When You Wish Upon A Star…

The Judging Process

With formidable experience in both photography and the automotive industry, a panel of five judges sifted through over 500 photographs from 29 photographers. Ultimately, each judge had to select a single image, that appealed to them the most.

After the face-off in Jaipur and Chikmagalur, each photographer had two days to submit 20 of their best photographs. The only necessity was that at least five of the images had to have the entire car in the frame. They could interpret, produce images, and edit as creatively as they desired.

The judges were then invited to make their assessment through an online web portal. The three-step judging process was anonymous and the panel was requested to take into account how creatively each contestant used the situation at hand.

In the end, the three photographers with the maximum number of points went on to compete in the final face-off round of Frame the Star!

The Jury

Swapan Parekh
Photographer

“I have to admit that there were some good conventional car shots. Having said that, barring one or two bodies of work where the photographers own tangential thinking was of some caliber, most works looked like an overkill of software tweaking and an attempt to impress a jury. This is an issue that seems to plague Indian photography at large. ”

With a career spanning over decades, Swapan Parekh is widely acclaimed to have brought in the documentary aesthetic to Indian advertising photography, whilst simultaneously pursuing contemporary bodies of personal autonomous work.

Prashant Godbole
Founder & Creative Director, Ideas@Work

“While there was a lot of conventional photographs, there were also some exceptional standouts. In a competition of this nature, one needs to distinguish oneself, much like in advertising. It was also fascinating to discover human elements in a genre like automotive photography.”

Prashant Godbole’s minimalist photographs are infl uenced by his background as an art director in advertising. He developed a passion for the visual arts in college which led him to the Sir J J School of Arts. Over his 24-year long career he has worked at many advertising agencies, and now runs Ideas@Work.

Sherwin Crasto
Director,
SOLARIS IMAGES

“What I found a shade difficult was to look for that one great image that would complement such a great car. With every photograph I looked at, I had to look at both these aspects. Overall, I felt that most people had done their homework but quite a few really needed to step up their game.”

A part of SOLARIS IMAGES, Sherwin has been a top-ranked, award-winning photojournalist for the last 26 years. Sherwin Crasto has worked with Associated Press, Reuters and is now the brain behind SOLARIS IMAGES. There is scarcely any kind of event that has been not captured by his lenses.

Peter Griffin
Editor-Special Features,
Forbes India

“The most impressive thing was the very many different ways the photographers managed to see the car. What I looked for above all—perspectives that weren’t clichéd or self-indulgent, and that brought out the spirit of the beautiful vehicle. What I looked for second was how I might steal one of these cars!”

Peter Griffi n works for Forbes India, where he handles the back-of-the-book features section. In previous lives, he was an advertising creative director, voice-over artist, RJ, TV host, web producer and content architect, freelance travel writer, columnist, and consultant to NGOs.

Bertrand D’souza
Editor-in-Chief,
OVERDRIVE

“For the first time in my experience with automotive photographs, I was treated to a whole new way of looking at them. We tend to stick to a certain way of shooting cars in the industry and I don’t think I have ever visualised them in the way these photographers have. I enjoyed these creative techniques that I came across.”

Armed with a childhood fixation of cars and a degree in automotive engineering, Bertrand D’souza has been with OVERDRIVE magazine for over 15 years. Ever the avid globetrotter, he enjoys new sights and sounds as much as he enjoys cooking, whenever he is home.