POTY 2011 Sponsored By: Vision Graphix - Round 3 - Be Still! (Voting)

[fabs]

Sponsored By: Vision Graphix
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/../images/externallogos/banners/vision_graphix_460x68.gif (http://www.visiongraphix.co.uk/)

Vision Graphix will provide a print of the winning image for the winner each month



This is multiple choice, so you may vote for as many or as few images that you like, but they have to chosen in one go, you CANNOT come back and vote for more at a later date.

Take a look through the entries (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=300389) and note the post number of the images you like (top right of each post....you'll notice a #1 above this post for example).

Please do NOT vote for the entries marked VOID.

This poll will close in 7 days.

[fabs]

New poll above, apologies for the earlier error.

[leftcurl]

that was tough to choose - so many variations on the theme. well done everyone for taking part :clap:

[stupar]

Agreed!
Tool me a while to choose but got there in the end.
Now to crack on with April's effort.

Sent from my HTC Desire using TP Forums

[DeeJay]

Congratulations to everyone for the level of entry and the amount of entries! :thumbs:

[TheBigYin]

Well, my votes are in, always enjoy working out how people have interpreted the theme - some cracking shots again this month, and a pretty good turnout for March with 87 entries - so it looks like the "make you think" style topics aren't putting people off too much. :thumbs:

[CrazyJay]

My vote is in. I enjoyed doing this one - even though I really didn't think I was going to get my entry in on time. Well done everyone, some really nice shots in here.

[scottishmonkey]

Once again some good variation and interpretation :thumbs:

[TheBigYin]

Once again some good variation and interpretation :thumbs:

Definitely. Can't imagine how on earth some people manage to just pick one shot to vote for... I certainly couldn't be that specific!

[DeeJay]

Definitely. Can't imagine how on earth some people manage to just pick one shot to vote for... I certainly couldn't be that specific!

Me neither! I really strugled to narrow it down really. Looking through there are some really great interpretations. Will be really interesting to see a winner here. :thumbs:

[CrazyJay]

when I said my vote was in, it was not just a single image. this time I had to click on 16 images with my seal of approval.

[fabs]

Definitely. Can't imagine how on earth some people manage to just pick one shot to vote for... I certainly couldn't be that specific!

Must admit, I usually have that problem but this month there was a single stand out shot.

[Nemesis]

Well, that's my votes in for the month. Well done to everybody that entered for coming up with something, I found it very difficult to decide what to do for this theme! I ended up with two completely different shots to enter; looking at my votes so far I think I entered the wrong one! LoL, of well, you live and learn...

[blondie606]

Crikey, voting was almost harder than deciding on a shot :lol:
Some really great entries as usual

[zarozinia]

Am I the only one who thinks half the entries dont fit theme " if it doesnt move capture it"?

[stupar]

Am I the only one who thinks half the entries dont fit theme " if it doesnt move capture it"?

I guess "be still" can be open to very wide interpritation.

I decided that my subject (an inanimate object that will never move) was more than enough to suffice.
I guess people perceive it differently though.

[zarozinia]

I guess "be still" can be open to very wide interpritation.

I decided that my subject (an inanimate object that will never move) was more than enough to suffice.
I guess people perceive it differently though.

I would agree if it only said "be still", but it had the bit about if it doesnt move capture it, so to me lots dont fit the theme.
I am not sure how you can percieve that sentence so differently.

I seriously think it would be highly unfair if an image with movement wins this one when people have gone to the effort of shooting something out of their normal themes specifically to fit this theme. What is the point of having a theme when people enter the exact opposite of what the theme is?

[stupar]

I would agree if it only said "be still", but it had the bit about if it doesnt move capture it, so to me lots dont fit the theme.
I am not sure how you can percieve that sentence so differently.

I seriously think it would be highly unfair if an image with movement wins this one when people have gone to the effort of shooting something out of their normal themes specifically to fit this theme. What is the point of having a theme when people enter the exact opposite of what the theme is?

Some might say that if it doesn't move for the second that you hit the shutter then it counts.
I see your point though and tend to agree.

Personally I have endevoured to keep my shots truly within the realms of the theme.

[scottishmonkey]

But bridges move, buildings move and rivers move they are all in your pic :thinking:

Is your issue with the scale/perception of the movement?

[jennyb]

I would agree if it only said "be still", but it had the bit about if it doesnt move capture it, so to me lots dont fit the theme.
I am not sure how you can percieve that sentence so differently.


I understood the theme to be completely the opposite of how you understood it, Angie. To me the theme was "Be still" so IMO anything that was naturally still does not fit the theme. I voted accordingly and thought that lots of the entries, although very good photos, did not fit.

