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| Blue Hour Vanishing Point | Blue Hour Vanishing Point |
First place prize, January 2026 out of 41 submissions. First time using the XReal Beam Pro camera
| First place prize, January 2026 out of 41 submissions. First time using the XReal Beam Pro camera
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| Susie Cakes | Susie Cakes |
Tied for 3rd place, January 2026. A sad baker working in the shop window. I had to press the camera flat to the window to block light leaks from the street. The wide angle lenses of the Beam Pro is a real game changer.
| Tied for 3rd place, January 2026. A sad baker working in the shop window. I had to press the camera flat to the window to block light leaks from the street. The wide angle lenses of the Beam Pro is a real game changer.
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| Crater Lake | Crater Lake |
Tied for 2nd place, February 2026. Taken while flying back from Victora BC. The color of this deep and ultra clean lake is something I've never seen elsewhere.
| Tied for 2nd place, February 2026. Taken while flying back from Victora BC. The color of this deep and ultra clean lake is something I've never seen elsewhere.
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| The Tides Wharf | The Tides Wharf |
4th place prize, February 2026. I took a short trip to Bodega Bay with the goal of capturing stereograms of as many elements from the movie The Birds as I could find. This was the famous wharf area where Melanie landed after being attacked by a gull.
| 4th place prize, February 2026. I took a short trip to Bodega Bay with the goal of capturing stereograms of as many elements from the movie The Birds as I could find. This was the famous wharf area where Melanie landed after being attacked by a gull.
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| Contrail Cross | Contrail Cross |
2nd place prize, February 2026, special subject "Contre-Jour & Silhouette". Reflected contrails made a natural cross when I caught this cyclist at their intersection.
| 2nd place prize, February 2026, special subject "Contre-Jour & Silhouette". Reflected contrails made a natural cross when I caught this cyclist at their intersection.
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| Sidney BC | Sidney BC |
2nd place prize, March 2026. On final approach, landing in Canada in my friend's plane to visit friends. Was very lucky to get this fantastic view just at sunset, shooting away from the sun.
| 2nd place prize, March 2026. On final approach, landing in Canada in my friend's plane to visit friends. Was very lucky to get this fantastic view just at sunset, shooting away from the sun.
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| The job comes with a private break room they said | The job comes with a private break room they said |
3rd place prize, March 2026. Happened on this funny sight on a walk in my neighborhood. The title is what I like to imagine he is typing on the first day of his new job.
| 3rd place prize, March 2026. Happened on this funny sight on a walk in my neighborhood. The title is what I like to imagine he is typing on the first day of his new job.
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| Bus to Hyperspace | Bus to Hyperspace |
1st place prize, March 2026, special subject "Motion Blur". Another attempt at light streaks from vehicle lights at night. I realized that buses are good subjects, plus I worked out that it helps to shoot at the back of vehicles in roughly their direction of travel in order to get good sculptural streaks. The Beam Pro really shined here with it's wider stereo base than my Hydrogen One phone, and the wide angle lenses made it fill the frame nicely.
| 1st place prize, March 2026, special subject "Motion Blur". Another attempt at light streaks from vehicle lights at night. I realized that buses are good subjects, plus I worked out that it helps to shoot at the back of vehicles in roughly their direction of travel in order to get good sculptural streaks. The Beam Pro really shined here with it's wider stereo base than my Hydrogen One phone, and the wide angle lenses made it fill the frame nicely.
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| Bubbles Over City Hall | Bubbles Over City Hall |
2nd place prize, April 2026. Taken during the 3rd No Kings protest in SF. I was trying to get a good composition of just the bubbles and their maker. The conjunctions with the tip of City Hall and the sun were purely happy accidents.
| 2nd place prize, April 2026. Taken during the 3rd No Kings protest in SF. I was trying to get a good composition of just the bubbles and their maker. The conjunctions with the tip of City Hall and the sun were purely happy accidents.
