It’s taken me the best part of a week to sift through the dozens and dozens of entries for our Great Bangkok Photo School Treasure Hunt.

It was a fun evening and great to catch up with so many students. The post-event beer was very welcome too and we’ve resolved to hold other similar events in the future.

You may recall that the challenge was to recreate as many of my original images as possible, as close to the original composition, exposure and lighting within the two-hour time frame. Here’s a small selection of some of my favourites and some of the closest to the originals, with my sample image shown first in each series for comparison.

Scroll to the foot of this post to discover who will be crowned “King or Queen of the Great Bangkok Photo School Treasure Hunt“.

One of the things which soon became very clear is that even with the same photograph as an example, each photographer inevitably ends up creating their own interpretation. The light varies, they find a slightly different perspective, use a different focal length, a different aperture, white balance, the arrangement of subjects has moved and they process using differing methods.

Proof, if it were needed, that you can’t step into the same part of a river twice. Everything changes, our world is in a state of constant flux and even on the same day, in the same light and in the same location, a dozen photographers working within shouting distance of each other will create images that differ considerably.

That, perhaps, is one of the aspects of photography which we find most appealing. There are no absolute formulas, no defining compositional rules and no conclusive steps to creating an image. Whatever the surroundings and no matter what the circumstances, the art of creation is in the hands of the person holding the camera – or the pencil, brush, chisel or whatever. Isn’t that wonderful?

The Treasure Hunt proved to be a great success, over fifty photographers came and joined us for the evening’s expedition. Whilst the competition was the stated premise, the more important aim was to create an event which gave local photographers an excuse to step out with their cameras into a familiar setting, but with nothing else to do but make pictures. This part of Bangkok is familiar to anyone who lives here – or even passes through. Yet most of us will see it only from the perspective of a shopper as we hurry to the popular MBK store or to the nearby Siam Discovery mall. With time available, we were able to re-examine the location with a photographer’s eye – and that’s always worth the time.

Now then, most importantly, who won our Treasure Hunt competition? Well, competition was fierce and choosing a winner was a challenge, as they say at all the best awards ceremonies. Young Peteris and Jay both submitted an impressive compilation and had many images that were within a hair’s-breadth of the original. However, pipping them at the post with just a few more images in her collection was the ever-smiling Annette Heile. I’m delighted to be giving Annette a copy of Steve Simon’s excellent “The Passionate Photographer” book and, knowing Annette, it’s a title that could not be more appropriate as she is the very definition of a passionate photographer.

Annette Heile - Queen of the Bangkok Photo School Treasure Hunt

Thanks to all those who attended. It was great fun and I look forward to organising another Bangkok Photo School Treasure Hunt soon.

In the mean time, you might be interested in the Bangkok Photo School Club, which is an occasionally social gathering for students of the Bangkok Photo School. We next meet on Wednesday 25th April for dinner. It’s an opportunity to meet other local photographers, to share and review photographs and this month I shall be giving a presentation on the work of two of my favourite photographers and discussing what it is that I like about their work. We hope to provide inspiration, food-for-thought and food-for-the-stomach as dinner from the fine British Club menu is included. You can REGISTER HERE.