Mini Challenge #337: A Sense of Place
LexingtonAlarm
Registered Users Posts: 38 Big grins
In my relative newness to this forum, I have noticed two types of challenges: those that focus on technique or composition, and those that focus on content. For this challenge, the focus is on content.
I was thinking of calling this "my home town", but felt it was too limiting. The object of the mini-challenge is to post three or four photos that together tell a story that is evocative of a special place, whether this is where you live, where you have traveled, or some spot you return to again and again.
I hope the group of photos can be judged together, and the object of the challenge is to have the group of photos represent and bring forth something characteristic or evocative of a particular place.
I have spent time on Nantucket (an Island off the coast of Massachusetts) every summer for 45 years, since before I got married. My wife's family had a connection to the Island since her great-grandfather was principal of the high school after the American civil war. Eventually he bought a farm, and for a few generations it was a family compound where different cousins built houses. My wife and I became the primary users of one of the houses, which her father renovated in 1972, and which we renovated again in 2014. Last summer we celebrated her 75th year on Nantucket.
The following examples are photos from an album that I call Iconic Nantucket, and they represent what it feels like to me.
Blueberry Scones on a Summer Morning
Back from the Beach
Setting Out
Well Hello
Offshore Storm
New Years Day Evening
This mini will run 3 weeks, until Friday June 24th at 8 PM (EST).
Rules
-Enter 3- 4 photos taken in a single general location. By location I mean anything that you identify as a one location whether a room, house, city, park, trail, neighborhood, area, state or even country), and put them in a single post.
-Give each image you enter a title.
-Feel Free to give a short (one or two sentence narrative) about the group of photos
-Either embed your image in the thread or, if you must, supply a link to it. Keep in mind, however, most people don't want to click to open photos hosted elsewhere (i.e. on your website).
-Also try and resize your photos prior to posting so they're sized appropriately for viewing without having to scroll (~800 pixels on the longest side works best.)
-Enjoy discussion with members about their images, don't let this just be an entry thread!
When quoting a post change the IMG urls to a 200x200 size picture so it is clear your post is feedback and not another entry. (see rules for help)
Don't be hesitant, share'em and enter!
Note: last time I ran a challenge there was a discussion about post processing rules. Here we will follow our new guidelines which are that any amount of post processing is allowed, provided that any content element added to a photo is something you created yourself, and not something generated by software (ie sunbeams), or cut and pasted from a source other than your own photos. if a photo is extensively post-processed or involves elements from more than one photo you can mention that in the submission.
Remember, the photos will be judged as a group. The idea is to evoke a sense of place. Have Fun
Toby (@Lexingtonalarm)
Comments
A very challenging and thought-out challenge! At first I was thinking of doing Alaska, as that is where I live, but the size of Alaska and the amount of images I have, would take forever for me to decide which photos are the best. Thus, I am limiting to images only taken from my property. This has lowered the amount of photos to about 20,000+. lol
1 Low clouds early morning. (taken at 8:41am on my back deck, while wearing pj's in sub 0 temps.)
2 Fall colors on Wasilla Lake (taken at 8:08am from my deck using 300mm lens)
3 Neighbors (wild and not wild in the reflection, taken from our dock)
4 My Driveway in winter
I immediately thought of Bermuda
1. The Bird Cage - with police in Bermuda shorts directing traffic in Hamilton at the intersection of Front and Queen Street. Photo was taken on my first visit in 1963
The iconic clock tower mall in the Dockyard. One tower has a clock and the other tower has a tide clock. Taken in 2004
Bermuda fish chowder - which is not the milk based chowder you may be used to. Bermuda fish chowder is the national dish of Bermuda. Its main ingredients are fish fillets, fish stock, and tomato purée,Traditionally, the chowder is seasoned with black rum and a local sherry peppers hot sauce
Ducking stool demonstration for tourists in St. George (2018)
Thanks to @JAG and @grandmaR for the two groups of photos. Both are very nice. Hope to get some more entries over the next couple of weeks, and hope I haven't asked for something too difficult.
I live in Central Texas, but everyone in the state is darned proud of our bluebonnets and maybe some other wildflowers (which bloom for a short period in the spring). I am including some of my favorite bluebonnet and wildflower pictures from around my area. I'm sort of like Joyce with her Alaska shots--I have so many bluebonnet and wildflower pictures that it is hard to choose what to post.
Stone Farmhouse near Marble Falls. This iconic structure has been photographed so many times, most Texans can tell you exactly where it is. Progress has carved away at the open fields surrounding this old house, so the landscape now looks very different. The house is still there, but the field in front of the house rarely has the bountiful bluebonnets as in years past. This image is the very first print I ever sold to a random person who found my website.
The Yellow Rose of Texas. This still life was sort of an accident (aren't happy accidents just the BEST?!). A co-worker just loved yellow roses, so one year her son sent her a dozen on her birthday--the first time he had ever sent her flowers. She asked me to take some pictures of them for her, so I did. I took a few of her bouquet and some with her and the bouquet. Nothing special to anyone except her. After I got those shots, she took a single flower out of her bouquet and started placing it around her office which was decorated with SO MANY little Texas things. It was literally "take a picture of the rose with my boot figurine. Take a picture with this. How bout this?" etc . About the time I decided that I couldn't take 1000 pictures of that flower with every little thing in her office, she grabbed the calendar that I had given her for Christmas and said "one more! Try this!" This little picture of the yellow rose and the Texas flag on the calendar has turned into my all time #1 best seller. It has been a regional magazine cover as well as my most popular print. I think you may have to be a Texan to appreciate it.