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| Paul | Paul |
1st place prize, March 2026, special subject "Black & White". I met Paul in Santa Cruz in 2020 when he let me take his photo. I didn't like the initial result, but for this special subject I thought I'd try again and this time the results were better.
| 1st place prize, March 2026, special subject "Black & White". I met Paul in Santa Cruz in 2020 when he let me take his photo. I didn't like the initial result, but for this special subject I thought I'd try again and this time the results were better.
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| Night Hyper | Night Hyper |
3rd place prize, March 2026, special subject "Black & White". Just like with Paul's photo, I was having a lot of trouble with it initially, but got a much better result in black and white.
| 3rd place prize, March 2026, special subject "Black & White". Just like with Paul's photo, I was having a lot of trouble with it initially, but got a much better result in black and white.
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| The Call of the Void | The Call of the Void |
2nd place prize, May 2026, special subject "Found Stereo". I found this perfect crabbing shot in a STORROR video, which is a popular UK group of parkour athletes. This particular video was about them exploring and climbing in an empty dam, and this particular shot is towards the beginning as they approached a mysterious spillway and were deciding how to safely get down there to explore. Here Benj stood perfectly still as another member approached them with a camera and crabbed sideways for a second or two giving me lots of frames to choose from to make a stereogram. I really like the simplicity of the moment in which it is easy to understand their feelings as this dark and foreboding tunnel calls to them. I think the simple composition adds to the effect, and it seems the judges agreed. Unfortunately the video has since been removed or I would link to it here. I suspect the dam operators found out about it and demanding they take it down, threatening legal consequences if they did not. Not uncommon in parkour.
| 2nd place prize, May 2026, special subject "Found Stereo". I found this perfect crabbing shot in a STORROR video, which is a popular UK group of parkour athletes. This particular video was about them exploring and climbing in an empty dam, and this particular shot is towards the beginning as they approached a mysterious spillway and were deciding how to safely get down there to explore. Here Benj stood perfectly still as another member approached them with a camera and crabbed sideways for a second or two giving me lots of frames to choose from to make a stereogram. I really like the simplicity of the moment in which it is easy to understand their feelings as this dark and foreboding tunnel calls to them. I think the simple composition adds to the effect, and it seems the judges agreed. Unfortunately the video has since been removed or I would link to it here. I suspect the dam operators found out about it and demanding they take it down, threatening legal consequences if they did not. Not uncommon in parkour.
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| Framed Bridge Photo | Framed Bridge Photo |
1st place prize, June 2026, special subject "Frames Within Frames". I think this was the frame of an informational poster that got knocked out and which some people carried to the top of this berm for no particular reason. I clambered up the berm, ignoring the signs not to, in order to shoot this obvious subject for this upcoming special competition. Framing the bridge with it seemed like the only composition that worked. I initially wished the frame could have been facing the bridge, but I now think it's better this way. About the only unusual thing I did to it was to slightly increase the saturation within the frames and decrease it outside.
| 1st place prize, June 2026, special subject "Frames Within Frames". I think this was the frame of an informational poster that got knocked out and which some people carried to the top of this berm for no particular reason. I clambered up the berm, ignoring the signs not to, in order to shoot this obvious subject for this upcoming special competition. Framing the bridge with it seemed like the only composition that worked. I initially wished the frame could have been facing the bridge, but I now think it's better this way. About the only unusual thing I did to it was to slightly increase the saturation within the frames and decrease it outside.
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| Taking my new PC for a spin | Taking my new PC for a spin |
2nd place prize, June 2026, special subject "Frames Within Frames". This was about the third time I tried to generate the effect of a "Droste" type recursion combined with spinning the nested frames in a corkscrew pattern. My prior attempts failed for technical reasons, but I learned more with each failure, and this time I got it to work. It's not a great or meaningful image, but the judges appreciated hearing the details of my story. I'll be a lot more prepared the next time I find a good subject for the technique.
| 2nd place prize, June 2026, special subject "Frames Within Frames". This was about the third time I tried to generate the effect of a "Droste" type recursion combined with spinning the nested frames in a corkscrew pattern. My prior attempts failed for technical reasons, but I learned more with each failure, and this time I got it to work. It's not a great or meaningful image, but the judges appreciated hearing the details of my story. I'll be a lot more prepared the next time I find a good subject for the technique.
