Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016

[Stu]

Just found this on the BBC website:

In pictures: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-37337537

[PhotoGav]

You can see all the winning images, runners up and highly commended here too:

http://www.rmg.co.uk/astronomy-photographer-year-competition/2016-winners

It's pretty disappointing, though not exactly a surprise, to see that very few of the top images were taken in the UK. The two I remember are an out of focus Sirius and a hazy Isle Of Wight!! About right really!

The images are all stunning though and well worth a peruse. Congratulations to all who made the short lists. My meagre entries were binned at the first opportunity by the judges. Maybe next year........!

[Stu]

Thanks Gav  

[Marky1973]

Great photos - love the winning moon shot!

[Steve Ward]

Damien Hirst look-alike winning ... not sure how much the 'judges' had been drinking before making their decisions , seems that art has taken over from science yet again IMHO ... 

 

[steppenwolf]

Stunning imagery without a doubt but a little too 'arty' for my own take on astrophotography. Congratulations to the winners and all those on the shortlist, much of the work is stunning and shows great dedication.

Breaking the mould and returning to my kind of astrophotography, Pavel Pech's Perseus Molecular Cloud was a scorcher.

[baggywrinkle]

Some excellent images there...

[PatrickGilliland]

I actually typed a different response but after consideration decided not to post as it sounded like sour grapes which was not the intention  

Most importantly congratulations to all the winners and featured people.  Some superb work and images.  You have won the competition you entered but for me therein lies the problem.  I can't help but feel that it is not representative of what many of us feel AP is, even allowing for the diversity of the hobby.

Having considered i am actually going to send my original post to the organisers in the hope they will take on board the views of a former contributor (and purchaser) of the book.  I will be neither of these this year for the first time since the comp began.

Issues such as stars and nebula being grouped together while galaxies and even aurora have their own sections baffle me.  The leaning towards art rather than AP images seems a little skewed also. 

In addition i queried the rules which i read about robotic scopes and raised it with the RGO.  Paraphrasing; anything automated (unattended imaging/any automation like most of us run) is robotic.  Some if not all of my images were disqualified (to the best of my understanding) as I queried this and made it clear that the rules meant my images should actually be in the robotic section.  I submitted to what i felt was the right category and was DQ'ed yet c50% of the images that won or are featured actually  come from similar spec systems.  Another issue that requires urgent attention.

So once again well done to those who won.  If others feel the competition has lost its direction maybe you will consider mailing them as well, complaining gets us nowhere, offering some constructive advice might. 

Cheers

Paddy

 

[carastro]

We need a British competition, we are seriously disadvantaged here in the UK.  

I agree with the above comments, that gimmicky effects seem to take precedence over genuine astrophotography images which take hours and hours of dedication frequently fighting against bad weather and light pollution.

I don't think I even entered the competition, as I find the uploading and categorizing of images frequently never seems to work properly or there is a glitch.  I thought I had uploaded an image but never found it on the submitted images pages, so i gave up.  

Carole 

 

 

 

[Uranium235]

I was there as my little boy was shortlisted. Just a shame I had no-one around that I knew to help me quaff all the champagne

But while I was there I did mention to one chap (who was a presenter of S@N about 7 years ago, forgot to ask his name... whoops!) that UK imagers deserve a medal for what they put up with, but it is an international competition after all... so no getting away from that. Therefore its a remarkable (or just plain lucky) feat even to get shortlisted. It must be an onerous task to have to sift through thousands of images and pick just a handfull out.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Tom OD, a thoroughly nice bloke - and his award was well deserved for the staggering amount of effort he put in.

 

Oh... and I managed to quickly grab this snap as well amongst others    (I would have been mad not to!)  Chris is a nice chap too!

Already working on next years entry, but this time I'm going to teach him how to knock out a colour image (probably HST format).... maybe even a mosaic, he's already been practicing stitching those together.

