Ronkonkoma, NY - May 14, 2020 - Sigma Corporation of America, a leading camera, photography lens, cine lens, flash and accessories manufacturer, has chosen its first monthly grand prize winners for its #SigmaShotAtHome contest from its pool of weekly April winners. Marcel Lecours, founder and art director at SimpleFly Creative, won for his photo submission, Self Portrait of a Quarantined Dad and Marshall Victory, cinematographer, won for his short film, Mano A Mano.

Since the contest kickoff, Sigma has received over 800 #SigmaShotAtHome entries, which were narrowed down to one photo and one cine winner each week. Both grand prize winning submissions were selected from the pool of weekly winners. Entries were judged by a panel of Sigma photography and cinematography professionals based on creativity, originality and adherence to the theme of “shot at home.” Each winner will receive a $1000 American Express gift card and will be considered for the overall contest grand prize of a Sigma fp + 45mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary lens. 

Victory discusses his creative approach to his short film, “With the limitations of quarantine, I initially wanted to challenge myself to make a film that required no one else and could be achieved without VFX. While watching Yuen Woo-Ping's ‘The Magnificent Butcher’ (1979), I saw this incredible hand calligraphy fight, and I thought, ‘What if they were fighting over hand washing?’ That premise and the quarantine limitations truly provided this creative outlet of telling a relevant and topical story. In the end, I did collaborate with Leo Chor on post-production sound whose work and feedback were invaluable but for the actual physical production, I relied on whatever was available to achieve the shots I was going for.”

Watch Mano A Mano here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_WCT0Ugpix/

Watch how Victory created and filmed the practical effects of Mano A Mano here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_fWtAXgs7X/

Lecours explains the inspiration behind his self portrait, “Like so many others, my wife and I have been balancing working from home and taking care of our twin 4 year old daughters during this quarantine. On the afternoon I took this photo, it was my turn to watch the girls, and they decided I was in need of a makeover. They had me sit down in their playroom while they went to work on me. After a while, my wife passed by, took one look at me and said I looked like the poster boy for quarantined parents all over the world. So I asked her to grab my camera, tripod and shutter release cable and bring it to me. I got lucky that there was some pretty nice light coming in through the playroom window and that the girls were distracted for long enough to let me fire off a few shots. The rest, as they say, is history.” 

Check out Self Portrait of a Quarantined Dad here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-0GpUbg6aX/

With no specific lens or camera requirements, the contest is open to all professional and amateur U.S. creatives. Running weekly since April 6th and continuing through through June 26th, 2020, #sigmashotathome is hosted online. There is no entry fee and participants are invited to submit up to ten entries each week. For complete contest details as well as rules and regulations please visit: https://www.sigmaphoto.com/sigmashotathome

Craftsmanship. Precision. Dedication. Since 1961, Sigma has been devoted to the pursuit of advancing photographic technology. Unique to the industry, the family-owned business produces its high-quality, award-winning still photo and cinema camera lenses, DSLR and mirrorless cameras, flashes, filters and accessories from its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in Aizu, Japan.

In 2012, the company introduced the Sigma Global Vision with three distinct lens lines: Art, Contemporary and Sports. Designed for industry camera mount systems including Canon, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Sigma, each lens is handcrafted and tested in Japan to ensure a high-performance, premium product that is purpose-built to last. In 2016, the Sigma Cine lens lineup was launched, further cementing Sigma as an innovator in imaging engineering. Embodying the core optical DNA that has defined the Sigma benchmark of excellence, Sigma cine lenses meet the needs of advanced 6k and 8k cinema production.

Forming the landmark L-Mount alliance alongside Leica and Panasonic in 2018, Sigma continues its storied tradition of imaging excellence through groundbreaking innovations such as the all-new native L-mount Sigma fp full-frame mirrorless digital camera, announced in July 2019. The introduction of the fp along with the availability of 15 award-winning Sigma Global Vision lenses in native L-Mount format demonstrates Sigma’s continued commitment to the creative community through expanded product offerings. With the fp and these lenses, even more shooters can now leverage Sigma’s renowned optical formula to achieve their creative vision with ease.

For information about Sigma, please visit www.sigmaphoto.com or follow the company on Sigma Blog, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.