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| Im a giant teapot | Im a giant teapot |
1st place prize, August 2026, special subject "Shadows". I was trying and failing to create a 3D shadow but took this stereo snap almost as an afterthought. The stereo base is much too narrow, but it does sort of give an impression of just how huge this shadow was. I also kind of tortured it to get any color contrast at all, so I was very surprised to have taken the top prize, let alone any prize at all. I think the judges just thought it was funny, so maybe the title had a lot to do with it.
| 1st place prize, August 2026, special subject "Shadows". I was trying and failing to create a 3D shadow but took this stereo snap almost as an afterthought. The stereo base is much too narrow, but it does sort of give an impression of just how huge this shadow was. I also kind of tortured it to get any color contrast at all, so I was very surprised to have taken the top prize, let alone any prize at all. I think the judges just thought it was funny, so maybe the title had a lot to do with it.
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| Appealing Shadow | Appealing Shadow |
In a 3-way tie for second place, August 2026. Stumbling upon cloudless golden hour light hitting a wall I decided to try another test of a 3D shadow peeling from a surface. I leaned one way, took a snap, then leaned the other way while moving the camera even further the other way to achieve the effect. Also important was to keep my lower body as motionless as possible to create the shadow base that the upper part of my body was peeling away from. I don't think it's a great photo, but it was certainly a successful test of the concept, and I think that's what the judges were rewarding. They were certainly very curious to hear how it was done.
| In a 3-way tie for second place, August 2026. Stumbling upon cloudless golden hour light hitting a wall I decided to try another test of a 3D shadow peeling from a surface. I leaned one way, took a snap, then leaned the other way while moving the camera even further the other way to achieve the effect. Also important was to keep my lower body as motionless as possible to create the shadow base that the upper part of my body was peeling away from. I don't think it's a great photo, but it was certainly a successful test of the concept, and I think that's what the judges were rewarding. They were certainly very curious to hear how it was done.
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| Sunset Boosh | Sunset Boosh |
In a 3-way tie for second place, August 2026. Some small waves were lapping at the base of my favorite sunset observation platform by the Marina yacht harbor. I took many shots trying to get the sunset colors through the lovely spray but they were too small to be very interesting. But waves come in sets, so I decided to wait for a particularly large one and didn't have to wait long before I saw this one approaching. I had already worked out the composition, and had decided that I didn't care if I got wet, and accepted risk to my camera from the salt water. If I got the shot I wanted, it would be worth the loss of the camera. I shot at just the right moment to get the effect I wanted, and I indeed got very wet! My camera also got wet but thankfully does not appear to have been damaged. I've been incredibly happy with the result and this will certainly be one of my all-time favorite photos.
| In a 3-way tie for second place, August 2026. Some small waves were lapping at the base of my favorite sunset observation platform by the Marina yacht harbor. I took many shots trying to get the sunset colors through the lovely spray but they were too small to be very interesting. But waves come in sets, so I decided to wait for a particularly large one and didn't have to wait long before I saw this one approaching. I had already worked out the composition, and had decided that I didn't care if I got wet, and accepted risk to my camera from the salt water. If I got the shot I wanted, it would be worth the loss of the camera. I shot at just the right moment to get the effect I wanted, and I indeed got very wet! My camera also got wet but thankfully does not appear to have been damaged. I've been incredibly happy with the result and this will certainly be one of my all-time favorite photos.
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| The Dark Side of the Room | The Dark Side of the Room |
Tied for 3rd place, August 2026, special subject "Reflections & Refractions". In this case it is very literally both reflections and refractions by generating a rainbow from a ray of sunlight which is then reflected by a pair of mirrors to generate a pentagram.
| Tied for 3rd place, August 2026, special subject "Reflections & Refractions". In this case it is very literally both reflections and refractions by generating a rainbow from a ray of sunlight which is then reflected by a pair of mirrors to generate a pentagram.
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