Interesting that people interpreted it so differently.

Jenny

[TheBigYin]

Well - In the end, I went for a still life (completely outside of my favoured outdoor natural light landscape stuff) - static by definition, though my initial idea was one that had movement and static objects - sort of "Be Still - while all around you is a Whirl"

I do think that one or two shots did stretch the definition of Be Still, and took appropriate action - I didn't vote for them. I guess, at the end of the day, everyone has that option.

[Tucker]

With my image it was definately a non-mover. I used a drop of glycerine on the pencil which hung there for a good hour and that was with me knocking the table twice! LOL

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc119/tucker_077/pencil-grab.jpg

[jennyb]

With my image it was definately a non-mover. I used a drop of glycerine on the pencil which hung there for a good hour and that was with me knocking the table twice! LOL


LOL. I had thought you were very clever to catch that!

You should not have told us.

Jenny

[Tucker]

You should not have told us.

Jenny

You should of told me that earlier! LOL

[simmo]

I think that many of the images don't fit the theme but that is only my opinion, photography is so subjective I think you could bend any image to fit a theme. I have noticed that regardless of the theme title good landscape images always seem to do well.

I voted for several images this month, although I do think that there was a stand out image great capture tucker:thumbs:

[fabs]

Am I the only one who thinks half the entries dont fit theme " if it doesnt move capture it"?

I think it's always been a case of letting the votes decide whether an entry fits the theme or not, It would be quite difficult for someone to make the distinction on something so subjective. In fairness, I added the subtexts more to aid in the thought process than as a fixed rule.

[maninsuitcase]

Mine moved a lot, not 2 frames in the row where I left the negatives alone! Though those negatives haven't moved in about 15 years until I dug them out, the sleeves had the dust to prove it.

Though a theme where a landscape is impossible would be nice....you know to at least give the rest of us (well me at least) a chance as the landscape lot are far too good at their craft. :lol:

[vixmix]

I guess that's what voting is all about and the more we post and keep this up the new post list the more people will vote and the more opinions we will get.

I found this a hellish difficult theme. I had an idea from the get go - Be Still My Beating Heart in which I wanted to get a model to pose 'dead' in the back of an ambulance all connected to a defib with a flat line showing and lots of cool arty lighting. Except I am not yet capable of doing 'cool arty' anything and a small technical issue with not being able to get access to an ambulance and defib (I normally can but we have a HUGE number of issues with our fleet right now and it's tough just trying to get an ambulance on shift right now never mind a spare AND a spare defib :bang:)

In the end I took the picture I submitted on a day out with my pal and was playing around with off camera flash and coloured gels. Fitting the picture to the theme came later and so it wasn't perhaps my proudest of shots :( I want to play with the toy soldiers again :nuts:

[zarozinia]

Ah well, I enjoyed photographing something that I dont normally do specifically for the theme ;). I almost did a still life, but had wanted to photograph this bridge for ages, so this gave me the nudge to go and try it.
One thing I can say for certain is that this competition has helped me over the last two years by encouraging me to try a few new things and practice things Im not too good at.

[AshMashMash]

Well, I'm all voted! I know my favourite but I shall see how it pans out :D

[TheBigYin]

I found this a hellish difficult theme. I had an idea from the get go - Be Still My Beating Heart in which I wanted to get a model to pose 'dead' in the back of an ambulance all connected to a defib with a flat line showing and lots of cool arty lighting. Except I am not yet capable of doing 'cool arty' anything and a small technical issue with not being able to get access to an ambulance and defib (I normally can but we have a HUGE number of issues with our fleet right now and it's tough just trying to get an ambulance on shift right now never mind a spare AND a spare defib :bang:)


I came dreadfully close to submitting another version of last months "toe tag" image (I had one as a generic image with a blank tag :shrug:) with just that phrase in mind, but apart from possible chances of getting DQ'ed for being too similar, I thought it was just a little too depressing to be on the slab twice in 2 months. So what did I do - A Vanitas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas) still life :lol: - I think Freud would have a field day with my submissions so far this year :nuts:

[Nemesis]

Am I the only one who thinks half the entries dont fit theme " if it doesnt move capture it"?

For the record, that's exactly what I've been thinking! I went out of my way to capture something that doesn't move, only to see multiple entries of moving things :thinking:

I'm sure a psychologist would have fun at analysing the different interpretations of the same theme!