 

[PatrickGilliland]

2 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

Therefore its a remarkable

 

I would go with the above and top credit to the young man (looking very dapper too - not sure about the two strange bodyguards he has though  ). The next generation ready to put us all in our place.

Being honest had not considered the junior category in my comments and none of them stand up there, anything that encourages the young imagers is doing a grand job.

Paddy

[Uranium235]

Cheers Paddy he was by far the youngest there (6), so plenty of time for him to do something special.

Im just thankful that we made an effort and smartened up for the occasion (I thought we may have been overdressed on the way there!), but it turned out to be a pretty posh gig.

[PatrickGilliland]

19 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

Cheers Paddy he was by far the youngest there (6), so plenty of time for him to do something special.

Im just thankful that we made an effort and smartened up for the occasion (I thought we may have been overdressed on the way there!), but it turned out to be a pretty posh gig.

I missed my invite last year, as planed to go but a bereavement meant otherwise, may be a while before another chance presents itself based on my current feelings. Must have been a grand day out and excellent proud father moment.  Great memories for your son too - hopefully he is now inspired and looking forward to the HST image soon

Paddy

 

[carastro]

Congratulations to your son Uranium, excellent for only 6 years old.

Carole 

[astro mick]

16 hours ago, carastro said:

We need a British competition, we are seriously disadvantaged here in the UK.  

I agree with the above comments, that gimmicky effects seem to take precedence over genuine astrophotography images which take hours and hours of dedication frequently fighting against bad weather and light pollution.

I don't think I even entered the competition, as I find the uploading and categorizing of images frequently never seems to work properly or there is a glitch.  I thought I had uploaded an image but never found it on the submitted images pages, so i gave up.  

Carole 

Spot on Carole.

16 hours ago, carastro said:

 

 

 

 

[ollypenrice]

My suggestion would be to have a 'freestyle' category for images which are not mainstream 'figurative' astrophotographs. This would avoid provoking the ill feeling amongst figurative astrophotographers which has arisen in the wake of this year's judging. It really has gone down badly in the community - but I don't think anybody would have the slightest objection to a separate 'Freestyle' section for art or graphic design-led images. Not a single word of the heated discussion I've seen has, in my view, arisen from sour grapes though it is an easy let-out to say the reverse.

I think that the mainstream deep sky images in this competition have been consistently very well judged, a view upheld by this year's results. We would all maybe swap first and third, or second and fourth, or whatever but that's to be expected. It's the freestyle entries in the mix which have annoyed or baffled so many people.

My own hostile response to the 'freestylers' results may, in part, be an over-reaction arising from my coming from a family of artists with nothing but furious contempt for what is called 'conceptual art.' The thought of AP 'going conceptual' would turn me apoplectic with rage! Yes, you're right, I'll take a pill!

lly

PS, Rob, is he a son or is he an isoptope????

[carastro]

Yes good point Olly.  Freestyle should be kept to one category, not spread across all categories.  I have no sour grapes as I didn't enter, but I know the work that goes into astro-imaging - just to be shunted to one side for something gimmicky in most categories.  

Carole 

 

[scarp15]

Reading this thread I do not expect that anyone sat down to watch Who's Afraid of Conceptual Art? BBC 4 Monday night (catch it on I player if you wish). 

I would like to bring to your attention artist Katie Paterson, who's primary interest are ideas formed around astronomy and geology. The art work engages in thought provoking, intelligent processes creating stimulating visual and sound installation art forms. She collaborates through each piece working closely alongside scientists, astronomers and geologists. 

Such as Earth-Moon-Earth, in which Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was beamed via radio signal and reflected back from the moon, a process called 'moon bounce' and used by the military. Some of the notes were lost within the moons topography, what returned (most of it was intact) back was programmed into a piano and played on a loop as part of an exhibition.

Check out Totality - a meticulous  visual account for every known solar eclipse inscribed onto a kind of disco ball light and then projected.

One of her latest pieces is Candle (from earth into a black hole) which is built up in segments, each segment is based on a different chemical composition representing different features in the cosmos and when burnt will create differing scents.

