Semi Final Musings...
richtersl
Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
Is it me, or is this SF progessing more slowly than the qualifying rounds have? As of this writing there are only 13 entries submitted. There are are 2.5 more days left in the SF round and some folks are still deciding while we've yet to hear from many others. I'm assuming that we're going to see a flood of entries this weekend.
For me this round has proven to be the most interesting one of all. Not only does it consist of an open subject but you have no idea even who the judges are going to be so can't even choose or take a photo based on what you think might catch a judge's eye. I know that I've been more nervous about choosing a photo for this contest than I have been in the qualifying rounds and am wondering if others feel the same way.
In the back of my mind I can't help but wonder how similar this is to being a professional photographer who's been asked to go on a two-week assignment to take photos for a magazine article. :scratch You have a deadline, you may have an open subject ("go to England and take pictures"), you work for a large publisher and the first available editor will decide which photos to use, etc.
For me this round has proven to be the most interesting one of all. Not only does it consist of an open subject but you have no idea even who the judges are going to be so can't even choose or take a photo based on what you think might catch a judge's eye. I know that I've been more nervous about choosing a photo for this contest than I have been in the qualifying rounds and am wondering if others feel the same way.
In the back of my mind I can't help but wonder how similar this is to being a professional photographer who's been asked to go on a two-week assignment to take photos for a magazine article. :scratch You have a deadline, you may have an open subject ("go to England and take pictures"), you work for a large publisher and the first available editor will decide which photos to use, etc.
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Actually, I was having more problems with this round until I found my "groove" again last night. I haven't felt creative in general in a while and it felt really good to come away with several photos I like. Now, still not sure if they are contenders, but I am still happy with them!
Good luck to you and all others!
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So I am wondering - do I post something that I know is not up to snuff, or do I not post?
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For me, people are going to see at some point, it doesn't really matter when.
Ann, you better post something. You've got 2 more days. I know you can come up with a good shot.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
Sure, it's intimidating to see some of the photos there, but I know you can get a good photo up there! I saw you do it in the qualifying round.
http://lrichters.smugmug.com
can't win if you don't play
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Post. Don't compare your work to what is up there. Post something you like.
If you don't have anything else, is your porcupine still visting? I'd like to see another shot of him. I loved that series.
Definitely post something, Ann! Take a macro, or a light box shot, or go to the zoo!
You and some 40 plus photographers won the right to compete in the first quarter final. Only 10 will make it to the public vote and only one of those will make it to the finals. Maybe that will be you, maybe not. But the odds are for everyone that they will not win.
I entered the first 4 LPS challenges. One judge put one of my photos in her top ten, but other than that my work was apparently a total bust. I struggled right up to the deadline trying to decide whether to enter LPS#5, but in the end I censored myself because I kept finding reasons why every photographic possibility didn't have a chance (sometimes confirmed by the lack of interest on the forum). So I really know how you are feeling just now- well maybe not quite because I am not in your shoes - but I do have some idea.
Ann, you have a style that is your own and you take really wonderful photographs. So enter something that is quintissentially your work. If your entry doesn't make it into the top 10 you will be in good company (just look at what is entered already and remember that most of them will not make it into the top 10) and if you do -- well great!! In my book your are a winner.
Virginia
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Open theme contest is really intense. How do you compare a music with a dress? A car with a bisque? A flower with a software app?
I was fighting with this round all the way, and I'm still not finished. During the PQs I usually "had" it within days, if not within hours. For this one I started to think 2 months ago, and I'm still undecided. Many ideas didn't make it to the shoot and were discarded. Several were tried but failed miserably. Yet there are still a couple of days, and I do feel that I may come out with something new.
Special message to Ann: please keep trying. You fail 100% of the shots you DON'T take. It's not about getting top spot in SF1 (this one is probably in Thomas' hands already anyway:-), or in the whole LPS. It's about going out for it and taking it for yourself.
You touch on an interesing point there, Nik. When I first starting shooting these, I thought the theme made the competition more challenging. Over time I have gotten better at hitting the theme, but at the same time developed a new standard for my best shots: I want them to say something. Then I come to a competition with no theme and I realize that I had started using the theme as a crutch. Starting from a blank sheet of paper is really tough; the picture has to truely stand on its own without any context and in the end I think that is actually harder.
Ken, I cannot agree more.
A theme - any theme - provides an extremely narrow space with the concrete walls around it. They are limiting, but you can also use them as a strong support to climb up as high as you want to.
Open theme contest makes you start from scratch and work your way up with no support at all. Portait? Landscape? Macro? Street? Still life? The sheer number of possible options can make your mind boggling.
Ken and Nik [whose encouregement follows] and Crew,
Guess this round could also be called Theme Out-of-the-BOX!
As I've tried to guage LPS, I am finding that perhaps I am too theme oriented. I've enjoyed both Ken and Nik and their perambulations; they seem to bring finess each two weeks with imagery and emotion and hit an imaginary eye nerve which tickles my senses.
Caught up in a crude 4EV panoramic sticthing, I seem to endlessly toil now on PS subtleties.
But, not placing in recent LPS events, I also know that several shots captured about a week or so ago are among my personal Best Ever. That has me sitting in the hot seat time and again, trying to express the love of photography, its challenges (including some cliff wall climbing {and I ain't no spring chicken}), the necessary post processing [aaaarrggh...], and what I think I can finally bring to others thru this particular suite of challenging images.
For example, one shot is exquisite; just minor touchup. Yet, another shot is exquisitely painful; stitch, adjust, stitch adjust, then allow for multiple EV, then mask, then ... you get the idea {finally quit yesterday after much fooferaw when I found one last perplexing stich error I simply had not noticed at the end of trial day 2}.
But, back at it again this morning - WHY?
Cause, when that image is finally done, it will be the BESTof the best, in spite of hand held shots across too wide a gamut without the proper lens. Yep, the camera is only one of our tools...
So, Crew...
Keep your Spirits UP!
Rarely will you have such flexibility, such challenges, the chance for such success -
AND as Robert Frost said,
"...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ~
I took the one less traveled by,
And THAT,
has made all the differance."
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What makes that even tougher is that we have to figure this out in just two weeks. If I had to pick something I had shot, let's say within the past year, it would be easier. I can still go out and shoot if I want, but I know that I have maybe 3-4 in reserve that I can choose from should I not be able to come up with anything decent.
What I enjoy seeing and experiencing is how helpful everyone has been to other competitors. Some prefer to not come forth and that's fine. I happen to enjoy seeing peoples' work evolve and if my two cents worth helps someone that makes me happy.
http://lrichters.smugmug.com
I could not agree more...
I am so very tired from early mornings and late nights but in the end I have some great images, and some great learning experiences.
Progressing slowly - ... well for me it was due to every waking moment has been spent in either thinking about or actually shooting an image for this round.
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