Gulf Photo Plus held another ShootOut at GPP Photo Week 2018 in Dubai last month, pitting three photographers (Nick Fancher, Zack Arias, and Caleb Arias) in the photography equivalent of a freestyle rap battle.
I had the great privilege of tagging along with photographer Eric Kim for Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai back in 2014 and 2016. GPP is an annual event: the region’s biggest and only photography festival, bringing the world’s best photographers and instructors to Dubai to share their knowledge and experience with the professional and amateur photography community in the Middle East and Africa.
Gulf Photo Plus 2016 just wrapped up in Dubai this week, and this year's event featured another ShootOut, which pitted 2 well-known photographers against each other on stage to see who could create the best shot of the same subject.
Photographers Andrew Heatherington, Martin Prihoda, and Zack Arias were each given 20 minutes to create the best photo they could that included a live goldfish. You can watch the shootout in the 20-minute video above.
Every year at the Gulf Photo Plus photography festival in Dubai, attendees are treated to a special event called the GPP ShootOut. Called the "most exciting hour in the photography world" by David Hobby, the event pits famous photographers head-to-head in creating the best photo they can on the spot. It's a freestyle battle for imaging.
You can watch this year's GPP ShootOut 2015 in the 18-minute video above, which shows photographers Sara Lando, Ryan Brenizer and Joel Grimes battling each other with their eyes, minds, and camera gear.
Update: This giveaway is now over. The winner has been randomly selected and announced below.
Want to attend Gulf Photo Plus 2015 in Dubai next year? We're giving away a free trip to attend the photography festival from March 6, 2015 through March 13, 2015.
One lucky winner will receive: free airfare to and from Dubai from your nearest major international airport (~$1,200 if flying from the US), 5 nights at the event's official hotel (~$700), ~$1,000 worth of workshops during the event, and a $32 free pass to PhotoFriday at the event. The total package is worth roughly $3,000.
The video for this year's Gulf Photo Plus Shootout has been released and it's a good one. Going head to head this year were photographers Zack Arias and Sara Lando, both of whom had 20 minutes to go from hearing their assignment to final image, all in front of a 400-person audience.
Pursuing a career doing something you love can be a terrifying thing, and so we often look to the people who have "made it" in our field as sources of inspiration. We see the work of a Heisler, Hobby or Arias, and it helps us to push through when times get tough, as they inevitably do in any pursuit.
And if, once in a while, we get the chance to hear these successful people to talk about how exactly they made it, and what it takes to be a successful photographer (or anything really), then we've gotten really lucky. In the video above we get exactly that, from eight of the world's best known and most successful photographers.
What would you do if you were given the task of creating a self-portrait within 20 minutes in front …