phone, of course.

The ProCube2 gets your batteries to 75% really quickly, so it is easy to top-up to get you through to the end of a shoot, and the amount of charge in each battery is displayed alongside the number of mAhs added during the charge. Supplied adapters allow the ProCube2 to be used in the car and with UK, USA and European sockets.

Users of DMW-PLC12, BLF19 and BLG10 batteries will be able to use the charger – so users of all current G series models and FZ models will be able to charge their batteries.

Good luck – you have until midnight August 31st to enter.

Enter Now