ICM Challenge - August 2023 - Food - Charlotte Bellamy Photography

Welcome to the seventh of the 2023 ICM challenge publications. After last year’s massive success, I have decided to organise once again, an annual ICM challenge for my creative group.

I created this ICM challenge, to offer a friendly competition within the creative group I run for all previous course attendees and mentee students. It is to encourage interaction in the group and to offer a reason to share or make photos in reaction to a prompt. Each month in 2023, a new challenge subject will be set in the group. It may be interpreted however an individual wishes, but the ICM technique must be the overriding element in the image. I have chosen an outside judge for each challenge to offer a wide variety of feedback and varying outlooks on ICM photography.

This is a cumulative competition:

• Points 1- 10 are awarded for the top 10 placings each challenge. (1st place gaining 10 and 10th place 1)

• A point is awarded to every entrant to say thank you for submitting. In December there will be an online awards evening, with some small prizes, and to celebrate everyone’s achievements.

Food

The food challenge is now complete. Judging by the comments with the entries, this was a love it or hate it challenge! It’s always interesting photographing something that does not move naturally, and trying to use the ICM technique on it. Thinking a bit out of the box got some fantastic results, and sometimes just ‘having a go’ is the key to learning new skills on subjects you may never have thought to photograph with ICM, so congratulations to all those who entered.

For this challenge (something I have never done before) I have added the subject if it was included with the submission, just so you can see the wide and diverse subject matter tat inspired the entries – everything from wine blobs to runner beans, sunflower fields to cans of tomatoes!

This challenge the entries were judged by Krati Agarwal. I met Krati on a She clicks meetup here in Holland that I organised a while back. I am no food photographer, but her images were mouth-watering and inspiring. So I was delighted to ask her to judge this challenge. Krati is not an ICM photographer, and I think itws wonderful to have non ICM judges for this challenge sometimes as they see the images not for technique, but how they make them feel or what they find inspiring. Krati said about the challenge images

“Such a lovely selection of work. I have to say everyone did a fantastic job, in fact this activity has inspired me to try my hands at ICM too”

Do please go and check her work out, and follow her and let her know if you took part in the challenge.

Please go and check out her website and Instagram pages

https://www.kratiagarwal.com/

https://www.instagram.com/krati.agarwal/

https://nl.pinterest.com/kafoodandphoto/

If you are interested in online or in person courses, please check out my website for more info www.charlottebellamy.com

I also have a You tube channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlotteBellamycreativephotography/videos

Please email with any questions or comments Charlotte@charlottebellamy.com

Copyright remains with each of the photographers, please do not save in anyway the images from this document.

Without further ado – I would like to introduce you to your winners. Congratulations to the top 10.

Winner – Morina Reece Carrots from the garden

Judge’s comments

Love the colour contrast in this image. Although I know the obvious, I still find it intriguing. This image immediately captured my attention. Colour, composition and light are spot on.

Runner up Reiner Heisel

Canned tomatoes

Judges comment

I like the minimalist, abstract approach in this image. Makes we curious about the original subject.

3rd place

Steve Knight

Norwich fruit and veg market

Judges comment

It has that impressionist painterly like feel. I like how different colours work pleasingly well.

4th Place

Janne Ruud Ostby – Lemons and limes

5th Place

Camilla Rutayisire Gore – Lemons and limes on a light pad

6th Place

7th Place

Birgitta Larsson - Banana

Lorraine Grey - Peaches

Janna Kotoneva 9th

Mary Seddon – Courgette and runner beans

Ania Rolinska – Wine blob

The other entries

Barbara Kato McKenzie – Red Thai Peppers

Christine Griffiths – Turkish delight

Carolyn Phillips – Millionaires shortbread

Joy Tracey - blackberries

Maureen Stuart – Lemon slices

Michelle Jackson – sunflowers and edible wildflowers

Malcolm Brown – Citrus fruits

Valerie Huggins - Apple

Charlie’s picks

This year I am going to pick a selection of images out of the challenge after the judging is complete

so these images will never be the same as the top 10. I just wanted to have the opportunity to recognise even more of the beautiful images. There is no t a set number each month, so some months you may see more in this section than others, especially if I agree with the judge on all their choices! These images all achieve a bonus 2 points.

This month’s images are:

Miriam Manners – Sweet corn

I picked this image as I love the light, colours and repetition of the patterns made by the corn. The ICM movement adds a smoothness that I associate with the shape of the corn leading up to the wispy tops.

Angie Robertson

I picked this image for the colour, patterns and light created with the ICM movement. I love the orange and white colours and how the rings intersect with each other. The small brown elements (spoons?) ass to break the movement and give another addition of contrast. The square crop and simple background work great.

Christina Webb – French beans

I love this image for the feel of busy and messy, tied together strands of colour. The simple colour palette works great and I love how the whole frame is full of detail of the subject.

Trish Hanna - Strawberries

I love this image, for its playing with the light on the subject. The way the light comes in on the top half onto the glass dish, just kissing the tops of the strawberries. The ICM has added a level of interest and artistic creativity that I think this looks almost like a painting.