Brazilian photographer, Julio Bittencourt, has won the 2007 Leica Oskar Barnack Award for a series of portraits of inhabitants of a house occupied by homeless people in downtown São Paulo. The winning images and 5,000 Euro award were presented during the photo festival Rencontres d’Arles last month in the south of France. Honourable mentions went to Spaniard José Cendon and Norwegian Margaret M. de Lange. Held since 1979 in memory of the inventor of the first 35mm camera, Oskar Barnack, the competition focuses on the relationship between man and his environment.
Oskar Barnack was a German instrument maker who became th
e head of the microscope department at Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar soon after joining the company in 1911. Oskar was the first to develop and mass market the 35mm camera, the Leitz Camera or Leica 1. This became the new tool for photojournalists who made it possible to see the world with greater impact, creativity and through different perspectives...or I should say, a different lens.
I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ50 and for my purposes, graphic design, it's just perfect. I made sure it came with a good lens - Leica. The fact is a good lens will, at the least, prevent lens distortion in your shots and provide clear, sharp photos. For beginners, a good lens isn't as important as good composition. A good lens will do you no service if you have bad composition so practice, practice.
Friday, August 03, 2007
This Year's Leica Oskar Barnack Award Winner
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