The Motif Collective Nov 2017 Photography Competition Winners

"Your Best shot" 2017 Theme Winners

Dedication, personal growth, pure passion and an ever evolving perception and vision are the core elements of the creative process we call the arts. The beauty of the arts are the many diverse perspectives and personal definitions of what inspires each of us. Where we are from, our heritage and culture, are all part of that magical subliminal feeling that each of us have when we find something both beautiful and inspirational!

Sorvagsvatn BY Wojciech Kruczynski

Our First Place Winner was submitted by
Wojciech Kruczynski from Piastow, Poland

I am an amateur landscape photographer from Poland, also known as Swen Stroop. My favorite places to take my pictures is Iceland, Scotland and Norway (especially the Hebrides and Lofoten Islands). I always spend my vacations in these locations, on feet with backpack or on my bicycle, struggling with rain, cold wind and ugly midges. I can't imagine something more beautiful and pleasant than this.

Visit more of Wojciech's amazing work online at:
www.stroop.pl

Waterfall by Witold Ziomek

Our Second Place Winner was submitted by
Witold Ziomek from Kraków, Poland

I’m Witold, from Kraków. I found the way to fell fulfilled through travelling, which I try to combine with photography - my few years old quite unkempt passion.

I’m not a fan of crowded, noisy places, but prefer the wilderness. I would like to be in many places at the same time, in order not to miss anything. 2 hours at home are 2 hours too much.

Visit more of Witold's amazing work online at:
https://500px.com/witoldziomek

The Kingfisher BY Petar Sabol

Our Third Place Winner was submitted by
Petar Sabol from Gorican, Medjimurje Croatia

Petar Sabol „Sharpeye“ was born in 1981 in town Čakovec, Republic of Croatia, Europe. He started his photography work in 2007. In the same year he joined the Photo Club Čakovec and became its active member. From the very beginning of his photographic work he was fascinated with nature and its beauty, especially in the area of macro photography. In addition he professionally photographed events (weddings, various celebrations and public events).
His photographic images display and evoke moments in the life of nature that most people find difficult or almost impossible to see in reality because of constant and increasing human alienation from nature. Thanks to devoted and very systematic work, he captures incredible shots in which the main compositional ingredient is beautiful natural light.

By idealizing beauty of nature, he stands on his solid positive attitude towards the beauty and wonders of nature.
Since the beginning of 2012 to date, he has participated in many international exhibitions of artistic photography under high patronage of FIAP (Federation Internationale de l'Art Photographique) for 311 times. He has won 354 times (184 medals and 170 honorable mentions) in more than 30 countries. He also participated in international exhibitions under the patronage of the PSA (Photographic Society of America) where he is also rewarded many times. He has been awarded in other specialized photographic competitions around the world. The total number of awards is almost 500.

He won the 1st prize at 1x Photo Awards 2015. He holds honorary photographic titles EFIAP/gold and EPSA.
His famous photo "Natural abstract" has been awarded with the FIAP gold medal in the macro category at the 7th Salon of photography in the United Arab Emirates 2012/116 and permanently stored at the National Library in Paris. This photo was among the top 10 on the Sony World Photography Awards. At that competition he was the winner in the category of National Award 2016 with photo 'Kingfisher in action', where he was also placed in the top 50 with another of his photo. He repeated same success second year in row where he won first place with his photo 'Swirl'.
On www.fotowedstrijd.eu he won the first prize in the category of macro with photograph “Only love matters” in 2014. Five years in a row, he was awarded on the American National Insect Salon under the patronage of the PSA. He is a winner of the gold medal for the best PSA author of salon twice. He won the first and second prize in 2014 at the National Insect Week in England, which is held biennially. In less than four years, Petar Sabol became the most awarded Croatian photographer. His work has been published in many journals (Mirror, Telegraph, The Sun, The Dailymail, Meridians).

So far he held four solo exhibitions. At the end of 2014 in Zagreb presented his first solo exhibition Butterflies. The second solo exhibition Kingfisher held in April 2016 in Negova in Slovenia under the high patronage of FIAP, in one of six world-renowned exhibition centers of FIAP. The third solo exhibition Kingfisher presented in Bor, Serbia, early October 2016. Fourth solo exhibition ‘Creative macrophotography’ was held in Karlovac city, in aquarium Institute Aquatika, September 2017. He is a member of the jury in international exhibitions and photographic competitions and Sony ambassador of Croatia.

Visit more of Petar's amazing work online at:
www.sharpeyephoto.com

Stokksnes sunset BY WOJCIECH KRUCZYNSKI

Our Honorable Mention Winner was also submitted by
Wojciech Kruczynski from Piastow, Poland

Visit more of Wojciech's amazing work online at:
www.stroop.pl

Theme Shortlist

Below are the amazing images that shortlisted into the top tier of this themes competition. A big congratulations to all the talented photographers that participated!