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GAF Photography Assignment Thread 108: Life

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pringles

Member
"Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not"

Theme: Life

With all that is going on in Japan these days, I thought it fitting with a simple theme that appreciates something that we take for granted most of the time. Life. Whether human, animal or otherwise, it's a fragile thing that can be taken away by natural or man-made disasters at any time.

Submissions are due by Sunday, March 27th at 11:59 PM EDT.

Voting begins Monday March 28th at 12:00 AM EDT and endsTuesday March 29th at 11:59 PM EDT.

1) The theme can be interpreted as you see fit, but keep in mind others will be judging based on whatever criteria they see fit.

2) Only one photo per person, per assignment.
-- Photos must be taken during the assignment period.
-- Only photos to be posted in this thread are to be submissions.
-- You can change your submission by editing your post.
-- To avoid cluttering up the thread, please avoid quoting images.
-- Photos should be no larger than 800 pixels on the long edge.

3) One vote for your first choice (3 points) and one vote for your runner-up (1 point), which can be based on any criteria you see fit. You cannot vote for your own submission. Non-participants are also welcome to vote. Criticism/comments encouraged.

4) The "winner" should come up with a new theme/time period. Ties are broken first by the number of first choice votes, then by longest time since last win/thread start, then by longest amount of time participating in assignment threads.

5) Have fun!

GAF Photography Assignment Threads FAQ
 

Cosmic Bus

pristine morning snow
;)

IMG_2729.jpg
 

SickBoy

Member
I'd just subscribe, but instead I'm replying to indicate my intention to get back into the swing of these threads (one, because they can always use a bump, and two, because theoretically it might shame me into participating).
 
I wanted to capture the feel of spring in the air. That feel of new life growing everywhere.
It's such an optimistic feeling i think, spring.
New flowers rising up from the ground, soaking up the sunlight from the cold blue sky.


mk7uhd.jpg


Canon 7D
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
f/4
1/1600s
ISO 200
 

Kraftwerk

Member
Always-honest said:
I wanted to capture the feel of spring in the air. That feel of new life growing everywhere.
It's such an optimistic feeling i think, spring.
New flowers rising up from the ground, soaking up the sunlight from the cold blue sky.


mk7uhd.jpg

I can taste it :0

Bravo sir.
 

Vamlock

Member
Life-05.jpg


Took this earlier today at the National Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center), and despite the cold weather (40 degrees-ish), the cherry blossoms still looked very pretty. I wanted to maybe find some appropriate picture in the Museum itself, but nothing struck me as appropriate for the theme (until now when I thought about how something from the Space exhibit might be neat).

If you want to see a couple more, you can change the image name up to 06.
 

Borman

Member
Context : This High Schooler raised over $3000 to shave her head in support of the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which raises money to find cures for childhood cancers.

IMG_5245.png
 

pringles

Member
Time to vote!

Cosmic Bus said:
AnkitT said:
Maiar_m said:
pringles said:
Lucky Forward said:
Always-honest said:
Danielsan said:
SalsaShark said:
345triangle said:
Human_Shield said:
itwasTuesday said:
aeiko said:
Zio said:
ianp622 said:
Vamlock said:
Borman said:
 

Maiar_m

Member
1. ianp622
2. 345triangle


HM: pringles!

And they say give and you shall receive, so here I give my modest and subjective opinion:
@Cosmic Bus: I know from your culinary shots that you can do so, so much better in terms of light and composition!
@AnkitT: It's not like there's anything clearly wrong with it, but the picture just doesn't have anything I can perceive as clearly right either. Which is, in a way, a good call considering the theme.
@LuckyForward: Animals don't do it for me, unless they're cats and have captions written all over them.
@Always-Honest: I can't deny the mood of that shot, but I don't understand why one would make it a photography. Same thing can be said about mine, so...
@danielsan: great colours, great compo... What else can I say, really.
@SalsaShark: I like the idea but I don't really enjoy the execution. Do you have any other angles / alternative takes on that one, I'd be curious to see just what you could do around a rollercoaster.
@Human-Shield: Life is SO MUCH like a baby with a basket on their head. It is a great picture.
@itwastuesday: Hanging out with LuckyForward?
@aeiko: I don't see what the B&W adds to this picture. It doesn't really work for me even though I can objectively see its got some texture and appeal...
@zio, vamlock: Yeah, join me and Always-Honest in the nature club.
@Borman: without context, I wouldn't have given the picture a second glance. Maybe a different angle or some fancy post-processing could help?
 
hi all new, to this thing, but thought it seemed really cool and am looking forward to potentially participating in the next assignment.

all the pictures looking great, however can only give two votes,

vote 1: Human_Shield

vote 2: aeiko


other worthy mentions are,

@Borman, really liked the idea of your photo, just think a photo shouldn't require the context to carry it through as much, although i did like it, trying to be constructive don't wanna insult

@345triangle, really think this photograph is fantastic, was so close to having my second vote, where was it you took this?