Anyhow check out theses websites her art and ideas are worth learning, not sure if this would had fitted into the category though perhaps. Katie Paterson was featured on last nights programme,  just fast forward.

http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/katie-paterson-earth-moon-earth-moonlight-sonata-edinburgh-festival

https://toluakintaro.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/katie-pattersons-totality/

http://www.katiepaterson.org/

http://www.katiepaterson.org/press/Katie_Paterson_Nicholas_Alfrey_EME.pdf

 

And just to include, which is featured in the program, she acquired a meteorite, sculpted the form and it was later returned back to orbit through space, see below,

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2012/jul/22/meteorite-katie-paterson-field-sky

 

 

[Uranium235]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

PS, Rob, is he a son or is he an isoptope????

He's both

Probably U238, a slightly more stable version of me - but prone to neutron capture when he doesnt get his ice cream, and so transforms into the more fissionable plutonium239... lol

 

[ollypenrice]

30 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Reading this thread I do not expect that anyone sat down to watch Who's Afraid of Conceptual Art? BBC 4 Monday night (catch it on I player if you wish). 

I would like to bring to your attention artist Katie Paterson, who's primary interest is in conceptual ideas formed around astronomy and geology. The art work engages in thought provoking, intelligent processes creating stimulating visual and sound installation art forms. She collaborates through each piece working closely alongside scientists, astronomers and geologists. 

Such as Earth-Moon-Earth, in which Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was beamed via radio signal and reflected back from the moon, a process called 'moon bounce' and used by the military. Some of the notes were lost within the moons topography, what returned (most of it was intact) back was programmed into a piano and played on a loop as part of an exhibition.

Check out Totality - a meticulous  visual account for every known solar eclipse inscribed onto a kind of disco ball light and then projected.

One of her latest pieces is Candle (from earth into a black hole) which is built up in segments, each segment is based on a different chemical composition representing different features in the cosmos and when burnt will create differing scents.

Anyhow check out theses websites her art and ideas are worth learning, not sure if this would had fitted into the category though perhaps. Katie Paterson was featured on last nights programme,  just fast forward.

http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/katie-paterson-earth-moon-earth-moonlight-sonata-edinburgh-festival

https://toluakintaro.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/katie-pattersons-totality/

http://www.katiepaterson.org/

http://www.katiepaterson.org/press/Katie_Paterson_Nicholas_Alfrey_EME.pdf

 

 

 

I will follow these threads gladly, but the question in my mind as I do so will be, 'Does the work of art stand up on its own or does it need a load of text to support it?' A youthful Bob Dylan said that his definition of a song was something that could stand up by itself. For me the failure (the utter, total and abject failure) of conceptual art is that it has to be propped up by a gallery of prating pseuds. In the unlikely event that anyone might care to read a short story of mine taking the mick out of conceptual art there is the PM system on here.

Olly

[scarp15]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

I will follow these threads gladly, but the question in my mind as I do so will be, 'Does the work of art stand up on its own or does it need a load of text to support it?' A youthful Bob Dylan said that his definition of a song was something that could stand up by itself. For me the failure (the utter, total and abject failure) of conceptual art is that it has to be propped up by a gallery of prating pseuds. In the unlikely event that anyone might care to read a short story of mine taking the mick out of conceptual art there is the PM system on here.

Olly

Cheers Olly and I have just realised  that I had intended to run this on your thread 'Poor Old Damien Hirst'. 

[dph1nm]

Quote

We need a British competition, we are seriously disadvantaged here in the UK.  

There is one

http://www.kielderobservatory.org/uk-astronomy-photographer-year-2016/

You might find some of these "arty" as well though!

NIgelM

[Uranium235]

Seems alright, but the main issue with that is sometimes entering your image(s) for one competition will bar you from another (especially if it gets published). I had to remove one of my entries from the Insight compo because it got published in S@N magazine.

I guess there is the Atik compo as well, but coughing up two or three top drawer images in one year is a tall order under UK skies.