The winning image for Alien Skin’s September Photo of the Month award is listed below.

As a quick reminder, the monthly photo-sharing theme was emotion.

Judge

Drum roll, please…

This month’s guest judge is Dina Douglass. An award-winning wedding photographer, educator, print judge, and super-amazing person. Her work has been featured in publications all over the world. And she’s one of the print judges for WPPI’s annual print competition, so we are extra excited to have her involved with our monthly photo contests.

Winner

Congratulations to Tomasz Migdal!

About the winning shot, Dina said, “The winning submission perfectly embodied the theme of this month’s contest, which was emotion. The somber clouds provide a lovely contrast to the soft expression on the child’s face, and the Exposure treatments used on the image serve to enhance its mood. The position of the child’s hand on the mother’s shawl or scarf adds an element of intimacy, which is further enhanced by the mother’s kiss. Great work.”

Tomasz shares great-looking photos in the Exposure Users group on Facebook quite often. As the monthly winner, he gets a bunch of great stuff, including a promotion on the blog. Here’s a little more about him.

How did you get into photography?

Well, I can honestly say I was born in a darkroom. My father’s career was photography, so he taught my mum and when I was old enough me, all about it. After primary school, I took three years in basic vocational school as a photographer. For about ten years I worked in a small photo studio and shop in my hometown in the south of Poland as a minilab operator. I spent most of my time processing & printing analog film. After that, I took a break from photography, while I moved to the UK, found the love of my life, got married and had a kid.

My wife wanted newborn photo session our baby, so she called a photographer to capture the moment. That was when I decided to go back to photography. Tired by labour-job and inspired by talented newborn photographer Sylwia, I started to brush up on the basics and learn the new world of digital photography. I bought a camera, a few lenses and that’s how it started for me. There is so much to learn. Photography has changed a lot since I was back in Poland.

Do you have a favorite photo that you took?

My favourite image is the one that just won me this competition. It’s of my wife and my son in the Haldon Forest in Devon, England. There is such a loving connection between mother and son, which goes well with the look and style of the editing. I loved the way it turned out.

Other than your camera, what is your favorite photography accessory?

I love using lighting equipment. Right now, I shoot with 3 Canon 600EX-RT Speedlites. Eventually I’d like to own good strobe like Profoto B1 or B2.

Tell us about how you process your photos?

I don’t use a lot of Photoshopping on my images. Usually, I touch it only to remove an unwanted object or do some complicated retouching. I start in Lightroom, then apply a preset from Exposure. My favourite is Fuji Pro160 or Kodak Portra 160 and few B&W’s. I like the look of an orange filter in midtones, and sometimes I’ll add a sun flare.

Prizes

Photo of the Month award winners receive a few swanky items from Alien Skin Software. They get one of our super soft tri-blend t-shirts, a laser-engraved 16GB thumb drive loaded with all of our photography software, and best of all, they are featured here on the blog. What more could one want?

Monthly Theme

The monthly photo-sharing theme for October is shadow. If you’d like to enter, get your best choice shot for the topic posted before the 1st of November. Stay connected with all of the happenings in the Exposure and Snap Art Users groups over on Facebook. The announcement posts are pinned at the top of the groups on or around the first of each month.

Runner Ups

There were a bunch of great-looking photos shared last month, some of them are listed below. Congratulations to everyone who submitted. These are amazing!

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