A note to the members: This weekly contest is still on and ends on May 18th. There are several posts below and the contest continues after that.

For this week's challenge I decided to go with "Sacred Grounds". Whether you are religious or not we all have our own spirituality and places we put extreme importance upon. I find when we photograph things/places that have a high level of significance to us it shows and more readily evokes an emotional response from the viewer.

Some obvious ideas are temples, places of worship and cemetaries, but it's really all about your own personal perspective and experiences.

For those looking at different angles from the obvious, here is a list of synonyms from thesaurus.com: angelic, cherished, consecrated, divine, enshrined, godly, hallowed, numinous, pious, pure, religious, revered, sacramental, saintly, sanctified, solemn, spiritual, unprofane, venerable


This contest will close Thursday, May 14 (7 days). I will post the judging results Friday, May 15th.
_____________________________________
The rules are as follows...

1. Post ONE photo (max 1000x1000).
2. The photo must portray an interpretation of the theme. It can be color or B&W, your choice.
3. Post your single picture in this thread, and explain what motivated you to take the picture and/or how you feel it represents the weekly theme
4. The challenge is interactive. Any response is welcome.
5. The judge will pick the WINNERS and chose 1 of them to be the judge for the next week.
6. This challenge runs for 7 days plus a day for the judge to choose the winners.
7. Any Pentax camera will do or a Samsung DSLR.
8. Pictures can be from any time frame, not just within the week of the current theme.

Previous Challenge Subjects:
1-Statues, 2-Wheels, 3-Speed, 4-Peace, 5-Survival, 6-Macro, 7-Mountains, 8-Children, 9-Post Processing, 10- Windows & Doors, 11-Sport, 12-Urban Landscape, 13-Wisdom, 14-Power, 15-Music, 16-Pathways, 17-Lines, 18-Storm, 19-Boats, 20-Water, 21 - Golden Hour, 22 - Natural Lighting, Portraits, 23-Motion Blur, 24-Simplicity, 25-Color, 26-Cars, 27-Repetition, 28-Wildlife, 29-Epiphany, 30-Contrast, 31-Pets, 32-Landscapes, 33-Coastal, 34-Churches, 35-Bridges, 36-Creation, 37-Still Life: Food, 38-At the Zoo, 39-Wide Aperture, 40-Merry Christmas, 41- Sunsets, 42-Action, 43-Fireworks, 44-Manipulated Light Portraits, 45- Advertising/Product Shot, 46- B&W Street Shooting, people/buildings, 47-Vanishing Point, 48-Reflection, 49-Tranquility, 50-Expressions, 51-S Curve, 52-Hands, 53-Shadows, 54-Your Favorite Beverage, 55-Barriers, 56-Perspective, 57-Night Scenes, 58-Zen-like...Water and Stone 59-Modern architecture, 60-Sunrises, 61-Red, 62-Action on water, 63-Bodies in Motion, 64-Ruins, 65-Blue and green, 66-Iridescence, 67-Anthropomorpha, 68–Sound, 69-Backlight, 70-Group Shot, 71-Railway Scenes, 72-Technology, 73-Color on Color, 74-History, 75-Autumn/Harvest 76-working men and women, 77-Silhouettes, 78 Stranger Portrait, 79-Transportation, 80 - Lonely, 81 - Holidays, 82 - Toys 'n Games, 83 - Machines, 84 - Ice, 85 - Cats, 86 - Stories, 87 - Cultures, 88 - Absence, 89 - Weather, 90 - Old roads, 91 - The River, 92 - The Seventies, 93 - Beautiful Bokeh, 94 - Balance, 95 - Crop a miniature landscape, 96 - Opposing gravity, 97- Feet, 98 - Sacred Grounds

[Arjay Bee]

No response from number two - post pics anyway and extend the comp for longer and one of us will judge when the time comes -

Hang in their Jim- who knows - you might end up judging if you are up for it anyway...

[Peter Zack]

Arjay, Lets get this one going and I'll post an example shot to get things going. I don't mind judging this and we'll close the contest at 9PM EST on the 18th. If everyone is OK with that, Lets get started!!

