Absolutely chuffed to bits today to find out that my night shot of Singapore 'Complementary Curves' has been awarded Highly Commended by the Judges of the international Urban Photographer of the Year competition.
I've entered a few competitions over the years but this is my first placing so I'm really pleased, as you can imagine.
It was a tough shot to take as we were standing on an observation platform which juts out from the bridge, and the platform moved very slightly every time people walked past - plus it was just starting to rain! This was a 2.5 second exposure at f8, taken at ISO400. Ideally I would have liked a higher f stop for better depth of field, and a lower ISO just in case of noise in the sky - but I couldn't risk keeping the shutter open any longer.
This image was taken on my Panasonic Lumix G5 mirrorless - which proves yet again that you don't need a DSLR to take an award-winning shot! Full details about the competition, and all of the winners' images, can be found on the UPOTY website.
UPOTY, as they call it, was created by global real estate and investment firm CBRE in 2006, with the aim of 'enhancing its understanding of the built environment on a global scale by seeing urban areas through different eyes' - and for every entry received, they make a donation to the children's development charity Plan International. This year they received more than 21,000 entries from all over the world - judged by a panel that includes Caroline Metcalfe from Conde Nast Traveller Magazine, Moray MacLennan, Worldwide CEO of M&M Saatchi, and multi award-winning photographer Riccardo Busi.
The competition a selects an overall winner, plus regional winners, and also a set of 'hourly winners'. This part of the competition invites photographers to submit images which represent each of the 24 hours of the day - with mine being Highly Commended as the 9pm entry. The image was taken in Singapore this summer and features the Helix Bridge, designed by an international consortium which included Australian architects the Cox Group and engineers Arup, as well as Singapore-based 61architect. It was opened in on 24th April 2010 - at 9pm.
Also featured in the image is the world-famous Marina Bay Sands hotel, where we were lucky enough to be staying during our trip, designed by architects Moshe Safdie and opened just three days after the bridge on 27th April 2010. It is the world's most expensive standalone casino property, with a development cost of $4bn, and includes over 2,500 hotel rooms, a 120,000 square metre convention centre, a 75,000 square metre shopping mall, a museum, two theatres, seven celebrity restaurants, two floating crystal pavillions, an ice rink and the world's largest atrium casino! The top of the hotel is a 340 metre long Sky Park with the world's largest public cantilevered platform, plus a 150 metre infinity pool - which was amazing, lots of photos taken there!
Full details of all the winners can be found on the UPOTY website.