As part of this year's Houston Cinema Arts Festival, organizers asked Instagram users to submit photos of street scenes from around the city as part of a contest to promote the festival's Cinema on the Verge "Street Scenes" exhibition.
More than 1,500 images of street scenes, skylines and people were submitted during the 11-day contest, which ended Nov. 7. Cheryl Dunn, noted street photographer and director of the documentary Everybody Street, which will be show at the festival this afternoon (4 p.m. at The Brandon), pored over the submissions and selected her favorite street images.
"This image has a great composition, a human element that makes me feel something, as well as mystery," Dunn says of the winning entry.
Dunn selected seven photos, including first place, second place and five finalists. Although many incredible images were submitted, first place was awarded to Jose Limon, whose Instagram handle is jlimon713, for his striking black-and-white photograph of a child pointing at a painted star.
"This image has a great composition, a human element that makes me feel something, as well as mystery," Dunn says of the winning entry. "(These are) things that I respond to in street photography."
Second place in the HCAF contest was awarded to Joselen Rodriguez, whose Instagram handle is jos_kiddo, for her photo of a couple standing in front of a mural of the word "love."
Dunn picked Jeromy Barber (on Instagram as elbowpit) a first finalist for his photo of a man sleeping on an abandoned sofa in the middle of the street.
Other finalists included an entry showing a skateboarder from Marisa Hoffman, who goes by martini_olive on Instagram, and this entry of an abandoned sofa in the Third Ward from Jessica Cano (j_canoo on Instagram), as well as two entries (here and here) submitted by Clay Rodriguez (on Instagram as vr.mt).
CultureMap readers picked their own winners in the People's Choice contest in what turned out to be an exciting race. The winner was William Wood, who goes by williamgeoffrey on Instagram. His photo of two children drinking juice at Tranquility Park in downtown Houston garnered 36 percent of votes case.
Coming in a close second was another entry from HCAF contest winner Limon (jlimon713) of a Houston freeway on a foggy day that garnered 32 percent of the vote.
The winners of both the HCAF contest and the People's Choice poll are on display at The Brandon for the duration of the "Street Scenes: Street Photography and the Moving Image" exhibition, on view through Dec. 12.
A second entry from Clay Rodriguez was also selected by Dunn as the fifth finalist.
