What’s Been Happening?

A lot, as it happens, although I haven't posted in a long time. I've won Travel Photographer Of The Year (TPOTY) in the Under-14 category. I've been playing around with computer editing and am focused more on the composition of my photos rather than the subject. 
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To see the award-winning photos and the new videos, read on!

TPOTY

The category that I won was Young Travel Photographer of the Year - 14 and under - Places & Experiences. Following is an excerpt for the judges opinion of my photos:

Editing

I've been using a lot of photo editing programs in the past: I use Adobe Lightroom as a versatile editing tool, but I use Photoshop if I need to edit a photo extensively. Here's an example of Panorama that I created in Photoshop:

It's a photo of Lake Tahoe, California taken at night with all the city lights reflecting off the water. The little red lines in the sky are the lights from planes flying by.

I've started dabbling in HD filming, so I use Adobe After Effects to clean a video up. If I need to edit the video (hue, saturation, brightness, etc.) I use a free program called DaVinci Resolve. I'm recording videos in 60 frames per second to create a smooth transition so I don't miss anything. Here's an example of a video that I stabilised in After Effects and edited in DaVinci Resolve (I reduced the quality so that I could upload it):

Subject VS Composition

If you recall, the TPOTY judges said that my images capture the scale and beauty of Lake Natron, instead of the flamingos. In the pictures that I submitted, my focus was mainly on the flamingos, but the judges picked up on the contrast between the Lake, the Mountain and the bank, showing me that the composition outweighs the subject. How good a photo really depends on how well it's composed, not what it's on. I often see everyday scenes that look amazing depending on the colour, lighting and that undefinable extra element: a bird, a lone tree, beads on a necklace, the print on a t-shirt. It's possible to find beauty in anything. The ability to incorporate the distinctive features of the image is what makes a good photo, even when shooting everyday subjects.