1. Has the follow the theme "Pulse of the City".
Basically the photo had the show the "spirit" of the streets and pathways of your city.
2. You have to be using a Carl Zeiss made lens.
This sounded right up my alley.
I live in a city where roads dominate. It shouldn't be too hard to encounter it's spirit when the odds are in my favor.
And my favorite lens in my arsenal is my Carl Zeiss 135mm 1.8. It's my most professional, as well as intimidating, lens as well.
But while thinking of an idea for a photo, I found a problem.
When you think of street photography, you think (well at least I do) wide angles.
Wides allow you to get the big picture, so to say, so that you can understand your surroundings.
My Zeiss lens is very telephoto. On my cropped sensor camera, it has an equivalent of a 200mm lens. I knew this was going difficult.
If I was going to get a grade A photo to fit with the theme, I would have to find one specific thing on the pathway to photograph while still emphasizing the pathway it stood on.
So to Hollywood I went.
For 2 consecutive mornings, I got up around 7 and went down to Hollywood an Highland.
From there I would walk up and down the streets waiting for a photo to find me.
Managed to get a few good shots, but then I found the perfect opportunity.
A janitor was mopping up some spilled coffee off of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The moment said a lot to me.
Got a few snaps of that, went to get a slice of pizza near by, and I was done for the day. I had my shot.
Spent a week or so editing it till I felt I had it right, and sent it away.
A month went past and it slipped my mind entirely.
But then I got an email telling me that my photo was picked for 2nd place out of nearly 1000 photos from 40 countries.
Very, very cool.
You can check out the other winners on the Carl Zeiss site.
Below is my winning photo.
"Even the Stars Need Help to Shine"