[GrittyShaker]

I went out of my way to capture moving things, with a very still person as the main subject. Should I be disqualified? Not that it matters, as someone who entered after me, with an identical idea and almost identical processing to mine has done a better job than me, and thus garnered more votes. :D I'm waiting till the last minute for my April entry, and I'm just going to nick someone else's idea and do a better job of it. :p

[vixmix]

I liked your shot ^^ I thought it hit the theme well. If you are going to enter the last minute feel free to have my space. I seem to post all my images in the dying minutes of the comp. This month I actually posted in THE last minute with only seconds to spare. I think I'll dip out of that stress this time around.

[Doog]

Voted. Some great images. I felt that having now seen the voting, that they deserved more votes than they have, but hey, we all see things differently.:) Thanks to those that voted for mine:hug2:

[Vulkan75]

Interesting discussion.

I Think the problem is that the overall annual theme is to get one thinking....which is why the interpretation is so wide.Otherwise the titles would be simply..LANDSCAPE- PORTRAIT-STILL LIFE etc and therefore far less scope for (out of the box)images....which I think Is great to see(love imagination).As long as you can see how the photographer arrived at that conclusion...its all good.:)

Well done everyone....All good fun..:thumbs:

[TheBigYin]

...I think Is great to see(love imagination).As long as you can see how the photographer arrived at that conclusion...its all good.:)

Well done everyone....All good fun..:thumbs:

Exactly - it's great that people are able to give their imagination a fairly free rein, and come up with something that might just be completely amazing!

And after all, it's supposed to be fun! With the greatest respect, and without denigrating their kind sponsorship of this competition, very few of us are so potless that we couldn't actually go out and have a large sized print of our photograph produced, should we wish to...

The object of the competition may well be to win (or it wouldn't be a competition :shrug:), and I'm probably a worse stickler for the rules than many - when it's a specific rule (such as the exif data for checking the photo's timeframe, or not voting for your own picture) but at the end of the day, it is all meant to be a bit of fun, and getting hung up on content rulings would pretty much suck the joy out of it for me.

[antihero]

I understood the theme to be completely the opposite of how you understood it, Angie. To me the theme was "Be still" so IMO anything that was naturally still does not fit the theme. I voted accordingly and thought that lots of the entries, although very good photos, did not fit.

Interesting that people interpreted it so differently.

Jenny

Very good point in my opinion.

A big point in me choosing votes is an image showing the subject matter without the poster having to explain their reasoning behind it.

I don't want to see an image then have to read an explanation to understand what the image is supposed to portray. The image itself should do that. (No offence is meant to anyone, so apologies in ,advance if I have )

[TheBigYin]

Very good point in my opinion.

A big point in me choosing votes is an image showing the subject matter without the poster having to explain their reasoning behind it.

I don't want to see an image then have to read an explanation to understand what the image is supposed to portray. The image itself should do that. (No offence is meant to anyone, so apologies in ,advance if I have )

I'm with you there - if you need to write an essay to say why the shot fits the theme, then you really should consider shooting something else instead! Leave it to the picture to provide the 1000 words :)

[jollyjack]

I think some people are getting a little too upset over what they think fits and what dont, the title was 'be still' so if something is still in the the image then it fits, it people start moaning about this every month then people will stop entering because people dont like bitching and i know this has happened already for this years competition. Its meant to be a bit of fun and trying new things, its not like we are going to be given a big cheque at the end of the year for £1000's and our images posted all over the world so lighten up abit and let your votes talks and allow people to have a go each month without wondering if they should

[TheBigYin]

I think some people are getting a little too upset over what they think fits and what dont, the title was 'be still' so if something is still in the the image then it fits, it people start moaning about this every month then people will stop entering because people dont like bitching and i know this has happened already for this years competition. Its meant to be a bit of fun and trying new things, its not like we are going to be given a big cheque at the end of the year for £1000's and our images posted all over the world so lighten up abit and let your votes talks and allow people to have a go each month with wondering if they should

:agree::clap::clap::clap:

[DeeJay]

I think some people are getting a little too upset over what they think fits and what dont, the title was 'be still' so if something is still in the the image then it fits, it people start moaning about this every month then people will stop entering because people dont like bitching and i know this has happened already for this years competition. Its meant to be a bit of fun and trying new things, its not like we are going to be given a big cheque at the end of the year for £1000's and our images posted all over the world so lighten up abit and let your votes talks and allow people to have a go each month with wondering if they should

:plusone:

[michael23]

Well done everyone. Great efforts there.:thumbs:

[uniquegardens]

Well! That's me voted - :thumbs:

[antihero]

.

