Hüseyin Karahan (AKA @hsynkrhn73) made a splash with this jaw-dropping runner-up image in the Photography category of 2024’s ViewSonic ColorPro Awards – captured from above with one of the best camera drones. The aptly entitled 'Swimming Race' earned Hüseyin a well-deserved second place in the competition and I was lucky enough to sit down with the photographer, who lives in Kocaeli, Turkey, to discuss this eye-catching entry.
The ViewSonic Color Pro Awards is now in its fifth year. The 2024 competition's theme was ‘Momentum’, with entrants encouraged to explore the meaning of the word “beyond physical motion, delving into emotional and symbolic dimensions”.
Hüseyin captured the image using a DJI Air 2S drone and a two-stop ND filter. He tells me that he shot at f/2.8 – the drone has a fixed aperture – and at ISO100. Due to the sunny conditions, he was still able use a shutter speed of 1/500 sec to freeze the moving swimmers.
The image was captured in Turkey's Kocaeli Bay at 10:51am. He tells me: "While taking the shot, I was careful to shoot from the opposite direction of the swimmers swimming. And I made sure to take different photos from different angles."
What really makes this photo stand out is that the swimmers are largely captured at equal distances apart. Additionally, the frame only includes the swimmers and the sea, there's no sand and very few gaps. The result is a fractal-like effect that suggests the repeating pattern of swimmers continues beyond the frame.
"I love taking photos with drones, as well as portrait photography. In fact, there is no fixed type of photography that I am only interested in…"
It was Hüseyin's daughter, Öyküm, that got him interested in photography. "The university my daughter studied at was in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema and she was interested in photography. This interest in photography impressed me greatly and I became interested in the art of photography.
"I love taking photos with drones, as well as portrait photography. In fact, there is no fixed type of photography that I am only interested in… I just love taking photos, I care about them."
You can see more of Hüseyin's incredible work by visiting his Instagram (linked at the top of this article).
The next ColorPro Awards launches in spring. Find out more or follow the contest on Instagram: @colorpro
Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com
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