TPF Challenge - Novemberr -Still Life - Entries and Voting

[ratssass]

John,
Your opinions are like your feelings....insignificant and easily crushed!!! J/K
Seriously,though,your points are valid,and at least two other members seem to concur.This shouldn't be taken as an attack on either the moderators or the participants.It is neither.Understanding,that we're allowed to think outside the box,I don't think it would be a bad idea to give a brief sentence or two regarding how a participant feels it fits into the theme.That might allow others to see it differently.I,too,have already voted,for the one I feel best epitomizes (to me) "Still Life",because I have no reason to look at them in a different light.

 

[mishele]

I completely understand where people are coming from with their concerns. At the same time, as a moderator, I don't want to have to take judgement on the shots that are submitted. I give you a theme and you submit. I believe that it then falls on the members of the forum to decide what best fits the theme. If someone takes the time to take a shot and submit it, it should be seen. =)

Discussion is good! Let's keep this rollin. =)

 

[JacaRanda]

I will admit I had to google Still Life. It made my vote easy.

Valid points have been made.

Sent from my iPad using PhotoForum

 

[ratssass]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................is that mr or mrs. jacaranda????

 

[DougGrigg]

I'm also more than happy to describe my thoughts behind imagery after comp is closed,

 

[amolitor]

I think it's pretty common to take the theme and re-think what those words mean.

Still Life means something pretty specific in the Painting Community. But in english, the words can be construed as having a much broader meaning. I see most of the submissions as "a life, stilled" in the sense of either death, or simply being at rest, rather than a traditional Still Life. I treat the theme as a source of inspiration, rather than as a directive.

Also, I choose to vote based on what I think the best picture is, which by the way is always mine when I submit (which I didn't this round!

 

[JacaRanda]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................is that mr or mrs. jacaranda????

Come on Rats, you know it's the Mr. The Mrs. would not have to google Still Life

 

[JacaRanda]

I think it's pretty common to take the theme and re-think what those words mean.

Still Life means something pretty specific in the Painting Community. But in english, the words can be construed as having a much broader meaning. I see most of the submissions as "a life, stilled" in the sense of either death, or simply being at rest, rather than a traditional Still Life. I treat the theme as a source of inspiration, rather than as a directive.

Also, I choose to vote based on what I think the best picture is, which by the way is always mine when I submit (which I didn't this round!

One of them looks like it could be yours. Guess which one??????

 

[mishele]

DougGrigg, Congrats on your November Photo Challenge win!!! :hail: (you so romantic...:heart
Thanks to everyone that participated in this past month's challenge!

 

[ratssass]

Congrats,Doug.... Just my opinion,but yours was the only one I felt fit the theme.That's not to say the others were in any way not wonderful.Not to beat this to death,but,I would certainly welcome others interpretation of "Still Life".

 

[Rachel1786]

To be honest, mine was a last minute thing(mine was lights) I had a really good idea and then life got in the way and I never got around to it. Then the night of the deadline I was playing with this stupid little LED thing that came out of my sons plastic baseball bat(stupid thing came broken so the lights were floating around loose in the bat) and decided to use that, I knew it was a bit of a stretch for the theme, but from what I got from my google search of still life was basically(really dumbed down lol) an inanimate object)...just FYI, photographing flashing LED lights will make you feel like you are going to have a seizure and give you a migraine lol

 

[ratssass]

To be honest, mine was a last minute thing(mine was lights) I had a really good idea and then life got in the way and I never got around to it. Then the night of the deadline I was playing with this stupid little LED thing that came out of my sons plastic baseball bat(stupid thing came broken so the lights were floating around loose in the bat) and decided to use that, I knew it was a bit of a stretch for the theme, but from what I got from my google search of still life was basically(really dumbed down lol) an inanimate object)...just FYI, photographing flashing LED lights will make you feel like you are going to have a seizure and give you a migraine lol

It's all good,Rachel.The story behind it gave me a laugh (not at you,with you :cheersI'm just interested in others interpretation.Did we all Google "Still Life"?......lol

 

[limr]

UGH! I just typed out an entire message and my netbook decided to get all pissy with me and it's gone.

Let me try this again. And yes, I'm going to use pictures to help explain my thought process.

I did not Google 'still life.' I've done quite a few and that's why I decided to try this challenge. I took a few shots that I liked fine, but wasn't satisfied. They seemed a bit obvious. Here are two that made the short list, just to give you an idea of where I started:



I took the "challenge" part of the challenge to heart and tried to push my interpretation of "still life." I played with the word meanings, variations, and interpretations and came up with two somewhat opposite ideas: 'something that still has life' or 'a life that is now still."

That's when I started paying attention to how different images or scenes struck me, to see if I was struck in a way that would fit one or the other interpretation.

There is a car in my family that has been parked in the same spot in front of my mother's house for years. It's been there for so long that the right side tires have sunk into the ground. I've seen the car a thousand times but one day, it struck me: that car is a stilled life. A life that is now still. Cars have life, you see, and this one had a lot of it until it was parked and sadly neglected. So I decided to get a shot of the car.

I took a lot of different shots, different angles and light. I'm not entirely sure why I decided to go with the one that I eventually submitted. It's not my favorite one. The light is a bit flat and I'm not entirely satisfied with the composition. But maybe it was 'easier' to interpret, being able to see the sunken tire with a bit more of the car and ground as context. Don't know. Here's the other shot I actually liked better but decided against submitting:



To be perfectly honest, I never thought I would win the vote. I approached this, as I said, as a challenge to myself rather than a competition. All I'd hoped for was that at least one person would 'get it' and vote for me. I got three votes - including my own because hells yea, I voted for myself! - so I accomplished what I'd hoped I would.

And that's my story.

 

[ratssass]

thanks,leonore....,and I "got it",also,as I'm sure at a few others did also.

 

[DougGrigg]

Yay! I'm happy to win this months theme! Now to enlighten everyone with my thoughts behind my imagery, I love musicals and for some reason or other, shooting this image I thought about the silhouette scene of chicago for some reason or other whilst looking at the romanticism of 17th century dutch still life painters and somehow this just came together as a quick shot whilst I was in the studio one day!

Still romantic, A title to represent love lost into the darkness. glad everyone enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed creating it! Does this mean I get my webpage linked on the homepage? wahoo! haha