The most abundant display of bluebonnets that I have ever seen was at Muleshoe Bend State Park not far from Marble Falls. My pictures just do NOT do this scenery justice at all. I've never seen solid field after field after field of bluebonnets like that anywhere else. We have had many years of drought around here, so this area was supposed to be the lake. Yep, it should have been underwater, but the drought lowered the water level so much and left behind some very fertile soil. It was amazing. Looking at one image doesn't give you the magnitude of all the blooms, so take a look at the gallery if you are so inclined. https://psphotos.smugmug.com/Nature/Muleshoe-Bend-Recreation-Area/
One of the shots I've wanted to capture that still remains elusive for me is a Texas Longhorn in a field of bluebonnets. I still don't have that one, but I did find some cows in the bluebonnets last year. This is as close as I've gotten to the shot I want. (lol).
Sherry P.
Hey SmugMug'ers. Its really neat to share adventures with one another. The following images are from a trip to Mexico that gives me a sense of place. I try to envision and plan what images I would capture during certain times of the day, but these images were actually captured during moments 'unplanned' and 'while waiting'. I hope you'll enjoy them.
Thanks to @slpollett and @mr peas for two more great submissions.. I am glad you got into the spirit of the mini-challenge... The bluebonnet photos are great as are the Mexican beach photos.
My favorite place - Yosemite National Park. I lived close to the park for 10 years and ventured into the big, wide venues and many nooks and crannies of this beauty. Four photos won't do it justice, but here goes.
1) Big and wide - An overlook of the Yosemite Valley: with Half Dome in the far center and a not-so-roaring Bridal Veil Falls on the right.
2) Small and cozy - Fern Spring along the valley floor road. One of a few pull-outs in the valley missed by most tourists, but always an interesting and quiet spot to enjoy the flora and fauna.
3) Imposing and inspiring - Tioga (the east side of Yosemite) - with Lake Tenaya under a brewing thunder storm.
4) The architecture from the early 1900's - Mountaineer or the Anderson cabin that was originally located in Yosemite Valley in first decade of 1900. Many of the Valley original buildings and a covered bridge were moved for preservation to the Pioneer Yosemite History Center.
Photos: jowest.smugmug.com
Book1: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LUBMI1C
Book 2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079V3RX6K
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jo.west.16
Great challenge Toby, it's always nice to try and put a comprehensive series together, much more challenging than picking single photo's.
I'm just back from a three week trip through Newfoundland. Allthough the whole landscape and nature on this island is stunning and beautiful the most impressive (imo) is the Tablelands on the south side of the Gros Morne National Park.
Geologically this is a very interesting area, formed about 500 million years ago when the tectonic plates of the earth crust of what now is North America and Africa collided and pushed a piece of the underlying earth mantle to the surface. The light brown rocks are serpentine and have a very high metal content which is poisonous for most plants, hence the very scarce growth, only a very limited number of plants can survive there. Pushing the earth mantle to the surface over the crust/tectonic plates only happened at four places, and this one is the only one which is relatively easily accessible. Also interesting is that when such a rock breaks the interior is dark green, over time water and air oxidise it to this brownish state.
The trail into the tablelands area, "Earth Mantle" bare mountains on the left, "Earth Crust" mountains with trees on the right
It's a big area, spot the two walkers in the distance to get a sense of the scale of this landscape.
When you're early enough in the season (like us) you can still see the snow and the meltwater falls
When a serpentine rock splits it's green inside is revealed
My SmugMug
Remember this challenge is ending midnight EST on Friday June 24th. There have been some great contributions, and I am glad it got people thinking. Thanks to @pegelli and to @Cavalier for the recent submissions. This will be hard for me to judge due to my connections to several of these places. I grew up in Central Texas, and for work have spent a lot of time both in Newfoundland and Alaska.. I think my plan is to start with the photos themselves, and see how they weave together the sense of place. Grateful for all the participation.
I was picking out my photos for this challenge when Jo posted her lovely photos of Yosemite. I was also going to do Yosemite. I had written a nice description of why Yosemite was exactly where I should post about. But I don’t want to steal her thunder, or share/divide it, so I have picked something else. Here goes.
From my latest challenge you all know that I love our National Parks. Although to date I have only been fortunate enough to visit US parks, several outside the US are on my “must see” list. The urban and historical parks are great, but my favorites are the ones preserving and showcasing our natural scenery. I love the expansive views and the secluded nooks and trails. Gently bubbling creeks and gushing waterfalls are all treasures in my book. I have selected Great Smoky Mountains National Park for my entries. It doesn’t feel like home the way Yosemite does, but it is the park I have been to most recently. I have tried to pick photos that give a feeling of more than just what I saw... maybe the sound of rushing water or the chilly morning breeze.
Grotto Falls (and the trail passing behind it)
Sunrise, Clingmans Dome Parking Lot (sometimes you don't have to hike for a great view)
Laurel Branch
Sunrise, Newfound Gap
And not for the challenge, but this jaywalker (jayslitherer?) passed across the trail in front of me.
Some people get amazing shots of elk, bighorn sheep, eagles… I get a freakin’ copperhead. At least I think that’s what it is. I didn’t want to get too close--it's slithering through poison ivy.
Barbara, yes I think it is a copperhead but I couldn't positively idenify anything in the photo as poison ivy
@grandmaR I think there's a small bit of poison ivy about 3/4 of the way up on the right. And there was lots of it all around that didn't end up in the photo. I was very careful to stay on the trail on that walk.
Yes I see that now. Of course there's also poison oak and poison sumac to be avoided too. When we moved in here, i got poison ivy 3 times before the leaves came out and I knew where it was.
This challenge is now closed. I will post the results this weekend. Thanks to all who participated.