@Lucky Forward, great shot, and kudos for catching such a difficult shot to take, catch imagine it was an easy shot to make, but it has been executed perfectly, you like 345 triangle were very close to taking my second vote, just think the lighting could have been a bit better, maybe a greater contrast in the environment, the dogs kinda look lost in space. but yeah like it all the same :D

kudos to everyone else for some great photos
 
First - Always_Honest - I love the look, the brilliance of the sunlight and what it does to the color. Did you try any vertical compositions?

Runner Up - aeiko - I like it, the smoke, beard stubble, and texture of the sweatshirt work very well with the grainy, faded processing you did.


Comments:

Cosmic Bus - I chuckled...but that's about it.

AnikT - That's an intense portrait, almost too close for me the way you clip the bottom of the chin, but I don't feel the theme strongly.

Maiar_m - It's a nice little scene, just not really outstanding.

pringles - I like the idea of communal celebration here, but the singer doesn't really catch my attention.

Danielsan - Nice macro but the the setting the ladybug is in isn't that appealing.

SalsaShark - I like the idea but I'll agree with Maiar_m that you could have found a better angle /composition.

345Triangle - I like the scene you have there but I don't know why you focused on the shoe instead of the face.

Human_Shield - I like it but I can't help but feel it would have been much better without the distracting boxes on the left.

itwasTuesday - It's a cute shot but it seems a bit soft and lacking contrast (too much of a muddy gray overall).

Zio - Beautiful and tranquil, but I feel it needs some center of interest beyond branches and greenery.

ianp622 - A neat composition, but the tree is the "life" in the photo and it seems a little lost because of its muted color and lighting.

Vamlock - Like Zio's shot it's a beautiful pattern but I think it needs a center of interest, otherwise your eye just wanders around in it.

Borman - I love the idea but I think this may have worked better if you had gone in closer for a tight vertical shot that just showed the girl and the hands of the barber.
 
Lucky Forward said:
First - Always_Honest - I love the look, the brilliance of the sunlight and what it does to the color. Did you try any vertical compositions?
Thanx! Yes i tried a lot of compositions and a lot of different amounts of sunlight.
I think i made about 30 different shots.
This one worked best for me.
 

pringles

Member
1) 345triangle : very nicely captured moment. this photo really grabs my attention.
2) Maiar_m : simple yet beautiful and definitely gives you that message of "life goes on".

Honorable mentions:

Always_honest: really love the light and colors in this one, but it seems a little bit too "fuzzy" and out of focus to me.

aeiko: this is a great photo, can't say much else about it. only that I thought some others had better takes on the theme.

Human_Shield: I find myself agreeing with Lucky Forward that the boxes on the left are quite distracting. But overall it's a great photo and awesome take on the theme.

ianp622: Once again I'm with Lucky Forward on this one. Great composition but the tree doesn't stand out quite enough.



found it really difficult to vote this time, lots of good photos. excellent work everyone.
 
pringles, I was looking at your photo again and I realized that the thing that detracts for me is the other musician behind the singer. Some might consider this heresy, but if you were to use Photoshop to clone out that guy with more black background, I think it would really make the singer stand out and energize the photo. IMHO.
 
Lucky Forward said:
345Triangle - I like the scene you have there but I don't know why you focused on the shoe instead of the face.

thanks for the comment! i focused where i did mostly because it adds to the girl's feeling of helplessness by emphasising who is in control (the referee), and if i'd focused on the face the shoe would have been nothing more than a distraction (and it was taken from a seat, so i was limited in what i could do in terms of framing). i took a few shots from this position and i liked this one best - i think the face is just about in focus enough to give the photo its feeling.

Isamu Dyson said:
@345triangle, really think this photograph is fantastic, was so close to having my second vote, where was it you took this?

thanks a lot. it was taken here in osaka at an event put on by osaka joshi puroresu (osaka women's pro wrestling) - i go once or twice a year, it's pretty great!


1) pringles
2) human shield
 

Salsa

Member
1 - pringles
2 - always-honest

but everything looks great really.

And thanks for the feedback, unfortunately i didnt set out to take that photo, i just was around the park and had my camera in my bag, thought of this and decided to give it a shot. As you can see by that one it was getting dark, so the next couple ended up with pretty bad lighting.
 
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