Palm oil industry in the frame for photography

Four years down the road, this photography competition, which is open to both amateur and professional photographers, has grown into an international affair with entries from more than 45 countries.

Almost 2,000 photo submissions were received this year. The winners will be announced at the awards night at Shangri-La hotel in Kuala Lumpur on October 12.

For each category, the first prize winner will be awarded US$1,400 (Bt48,800), and the second prize $1,000.

“The World Palm Portraits has evolved from being just another photography competition to one of the highly anticipated regional photography competitions with some loyal followings from India, Indonesia, and Philippines. It has steadily built interest as well from countries as far as Brazil [one of the top five countries with most entries], the United States and Latvia,” said Yusof Basiron, MPOC chief executive officer.

This year sees the introduction of a new category, Food & Products, to the existing line-up of Black & White, People & Portraits, Nature & Wildlife and Fine Art & Photo Manipulation.

“Ironically, despite palm oil being mainly used in cooking and manufacturing of food products, there are hardly any entries on the subject of food, and even fewer on non-food products. The Food & Products category is an effort to encourage such submissions which have yet to be seriously pursued by the participants,” Yusof said.

Yusof also commended the quality of submissions this year, describing them as overall “much better” compared to the earlier years. “This could be attributed to the participants having a better understanding on what we are looking for, and delivering images that show much thought and effort have been put in. There is more depth, more variety of subjects, as well as a stronger passion displayed in the images presented,” he said.

The entries are judged by a committee of Malaysian journalists including former European Press photographer Shamshahrin Shamsudin, Multimedia University lecturer Che Ahmad Azhar, Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA) founder Kevin WY Lee, and MPOC Promotions & Branding director Belvinder Sron.

It is not always easy to sum up what makes a winning photograph.

Yusof posited: “Basically, the judges look at the subject matter, composition, balance of colours and depth. Many images may look good but they may differ in terms of effort, the planning and timing, and the meticulous execution. Some are beautiful but may not have clearly defined messages.”

He said creating awareness and imparting knowledge remains the central focus of the World Palm Portraits Photography Competition,

“We are creating interest in palm oil through photography that translates to a learning process for the public. The more they want to understand about palm oil as a subject matter, the more they seek to learn,” he said.

During the photography process, according to Yusof, the participant might just learn new things that he or she was not previously aware of. In turn, the rest of the public will be given a glimpse into the palm oil industry through the photographs.

“At the end of the day, when we get feedback that people have learned new things about the many aspects of palm oil that they never knew before – well, this is the achievement that we want,” said Yusof.

- The Star

Asia News Network