[phil8139]

Voting done, good luck to all who entered :clap:

As for the theme - I think that the title gives the spark for the idea, the difference in how others see it broadens the knowledge in creativity.

I like to try and guess what the majority of shots will be every month, and it never works out as you all see the theme differently, and that has to be good.

[Spooky]

I think it is great that the themes promote creative thinking and, by virtue of their ambiguity, have opened up a debate in the thread.

I initially thought it too obvious to capture something that was 'naturally' still and so went for freezing movement - almost as if the camera were commanding something to physically freeze. Having done a few experiments with water, I thought this too would be a little obvious and so went back to thinking about inanimate objects. In the end I got a little confuzzled; what if something inanimate were animated in an un-natural way but then 'frozen' during that moment? - hence the spinning pin!

And what an endurance that was!!! Spinning the thing on wooden surfaces was fine, it co-operated most of the time; spinning it on glass was a whole different ball game and that was before I even got to the lighting stage. However, I was determined to get the shot before the day/month passed by and believe I was semi successsful.

I have loved looking at the different interpretations each month and have found it challenging selecting my favourites from some really awesome shots. I have also found it challenging thinking more concpetually about my images so if anything, I will have been stretched by the time the year is out.

Thanks all for making this a great competition, esepcially for the dialogue that surrounds it too!

Spooks

[vixmix]

^^ Wow, what a brilliant description of the thought process behind your image. I liked it the second I saw it tbh, but I like it more with the back story ;)

[Scottie68]

Well thats my votes in, some very good entries, but for me one stands out by a long way. Im wondering if i will get a sympathy vote for my clock ha ha .. not a good start for me .. as my teacher always said at school, must try harder!

[TheBigYin]

Wow, we've had a pretty good turnout for the voting so far,100 voters and still nearly another 2 days left! Haven't checked in for a couple of days, and just checked in to find another twenty-odd voters had polled! It always makes me happy to see that we manage to get more people voting than entering - at least it shows that it's not just the people who enter that are interested in the outcome :thumbs:

[DeeJay]

Wow, we've had a pretty good turnout for the voting so far,100 voters and still nearly another 2 days left! Haven't checked in for a couple of days, and just checked in to find another twenty-odd voters had polled! It always makes me happy to see that we manage to get more people voting than entering - at least it shows that it's not just the people who enter that are interested in the outcome :thumbs:

I agree. I had completely forgotten about this until today. First time entering the POTY as I only joined the forum Back in February. It is really nice to see people voting who didn't manage to take a shot. :thumbs:

Gotta love this forum! :D

[Keenbfb]

I think I haven't been checking in to see how it's going more out of embarrassment,,:dummy:

[leftcurl]

I think I haven't been checking in to see how it's going more out of embarrassment,,:dummy:

:lol: i feel your pain.

[TheBigYin]

Well - that's March over with I guess. Now I can REALLY start to panic over not having a shred of an idea that works for April. :bang:

Well done to everyone who managed to enter, and many thanks to everyone who took the time to vote - imho, it's the peer voting that makes this competition what it is!

oh... and to the kind souls who were generous enough to give my humble effort a vote :thankyou: very much indeed!:)

[maninsuitcase]

Well - that's March over with I guess. Now I can REALLY start to panic over not having a shred of an idea that works for April. :bang:

Same, I saw a shot I could have used this morning but didn't have time or I'd be late for work. Other than that, nothing.

[maninsuitcase]

oh... and to the kind souls who were generous enough to give my humble effort a vote :thankyou: very much indeed!:)

Just noticed your top for the year to date, it's a fix I tell you!:lol:

Well done.

[TheBigYin]

Just noticed your top for the year to date, it's a fix I tell you!:lol:

Well done.

All provisional at the moment...

but thanks :), just goes to show - i've got away with wonders being mediocre but consistent :lol: Anyway, it'll not last - April will see me reverting to type - or not getting a shot at all - there's really nothing thats making me feel spring-like at the moment.:shake:

[Keenbfb]

Well that's my first month with no vote against my entry (telling myself it's due to the wife’s appearance in the picture) rather than others didn't think it fitted the theme. She don’t use the internet so I’m safe to say that, now the panic has set in as to what to aim for this month.

Well done to everyone that got votes this month and congratulations to George on the winning entry it’s a cracking shot

[fabs]

Apologies for the delay in creating the winners thread, been a very hectic day. Will get it done ASAP as well as announcing May's theme.

[Nick T]

I'll gladly accept third. Thanks for your votes guys :)

Congrats winner :)

[fabs]

Winner announced here (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=310992)

May's theme announced here (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=310994)