I'd like to congratulate the winner :) I think out of all the "happy" childhood entries, that one really caught my eye, and a photo with feeling instead of objects like cute rubber duckies :)
I'd also like to thank everyone that has submitted a DARK side of childhood. I know we have all been criticized by people who doesn't understand it but I really do think that you guys are courageous and I know i wasn't alone in submitting the 'dark' side of childhood.
Well, personally, I'm very pleased to find out that my favourite photo in thise challenge, "Painted Horses", was by jmsetzler... considering some of the conversations we've had lately :).
I'd also like to congratulate people who really thought about the idea of childhood, and what it means to them, rather than just tried to depict an idealised/romanticised version of it. There were photos that really surprised me by evoking all the feelings I had as a kid - of fear, excitement, adventure, wonderment, daydreaming, etc. Most of the ones I didn't respond to were the kind that just had little collections of toys, without any emotional context. I didn't rate much below 5 nonetheless (only a handful of 4s and even fewer 3s), the standard on this site is mostly above average and I rate them accordingly.
* This message has been edited by the author on 9/2/2002 1:44:53 AM.
Yes that was a good challenge. I did not submit this week for cancid. Paganini I liked your picture and I gave it a 8. What we learned from last week is that there were a lot of differentperception of childhood, I like yours, I liked as well 'balloon' and gave it a 7 , differents pictures that I like for different reason. You did a very god job for that one in my opinion. And some happy one did a very good job. And when you think about it , 'painted horses' is on the scary side even if not depicting a scary childhood. Congrats to the winners and to everybody who tried in good faith to comply with the challenge theme. Lionle
Aelith! My comment on your photo should tell you I liked it :). It was a 9 for me. Your photo is one that gave the objects that "emotional context" I mentioned... you kind of recreated the fantasy world that a book is a gateway into for a child. There were some others that had assemblages of toys where the photo was taken from what would have been a child's perspective, and I almost expected them to come to life! I rated those highly as well.
There were just some that had a little collection of teddy bears, dolls, etc. with no context or interesting perspective that I thought were lacking something.
Listen to a suggestion from someone who knows from experience here..leave the prop shots behind unless the challenge specifically calls for it (like the pencil challenge or the fruits/vegetables).
Prop shots turn into ebay product shots very quickly to many folks voting and prop shots are very difficult to get lighting on that looks natural.
I am moving away from prop shots myself unless I have some specific, long term reason to do a prop shot like Asphalt Mirage where I had intentions of photoshopping the elements into a final image like THIS.
To consistently do well here I find that if you can find a naturally occuring element or subject that meets the challenge and you manipulate (by cropping, changing color saturation, angles etc, etc) you will do a lot better and usually end up with a more powerful photo.
If you do use a prop...keep it simple and try focusing on a PART of the single prop versus a group of items that ends up looking very rigid.
Anyhow..just some ideas from someone who's been there and done it :-)
I like the mirage picture you submitted A LOT. I will look at them again , I am not sure I like the photoshopped one better. That's too bad to lose those 'abtract mountains' , I like them a lot.
Hey ... what's a 'prop shot' ? I have seen that several time
*squirm---grin* sorry my verbal shot was kind of a tease. It occourded to me that all inanamate objects could be called props. The swings were just shots on location. ;D
