Written by 
We’re really proud to announce the winner of September’s competition “Ephemeral Moments.”
For those of you who don’t know, the Light Stalking Monthly Photography Competition carries a $100 People’s Choice Award and a $250 Overall Winner Award. The People’s Choice Winner is selected by a vote of the community, whereas the overall winner is selected by our guest judge.
Ephemeral Moments Contest:
September’s contest “Ephemeral Moments” saw some interesting entries of short-lived moments both natural and through creative processes. Natural moments like dew drops, waves, water movements, golden hour, rainbows, auroral displays and even a melting snowflake were all captured as stunning interpretations of the theme. Participants also creatively came up with entries of water drop and light painting photography as interpretations of ephemeral moments.
When choosing the winning photos, we wanted to make sure that the decision process was based on a good interpretation of the theme followed by other factors like light, composition, story, details, etc. The results are entirely subjective and there are no losers in any competition as we all know.
Here are September’s winners:
First Place: “Floating Free” by Tersha
Tersha has beautifully captured the moment of a falling dandelion seed that would have freely drifted away in a few moments. Images like these are quite difficult to capture and it must have required a lot of patience to get the shot at the right time.
The image looks poetic and portrays chances of a new beginning. The soft light, minimal but effective composition, perfect camera settings to make the subject stand out and the muted tones used when post-processing, all contribute to the effectiveness of the image and the story.
Great work by Tersha and congratulations on the win. You can find more of Tersha’s work on Flickr.
Second Place: “Autumn Moves” By Jean T
Jean has captured some Autumn leaves floating on the river. The moment was captured at the right time before the leaves drifted away.
The image is striking with the vibrant hues of the leaves popping against the dark background. Jean has effectively made use of light to avoid any unwanted reflections from the surface of the river, but still keeping the lines that show the movement of water in the river.
Exposures to make subjects stand out against a dark background naturally can be quite tricky and it needs to be shot during times of the day and weather when the light is just right for this kind of photography. The image also has a slight abstract touch to it. A great shot by Jean T and congratulations.
Third Place: “Water Drops Colliding” by Frogdaily
Frogdaily has captured a perfect photograph of a water drop to interpret ephemeral moments. When it comes to water drop photography, what the viewer sees in the image can be interpreted in so many ways and it is up to the viewers’ own imagination. To me, it looks like a dancing lady holding an umbrella or even a lady pouring something into a bowl.
Frogdaily has used light effectively and made use of perfect camera settings and equipment to capture this stunning shot of the water drop. The choice of colours is also very good. Congratulations!
You can find more of Frogdaily’s work in Flickr.
People’s Choice Award Winner
Our monthly photo contests also come with a People’s Choice Award. The winner of this part of the contest receives $100 worth of store credit on Lightstalking which they can spend as they please on our blueprints, drills, courses or Presets.
“Water Drops Colliding” by Frogdaily
The most popular photo for September was by Frogdaily, which has won the people’s choice award besides the third place in the competition. Congratulations Frogdaily.
We’re already into the second week of October and our monthly contest has already started taking entries with a lot of interesting submissions already. This month our theme is The Unseen Perspective.
If you would like to join and enter some images into our monthly contest then take a look at your options here.