Chiclana Photo Competition

I have just won a photo competition! Go figure.


The town council where we have been living in Spain decided to invite foreign residents to enter up to 5 photographs on the theme "Chiclana - another view". Along with the photographs, they asked entrants to submit a few words to describe each one. The winning photo would be framed and displayed in one of the municipal buildings.


Now there are many problems with the local council and very many photo opportunities showing unfinished projects and poorly designed buildings etc but these were unlikely to win their approval! I decided to submit my 5 photographs each with a positive message and also with a translation into Spanish. In this way I hoped to increase my chances in the competition should there be a 'tie-break' situation.


In the end, there were about a dozen entrants and over 40 photographs submitted; not a tremendous number but enough.


The winning entry was called "La Puerta Abierta" (The Open Door) and shows one of the more interesting buildings in the centre of the town.







It wasn't my favourite photo but I think that the composition is good and well balanced. Perhaps it could be a little sharper - it was the only one of my entries to have been taken 'hand-held', but at A4 size (that required by the rules) it was fine. It was taken with my Canon 1000DSLR and Tamron 18 - 270mm lens @ 21mm, ISO 400, shutter speed 1/400 secs and f/4.5. The accompanying description was as follows-


"There are many hidden architectural gems in Chiclana and this building at 7, Calle de Garcia Gutierrez, built in 1727, is a fine example. The open door suggests to me that we, as foreign residents, should look beyond the obvious in order to have a better understanding of a different culture and history."


Profound, huh?


I was unable to attend the prize-giving presentation of as I am in the UK at present but all the photographs in the competition are being exhibited for a week in the local theatre's gallery.


My other entries in the competition are shown below.



"The Morning Lights of Chiclana".






"Dawn in Sancti Petri"






"The Penitent"






"Sunday in La Barrosa"




All in all, it was a very interesting experience and, for me, the lessons are to make sure you understand the purpose of the competition and to follow the rules to the letter.