Venturi, I hope whatever you are facing is not too much to handle. I hope you and yours are OK. We all look forward to your return.

So as the judge this week, These are samples of the contest theme:



The rules and theme are the same as outlines in the first post here:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/587745-post1.html

And I'll offer this suggestion below. It's a place in Newfoundland I have visited a number of times. I usually don't take many pictures here but just sit and listen to the waves hit the cliffs. To me that is a sacred place and worth a hour or 2 to calm the soul. So it's not all about churches.

[atupdate]

Guess I'll start it off.

DS, DA 18-55, ISO 400, f19, 1/45 sec



Tim

[seacapt]

Hi All, I know that I'm a realatively new guy here but I feel I have to say this.
I like to think of the stall in this thread as a respectful " moment of silence " and under the circumstances I think sacred ground is a perfect theme.
I personally have not posted in a couple weeks because I've been keeping an eye on a friend who's been going through a bad time so Jim , my heart and my prayers go out to you and the "family" of your lost friend.
This picture is not for judging but I thought it was appropriate.
A sunset and a sunrise appear the same , the difference is a matter of which direction you look to see it and what follows.
God Please Bless Us All. Sorry if that offends anyone .

---

Last edited by seacapt; 05-29-2009 at 07:50 AM.

[Venturi]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and words of encouragement. I posted https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/general-talk/59848-rest-story-promised.html last night. I needed a day to get the facts, let my brain digest and accept them and did not want to put a cloud over Mother's Day.
I'm in a much better mental state than I was on Friday, but still may be getting on a plane to the west coast in the next day or two depending on the arrangements and the family's wishes. So Peter, many thanks for stepping in for me.

Wonderful shots so far, right where I was aiming. SeaCapt, I actually think you're right on the appropriateness now that I've had the weekend to soak it all in and reflect. I plan to get out today myself, weather and life permitting, and do some shooting on the subject. I think it will be good therapy.

[Peter Zack]

Having gone to read the other thread now, I'm dumb-founded. Impossible to put what I think into words. All I can offer Venturi is that I hope you can work through this in some fashion and I'd be glad to host this week. I don't know how the family will ever deal with this.

[daacon]

Hall of a Thousand Columns at Chichén Itzá

click on image for larger version

[Bactman]

Light shining through the windows of the apse within Aya Sofia, Istanbul, Turkey

[Rense]

Paintings in an Etruskian tombe north of Rome, near Cerveteri.



K20D+Zenitar 16mm fisheye

[Bramela]

Changed my entry. The small pine tree, is a tree from Gallipoli Turkey, scene of a bitter battle between Anzacs and Turks WW1 (1915.)

[Peter Zack]

Some nice shots to get us started. Lets see lots more everyone!

[Mike L]

Zojo-ji Temple in Tokyo

[Venturi]

Just poking my head in to bump the thread.
This is the Prayer Tower at Oral Roberts University, just a mile down the road from me.

[AdrianM]

This is the memorial at the site of the World War 2 battle of Isurava between Australian and Japanese troops on the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. To get there is a solid day's walk up from the village of Kokoda, and a climb of about 1000 metres, in stifling heat and humidity. Carrying the extra weight of an SLR camera (my K10D) made it even harder, but not as hard as the troops had it in 1942. Just over the edge of the hill from the grassy area where the gardner's wheelbarrow can be seen is the site where Private Bruce Kingsbury was killed in an action where he was awarded the first Victoria Cross for an Australian soldier in the Pacific theatre. For Australians, the action on the Kokoda Trail has special military significance, and to have the opportunity to actually go there is something very special.

The panorama is made up of 4 photographs taken with my K10D and Tamron 18-250. Photo taken in July 2008. In full size, it now hangs on my dining-room wall some 40 inches long.

[labomba]

Hello everyone!! That's my first time in the Photo Galleries section. I'd like to share some pictures I made from some magnificent cathedrals in Europe. This is a fantastic theme. Everytime is a big challenge to shoot in sacred grounds, most of the time with few light, handheld and to not mention some security guys complaining about your gear .

Notre-Dame, Paris FRANCE


Edited:
I'm really sorry to post more than 1 photo. I didn't read the rules propperly. First time goer!