Sigma ‘Pro Trio’ competition winner revealed

Digital Camera partnered with Sigma Imaging UK to offer one lucky winner an incredible prize of three f/2.8 zoom lenses. The challenge? Submit a three-shot story

Winner: Martin Duffy Congratulations to our winner, a non-photography working professional who seldom passes up the opportunity to take his camera with him while travelling for his job

In recent years, I have really taken to urban and street photography and have become fascinated with the bustling city life of London – in particular the disconnection between people, despite living in an age when connecting with other people via technology has never been easier.

The city’s hustle and bustle, with people barely engaging with each other, is what

I originally aimed to capture with these three images. I chose the Circle Line platforms at Baker Street Underground Station because I love the architecture, lighting and high volume of people passing through. I spent around 30 minutes here, deliberately missing a few trains in between my own commute.

I planted myself on an adjacent bench and kept firing away when trains came in and the commuters alighted and boarded. It’s a fantastic location – a forever-changing scene, and new points of interest every three minutes.

I am a member of Clay Cross Photography Club, and have had relative success here with the first image; however, I feel that Digital

Camera’s Three-Shot Story Challenge has enhanced the images further by inviting a deeper, more compelling, story.

I wanted to portray the sense of business amongst the commuters, and an impression

of disengagement and isolation – and I feel this has been achieved. I particularly love the detail in the last image, where the empty water bottle has been left to the far right of the bench.

Low light was the biggest technical challenge. I bumped the ISO up to 1,600 and dropped the aperture to f/5.6 for maximum light, to allow a less-than-forgiving shutter speed of 1/30 sec. The high ISO has also left the image with a gritty and grainy feel (some would call it noise!), which I think works well.

During editing, I removed a few distractions on the walls of the station, plus some litter on the floor, in Photoshop. I used Lightroom to enhance the light levels falling on the main subjects, to draw focus to them. Above: All images were shot on a Sony Alpha 35: 1/30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600; focal length 35mm (equivalent to 52mm on a full-frame camera)

Digital Camera says… Congratulations to Martin for this cracking set of images, which meet the competition brief perfectly. It’s a simple but clever idea, effectively executed. Martin wins Sigma’s ‘Pro Trio’ worth £4,150:

1 Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM Sports, RRP: £1,349.99

2 Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM Art, RRP: £1,399.99

3 Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM Art, RRP: £1,399.99 ThankstoSigmaUK&www.photocrowd.com

For this series, I set out to capture the city’s hustle and bustle, with people barely engaging with each other” Martin Duffy