© Suzy Hanzlik

Here is the winning photo for Alien Skin’s December Photo of the Month contest. The photo-sharing theme was memories. Congratulations to Suzy Hanzlik!

Judge

Patrick Shipstad is a professional photographer based in Los Angeles, with a background in music composition, sound design and video production. His photography work emphasizes creative portrait, beauty, fashion, and he’s done a great deal of product and family photography. He recently shared an article on our blog about shooting and editing a fun project of a magical scene. We’re grateful that he joined us this month for our contest.

Winner

About the winning shot, Patrick said, “As usual, all the entries I saw from last month have something special about them and they were all beautifully captured so this was a tough one to choose. Focusing on the theme “Memories,” there was one shot that stood out and really embodied the theme. The sparse composition, the girl standing in the road in the dense fog of Suzy Hanzlik’s entry, conjured up a dream-like mood of missing someone. I really liked the scene setting because it allows an open-ended interpretation for the viewer to imagine their own story. Bravo!”

We connected with fine art senior portrait and children photographer Suzy Hanzlik from Douglasville, GA. Learn a little more about her, below.

How did you get into Photography?

I’ve been a photographer for 15 years. I fell completely in love with photography just after my first daughter was born. She just turned 23.

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

My absolute favorite accessory is my 70-200mm F2.8. It’s a joy to shoot with and it produces lots of things I like to see in my photos, such as crisp image sharpness, and surreal bokeh.

Do you work with an assistant? Why?

I try to work with an assistant as often as I can. Most often, it’s my 18 year old daughter Isabelle. For most of my sessions, when she’s not in school, she accompanies me to the shoot. She’s a great help to me by offering another set of hands, and her presence helps put people at ease. She’s amazing with hair and makeup too, which comes in really handy.

How has Alien Skin’s software changed how you process your photos?

Exposure has completely changed my workflow in terms of speed. With it, color toning is lightning fast. I love using it. My favorite controls on the bokeh and vignette panels are extremely powerful. It’s an amazing and powerful finishing product.

Thanks for sharing, Suzy! Learn more about her on her website, or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Runner Ups

There were many spectacular images shared last month, some of them are listed below in this article. Thanks and congratulations to everyone who submitted. These are amazing!

© Craig MacPhee

Prizes

Photo of the Month award winners receive  super soft tri-blend t-shirts featuring the Alien Skin logo and a laser-engraved 16GB thumb drive loaded with all our photography software.

Monthly Theme

The monthly photo-sharing theme for January is natural light. It’s something that we’re not experiencing as much as we like right now in the northern hemisphere, so let’s celebrate what we have to work with. If you’d like to enter the contest this month, get your best work for this topic posted before the end of January.
Stay connected with all of the happenings in the contest in the Exposure and Snap Art users groups on Facebook. The announcement posts are pinned at the top of the groups on or around the first day of each month. Along with friendly reminders of the group’s posting rules, which I encourage everyone to take a look at.