Every month we run a Sony Community photo competition, each one with a different theme, and we’re constantly amazed by the quality and variety of entries we receive. Our October competition was all about ‘bridges’, and the coveted first place prize was awarded to Ireland-based Wojtek Piatek for his gorgeous photo entitled ‘Valve Tower Bridge’.
We caught up with Wojtek just after the big announcement to discuss his winning photo, his passion for photography and more.
Hi Wojtek. First of all, congratulations on winning this month’s photo competition! Your photo is brilliant and a well-deserved winner.
“Thanks a million. I still cannot believe my image actually won this competition.”
Can you tell us where you are based and what you do?
“I work for a cleaning company. We do lots of various things but I’m responsible for graffiti removal around Dublin - I work as a contractor for Dublin City Council - so you might say that I clean walls for living.”
How long ago did you first get into photography?
“I always liked taking photos, but I bought my first DSLR five years ago - a Sony α450 - mainly because I wanted to have nice photos of my kids growing up. Since then it’s turned into a big, big hobby of mine, and I’m hoping to turn into more than a hobby in the future.”
Where were you when you first received the email to say that you’d won the competition?
“I was having a really bad day when I got that email - I had to work a double-shift, and then my car broke down, resulting in me being late to pick my kids up from school. I couldn’t believe it at first, I thought it was probably another spam message or something. I still find it hard to believe my picture was chosen over all those other great images, as I didn’t think it was that good.”
Can you tell us the story behind your photo? Whereabouts was it taken, and what drew your eye to that bridge?
“Well [the valve tower bridge on Valtry Reservoir in County Wicklow, Ireland, is] quite a popular location for photographers. I went there to take some photos of the sunset, and my plan was to have a side of the bridge in the frame. After taking a couple of shots I decided to take a photo from the top of the bridge, as I haven’t seen many photos like this before - this involved a bit of climbing and pretending I didn’t notice the ‘No Entry’ sign, but let’s skip that part…
“The sun had set already, so I decided to take a long exposure to capture the movement of the clouds. Then I converted it to black-and-white in post, as there was very little colour to make the photo interesting.”
And what equipment did you use to get the shot?
“I used the Sony a99 camera with a Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM lens.”
Finally, looking back at the photo again now, what does it mean to you?
“I don’t really know. Like I said before, I didn’t think it was as good as some of the other images that were part of this competition yet it was picked by the jury, so I’m very chuffed with this. Thanks again!”
To keep up-to-date with our Sony Community photo competitions, make sure you subscribe to our Sony Community newsletter.
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